This content critically examines the theological doctrine of the "active obedience of Christ," arguing that while Christ lived a perfect, sinless life, this life does not contribute to believers' justification or salvation. Instead, salvation is solely based on Christ's atoning death on the cross.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
all right again well welcome back to
evening service and to summer in the
systematics installment number seven for
the year
2024 and by way of reminder so far in
our study of christology we have looked
at the pre-existence of Christ the deity
of Christ the humanity of Christ the
natures of Christ the Incarnation of
Christ and most recently a couple weeks
ago we looked at the Life of Christ so
we're six lessons in and tonight in
lesson number seven we're going to get
into a topic which I think naturally
flows out of the Life of Christ that
being The Obedience of Christ you'll
recall last time one of the topics we
covered was the sinlessness of Christ
what theologians call the impeccability
of Christ where we saw that Jesus lived
one perfect sinless life and he on
account of his deity on account of his
godness could have only lived a perfect
and sinless life we saw last time that
that he was not only able not to sin he
was not able to sin but all would affirm
and acknowledge and agree at least those
who have set up shop within the
boundaries of Orthodoxy that Jesus lived
a perfect sinless life yes he was
tempted but he was without sin Hebrews
4:15 we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses
but one who has been tempted in all
things like we are yet without sin he
was holy and blameless and pure as
Hebrews 7 Notes for it was fitting for
us to have a high priest holy innocent
undefiled separated from Sinners and
exalted above the heavens who does not
need daily like those High priests to
offer up sacrifices first for his own
sins and then for the sins of the people
because this he did once for all when he
offered up himself Jesus could sternly
say to his opponents that he could not
be proven guilty of sin John 8:46 which
one of you convicts me of sin if I speak
truth why do you not believe me uh we've
seen in the Gospel of Luke that Jesus
was described in Luke 135 as a holy
child he never did anything that
displeased God he only did those things
which pleased the father in fact
speaking of the father he says here in
John 8:29 I always do the things that
are pleasing to him he kept the father's
commandment John 15 if you keep my
Commandments you will abide in my love
just as I have kept my father's
Commandments and abide in his love there
is no record of Jesus ever offering
sacrifices in the temple and why because
he had no sin 2 Corinthians 5:21 he made
him who knew no sin to be sin on our
behalf so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him more on that
verse later uh he committed no sin there
was no deceit found in his mouth that's
what's said here in 1 Peter 2 for to
this you have been called since Christ
also suffered for you leaving you an
example that you should follow in his
steps who did no sin nor was any deceit
found in his mouth he was a lamb without
blemish a lamb without spot as we see in
1 Peter 11:18 and 19 you were not
redeemed with corruptible things like
silver or gold from your futile conduct
inherited from your forefathers but with
Precious Blood as of a lamb unblemished
and spotless the blood of Christ and
then this one 1 John 3:5 in him there
was no sin and you know that he was
manifested in order to take away sins
and in him there is no sin there is no
record in the scriptures of Jesus ever
feeling guilty about anything or
regretting anything or or wishing he had
done something differently or or seeking
forgiveness from anyone or confessing to
any wrongdoing rather everything he did
or thought or said conformed exactly to
the will of God God the father so that's
understood that's common ground within
the boundaries of Christian Orthodoxy
that that Jesus lived a perfect life he
obeyed his father perfectly during his
life on Earth and indeed he did keep the
law perfectly during his Earthly
Ministry he was obedient he was
perfectly obedient he was fully
obedient now that brings us to the big
question on the table for us tonight
which is
this what does Jesus's perfect life of
obedience mean for
us did he by living a perfect life Merit
anything for us did he by by keeping the
law earn something for
us and that brings us to a topic for
this evening which admittedly is going
to be somewhat of a deeper dive on the
active Obedience of Christ This is a
Doctrine that's out there that is known
as the active Obedience of Christ when
you leave here tonight you will all be
experts on the doctrine of the active
Obedience of Christ uh which is often
referred to as the imputation of the
active Obedience of Christ that's what
that's what theologians call it the
doctrine of the imputation of the active
Obedience of Christ but in in church
circles and behind pulpits and in books
and in conferences it's typically
camouflaged another language language
that you're probably much more familiar
with like Jesus lived the perfect life
for you that you should have lived but
didn't or when we put our faith in Jesus
our sin is placed in Jesus's account and
his righteousness is placed in ours now
at first glance those references might
might seem to be okay they might sound
innocuous because it is true that Jesus
did live a perfect life and it is true
that that we have not lived perfect lives
lives
and it is true that Jesus as God is
inherently righteous and perfect and it
is true that we as Fallen sinful
creatures are not inherently righteous
and perfect and it is true that we do
need a sacrificial and sinless
substitute to stand in our place and it
is true as Paul said in 2 Corinthians
5:21 that he made him who knew no sin to
be sin on our behalf so that we might
become the righteousness of God in him
but that still doesn't answer the
ultimate question the question that's on
the table tonight again what does
Jesus's perfect life of obedience mean for
for
us what we're going to be doing here
this evening is looking biblically at
that question we're going to look at
whether it is in any way true that it is
through Christ's life and specifically
through his life of lawke keeping that
we are Justified and made righteous
before the holy God of heaven or instead
whether it is through his death and only
his death that our Eternal Hope Is
Anchored using the words of the old hymn
is Our Hope built on Jesus's blood and
righteousness or is it built only on his
blood what he accomplished at Calvary in
the cross in his death in his burial and
ultimately in his
resurrection well this is a topic that
could have just as easily fit in our
study of
soteriology the doctrine of salvation
which Lord willing we will cover in the
year 2030 I think is how I calculated it
um but I thought it would fit tonight
under this umbrella of christology for a
couple of
reasons first we have just looked at the
Life of Christ so it is natural to to
follow up and look into what if anything
