M.TH. LONG DISSERTATION (LD6.1) - John Owen

John Owen’s Theological Context
our reward. 68 However, it is not the formal cause of justification. 69 Christ’s fulfilling of
the covenant of works made it possible for God to enter into a new covenant with
mankind. Thus, Christ’s righteousness is a necessary ground of justification. However,
the ‘law’ of the new covenant is faith, and so the personal righteousness required for
justification consists in faith. Packer explains:
Had it not been for Christ’s obedience, the new covenant would never have
been made, the law of works would still be in force, and all would be
condemned under its terms. Christ’s fulfilment of that law was therefore
essential for the justification of anyone. But a man only qualifies for pardon
under the new covenant when he believes. And his faith, as
such…constitutes him righteous. 70
Justification is a forensic act of God, but it does not involve the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness personally to the believer; rather it is the believer’s faith that is imputed. 71
‘This is evangelical righteousness. Unlike the first, it is the believer’s own’, and it is no less
necessary to justification than Christ’s righteousness, although it occupies a subordinate
position. 72
Baxter circumvented the Reformed dispute over whether the elect are justified by
Christ’s passive righteous only, or also by his active righteousness, because he held that it
was based on the wrong view of the relationship of Christ’s righteousness to us. For
him, the appropriate point of dispute concerned, ‘How the righteousness of Christ is
made ours’. 73 He offered a number of reasons why it is mistaken to believe that Christ’s
righteousness is imputed to us on the basis of our union with him. Two are pertinent
68 Baxter 1658: 262f.
69 Cf. Boersma 1993: 243-45.
70 Packer 2003: 258.
71 Baxter 1649: I.226f.; 1658: 268; 1675: I.ii.64, 66.
72 Baxter 1658: 268, italics in original.
73 Baxter 1649: I.45.
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