Clothed with Christ

Are you clothed in Christ’s righteousness? There are only two kinds of people: those who bear the burden of their sin, and those who bear the cross. You're either in your sins or you are in Christ. There's no middle road.

If you will be saved, it will be through Christ. If you will testify “Not by any righteousness of my own but only through the righteousness of Christ” then you must be baptized—because only and exclusively in baptism are we robed in the righteousness of Christ.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27; NASB).

The righteousness of Christ covers one singular well-defined group of people: those who were baptized into Christ. Pay close attention to the words all of you who were baptized in the passage above. It means that the privilege of being fully identified with Jesus is only for baptized believers.

When God looks at someone who has been baptized, he doesn’t see their sin. Rather, God sees Jesus’ righteousness. He sees someone clothed with Christ. That’s because when you are baptized, you put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness—you are wearing Christ. You have died with him, your sins were buried with him, and you have risen with him. Those three things happen when you are baptized in Jesus' name.

Covered by the Sacrifice

In baptism, your sins are covered the same way Adam and Eve’s shame was covered--by a sacrifice. You’ll recall that immediately after they sinned against God, Adam and Eve became aware of their nakedness. They lived in innocence until the moment they ate of the forbidden fruit. Then came the first time in their lives they felt shame.

God had the solution for Adam and Eve’s shame. Although they hid from the Lord when he came back to the Garden of Eden, he did not want them to live in hiding. So he sacrificed an animal (probably a sheep), took the hide, made sturdy clothing, and covered them with it.

After Adam and Eve’s pathetic attempt at making their own covering by sewing fig leaves together, God's covering was a welcome solution. Leaves dry up quickly and disintegrate, but God had the solution for covering their sin: an animal pelt which was the result of a blood sacrifice.

As our first parents discovered, so do you and I discover that we need God’s help. It’s a bad idea to try to cover our sins. God’s help is available just as it was for Adam and Eve--but for us that help is through Christ's sacrifice. Through faith in his death, burial, and resurrection, we have forgiveness, propitiation for sin, and salvation.

The Only Way

Nowhere does the Bible say that there is another way to be clothed with Christ but through baptism. It’s not up to pastors or so-called “evangelists” to invent new ways to be covered by Jesus’ righteousness. Baptism is the only way.

The Scriptures never say, for example, that we must “receive Jesus in our hearts” to be covered with Christ’s righteousness. But that’s exactly what so many pastors persuade people to think. They are handing out fig leaves for people to cover themselves. Those leaves will wither and crumble.

Repentant sinners need a bigger commitment. They need to be buried with Christ. Christ died for all, but not all have died with him. His death on the Cross only counts for those who have died with him. How does someone die with Christ? Through baptism.

Imputed Righteousness

The word impute means to credit to someone’s account. How is righteousness imputed to us? How is the goodness of Jesus credited to our spiritual bank account? Paul said this:

[Abraham was] …fully convinced that what he [God] had promised [his son Isaac, who would become the father of the Jewish people] he was also able to perform. And therefore ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness.’

Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the Dead [the Father] (Romans 3:21-23; NKJV).

The expression imputed righteousness might sound very theological, but it’s actually very practical. We believe that Jesus lived a sinless life and did God’s will. He lived in righteousness. How does that righteousness cover us? How does it transfer from his account to ours? That’s the question of imputed righteousness. The answer: Jesus' righteousness is transferred to us by faith, just like Abraham had the righteousness of God imputed to him.

‘Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him as righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works (Romans 4:4-6; NKJV).

Most every Evangelical pastor will affirm that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us by faith. We agree with that. But we fervently disagree with those who deny that the imputation of righteousness happens in baptism. Indeed, it does happen in baptism.

Christ’s righteousness is applied to our lives (imputed to us) when we are clothed with Christ. We are clothed with Christ in baptism.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27; NASB).