Christ's perfect life merited us
specifically as it relates to his
keeping of the law
and and it's it makes sense logically to
to explore what his obedience to the
father looks like and what it what it
what it meant for us if
anything second as I've already alluded
to uh this
doctrine of the AC of obedience of
Christ which holds that that Christ Som
how earned righteousness through his
perfect keeping of the law during his
life has in recent years become more and
more commonly embraced by theologians of
of various tribes and of of various
traditions and various convictions and
by Churches of various denominations and
stripes and
Persuasions in fact in these next
several slides I'm going to put up some
names of individuals and groups that
you're likely familiar with to give us
all a flavor of what's being taught out
there these days and then from there
we'll get into the main points for this
evening's message we'll start with RC
Sproul founder of the lioner academy
first in Pennsylvania then Li liger
Ministries down in FLA Florida he's a
true heavyweight in the realm of
reformed theology over the past 50 years
and is a man who many would credit with
a Resurgence of reformed theology in the
last half century and Sproul said this
in his book faith alone in
1995 he says the cross alone however
does not justify us we are Justified not
only by the death of Christ but also by
The Life of Christ Christ's mission of
redemption was not limited to the cross
to save us he had to live a life of perfect
perfect
righteousness his perfect active
obedience was necessary for his and our
Salvation we are constituted as
righteous by The Obedience of Christ
which is imputed To Us by
faith some 10 years or so after Sproul
wrote those words the leaders of the
Gospel Coalition said something similar
this is from tgc's confessional
statement number eight they say by his
that's referring to Christ
perfect obedience he satisfied the just
demands of God on our behalf since by
faith alone that perfect obedience is
credited to all who Trust In Christ
Alone for their acceptance with God
those just demands of God on our behalf
by the way would be the a reference to the
the
law then in 2009 Richard P beler Jr of
Reformed Theological Seminary said if
not for Christ's Act of obedience and
righteousness received through faith
alone no one would receive eternal life
and and men like Sproul and beler here
and many other reformed theologians like
them they they often go back to an
Infamous quote of Jay Gresham ma the
founder of Westminster Theological
Seminary and the author of an excellent
book called Christianity and
liberalism who on his deathbed it is
said famously sent this telegram to his
good friend John Murray where he Saidi
so thankful for the act of obedience of
Christ no hope without it now there have
been many men in other words as I've
just quoted for you a few of them here
well-respected men in broader
evangelicalism who have embraced this
doctrine of the imputation of the act of
obedience of Christ and and these men
believe and and this is really what's at
the the heart of the issue the heart of
this doctrine of the imputation of the
act of obedience of Christ that our hope
is not only in Jesus's death on the
cross but our hope is in his life and
life specifically of perfect lawke
keeping these men that believe as we
would believe ultimately that that Jesus
did perfectly keep the law of
Moses not only though because he was God
which is what we would say he's perfect
so therefore he perfectly kept the law
but they would say he did so in a way to
Merit or to earn righteousness on our
behalf now so far with these quotes have
only brought us up to around the year
2009 that was 15 years ago if you can
believe that uh but it's still prevalent
and it's it's gaining momentum in the year
year
2024 it's a a belief system that is
escalating not only in terms of the
number of individuals who are holding to
this Doctrine but now who are actually
insisting that others do so or else they
accuse men like me of preaching a half
gospel for instance here's Matthew
Johnston he's a pastor down in New
Zealand and he says if you think the
imputation of Christ's righteousness
based on his perfect lawke keeping for
us is adding to the gospel as you're
going to hear a little bit later that's
what I would say then I cannot help you
any other way besides calling you to
repent of your half
gospel that is very highly charged
language since a half Gospel of course
is no gospel at all we think of Paul's
jarring words here in Galatians 1:8
where he says but even if we are an
angel from heaven should Proclaim to you
a gospel contrary to the gospel we have
proclaimed to you let him be a curse
a half gospel in other words condemns a
a half gospel dams and what those who
are aggressively pushing the doctrine of
the imputation of the act of obedience
of Christ are are doing and saying
they're they're saying that if you don't
accept their cherished Doctrine you're
you're walking on Dangerous Ground in
fact you may not even be
saved well so far I've quoted
largely a bunch of
Presbyterians ma beler Sproul all
Presbyterians surely this doctrine of
Act of obedience hasn't crossed over
into the Bible Church world right wrong
uh Phil Johnson from grace to you is one
of the more vocal proponents of this
Doctrine Peter Sammons who most recently
was at the Master's Seminary wrote
extensively on this Doctrine Matthew
Johnson who I just quoted is a master
Seminary graduate and and Grace
Community Church where of course John
MacArthur has been pastoring for now 55 years
years
in March of this year updated their
doctrinal statement it's up here on the
screen says we teach that salvation is
Holy of God by grace on the basis of the
Redemption of Jesus Christ the merits
both of his life of perfect
righteousness and his atoning blood and
not on the basis of human merits or
Works those underlined words there the
merits both of his life of perfect
righteousness and his atoning blood
that's a new addition this is updated
language as you as you can see there as
of March of 2024 and in their updated
doctrinal statement we see this in
footnote 43 to that doctrinal change
they they explain why they've made the
change they say rather than merely the
Merit of Christ shed blood we added the
merits both of his life of perfect
righteousness and his atoning blood in
order to represent both the active and
passive Obedience of Christ his blood
and righteousness as we
sing now Grace Community Church
obviously is a faithful Church it is a
respected Church all around the world
and what they're doing here is making
clear their position as this faithful
respected impactful church that that the
doctrine of the imputation of the act of
obedience of Christ they're saying is a
a necessary component of the Gospel this
fits under their statement about
salvation in other words this Doctrine
is now not only being taught
Presbyterian churches it's moved over to
the Bible Church world to churches like
Grace Community Church now I don't know
anyone today who is a more aggressive
and and vocal proponent of this doctrine
