Guide to The Pilgrim's Progress Part Two

Now I saw in my dream, that they went on, and Great-Heart went before them; so they went and came to the place where Christian’s burden fell off his back and tumbled into a sepulchre. Here, then, they made a pause; and here also they blessed God. “Now,” said Christiana, “it comes to my mind what was said to us at the gate; to wit, that we should have pardon by word and deed: by word, that is, by the promise; by deed, to wit, in the way it was obtained. What the promise is, of that I know something; but what is it to have pardon by deed, or in the way that it was obtained? Mr. Great-Heart, I suppose you know? Wherefore, if you please, let us hear your discourse thereof.”

Great-Heart: Pardon by the deed done is pardon obtained by someone for another that has need thereof; not by the person pardoned, but in the way, says another, in which I have obtained it. So, then, to speak to the question more largely, the pardon that you and Mercy and these boys have attained was obtained by another: to wit, by Him that let you in at the gate. And He has obtained it in this double way: He has performed righteousness to cover you; and spilt blood to wash you in.

Christiana: But if He parts with His righteousness to us, what will He have for Himself?

Great-Heart: He has more righteousness than you have need of, or than He needs Himself.

Christiana Pray make that appear.

Great-Heart: With all my heart; but first I must premise that He of whom we are now about to speak is one that has not His fellow. He has two natures in one Person—plain to be distinguished, impossible to be divided. Unto each of these natures a righteousness belongs; and each righteousness is essential to that nature, so that one may as easily cause the nature to be extinct, as to separate its justice or righteousness from it. Of these righteousnesses, therefore, we are not made partakers so as that they, or any of them, should be put upon us that we might be made just, and live thereby. Besides these, there is a righteousness which this Person has, as these two natures are joined in one. And this is not the righteousness of the Godhead as distinguished from the Manhood, nor the righteousness of the Manhood as distinguished from the Godhead; but a righteousness which stands in the union of both natures, and may properly be called the righteousness that is essential to His being prepared of God to the capacity of the mediatory office which He was to be intrusted with. If He parts with His first righteousness, He parts with His Godhead; if He parts with His second righteousness, He parts with the purity of His Manhood; if He parts with this third, He parts with that perfection that capacitates Him to the office of mediation. He has, therefore, another righteousness which stands in performance, or obedience to a revealed will: and that is it that He puts upon sinners, and that by which their sins are covered. Wherefore He says, “As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

Christiana: But are the other righteousnesses of no use to us?

Great-Heart: Yes; for though they are essential to His natures and office, and so cannot be communicated unto another, yet it is by virtue of them that the righteousness that justifies is, for that purpose, efficacious. The righteousness of His Godhead gives virtue to His obedience; the righteousness of His Manhood gives capability to His obedience to justify; and the righteousness that stands in the union of these two natures to His office, gives authority to that righteousness to do the work of which it is ordained.

So then, here is a righteousness that Christ, as God, had no need of, for He is God without it; here is a righteousness that Christ, as man, has no need of to make Him so, for He is perfect man without it; again, here is a righteousness that Christ, as God-man, has no need of, for He is perfectly so without it. Here, then, is a righteousness that Christ, as God, as man, as God-man, has no need of with reference to Himself; and therefore He can spare it; a justifying righteousness, that He, for Himself, wants not, and therefore He gives it away. Hence it is called “The gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17).

This righteousness, since Christ Jesus the Lord was made Himself under the law, must be given away; for the law does not only bind him that is under it to do justly, but to use charity. Wherefore he must—he ought by the law—if he has two coats, to give one to him that has none. Now our Lord indeed has two coats, one for Himself and one to spare; wherefore He freely bestows one upon those that have none. And thus, Christiana, and Mercy, and the rest of you that are here, does your pardon come by deed, or by the work of another man. Your Lord Christ is He that has worked, and has given away what He wrought for to the next poor beggar He meets.

But again, in order to pardon by deed, there must something be paid to God as a price, as well as something prepared to cover us withal. Sin has delivered us up to the just curse of a righteous law. Now from this curse we must be justified by way of redemption, a price being paid for the harms we have done (Romans 4:24); and this is by the blood of your Lord, who came and stood in your place and stead, and died your death for your transgressions (Galatians 3:13).

