2 Corinthians 5:21 TPT
For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.
When talking about our spiritual birth, teachers often refer to the truth that we were born righteous positionally before God. They will then reference that we must work on becoming righteous persons so that our practice matches our position. It is gloriously true that we have a righteous position before God because we are in Christ, but more than that, we were spiritually born righteous persons because of our union with Jesus. Our righteousness is not just some spiritual title that God gives us so that we are acceptable to Him. We are actually endued with the righteousness of Christ at our New Birth. Righteousness is not just imputed to our spiritual account; it is imparted to our resurrected personality in Christ. Our union with Christ is an actual and vital one, not just a positional one. It is hard for us to believe the truth that we were spiritually born righteous persons in Christ because it does not seem to always add up to our experience, but experience can never dictate to us what the truth is. Instead, the truth must always dictate our experience. It is true that our walk must increasingly grow to match our new identity as the righteousness of God in Christ, but we are walking out our righteousness and not towards obtaining righteousness. When we became Christians, we became partakers of the divine nature. Can we still sin? Of course we can, and unfortunately do, but as Christians, our new nature is one of righteousness, and therefore it is much more natural for Christian to manifest the righteousness of God that is theirs in Christ than it is to sin. We sin by choice and not by nature. The law of sin still lives in our flesh, but the Old Man, whose basic nature was the flesh, died on the cross with Christ, and we were resurrected in union with the righteousness of God that is in Jesus. If you believe that your basic nature is sinful, then you will probably meet your expectations daily. IF instead, you believe what the word of God says about you, that you are a righteous person because of your vital union with Christ, then you can began to embrace all those desires in you that wants to walk out righteousness, as the real you. We are born righteous persons in Christ, and we live from our righteous identity in Him. We don’t work towards, we believe from righteousness, and as we believe the truth about us in Christ, then we will increasingly manifest that truth in our behavior. Yes we do increase in the manifestation of the righteousness of Jesus as we abide in Him, but we don’t grow in our obtainment of something we already have. We grow because of righteousness, not towards. Actually, righteousness is not an it or a thing, but a person, and that person, of course, is Jesus. Righteousness is a who (and that WHO is your very life according to Colossians 3:4) and not a what.
1 Corinthians 1:30 NASB
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, WHO became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,