Active - Passive Obedience of Christ ~~

For John Owen, the imputation of Christ's active obedience was a necessary component of the gospel. So important was it to Owen, that he believed it should be reflected in the church's confession. In his classic work, The Doctrine of Justification by Faith through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ; Explained, Confirmed, and Vindicated, Owen made clear that the passive obedience of Christ (i.e. Christ's suffering the curse to remove the penalty of sin from us) was not enough. Sinners do not merely need acquittal, they need to be declared righteous in God's sight. That requires perfect, active obedience to the law, which was fulfilled by Christ, the righteous One. He argued for the imputation of what is called the active and passive obedience of Christ to the believer:

"the obedience of Christ unto the law, and the imputation
thereof unto us, are no less necessary unto
our justification before God, than his suffering
of the penalty of the law, and the imputation
thereof unto us, unto the same end...
We have need of more than the mere sufferings
of Christ, whereby we may be justified before God."
(Works, V, 252, 254)

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