16. I believe, that for the completing of this work, he was always sinless (Heb 4:15); did always the things that pleased God's justice (John 8:29), that every one of his acts, both of doing and suffering, and rising again from the dead, was really and infinitely perfect, being done by him as God-man (Heb 7:26-28): wherefore his acts before he died, are called, 'the righteousness of God' (Rom 3:21,22), his blood, 'the blood of God' (Acts 20:28), and 'hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us' (1 John 3:16). The Godhead which gave virtue to all the acts of the human nature, was then in perfect union with it, when he hanged upon the cross for our sins (Acts 10:36; John 20:28; Rom 1:4).
17. I believe then, that the righteousness that saveth the sinner from the wrath to come, is properly and personally Christ's, and ours but as we have union with him; God by grace imputing it to us. 'Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith' (Phil 3:8,9). 'But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption' (1 Cor 1:30). 'For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him' (2 Cor 5:21) ['IN the LORD have I righteousness and strength' (Isa 45:24).]
18. I believe, that God, as the reward of Christ's undertakings for us, hath exalted him to his own right-hand, as our mediator, and given him a name above every name; and hath made him Lord of all, and judge of quick and dead: and all this that we who believe might take courage to believe, and hope in God (Eph 1:17-22). 'And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself—unto death, even the death of the cross, [where he died for our sins]. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him; and given him a name—above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (Phil 2:8-11). 'And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead' (Acts 10:42, 17:31). 'Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God' (1 Peter 1:19-21).
19. I believe, that being at the right hand of God in heaven, he doth there effectually exercise the offices of his excellent priesthood, and mediatorship, presenting himself continually before God, in the righteousness which is accomplished for us, when he was in the world. For by the efficacy of his blood, he not only went into the holy place, but being there, and having by it obtained eternal redemption for us; now, as receiving the worth and merit thereof from the Father; doth bestow upon us grace, repentance, faith, and the remission of sins: yea he also received for us, the Holy Ghost to be sent unto us, to ascertain[4] us of our adoption and glory: 'For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest' (Heb 8:4). 'Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession' (Heb 4:14). 'For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus' (1 Tim 2:5). For 'by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.—For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us' (Heb 9:12,24). 'Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear' (Acts 2:23, 5:31).[5]
20. I believe, that being there, he shall so continue till the restitution of all things, and then he shall come again in glory, and shall sit in judgment upon all flesh. And I believe, that according to his sentence so shall their judgment be. 'Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things,—spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began' (Acts 3:19-21). For 'this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heave' (Acts 1:11). 'For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God'; &c. (1 Thess 4:16). 'When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal' (Matt 25:31-33,41,46). For 'the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat' (2 Peter 3:10-12).
21. I believe that when he comes, his saints shall have a reward of grace, for all their work and labour of love which they showed to his name in the world. 'And every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour' (1 Cor 3:8). 'And then shall every man have praise of God' (4:5). 'And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be' (Rev 22:12). 'Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord' (1 Cor 15:58). 'Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ' (Col 3:24).
How Christ is made ours; or by what means this or that man, hath that benefit by him, as to stand just before God now, and in the day of judgment.
Of Justification.
1. I believe, we being sinful creatures in ourselves, that no good thing done by us, can procure of God the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But that the imputation thereof is an act of grace, a free gift without our deserving. 'Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus' (Rom 3:24, 5:17). 'Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus' (2 Tim 1:9).
2. I believe also, That the power of imputing righteousness resideth only in God by Christ: 1. Sin being the transgression of the law. 2. The soul that hath sinned being his creature, and the righteousness also his, and his only. 'Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin' (Rom 4:6-8). Hence therefore it is said again, That men 'shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness' (Psa 145:7). 'For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy' (Rom 9:15,16).