An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

In another place the Apostle tells us, That by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified, Gal. 2.16. No flesh, not the holiest Saint on earth (whose Righteousness is as much above the Pharisees as Life is above pictures and shadows) shall be justified by his own Righteousness or conformity to the Law. But if the Apostle would not have his own Righteousness, which is of the Law, in Justification, what would he have? He would have the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: He doth not say, a Righteousness which is Faith or other Graces, but a righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, a righteousness which is of God by faith: Now inherent Graces are never in Scripture called the Righteousness of God; The righteousness of God is upon those that believe, Rom. 3.22. not in them, as inherent Graces are: The righteousness of God is in Christ, 2 Cor. 5.21. not in our selves, as our Graces are: The righteousness of God is one and the same with the ⟨p. 365⟩righteousness of Christ, 2 Pet. 1.1. not the same with our Graces: The Apostle therefore would have, the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; that is, the perfect Righteousness of Christ, which Faith receives, and God accepts on our behalf. By these things it appears, that the Apostle in this place doth not only exclude external Pharisaical Righteousness, but even inherent Graces in the matter of Justification.

There is a double Antithesis in the words; ¹the righteousness of the Law is opposed to the righteousness which is by the faith of Christ, and my own righteousness to the righteousness of God: Now the surest way to understand the meaning of this, is to consider how these phrases are used in Scripture. The righteousness of the Law (as you have already heard) is an external Righteousness, which consists in washings, and purifications, and sacrifices, or an external conformity, to the Moral Law: The righteousness which is by the faith of Christ is an internal Righteousness, which consists in the renovation of our Minds and Spirits, in the government of our thoughts and passions, which is