John, is made righteous, is a perfect righteousness; not only with
respect to the nature of it, as a penny is as perfect silver as a
shilling; nor yet with respect to a comparative degree, for so a shilling
arriveth more toward the perfection of the number twenty, than doth a
twopenny or a threepenny piece; but it is a righteousness so perfect,
that nothing can be added to, nor can any thing be taken from it; for so
implieth the words of the text, he is righteous as Christ is righteous;
yea, thus righteous before, and in order to his doing of righteousness.
And in this he is like unto the Son of God, who was also righteous before
he did acts of righteousness referring to a law of commandment; wherefore
it is said, that as he is, so are we in this world. As he is or was
righteous, before he did acts of righteousness among men by a law; so are
his righteous, before they act righteousness among men by a law. “He
that doeth righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.”
Christ was righteous before he did righteousness, with a twofold
righteousness. He had a righteousness as he was God; his Godhead was
perfectly righteous: yea, it was righteousness itself. His human nature
was perfectly righteous, it was naturally spotless and undefiled. Thus
his person was righteous, and so qualified to do that righteousness, that
because he was born of woman, and made under the law, he was bound by the
law to perform.
Now, as he is, so are we; not by way of natural righteousness, but by way
of resemblance thereunto. Had Christ, in order to his working of
righteousness, a two fold righteousness inherent in himself?—the
Christian, in order to his working of righteousness, had belonging to him
a twofold righteousness. Did Christ’s twofold righteousness qualify him
for that work of righteousness that was of God designed for him to
do?—why, the Christian’s twofold righteousness doth qualify him for that
work of righteousness that God hath ordained that he should do and walk
in this world.
But you may ask, What is that righteousness with which a Christian is
made righteous before he doth righteousness?
I answer, It is a twofold righteousness.
1. It is a righteousness put upon him.
2. It is a righteousness put into him.
For the first, It is a righteousness put upon him, with which also he is
clothed as with a coat or mantle, Rom. iii. 22, and this is called “the
robe of righteousness;” and this is called “the garment of salvation;”
Isa. lxi. 10.
This righteousness is none other but the obedience of Christ; the which
he performed in the days of his flesh, and can properly be called no
man’s righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ; because no man had
a hand therein, but he completed it himself. And hence it is said, that
“by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous;” Rom. v. 19. By
the obedience of one, of one man Jesus Christ (as you have it in verse
15); for he came down into the world, to this very end; that is, to make
a generation righteous, not by making of them laws, and prescribing unto
them rules (for this was the work of Moses, who said, “And it shall be
our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the
Lord our God, as he hath commanded us;” Deut. vi. 25; xxiv. 13); nor yet
by taking away by his grace the imperfections of their righteousness, and
so making of that perfect by additions of his own; but he makes them
righteous by his obedience, not in them, but for them, while he
personally subjected himself to his Father’s law on our behalf, that he
might have a righteousness to bestow upon us. And hence we are said to
be made righteous, while we work not, and to be justified, while ungodly
(Rom. iv. 5), which can be done by no other righteousness than that which
is the righteousness of Christ by performance, the righteousness of God
by donation, and our righteousness by imputation. For, I say, the person
that wrought this righteousness for us, is Jesus Christ; the person that
giveth it to us, is the Father; who hath made Christ to be unto us
righteousness, and hath given him to us for this very end, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him; 1 Cor. i. 4; 2 Cor. v. 21. And
hence it is often said, “One shall say, Surely in the Lord have I
righteousness and strength.” And again, “In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” “This is the heritage of the
servants of the Lord; and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord;”
Isa. xlv. 24, 25; liv. 17.
This righteousness is that which justifieth, and which secureth the soul
from the curse of the law; by hiding, through its perfection, all the
sins and imperfections of the soul. Hence it follows, “Even as David
also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin;” Rom. iv.
