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

Neither is it to me credible, that the Romans, who in the Epistle to them had the pure Spirituality of the Law set before them, should ever construe the Righteousness or Works of the Law mentioned in that Epistle to be only external. As for internal Holiness, God indeed approves of it, but not as that which is the matter of our Righteousness in Justification.

Let us now consider in what sense the Apostle opposes his own Righteousness to the Righteousness of God; ¹and there is no great difficulty in this; for the Apostle tells us, that by his own Righteousness he means the Righteousness of the Law, and by the Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Faith; and what that is you have already heard: Thus in Rom. 10.3. For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God: Where, their own Righteousness, which the Jews so obstinately adhered to, was the Righteousness of the Law; and the Righteousness of God, which they were ignorant of, and would not submit to, was the Righteousness of Faith: For this was the great Controversy between the Jews and Apostles (which is the Subject of this Epistle) Whether men were to be justified by the Law of Moses, or by the Gospel of Christ, by a Legal or Evangelical Righteousness, as appears from Rom. 9.3. Israel, who followed after righteousness, hath not attained to the Law of righteousness; wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the Law; that is, The Israelites, ⟨p. 393⟩who pursued so earnestly after Righteousness, are excluded from Righteousness or forgiveness of sins, and are under a Curse, because they did not look for Righteousness and Justification in the way, which God prescribed, which is by Faith in Christ or by Christianity, but by the observance of the Law of Moses. Now the most obvious reason, why the Righteousness of the Law is called their own Righteousness, and the Righteousness of Faith Gods Righteousness, is, because this Legal Righteousness was a way of Justification, not of Gods appointment, but their own choosing; God never designed that any man should be justified to eternal Life by observing the Law of Moses, but yet they confidently expected Justification by that Law, and for that reason rejected the Gospel of Christ: But the Righteousness of Faith is a Righteousness of God's choosing, this he approves and accepts of for the Justification of a sinner: By this the Elders obtained a good report; by this Enoch and Noah and Abraham were justified before God: And therefore this may well be called the Righteousness of God, because this he appointed, and this he will own and reward.