How doth faith justify a sinner in the sight of God?

Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not because of those other graces which do always accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it,[1] nor as if the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification;[2] but only as it is an instrument by which he receiveth and applies Christ and his righteousness.[3]

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Christ's Active and Passive Obedience and Our Justification

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress….
(Nicolaus Zinzindorf, 1700-1760,
translated by John Wesley, 1703-1791)

Everywhere I look recently, I see the mention of the active and passive obedience of Christ, and what (or whether) they both  contribute to our justification. The concepts of the active and passive obedience of Christ were included in the last three questions from the Westminster Larger Catechism that I’ve posted—all three questions regarding justification—although those particular terms weren’t used. But the ideas are there, with the catechism clearly teaching that both the active and passive obedience of Christ are necessary for the justification of sinners. And one of the books I read and reviewed recently, By Faith Alone, dealt a bit with the active and passive obedience of Christ and whether both are necessary grounds for our justification. So I’ve been thinking about the two kinds of obedience and what they contributed to our justification, and if I’m thinking about it, you know I’m going to write about it.

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I Have Not Died

but it sure felt like it. I was without internet connection from Saturday afternoon until a few minutes ago. (Excuse me while I do my happy dance.)

In my spare time I composed a post on the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, which I will post as soon as I can. I missed yesterday’s hymn, but we’ll just have to pick that up where we left off next Sunday, assuming of course, I still have a connection then.