And this it doth, even while the person, that by grace is made a
partaker, is without good works, and so ungodly. This is the
righteousness of Christ, Christ’s personal performances, which he did
when he was in this world; that is that by which the soul, while naked,
is covered, and so hid as to its nakedness, from the divine sentence of
the law: “I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness,” Ezek.
xvi. 4–9.
Now this obediential righteousness of Christ consisteth of two parts. 1.
In a doing of that which the law commanded us to do. 2. In a paying that
price for the transgression thereof, which justice hath said shall be
required at the hand of man; and that is the cursed death. “In the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die the death;” to wit, the
death that comes by the curse of the law. So then, Christ having brought
in that part of obedience for us, which consisteth in a doing of such
obediential acts of righteousness which the law commands, he adds thereto
the spilling of his blood, to be the price of our redemption from that
cursed death, that by sin we had brought upon our bodies and souls. And
thus are the Christians perfectly righteous; they have the whole
obedience of Christ made over to them; to wit, that obedience that
standeth in doing the law, and that obedience that standeth in paying of
a price for our transgressions. So, then, doth the law call for
righteousness? here it is. Doth the law call for satisfaction for our
sins? Here it is. And what can the law say any more to the sinner but
that which is good, when he findeth in the personal obedience of Christ
for him, that which answereth to what it can command, that which it can
demand of us?
Herein, then, standeth a Christian’s safety, not in a bundle of actions
of his own, but in a righteousness which cometh to him by grace and gift;
for this righteousness is such as comes by gift, by the gift of God.
Hence it is called the gift of righteousness, the gift by grace, the gift
of righteousness by grace, which is the righteousness of one, to wit, the
obedience of Jesus Christ, Rom. v. 15–19.
And this is the righteousness by which he that doth righteousness is
righteous as he is righteous; because it is the very self-same
righteousness that the Son of God hath accomplished by himself. Nor has
he any other or more excellent righteousness, of which the law taketh
notice, or that it requireth, than this: for as for the righteousness of
his Godhead, the law is not concerned with that; for as he is such, the
law is his creature, and servant, and may not meddle with him.
The righteousness also of his human nature, the law hath nothing to do
with that; for that is the workmanship of God, and is as good, as pure,
as holy, and undefiled, as is the law itself. All then that the law hath
to do with, is to exact complete obedience of him that is made under it,
and a due satisfaction for the breach thereof; the which, if it hath,
then Moses is content.
Now, this is the righteousness with which the Christian, as to
justification, is made righteous; to wit, a righteousness that is neither
essential to his Godhead, nor to his manhood; but such as standeth in
that glorious person (who was such) his obedience to the law. Which
righteousness himself had, with reference to himself, no need of at all,
for his Godhead, yea, his manhood, was perfectly righteous without it.
This righteousness therefore was there, and there only necessary, where
Christ was considered as God’s servant (and our surety) to bring to God
Jacob again, and to restore the preserved of Israel. For though Christ
was a Son, yet he became a servant to do, not for himself, for he had no
need, but for us, the whole law, and so bring in everlasting
righteousness for us.
And hence it is said, that Christ did what he did for us. He became the
end of the law for righteousness for us; he suffered for us, he died for
us, he laid down his life for us, and he gave himself for us. The
righteousness then that Christ did fulfil, when he was in the world, was
not for himself simply considered, nor for himself personally considered,
for he had no need thereof; but it was for the elect, the members of his
body.
Christ then did not fulfil the law for himself, for he had no need
thereof. Christ again did fulfil the law for himself, for he had need of
the righteousness thereof; he had need thereof for the covering of his
body, and the several members thereof; for they, in a good sense, are
himself, members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones; and he owns
them as parts of himself in many places of the holy scriptures; Eph. v.
30; Acts ix. 4, 5; Matt. xxv. 45; x. 40; Mark ix. 37; Luke x. 16; 1 Cor.
xii. 12, 27. This righteousness then, even the whole of what Christ did
in answer to the law, it was for us; and God hath put it upon them, and
they were righteous in it, even righteous as he is righteous. And this
they have before they do acts of righteousness.
