Thus, for our acceptation with God, two things are required:— First, That satisfaction be made for our disobedience,—for whatever we had done which might damage the justice and honour of God; and that God be atoned towards us: which could no otherwise be, but by undergoing the penalty of the law. This, I have showed abundantly, is done by the death of Christ. God “made him to be sin for us,” 2 Cor. 5:21,—a “curse,” Gal. 3:13. On this account we have our absolution,—our acquitment from the guilt of sin, the sentence of the law, the wrath of God, Rom. 8:33, 34. We are justified, acquitted, freed from condemnation, because it was Christ that died; “he bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” 1 Pet. 2:24. Second, That the righteousness of the law be fulfilled, and the obedience performed that is required at our hands. And this is done by the life of Christ, Rom. 5:18, 19. So that answerably hereunto, according to our state and the condition of our acceptation with God, there are two parts:— Our absolution from the guilt of sin, that our disobedience be not charged upon us. This we have by the death of Christ; our sins being imputed to him, shall not be imputed to us, 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 4:25; Isa. 53:12. Imputation of righteousness, that we may be accounted perfectly righteous before God; and this we have by the life of Christ. His righteousness in yielding obedience to the law is imputed to us. And thus is our acceptation with God completed. Being discharged from the guilt of our disobedience by the death of Christ, and having the righteousness of the life of Christ imputed to us, we have friendship and peace with God.
John Owen | Of Communion with God, in the Works of John Owen (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, repr. 2009), 2:175–76.
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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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