Hello Church. I was cruising around the blog world today and found this. I thought it was a neat "coincidence" in light of our study Sunday. I hope if serves as edification for you.
Pastor Brian
The truth is that our redemption depends not only on Christ’s substitutionary death, but his substitutionary life as well. In fact, J. Gresham Machen’s last recorded words (sent by telegram to his friend and colleague, John Murray) were, “So thankful for Christ’s active obedience; no hope without it!” He understood that apart from Christ’s law fulfilling life, there is NO righteousness to impute…and we are, therefore, left dressed in our own filthy rags.
In his excellent book, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, John Murray writes:
The real use and purpose of the formula (active and passive obedience) 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 this 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 both the penal and the preceptive requirements of God’s law. The passive obedience refers to the former and the active obedience to the latter.
Christ’s life, in other words, is just as central to our rescue as his death. As I’ve said before, we are not saved apart from the law. Rather, we are saved in Christ who perfectly kept the law on our behalf. Michael Horton points this out in his excellent essay “Obedience is Better than Sacrifice”:
As important as it is that Christ bore the penalty of our sins on the cross, it is just as important that he triumphed over the powers of evil and recapitulated the history of fallen humanity and Israel. Adam was commanded to obey God’s law and failed, Israel was commanded to obey God’s law and failed, but Christ came into this world and completed a life of perfect obedience to the law of his Father. Christ the righteous One was indeed the Last Adam, the True Israel…We have not only been forgiven on the basis of Christ’s curse-bearing death, but justified on the basis of his probation-fulfilling life.
This is nothing new…it’s been a stamp of historic Reformed theological conviction for centuries as Heidelberg Catechism question 60 shows:
God imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed any sin, and myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me.
So, Christ’s death is not the center of the Gospel anymore than Christ’s life is the center of the Gospel. One without the other fails to bring about redemption. It’s much more theologically accurate to say that Christ himself is the center of the Gospel (incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, session, and promised return). I think this is a really big deal because the practical life implications of neglecting the totality of Christ’s person and work are disastrous.
I had the opportunity to point this out recently on a panel discussion in Orlando. I think much more work needs to be done in this area.
Just thinking out loud…and raising a warning flag!
- Tullian Tchividjian
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