_Secondly_, There is righteousness put into them, before they act
righteous things. A righteousness, I say, put into them; or I had rather
that you should call it a principle of righteousness; for it is a
principle of life to righteousness. Before man’s conversion, there is in
him a principle of death to sin; but when he is converted to Christ,
there is put in him a principle of righteousness, that he may bring forth
fruit unto God; Rom. vii. 4–6.
Hence they are said to be quickened, to be made alive, to be risen from
death to life, to have the Spirit of God dwelling in them; not only to
make their souls alive, but to quicken their mortal bodies to that which
is good; Rom. viii. 11.
Here, as I hinted before, they that do righteousness are said to be born
of him, that is, antecedent to their doing of righteousness, 1 John ii.
29; “born of him,” that is, made alive with new, spiritual, and heavenly
life. Wherefore the exhortation to them is, “Neither yield ye your
members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God;” Rom. vi. 13.
Now this principle must also be in men, before they can do that which is
spiritual: for whatever seeming good thing any man doth, before he has
bestowed upon him this heavenly principle from God, it is accounted
nothing, it is accounted sin and abomination in the sight of God; for an
evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit: “Men do not gather grapes of
thorns; neither of a bramble gather figs.” It is not the fruit that
makes the tree, but the tree that makes the fruit. A man must be good,
before he can do good; and evil before he can do evil.
This is that which is asserted by the Son of God himself; and it lieth so
level with reason and the nature of things, that it cannot be
contradicted: Matth. vii. 16–18; Luke vi. 43–45. “A good man, out of the
good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good: and an
evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that
which is evil.” But notwithstanding all that can be said, it seemeth
very strange to the carnal world; for they will not be otherwise
persuaded, but that they be good deeds that make good men, and evil ones
that make evil men. And so, by such dotish apprehensions, do what in
them lieth to fortify their hearts with the mists of darkness against the
clear shining of the word, and conviction of the truth.
And thus it was from the beginning. Abel’s first services to God were
from this principle of righteousness; but Cain would have been made
righteous by his deeds; but his deeds not flowing from the same root of
goodness, as did Abel’s, notwithstanding he did it with the very best he
had, is yet called evil: for he wanted, I say, the principles, to wit, of
grace and faith, without which no action can be counted good in a
gospel-sense.
These two things, then, that man must have that will do righteousness.
He must have put upon him the perfect righteousness of Christ: and he
must have that dwelling in him, as a fruit of the new birth, a principle
of righteousness. Then indeed he is a tree of righteousness, and God is
like to be glorified in and by him; but this the Pharisee was utterly
ignorant of, and at the remotest distance from.
You may ask me next, But which of these are first bestowed upon the
Christian—the perfect righteousness of Christ unto justification, or this
gospel-principle of righteousness unto sanctification?
_Answ_. The perfect righteousness of Christ unto justification must
first be made over to him by an act of grace. This is evident,
1. Because he is justified as ungodly; that is, whilst he is ungodly:
but it must not be said of them that have this principle of grace in
them, that they are ungodly; for they are saints and holy. But this
righteousness, by it God justifieth the ungodly, by imputing it to them,
when and while they, as to a principle of grace, are graceless.
This is further manifested thus: The person must be accepted before his
performance can; “And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his
offering;” Gen. iv. If he had respect to Abel’s person first, yet he
must have respect unto it for the sake of some righteousness; but Abel as
yet had no righteousness; for that he acted, after God had a respect unto
his person. “And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering:
but unto Cain, and to his offering, he had no respect.”
The prophet Ezekiel also shews us this, where, by the similitude of the
wretched infant, and of the manner of God’s receiving it to mercy, he
shews how he received the Jews to favour. First, saith he, “I spread my
skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness.” There is justification; “I
covered thy nakedness.” But what manner of nakedness was it? Yes, it
was then as naked as naked could be, even as naked as in the day that it
was born; Ezek. xvi. 4–9. And as thus naked, it was covered, not with
any thing but with the skirt of Christ; that is, with his robe of
righteousness, with his obedience, that he performed of himself for that
very purpose; for by the obedience of one, many are made righteous.
