Front matter
JUSTIFICATION BY AN IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS
No Way to Heaven but by Jesus Christ
by JOHN BUNYAN
Edited by Aaron Sturgill
Justification by an Imputed Righteousness By John Bunyan Originally published in 1692
This Edition © 2026 Aaron Sturgill
This work by John Bunyan (1628-1688) is in the public domain.
This volume presents an unabridged edition of Justification by an Imputed Righteousness (1692). The text has been newly typeset, lightly modernized in spelling and punctuation, and supplied with revised headings for clarity and ease of reading. The substance, structure, and theological argument of the original work remain unchanged.
Pagination in this edition follows modern conventions.
Editor: Aaron Sturgill
All rights reserved. No part of this edition is permitted to be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the editor, except for brief quotations used for review or scholarly purposes.
Published by: Crowdedship Publications Waterloo, Wisconsin
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Editor's Note ............................................................................ iv Introduction.............................................................................. vi 1. The Doctrine Stated ............................................................. 1 2. Justified Before God While Still Sinners ............................ 5 The Mysterious Acts of our Redemption .......................... 5 Plain Texts that Discover It .............................................. 14 Reasons Drawn from the Texts ........................................ 42 3. Justified by the Righteousness of Christ alone ................. 68 First: Righteousness was Performed by the Work of Christ ................................................................................... 68 Second: This Righteousness is Inherent Only in Him.... 71 4. The Practical Use of the Doctrine..................................... 79 First Use: A Warning Against Seeking Righteousness in Ourselves ............................................................................ 79 Second Use: Have Faith in Christ .................................... 83 A Word to Neglecters of Christ........................................ 98 iii
EDITOR'S NOTE
John Bunyan prepared Justification by an Imputed Righteousness near the end of his life. After his death in 1688, this manuscript was found among his papers and later published. Earlier editors understood the work as a fully developed and careful defense of justification grounded entirely in the righteousness of Christ. Bunyan had addressed this subject earlier in his ministry, including a published response in 1672 to views which treated Christ's work as restoring fallen humanity to a probationary state rather than providing a finished righteousness. In this later treatise, Bunyan presses the doctrine further, insisting that justification before God rests wholly upon the imputed righteousness of Christ and not upon any measure of human obedience.
The ealier editor emphasized Bunyan's concern to define justification in strictly forensic terms. Justification refers to an acquittal before the law, requiring a righteousness that satisfies every demand of God's justice. Bunyan rejected any attempt to combine Christ's obedience with human works, whether partial or assisted. He argued that such mixtures undermine the gospel and leave the conscience without peace. At the same time, he denied that justification by free grace weakens moral obedience. He taught that those justified by Christ's righteousness are compelled by gratitude and love to walk in holiness, and that true obedience flows from pardon rather than contributing to it.
This edition presents Bunyan's text with the aim of clarity and accessibility while preserving his argument and theological intent. Headings have been adjusted to reflect the structure of the work more clearly for modern readers. The language has been lightly modernized to remove archaic forms that may hinder comprehension, while retaining Bunyan's voice, reasoning, and doctrinal emphasis. No changes have been made to the substance of the argument or to the conclusions Bunyan draws. The purpose of these editorial decisions has been to reduce unnecessary barriers so that the strength and precision of Bunyan's teaching on justification may be more readily understood by contemporary readers.
Editor Aaron Sturgill
INTRODUCTION
Justification is to be diversly taken in the Scripture. Sometimes it is taken for the justification of persons; sometimes for the justification of actions; and sometimes for the justification of the person and action too.
It is taken for the justification of persons, and that, as to justification with God; or, as to justification with men.
As to justification with God; that is, when a man stands clear, quit, free, or, in a saved condition before him, in the approbation of his holy law.
As to justification with men; that is, when a man stands clear and quit from just ground of reprehension with them.
Justification also is to be taken with reference to actions; and that may be when they are considered, as flowing from true faith; or, because the act done fulfils some transient law.
As actions flow from faith, so they are justified, because done before God in, and made complete through, the perfections of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5; Heb 13:15; Rev 8:1– 4). As by the doing of the act some transient law is fulfilled; as when Jehu executed judgment upon the house of Ahab. "You have done well," said God to him, "in executing that which is right in my eyes, and hast done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart" (2 Kings 10:30). As to such acts, God may or may not look at the qualification of those that do them; and it is clear that he had not respect to any good that was in Jehu in the justifying of this action; nor could he; for Jehu stuck close yet to the sins of Jeroboam, but "took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel" (2 Kings 10:29, 31).
I might hence also show you that a man may be justified even then when his action is condemned; also that a man may be in a state of condemnation when his action may be justified. But with these distinctions I will not take up time, my intention being to treat of justification as it sets a man free or quit from sin, the curse and condemnation of the law in the sight of God, in order to eternal salvation.
And that I may with the more clearness handle this point before you, I will lay down and speak to this: vii
Justification by an Imputed Righteousness