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covenant of works. As the last Adam, however, He took the place of the first. The first Adam
was by nature under the law of God, and the keeping of it as such gave him no claim to a
reward. It was only when God graciously entered into a covenant with him and promised him
life in the way of obedience, that the keeping of the law was made the condition of obtaining
eternal life for himself and for his descendants. And when Christ voluntarily entered the federal
relationship as the last Adam, the keeping of the law naturally acquired the same significance
for Him and for those whom the Father had given Him. (2) God demands, or can demand, only
one of two things of the sinner: either obedience to the law, or subjection to the penalty, but
not both. If the law is obeyed, the penalty cannot be inflicted; and if the penalty is borne,
nothing further can be demanded. There is some confusion here, however, which results in
misunderstanding. This “either . . . or” applied to the case of Adam before the fall, but ceased
to apply the moment he sinned and thus entered the penal relationship of the law. God
continued to demand obedience of man, but in addition to that required of him that he pay the
penalty for past transgression. Meeting this double requirement was the only way of life after
sin entered the world. If Christ had merely obeyed the law and had not also paid the penalty,
He would not have won a title to eternal life for sinners; and if He had merely paid the penalty,
without meeting the original demands of the law, He would have left man in the position of
Adam before the fall, still confronted with the task of obtaining eternal life in the way of
obedience. By His active obedience, however, He carried His people beyond that point and gave
them a claim to everlasting life.
b. The passive obedience of Christ.
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