Romans 5:19

19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

One man made us sinners. Another man—the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ made us righteous. What is it to be righteous? That is not a word we use every day. The English word righteous is a compound word of rightand the suffix -eous. –Eous means “Having the quality or nature of.”[1] So, to be righteous is to have the quality or nature of being made right—as right as God. That gives us the ability to stand in God’s presence with no sense of sin and to have confidence that we are His beloved children. The devil can’t pin anything on us, either. We can stand in the face of his accusations and know that we have been forgiven and have a new nature—made right.

To give you an idea of the makeup of the word righteous, here are some other English words with the suffix –eous.

Gas + -eous = gaseous

Courage + -eous = courageous

Courtesy + -eous = courteous

Outrage + -eous = outrageous

Plenty + -eous = plenteous

Error + -eous = erroneous

Right + -eous= righteous

You have the quality or nature of being right because of the work of Jesus Christ!

Two Kinds of Righteousness

ASV Romans 10:3

3 For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

There is God’s righteousness, a gift from God to those of us who believe, and there is our own righteousness. Our own righteousness is based on what we do or how we want to appear to others. The righteousness of God is God’s own imparted to you.

ASV Philippians 3:9

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith:

NIV 2 Corinthians 5:21

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

NIV Romans 5:17

17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

[1] Modern Language Association (MLA):”-eous.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 19 Mar. 2010. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-eous>.