Theological Term of the Week: Passive Obedience of Christ
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 2:30AM 
“Christ’s suffering the penalty of sin and death on behalf of his people”;1 his payment “of the penalty of sin by His suffering and death, and thus discharging the debt of all His people”;2 also called penal obedience.
- From scripture:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…. (Romans 8:3 ESV)
- From the 1689 London Baptist Confesstion:
Chapter 11: Of Justification
1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ’s active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.
- From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof:
Christ as Mediator also entered the penal relation to the law, in order to pay the penalty in our stead. His passive obedience consisted in His paying the penalty of sin by His sufferings and death, and thus discharging the debt of all His people. The sufferings of Christ, which have already been described, did not come upon Him accidentally, nor as the result of purely natural circumstances. They were judicially laid upon Him as our representative, and were therefore really penal sufferings. The redemptive value of these sufferings results from the following facts: They were borne by a divine person who, only in virtue of His deity, could bear the penalty through to the end and thus obtain freedom from it. In view of the infinite value of the person who undertook to pay the price and to bear the curse, they satisfied the justice of God essentially and intensively. They were strictly moral sufferings, because Christ took them upon Himself voluntarily, and was perfectly innocent and holy in bearing them.
The passive obedience of Christ stands out prominently in such passages as the following: Isa. 53:6; Rom. 4:25; I Pet. 2:24; 3:18; I John 2:2, while His active obedience is taught in such passages at Matt. 3:15; 5:17,18; John 15:10; Gal. 4:4,5; Heb. 10:7-9, in connection with the passages which teach us that Christ is our righteousness, Rom. 10:4; II Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9; and that He secured for us eternal life, the adoption of sons, and an eternal inheritance, Gal. 3:13,14; 4:4,5; Eph. 1:3-12; 5:25-27. Arminians are willing to admit that Christ, by His passive obedience merited for us the forgiveness of sins, but refuse to grant that He also merited for us positive acceptance with God, the adoption of children, and everlasting life.
Learn more:
- Simply Put: Active and Passive Obedience of Christ
- Justin Taylor: What’s the Difference Between the Active and the Passive Obedience of Christ?
- Louis Berkhof: Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience
- Nicholas Needham: Obedient Unto Death
Related terms:
1 From The Christian Faith by Michael Horton, page 999.
2 From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof.
Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above.
Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.
