Hint to its meaning: Think about it and take it on credit.

Let’s begin.

I.. Introduction

A.. Its Importance

Imputation is considered by many to be an unimportant doctrine, without much biblical support. True, the key Hebrew and Greek words do not occur as often as, say, righteousness and salvation do, or for that matter, as often as wrath or anger.

But it is an important theme that appears at key times in Israel’s history, an individual’s life and at important turning points in the NT. God imputes or credits righteousness to everyone who is justified in his sight. How do they become justified? When they place their full faith and trust in Christ.

B.. Not a legal fiction

Imputation is not a legal fiction (as some critics assert) because when a person repents, he is forgiven and comes in union with Christ. Christ is in him, and he is in Christ. That’s when God credits or imputes to him the free gift of righteousness in Christ and thinks of him as not guilty.

II.. Basic Definitions

A.. Hebrew and Greek

The Hebrew verb ḥāšab and the Greek verb logizomai both have the basic meaning of “thinking” and “considering.” They denote mental activities, but they are verbs nonetheless.

Sometimes in this study, however, we look at the concept behind the verbs even though they do not appear in a passage of Scripture.

Another definition of the verbs is seen in a business context: credit, reckon, or calculate. However, the main uses are when people think or consider. We will discover the two basic meanings (thinking and commercial crediting) as we go along.

Sources: TWOT 330; TDNT vol. 4, 284.

B.. Theological Definitions

The OT and NT put theological meanings into the verbs.

Reformed Theologian Charles Hodge writes about imputation:

In the juridical and theological sense of the word, to impute is to attribute anything to a person or persons, upon adequate grounds, as the judicial or meritorious reason of reward or punishment, i.e., of the bestowment of good or the infliction of evil. … To impute is to reckon to, or to lay to one’s account. So far as the meaning of the word is concerned, it makes no difference whether the thing imputed be sin or righteousness; whether it is our own personally, or the sin or righteousness of another. (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 2, 194, Logos Research Systems, orig. pub. 1871-73)

So according to Hodge God can lay or charge or reckon to our account either righteousness or sin. God’s thought makes it so. He is the ultimate arbiter of the universe, and he controls spiritual reality as well. So when he imputes Christ’s righteousness to us, for example, it belongs to us.

In the charismatic reformed tradition. a more succinct definition (and I believe a better one), with two examples, is offered by Wayne Grudem. To impute is:

To think of as belonging to someone, and therefore to cause it to belong to that person. God “thinks of” Adam’s sin as belonging to us, and it therefore belongs to us, and in justification he thinks of Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us and so relates to us on this basis. (p. 1511)

C.. Summary

As noted, when God thinks of us as righteous in Christ, his righteousness belongs to us, in his sight. Therefore, what God thinks matters, as the biblical texts affirm (see below). Our personal feelings of righteousness one day and unrighteousness the next do not matter. And that is a blessing to us because everything flows from God through Christ; everything is based on them, not us. Now we are secure in our salvation.

When God thinks or imputes something, then that matters in his sight (Rom. 2:13; 3:20; 4:17; 1 Cor. 1:29).

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts […] ⁹ As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is. 55:8-9)

Now let’s look into the OT and NT and those key terms and definitions.

III.. The Old Testament

A.. Brief intro.

The NT is rooted in the OT and grows organically out of it. However, the New Covenant often redefines or recasts the concepts, so we must be judicious in how we use the OT.

B.. God honors faith in him (Genesis 15:6)

God called Abram (his name will be changed later to Abraham in 17:5), out of the blue, so to speak (Gen. 12:1-3). He required him to leave his family behind and go to a land the Lord would show him, which turned out to be Canaan (Gen. 13:14-17). Then God makes a covenant of promise to childless Abram. God will grant him a son (Gen 15:1-5). Abram simply believed God and then a blessing ensued.

