upon himself and borne our sins, and satisfied the divine cuarrer justice. God, therefore, on account of Christ as having =* suffered and risen, is propitiated with reference to our sins, neither does he impute them to us, but reckons the righteousness of Christ as ours ; so that we are now not
only cleansed and purged, or rendered pure from sins,
but are also endowed with the righteousness of Christ: so
that we are absolved from sins, death or condemnation ;
and, in fine, made righteous, and heirs of eternal life. Properly speaking, therefore, God alone justifies us; and
he only justifies us on account of Christ, not imputing
our sins, but imputing to us his righteousness.”
The Gallic Confession (A.D. 1559), Article 18, says : The “Therefore we utterly repudiate all the other grounds ¢7yo, upon which men think they may be justified before sion. God ; and every thought of virtues or merits being cast aside, we entirely rely upon the obedience of Jesus Christ alone, which is indeed imputed to us, so that both are all our sins covered, and also we attain to favour before God.” ;
The Belgic Confession was drawn up by Von Bres 1n The Bet- 1561. “In 1571 it was revised and adopted by the #25°" entire Church of Holland in the sixteenth century. After another revision of the text, it was publicly approved by the Synod of Dort, 1618.” Article 22: “But we by no means understand that it is faith itself, properly speaking, which justifies us, or that we are justified on account of faith; for that [faith] is only an instrument by which we apprehend Christ our righteous- ness. There Christ, imputing to us his own merits, and very many most holy works, which he accomplished for
us, is our righteousness.” The The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England— 7h°%_ produced in their present form in 1562—Article 2 : ticles of
Sl Shiisatt ay: One Christ, very God and very man; who England. 18
OHAPTER XIX.
a
The For- mula Con- cordia.
The West- minster Confes- sion.
poe THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT.
truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to recon- cile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt (non tantum pro culpa origunis), but also for all actual sins of men.” Article 31: ‘The offering of Christ once made, is that perfect redemption, propitia- tion, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual ; and there is none other satis- faction for sin but that alone.”
The Formula Concordize—drawn up by Andrea and others (A.D. 1577), the most scientific of all the Lutheran Confessions—says: ‘That righteousness which before God is of mere grace imputed to faith, or to the believer, is the obedience, suffering, and resurrection of Christ, by which he for our sakes satisfied the law and expiated our sins. For since Christ was not only man, but God and man in one undivided person, so he was not subject to the law, nor obnoxious to suffering and death (ratione suce persone), because he was Lord of the law. On which account his obedience (not merely in respect that he obeyed the Father in his sufferings and death, but also that he for our sakes willingly made himself subject to the law and fulfilled it by his obedience) is imputed to us; so that God, on account of that whole obedience (which Christ, by his acting and by his suffering, in his life and in his death, for our sake rendered to his Father who is in heaven), remits our sins, reputes us as good and just, and gives us eternal salvation.” * “ We are pronounced and reputed good and just on account of the obedience of Christ, which Christ, from his nativity until his ignominious death upon the cross, accomplished for the Father in our behalf.” +
The Westminster Confession (A.D. 1648)—which all the Presbyterians of Scotland, Ireland, and America pro- fess to embrace sacredly and candidly as the confession
* Formula Concordie; p. 684, Hase’s Libri Symbolici. ft Ibid., p. 686.
HISTORY OF OPINION. 273
of their own personal faith—says : “The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father; and purchased not. only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him.” * ‘Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth ; not by infusing righteous- ness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, ..... not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience, to them as their righteous- ness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them.” +