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The Doctrine of |
by Brian Arend
But we are as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6
But you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness
arise
with healing in his wings;
and ye shall go forth and grow up as
calves of the stall.
Malachi 4:1
Christ's Righteousness is Imputed to Believers
Dear friends, have you heard such a statement in any of the recent sermons lately? Christ's righteousness is the heart of the gospel message. It is a grand and glorious truth, but if it is not preached, it will not be heard, if it is not printed, it will not be read.
Therefore, I ask you, how will the heathen be converted if the heart of the gospel is left out of the printed page, and the preached word?
All of the past worthies have made the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness a central theme in their gospel presentations. Let us look at the vitality of this doctrine. This we shall do in three ways: first, various scriptures to be considered, secondly, confessional statements, and thirdly, some concluding remarks and quotations.
Various Scriptures to be considered
"Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies;" Psalm 103:3-4
"He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy to them that fear Him." Psalm 103:10-11
"In those days, and at that time, will I cause thy Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness." Jeremiah 23:6
"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
"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." John 10:11
"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
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21
"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
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Galatians 2:16
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith." Romans 1:16-17
"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
"Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Romans 4:6-8
"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
"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:10
"Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Romans 5:9
"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
Confessional statements
"God imputeth the righteousness of Christ unto us for our own: so that now we are not only cleansed from our sin, and purged, and holy, but also endued with righteousness of Christ." Confession of Helvetia
"When therefore we do say, that we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1), this is our meaning: that we do obtain remission of sins, and imputation of righteousness, by mercy showed us for Christ's sake." The Augsburg Confession
"Casting away all opinion of virtues and merits, we do altogether rest in the only obedience of Jesus Christ, which is imputed to us, both that all our sins may be covered, and that we may obtain grace before God." The Confession of France
"Christ Himself is our righteousness, because that by His merit we have remission, and God doth impute His righteousness to us, and for Him doth account us just." The Confession of Saxony
"We are accounted righteous before God only for the merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by faith; and not for our own works or deservings, wherefore, that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine and full of comfort." The Church of England
"Christ Himself is our righteousness, which imputeth all His merits unto us: faith is but the instrument, whereby we are coupled unto Him." Confession of Belgia
"What believest thou concerning the forgiveness of sins?" "That God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all my life long, but will graciously impute to me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God." The Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 56
"Justification is an act of the grace of God, judging and proclaiming man to be righteous, through imputing to him the righteousness of Christ, which is received by the sinner through faith. " The Welch Calvinistic Methodists' Confession
"Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justified, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in His death, for their whole and sole righteousness." The Philadelphia Confession
"What is justification?" "Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone." The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question and Answer 33
Concluding Remarks and Quotes
The age old question, "Shall man be just with God?", must be spiritually revealed to us by God.
"What then must a sinner do to be saved? He must believe in and rest upon that Savior who was, by gracious imputation, made sin for us, that we by a similar exchange, might be made the righteousness of God in Him. At so much pains is a Pharisee in going about to establish his own righteousness, rather than embrace the bible-way of salvation by submitting to the righteousness of God the Son." [1]
"Therefore He is made wisdom and sanctification to us effectively by illuminating and regenerating us; but righteousness imputatively by imputing to us His righteousness." [2]
"Positively, that the ground of justification can be found only in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is imputed to the sinner in justification" [3]
It is important, when studying the righteousness of Christ, to understand the obedience of Christ in our place. At times, we may need to distinguish between His active obedience and His passive obedience, but never to separate the two. In His active obedience we understand that He, as our representative, obeyed the law perfectly. In His passive obedience, He bore our punishment and paid our sin debt, but that He did it voluntarily, intertwines the active and passive obedience of Christ.