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Gen. 15:6)

God honors faith. Abram did not have to work to get this righteousness. God thought of Abraham as righteous, and it was so. This credit to his account took place before his circumcision (Gen. 17:9-14, 23-27). This gift was bestowed on him 400+ years before the law of Moses was thundered from on high on Mt. Sinai. In fact he had misled the Pharaoh earlier, which broke the moral law (Gen. 12:10-20). “Misled” is a euphemism for “lied.” And after that, he did not learn his lesson, for he “misled” Abimelek, the king of Gerar, and told him that Sarah was his sister (Gen. 20), which was partly true (20:12). Nonetheless, Abraham passed the most difficult test of his life, (nearly) sacrificing his son Isaac (Gen. 22).

Therefore this gift of righteousness was not based on his own character or inner righteousness or the good or bad that he did. It was based on faith and God’s grace in granting his righteousness.

All of this agrees with Paul’s basic theology. God credits us with righteousness, even though we may not feel righteous. Nonetheless, he imputes it to us by faith alone, regarding it as ours, and therefore it is (Rom. 3:21-26; 4:1-25). God thinks of us as righteous in Christ, and therefore this righteousness belongs to us. We are righteous in his sight. It is God’s sight that matters most.

C.. No credit accepted in some cases: Leviticus 7:18

In the context of the fellowship or peace offering, one must eat the meat on the first or second day; otherwise, the offering will not be credited to the person.

¹⁸ If any meat of the fellowship offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who offered it, for it is impure; the person who eats any of it will be held responsible. (Lev. 7:18)

So God did not count or impute or think that the benefit that accrued from the offering belonged to the person who offered it. And so it was, in his sight or opinion.

D.. Imputing by Carrying: Leviticus 16:22; Is. 53:4; 53:12; 1 Peter 2:24

On the Day of Atonement, Aaron (or the high priest) is to keep one goat alive, lay hands on it, confess all the sins of Israel, put their sins on it, and send it into the wilderness under the supervision of someone appointed to the task. Since the goat was leaving or “escaping” from the people, it was called the scapegoat.

²² The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place. (Lev. 16:22)

The verb “carry” (nāśā’) in Hebrew is not the typical verb for “impute,” but the concept is the same in this context. The goat did not commit the sins of the people. It was not a moral sinner by inner transformation. How could it be? Yet God thinks of the goat as carrying their sins, and therefore it does. Thus, the sins belong to the goat by imputation or reckoning, from God’s point of view.

See this post:

The Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 from a NT Perspective

This “carrying” or “bearing” is exactly what Jesus did. The same verb nāśā’ is in italics font:

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities … (Is. 53:4)

¹² For he bore the sin of many … (Is. 53:12; 1 Peter 2:24)

¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.” (Matt. 8:17)

Jesus did not actually commit our sins, and he did not actually have our infirmities. He had none at all. He was not a moral sinner by inner transformation or by being infused with a sin nature. While on the cross, he did not get the flu or cancer. Yet he carries and takes up our sin and infirmity. How? Because God thinks of Jesus, who became the once-and-for-all sacrifice, as carrying and taking them up them and therefore he does in God’s sight or opinion. Thus Jesus carries or bears them only by imputation or reckoning. He carried our sins and diseases vicariously or representatively.

In Matthew 8:17, he is said to carry our diseases and infirmities. He does become diseases literally or physically, but he heals us and takes them off of us.

E.. Counted forgiven: Psalm 32:1-2

David had a sense of sin, but he said it was blessed when anyone was forgiven.

¹ Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ² Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him. (Ps. 32:1-2)

The sin and transgression are not counted or imputed or charged against the person; therefore, forgiveness belongs to him. God thinks of us as forgiven as well. He imputes forgiveness to us through Christ, and therefore it belongs to us. But David kept on sinning in his life, and so do we. But he was forgiven, and so are we.

IV.. The New Testament

A.. Analysis of verses

1.. You are circumcised (whether you feel it or not): Romans 2:26

This verse is conditional (if). Look for the verb “regarded”:

²⁶ If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? (Rom. 2:26)

Hypothetically, if someone could keep the law without one tiny misstep, then he would be regarded or considered or thought of as circumcised in God’s thoughts and sight, and circumcision would belong to the person, despite the outward appearance. But it is those who are circumcised in the heart who belong to God, Paul goes on to say (vv. 28-29; cf. Deut. 10:16; 30:6).

