As we read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we are amazed by His perfect obedience in situations where we wouldn’t stand a chance. How many of us could consistently respond with patience to those trying to set us up? (Mark 12:13-17; Luke 11:53-54). Who among us would have always showed compassion even when doing so would draw murderous intent from our enemies? (Mark 2:23-3:6). Which of us would always defend others, but never ourselves? (Mark 3:28-30; John 8:1-11; Mark 15:1-5). How many of us would instinctively love our enemies? (Luke 23:34).
Our amazement may tend to lead to one of two thoughts. “Wow, I could never do that,” OR, “Man, I really need to be like Jesus.” Of course, both are true. However, the gospel function of Jesus’ obedience is neither to bring us to shame nor simply to provide a good example for us. If we keep in mind the true function of His obedience in the gospel, we will push beyond amazement into thanksgiving.
What is the gospel function of Jesus’ obedience?
There is a wonderful truth in Psalm 103:10: He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. The obvious question should be, “How can a just God not deal with lawbreakers according to their iniquities?” The answer is that God dealt with Christ according to our sins and repaid Christ according to our iniquities. “… He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isa 53:5).
So, does this tell us anything about the function of Christ’s obedience? We could certainly say that by His obedience He qualified Himself to be the spotless sacrifice for sins (Heb 7:27, cf 4:15). However, even at that, only half of our predicament would have been addressed. The removal of our sin was absolutely necessary for our reconciliation to the Father, but there was an additional issue. Perfect righteousness is required in order to enter the presence of a holy God. That is, we needed not only the removal of sin, but also the presence of righteousness.
This was the function of Jesus’ perfect obedience—fulfilling all righteousness on behalf of His people. Remember when John the Baptist balked at the idea of baptizing Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptized by you…”? Jesus responded, “Let it be so now. In this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15). Jesus then immediately went into the wilderness to endure 40 days of temptation by the devil.
Jesus' temptation in the wilderness is key. We miss the point when the main application we derive is that we should deal with temptation by quoting Scripture to the devil just like Jesus. The point is not that Jesus quoted Scripture, but what Scripture He quoted (Matt 4:1-11). Every Scripture quotation came from a passage in the OT noting a failure on the part of God’s people (Deut 8:1-3; Deut 6:16; Exo 17:1-7; Deut 6:13; Exo 32:1-8). By quoting those particular passages, Jesus indicated that He was obeying where they had disobeyed. He was fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law on their behalf.
By faith, Jesus’ righteous record is imputed to us. So full and final is that imputation that that Paul wrote, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Cor 5:21).
Therefore, not only does God deal with Christ according to our sins, but He welcomes us according to Christ’s righteousness. For that reason, as we witness the obedience of Christ in our reading of the Gospels, let us do so with prayers of thanksgiving. “Thank you, Father, for Christ’s obedience, which has become mine and which alone qualifies me to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col 1:12).
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