of the imputation of the act of
obedience of Christ than Pat
abendroth Pat is a master Seminary
graduate himself he's the pastor of
Omaha Bible Church just up the road from
us and in fact earlier this year he
published a self-published a short
little book more like a pamphlet called
the active Obedience of Christ and there
are many in the reformed world and many
in Bible Church land who are are
championing and celebrating and
promoting this book so obviously I had
to read it and I had to read it several
times and I did read it several times
and I I scribbled all over its margins
and I'm not going to do a fulllength
book review up here tonight I'll save
that for my pen later uh but I will
share with you a few quotes from Pat
abendroth's book and give a little bit
of color commentary along the way uh
first the book is replete with
statements like this he says you see
justification is genuinely based upon
something and that something is the
perfect righteousness of Christ and then
look at this parenthesis I.E his perfect
obedience to the law now I will
represent to you that there's no
citation given here there's no
background given here there's just this
citation here made by Pastor abendroth
with no biblical backing and no biblical
support back in my law practicing days
if if I was just to make a statement in
front of a court of law and say your
honor it it is what it is because I say
what it is the honor would say Council
that is ipsedixit
I ipse second word
Dixit it's a Latin term and it means he
himself said it it means it's an
assertion of statement that's not
supported by anything it's just a
person's opinion it's an unsupported
statement and he would then that judge
would tell me to sit down and and go
home um that's what we have here with
quotes like these quotes that have no
support they're they're just statements
it's writing words and filling book
filling pages and and selling
books well second this book by a and
drth called the act of obedience of
Christ is is Laden with appeals to
popularity uh for instance in chapter
four of the book Pastor Abend devotes a
whole chapter to mentioning various men
who over the course of history have held
this act of obedience view uh he starts
by quoting all kinds of confessional
documents the Lutheran book of Concord
the belgic confession the Westminster
Confession of Faith the savoo
Declaration the second London Baptist
confession the heidleberg catechism then
he gets in into some of the big names
like Martin Luther and John Calvin and
and John Owen and John bunan and then
the man that abenroth got his
dissertation under RC Sproul and then he
writes this
other contemporary well-known figures
upholding the act of obedience of Christ
included Michael Horton and Sinclair
Ferguson and Jerry Bridges John
MacArthur even preached the act of
obedience of Christ to Larry King on
CNN and my response to that would be so
what I mean that's not serious
scholarship that's not exog Jesus that's
just unfurling your roll call of big
names to support what you believe is is
the doctrine that you need to hold to I
mean really none of us ought take care
which big name is supporting whatever
Doctrine anybody is per purporting to
support or Advocate everything of course
needs to be brought in line with what
the Bible
teaches third this book The Act of
obedience of Christ is is chalk full of
appeals to emotion uh namely Pastor
abendroth's own emotion when he makes
statements like this he says I've been
appalled to learn of professing
Christians and Christian theologians
whom I once trusted opposing the act of
obedience of Christ and thereby bringing
harm to the Lord's
sheep who Pastor abendroth once trusted
and what he is now personally appalled
by is of zero re relevance to whether
the doctrine he is advocating is biblically
biblically
supportable our North Star is not any
man's personal convictions whether
Pastor abendroth's or mine or yours or
John MacArthur's or Gil Ruth's our
Compass rather is the word of God and
what we're called to do is study what
God has said to see whether any of the
these doctrines that we promote have any
weight and what we're going to find this
evening is that the Bible does not
support the doctrine of the imputation
of the act of obedience of Christ did
Christ live a perfect life absolutely he
did did Christ obey the law perfectly
yes of course he did see number one he
was perfect is Christ inherently
righteous the scriptures say this is so
1 John 2:1
righteous is righteous is is who Jesus
is he's Jesus Christ the righteous but
what about this matter of of active
obedience did Jesus keep the law as a
means of imparting his righteousness to
us no the Bible never says such a thing
what we're going to see tonight and
these are the three blanks in your
worksheet is that this doctrine of the
imputation of the act of obedience of
Christ number one misapplies the law
that would be your first blank there the law
law
number two it minimizes the cross that's
your second blank and third it
misinterprets scripture so it misapplies
the law it minimizes the cross and it
misinterprets scripture let's start with
the first one which is that this
doctrine of Act of obedience misapplies the
the
law as we touched upon briefly last time
that the law of Moses which I'll just
shorten and call the law tonight
was still operative during Christ's life
on Earth we know that the law was
inaugurated for Israel through Moses and
it was still in effect during the Life
of Christ meaning during his Earthly
Ministry Jesus lived under the the
jurisdiction of the law Galatians 3:23
says before Faith came we were held in
custody under the law being shut up for
the coming Faith to be revealed and
Galatians 4:4 but when the fullness of
the time came God sent forth his son
born of a woman born under the law so
Jesus lived in the the era of the law he
taught in the law he interpreted the law
that's what he was doing when he said
you've heard it said but I say and
ultimately we know that Jesus fulfilled
the law he said do not think that I came
to abolish the law or the prophets I did
not come to abolish but to fulfill and
not only that he was the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone who
believes as it says here in Romans
10:4 so Jesus live during this time that
the that the law was still in effect but
here's big problem number one with this
doctrine of the imputation of the act of
obedience of Christ it places undue
emphasis on the law and its role in the
Believers justification
today here's what I mean by that no
matter what theological camp that you
land in as Protestant Believers we would
all hold the view that no one is saved
by keeping the law
meaning the law of Moses the law God
gave the Israelites during the days of
Moses and we would all hold to we would
all hold of that because the scriptures
are so clear on this point Romans 4:5
says but to the one who does not work
but believes upon him who justifies the
ungodly his faith is counted as
righteousness Galatians 2:16 a man is
not justified by The Works of the law
but through faith in Jesus Christ
Galatians 3:11 now that no one is