Thus has He ransomed you from your transgressions by blood, and covered your polluted and deformed souls with righteousness. For the sake of which God passes by you, and will not hurt you, when He comes to judge the world.

Christiana: This is brave. Now I see that there was something to be learned by our being pardoned by word and deed. Good Mercy, let us labor to keep this in mind; and, my children, do you remember it also. But, Sir, was not this it that made my good Christian’s burden fall from off his shoulder, and that made him give three leaps for joy?

Great-Heart: Yes, it was the belief of this that cut those strings that could not be cut by other means; and it was to give him a proof of the virtue of this that he was suffered to carry his burden to the cross.

Christiana: I thought so; for though my heart was lightsome and joyous before, yet it is ten times more lightsome and joyous now. And I am persuaded by what I have felt, though I have felt but little as yet, that if the most burdened man in the world were here, and did see and believe as I now do, it would make his heart the more merry and blithe.

Great-Heart: There is not only comfort and ease of a burden brought to us by the sight and consideration of these, but an endeared affection begot in us by it. For who can, if he does but once think that pardon comes—not only by promise, but thus—but be affected with the way and means of his redemption, and so with the Man that has wrought it for Him?

Christiana: True; methinks it makes my heart bleed to think that He should bleed for me. O You loving One! O You blessed One! You deserve to have me; You have bought me. You deserve to have me all; You have paid for me ten thousand times more than I am worth. No marvel that this made the water stand in my husband’s eyes; and that it made him trudge so nimbly on. I am persuaded he wished me with him; but, vile wretch that I was, I let him come all alone! O Mercy, that your father and mother were hear; yea, and Mrs. Timorous also! Nay, I wish now with all my heart that here was Madam Wanton too. Surely, surely their hearts would be affected; nor could the fear of the one, nor the powerful lusts of the other, prevail with them to go home again, and to refuse to become good pilgrims.

Great-Heart: You speak now in the warmth of your affections. Do you think it will always be thus with you? Besides, this is not communicated to everyone; nor to everyone that did see your Jesus bleed. There were that stood by, and that saw the blood run from His heart to the ground: and yet were so far off this, that instead of lamenting, they laughed at Him; and instead of becoming His disciples, did harden their hearts against Him. So that all that you have, my daughters, you have by a peculiar impression made by a divine contemplating upon what I have spoken to you. Remember that it was told you, that the hen, by her common call, gives no meat to her chickens: this you have, therefore, by a special grace.

Notes and Commentary

Under the care of Great-Heart, the pilgrims go first to the cross. It is here where Christian’s burden fell off in Part 1 of The Pilgrim’s Progress and it is here where the pilgrims stop to give praise to God.

It is significant that Great-Heart leads the pilgrims to the cross. In the allegory, he represents a pastor and preacher of the gospel. He serves as a guide and is determined to point those under his care to Christ. Paul tells the church in Corinth:

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1–2).

As the pilgrims look to the cross, an opportunity arises for Great-Heart to instruct them. Christiana remembers when she received pardon from the Lord at the Gate. At that time, the Lord assured the pilgrims: “I grant pardon by word and deed: by word, in the promise of forgiveness; by deed, in the way I obtained it. Take the first from my lips with a kiss, and the other as it shall be revealed.” She gladly received the promise, but does not yet understand the deed—how Christ secured her pardon. She has questions and looks to Great-Heart for answers.

Great-Heart begins by focusing on the work—the deeds—of Christ. It is the cross that reveals the way Christ has obtained our pardon. We cannot be saved by our own works (deeds), but only by Christ’s work, what He has accomplished on our behalf. Christ has shed His blood and died for us so we can be free from the condemnation of sin. And He has covered us with His own righteousness so we can freely come before God as beloved sons and daughters.

This provokes a further question from Christiana: “But if He parts with His righteousness to us, what will He have for Himself?" How can we receive a measure of Christ’s righteousness without His righteousness being lessened or diminished?

