How can God see someone as righteous if they are not?

This theological question touches a core aspect of Reformed theology: justification by faith. Despite human unrighteousness, God declares the believer righteous because of their union with Christ. Christ's active obedience fulfills the law, and His passive obedience bears the penalty for sin. Therefore, believers are viewed as having kept the law perfectly because Christ's righteousness is imputed to them. This reality is beautifully encapsulated in 2 Corinthians 5:21, which states that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.