The Kingdom of God is not in imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness is given to us so we may begin the process of becoming a new righteous creation. The Kingdom of God is not ascribed righteousness, it is the doing of God's will in the earth as it is done in Heaven. The Kingdom is just that—a kingdom in which the Lord Jesus rules.

There are two kinds of righteousness under the new covenant—imputed (ascribed) righteousness and actual righteousness of behavior. The believer will not understand the Christian redemption until he keeps clearly in his mind the difference between the two kinds of righteousness.

Imputed (ascribed) righteousness.

Actual righteousness of behavior.

The role of imputed righteousness is to serve as an atonement, a continual covering while we are being changed from sin and self-seeking to righteousness and holiness of behavior.

Imputed righteousness includes forgiveness. It is an atonement, a covering.

The ascribed righteousness that is part of the grace of the new covenant has little to do with our behavior. It is a legal position that forgives our previous sins. Because the world cannot see our legal position before the Lord, imputed righteousness cannot possibly serve as the Christian witness, the moral light to guide the nations of the earth.

There is no actual counterpart in the Law of Moses to the ascribed righteousness of the new covenant. God's wrath was appeased by the offering of animals. But the atoning blood of God's Christ enables God to see us as perfectly righteous at all times—a state that never could be produced by the blood of animals.

One great difference between the righteousness of the Law of Moses and the righteousness of the new covenant is that under the new covenant we begin our walk with God being clothed with the very righteousness of Christ.

Ascribed righteousness has been preached accurately and thoroughly by the Christian ministry. A good job has been done. The tremendous problem of twentieth-century Christian thinking is that there is little understanding of the actual righteousness of the Kingdom of God—the new righteous creation made possible by the initial, foundational gift of imputed righteousness.

To carry ascribed righteousness beyond its appointed place, substituting imputed righteousness for actual righteousness of behavior, is to create moral havoc, to destroy the whole purpose of the Divine redemption.

The purpose of all covenants established by the Lord is that people practice righteousness, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Current Christian theory has frustrated the Divine intention by making imputed righteousness almost exclusively the kind of righteousness obtained under the new covenant.

The purpose of imputed righteousness is to give God and us a chance to bring forth Christ in our personality. As Christ is formed in us we begin to behave righteously because of our new righteous nature. To continue to walk in sin and disobedience after receiving the Lord Jesus is to slay one's own spiritual life.

To be continued.