"He, therefore, was sin, that we might be righteousness, nor ours, but God's, nor in us, but in Him, as He demonstrated sin, not His own, but ours, nor in Himself, but in us constituted in the likeness of sinful flesh, in which He was crucified." [4]
"In justification, righteousness is imputed, accounted, or reckoned. Faith distinguishes those to whom righteousness is imputed: it is unto all, and upon all them that believe, but it is not, in itself, either in whole or in part, the meritorious cause of justification. We are thus justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us." [5]
"The declaration that the sinner is restored to God's favor, has its ground, not in the sinner's personal character or conduct, but solely n the obedience and righteousness of Christ, to whom the sinner is united by faith." [6]
"If not on works or on faith, on what is the justification of the sinner founded? It is founded on the work of Christ alone. Its basis is not anything done by the sinner, nor anything wrought in him, but what was done for him." [7]
"The righteousness by which a sinner stands accepted is called the righteousness of God, because it is in opposition to the righteousness of men, because God provided and approves it and none other, and because He puts great honour upon it. It is called the righteousness of Christ, because our Lord Jesus Christ, being made under the law, was obedient to all its precepts, and suffered its dreadful penalty for us, and so Himself brought in everlasting righteousness of us." [8]
When the gospel is preached, the righteousness of Christ is revealed. The first sign of regeneracy is that the sinner becomes convinced of his or her unrighteousness, and the need for a perfect righteousness. The gospel declares to them the source of that perfect righteousness, which is the person and work of Christ alone.
"The gospel reveals the righteousness of Jesus Christ as the foundation of our justification. By His life, death, and resurrection Christ Jesus accomplished all that was necessary for our complete justification. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to our account or record, while our sins were imputed to Christ's record. God declares us not guilty before the moral universe and pronounces us righteous in His sight." [9]
"We delight to renounce all personal righteousness and call Him 'the Lord of righteousness.' Having established righteousness for us, Christ was 'obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,' as our substitute; and by His death He put away our sins." [10]
"What he says, what ever He means is obviously that our own righteousness in every item and degree of it is wholly excluded from the ground of our salvation, and the righteousness provided by God in Christ is the sole ground of our acceptance in His sight." [11]
"Till we have called Jesus Christ the Lord our righteousness, that is, heartily owned Him as such, our condition is a shameful, naked condition, and that is a wretched, miserable condition, Rev. 3:17, because, till clothed with Christ's righteousness, our shame appears in the sight of God." [12]
"Adam's disobedience was imputed to all His seed and procured their condemnation, the obedience of Jesus is imputed to all his seed and procures their justification. his whole work is set before us in the gospel and is called the righteousness of God and the righteousness of faith, by faith it is received and before God in the perfect work of Christ and is justified from all things." [13]
"Hereby it appears that none can deny the imputation of Christ's death and sufferings but those who deny His satisfaction, and so subvert the foundation of the gospel." [14]
After mentioning many forms of righteousness in which people lay their trust, we read this: "all these several rooms, and many more, hath Satan contrived in men's own righteousness, and persuades sinners that they may be secure therein, and rely safely thereon. Whatever refuge men fancy in their own righteousness, it will prove a refuge of lies, it will deceive and betray those that fly thereto. If you will not trust in the righteousness of Christ only, and stay yourselves upon Him, but rely on your own righteousness, as the prophet saith: You kindle a fire, and compass yourselves about with sparks that ye have kindled, and what will be the issue? To lie down in darkness, for all your own sparks, in that darkness where there is eternal sorrow, where there is weeping, and etc." [15]
"There are two things in justification. 1) The righteousness imputed; and that is Christ's and to Him we go for it. 2) The act of imputation, the accounting it mine or thine; and that is the act of God primarily." [16]
"Justification is attributed as much to free grace as to Christ's righteousness, for both are joined, therefore faith looks as much to free grace ordaining and imputing, as to Christ performing." [17]
Many fear that if they stay too long on the doctrine of justification the people of God will live ungodly, but nothing could be further from the truth. For, a right understanding of the ground of our salvation will produce a life of thankfulness for so great a salvation. Never do we separate the doctrine of justification from sanctification but we do distinguish for clarity as to our defense of the hope that is within us and the ground of our salvation.
