from LigonierMinistries
I don’t think there’s any more important text in all of the New Testament that defines the work of Jesus than this one: That Jesus was sent to fulfill all righteousness. And what that means to the Jew, was to obey every jot and tittle of the law. Because Jesus is now not acting in His baptism for Himself, but for His people. And if His people are required to keep the ten commandments, He keeps the ten commandments. If His people are required to submit to this baptismal ritual, He submits to it, in their behalf. Because the redemption that is brought by Christ is not restricted to his death on the cross.
We’re seeing that in the work of redemption, God didn’t send Jesus to earth on Good Friday to die for the sins of the people and that will take care of it. No, Jesus, not only had to die for our sins, but He had to live for our righteousness. If all Jesus did was die for your sins, that would remove all of your guilt and that would leave you sinless in the sight of God, but not righteous. You would be innocent, but not righteous because you haven’t done anything to obey the law of God, which is what righteousness requires.
So, we have a doctrine in theology that refers to “The Active Obedience of Jesus”, as distinguished from the “Passive obedience of Jesus”. This doctrine is in great dispute right now, in particular among dispensational thinkers, which I find extremely unsettling. The passive obedience of Christ, refers to His willingness to submit to the pain that was inflicted on Him by the Father, on the cross, in the atonement. He passively received the curse of God there. The active obedience refers to His whole life of obeying the law of God, whereby, He qualifies to be the Savior. He qualifies to be the Lamb without blemish. He qualifies for the song “Worthy is the Lamb Who Was Slain”. Through His total righteousness, He fulfills the law’s demand.
You remember the covenant with Moses: Everybody who fulfills the law receives the blessing. Those who disobey the law receive the curse. What does Jesus do? He obeys the law perfectly, receives the blessing, and not the curse. But, there’s a double imputation at the cross, where my sin is transferred to His account. My sin is carried and laid upon Him on the cross. But, in our redemption, His righteousness is imputed to us, which righteousness He wouldn’t have, if He didn’t live this life of perfect obedience. So, what I’m saying to you is, His life of perfect obedience is just as necessary for our salvation as His perfect atonement on the cross, because there’s double imputation. My sin to Him, His righteousness to me. So that is what the Scripture is getting at when it says, “Jesus is our righteousness.”
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