His Righteousness Credited To Your Account

His Righteousness Credited to Your Account

Abram had good reason to doubt God’s promises to him. It had been a long time since God had made his promises and there was still no offspring and no ownership of even the smallest piece of property in Canaan. Then God spoke again, renewing his promise of a son from Abram’s own body and descendants as numerous as stars. At this point, Genesis reveals that something profound took place: “Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith” (Genesis 15:6).

Abram heard God’s promise. He weighed it in his mind. And he believed it. He decided to risk everything and rest completely in what God had promised. Abram’s faith was a settled conviction that God would do what he promised, no matter what. And this faith became the means by which he received something significant from God. Genesis says that “the LORD counted him as righteous.” The word translated as counted is a bookkeeping term, which means “to credit” or “to put to one’s account.” In other words, the Lord deposited righteousness to Abram’s account. This righteousness was not Abram’s own goodness; it wasn’t payment for something he had earned. It was a gift. But where did it come from?

God didn’t just decide to pretend that something was true about Abram when it was not. This was no “cooking the books,” but an actual deposit to Abram’s spiritual bank account. Deposited into Abram’s account was the righteousness of Christ. Abram could not have explained how this happened. He could not see Christ clearly. He simply took God’s word for it. Perhaps this is why Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56, NIV). Abraham rejoiced at the thought of Jesus’ coming because his perfect life and perfect sacrifice provided the substance to the deposit that had been made to Abraham’s spiritual account.

All believers in the one true God—in the Old Testament era, in the New Testament era, and in every era—are saved the same way: by grace through faith. This grace that saves us is the gift of Christ’s righteousness deposited to our account. It is available to each one of us when we choose to risk and rest our whole lives on God and his provision and promises.

I believe in your promises, Lord, and because of that, I believe that you have deposited the righteousness of Christ to my spiritual account. It’s a gift. I haven’t earned it, and I don’t deserve it. This is why it’s called grace—your righteousness given to me. Pure, amazing grace.