A53713:577
Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Of communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each person distinctly in love, grace, and consolation, or, The saints fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, unfolded by John Owen ...Of communion with God the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost, each person distinctly in love, grace, and consolation, or, The saints fellowship with the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost, unfolded by John Owen ...
Oxford: printed by A. Lichfield for Tho. Robinson, 1657
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. Then I say, this perfect complete Obedience of Christ to the Law is reckoned unto us. As there is a truth in that, the day thou §. 20 eatest thou shalt dye; death is the reward of sin, and so we cannot be freed from death, but by the death of Christ: Heb. 2. 13, 14. So also is that no less true, do this and live, that life is not to be obtained, unless all be done, that the Law requires. That is still true, if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, Math. 19. 17. they must then be kept by us, or our surety. Neither is it of any value which by some is objected, that if Christ yielded perfect obedience to the Law for us, then are we no more bound to yield obedience: for by his undergoing death the penalty of the Law, we are freed from it. I Answer; How did Christ undergo death, merely as it was penal: how then are we delivered from death, merely as it is penal: yet we must dye still, yea as the last conflict with the effects of sin, as a passage to our Father we must dye. Well then, Christ yielded perfect obedience to the Law, but how did he do it? purely as it stood in that conditional, do this and live: He did it in the strength of the Grace he had received: He did it as a means of life, to procure life by it, as the tenor of a covenant. Are we then freed from this obedience? yes, but how far? from doing it in our own strength, from doing it for this end, that we may obtain life everlasting. It is vain that some say confidently, that we must yet work for life, It is all one, as to say, we are yet under the old covenant, hoc fac & vives: we are not freed from obedience, as a way of walking with God, but we are, as a way of working to come to him, of which at large afterwards.
3. Then I say, this perfect compleat Obedience of Christ to the Law is reckoned unto us. As there is a truth in that, the day thou §. 20 eatest thou shalt dye; death is the reward of sinne, and so we cannot be freed from death, but by the death of Christ: Heb. 2. 13, 14. So also is that no lesse true, do this and live, that life is not to be obtained, unlesse all be done, that the Law requires. That is still true, if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandements, Math. 19. 17