The Hope of Righteousness - Galatians 5:5

"For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness." The Apostle Paul has been explaining to the Galatians that Christians cannot obtain righteousness by circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic law and if you abide by one part of the law you are subject to obedience to all the law. Therefore, Christians do not place confidence in their own righteous actions or behavior to be justified before God, but they wait for God to work His righteousness in them and bring it to completion when they face God at the final judgment. So the righteousness we hope for is not something we can concoct for ourselves, but rather it is something God imputes upon us because of the sacrifice of Christ. Yet, we endeavor to live righteously in this life but in order to please God who loves us and not so God will grant us righteousenss. God grants righteousness to us because of Christ and He imparts His Spirit upon us to help us live righteously. Through the Spirit we have hope and wait for righteousness to culminate in our lives at the time when we stand before God justified by our faith in Christ.