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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	old_a	prophet_n	testament_n	5,085	5	8.1969	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53686	The doctrine of justification by faith through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, explained, confirmed, & vindicated by John Owen ...	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1677 (1677)	Wing O739; ESTC R13355	418,173	622

purpose in this Evangelist the sum of the Doctrine declared by him is That the Lord Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the World that is by the sacrifice of himself wherein he answered and fulfilled all the typical sacrifices of the Law That unto this end he sanctified himself that those who believe might be sanctified or perfected for ever by his own offering of himself That in the Gospel he is proposed as lifted up and crucified for us is bearing all our sins on his Body on the Tree That by Faith 〈◊〉 him we have adoption justification freedom from judgment and condemnation with a right and title unto Eternal Life That those who believe not are condemned already because they believe not on the Son of God and as he elswhere expresseth it make God a lier in that they believe not his Testimony namely That he hath given unto us Eternal Life and that this life is in his Son Nor doth he any where make mention of any other means cause or condition of Justification on our part but Faith only though he aboundeth in Precepts unto Believers for Love and keeping the commands of Christ. And this Faith is the receiving of Christ in the sense newly declared And this is the substance of the Christian Faith in this matter which oft-times we rather obscure then illustrate by debating the consideration of any thing in our Justification but the Grace and Love of God the Person and Mediation of Christ with Faith in them CHAP. XVIII The nature of Justification as declared in the Epistles of S. Paul in that unto the Romans especially Chap. 3. THat the way and manner of our Justification before God with all the Causes and Means of it are designedly declared by the Apostle in the Epistle unto the Romans Chap. 3.4 5. as also vindicated from Objections so as to render his discourse thereon the proper Seat of this Doctrine and whence it is principally to be learned cannot modestly be denied The late exceptions of some That this Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works is found only in the Writings of S. Paul and that his Writings are obscure and intricate are both false and scandalous to Christian Religion so as that in this place we shall not afford them the least consideration He wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he was moved by the Holy Ghost And as all the matter delivered by him was sacred Truth which immediately requires our Faith and Obedience so the way and manner wherein he declared it was such as the Holy Ghost judged most expedient for the edification of the Church And as he said himself with confidence That if the Gospel which he Preached and as it was Preached by him though accounted by them foolishness was hid so as that they could not understand nor comprehend the Mystery of it it was hid unto them that are lost so we may say That if what he delivereth in particular concerning our Justification before God seems obscure difficult or perplexed unto us it is from our prejudices corrupt affections or weakness of understanding at best not able to comprehend the glory of this Mystery of the Grace of God in Christ and not from any defect in his way and manner of the Revelation of it Rejecting therefore all such perverse insinuations in a due sense of our own weakness and acknowledgment that at best we know but in part we shall humbly inquire into the Blessed Revelation of this great Mystery of the Justification of a sinner before God as by him declared in those Chapters of his glorious Epistle to the Romans and I shall do it with all briefness possible so as not on this occasion to repeat what hath been already spoken or to anticipate what may be spoken in place more convenient The first thing he doth is to prove all men to be under sin and to be guilty before God This he giveth as the conclusion of his preceding discourse from Chap. 1.18 or what he had evidently evinced thereby Chap. 3. ver 19 23. Hereon an inquiry doth arise how any of them come to be justified before God And whereas Justification is a sentence upon the consideration of a Righteousness his grand inquiry is what that Righteousness is on the consideration whereof a Man may be so justified And concerning this he affirms expresly that it is not the Righteousness of the Law nor of the Works of it whereby what he doth intend hath been in part before declared and will be further manifested in the proofs of our discourse Wherefore in general he declares that the Righteousness whereby we are justified is the Righteousness of God in opposition unto any Righteousness of our own Chap. 1.17 Chap. 3.21 22. And he describes this Righteousness of God by three properties 1. That it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the Law Ver. 21. separated in all its concerns from the Law not attainable by it nor any works of it which they have no influence into It is neither our obedience unto the Law nor attainable thereby Nor can any expression more separate and exclude the Works of Obedience unto the Law from any concernment in it then this doth Wherefore what ever is or can be performed by our selves in obedience unto the Law is rejected from any interest in this Righteousness of God or the procurement of it to be made ours 2. That yet it is witnessed unto by the Law Ver. 21. The Law and the Prophets The Apostle by this distinction of the Books of the Old Testament into the Law and the Prophets manifests that by the Law he understands the Books of Moses and in them Testimony is given unto this Righteousness of God four ways 1. By a declaration of the causes of the necessity of it unto our Justification This is done in the account given of our Apostasie from God of the loss of his Image and the state of sin that insued thereon For hereby an end was put unto all possibility and hope of acceptance with God by our own Personal Righteousness By the entrance of sin our own Righteousness went out of the World so that there must be another Righteousness prepared and approved of God and called The Righteousness of God in opposition unto our own or all Relation of Love and Favor between God and Man must cease for ever 2. In the way of recovery from this state generally declared in the first Promise of the Blessed Seed by whom this Righteousness of God was to be wrought and introduced for he alone was to make an end of sin and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 9.24 That Righteousness of God that should be the means of the Justification of the Church in all ages and under all dispensations 3. By stopping up the way unto any other Righteousness through the Threatnings of the Law and that Curse which every transgression of it was attended withal

