The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Active and Passive obedience of Christ Jesus

I have a working idea of the two, but will someone flesh it out a little. For instance, do they work together? What are the extremes one can fall into which puts a person on the outskirts of orthodoxy.

Hi JohnC,

'For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.'

(Romans 8:13)

Seems to me like their is a fusion of active and passive all the way.

John,

How about an extremely short summary? <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/giggle.gif" alt="" />

Passive: the payment of the punishment due in accord with the law of God; aka: death on the cross.
Active: the righteousness lacking and needed according to the law of God; aka: perfect holiness.

Both are absolutely necessary for salvation.

In our present hour, many/some NPP/FV advocates insist that Christ's active obedience is unnecessary since they reject the doctrine of imputation. Without going into a long explanation, they deny that in justification, God as judge, declares sinners not guilty on the basis of Christ's active and passive obedience. In short, the fundamental and traditional (Protestant) biblical doctrine of a vicarious substitutionary atonement is rejected for something far different and decidedly less.

In His grace,

John,

Our daughter receives newsletters from John Piper, and your question made me recall a recent article of his. While not using--I think--the passive/active terminology, his article does amplify nicely what Pilgrim has already mentioned about the absolute necessity of Christ's obedience, both throughout His life and in His death, for both the forgiveness of our sins and the imputation of His righteousness to us in our justification:

The Sufficiency of Christ's Obedience in His Life and Death (Piper)

My humble apologies John, I misread your question to be: 'in Christ Jesus' ,however one passage was foremost in my thoughts after I realized my error.

'Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.' (Hebrews 5:8-10)

I pray that I am not 'as hard at hearing' as I seem to be at seeing, these days.

Most interesting, most edifying. Continue.

Peace.

Well, if links to articles are going to be given, I would be remiss if I didn't at least include one that can be found on The Highway.

- The Active Obedience of Christ, by J. Gresham Machen

And, here is a quote by Lorraine Boettner that you may find helpful:

We now come to discuss the sufficiency of Christ’s work in the matter of redemption. We believe that by His vicarious suffering and death He fully paid the debt which His people owed to divine justice, thus releasing them from the consequences of sin, and that by keeping the law of perfect obedience and living a sinless life He vicariously earned for them the reward of eternal life. His work fully provided for their rescue from sin and for their establishment in heaven. These two phases of His work are sometimes referred to as His active and passive obedience. This doctrine of the sufficiency of His work is set forth in the Westminster Confession when we are told that by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself He “fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father had given Him.” Had He only paid the penalty for sin without also earning the reward of eternal life, His people would then only have been raised up to the zero point. They would then have been on the same plane as was Adam before he fell, and would still have been under obligation to earn eternal life for themselves. To Paul’s declaration that Christ is all in all in matters of salvation (Col. 3:11), we can add that man is nothing at all as to that work, and has not in himself anything which merits salvation. We should remember that the Gospel is not good advice, but good news. It does not tell us what we are to do to earn salvation, but proclaims to us what Christ has done to save us. (the source article is here)

[color:"purple"]ENJOY!![/color]

Thanks Pilgrim,

Yet more articles from the treasure chest archive of The Highway. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/BigThumbUp.gif" alt="" />

While meditating on this awesome fact. The obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, I ended up reading in Philippians, particularly exploring 'the mind of Christ' - for what a mind is that of our God incarnate ? Far more worthy of investigation than the minds of all people who have ever lived! It was while reflecting upon Philippians 2:8 in this context that this segment by Adam Clark (not my favourite commentator) held my attention some: Enjoy!


My brief interlude here is ended, and time to work again. I will put up another picture in the funnies, but that is it for awhile, just like Brad said, 'A lot to read and pray about' Time to listen for the voice of GOD.

Shalom,

Salvation depends on Christ's active obedience, obeying the laws and commands of God the Father, and passive obedience, enduring the punishment of the crucifixion suffering all the just penalties due to men for their sins. The two are seen as distinct but inseperable; passive obedience on its own only takes men back to the state of Adam before the Fall.

What Machen Meant


Wes

Dear Friends,
Maybe I am indeed 'dull at hearing' but I am really struggling with this idea (passive and/ active obedience of Christ Jesus), in the light of Scripture ?

I am really battling with the nature of this examination of the obedience of Christ Jesus. It would be unthinkable for the Christ to have not done the will of GOD.

Passages like this certainly are most clear:

'I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.'

The point I am making is that it is not ONLY the life, the death of Christ Jesus; where we may examine His obedience to the will of the Father, but also His pre-existence, the resurrection, the ascension and the faithful representation of us in His prayers for all the saints for:

'And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.'