justified by the law before God is
evident and we read this during the
scripture reading for the law was given
through Moses Grace and Truth came
through Jesus
Christ now what happens is in in this
strange twist to those who hold to this
doctrine of active obedience though they
would agree that nobody could ever be
justified by their own keeping of the
law like these verses indicate they also
say that we are somehow counted
righteous by the lawke keeping of
another namely Christ it is said by
those who hold this view that that he
kept the law in our stead in in our
place and what he stored up in his
keeping of the law was righteousness and
then that that that righteousness is
imputed to us placed in our account as
the vernacular says today here's ji
Packer godly man in a in a from the
reformed Camp he says the phrase
the imputation of Christ's righteousness
means namely that Believers are
righteous and have righteousness before
God for no other reason than that Christ
their head was righteous before God and
they are one with him shares of his
status and acceptance God justifies them
by passing on them for Christ's sake the
verdict which Christ's obedience merited
God declares them to be righteous
because he reckons them to be righteous
and he reckons righteousness to them not
because he accounts them to have kept
his law personally but because he
accounts them to be United to the one
who kept it
representatively not note the Assumption
here we were according to Packer to have
kept God's law personally but we didn't
Christ did so instead and he did so in
our place but but note the assumption
that underg guards all of this he he's
assuming what he's assuming that the law
applies to the Christian
today and where does that assumption
come from well that assumption comes
from Packer's commitment to to covenant
theology see see this whole doctrine of
the imputation of the act of obedience
of Christ is a distinctly covenant
theology infused Doctrine Patty abrath
concedes as much as much he says yes
indeed the act of obedience of Christ is
inseparably linked to covenant theology
and what is covenant theology well this
church is well taught and I'm not going
to have time to go exhaustively into
every aspect of covenant theology
tonight but I will give some highlights
some Basics uh the whole system of
covenant theology rests on three pillars
which are the those three supposed
covenants that reformed theologians have
extrapolated from the Bible and those
three theological covenants are the way
that reformed theologians attempt to
describe how God's Plan of Salvation
came about and how God's Plan of
Salvation is being carried out and I
should say that that reformed
theologians they view personal salvation
individual personal salvation through
Christ as of being of primary importance
when we read the scripture that is the
central theme of scripture for the
Covenant Theologian that it is salvation
through Christ so whether you're
engaging with the Old Testament or the
New Testament the theme is Christ and
salvation of individuals like you and me
through Christ so according to the
Covenant Theologian God's overarching
plan of of Salvation through Christ is
the theme and then it's carried out
through these these three covenants the
Covenant of works the Covenant of
redemption and the Covenant of Grace
let's go through very basic definitions
of all three starting with the Covenant
of Works here's JV fesco he says the
Covenant of works is God's agreement
with Adam that he would Grant him
eternal life on the condition of his
obedience to his commands to fill the
Earth and subdue it and not to eat from
the Tree of knowledge obedience would
bring great blessing but Disobedience
would bring death for Adam and his
offspring that's a really basic
definition here of the Covenant of works
and it was obviously violated when Adam
sinned in the garden then you have the
Covenant of
redemption it's defined here by Louis
burkoff he says the Covenant of
redemption may be defined as the
agreement between the father giving the
son his head and Redeemer of the elect
and the son voluntarily taking the place
of Those whom the father had given him
so putting those two covenants together
in this system Adam failed he plunges
mankind into sin so God the Father
covenants so they say with God the son
to redeem a certain group of elect
Sinners and then the third piece of the
covenantal puzzle is the Covenant of
Grace which is quoted here in the
Westminster sh catechism God having out
of his mere good pleasure from all
eternity elected some to everlasting
life did enter into a Covenant of Grace
to deliver them out of the estate of sin
and misery and to bring them into an
estate of Salvation by a
redeemer for the sake of time I really
can't give a whole course on covenant
theology tonight but that is the general
framework of the three pillars the three
covenants that they would say support
their system and it is important to note
those covenants and I've I've said it
before certainly Gil said it before many
years before me uh those covenants are
mentioned nowhere on the pages of
scripture uh no the covenants of
covenant theology are not biblical
covenants they are theological
constructs Charles Rye notes they're
deductions not inductions from scripture
the existence of the covenants he's
talking about the covenants of covenant
theology is not found by an inductive
examination of passages meaning if you
just open up your Bible and looked for
those covenants you wouldn't find them
they're not there why do I bring up this
matter of Covenant theology this evening
when we're talking about their the
active Obedience of Christ I bring it up
because there is a a link between the
Covenant of works from covenant theology
and this doctrine of the act of
obedience of Christ I'm going to put up
a series of quotes from Larry pedru who
is not a covenant Theologian he just
went home to be with the Lord earlier
this year he says in covenant theology
the only way for a human being to gain
eternal life is to keep perfectly the
Covenant of work works as formulated
into law that's a very important
observation here by pedig because it
establishes how important lawke keeping
is in the whole system of covenant
theology and that's not just pedigo's
wild opinion they're actually many
Covenant theologians who say that very
thing here's Charles Hodge a covenant
Theologian he says the law demands and
from the nature of God must demand
perfect obedience no man since the fall
is able to fulfill these demands yet he
must fulfill them or perish you see that
emphasis on lawke keeping there or the
Westminster Shorter Catechism where
wherein is the law sumar summarily
comprehended answer the moral law is
summarily comprehended in the 10
commandments emphasis on on lawke
keeping back to Dr pedru he says this
this is him tying together the Covenant
of works and that relationship with that
Covenant to the whole reformed or
covenantal idea of lawke keeping for the
Christian and its connection to this act
of obedience Doctrine he says so keeping
the Covenant of works as formulated
