Why are many people afraid of the word righteousness?
Many are afraid of the word righteousness because they misunderstand it, thinking it denotes a holiness that makes a person so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. Yet when God imparts His righteousness to the believer, He sees that believer clothed in God's own righteousness, not as the old sinner.
Les explains that many people recoil from the word "righteousness" because they think it describes a holiness that makes someone so heavenly minded as to be no earthly good. He says that is not the case at all. When the righteousness of God is imparted to the believer, it simply means God now sees that person clothed in the righteousness of God Himself. God does not look on the old sinner—whether Les Feldick or whoever you are—but now looks on you and sees the righteousness of Christ. This flows from verse 21, where God made Christ to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.