“At
the heart of this question of justification and imputation is the rejection of
what is called the covenant of works…The covenant of works refers to the
covenant that God made with Adam and Eve in their pristine purity before the
fall, in which God promised them blessedness contingent upon their obedience to
His command…Where Adam was the covenant breaker, Jesus is the covenant keeper.
Where Adam failed to gain the blessedness of the tree of life, Christ wins that
blessedness by His obedience, which blessedness He provides for those who put
their trust in Him. In this work of fulfilling the covenant for us in our
stead, theology speaks of the ‘active obedience’ of Christ. That is, Christ’s
redeeming work includes not only His death, but His life. His life of perfect
obedience becomes the sole ground of our justification. It is His perfect
righteousness, gained via His perfect obedience, that is imputed to all who put
their trust in Him. Therefore, Christ’s work of active obedience is absolutely
essential to the justification of anyone. Without Christ’s active obedience to the
covenant of works, there is no reason for imputation, there is no ground for
justification. If we take away the covenant of works, we take away the active
obedience of Jesus. If we take away the active obedience of Jesus, we take away
the imputation of His righteousness to us. If we take away the imputation of
Christ’s righteousness to us, we take away justification by faith alone. If we
take away justification by faith alone, we take away the Gospel, and we are
left in our sins. We are left as the miserable sons of Adam, who can only look
forward to feeling the full measure of God’s curse upon us for our own
disobedience. It is the obedience of Christ that is the ground of our
salvation, both in His passive obedience on the cross and His active obedience in
His life. All of this is inseparably related to the biblical understanding of
Jesus as the new Adam (Rom. 5:12–20), who succeeded where the original Adam
failed, who prevailed where the original Adam lost. There is nothing less than
our salvation at stake in this issue”.[1]
Reading for Tuesday, October 7th is chapter 3 of Sacred Bond. Enjoy!
[1] R.C. Sproul, “The Covenant of
Works,” Tabletalk Magazine, October
1, 2006, http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/covenant-works/ (accessed
November 27, 2010).