Philippians 1:11 – Filled with Fruits of Righteousness

Philippians 1:9-11

⁹ And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; ¹⁰ That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; ¹¹ Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

^“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).

Righteousness is more than right doing. It is who we are in Christ. We are His righteousness. It’s a gift of God’s grace. That’s redundant because grace means gift or favor. Everything we have is a gift from God. Righteousness is not found in doing what is right or even doing God’s way of doing things. It is who we are. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We were made the righteousness of God. We are righteous even though we might not do everything right. It is who we are, not what we do.

Knowing that then we can understand what it means to be “filled with the fruits of righteousness.” Notice that fruit or fruits are by Jesus. He is the vine. We are the branches. We display the fruit. “(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth) (Ephesians 5:9). Fruit is an outward expression of an inward reality. We are the righteousness of God so our fruit should be an expression of the new nature of righteousness.

Fruit just grows on the branch. It is an outflow of the tree. Fruit flows from our nature of love and righteousness. So we are filled with the love and grace of God so His fruit will be seen and give glory to God.