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

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 ⟨p. 366⟩therefore called being born again, becoming new creatures, rising with Christ, putting off the old man, and putting on the new, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness: That Righteousness, which God requires of us under the Gospel, must be an inward Principle of Love and Obedience, which transforms us into the image of God, as if we were born again or made new creatures. The reason why God sent Christ into the world, to die as a Sacrifice for our sins, and to confirm and seal the new Covenant with his Blood, was, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, Rom, 8.3, 4. [Greek or Hebrew], that is, [Greek or Hebrew], as St. Chrysostom expounds it; that which the Law was designed to work in them, but was found too weak to effect it, by reason of the greater power of sin; that is, the inward holiness and purity of mind which was represented and signified by those external Ceremonies of Circumcision, Washing, Purifications and Sacrifices: This was the design of the Gospel, to work in us that inward Holiness and Purity, which is the perfection and accomplishment of the typical and figurative Righteousness ⟨p. 367⟩of the Law. I know very well that this place is expounded of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness; but is there any mention here of the Righteousness of Christ? That he fulfilled all Righteousness for us, that his Righteousness is imputed to us, and so we fulfil the Righteousness of the Law in him? The Apostle's design is to show the great Virtue of the Gospel in delivering from the power of sin, which the Law could not effect: