NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.



          XII.-CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

   "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom
froni God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: that,
acccrding as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lor I" (I. Cor. i. 30, 31).

   In this language Paul affirms that Christ is our
righteousness. This is a momentous thought. It goes
to the heart of the scheme of redemption. How is
Christ our righteousness What does Paul mean by
the affirmation The very life of Christianity is in-
volved in the answer. By one's answer we know just
where to place him in regard to the vital principles of
Christianity.
   That one must be righteous in order to be prepared
for heaven, must be conceded by those who accept the
Bible as authority.  " Know ye not that the unright-
eous shall not inherit the kingdom of God." And this
must be a positive, not simply a relative, righteousness.
Men may be comparatively righteous, and yet be wholly
unprepared for the presence of God. The righteous-
ness required in order to a home in heaven is absolute.
All unrighteousness is sin, and one, must be perfectly
free from sin to be accepted in the Beloved. No sin can
enter heaven.  One can not stand in the presence of
God, accepted through the righteousness of Christ,
with the least taint of sin upon his soul.  Hence per-
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