use of and pressed at large by one among our selves but improved also by a dangerous comparison between the Writings of the Evangelists and the other Writings of the New Testament For to enforce this Argument that the Histories of the Gospel wherein the Sermons of Christ are recorded do make no mention of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ as in his judgement they do not nor of his Satisfaction or Merit or Expiation of sin or of Redemption by his Death as they do not in the judgment of Socinus it is added by him that for his part he is apt to admire our Saviours Sermons who was the Author of our Religion before the Writings of the Apostles though inspired men Whereunto many dangerous insinuations and reflections on the Writings of St. Paul contrary to the Faith and Sense of the Church in all Ages are subjoined S. pag. 240 241. But this Boldness is not only unwarrantable but to be abhorred What place of Scripture what Ecclesiastical Tradition what single president of any one sober Christian Writer what Theological Reason will countenance a man in making the comparison mentioned and so determining thereon such juvenile boldness such want of a due apprehension and understanding of the Nature of divine Inspirations with the order and design of the writing of the New Testament which are the springs of this precipitate censure ought to be reflected on At present to remove this pretence out of our way it may be observed 1. That what the Lord Christ taught his Disciples in his Personal Ministry on the Earth was suited unto that Oeconomy of the Church which was antecedent unto his Death and Resurrection Nothing did he with-hold from them that was needful to their Faith Obedience and Consolation in that state Many things he instructed them in out of the Scripture many new Revelations he made unto them and many times did he occasionally instruct and rectifie their judgements Howbeit he made no clear distinct Revelation of those sacred mysteries unto them which are peculiar unto the Faith of the New Testament nor were to be distinctly apprehended before his Death and Resurrection 2. What the Lord Christ revealed afterwards by his Spirit unto the Apostles was no less immediately from himself then was the Truth which he spoke unto them with his own mouth in the days of his flesh An Apprehension to the contrary is destructive of Christian Religion The Epistles of the Apostles are no less Christs Sermons then that which he delivered on the Mount Wherefore 3. Neither in the things themselves nor in the way of their Delivery or Revelation is there any Advantage of the one sort of Writings above the other The things written in the Epistles proceed from the same Wisdom the same Grace the same Love with the things which he spoke with his own mouth in the days of his flesh and are of the same divine veracity Authority and Efficacy The Revelation which he made by his Spirit is no less divine and immediate from himself then what he spoke unto his Disciples on the Earth To distinguish between these things on any of these accounts is intolerable folly 4. The Writings of the Evangelists do not contain the whole of all the Instructions which the Lord Christ gave unto his Disciples personally on the Earth For he was seen of them after his Resurrection forty days and spoke with them of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Act. 1.3 And yet nothing hereof is recorded in their writings but only some few occasional speeches Nor had he given before unto them a clear and distinct understanding of those things which were delivered concerning his Death and Resurrection in the Old Testament as is plainly declared Luke 24.25 26 27. For it was not necessary for them in that state wherein they were Wherefore 5. As to the extent of Divine Revelations objectively those which he granted by his Spirit unto his Apostles after his Ascension were beyond those which he Personally taught them so far as they are recorded in the Writings of the Evangelists For he told them plainly not long before his death that he had many things to say unto them which then they could not bear Joh. 16.12 And for the knowledge of those things he refers them to the coming of the Spirit to make Revelation of them from himself in the next words Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you ver 13 14. And on this account he had told them before that it was expedient for them that he should go away that the Holy Spirit might come unto them whom he would send from the Father ver 7. Hereunto he referred the full and clear manifestation of the mysteries of the Gospel So false as well as dangerous and scandalous are those insinuations of Socinus and his followers Secondly The Writings of the Evangelists are full unto their proper Ends and Purposes These were to record the Genealogy Conception Birth Acts Miracles and Teachings of our Saviour so far as to evince him to be the true only promised Messias So he testifieth who wrote the last of them Many other signs truly did Jesus which are not written in this Book But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God Joh. 20.30 31. Unto this End every thing is recorded by them that is needful unto the ingenerating and establishment of Faith Upon this confirmation all things declared in the Old Testament concerning him all that was taught in Types and Sacrifices became the object of Faith in that sense wherein they were interpreted in the Accomplishment And that in them this Doctrine was before revealed shall be proved afterwards It is therefore no wonder if some things and those of the highest importance should be declared more fully in other Writings of the New Testament then they are in those of the Evangelists Thirdly The Pretence it self is wholly false For there are as many pregnant Testimonies given unto this Truth in one alone of the Evangelists as in any other Book of the New Testament namely in the Book of John I shall refer to some of them which will be pleaded in their proper place chap. 1.12 17 19. chap. 3.14 15 16 17 18 36. chap. 5.24 But we may pass this by as one of those Inventions concerning which Socinus boasts in his Epistle to Michael Vajoditus that his Writings were esteemed by many for the singularity of the things asserted in them Fourthly The Difference that hath been among Protestant Writers about this Doctrine is pleaded in the prejudice of it Osiander in the entrance of the Reformation fell into a vain imagination that we were Justified or made Righteous with the Essential