Great-Heart replies: “He has more righteousness than you have need of, or than He needs Himself.” Christiana realized that there is much she doesn’t yet know. And so she entreats Great-Heart: “Pray make that appear.” In other words: Show me. Teach me. Help me understand.

Great-Heart explains his answer to Christiana by unfolding the good news of the gospel: who Christ is, what He has done, and why it matters.

Who Christ Is

1) Christ “has two natures in one Person.”

a) He has a divine nature; He is God.

b) He has a human nature; He is Man.

These two natures can be distinguished but are “impossible to divide.”

c) He is God-Man.

He is without equal (“has not His fellow”) and is uniquely qualified to serve as Mediator between God and man to rescue and redeem fallen sinners.

2) Christ is supremely qualified to be our Savior because of His perfect righteousness.

a) Christ as God is perfectly righteous.

b) Christ as Man is perfectly righteous.

c) Christ as God-Man is perfectly righteous.

What Christ Has Done

1) As the perfectly righteous One, Christ has attained a justifying righteousness for all those who are His. He did what we could not do in our sin—He obeyed God’s Law perfectly. It is this “performed” (or accomplished) righteousness—a righteousness that He does not need for Himself to be righteous—that He freely imputes to us.

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous (Romans 5:19).

His righteousness is a “gift of righteousness.”

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).

When we are justified, God imputes Christ’s righteous to us. Though we are still sinners, God treats us as if we had perfectly obeyed His Law. “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b). In Christ we have life. It is not by our own works or deeds that we are made righteous, but only by trusting and resting in Christ. We are clothed in His righteousness, accepted and beloved as sons and daughters, and brought near to God.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8–9).

But what of our sin? Though Christ kept the Law perfectly, we are lawbreakers. There is still a debt we owe due our sin.

2) As the perfectly righteous One, Christ has atoned for the sins of all who are His. He shed His blood and died the death we deserved so that we can stand before God forgiven, cleansed, and fully justified.

It is here at the cross where Christ paid the price, so we are no longer condemned. God imputed the guilt of our sin to Christ. He treated Christ as we should have been treated—as guilty and deserving of death.

Now it was not written for his [Abraham’s] sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification (Romans 4:23–25).

Why That Matters

1) In Christ, we are redeemed. It was Christ’s death on the cross that satisfied the just demands of the God’s Law for all who are trusting in Him.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1a).

2) In Christ we are declared righteous. We stand acceptable before God, not because of what we have done or hope to do, but because of what Christ has done. Our Righteousness is in heaven, seated at the right hand of His Father, ever interceding for us!

It was this glorious truth that caused Christian’s burden to fall away at the cross. Christ accomplished all that is needed for salvation. Christian’s guilt and shame, the burden that weighed him down under conviction, tumbled away when he looked to Christ.

It was this truth, in John Bunyan’s own pilgrimage, that caused his guilt and shame to fall away. He explains how God opened “the eyes of my soul” in Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners:

But one day, as I was passing in the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, “Thy righteousness is in heaven.” Then it seemed to me that I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God’s right hand. There, I say, is my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, He wants my righteousness, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

[Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, par. 229]

Christiana rejoices in the relief and comfort of trusting Christ. This delight stirs her affections to love Christ supremely. She is convinced that if God can save a wretch like her, there can be none beyond the reach of God’s grace. She thinks of many—friends as well as adversaries—who are still far from grace and ensnared in sin. If only they could hear the good news of the gospel, surely they would repent and flee to Christ. Great-Heart reminds her of a lesson from the House of the Interpreter. Not all who hear the preaching of the gospel will respond in repentance and faith. If we are to be saved, God must open our ears and grant us life.

Great-Heart is patient as he instructs the pilgrims. When those under his care have questions, he carefully and thoughtfully provides answers. He wants the pilgrims think deeply about the truth God has revealed in His Word. He wants them to heed its warnings and lay hold of its promises. He wants them to trust Christ and rest fully in Him. Only then will their joy and confidence will have the deep moorings needed to withstand the coming trials and storms in the journey.

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The text for The Pilgrim's Progress
and images used are public domain
Notes and Commentary for Part II ©2014, 2021–2025 Ken Puls

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from
the New King James Version (NKJV) ©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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