Galatians - Credited with righteousness on earth, awaiting true righteousness in Heaven
Following is every verse on righteousness in Galatians. They show a thorough understanding of righteousness by Paul, and are ordered quite logically. I present them together, instead of separately because they help explain each other.  They tell the story we’ve been seeing in scripture all year…Â
IÂ do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! - Galatians 2:21
Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” - Galatians 3:6
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. - Galatians 3:21
But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. - Galatians 5:5
Paul knows all about righteousness. He knows that righteousness is not earned (Gal. 2:21) but credited (Gal. 3:6). Now I should qualify that righteousness is also credited to us for being zealous for God’s name, but when done in obedience to the law, it earns us nothing. And even if it still earned us righteousness, the righteousness would not be imparted by the law itself, for the law does not impart righteousness, but condemnation. Only God imparts righteousness, and even then it is only “credited” to us, like God-currency entrusted to us to use.
Remember the parable of the talents? Jesus told of 3 men who were entrusted by their master with talents. The one entrusted with 3 talents doubled it to 6; the one with 2 doubled it to 4; the one with 1 buried it in the ground. The last was called evil and even his talent was given to the one with 6… but was the money ever the theirs? Not at all. The master makes it clear that the money always belonged to the master, and that the servants were merely entrusted with it… credited with it if you will. And in a similar fashion, our righteous is credited to us, to do something with or not… and what we have to do is obey or not. But, the righteousness of obedience only comes from the righteousness we are credited. We ourselves cannot create righteousness from mere action (Gal 3:21); but God will use our actions to help righteousness multiply!
In the meantime, we live to actually be righteous. God credits us with it, sure. But, in some respect it isn’t actually ours. That will come when we reach Heaven, when we get live without sin, and without the need for a Law to point out sin to us, because we will no longer sin. We will no longer distance ourselves from God; we will not longer force Jesus to stretch out His arms (and keep stretching!) in order to bridge that gap with God that we seem so determined to create. As flesh-and-blood, we do not treat God fairly… we do not act “just” toward Him. But in Heaven, we will be eternal worshippers, giving God what He so desires, needs, and frankly deserves. We will finally be what we have always wanted to be: righteous… by being just to God. And that is the righteousness for which we eagerly await (Gal 5:5), the righteousness we yearn for through the Spirit, the righteousness for which we hope.