Delivered - Raised. Romans 4:25 There is something I understand but must remind myself of from time to time. God does not clean up the old man and declare me righteous. When the Lord Jesus Christ was "delivered for our offenses," those trespasses that condemned me were laid upon Him. He bore my sin with its penalty and the guilt accompanying sin, both legally and personally. The Righteous, Holy God delivered up our Lord that we might be justified from all things by His blood. Now, we are placed by God in the Risen Christ.
In view of our being justified, the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead. It is when we believe in Him that we are justified. His resurrection is not to prove that we have been justified but to actually justify us in the Risen Christ. The act of resurrection was the fact that made our justification possible. We were justified as ungodly sinners and are now a new creation in Christ. We are not righteous because we are new creatures in Christ but because the ungodly are justified in Christ. If our sins had been placed on Christ as my Substitute and He had not been raised from the dead, where would I be? God tells us the blood of Christ has put away our sins, so we are justified from all things. Christ has been raised, so our standing in Him is our place.
We are now in Him and will be with Him forever. Being justified is not being born again; it is not a change of heart; it is not an unjust man being made just; and it is not our sanctification. It is a declaration of God that a person is righteous in God's sight based on redemption in Christ Jesus. God pronounced the whole world guilty before Him. Now, God can legally pronounce one who puts his or her faith unreservedly in Christ and His sacrifice as being justified. He connects this believing sinner with the Risen Christ so the believer is made "the righteousness of God in Him" - forever!