101. The church belongs with the Lord. Because of the spiritual marriage between what is good and what is true, the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband and the church is called Bride and Wife. Christians know this from the Word, especially from the following passages in it.

John said of the Lord, “The bridegroom is the one who has the bride. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices because of the bridegroom’s voice.” (John 3:29)

Jesus said, “As long as the bridegroom is with them, the children of the wedding cannot fast.” (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34– 35)

I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)

The angel said to John, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb,” and from a mountain he showed him the city, the holy Jerusalem. (Revelation 21:9, 10)

The time for the Lamb’s wedding has come; his bride has prepared herself. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19:7, 9)

“I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning star.” And the spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And those who hear, say, “Come!” And those who are thirsty, come. Those who wish to, take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:16, 17)

109. The notion that Christ’s righteousness or merit is assigned to us permeates the entire theological system in today’s Protestant Christian world. It is because of this assigning that our faith (which Protestant Christianity takes to be the sole means of being saved) can be referred to as our righteousness before God; see §11 d. The assigning that happens as a result of our faith clothes us with the gifts of righteousness, much as a newly crowned monarch is adorned with royal insignia.

In reality, however, this assigning accomplishes nothing if all it involves is that we are called righteous. It does no work within us; it only flows into our ears, unless this assigning of righteousness includes an actual transfer of righteousness to us through some process of its being shared with us and incorporated into us. This conclusion follows from the list of things that are claimed to be the effects of this assigning: our sins are forgiven, and we are regenerated, renewed, sanctified, and therefore saved. This claim is clearer still from the fact that Christ is said to dwell in us and the Holy Spirit is said to work in us as a result of that faith; and therefore we are not only considered to be righteous but actually are righteous. It is not just the gifts of God that reside in the reborn, but because of their faith, Christ too and in fact the entire holy Trinity dwells in them as his temple; see §15 l. Both we as people and the works we do should be called, and should be, completely righteous; see §14 e.

From these points it undoubtedly follows that “the assigning of Christ’s righteousness” must mean an actual transfer of righteousness to us through some process of its being incorporated into us, through which we become a partaker in it.

Now, because this concept of assigning is the root, the start, and the foundation of faith and of all the work faith does for our salvation, and because it is therefore the sanctuary and shrine at the center of all Christian church buildings today, it is important to add as an appendix [to this work] an examination of this notion of assigning, presented point by point as follows.

1. After we die we are all assigned either blame for the evil or else credit for the goodness to which we have devoted ourselves.

2. It is impossible to incorporate one person’s goodness into another person.

3. Given that this is impossible, it is an imaginary faith to believe that Christ’s righteousness or merit is assigned to or transferred into us.