Of Good Works, XVI:6

Notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in Him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreproveable in God's sight; but that He, looking upon them in His Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.

If I have any one criticism of the Westminster Confession of Faith, it is that the divines did not see fit to write a separate chapter on the Christian's union with Christ. The idea is scattered throughout the Confession, true enough, but it really merits particular treatment. This paragraph is one of the places in which the idea appears.

In a very real sense, whenever God looks at a Christian he sees Jesus Christ. Not that we ontologically are fused with him--we remain distinct individuals and will be so throughout eternity--but by placing saving faith in him we are so identified with him in his death and resurrection that we are afforded the same consideration. One might almost say that everything about us is now filtered through the lens of Christ. This is a staggering truth that ought to lay us prostrate before the Lord in thanksgiving and gratitude, for what could be greater than to be held in the same regard by God as he holds his own Beloved Son?

All our good works, then, are considered by God as though they had been done by Christ. It is as if our hands are enfolded in Christ's hands as we do the things prepared for us by God. Every gift we try to give God--every grimy bunch of wilted weeds--is transformed into a magnificent bouquet of the most colorful and fragrant flowers as it passes through Christ's hands to the Father. Muddy pond water becomes champagne. The grace of God continues to amaze.

Tomorrow: What of the works of unbelievers?