The filthy rags
"But must we not put off the filthy rags of our own righteousness (Isaiah 64:6) before we can put on the spotless righteousness of Christ?" Certainly we must. That is, in plain terms, we must repent before we can believe the gospel. We must be cut off from dependence upon ourselves before we can truly depend upon Christ. We must cast away all confidence in our own righteousness, or we cannot have a true confidence in his. Until we are delivered from trusting in anything that we do, we cannot thoroughly trust in what he has done and suffered. First we receive the sentence of death in ourselves (2 Corinthians 1:9). Then we trust in him who lived and died for us.
1771 text
“But must not we put off the filthy rags of our own righteousness, before we can put on the spotless righteousness of Christ?” Certainly we must; that is in plain terms, we must repent, before we can believe the gospel. We must be cut off from dependence upon ourselves, before we can truly depend upon Christ. We must cast away all confidence in our own righteousness, or we cannot have a true confidence in his. Till we are delivered from trusting in any thing that we do, we cannot throughly trust in what he has done and suffered. First we receive the sentence of death in ourselves; then we trust in him that lived and died for us.