The Boast of the Humble, Part 4

By Robb Brunansky

Published August 14, 2025

When we encounter God as holy, we are undone by our sin. This happened to the prophet Isaiah, who, when he stood before the Lord’s throne, became acutely aware of his sin and thought he would certainly be destroyed by God’s holiness. Another example is found from the Apostle Peter, who asked Jesus to go away because he realized what a sinner he was in the presence of a holy God.

Anyone who has understood the wisdom of God found in Christ realizes that God is perfectly holy, righteous, and just. As Martin Luther admitted, God’s righteousness is a dreadful thing for sinners apart from Christ because it condemns us and reveals our ungodliness and unrighteousness.

This acknowledgment leads to the second treasure that Christ has become for us, which is righteousness. In this section of 1 Corinthians (verses 30-31), Paul is showing that the antidote to pride is understanding God’s effectual power, reminding us that our salvation is from God rather than ourselves. It is God’s doing that we are in Christ Jesus, and God has provided wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption for us in Jesus.

God reveals His wisdom to us in the word of the cross, and in this word, we recognize His righteousness and our sinfulness. This message of the gospel points us to the solution found in Christ so we might be reconciled to God, forgiven of our sins, and accepted into the presence of a holy God.

To grasp what it means that Christ has become for us righteousness, we must consider three angles of righteousness.

First, we must understand our poverty of righteousness.

We lack true righteousness before God, but this is not the general belief of humanity about itself. People today think they are generally ‘good.’ Many say that because they’re not as bad as murderers or adulterers or drug addicts or criminals, they’re generally decent people. Others point to their desires to ‘do good,’ even though they fall short, excusing their failures because they think, “Who doesn’t?”

God, though, is not grading on a curve. He is not comparing us to other people to see if we are good enough to be saved and to receive eternal life. Rather, God is holding every single person accountable to the perfect standard of His righteousness. It doesn’t really matter, then, how we compare with anyone else, but how we measure against the standard of God’s holy law.

There is a picture of this in Romans, where Paul highlights two groups to see how they stack up against God’s law. The first group is found in Romans 1:18-32: the pagans. This group does not think they are unrighteous or unwise. Paul is clear, however, that such people fall under God’s judgment and do not have a righteousness that will meet God’s standard on the day of judgment.

Then in Romans 2, Paul states that even religious people do not have the righteousness God requires. Here’s the problem for people who have the Word of God and know about the true God, but who trust in their own righteousness: they don’t do what they know they should do. They condemn idolatry, immorality, lying, lust, greed, and coveting, but they find themselves doing the very things they condemn.

Thus, it doesn’t matter if someone is an idol-worshipping pagan who has never heard of Christ or someone who grew up in the church reading the Bible every day: no one has what it takes to be accepted by God; we are all under sin.

Our poverty of righteousness is always our position in God’s sight. Those who are in Christ need to remember we have no inherent, personal righteousness that can make us acceptable to God. If God judged us based on our sanctification, we would be forever condemned to hell. God accepts our obedience as a fragrant offering only because it is covered by Jesus’ blood.

That leads to our second point, which is God’s provision of righteousness.

God’s wisdom not only reveals our poverty of righteousness, but points us to the source of righteousness in Christ. We see God’s provision of righteousness in Christ throughout Jesus’ life, every step of the way, through the cross. Jesus was always obedient to His Father. In Philippians 2:8, Paul highlights the significance of Jesus’ obedience in His death, showing that Christ’s righteousness is so extensive, comprehensive, complete, and unassailable.

It was this perfect obedience and righteousness that was vindicated when God raised Jesus from the dead. God’s Anointed could not be constrained or confined by death because He is holy and righteous. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead proved that God accepted His sacrifice and vindicated Him as holy. Christ was made to be sin for us so we might become the righteousness God requires in Him (see 2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus’ righteousness in His obedient life and His obedience to the cross is God’s provision of righteousness for sinners.

God does not expect us to become righteous in ourselves or to achieve a righteousness that would pass His standard. On the contrary, He has graciously provided the very righteousness we need in His Son. It was this very truth that freed Martin Luther from the terror of the righteousness of God. When Luther viewed the righteousness of God only as that which God demands, he was terrified because he knew he could never achieve it. However, when he viewed God’s righteousness as that which is freely provided in Christ, suddenly this righteousness became glorious.

Finally, we need to understand our possession of righteousness.

God provided this righteousness in His Son, but how do we as sinners receive this gift so that it becomes our very righteousness by which we are accepted by God? The answer, quite simply, is through faith in Jesus Christ.

In Romans 4:5, we see that righteousness comes to the one who does not work. Faith and works are opposed to one another as a means of salvation. No one can be justified by God by faith and works. A person either seeks to be justified by works – and fails; or he ceases striving to be justified by works – and receives the gift of righteousness provided in Christ by faith. To those who believe, their faith is credited as righteousness.

If we try to add works to faith, we are adding our righteousness to the righteousness of Christ Himself. This means the righteousness of the Son of God is insufficient to justify us before God. Nothing could be more insulting to our Lord Jesus Christ than to say that His perfect life and obedient death on the cross was not enough righteousness to save us. This is why the doctrine of justification by faith alone is so crucial for the church. If we deny justification by faith alone, we nullify God’s grace and say the cross was unnecessary and pointless. We are justified, and we receive and possess the righteousness God provided in His Son, only by faith in Christ Jesus.

Christ has become our wisdom and our righteousness. The Psalmist understood this truth when he wrote Psalm 71:15-16. He knew his own sinfulness, and how foolish it would be to talk about his own righteousness. So, the Psalmist determined he would speak only of God’s righteousness. This is what it means to boast only in the Lord. Our mouths shall tell of His righteousness and salvation forever. May this be our heart and only boast.