2.. Abraham again: Various passages

a. Imputation is a free gift.

Paul uses logizomai three times in these verses, quoting Genesis 15:6 and using a business accounting image. Look for the verb “credited”:

² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³ What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ⁴ Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Rom. 4:2-5)

We have already discussed Genesis 15:6, above.

Now we can turn to the business illustration. When a man works at a company, the employer is required or obligated to pay him. That’s the law. It’s not a donation or gift. Then Paul switches up the metaphor in midstream and says that when someone who does not work trusts God, his faith or trust is credited (donation) to him as righteousness (payment). If his boss were to credit or deposit money into a man’s account who is not working for him, that’s a gift. And that gift belongs to the man.

b. It is apart from works.

In Paul’s days many Jews converted to Christ, just as he did. They looked around at the Gentile converts and concluded they needed to keep some portions of the law, particularly circumcision, which was the sign or seal of being part of the people of God in the Old Testament. However, Paul reasoned that Abraham was credited with righteousness by faith (Gen. 15:6) before circumcision was commanded (Gen. 17:9-14, 23-27). The fifteenth chapter of Genesis comes before the seventeenth chapter. Look for the verb “credited.” Paul writes:

⁹ Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. ¹⁰ Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. ¹² And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Rom. 4:9-12)

That is, righteousness by faith in Christ was imputed or credited before circumcision; therefore Gentiles did not have to be circumcised in order to be credited with righteousness. Abraham is the father both the circumcised who believe in Christ (Messianic Jews) and the uncircumcised who believe in Christ (Gentile Christians). They are one family (Rom. 9, 10, 11).

c. It comes with a promise and the resurrection.

Paul observes from Genesis that Abraham’s and Sarah’s bodies were as good as dead, but God was able to work a miracle and energize their bodies, just as God raised Christ from the dead.

²⁰ Yet he [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” ²³ The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Rom. 4:20-25)

When we believe in Christ and his resurrection, we will have justification – a legal declaration that we are righteous. So now we have come to the climax of Paul’s thought about Abraham in Romans. When we have the faith of Abraham who believed God could work a miracle in his and Sarah’s dead bodies, and when we believe that God raised Christ from the dead, our faith is credited to us as righteousness and we are justified (declared legally righteous). God thinks of us as righteous, and therefore we are in his sight.

d. Who are God’s children?

Paul clarifies. Look for the verb “regard”:

In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. (Rom. 9:8)

This reinforces the theme that Gentiles (and Jews) who have faith in Christ are counted or thought of or considered to be the children of God. Therefore that status belongs to them, from his point of view, even though Gentiles do not biologically descend from Abraham. They descend from him by faith and promise, fulfilled in Christ.

e.  Abraham is the man of faith. 

In this passage Paul puts a slightly different twist on the faith of Abraham.

Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” [Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18] So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Gal. 3:6-9)

Isaac was the child of promise, and through this offspring of Abraham, all nations would be blessed. “Nations” speaks of Gentiles. When they have the same faith as Abraham’s, they too are included in the promise of righteousness or justification (legal declaration that we are righteous in Christ). The promised child and the subsequent blessing to the nations were all triggered by Abraham’s faith. “So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (v. 9). To repeat, Gentiles are not biologically the offspring of Abraham, but are considered as having that status by imputation. God considers that they are Abraham’s offspring by their faith or believing in the promise of Christ.

f. Abraham did good works.

James takes the example of Abraham in a different direction. Look for the verbs “credited” and “considered.”

²⁰ You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹ Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. (James 2:20-23)

Abraham (nearly) sacrificed Isaac (Gen. 22) long after God credited righteousness to him by faith (Gen 15). The fifteenth chapter of Genesis comes before the twenty-second chapter. Justified has two perspectives: God’s and humanity’s. James is speaking about humans witnessing the act of justification. This is moral or ethical justification. Paul is teaching that God’s justification come first, logically speaking. This is legal or forensic justification. To support this, v. 22 says that faith and actions work together. But doing good works comes after God’s declarative righteousness.

g. To sum up, this fits Paul’s distinctions.

