Righteousness, Practical

This is the converse of the preceding; it is human, and yet not legal, being the righteous acts and ways of the believer who has died, and risen with Christ, and who stands before God in divine righteousness. Such an one is not in the flesh (Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)), to which alone the law supplies (“thou shalt not, &c.”). Hence the law is not his rule of life, although he fulfills its righteous requirement (8:4), by walking in the Spirit. This practical righteousness brings suffering (1 Pet. 3)