The Righteousness of Christ.
By S. B. Whitney
THE relation this sustains to Christian experience is an important point, and the misapprehension respecting it, that exists in some minds, seems almost inexcusable, as will appear from the following considerations. 1. Justification, as it relates to the sinner, is not a vindication of injured innocence from unjust aspersions, or false accusations, but a restoration to innocence and the favor of God, of those who have become vile and sinful through their transgressions, and are consequently exposed to death. 2. This the sinner cannot accomplish for himself; for no subsequent obedience, however strict or perfect it may be, will ever remove the guilt of former transgressions, or the penalty of the law attaching to them; therefore, some means outside of himself must be furnished. 3. What these means are, and how to be used, is clearly shown in Rom. 3, where the apostle, asserting on the above principle, that “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified,” because “all have sinned,” says in verses 24–26, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.” From this it appears that Christ’s righteousness affects us simply as regards the sins that are past. 4. But it also appears, from what follows in the same epistle, that it will not avail even so far as this, unless we retain our justification, procured by faith, by a life of obedience; for in chapter 8:4, the reason given for God’s sending his own Son into the world is, not to furnish a license for sin, but, “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;” and verse 13 adds, “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.” Therefore, we are required to be holy, to purify our souls “in obeying the truth, through the Spirit.” Christ also speaks of “your righteousness,” while it is said of the redeemed, that they are “clothed with white robes,” or spotless characters; and those robes are “their robes,” which they have washed and “made white in the blood of the Lamb.” The blood of the Lamb cleanses, but we must apply it by faith to our own robes, or characters; and those who come to the judgment, hoping that the robe of Christ’s righteousness will conceal their impurities and deformities, while they neglect to obey God’s requirements, will find themselves fatally deceived, and woefully disappointed; for the Saviour says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven,” Matt. 7: 21. S. B. WHITNEY.