ess of faith (our
righteousness before God) is not the obedience rendered by Christ to the
divine Law, but the indwelling righteousness of God (_iustitia Dei
inhabitans_),--essentially the same original righteousness or image that
inhered in Adam and Eve before the Fall. It consists, not indeed in good
works or in "doing and suffering," but in a quality (_Art_) which
renders him who receives it just, and moves him to do and to suffer what
is right. It is the holiness (_Frommigkeit_) which consists in the
renewal of man, in the gifts of grace, in the new spiritual life, in the
regenerated nature of man. By His suffering and death, said Osiander,
Christ made satisfaction and acquired forgiveness for us, but He did not
thereby effect our justification. His obedience as such does not
constitute our righteousness before God, but merely serves to restore
it. It was necessary that God might be able to dwell in us, and so
become our life and righteousness. Faith justifies, not inasmuch as it
apprehends the merits of Christ, but inasmuch as it unites us with the
divine nature, the infinite essential righteousness of God, in which our
sins are diluted, as it were, and lost, as an impure drop disappears
when poured into an ocean of liquid purity.

According to the teaching of Osiander therefore, also the assurance that
we are justified and accepted by God does not rest exclusively on the
merits of Christ and the pardon offered in the Gospel, but must be based
on the righteous quality inhering in us. Our assurance is conditioned
not alone upon what Christ has done outside of us and for us but rather
upon what He is in us and produces in us. The satisfaction rendered by
Christ many centuries ago is neither the only ground on which God
regards us as just, nor a sufficient basis of our certainty that we are
accepted by God. Not the Christ for us, but rather the Christ in us, is
the basis both of our justification and assurance. Accordingly in order
to satisfy an alarmed sinner, it is not sufficient to proclaim the
Gospel-promise of divine absolution. In addition, an investigation is
required whether the righteousness and holiness of God is also really
found dwelling in him. While Luther had urged alarmed consciences to
trust in the merits of Christ alone for their justification and
salvation, Osiander led them to rely on the new life of divine wisdom,
holiness, and righteousness dwelling in their own hearts. From the very
beginning of