2. Righteousness unto justification must be first; because the first
duty that a Christian performeth to God, must be accepted, not for the
sake of the principle from which in the heart it flows, nor yet for the
sake of the person that acts it, but for the sake of Christ, whose
righteousness it is by which the sinner stands just before God. And
hence it is said, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain,” Heb. xi. By faith he did it; but faith in respect
to the righteousness that justifies; for we are justified by faith; not
by faith as it is an acting grace, but the righteousness of faith, that
is, by that righteousness that faith embraceth, layeth hold of, and
helpeth the soul to rest and trust to, for justification of life, which
is the obedience of Christ. Besides, it is said, by faith he offered;
faith then in Christ was precedent to his offering.
Now, since faith was in act before his offer, and since before his offer
he had no personal goodness of his own, faith must look out from home; I
say to another for righteousness; and finding the righteousness of Christ
to be the righteousness which by God was designed to be performed for the
justification of a sinner, it embraces it, and through it offereth to God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
Hence it follows, “By which he obtained witness that he was righteous;”
by which, not by his offering, but by his faith; for his offering, simply
as an offering, could not have made him righteous if he had not been
righteous before; for “an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit.”
Besides, if this be granted, why had not God respect to Cain’s offering
as well as to Abel’s? For did Abel offer? So did Cain. Did Abel offer
his best? So did Cain his. And if with this we shall take notice of the
order of their offspring, Cain seemed to offer first, and so with the
frankest will and forwardest mind; but yet, saith the text, “The Lord had
respect to Abel and to his offering.” But why to Abel? Why, because
his, person was made righteous before he offered his gift: “By which he
obtained witness that he was righteous;” God testifying of his gifts,
that they were good and acceptable because they declared Abel’s
acceptation of the righteousness of Christ, through the riches of the
grace of God.
By faith, then, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
He shrouded himself under the righteousness of Christ, and so, of that
righteousness, he offered to God. God also looking and finding him there
(where he could not have been, as to his own apprehension, no otherwise
than by faith), accepted of his gift; by which acceptation (for so you
may understand it also) God testifieth that he was righteous, for God
receiveth not the gifts and offerings of those that are not righteous,
for their sacrifices are an abomination unto him, Prov. xxi. 27.
Abel then was, I say, made righteous, first, as he stood ungodly in
himself; God justifieth the ungodly, Rom. iv. Now, being justified, he
was righteous; and being righteous, he offered his sacrifice of praise to
God, or other offerings which God accepted, because he believed in his
Son. But this our Pharisee understandeth not.
3. Righteousness by imputation must be first, because we are made so, to
wit, by another—“By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
Now to be made righteous, implies a passiveness in him that is so made,
and the activity of the work to lie in some body else; except he had
said, they had made themselves righteous; but that it doth not, nor doth
the text leave to any the least countenance so to insinuate; nay, it
plainly affirms the contrary, for it saith, by the obedience of one, of
one man, Jesus Christ, many are made righteous; by the righteousness of
one, Rom. v. So then, if they be made righteous by the righteousness of
one; I say if many be made righteous by the righteousness of one, then
are they that are so, as to themselves, passive and not active, with
reference to the working out of this righteousness. They have no hand in
that; for that is the act of one, the righteousness of one, the obedience
of one, the workmanship of one, even of Christ Jesus.
Again, If they are made righteous by this righteousness, then also they
are passive as to their first privilege by it; for they are made
righteous by it; they do not make themselves righteous by it.
Imputation is also the act of God. “Even as David also describeth the
blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness.” The
righteousness then is a work of Christ, his own obedience to his Father’s
law; the making of it ours is the act of the Father, and of his infinite
grace: “For of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom and righteousness.” “For God hath made Jim to be sin for us, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” And
both these things God shewed to our first parents, when he acted in grace
towards them after the fall.
