Christ’s Righteousness and Self-Righteousness

Everyone hates self righteousness. Except we don’t. 

It’s easy to talk about how much we hate self-righteousness without realizing how easy it is to fall into. Our default setting is self-righteousness. We are the kings and queens of our kingdoms, determining for ourselves what is good and beautiful. Those who oppose us are grabbing for power, judgmental, or ignorant.

GenZ is acutely aware of self-righteousness in others, and they’ve largely rejected Christianity because of the self-righteousness they’ve witnessed. Much of the hypocrisy they’ve seen is real, and we should confess and repent of that. At the same time, it may be wise to talk with students who are deconstructing their faith about what self-righteousness actually is.

Here’s the thing: you can’t be a Christian and be self-righteous. The gospel calls us to confess our unrighteousness and to trust fully in the righteousness of Christ. Christianity and self-righteousness are entirely incompatible. We are fully dependent on Christ’s righteousness.

Are Christians Self-Righteous?

Righteousness is moral rightness and acceptability, especially before God. It points to a person’s holiness and purity in heart and action. Self-righteousness, then, is a righteousness that comes from someone’s own goodness and work. 

As Christians, we completely rely on Jesus’ righteousness, not our own.  The only thing my righteousness earns for me is judgment (Romans 3:23-24, 6:23).  The Gospel declares, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

The ironic thing about accusations of “Self-Righteousness” is that every religion other than Christian promotes a form of self-righteousness. I know that’s a bold claim to make, but I do think it’s true. Only Christianity teaches that we are acceptable to God because of someone else’s righteousness that is applied to the believer through faith alone. The gospel is uniquely opposed to self-righteousness.

The Righteousness of Christ

Jesus kept the Law perfectly. This is often referred to as his “active obedience” - he kept the Law perfectly and his righteousness is imputed to the Christian by faith. When we become Christians we aren’t merely forgiven of our sin, we are clothed in his righteousness. 

To be “justified” is to be “declared righteous.” It is a word that comes from the court of law, whereby a judge pronounces a defendant, “not guilty.” But not only does justification set you free from guilt (“not guilty”), it also pronounces you as righteous. Christian righteousness comes from beyond us. See the video below for more about this doctrine of Imputed Righteousness, or read about it here.

When preaching the gospel to students, help them see this! In the midst of the pressure they face to measure up to all the expectations they carry, they’ve received the perfect righteousness of Jesus by faith. And as they mature in Christ, his righteousness continues to transform them and is displayed in their lives. 

This is also fuel for evangelism - because starting off a conversation about righteousness and self-righteousness is usually a starting point that Christians and nonChristians will agree over. Again, no one explicitly loves self-righteousness. Helping others identify the ways they are implicitly self-righteous will help you be able to present the righteousness of Christ that can be theirs by faith.