^ 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; Gal. vi. 14; Eom. v. 1 ; Heh, iv. 15, 16; Ps. xxxii. 1, 2 ; Eom. iv. 7-11 ; Rom. iv. 3. If Christ's obedience be imputed to us, it must be so imputed as to be our righteousness before God ; no imputation below this will serve our turns, cheer our hearts, and save our souls. Rev. xiv. 8 ; Isa. Ixiii. 1 ; Rev. iii. 18.
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can be made righteous by the righteousness of Christ, except his righteousness bo made over to him ; hence he is called, ' The Lord our Righteousness,' Jer. xxiii. 6 ; and hence we are said to be * the righteousness of God in him,' 2 Cor. v. 21 ; hence we are said ' by his obedience to be made righteous,' 2 Cor. v. 21.
8. Eighthly and lastly. The way whereby this righteousness of God's providing is conveyed and made over to us, that we may receive the benefit thereof, and be justified thereby, it is hy luay of imputation. The meaning is this : God doth reckon the righteousness of Christ unto his people, as if it were their own ; he doth count unto them Christ's sufierings and satisfaction, and makes them partakers of the virtue thereof, as if themselves had suffered and satisfied. This is the genuine and proper import of the word imputation, when that which is person- ally done by one, is accounted and reckoned to another, and laid upon his score, as if he had done it.i Thus it is in this very case ; we sinned and fell short of the glory of God, and became obnoxious to the vin- dictive justice of God ; and the Lord Jesus Christ, by his obedience and death, hath given full content and satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf. Now when God doth pardon and accept us hereupon, he doth put it upon our account, he doth reckon or impute it unto us as fully, in respect of the benefit thereof, as if we ourselves had performed it in our own persons ; and this is the way wherein the Holy Ghost frequently expresseth it : Eom. iv. 6, ' Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works ; ' and ver. 11, ' That righteousness might be imputed to them also ; ' and therefore it highly concerns us to mind this scrip- ture rule, that in order to the satisfaction of the justice of God, the sins of God's people were imputed and reckoned unto Christ ; and in order to our partaking of the benefit of that satisfaction, or deliverance thereby, Christ's righteousness must be imputed and reckoned unto _ us. The first branch of this rule you have, Isa. liii. 5, 6, ' He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities/ &c., and ' the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all ; ' and for the other branch of the rule, see Eom. v. 19, ' As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous ; ' ver. 17, 'As by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ' From the comparison between the first and second Adam, it is evident that as Adam's transgression of the law of God is imputed to all his posterity, and that in respect thereof they are reputed sinners, and accursed and liable to eternal death ; so also Christ's obedience, whereby he fulfilled the law, is so imputed to the members of his mystical body, that in regard of God, they stand as innocent, justified and accepted to eternal life. Look, as Adam was the common root of all mankind, and so his sin is imputed to all his posterity, so Jesus Christ is the common root of all the faithful, and his obedience is imputed to them all ; for
^ Eom. iii. 21, and Isa. liii. Imputed righteousness seems to be prefigured by the skins wherewith the Ijord, after the fall, clothed our first parents. The bodies of the beasts were for sacrifice, and the skins, to put them in mind that their own righteousness was like the fig leaves, imperfect, and that therefore they must be justified another way.
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