God’s Christ, who is my righteousness

1
God’s Christ, who is my righteousness,
My beauty is, my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in this arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
2
Lord, I believe Thy precious blood,
Which, at the mercy seat of God,
Forever doth for sinners plead,
For me, e’en for my soul, was shed.
3
Lord, I believe were sinners more
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
Thou hast for all a ransom paid,
For all a full redemption made.
4
Bold can I stand in every way,
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully, by Thee, absolved I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.
5
This spotless robe the same appears,
When ruined nature sinks in years;
No age can change its glorious hue,
Its glory is forever new.
6
Thou God of power, Thou God of love,
Let all Thy saints Thy mercy prove;
Our beauty this, our glorious dress,
Jesus the Lord, our Righteousness.
22
Yoonsik, Levi Joo

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Thank You Lord for shedding blood for such a sinner in order to cleanse and justify. How I cannot say You are my Lord, love and righteousness. I regret and repent my life. Show me how to live rest of my life. I cannot believe in myself. Live out through me. I want to express You.


Maka

Johannesburg, South Africa

God’s Christ, who is my righteousness,

My beauty is, my glorious dress;

Midst flaming worlds, in this arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head.


Eric Chong

San Francisco, CA, United States

Hallelujah we are of God in Christ Jesus! This One is our righteousness. Thank the Lord He satisfied God’s righteous requirements so He could pay a ransom for us. We have full redemption! Praise Him!


Glory Jung

Anaheim, CA, United States

Lord, I believe that when You ascended to the throne, You brought Your own blood. That blood allows me to stand before God with boldness because the entire situation has been appeased.


Alexander

Russia

Last night I was impressed with the first stanza afresh.

O, Lord, amen, hallelujah!

"Midst flaming worlds, in this arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head."!!!!!

And I also enjoy the verse the way it's been translated into my language (Russian):

"Среди пылающих миров

Ликую я Ты мой покров."!!!!!!!!


Jeff

Deez Nutz, United States, Afghanistan

Amen brothers and sisters!! This song really touched me to love Him and enjoy Him more.


T. Diyan

London, United Kingdom

I love and appreciate the Lord for His covering as our righteousness. Thank You Jesus Christ our robe of righteousness. May You gain Your heart's desire.


Mike

CA, United States

When a sinner believes, two basic but profound things happen, he is made righteous and is justified before God, hallelujah! And this new life union begins to develop. Lets Go, and tell the world.


Leslie

Spokane, WA, United States

The words to this song are so profound. Count Zinzendorf was surely a minister of the New Covenant in the Lord's move on the earth. Every time I sing this hymn, my heart wells up with love and appreciation for Christ. Praise the Lord!

(Just a note in response to the last entry... William Gardiner published this melody for the hymn "As a Shepherd Gently Leads Us." He identified Ludwig van Beethoven as the Composer, and himself as the Arranger.)


Victoria Byrne

London, United Kingdom

I think this tune is actually called 'Germany' and is by William Gardiner. It would be useful if you would put the name of the tune on your website. Thank you for your site, the recordings are the best I've found among comparable sites.

Christ is given to us by God to be our righteousness. Hence, in Christ we have righteousness and thus are justified. Some hymns confuse Christ's righteous act with Christ the person who is our righteousness. For instance, a popular hymn written by Nicolaus L. Zinzendorf and translated by John Wesley begins, "Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness / My beauty are, my glorious dress." Therefore, when we added it to our hymnal, we corrected this line so that it says, "God's Christ, who is my righteousness, / My beauty is, my glorious dress" (Hymns, #295). It is not Christ's act of righteousness that is our righteousness but Christ Himself who is our righteousness.

When the Apostle Paul was in the Jewish religion, he surpassed many of his equals (Gal. 1:14). However, he did not at that time obtain God's righteousness. In Philippians 3:9 he spoke a deep and excellent word: "And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God based on faith." Paul did not want to be found in himself, having his own righteousness; he wanted to be found in Christ, having the righteousness which is of God. We, like Paul, need to be found in Christ. That He is our righteousness is expressed by the words of a well-known hymn: "God's Christ, who is my righteousness, My beauty is, my glorious dress." Christ, as God's righteousness, is our covering under whom we stand. God has put us into Christ and made Him our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). We stand under His covering. We are one with Him. He, Himself, His very person, not one of His attributes, is our righteousness.

There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness from God to the believers. The first aspect is that He is the believers' righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ (Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27). The first stanza of Hymns, #295 says, "God's Christ, who is my righteousness,/My beauty is, my glorious dress." Christ is our beauty given by God to us to be put on us as our clothing, our glorious dress. This is outward, objective.

The second aspect is that Christ is the believers' righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively (Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8). We were sinners who repented to God and believed into the Lord Jesus. Right away God gave Christ to us as a glorious dress to cover us, so we are acceptable to God righteously, outwardly. This is objective righteousness. Also, when Christ was given to us to be put on us, He entered into us to be our life and life supply to live Himself out of us. This living out is the manifestation of God in Christ. This is pleasant in the eyes of God. Surely, God would justify us subjectively, not just objectively. Now we can see the two aspects—outward and inward. Christ is put on us, and Christ enters into us to live God out of us to be our subjective righteousness.

Piano Hymns