What God Requires, Christ Provides...The Lord Our Righteousness

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."
-Matt. 5:17, 20

"For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." -Rom. 5:17

I have posted a few comments on a thread at Jimmy Akin's blog on the issues of Francis Beckwith's defection from biblical Christianity to Romanism; and asking them to define their doctrines and truth claims from the Word of God alone. I would encourage you to read this exchange. You'll notice as I did, that Jimmy's picture on his main page looks like he is wanting to be in country music. "The Catholic Cowboy" would be a great pseudonym for him... His first single? "My Akin Breakin' Heart" of course :-).

How faithful the Lord is to use us for His glory as weak and inadequate as we are, beloved. To God be the glory that He allows us the humble and joyous pleasure of serving Him. I had the privilege to minister in song yesterday morning and wrote this song before the service began. It's not as great an accomplishment as it may sound, for the vast core of the lyrics is from an old Isaac Watts song based upon Philippians 3:1-11. My only contribution was adding a chorus and the music. I hope to be able to share the music with you sometime later this week. May it encourage you as you prepare for Resurrection Sunday in a few weeks and mostly in the finished propitiatory work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and His triumph over sin, death, Satan, and the grave.

In His unfailing love,
Steve
Col. 1:9-14

"Jesus My Lord, He Is Enough"
Lyrics by Watts/Camp, Music by Camp

V1 No more, my God, I boast no more of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before to trust the merits of thy Son.

V2 Now for the love I bear His Name, what was my gain I count my loss,
My former pride I call my shame, and nail my glory to His cross.

He is enough in life and death
In joy and sorrow, toil and rest
Complete in Christ, I am content
Jesus my Lord, He is enough

V3 Yes, and I must and will esteem all things but loss for Jesus' sake
O may my soul be found in Him, and of His righteousness partake.

He is enough in life and death
In joy and sorrow, toil and rest
Complete in Christ, I am content
Jesus my Lord, He is enough

V4 The best obedience of my hands dares not appear before Thy throne;
But faith can answer Thy demands by pleading what my Lord has done
.
He is enough in life and death
In joy and sorrow, toil and rest
Complete in Christ, I am content
Jesus my Lord, He is enough
Jesus my Lord, You are enough

The 1999 document, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration" (signed by many leading Evangelicals including Sproul, Packer, Kennedy, Carson, Hayford, MacArthur, McCartney, Swindoll, Lucado, Stott, Ankerberg, Neff, Stowell, Stanley, etc.) states:

"God's justification of those who trust in him, according to the Gospel, is a decisive transition, here and now, from a state of condemnation and wrath because of their sins to one of acceptance and favor by virtue of Jesus' flawless obedience culminating in his voluntary sin-bearing death."

"We affirm that Christ's saving work included both his life and his death on our behalf (Gal. 3:13). We declare that faith in the perfect obedience of Christ by which he fulfilled all the demands of the Law of God on our behalf is essential to the Gospel. We deny that our salvation was achieved merely or exclusively by the death of Christ without reference to his life of perfect righteousness."

John Piper writes: “Justification cannot come through the law (see Gal. 2:21; Acts 13:38-39). Each of us-every single human being (see Rom. 3:10-12, 19-20)-has failed to do what God's law requires of us (Gal. 3:10; 6:13; cf. James 2:10). But to understand what God requires, we must see what Christ provides. In his mercy, God has provided his Son as a twofold substitute for us. Both facets of Christ's substitution are crucial for our becoming right with God. These facets are grounded in the twin facts that (1) we have failed to keep God's law perfectly, and so we should die; but (2) Jesus did not fail—he alone has kept God's law perfectly (see Heb. 4:15) —and so he should not have died. Yet in his mercy God has provided in Christ a great substitution—a "blessed exchange"—according to which Jesus can stand in for us with God, offering his perfect righteousness in place of our failure and his own life's blood in place of ours. When we receive the mercy God offers us in Christ by faith (see Acts 16:31; 1 Tim. 1:15-16; 1 Pet. 1:8-9), his perfection is imputed—or credited or reckoned—to us and our sinful failure is imputed—or credited or reckoned—to him. And thus Jesus' undeserved death pays for our sin (see Mark 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Rev. 5:9); and God's demand for us to be perfectly righteous is satisfied by the imputation or crediting of Christ's perfect righteousness to us. "If justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose" (Gal. 2:21). But "God has done what the law ... could not do" (Rom. 8:3).