primarily in the Ten Commandments of the
Mosaic law is an absolute necessity for
salvation the Mosaic law also serves as
the ethical standard for
Christians he goes on to say covenantal
ists teach that God covenanted with his
son to earn righteousness for us through
his life of lawke keeping and then
suffer Eternal death on the cross for us
so that God could forgive our sins these
two Provisions provided for us by Christ
lawke keeping and substitutionary death
are often described as the active and
passive Obedience of Christ we're
looking at the Active obedience tonight
in covenantalism therefore it is through
the active and passive Obedience of the
substitute Jesus Christ that God
justifies The Sinner and considers him
to have kept the Covenant of works so
Adam failed but through Christ and his
perfect lawke keeping we are deemed to
have kept the Covenant of
works if I can attempt to summarize what
what Dr pedig is pointing out here it
it's this that that those in the
reformed Camp influenced by principles
of of covenant theology what they're
doing is they're they're conflating and
they're comingling the law that the
Israelites were under and in the era of
grace in which we live they really fail
to see the distinctions given to us in
God's word that relate to those passages
and Provisions that relate to Israel as
it lived under the law and the church
and how it's to live and how we are to
live in this era of Grace they drag the
law back into this era of Grace and they
assume that we in the church age need
lawke keeping not our own but that of
Christ and we need that lawke keeping of
Christ in order to render us righteous
in the eyes of God and with that that
means is that according to their system
salvation really is not purely of Grace
but it is in a sense of Works Christ's
Works Christ's lawke
keeping and that reality is picked up in
a couple more quotes here myON hton says
in much reformed thinking the gospel
includes more than the death and
resurrection of Christ it also includes
his perfect keeping of the law on behalf
of Believers it is this human
righteousness of Jes Jesus that is
credited they teach to the believer's
account in justification Christ's
keeping of the Covenant of Works I.E the
law on behalf of the believer is
incorporated into the Covenant of
Grace and here's pedig again he says for
covenantalism there's a sort of
protestant treasury of Merit so to speak
containing the infinite righteousness
that Christ earned by keeping the
Covenant of works not for himself but
for others God withdraws from this
infinite treasury of righteousness when
he justifies the repentant
sinner he's not exaggerating here and
I'm not exaggerating here because even
reformed and covenantal theologians will
concede that theirs is ultimately a
Works based belief system with the works
being those of Christ not our own but
those of Christ who fulfills this
so-called Covenant of works that God
made with Adam in the garden I'm going
to skip right to this quote from Michael
Horton who said says we are indeed saved
by works but by Christ's fulfillment of the
the
law as the last adom our covenant head I
mean there you go you have the roote
issue here he says we are indeed saved
by works Christianity then is just
another works-based religion it's not
our works it's Christ's works his Works
in keeping the law and here's Pat
abendroth again he says the work of
Jesus provides for the believer the
removal of guilt for violations against
God's law so it's not only the cross of
Jesus it's the work of Jesus and keeping
the law that justifies
us I appreciate what William William
Newell says on this subject contrary to
all these men I've been quoting he says
do you not see that those who claim that
our Lord's righteous life under Moses's
law is reckoned to us for our active
righteousness while his death in which
he put away our sins is as they claim
the passive side are really leaving you
and the Lord too under the authority of the
the
law that's really the issue are we under
law or are we under grace and the
scriptures are clear John 1:17 again for
the law was given through Moses Grace
and Truth came through Jesus Christ
Romans 10:4 for Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone who
believes Romans 3:21 but now apart from
the law the righteousness of God has
been manifested
weighing these matters out then of the
law and its application or lack thereof
to to Christians today and the so-called
Covenant of works and how it factors in
or doesn't factor in I end up here with
John Nelson Darby he says I simply very
openly deny this doctrine of the
justifying vicariousness of Christ's
life as under the
law that Christ perfectly kept the law
that he perfectly fulfilled the law does
not mean that his life of obedience in
in in any sense justifies us or redeems
us or reconciles us to The God Who gave
his law to Israel the Risen Christ
himself is our righteousness our
righteousness isn't found in Christ
fulfilling the law in our
place well we've seen point one that
this doctrine of the act of obedience of
Christ misapplies the law number two it
minimizes the
cross now will say In fairness no matter
what side of the line that you are in on
this issue whether you believe in the
doctrine of AC of obedience or not you
are not going to find anyone who would
deny the importance of the cross of
Jesus Christ in our justification in our
redemption in our forgiveness in our
Salvation I not saying that those who
hold an act of obedience don't believe
in the cross that's not true but when
you start digging into this Doctrine you
do start hitting some snags and you do
start hitting some problems
uh for instance those who hold the this
doctrine of active obedience they do
hold up John Calvin as as one of their
theological Heroes I mean John Calvin if
I can just say this for a moment he's
he's one of those um those men in the
pantheon of protestantism where it's
okay it's been deemed okay to give
homage to him as though he's infallible
well he he's not infallible no man is
infallible and Calvin was though he is
fallible Calvin was a brilliant man in
fact he wrote his first edition of the
Institutes of the Christian religion
this massive Tome when he was 26 years
old in his institutes though he Embraces
this doctrine of active obedience here
are some of his words on the subject he
says when it is is asked how Christ by
abolishing sin removed the enmity
between God and us and purchased a
righteousness which made him favorable
and kind to us it may be answered
generally that he accomplished this by
the whole course of his obedience he's
not talking about his death he's talking
about his whole
life he's saying very openly here that
it's not the death of Christ Alone that
justifies us or redeems us it's also
everything he endured in his life he his
sufferings Every Act of obedience he
demonstrated in his life before the
cross Calvin would say plays a part in
our Redemption and our justification
that means he was in some sense paying
the price of our deliverance even even
as a child and and throughout his life
not just in his
death here's reformed Theologian
