The Active Obedience of Christ
1 .......................................................................................................
Series: Justification #4For Milton Villanueva
I confess that I have had before me excellent writings about the obedience Christ's assets, but none has captivated me any more than the one that corresponds to Gresham Machen, principal leader in the formation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. It was a radial message that pronounced a few weeks before his death in 1937. The previous week had spoken about Christ's sufferings for our sins. But nothing had said about the active obedience of Christ. And he was feeling in debt in spite of doing justice to him to this aspect of his work to save us.
With the sufferings and Christ's death, the God's justice remained satisfied on having punished our sins in him. We are free of condemnation. But: what of the perfect obedience that we owe to God? Is it that perhaps we have forgotten that the eternal life demands a personal, perfect and perpetual obedience? Was not it that what God needed Adam from him like head pactual of the humanity?
Christ like postrer Adam, and our representative head in the grace agreement, had to expire with this request in our favor. Otherwise: how might we expire with this divine request? Which of us would dare to presume in front of God that we have lived through a life perfect Christian and without sin? Some Christians have lived through the whole frustrated life trying to present a justice to God post-conversion. Namely they believe that after having received the pardon of the sins the day in which they were safe, from now on his salvation depends of how obedient they could be.
Apart from being an understood evil of what is the justification, they devalue the active obedience of Christ. The perfect obedience of Christ is imputed to us like his it was ours for the faith. True it is that God sues obedience all the believers, but not to be safe but for love and gratitude. But this obedience of ours does not have any merit for salvation, because the only one that has them is that of Jesus Christ.
Possibly there is you one of these Christians who fight to be the faithful because they are afraid to lose his salvation. Very well, by means of the perfect obedience of Christ, learn to trust completely that this is the only acceptable justice for God. And that his obedience, for more I treated, will always be imperfect. Fortunately, his salvation does not depend on his obedience but on that of Christ.
And finally do not forget that although we distinguish the passive obedience and the active obedience of Christ, in fact both are inseparable and constitute the only acceptable satisfaction for God. Also, for being perfect we cannot add to him anything, that should not be our love and gratitude.
Learn to Live!
Reader Comments (1)
Good!
While it was navigating the network I met his page. I was analyzing the same one and there was a topic that captivo my attention; THE ACTIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST. The whole comment contained in this short thought me was very healthy, except the first prayer of the penultimate parafo. "Possibly there is you one of these Christians who fight to be the faithful because they are afraid to lose his salvation." This declaration seemed to me of nature sincretista. Something like miscellany integrated between the reformed faith and the humanist and degrading profession of the Arminianismo. If someone is sure that the salvation gets lost it is an irrefutable evidence of that the hope of the above mentioned individual is not in Christ but rather in its own skill of satisfying the God's perfect demands. Which obviously is a disrespect to the perfect work of Christ, so much from the manger (activates), as in his arrest and murder (passive). The above mentioned individual is ignorant to the justice of the God warble; planned by the Father, obtained by Christ and applied by the Holy Spirit. And instead of the above mentioned foreign justice if the same, his own struggles to establish. (Rom. 10-1-4) The salvation was obtained 100 % by Christ and the saving Faith demands that those that truly have been the receptacles of similar work of Grace, are deprived completely of any confidence and abilidad it humanizes (which is also a God's work). The salvation is not a question of 99 % Crito and 1 % I. For the little that I could read on his page that you must know this. Nevertheless, the above mentioned declaration grants a false confidence to those that in fact allan even in his sins, trying to pay properly for the same ones. To tie these individuals to Christ; calling them "Christians" it is an extremely serious error which, be known or not, it demonstrates a dispocision sincretista and in certain place he declares the Writing that "the friendship with the world is a blood feud with God." Well I call Lutero these:" THE MARTYRS OF THE DEVIL" and I speak about a double misfortune since these 1. in life they are deprived of many things and are punished if the same. And, 2. Once they have happened from here they obtain with the well fully deserved recompenza of the eternal perdition.
In Christ,
C. To occur rarely
Prov. 9:8-9