I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. –Isaiah 61:10 (KJV)

Some make this the song of joy and praise to be sung by the prophet in the name of Jerusalem, congratulating her on the happy change of her circumstances in the accomplishment of the foregoing promises; others make it to be spoken by Christ in the name of the New Testament church triumphing in gospel grace. We may take in both, the former as a type of the latter. We are here taught to rejoice with holy joy, to God’s honour, 1. In the beginning of this good work, the clothing of the church with righteousness and salvation, Isaiah 61:10. Upon this account I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. Those that rejoice in God have cause to rejoice greatly, and we need not fear running into an extreme in the greatness of our joy when we make God the gladness of our joy. The first gospel song begins like this, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour, Luke 1:46-47. There is just matter for this joy, and all the reason in the world why it should terminate in God; for salvation and righteousness are wrought out and brought in, and the church is clothed with them. The salvation God wrought for the Jews, and that righteousness of his in which he appeared for them, and that reformation which appeared among them, made them look as glorious in the eyes of all wise men as if they had been clothed in robes of state or nuptial garments. Christ has clothed his church with an eternal salvation (and that is truly great) by CLOTHING IT WITH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS BOTH OF JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION. The clean linen is the righteousness of saints, Revelation 19:8. Observe how these two are put together; those, and those only, shall be clothed with the garments of salvation hereafter that are covered with the robe of righteousness now: and those garments are rich and splendid clothing, like the priestly garments (for so the word signifies) with which the bridegroom decks himself. The brightness of the sun itself is compared to them. Psalms 19:5, He is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, completely dressed. Such is the beauty of God’s grace in those that are clothed with THE ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, that by the righteousness of Christ are recommended to GOD’S FAVOUR and by the SANCTIFICATION of the Spirit have God’s image renewed upon them; they are decked as a bride to be espoused to God, and taken into covenant with him; they are DECKED AS A PRIEST to be employed for God, and taken into communion with him. —MATTHEW HENRY’S COMMENTARY (1710)

The traditional Puritan view of the robe of righteousness worn by Christians, is not an antinomian, hyper-grace robe of Christ’s imputed righteousness in which you watch Pornhub and masturbate every other day, drink many shots of liquor and party like The Wolf of Wall Street, drop gratuitous f-bombs, smoke, play Grand Theft Auto with your buddies from the bar, and flirt with lap dancers and married office girls every day of the week, who will further provoke you by bending over for a really long time in one way or the other–all the while you’re shielded from God’s wrath in your pseudo-Calvinist, hypocritical robe of fantasy world Chronicles of Narnia theology, in which many mythological demons are made out to represent aspects of the Christian life, in which you view yourself as automatically forgiven by God, without self-examination, in your materialistic, entertainment-driven, drunken stupor of cussing, masturbating, counterfeit American churchified “righteousness.” BRAIN SICK HOGWASH. No way! “The hypocrite’s hope shall perish” (Job 8:13). The traditional view is that the “robe of righteousness” represents BOTH JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE AND BIBLICAL SANCTIFICATION. Both imputed and imparted righteousness (Romans 3:21-31; 8:1-17). Unfortunately, the so-called “robe of righteousness” concept is often perverted by cheap grace preachers to symbolize a cover-up ideology, in which they essentially remain in an unconverted state, unspiritual, and are proud to be carnal, not born again of the Spirit, but telling themselves all the time that God forgives their stubborn impenitence, and deceiving themselves that although they horrifically abuse the blood of Christ, and live like gangsters, they will make it into the same Heaven occupied by righteous men like St. Francis of Assisi, John Wesley, and Charles Finney. –J.B.