John 8:46 “Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not
believe me?”
I came across a short Study
on the biblical topic of atonement that stated: No discussion of the atonement
could be complete without a consideration of the
obedience of our Savior
Jesus Christ to His Father. After all, Jesus saw His death as fulfilling His
Father’s will. Moreover, when we talk about Christ’s obedience, we normally
distinguish His passive obedience from His active obedience. The 1828 Webster’s
dictionary defines the word “atonement” as: Expiation; satisfaction or
reparation made by giving an equivalent for an injury, or by doing or suffering
that which is received in satisfaction for an offense or injury; with for. In
theology, the expiation of sin made by the obedience and personal sufferings of
Christ.
The atonement manifests
Christ’s passive obedience because in His death He receives in His person the
actions of others—His Father’s wrath and the torture of earthly authorities.
Let us be careful here, for our Savior is not entirely passive in the
atonement. He willingly allows the authorities to execute Him, actively
submitting Himself to them as He lays down His life for His sheep (Believers).
Still, the term “passive obedience” is useful because it emphasizes that Jesus
offers no resistance in the atonement.
Christ’s “active obedience”
describes His complete faithfulness to God’s commands, His living a perfect,
sinless life in flawless obedience to His Father. We find an allusion to this
unwavering obedience when Jesus asks, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?”.
Clearly, Jesus expects the answer to be “No one.” Other passages, such as 1 Peter 2:21–25, teach that our Savior
always kept God’s law perfectly.
Our Lord’s life of active
obedience reminds us that His death was not all that was
required to redeem us. If
that were so, He could have become incarnate as an adult and gone straight to
the cross. By itself, Christ’s death for our sins only cleanses us from evil,
restoring us to a position of neutrality before God in regard to His law, much
as Adam was before the fall. Adam was free of sin when He was created, but He
had no “positive obedience” of His own. He still had to obey God perfectly,
taking dominion of the earth, multiplying and covering the earth with
offspring, and not eating the forbidden fruit. We see this in that the
obedience of Christ, the last Adam, secures eternal life. Except for Jesus, all
human beings are born in Adam. That makes us subject to God’s demand for
perfect obedience for eternal life. Jesus rendered such obedience, and when we
rest in Him by faith alone, God credits His righteousness to our account, and
we prove that God imputed our sins to Christ on the cross. Therefore, the
Father sees us as having the perfect active obedience needed for eternal life.
Because
we are sinners, we can do nothing in and of ourselves to merit eternal life.
Even after we are saved, our best works remain tainted by sin and cannot
produce the perfection we need for a righteous standing before God. Jesus’ “active
obedience” to the Father, however, is put on our account when we trust in
Christ, giving us confidence before Him. No work of ours is good enough for
evil to atone. Your merit, Lord, is all we have; it saves and it alone.
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