2 Corinthians 5:21 is one of Scripture's most powerful affirmations of the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the account of those who believe in him: "For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." There is a great deal that can be said about this verse but, when all is said and done, perhaps Charles Hodge has summed up its import best:

There is probably no passage in the Scriptures in which the doctrine of justification is more concisely or clearly stated than [this]. Our sins were imputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed to us. He bore our sins; we are clothed in his righteousness... Christ bearing our sins did not make him morally a sinner... nor does Christ's righteousness become subjectively ours, it is not the moral quality of our souls... Our sins were the judicial ground of the sufferings of Christ, so that they were a satisfaction of justice; and his righteousness is the judicial ground of our acceptance with God.

All of this then means, as Hodge goes on to say, that "our pardon is an act of justice"—an act based on Jesus having borne our sins (see 1 Pet. 2:24)—and yet it "is not mere pardon, but justification alone"—that is, our forevermore standing as righteous before God because we are clothed with Christ's perfection—‘that gives us peace with God.’”

The Testimony of Scripture

• "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputed not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Psalm 32:1-2
• "And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Philippians 3:9
• "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:19
• "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21
• "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption:" 1 Corinthians 1:30
• "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Romans 3:24-28
• "And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." Romans 4:22-25
• "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" Romans 5:1
• "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness of everyone that believeth." Romans 10:3-4
• "Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Romans 5:18-19

George Whitefield says, “How the Lord is to be man's righteousness, comes next to be considered.

And that is, in one word, by IMPUTATION. For it pleased God, after he had made all things by the word of his power, to create man after his own image. And so infinite was the condescension of the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, that, although he might have insisted on the everlasting obedience of him and his posterity; yet he was pleased to oblige himself, by a covenant or agreement made with his own creatures, upon condition of an unsinning obedience, to give them immortality and eternal life. For when it is said, "The day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die;" we may fairly infer, so long as he continued obedient, and did not eat thereof, he should surely live. The 3rd of Genesis gives us a full, but mournful account, how our first parents broke this covenant, and thereby stood in need of a better righteousness than their own, in order to procure their future acceptance with God. For what must they do? They were as much under a covenant of works as ever. And though, after their disobedience, they were without strength; yet they were obliged not only to do, but continue to do all things, and that too in the most perfect manner, which the Lord had required of them: and not only so, but to make satisfaction to God's infinitely offended justice, for the breach they had already been guilty of. Here then opens the amazing scene of DIVINE PHILANTHROPY; I mean, God's love to man. For behold, what man could not do, Jesus Christ, the son of his Father's love, undertakes to do for him. And that God might be just in justifying the ungodly, though "he was in the form of God, and therefore thought it no robbery to be equal with God; yet he took upon him the form of a servant," even human nature. In that nature he obeyed, and thereby fulfilled the whole moral law in our stead; and also died a painful death upon the cross, and thereby became a curse for, or instead of, those whom the Father had given to him. As God, he satisfied, at the same time that he obeyed and suffered as man; and, being God and man in one person, he wrought out a full, perfect, and sufficient righteousness for all to whom it was to be imputed.

Here then we see the meaning of the word righteousness. It implies the active as well as passive obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. We generally, when talking of the merits of Christ, only mention the latter, — his death; whereas, the former, — his life and active obedience, is equally necessary. Christ is not such a Savior as becomes us, unless we join both together. Christ not only died, but lived, not only suffered, but obeyed for, or instead of, poor sinners. And both these jointly make up that complete righteousness, which is to be imputed to us, as the disobedience of our first parents was made ours by imputation. In this sense, and no other, are we to understand that parallel which the apostle Paul draws, in the 5th of the Romans, between the first and second Adam. This is what he elsewhere terms, "our being made the righteousness of God in him."