horatius Bonar who lived in the 1800s he
says something similar he says Christ's
vicarious life began in the manger there
his sin bearing had begun when he was
circumcised and baptized it was as a
substitute and he was always the sinless
one bearing our
sins a a Hajj another reformed
Theologian says the scriptures teach us
plainly that Christ's obedience was as
truly vicarious as was his suffering and
that he reconciled us to the father by
the one as well as the other he's saying
that Christ's obedience in life was just
as vicarious just as substitutionary as
was his death it had an effect Upon Our
Redemption and an effect upon our
Salvation well that leads to another
question that I would have which is this
if if if Christ's life was in any sense
vicarious if it was in any sense
substitutionary if as Hajj says it was
as though he was already reconciling us
to the father through his life then why
did christ have to die if he was already
going to justify us through his life
then why did he have to die if
justification comes through keeping the
law and we saw earlier from Michael
Horton that Christ did perfectly keep
the law and and he he even called it a
Salvation by works Christ works if the
merits of Christ obedience to the law
through his his perfect lawke keeping in
any way justify or redeem or contribute
to our Salvation and he did it perfectly
then again why did he have to
die in fact Paul moved by the spirit can
say it a lot better than I can we know
Galatians 2:20 I've been crucified with
Christ it is no longer I who live but
Christ lives in me and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself up for me but then look at this
he says I do not set aside the grace of God
God
for if righteousness comes through the
law then Christ died
needlessly meaning if Christ's perfect
life of lawke keeping could truly Merit
or earn us
righteousness then Christ died for no
reason he could have simply kept the law
he didn't have to
die John Richie this is not an original
idea to me he says if if God reckons The
Sinner to have kept the law because
Christ kept the law for him then
righteousness surely comes by law and
the death of Christ was in vain citing
that very Galatians 2
passage so the act of obedience Doctrine
it really finds itself backed into a corner
corner
here people who hold this view have to
explain how if at all the cross was
necessary if Christ's perfect lawke
substitutionary I'm going to skip ahead
for time's sake you have to look at
these slides later
we've seen that this Doctrine misapplies
the law we've seen that it minimizes the
cross here's our third one it
misinterprets the
scripture and this is where really where
the rubber meets the
road now again I don't want to be
mischaracterized I don't want to be
accused of being unfair here so don't
get me wrong The Men Who hold to this
doctrine of the imputation of the act of
obedience of Christ by and large they
would say and and we would take them at
face value on this that they are they
are Bible men they know the word they
are proponents of the word they they
preach and teach the word and they quote
the word even in support of their
positions but as we work through their
biblical arguments in support of their
position I'm going to show you how they
misinterpret the word in arriving at these
these
conclusions for instance one common text
that those who hold this view will go to
is Matthew 3:15
this is where Jesus in speaking of his
own baptism uh says to John the Baptist
that he's going to submit himself to
baptism he's going to permit it at this
time for in this way it is fitting for
us to fulfill all
righteousness and the suggestion is is
often made by those who hold the AC of
obedience that Christ here was
undergoing this baptism not by way of of
necessity because he didn't need to be
baptized in keeping with repentance he
had no sin but rather he had to be
baptized as a matter of perfect lawke
keeping which would then be credited to
Future Believers accounts that's the
whole notion of Act of obedience and
that's why they what they say it's is
meant hereby it was done to fulfill all
righteousness it was to comply with the
law well for starters Christ's baptism
couldn't have been about keeping the law
because there was no aspect of the law
that mandated baptism so that can't be
so there was no provision of the law
that mandated baptism ISM so to be
baptized in keeping with the law to
fulfill all righteousness just doesn't
add up it doesn't it doesn't fit so what
does it mean then that he was fulfilling
all righteousness through his baptism
well we saw this actually last time in
our study of the Life of Christ we saw
that when Jesus was baptized there was
no sin in him he did live a perfect life
there was no sin that needed to be
cleansed or washed away what he was
doing in his baptism as he fulfilled all
righteousness was number one identifying
him self with the people he had come for
the people of Israel but he was also
demonstrating his overall willingness to
do the will of God his baptism fits
perfectly with the whole Philippians 2
account of his humiliation in his
Incarnation where he was made in the
likeness of men as we see here and and
he was found in the appearance of man
same passage and where he did take the
form of a
slave that's all tied into what he was
doing there when he was fulfilling all
righteousness it wasn't keeping the
Law's demands to to credit righteousness
to our account he was showing himself to
be this Israelite and a humble
servant then there are
some like like actually Phil Johnson of
grace to you who will point to passages
like this Matthew 5:17 where where Jesus
sayso not think that I came to abolish
the law or the prophets I did not come
to abolish but
fulfill and Johnson will say those who
deny Christ's Act of obedience are
teaching that Redemption is accomplished
by the setting aside of the Law's
absolute demand not by Christ's
perfectly fulfilling the law on our
behalf but what what Phil Johnson is
doing here is really confusing two different
different
concepts no one is denying that Christ
did obey the law or that his obedience
to the law was necessary for reasons
I'll give in a minute to be that sinless
sacrifice or that he actually fulfilled
the law and kept it perfectly all those
statements are true and we affirm them
Jesus did keep the law as as an aspect
of his perfect deity the real question
is what was the purpose of his lawke
keeping was it to qualify him to be the
sinless sacrifice the Spotless lamb
that's position we would hold or was it
instead to to Merit for us righteousness
for the purpose of contributing to our
Salvation I would say the former is the
the right one to be the Spotless lamb
not the latter and we're going to go
through the passages that establish that
in just a moment another common text
that those who support active obedience
will go to is 2 Corinthians 5:21 we've
quoted it for a couple of other reasons
earlier but he made him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf so that we might
become the righteousness of God in him
and the argument that's going to be made
here by those who hold Act of obedience
