pilgrim people

If you are interested in reading more about the connection between Owen's doctrine of the pactum salutis and his doctrine of the imputation of Christ's active obedience, pick up a copy of The Outlook this October. The editor has agreed to publish an article I wrote on Owen's doctrine of imputation, which, hopefully is more clear, cogent, and concise than a series of blogposts.

There is one point, however, that I would like to make briefly. For Owen, ALL of Christ's obedience was ultimately active obedience, even his suffering and death. In some regards, Owen found the debates in his day over the distinction between the active and passive obedience of Christ to be foolhardy, “for [Christ] exercised the highest active obedience in his suffering, when he offered himself to God through the eternal Spirit.” (V, 253) Because of the pactum salutis, the whole of Christ's work was in the context of active obedience. Sent as our surety in the covenant of grace, Christ had to accomplish the work the Father gave him to do and fulfilling the demands of the law by keeping its commands and suffering its penalty and curse. For England's most significant federalist theologian, all of this was Christ's active obedience.

Owen did not begin his case in The Doctrine of Justification by Faith with an explanation of the pactum salutis. He began, rather, with a lengthy introduction stating his reasons and pastoral concerns for taking up this work, namely, “the glory of God in Christ, with the peace and furtherance of the obedience of believers.”

He followed this with a full six chapters on the nature and object of justifying faith, as well as the meaning of justification itself.

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In his 1655 work against the Socinians, Vindiciae Evangelicae, Owen described the covenant of redemption (pactum salutis) as “that compact, covenant, convention, or agreement, that was between the Father and the Son, for the accomplishment of the work of our redemption by the mediation of Christ, to the praise of the glorious grace of God.” (XII, 497.) He saw five major elements within this covenant:

(i) The Father, as “promiser,” and the Son, as “undertaker,” voluntarily agreed together in counsel to achieve a common purpose, namely, “the glory of God and the salvation of the elect.”

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The Abrahamic Covenant (con't)

in Genesis 15, God promises Abraham offspring and a land. There are two levels of fulfillment. The first level was fulfilled in the nation Israel and the land of Canaan. As awesome as that first level of fulfillment was, however, it was only a picture and type of the greater fulfillment.

If you have a Bible, open it to Galatians 3.

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Abrahamic Covenant (con't)

Genesis 15: By taking a self-maledictory, blood-oath (see the previous BCT post), God promises Abraham two primary things, offspring and a land as an everlasting possession.

But how were these two promises fulfilled?

As the Bible unfolds God's great plan of redeeming a people for himself, we see that the fulfillment actually comes on two marvelous levels. Now, let's think about this.

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