(1)  God declare us righteous; that’s imputed righteousness. We receive it by faith, not by works. We don’t earn it by our own merits. (2) Then we walk in God’s imparted righteousness; that’s sanctification or God’s Spirit dealing with us and leading us to live a righteous life.

Imputed righteousness is distinct from imparted or infused righteousness worked out in love. Justification (a legal declaration that we are righteous) is by faith alone, not faith that is alone or by itself or solitary. Good works done for God come along with justification by faith. It’s a one-package deal.

3.. David again: Romans 4:6-8

Paul quotes from Psalm 32:1-2 (the verbs “credits” and “counts”):

⁶ David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷ “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ⁸ Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” (Rom. 4:6-8)

God does not count or regard or impute or charge our sins against us; therefore his forgiveness belongs to us, all the days of our life, every moment, every second. Note that God credits righteousness (v. 6). Righteousness is the direct object of crediting. When God considers such a thing, it is a reality, not a fiction. We are righteous through God’s action of imputing his righteousness, not from our own righteousness. It’s a wonderful gift from God, not from ourselves.

4.. First consider yourself dead to sin, and then alive again for righteousness: Romans 6:8-14

The key verses are 11 and 14. We got to get the distinctions down. Look for the verb “counts:

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Rom. 6:8-14)

Let’s explain this long passage. Christ conquered death by his resurrection (“raised from the dead”). He also conquered sin (“He died to sin once for all”). “He lives to God.” Now Paul applies this to our life.  We count or consider ourselves dead to sin. This is another form of imputation. We are not actually sinless; we have not achieved moral perfection in our behavior. We live in sanctification or practice holiness. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” “Sin shall not be our master, because … we are under grace.” Paul’s main point is sin not mastering us is not the same as our actual moral perfection every minute of every day. Rather, sin not dominating us means we don’t have to allow its lordship over us. We have a new lord – the Lord. But Paul’s big point: Distinctions have to be made. Imputation of righteousness (declared righteousness) and impartation of righteousness (sanctification). Those are the proper distinctions.

5.. Can God do accounting and work out a credit system? 2 Corinthians 5:18-19.

God reconciles the world to himself. Look for “counting”:

¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (2 Cor. 5:18-19)

These verses are very much like Psalm 32:1-2 and Paul’s quotation of them in Rom. 4:6-As noted, God was not counting or reckoning or regarding people’s sins against them in Ps. 32:1-2. Therefore, reconciliation and forgiveness belong to them. The same is true in 2 Cor. 5:18-19. So God can count, but sometimes he judicially chooses not to do so (see point no. 11, below).

6.. Counted guilty: Romans 5:13-14

Professional theologians teach that we inherit a corrupt nature from Adam’s sin at the Fall. We don’t need to get into the details of the various theories: (1) Realism: in the first sin man became corrupt and guilty, and this was transmitted to Adam’s descendants; humans co-sinned with Adam; (2) Federalism: Adam acted as the representative of all humanity, so his guilt was imputed to humanity; (3) Corporate personality: God sees humanity as a collective in solidarity, so Adam’s sin was imputed on that basis. Instead of deciding on any of those theories or a middle position, which theologians have not settled, we look at the verb used in one passage.

Once again ellogeô is used, conveying the same idea as logizomai (note the same log– stem).

Look for the phrase “taken into account”:

¹³ For before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. (Rom. 5:13-14)

Sin is not taken into account (as an infraction of the law) where there is no law. In the logic of those two verses, the sin of Adam brought death, and people died, even though humans did not break a specific command as Adam did. Those two verses imply that God thinks of Adam’s sin and guilt as belonging to his descendants, including us, and therefore they do.

Some argue that the parallel between Adam’s sin and Christ’s righteousness, which we discuss next, is not exact. The imputation of Adam’s sin to us is personal and inherent, while the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us is a legal (forensic) status.

We should leave it at this: Adam’s sin and guilt is imputed to us (the scope of this study, but only in one Greek word, ellogeô). And they are passed on to us inherently and personally (beyond the scope of this study). Theologians get this latter idea throughout Romans 5, not just the one Greek verb.