they they'll use this verse and they'll
say that in the same way or a similar
way that
that sin and guilt was imputed to Christ
through our lives of of sin we lived
sinful lives that sin was imputed to
Christ laid on his shoulders in a
parallel way his perfect life is now
credited to us so his righteousness
which they'll say stems from his his
perfect keeping of the law is imputed to
us it's credited to us it's it's a
double imputation idea we violated the
law and then that law was imputed to
Christ and then he perfectly fulfilled
the law and now his righteousness is
imputed to us and it sounds logically
compelling on on first read it sounds
symmetrical it sounds parallel it does
sound like that that great
exchange the only problem is the
position that I just articulated rests
on this unfounded assumption and that
unfounded assumption is that we as
Christ's followers are still under the
law and we already addressed that under
the first heading that the whole
doctrine of Act of obedience misapplies
the law but another big problem with
this view of 2 Corinthians 5:21 is that
it entirely disregards the context of 2
Corinthians 5 in this second letter to
the Corinthians Paul is not at all
zeroing in on the the the righteous Life
of Christ he is instead zeroing in on
the Lord's atoning death just up the
page in 2 Corinthians 5:14 he says one
died for all therefore all died and he
died for all so that they who live would
no longer live for themselves but for
him who died and rose again on their
behalf and what that tells us in terms
of is of how we are to interpret 2
Corinthians 5:21 is that through
Christ's death the believer is made as
it says there the righteousness of God
meaning meaning he is made righteous
positionally righteous as a result of
the imputation of Christ's sacrificial
cross there's nothing though oh I
thought I had 2 Corinthians 5:21 there
still there's nothing in 2 Corinthians
5:21 about Christ's perfect life of of
lawke keeping it's instead about his his
perfect sacrifice says the Lamb of God
who came to take away the sin of the
world here's our next one another common
verse that's pointed to by those who
hold to act of obedience it's Romans
5:19 you see it there it says for as
through the one man's Disobedience the
many were appointed Sinners even so
Through The Obedience of the one the
many will be appointed righteous and you
might be thinking uhoh that sinks our
case I mean it says it right there
through The Obedience of the one the
many will be appointed righteous but context
context
matters and the immediate context of
Romans 5 is Paul's description of the
obedient death of Christ not his his
perfect life in fact if you go back one
verse to Romans 5:18 it becomes clear
Paul says so then as through one
transgression there resulted
condemnation to all men even so through
one act of righteousness there result a
justification of life to all men that
one transgression there is referring to
Adam's sin and that one act of
righteousness is the death of
Christ Paul is staying on that very
train of thought in the very next verse
in verse 19 where he says for as through
the one man's Disobedience the many were
appointed Sinners even so Through The
Obedience of the one the many will be
appointed righteous I'm going to try to
highlight this visually through my very
primitive slides here you see here
putting verses 18 and 19 side by side or
top to bottom you have the one
transgression in verse 18 and then you
have the one man's disobedience in verse
19 they're they're referring to the same
singular act that being Adam's sin and
then there's another parallel between
these two verses then Paul refers to the
one act of righteousness in verse 18 and
he talks about The Obedience of the one
in verse 19 again those are referring to
the same and singular act meaning
Christ's death on the cross Paul is
comparing the one act of Adam his sin
with the one act of Christ his death
those two statements in those two verses
run perfectly parallel to each other and
the setting again in in Romans 5 in
general is the death of Christ to think
that Paul would have just interrupted
his train of thought when he is on this
one train State of Mind here about the
death of Christ and and suddenly just
tie in Jesus's righteous lawke keeping
leap one more another argument that's
made by those who hold Act of obedience
they'll they'll cite Philippians
2:8 says being found in appearance as a
man he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death even
death on a cross and the argument it
seems this is me speaking to those who
are AC of obedience in the act of
obedience Camp is that Christ's death
was merely an aspect of his overall life
of obedience perhaps even the crowning
aspect of his life of obedience the main
idea that those who hold this view of
this passage what they'll say is the
main idea here is that Christ was
obedient obedient to the law which just
happened to culminate in his death death
on a cross
again look at this quote from Pat
abenroth he says the act of obedience of
Christ not what's highlighted here and
what's in first position the act of
obedience of Christ culminated in the
crosswork of Christ and then he goes on
to cite Philippians 2:8 but but this
this interpretation of Philippians 2:8
as though this passage in Philippians 2
is about Christ's active keeping of the
law which just happened to culminate in
his death is really missing the point of
this entire passage the main point of
Philippians 2 is what
Christ's death that's his ultimate Act
of humbling that's his his ultimate Act
of servanthood the ultimate act that
that Philippians 2:8 is pointing to is
that Jesus
died why did God highly exalt Jesus
because he actively kept the law no
because he died why did God bestow on
Jesus the name that is above every name
because he perfectly kept the law no
because he died why will knees bow and
tongues confess that Jesus is is Lord to
the glory of God the Father will that be
because he kept the law no it's because
Jesus died did he live a perfect life he
he sure did but Philippians 2 is not
about Jesus's perfect life ultimately
it's about his
death I'm going to wind down our time
tonight with a quote here by we Vine he
of the famous Bible dictionary and it'll
give us a lightning round of of biblical
citations which tell us what the focus
of the New Testament actually is on as
it relates to Jesus's life or his death
but look at this quote he says it is
nowhere said in the New Testament that
Christ kept the law for us only his
death is vicarious or substitutionary he
is not said to have born sin during any
part of his life that's what Calvin
argued it was at the cross that he
became the sin
Bearer but that line I've just
underlined is is telling isn't it it is
nowhere said in the New Testament that
Christ kept the law for us and it's
true and and those who holded the active
Obedience of Christ they've got the
burden of proof here because there's no
there's no scriptural support no direct
statement that says Christ kept the law
for the believer so what they do and
what we've seen here this this evening