John Piper again writes: "The historic Protestant view of the Bible’s teaching is that the basis of our hope for acceptance with God and eternal life is the provision of Christ for both pardon and perfection. That is, He becomes our substitute in two senses: In His suffering and death He becomes our curse and condemnation (Galatians 3:13; Romans 8:3); in His final suffering and death, and in His whole life of suffering and righteousness, He becomes our perfection (2 Corinthians 5:21). His death is the climax of His atoning sufferings, which propitiate the wrath of God against us (Romans 3:24-25); and His death is the climax of a perfect life of righteousness—God’s righteousness’—imputed to us (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 4:6, 11 with 3:21-22; 5:18-19).

Sometimes these two aspects of Christ’s atoning work are spoken of as His active and passive obedience. This language may sound confusing since Christ was mistreated badly and suffered during His active life, and He was very active in His obedience as He suffered the last gruesome hours of His death. But if we recognize these ambiguities, there is truth to be seen in these terms the way the have been used.

For example, William G.T. Shedd writes, “By His passive righteousness is meant His expiatory sufferings, by which He satisfied the claims of justice, and by His active righteousness is meant His obedience to the law as a rule of life and conduct. It was contended by those who made this distinction, that the purpose of Christ as the vicarious substitute was to meet the entire demands of law for the sinner. But the law requires present and perfect obedience, as well as satisfaction for past disobedience. The law is not completely fulfilled by the endurance of penalty only. It must also be obeyed. Christ both endured the penalty due to man for disobedience, and perfectly obeyed the law for him; so that he was vicarious substitute in reference to both the precept and the penalty of the law. By His active obedience He obeyed the law, and by His passive obedience He endured the penalty. In this way His vicarious work is complete.” History of Christian Doctrine, Vol. 2 (New York, T.&T. Clark, 1863), p. 341.

John Wesley observed, “But as the active and passive righteousness of Christ were never, in fact, separated from each other, so we never need separate them at all, either in speaking or even in thinking. And it is with regard to both these conjointly that Jesus is called ‘The Lord Our Righteousness.’” John Wesley’s Sermons, Sermon #20, “The Lord Our Righteousness,” preached at the Chapel in West Street, Seven Dials on Sunday, November 24, 1765.

John Murray is very helpful here in making the proper use of the language of active and passive obedience. “The term ‘passive obedience’ does not mean that in anything Christ did was He passive, the involuntary victim of obedience imposed upon Him… In His sufferings He was supremely active… Neither are we to suppose that we can allocate certain phases or acts of our Lord’s life on earth to the active obedience and certain other phases acts to the passive obedience. The distinction between the active and passive obedience is not a distinction of periods. It is our Lord’s whole work of obedience in every phase and period that is described as active and passive, and we must avoid the mistake of thinking that the active obedience applies to the obedience of His life and passive obedience to the obedience of His final sufferings and death.

“The real use and purpose of the formula is to emphasize the two distinct aspects of our Lord’s vicarious obedience. The truth expressed rests upon the recognition that the law of God has both penal sanctions and positive demands. It demands not only the full discharge of its precepts but also the infliction of penalty for all infractions and shortcomings. It is the twofold demand of the law of God which is taken into account when we speak of the active and passive obedience of Christ. Christ as the vicar of His people came under the curse and condemnation due to sin and He also fulfilled the law of God in all its positive requirements. In other words, He took care of the guilt of sin and perfectly fulfilled the demands of righteousness. He perfectly met the bother penal and the preceptive requirement of God’s law. The passive obedience refers to the former and the active obedience to the later.” John Murray, Redemption—Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI; William B. Eerdmans, 1953), pp.20-22. -John Piper, Counted Righteous in Christ (Wheaton. IL; Crossway Books, 2002) pp. 123-124.

(An encore presentation)