Abraham received the imputed Righteousness of God, not the righteousness of the Law which he could not do before he was converted, nor was it Christ’s perfect obedience to the Law which was not yet worked out since He had not as yet incarnated on the earth. Thus this Righteousness had to be Christ's (God’s) eternal Righteousness He had before His incarnation, and for all eternity. (Genesis 15:5,6; Romans 4:1– 5; 9 –11).
The Righteousness ascribed to God could not be the works of the law or Christ’s personal obedience which were to come later, thus it is the Righteousness of God or is His Nature which is manifested in His just dealings. Job 36:3, 4 - 12.
The name of God is parallel to His Righteousness, thus the Righteousness of God is His name which is His divinity. Psalm 7:17.
God’s Righteousness that is to be declared is not Christ’s obedience to the Law, for that had not yet come, or the Law itself in this text, it is God’s just Nature as seen in His works and in His great achievements. Psalms 22:31, 22 – 30.
Since this righteousness comes in the blessing of Justification By faith, it is the Righteousness of God, thus His Divinity given to man. (Psalms 24:5; Galatians 3:7 - 9, 14; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Romans 8:9 - 11).
God is identified with His Righteousness, this is the Righteousness of God that delivers us when we are justified, it is thus God’s Nature which He places in us His salvational works towards us. (Psalms 31:1; 2 Corinthians 6:16).
30. The Righteousness of God is here seen to be His praise, which is His Name and therefore is His Divine Nature which is what His Name stands for. (Psalms 35:24, 28; Psalms 74:21).
31. The Righteousness of God which is like the “mountains of EL” (God), is obviously God Himself. Psalms 36:6.
The Righteousness of God which is His loving kindness is His Name, thus His Divine Nature. (Psalms 36:10; Exodus 34:5 - 7).
33. The Righteousness of God here which is preached is that which is in the heart. This is not Christ’s personal obedience to the Law or God’s salvific works, it is the Righteousness of God which is put into us, and is thus God Himself or His Divine Nature. (Psalms 40:9,10; Romans 3:22; 2 Peter 1:4).
34. God’s name is His praise, and this is the Righteousness that fills the right hand of His salvation, it is Christ who is God our Righteousness which is imputed to us for salvation, thus the Righteousness of God is God Himself. (Psalms 48:10; Romans 3:22; Jeremiah 23:5,6).
35. Since God saves us with Himself who is Spirit, the Righteousness of God here which is shouted because of the reception of salvation, is God Himself. (Psalms 51:14; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Romans 8:9 -11; 2 Corinthians 6:16).
36. This Righteousness is the one that saves from sin at deliverance or Justification, hence it is the Righteousness of God, but as it is God’s own alone (verse 16), it is not the works of the Law, or God’s work of saving us, it is God’s Divine Nature which is in the heights. Psalms 71:2,15,16,19,24.
37. God’s Nature or the Righteousness that is heavenly which sets us in God’s way (the Law), and which causes peace that comes from Justification (Romans 5:1), is the Righteousness of God, God’s Nature, and not the Law. (Psalms 85:10,11,18; Romans 3:22,31; 2 Peter 1:4).
38. God’s name is His Righteousness, this is obviously His Nature which is divine, it is the Righteousness of God, God Himself. (Psalms 89:16; Jeremiah 23:5,6).
39. God’s Righteousness is His Glory, this is His Nature, God Himself. (Psalms 97:6; Romans 3:5,7).
God’s Righteousness which is His salvation is His Love or Nature. (Psalms 98:2; 1 Corinthians 15:34; 1 John 4:8,12,16).
41. Those who have God’s Righteousness do His Commandments. The Righteousness of God is here presented in contrast to His Commandments, thus it is the Righteousness that is apart from the Law. (Psalms 103:17,18; Romans 3:21,22,30,31).
This is the Righteousness of God which is imputed to us to wear as robes, it is an inner wearing of God in the heart, since YHWH is our Righteousness. (Psalms 132:9; Isaiah 61:10; Jeremiah 23:5,6; 1 John 4:4).
God’s faithfulness is because of His Righteousness, His faithfulness finds its root in His Nature of being God, thus His Righteousness is His divinity. (Psalms 143:1 Malachi 3:6; Exodus 3:14)
A False Concept Explained
44. The scripture we have examined have all shown that the concept that Christ’s perfect obedience to the Law of God is our Righteousness that is imputed to us is not true. This false concept is clearly presented in this article.
“Throughout His life Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Law of Moses and it is this Law abiding life that some theologians have labeled His “active obedience” which they claimed is credited to our account as our “active righteousness.” His death on the cross is called His “passive Obedience” and is credited to our account as our “passive righteousness.” The supposition being that divine salvation through Jesus Christ is in part based on vicarious Law keeping … as man cannot by his own efforts recover for himself his righteous standing before God, Christ Jesus came and kept the Law, for righteousness sake, in our stead.” Gary Nystrom, He Lived The Life That We Could Not?, p. 1.
45. John Fletcher rightly attacked this “vicarious law - keeping” as Antinomianism. He thus described it:
“… but as God shall be found to have, before the foundation of the world, arbitrarily laid, or not laid, to our account, the merit of Christ’s keeping His own law. Thus he hopes to stand in the great day, merely by what he calls ‘Christ’s imputed righteousness’; excluding with abhorrence, from our final justification, the evangelical worthiness of our own personal, sincere obedience of repentance and faith …” Quoted in, Daniel Steele, The Gospel Truth A Substitute for Holiness or Antinomianism Revived, chapter 1, p. 1.
The idea that Jesus Christ obeyed the Law of God in our actual place as our righteousness is refuted by Mr. Steele.
“The root of this error lies in a false view of the mediatorial work of Christ, that He performs for men the obedience which they ought to perform, and that God justly demand nothing further from the delinquents. It is claimed that Christ’s perfect virtues are reckoned to the believer in such a way as to excuse him for their absence; His chastity compensating for the absence of that moral quality in the believer. Hence, adultery and murder in king David, being compensated by the purity and benevolence of Jesus imputed to him in the mind of God, did not mar David’s standing as righteous before God … His [Jesus] active obedience constitutes no part of His substitutional work. The germ of Antinomianism is found in the inclusion of the latter in the atonement. It is true that the God - man was actively obedient to the
Father’s will, but this obedience was personal, and not mediatorial. Hence everyone justified through faith in the shed blood of Christ is under obligation to render personal obedience to God’s Law. In this respect Jesus cannot be his proxy or representative.” Ibid, Chapter 2, p. 2.
47. We must nevertheless remember that the influence of love, the Divine Nature or Righteousness of God in us, caused the active Christian virtues of Jesus which He had while on earth, but these are developed in the Christian through the Faith of the Love that is being in us. (1 Corinthians 13:4 - 8; Romans 1:17).
48. Faith and Love always go together, because Faith contains Love. (Galatians 5:6; Philemon 5,6).
It is the Faith of Jesus Christ that is imputed in us for the Divine Nature or the Righteousness of God which is in it. (Romans 3:22; Romans 4:5).
50. Thus the actual graces that Jesus Himself had while on earth becomes subjectively ours out of the influence of His love, Divinity or Righteousness, working through Faith in us; but this is not the actual obedience of Jesus to the Law of God. (Philippians 2:12 - 15; Romans 5:1-5; Peter 1:4 - 8).
We actually learn of the active graces or traits of Love from Faith, and practice them, developing in them day by day. Hebrews 10:28; 1 Peter 4: 1,2: 1 Peter 2: 21 - 23; 1 Peter 1:22; Ephesians 4:32).
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