1st. He expiates former iniquities, he satisfies for sin, and procures remission of it. Rom. 3:24, 25, ‘Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.’ ‘All we like sheep,” etc., Isa. 53:6. ‘Through his blood we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins,’ Eph. 1:7. ‘God spared not his own Son, but delivered,’ etc., Rom. 8:32. This, even this alone, is our righteousness; as to that first part of it which consists in the removal of the whole guilt of sin, whereby we are come short of the glory of God. On this account it is that we are assured that none shall ever lay any thing to our charge, or condemn us, Rom. 8:33, 34,—there being ‘no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,’ verse1. We are purged by the sacrifice of Christ, so as to have ‘no more conscience of sin,’ Heb. 10:2; that is, troubles in conscience about it. This wisdom is hid only in the Lord Jesus; in him alone is there an atonement discovered: and give me the wisdom which shall cut all scores concerning sin, and let the world take what remains. But,—
2dly. There is yet something more required; it is not enough that we are not guilty, we must also be actually righteous;—not only all sin is to be answered for, but all righteousness is to be fulfilled. By taking away the guilt of sin, we are as persons innocent; but something more is required to make us to be considered as persons obedient. I know nothing to teach me that an innocent person shall go to heaven, be rewarded, if he be no more but so. Adam was innocent at his first creation, but he was to “do this,” to ‘keep the commandments,’ before he entered into ‘life:’ he had no title to life by innocency. This, then, moreover, is required, that the whole law be fulfilled, and all the obedience performed that God requires at our hands. This is the soul’s second inquiry; and it finds a resolution only in the Lord Christ: ‘For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.’ Rom 5:10. His death reconciled us; then are we saved by his life. The actual obedience which he yielded to the whole law of God, is that righteousness whereby we are saved; if so be we are found in him, not having on our own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith, Phil. 3:9.
John Owen | Of Communion with God: The Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost, Each Person Distinctly; in Love, Grace, and Consolation: Or The Saints Fellowship With the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost Unfolded, in The Works of John Owen (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust, repr. 2009), 2:104–105.
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Inwoo Lee
Inwoo Lee (BA, UCSD) earned his MA (Historical Theology) in 2020 from Westminster Seminary California and is author of “Righteous Before God: William Perkins’ Doctrine of Justification in Elizabethan England” (MA Thesis, Westminster Seminary California, 2020). He lives in the Great Seoul area, in South Korea with his wife Holly.
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