trusted in Christ as Savior stand before God not with a clean-but-empty ledger, but one filled with the very righteousness of Christ! The theological term for what we’ve just described is one of Paul’s favorite words, justification. The word justified in Paul’s usage means to be counted righteous by God. Even though in ourselves we’re completely unrighteous, God counts us as righteous because he has appointed Christ to be our representative and substitute. Therefore when Christ lived a perfect life,