“Jesus, God’s faithful Son, in contrast to unfaithful Adam and unfaithful Israel, lived by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He was and is perfect… Jesus’ perfect faithfulness and His perfect obedience stand in the closest of connections.
One trusts a person. One obeys the command of a person. He trusted God. He obeyed God. His faith issued in the obedience that is the ground of our righteousness.
He did not merely assent to the will of His Father; He did it from the heart. Without His perfect righteousness imputed to us we cannot be at one with God. In addition, without His perfect righteousness He could not be the perfect offerer and offering for our sins.”
–Graham A. Cole, God the Peacemaker: How Atonement Brings Shalom NSBT, Vol. 25 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 119.
