Jesus says that He does nothing but what He sees the Father doing. He has what He has from the Father. He does nothing of Himself (John 5:19-29). It might be objected that this is talking about Jesus as incarnate Son, and talking about His humanity. My working assumption, though, is that the economy reveals the ontology, and thus statements such as these point to the eternal relations of Father and Son. So, in a sense, even the Son’s eternal merit and worthiness before the Father comes in the context of the Father’s eternal, necessary gifts to the Son. (We can isolate the Son conceptually and say He is autotheos, Himself God, but in the actual Triune life, He is never alone as God the Son. He is God not as an isolated Person, but as He is the Son of the Father and the Son who receives and gives the Spirit.)

read the rest at Peter J. Leithart » Blog Archive » Merit, Adam’s and Jesus’.