The preaching of moralism with its motivation being either fear of punishment, or promise of reward, leaves the sinner with no hope, but that of a works foundation which shall, sooner or later, surely fall.
That the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers is the only way a sinner may appear before God, shall be the main emphasis of every gospel presentation.
That the doctrine of assurance of salvation is based solely upon the work of Christ is what gives the believer peace with God, should serve as a great comfort to many unsettled souls.
That the only true motivation to holiness of life is that which springs out of love and gratitude to God for so great a salvation.
Therefore, a life of thankfulness is to be expected of all those who profess to embrace this doctrine as the heart of the gospel.
"It is our thankfulness that we are in an unchangeable state of justification based solely upon Christ's unchangeable righteousness." [18]
"The only way you can obtain the imputed righteousness of God in Christ is by faith (Rom 9:31-33). Faith does not perform righteousness, or merit righteousness. Faith receives righteousness." [19]
"'It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?' Rom 8:33-34. 'And it is Jesus that justifieth all His redeemed, by His blood and righteousness; for He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification;' Rom 4:25. And that the hand of God the Holy Ghost was in all this, is equally evident; for it is as expressly said, that Christ was 'justified in the Spirit' which would never have been the case, had not both God's law and God's justice been satisfied, and thus justified Jesus, as the sinner's surety." [20]
"Consider that it is a great work of God's Spirit to convince men and assure them that it is safe appearing in the righteousness of Christ." [21]
"And never think that to live always on Christ for justification is a low and beggarly thing, and as it were a staying at the foundation; for let me tell you, depart from a sense of the meritorious means of your justification with God, and you will quickly grow light, and frothly, and vain." [22]
"Romans 5:12-21 is one of the most important passages in the Bible. In it the fundamental doctrine of federal representation is openly stated, and the fact of imputation is emphatically affirmed." [23]
"The doctrine of imputation is as bitterly hated as those of unconditional election and eternal punishment." [24]
"'He, of God, is made unto us righteousness.' The transference is complete and eternal. From the moment that we receive the divine testimony to the righteousness of the Son of God, all the guilt that was on us passes over to Him, and all His righteousness passes over to us..." [25]
"The imputation is an act of God, of His mere love and grace; whereby, on the consideration of the mediation of Christ, He makes an effectual grant and donation of a true, real, perfect righteousness, even that of Christ Himself, unto all that do believe, and accounting it as theirs, on His own gracious act, both absolve them from sin and granteth them right and title unto eternal life." [26]
ENDNOTES
1) The Complete Works of Augustus Toplady, p. 317.
2) F. Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 2, p. 652.
3) L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pp. 268-269.
4) Augustine, quoted by F. Turrentin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, p. 652.
5) J. L. Dagg, Manual of Theology, pp. 268-269.
6) A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, p. 858.
7) E. F. Kevan, Salvation, p. 53.
8) Wm. S. Plumer, The Grace of Christ, pp. 215-216.
9) R. A. Morey, The Saving Work of Christ, pp. 176, 186.
10) Don S. Fortner, Grace for Today, p. 47.
11) B. B. Warfield, Faith and Life, pp. 315-316.
12) Philip Henry, Christ All in All, p. 76.
13) James Smith, The Love of Christ, p. 94.
14) The Works of David Clarkson, Vol. 1, p. 287.
15) Ibid., pp. 298-299.
16) Thomas Goodwin, Justifying Faith, p. 134.
17) Ibid., p. 134.
18) Bill W. Parker, Studies in Hebrews, p. 139.
19) Don S. Fortner, Pictures of Christ in Revelation, Lesson 54
20) Robert Hawker, The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions, p. 702.
21) Solomon Stoddard, The Righteousness of Christ, p. 123.
22) John Bunyan, Justification by an Imputed Righteousness, p. 40.
23) Arthur W. Pink, Gleanings from the Scriptures, p. 55.
24) Ibid.
25) Horatius Bonar, The Everlasting Righteousness, p. 71.
26) John Owen, The Works of John Owen, Vol. 5, p. 173.
