I see people struggle sometimes with understanding the subject of salvation and righteousness, let's address it today with what the apostle Paul shared with the Philippians.
[8] Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ [9] and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. [10] I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death.
Philippians 3:8-10 NLT.
If there was ever anyone that could put confidence in his achievements both before coming to Christ and after, it would have been the apostle. But Paul said;
[7] I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
Philippians 3:7 NLT.
Essentially it come down to either trying to obtain righteousness by the perceived good works that we think we have done, or we put our trust in what Christ has done. Put beside each other, our work against Christ's, it becomes clear that our works can't save us.
"For God's way of making us right with himself depend on faith", not works.
