Active obedience of Christ

In Protestant Christian theology, the active obedience of Jesus Christ (sometimes called his preceptive obedience) comprises the totality of his actions, which Christians believe was in perfect obedience to the law of God. In Reformed theology, Christ's active obedience is generally believed to be imputed to Christians as part of their justification.

In Acts 3:14, Peter calls Jesus "the Holy and Righteous One", while in Acts 10:38 Peter says that Christ "he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him."

According to the Bible, in Hebrews 4:15, Jesus was "without sin". Robert L. Reymond interprets Romans 5:18 (which talks about his "one act of righteousness") as referring to Christ's "entire life work", and the references to Christ being a "servant" as indicating his obedience.

Christ's active obedience (doing what God's law required) is usually distinguished from his passive obedience (suffering for his people), but J. Gresham Machen argues, "Every event of his life was a part of his payment of the penalty of sin, and every event of his life was a part of that glorious keeping of the law of God by which he earned for his people the reward of eternal life."

Machen also points out that Jesus was not subject to the law for himself and that "no obedience was required of him for himself, since he was Lord of all."

The imputation of Christ's active obedience is a doctrine within Reformed theology. It is based on the idea that God's righteousness demands perfect obedience to his law. By his active obedience, Christ has "made available a perfect righteousness before the law that is imputed or reckoned to those who put their trust in him." The Heidelberg Catechism asserts that God grants to the believer "the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ," so that the Christian can say that it is "as if I never had had, nor committed any sin: yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for me" (Q&A 60). This imputation therefore constitutes the positive element of justification.

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