The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Just as if I'd always obeyed

Still thinking about this and maybe I can express myself a little clearer now.

If justification is a declaration, then can it be said to be intrinsically "owned" by the subject so much so that it is as if the person had always been in the state that has now been declared? Would it not be better to say that the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us, even though we have been inwardly unrighteous all our days? I got out my Berkhof Systematic theology and he states:

it is "to declare forensically that the demands of the law as a condition of life are fully satisfied with regard to a person."

Is there a difference between what Jerry Bridges is saying and what Berkhof has stated. It would seem to me as if there is.
(I just read back through this post and maybe I haven't expressed myself any clearer after all!)