3d. Christ came to fulfill the whole law, Is. xlii., 21 ; Eom. iii. 31 ; 1 Cor. i., 30.
4th. The obedience of Christ is expressly contrasted with the disobedience of Adam, Eom. v., 19.
14. How may it be shown that Christ's obedience was free ?
Although Christ was made under the law by being born of the woman, and rendered obedience to that law in the exercises of his created human nature, yet he did not owe that obedience for him- self, but rendered it freely that its merits might be imputed to his people, because the claims of law terminate not upon nature, but upon persons; and he was always a divine person. As he suffered, the just for the unjust, so he obeyed, the Lawgiver in the place of the law-subject.
15. In what sense is Christ's righteousness imputed to be- lievers ?
Imputation is an act of Grod as sovereign judge, at once judicial
388 JUSTIFICATION.
and sovereign, whereby he, 1st, makes the guilt, legal responsi- bility, of our sins really Christ's, and punishes them in him, Is. liii., 6 ; John i., 29 ; 2 Cor. v., 21 ; and, 2d, makes the merit, legal rights, of Christ's righteousness ours, and then treats us as persons legally invested with all those rights, Kom. iv., 6 ; x., 4 ; 1 Cor. i., 30 ; 2 Cor. v., 21 ; Phil, iii., 9.
As Christ is not made a sinner by the imputation to him of our sins, so we are not made holy by the imputation to us of his righteousness. The transfer is only of guilt from us to him, and of merit from him to us. He justly suffered the punishment due to our sins, and we justly receive the rewards due to his righte- ousness, 1 John i., 9.
16. Upon what ground does this imputation proceed ?
Upon the union federal, spiritual, and vital, which subsists between Christ and his people. Which union, in turn, rests upon the eternal decree of election common to all the persons of the Godhead, and upon the eternal covenant of grace formed between the Father as God absolute and the Son as Mediator. Thus the ultimate ground of imputation is the eternal nature and imperial will of God, the fountain of all law and all right.
17. How may the fact of this imputation be proved from Scripture ?
See Rom. v., 12-21. Compare Rom. iv., 6 ; iii., 21, with Rom. v., 19.
The doctrine of imputation is essentially involved in the doc- trine of substitution. If Christ obeyed and suffered in our place it can only be because our sins were imputed to him, which is directly asserted in Scripture, Isa. liii., 6 ; 2 Cor. v., 21 ; 1 Pet. ii., 24 ; and, if so, the merit of that obedience and suffering must accrue to us, Matt, xx., 28 ; 1 Tim. ii., 6 ; 1 Pet. iii., 18. See above, Chapter XXII., question 13.
This doctrine is also taught by those passages which affirm that Christ fulfilled the law, Rom. iii., 31 ; x., 4 ; and by those which assert that we are justified by the righteousness of Christ, 1 Cor. vi., 11 ; Rom. viii., 1, etc.
This doctrine, moreover, stands or falls with the whole view we have presented of the priesthood of Christ, of the justice of God,
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of the covenants of works and of grace, and of the nature of the atonement ; to which subjects, under their respective heads, the reader is referred.
18. What are the two effects ascribed to the imputation of Christ's righteousness?
Christ's righteousness satisfies, 1st, the penalty of the law ; 2d, then the positive conditions of the covenant of works, i. e.. obedience to the precepts of the law.. The imputation of that righteousness to the believer, therefore, secures, 1st, the remission of the penalty, pardon of sins ; 2d, the recognition and treatment of the believer as one with respect to whom the covenant is ful- filled, and to whom all its promises and advantages legally accrue. See below, question 29.
19. Are the sins of believers, committed subsequently to their justification , included in the pardon which is consequent to the imputation of Christ's righteousness ; and, if so, in zvhat way ?
The elect, although embraced in the purpose of God, and in his covenant with his Son from eternity, are not effectively united to Christ until the time of their regeneration, when, in conse- quence of their union with him, and the imputation of his right- eousness to them, their relation to the law is permanently changed. Although the immutable law always continues their perfect stand- ard of experience and of action, it is no longer to them a condition of the covenant of life, because that covenant has been fully dis- charged for them by their sponsor. God no longer imputes sin to them to the end of judicial punishment. Every suffering which they henceforth endure is of the nature of chastisement, designed for their correction and improvement, and forms, in its relation to them, no part of the penalty of the law. ^0
20. What are the different opinions as to the class of sins ivhich are forgiven when the sinner is justified ?