Jesus A Performer?

Yesterday, between a nursing home service and the evening worship service, I dipped into John Piper’s little book When The Darkness Will Not Lift. I am impressed with Dr. Piper’s treatment of the problem of depression (or melancholy). One of the foundational truths that Dr. Piper reminds readers of, in an effort to address the all too real problem of depression, is the fact of justification by faith. But to battle the deep shroud of depression, Piper further reminds us that Jesus does not just take upon himself our sin but he also provides us with our righteousness. In fact, he is our performer! This struck a note with my wife and a few of the folk in my congregation. I have taught that necessity of the imputation of Christ’s active obedience to the believer by faith. But this way of framing it clicked. Here is how Dr. Piper frames it:

To make a way for us to be saved, God sent Christ to live a perfect divine-human life, and die an obedient death. In this way Christ became both the substitute punishment for our sins (Matt. 26:28; 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 3:18) and the substitute performer of our righteousness (Rom. 5:19; 10:4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9) (15, emphasis added)

So, to put it in other words, Jesus Christ led an obedient life not only for himself (that is, to fit him to be a perfect sacrifice only) but also for all of us who embrace him by faith and are united to him. Jesus Christ is a public person or covenant representative (i.e., federal head) so that what he did to obey the law he did for us and in our place. So Christ both took our place in obeying his Father and keeping the law as the only sinless human being who ever lived and he took upon himself the divine punishment we who have trusted in him so richly deserve. It is the whole work of Christ that is a benefit to us who are united to Christ by faith. So yes, Jesus is a performer. He is my performer and I pray he is yours too.

One final thought. This fact, that Christ is a perfect substitute sacrifice and perfect substitute performer of the law does not undermine our call to a new obedience. In other words, there is a very dangerous error that sometimes floats around that affirming that Christ is our perfect performer undermines the pursuit of holiness. Not so. If Christ’s active obedience to the law has not been imputed to us by faith, then we end up having to provide our own obedience or sincerity of faith in the transaction of justitication.

To put it another way, some think that the assurance of salvation (which is a blessing that results from our awareness of the fact that Christ is our perfect substitute sacrifice and perfect performer of obedience) undermines our desire to pursue holiness. Nonsense! When we are united to Christ by faith we are united to the sinless, holy Son. It is that fact that serves as the basis for calls to obedience (see Paul in Col. 3:1-17). Truth be told, if we fail to realize that Christ is all that we need for salvation, then we put ourselves on the treadmill of trying to please God with our own performance. And that will land us in a slough of despond.

* John Piper’s When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait For God -and Joy was published in 2006 by Crossway Books of Wheaton, Illinois.