"...a joy that abides midst all the turmoil and anxieties of life."

The righteousness of Christ credited by faith is transformative. It reckons us what we are not and cannot be in and of ourselves— perfectly righteous with the righteousness of Jesus. We are reck- oned “just.” Then, like a good tree planted, it produces more and more fruit (Matthew 7:17), especially joy, and makes us evermore what we have been freely declared to be—righteous in Christ. Declared forgiven, we cannot but be forgiving. But let’s back up.

St. Paul says that this righteousness was obtained fully by Christ’s cross—“we have now been justified by his blood.” What has been achieved, obtained, and perfected by Christ outside of us, before us, and without us (two thousand years ago on a cross and via a resurrection), is delivered to us and reckoned to us in the word of the Gospel. Because it’s already accomplished, it can’t be achieved by doing anything. The deed is done. That’s why Jesus’ last words were, “It is finished” ( John 19:30). The benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection are received, laid hold of, by faith. Faith simply lays hold of the gift, and even the faith, which receives the gift, is itself all gift. So St. Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Rec- onciliation occurred in Christ’s death—“God was in Christ rec- onciling the world until himself ” (2 Corinthians 5:19)—and this same reconciliation is “received” here and now. And it’s powerful. In fact, it is the most powerful force for joy in the world.

This central teaching of the Bible is a profound mystery and a profound key to a joyous life. “He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God ” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Think of it. The Bible calls Christ “sin.” God in the flesh is called “sin.” And just as amazing, by virtue of Christ, we are called “the righteousness of God.” When God looks at us, he sees only the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Every Christian may rejoice and glory in Christ’s birth as much as if he had himself been born of Mary as was Christ. How is it possible for man to hear of greater joy than that Christ has been given to him as his own? (Martin Luther, Church Postils, Lenker ed., 1:144, 149).

St. Paul says that the kingdom of God is a matter “of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Where Christ’s righteousness is laid hold of, there is peace of conscience, and where there is peace of conscience, there is a profound joy. The word for “joy” used by Paul here is chara—that deep, inner, spiritual

joy . . . a joy that abides midst all the turmoil and anxieties of life. When we confront God, he says to us, “I didn’t come to kill you. I came to forgive you.” “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order the world might be saved through him” ( John 3:17). Equipped with such joy, a “just joy,” we find ourselves freed to act as God himself with our neighbor. “I didn’t come to kill you. I came to forgive you.” Joy! “We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:11).

Matthew Harrison, A Little Book on Joy