LBCF 1689 Reflections. Part 99

Reflections on the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. 23 Aug 14 began a perhaps unbroken, orderly, and personal journey through my favorite written confession of faith. This will be my personal reflections on this beloved written codification of the Christian Faith which is according to a Baptist flavor.

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Section 11, paragraph 1c: “…not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ’s active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.”

I strongly affirm that I can trust in my salvation as much as I do only because I’m not able or expected to complete it. What I mean is that I can trust I’m saved only because I trust Jesus alone to save me. I often liken it to the futility of a man trying to build a bridge across a massive mountainside drop off who’d never built a bridge before in his life. Let’s say he was something of an elementary school official all of his life, and no engineer. Even if he had all the right materials. Even if he had the right mechanical equipment, he couldn’t trust his work. Then imagine that he was presented the services of the most accomplished bridge builder. Someone who’d designed bridges around the world for decades. How much then could he trust the stability of his passage across the drop off then? It’s because Jesus built the bridge to heaven I’m on that I can trust his work. I wasn’t asked to stand up one pillar. Because I never picked up a hammer on it, I can trust it.

Jesus lived a life and died a death in full obedience to God the Father. The Son became a man to do so for God and men. His “active obedience” is what he did throughout his life to live as a sinless man could. In his “passive obedience” he gave himself to suffer and die for the lawful redemption of his church. The message of the Faith is this: if Jesus gets all your sin you get all his righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 summarizes this “great exchange.”

The righteousness I have is Jesus’. It never leaves his hand. He gave it to me. It is the pearl of great price.