God Justifies the Unrighteous

In the resurrection, instead of vindicating the self-righteous, God justifies the unrighteous.

God is holy. The Israelite Hannah prayed, "There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2). And Moses proclaimed, "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?" (Exodus 15:11).

Because God is holy, he requires holiness and perfection from us: Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16).

To use other words, God requires us to be righteous—i.e., perfect and having no fault. However, none of us can possibly be righteous by our own strength or effort. There is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10).

Instead of expecting us to become righteous on our own strength, God accomplishes our righteousness for us—he justifies us—by taking our sins upon himself in Christ's death and resurrection and by giving to us Christ's righteousness. In Christ's death, God justifies the unrighteous: Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men (Romans 5:18; also see 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Romans 4:25).

 [Weekly Wisdom - ChristNotes.org]