Rooted and Grounded

having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart) Ephesians 6:14b

Paul encourages us to “put on” righteousness–right standing with God. Right standing with God requires that we be without sin. This is not possible for us without Christ. Paul is not advocating a works-based righteousness. He is not saying to “do” right things. He is speaking of the imputed righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ. We must believe that Christ was the Son of God, that He was without sin. He died a sacrificial death for all who would believe, acknowledging their sin and their need for the atoning sacrifice of His blood.

[God] made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].2 Corinthians 5:21

Our righteousness comes from Christ–it is His righteousness that God sees when He looks at us. When we visualize the breastplate of righteousness as a piece of the spiritual armor, we are covering ourselves in the righteousness of Christ. We are standing with an upright heart–a heart that seeks to be in right-standing with God–a heart that knows it could never be “right” with God without the imputed righteousness of Christ covering him or her.