Our free-will choices would have been rendered ridiculous. But he remains holy and yet makes us just, and right by allowing his Son to suffer the penalty we should pay, placing on Jesus the rejection and the judgment that we deserve. On that basis, he can make a free-gift offer to us. Being right with God, finding life-building worth, becoming who we were intended to be, is a gift from God with no noisy contribution by us. When we finally stop speaking of ourselves, we can let him give us righteousness itself.
Righteousness is offered to all because all are guilty of sin.
Either everyone is either going to get this gift or else nobody gets anything. It is a gift freely given because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. The legal term is justification. Justification answers the charge against us, cancels the indictment, and sets the prisoner free. We are justified because somebody else received the punishment we deserved.