In the GODHEAD there is total oneness of will, and any deviation from this would have marked Jesus as a liar, worse a transgressor.

'I and my Father are one.'

I move that Christ Jesus' obedience was neither active or passive; for it was not something He rose to but which He descended into on our behalf.

Please excuse me if my thoughts are unformed or offensive, or right out of the ball park.

Sincerely,

LOL, I feel your pain, Straw. A "trick question" helped me:

True or False? Our salvation is based on perfect obedience to the Ten Commandments.

Answer: True!

-Robin

The answer is TRUE indeed. This is because our merited salvation is based on His perfect obedience to the Ten Commandments and not ours. The perfect faith and obedience of Jesus is imputed (credited not infused) to us as a gift by the Grace of God to those that believe (the elect).
<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/cloud9.gif" alt="" />

Denny

Romans 3:22-24

I believe that GOD incarnate whose will was perfectly intertwined (unified) with the will of GOD, would have had little trouble with the ten commandments. He was fulfilling the promise by laying down His life. He had this command from the Father.

'Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.'

In the wilderness the adversity set his mind to deviate the Son of God from this, by an early death.

In the garden of Gethsemane:-

'Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.'

The real challenge lay at the cross, not at Gethsemane. Though he sweated as it were drops of blood.

'Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.'

No, the commandments were the least of His problems, the command of the Father to save the elect was foremost on his heart and mind, and it consummed Him.

'As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.'

Forgive me if I am pushing too hard. I can only see that the will of God would become more and more difficult as He reached His real reason for being here.

(Luke 9:51, Mark 10:32) - set His face!

This rather brief thought is well expressed by AT Robertson:

'Note emphatic autos, he himself, with fixedness of purpose in the face of difficulty and danger. This look on Christ’s face as he went to his doom is noted later in Mark 10:32. It is a Hebraistic idiom (nine times in Ezekiel), this use of face here, but the verb (effective aorist active) is an old one from sterizo; (from sterigx, a support), to set fast, to fix.'

Sorry, I have to get to my duties. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/BigThumbUp.gif" alt="" />

Well.... <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/scratchchin.gif" alt="" />, obviously you "formed" your thoughts, I didn't find them overtly offensive and I wouldn't say that they are "out of the ball park", but I will say they are in error.

That which caught my attention most is that in your "thoughts" there is at least an implication that you are confusing the two natures of Christ, e.g., the eternal Son of God before the incarnation and the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man after the incarnation. Although the terms "active and passive obedience" are not to be specifically found in the Bible, i.e., they are man-made theological terms, they are nonetheless permissible and do accurately describe what the Bible teaches concerning the earthly life of Christ and that which He had eternally purposed; to save His people from their sins. I need not remind you that there are many such theological terms which the Church has used throughout the centuries to convey biblical truth, e.g., Trinity, sola fide, et al.

Admittedly, the length of time a specific idea or doctrine has been held does not necessarily mean it is true. But the onus is upon anyone who would bring the doctrine into question to show that it is not true. Therefore, I would say you have your work cut out for you since most of the "giants of the faith" have held, taught and preached the "active" and "passive" obedience of Christ and their absolute necessity in regard to the salvation of sinners. Are you seriously up to the task of opposing the traditional doctrine of the historic Church with salient arguments? <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

In His grace,

Pilgrim,
I would appreciate you also responding to my lastest thoughts. I agree I was stretching the thought a bit with pre-existence idea. However, I think that I am finally a little more in focus now.
See yer later.

The question is not His reason for being here! We all already know what His reason is. It was to save and restore the world in His image that God loved [John 3:16]. This, a world that was utterly and monstrously destroyed by the free will, faithlessness and disobedience under the headship of Adam.

No, the question is: How did God redeem and re-create our world in Christ? The biblical answer is that under the headship of His new "Adam", He provided the perfect faith and obedience (active obedience) of which Adam yielded to Satan through temptation and miserable failed. This perfect obedience included the payment of the death penalty (passive obedience) due for sin of which all of us are guilty.


Afraid not, although obedience to God's will and commandments was in the natural free will of Jesus, it is hardly a minor concern nor the "least of the problem" for us. Obedience to God's will (except by Faith Alone [John 6:29]), is now impossible [Matt. 19:26] for us to do, and without His work and grace, our death sentence. Even our faith is imperfect! This is because the sin of Adam was not only imputed (credited) to us but also infused into our nature (original sin) as a just judgment of our righteous God.

Denny

Romans 3:22-24