There it is said, the Lord God made unto Adam, and unto his wife, coats
of skins, and clothed them; Gen. iii. 21.
Whence note,
(1.) That Adam and his wife were naked, both in God’s eye and in their
own, verses 10, 11.
(2.) That the Lord God made coats of skins.
(3.) That in his making of them, he had respect to Adam and to his wife,
that is, he made them.
(4.) That when he had made them, he also clothed them therewith.
They made not the coats, nor did God bid them make them; but God did make
them himself to cover their nakedness with. Yea, when he had made them,
he did not bid them put them on, but he himself did clothe them with
them: for thus runs the text; “Unto Adam also, and to his wife, did the
Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” O it was the Lord God
that made this coat with which a poor sinner is made righteous! And it
is also the Lord God that putteth it upon us. But this our Pharisee
understandeth not.
But now, if a man is not righteous before he is made so, before the Lord
God has by the righteousness of another made him so; then whether this
righteousness comes first or last, the man is not righteous until it
cometh; and if he be not righteous until it cometh, then what works
soever are done before it comes, they are not the works of a righteous
man, nor the fruits of a good tree, but of a bad. And so again, this
righteousness must first come before a man be righteous, and before a man
does righteousness. Make the tree good, and its fruit will be good.
Now, since a man must be made righteous before he can do righteousness,
it is manifest his works of righteousness do not make him righteous, no
more than the fig makes its own tree a fig-tree, or than the grape doth
make its own vine a vine. Hence those acts of righteousness that
Christian men do perform, are called the fruits of righteousness, which
are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God; Phil. i. 11.
The fruits of righteousness they are by Jesus Christ, as the fruits of
the tree are by the tree itself; for the truth is, that principle of
righteousness, of which mention has been made before, and concerning
which I have said it comes in in the second place; it is also originally
to be found for us nowhere but in Christ.
Hence it is said to be by Jesus Christ; and again, “Of his fulness have
we all received, and grace for grace;” John i. 16. A man must then be
united to Christ first, and so being united, he partaketh of this
benefit, to wit, a principle that is supernatural, spiritual, and
heavenly. Now, his being united to Christ, is not of or from himself,
but of and from the Father, who, as to this work, is the husbandman; even
as the twig that is grafted into the tree officiateth not, that is,
grafteth not itself thereunto, but is grafted in by some other, itself
being utterly passive as to that. Now, being united unto Christ, the
soul is first made partaker of justification, or of justifying
righteousness, and now no longer beareth the name of an ungodly man; for
he is made righteous by the obedience of Christ; he being also united to
Christ, partaketh of the root and fatness of Christ; the root, that is,
his divine nature; the fatness, that is, the fulness of grace that is
laid up in him to be communicated unto us, even as the branch that is
grafted into the olive-tree partaketh of the root and fatness of the
olive-tree. Now partaking thereof, it quickeneth, it groweth, it
buddeth, and yieldeth fruit to the praise and glory of God; Rom. xi. 17.
But these things, as I have often said, the poor Pharisee was ignorant
of, when so swaggeringly he, with his “God, I thank thee,” came into the
temple to pray. And, indeed, in that which hath been said is something
of the mystery of God’s will in his way with his elect; and such a
mystery it is, that it lieth hid for ever to nature and natural men; for
they think of nothing less than of this, nor of nothing more, when they
think of their souls and of salvation, than that something must be done
by themselves to reconcile them to God. Yea, if through some common
convictions their understandings should be swayed to a consenting to
that, that justification is of grace by Christ, and not of works by men;
yet conscience, reason, and the law of nature, not being as yet subdued
by the power and glory of grace unto the obedience of Christ, will rise
up in rebellion against this doctrine, and will over-rule and bow down
the soul again to the law and works thereof for life.