The Divine exchange:

2 Corinthians 5 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

When we believe in Jesus, these wonderful things happened:

– We are a new creation (irreversibly brand new)
– The old has gone (it will never come back)
– Jesus who did not sin became our sin on the cross, dying for our sins once and for all.
– Jesus rose from the dead so that we who did not do anything righteous became Righteous freely by grace through faith.
– How many sins did Jesus commit to be sin? Zero
– How many good deeds did the believer do to be righteous? Zero
– Jesus took our sins and gave us His Righteousness by faith.

This is the Gospel of Grace (not works):

– We are the Righteousness of God by faith, not works.
– We are as righteous as God and Jesus by faith, not works.
– We did nothing to earn it, but received this great gift by faith

Christian living is also rooted in the Gospel, and not works:

– We are dead to sin and alive to righteousness as new creations in Christ.
– We are saints and not sinners
– We are holy, perfect and blameless.
– Therefore let us turn from sin and walk in righteousness, not to become righteous but because we are already righteous and perfect in Christ thanks to the divine exchange.
– We love others not to earn God’s love, but because we are already loved, and forgiven perfectly.