Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
The passive obedience of Christ is His enduring of the full penalty of the law in the place of His people—His sufferings and especially His death on the cross—by which He satisfied divine justice and bore away their guilt. The word “passive” derives from the Latin for suffering (whence also “the Passion”) and does not mean inactive or unwilling; Christ’s suffering was the most active and voluntary obedience, for He laid down His life of Himself, no man taking it from Him, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It is distinguished from His active obedience—His positive keeping of the law’s precepts—yet inseparably joined to it, the two together forming the one complete obedience of the Mediator. The law of God, broken by sinners, demands a penalty: the soul that sinneth, it shall die; the wages of sin is death; cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law. This penalty Christ bore in full. He was made a curse for us, made sin for us, wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all. In His passive obedience He drank the cup of divine wrath to its dregs, suffered the punishment our sins deserved, and so made satisfaction to the justice of God, that the believer’s guilt is fully expiated and the wrath fully propitiated. By this obedience the sinner’s condemnation is removed; by the active obedience his positive righteousness is supplied; and the two together accomplish a complete salvation, so that there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. To confess the passive obedience is to rest in a finished satisfaction: the penalty is paid, justice is satisfied, and the believer’s debt is discharged forever by the suffering and death of his Substitute.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines PASSIVE as suffering; acted upon; and notes passive obedience as that which consists in suffering, distinguished from active obedience in doing.
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PASSIVE, a. — 1. Suffering; not acting, receiving or capable of receiving impressions from external agents. 4. Passive obedience, in theology, the suffering of the penalty of the law, as distinguished from active obedience, the performance of its precepts.
PASSION, n. — ...The last suffering of the Savior; as the passion of Christ.
📖 Key Scripture
Isaiah 53:5 — "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Galatians 3:13 — "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
1 Peter 2:24 — "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness."
Philippians 2:8 — "...he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition among the orthodox, but the doctrine is denied by every theory of the atonement that rejects penal substitution—moral-influence, governmental, and the slander of the cross as “cosmic child abuse.”
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The passive obedience of Christ—His bearing the penalty of the law in our place—stands or falls with the doctrine of penal substitution, and is denied by every theory of the atonement that rejects it. The moral-influence theory makes the cross merely a moving display of love meant to soften our hearts, with no penalty actually borne; the governmental theory makes it a token demonstration of God’s displeasure with sin, not a true satisfaction of justice; and the modern slander brands penal substitution as ‘cosmic child abuse,’ recoiling at the thought that the Father would lay our punishment upon the Son. Each of these empties the passive obedience of its meaning, leaving the believer’s guilt unpaid and the justice of God unsatisfied.
Scripture is too plain to permit such evasions. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities; the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all; He was made a curse for us, made sin for us, and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. The cross is no mere demonstration but a real bearing of real penalty—the Just suffering for the unjust, the cup of wrath drunk to its dregs, divine justice fully satisfied by a willing Substitute. Nor is this ‘abuse,’ for the Son was no unwilling victim but laid down His life of Himself in perfect concord with the Father’s love and His own; and the One who bore the penalty was God Himself in our nature, not a third party punished for others. To recover the passive obedience is to recover the heart of the gospel: that the penalty our sins deserved has been paid in full by Christ, so that for those in Him there is now no condemnation, the curse exhausted, justice satisfied, and the debt discharged forever.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The doctrine rests on Christ bearing (anapherō) our sins and being made a curse (katara), His obedience unto death satisfying the law’s penalty.
Usage
"Christ’s passive obedience is His bearing of the law’s penalty—His suffering and death in our place."
"‘Passive’ means suffering, not unwilling; He laid down His life of Himself, obedient unto death."
"Active and passive obedience together accomplish a complete salvation: righteousness supplied, penalty paid."