is that they have to piece together this
Patchwork of scripture to build their
case but there's no scripture that ultimately
ultimately
says that Christ kept the law for us well
well
if that's
so what do the scriptures actually teach
us about Christ and his work and and how
we receive justification and Redemption
and the like well the scriptures do
teach that we need righteousness we need
to have righteousness imputed to us
Psalm 322 says how blessed is the man
whose iniquity Yahweh will not take into
account but what we have imputed to us
when we repent and believe in the gospel
is the righteousness of God through
Christ's death as we saw in 2 Corinthians
Corinthians
5:21 and what the scriptures
teach is that the the basis of the
believer's justification over and over
and over I'll go through these quickly
is Christ vicarious substitutionary
death on the cross so we have not one
scripture that says Christ kept the law
for the believer but note how many
scriptures we have here that says that
Christ shed blood and the and the
forgiven the Redemption the
justification that comes from it Hebrews
9:22 without shedding of blood there is
no forgiveness Colossians 1:19 for in
him all the fullness of God was pleased
to dwell and through him to reconcile
all things to himself having made Peace
by the blood of his cross 1 Peter 3:18
for Christ also suffered for sins once
for all the righteous for the
unrighteous so that he might bring you
to God having been put to death in the
flesh but made alive in the spirit
Romans 5:9 having now been justified by
his blood we shall be saved from the
wrath of God through him Hebrews 9:28
Christ also having been offered once to
Bear the sins of many will appear a
second time for salvation without
reference to sin to those who eagerly
await him Hebrews 10 he said behold I
have come to do your will by this will
we have been Sanctified through the
offering of the of the body of Jesus
Christ once for
all the evidence is all in one in in one
column and then of course when we think
about what the core message of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ is it is the
gospel when you go out when our
Wednesday night crew or Friday morning
crew goes out and shares the gospel do
we say you need to believe that Jesus
kept the law for
you he he he you didn't keep the law so
he did it for you go home
and Trust in that truth no we preach 1
Corinthians 15 for I delivered you as a
first importance what I also received
that Christ died for our our sins
according to the scriptures and that he
was buried and that he was raised on the
third day according to the scriptures or
then think about the ordinances that we
celebrate here the two that the Lord has
given to the church baptism and
communion baptism points to the
believer's union with Christ in his
death and in his resurrection communion
1 Corinthians 11:
23-26 what do we say every time we take
communion when we take communion we are
proclaiming the the Lord's perfect
keeping of the no we're proclaiming the Lord's
Lord's
death that tells us something that the
very things we celebrate as Believers in
Jesus Christ when we remember what he
did for us as we Proclaim his death we
death
Jesus did live a life of obedience you
see me skipping through slides here
Jesus did live a perfect
life in fact borrowing from a a
MacArthur book he writes a book called
one perfect life we we affirm that
however our Lord's one perfect life and
specifically his perfect keeping of the
law never Justified or redeemed any man
or woman or child from a single
sin rather if there was a work that
saved us it was Christ's work on the
cross by which he secured salvation for
us that's the ryy quote here he says
strictly speaking then only the
sufferings of the cross were atoning it
was during the 3 hours of darkness when
God laid on Christ the sins of the world
that atonement was being made the abuse
and scourgings that preceded his time on
the cross were part of the sufferings of
his life the basis of our justification
then is found not in the Life of Christ
but in his death and while those who are
are opposite of me and who are on the
other side of this debate who will cite
the the the J gesha ma telegram here and
they'll go back to this and say I'm so
thankful for the act of obedience of
Christ no hope without it I'm sticking
with these words and I'm going to close
with them tonight this is from Philip
Bliss a 19th century American hym writer
and composer who says free from the law
oh happy condition Jesus has bled and
there is remission cursed by the law and
bruised by the Fall Grace ha redeemed us
once and for all let's pray
Lord thank you for
our opportunity tonight to go through a doctrine that I know is got some depth
doctrine that I know is got some depth to it and some specificity to it but
to it and some specificity to it but it's important it's important to
it's important it's important to remember that we are saved by grace
remember that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in the
alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ on the
finished work of Christ on the cross God I hope what has been taken
cross God I hope what has been taken away tonight is that there is strong
away tonight is that there is strong biblical evidence and and bases for
biblical evidence and and bases for seeing that our our our hope our
justification our Salvation our Redemption is all found in all centered
Redemption is all found in all centered upon the crosswork of our Lord Jesus
upon the crosswork of our Lord Jesus Christ it's all found in his blood we've
Christ it's all found in his blood we've been redeemed through the precious blood
been redeemed through the precious blood of Jesus Christ we're so grateful for
of Jesus Christ we're so grateful for the perfect life that was lived by
the perfect life that was lived by Christ It's a Wonderful truth to know
Christ It's a Wonderful truth to know that through his perfect life our Lord
that through his perfect life our Lord uh certified that he really was that
uh certified that he really was that perfect spotless sinless Lamb of God who
perfect spotless sinless Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world
came to take away the sin of the world and we also know as first John 2:6 says
and we also know as first John 2:6 says that we have we are to walk as he walked
that we have we are to walk as he walked to follow his Purp perfect example there
to follow his Purp perfect example there are are benefits to the fact that Christ
are are benefits to the fact that Christ lived a perfect life but may we not
lived a perfect life but may we not confuse that with what ultimately
confuse that with what ultimately justifies us and redeems us and saves us
justifies us and redeems us and saves us which is what he did for us on the cross
which is what he did for us on the cross God thank you for this time together may
God thank you for this time together may you be glorified in the week ahead in
you be glorified in the week ahead in our lives in Jesus name amen
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
