The wisdom of owning the truth

Now whatever considerations prove the folly of trusting in the righteousness which is of the law prove equally the wisdom of submitting to the righteousness which is of God by faith. This would be easy to show with regard to each of the preceding considerations. But to pass over that, the wisdom of the first step here, the disclaiming of our own righteousness, plainly appears from this: it is acting according to truth, to the real nature of things. For what is it more than to acknowledge, with our heart as well as our lips, the true state in which we are?

To acknowledge that we bring with us into the world a corrupt, sinful nature, more corrupt indeed than we can easily conceive, or find words to express. That by this we are prone to all that is evil, and averse from all that is good. That we are full of pride, self-will, unruly passions, foolish desires, vile and inordinate affections, lovers of the world, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. That our lives have been no better than our hearts, but in many ways ungodly and unholy, so much so that our actual sins, both in word and deed, have been as the stars of heaven for multitude. That on all these accounts we are displeasing to him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and deserve nothing from him but indignation and wrath and death, the due wages of sin.

That we cannot, by any of our righteousness, for indeed we have none at all, nor by any of our works, for they are as the tree from which they grow, appease the wrath of God, or avert the punishment we have justly deserved. Yes, that if left to ourselves, we shall only grow worse and worse, sink deeper and deeper into sin, offend God more and more, both with our evil works and with the evil tempers of our carnal mind, until we fill up the measure of our iniquities, and bring upon ourselves swift destruction. And is not this the very state in which by nature we are? To acknowledge this, then, both with our heart and our lips, that is, to disclaim our own righteousness, the righteousness which is of the law, is to act according to the real nature of things, and consequently is an instance of true wisdom.