Now we can focus on the good news. Best of all, we get his righteousness in exchange – the next point.

7.. The blessed exchange (what’s his is ours and what ours is his):

Romans 4:6 (quoted above) and 2 Corinthians 5:21.

²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)

Our sins and guilt were imputed to Christ, and that’s good news in itself. However, we need something more. We need God’s gift of righteousness. But how do we get it? Do we work for it? We could never measure up to God’s infinite holiness. We sin daily. So how then do we get it? It’s out of our price range. We can’t afford it.

The greatest news of all is that God imputes Christ’s righteousness to us. Christ – the sinless one – obeyed the law and so he accrued or compiled all the merits we will ever need. He took the penalty of our law breaking on himself, and he fulfilled the positive demands of the law that we could not do. We also get his righteousness as his gift to us.

8.. New legal credit rating

We already saw that Abraham believed God, and Abraham’s faith was credited to him for righteousness. If it’s good enough for him in the OT; it’s certainly good enough for us in the NT.

Paul also says God credits righteousness to us.

⁶ David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works … (Rom. 4:6)

Righteousness is the direct object of the crediting or imputing. God thinks of this righteousness as ours, and therefore it belongs to us in his sight or opinion. It is a legal status, declared and bestowed by God, coming out of his heavenly courtroom.

9.. New legal status

We already quoted 2 Corinthians 5:19-21. Here’s the context. God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (v. 19) The word logizomai in v. 19 is translated as “counting.” God does not think or reckon or consider that those who are being reconciled to him should be held accountable to sin, since the believer is a new creation (v. 17) and because of what is said in v. 21. Because imputation was on Paul’s mind, v. 21 says Christ did not know sin, but God made him sin, a noun, not a verb (“to be” is not in Greek). This “making” can only be done by imputation.

The second word “sin” in v. 21 could be translated – so some scholars argue – as “sin offering,” which is described in detail in Lev. 4 and 6:24-30. The animal’s carrying people’s sins was done only by imputation because it cannot rightly be said that the animal sinned morally as humans do. And how is imputation done? God thinks of the animal as carrying the sins of the people, and it is so, in God’s sight or from his point of view (cf. Lev. 16:21-22).

In a similar way, Christ is our sin offering. Just as the sins of the people were imputed to the sacrificial animal, so our sins are imputed to Christ. But it cannot be said that Christ is literally a moral sinner. So, again, how is this “making” done? Only by imputation, for Christ is not transformed inwardly by sin or infused with sin. Rather, God imputes sin to him, and so this status belongs to him, but this new status is alien or foreign to him. It comes from the outside by imputation. It is legal or forensic, emerging out of God’s heavenly courtroom.

B.. Summary

In a parallel way, God’s righteousness comes from the outside of us. It is alien or foreign to us. It is God’s righteousness in Christ, and God imputes it to us, and therefore it belongs to us. It becomes ours, in God’s sight. And to keep the parallel to Christ and sin in the first half of the verse, God’s righteousness is not a transformation of us or an infusion into us. It is a status or position by imputation. It is legal or forensic, emerging out of God’s heavenly courtroom.

V.. Overall Summary

A.. Imputation is an important doctrine in the Bible.

By it God considers or regards something physical – humans, animals, grain and so on – as having a different or new status. For example, God thinks of animals as carrying the sins of people, and therefore they do – by imputation and vicariously. God considers Christ as carrying our sins, and therefore he does – by imputation. God thinks of Adam’s sin as belonging us, and it does – by imputation and shared humanity. God accepts or rejects certain offerings because he regards them as acceptable or not – by imputation. God imputes righteousness to Abraham by his faith. God imputes righteousness to us by our faith.

B.. All of this is done in the sight or opinion of thinking of God.

It is not necessary that the object or human go through an inner moral transformation. Specifically, the animals that carry the sins of the ancient people do not have to become inwardly and morally sinful. How could an animal be sinful in the way humans are? Rather, animals have the status of bearing humans’ sins. God considers the animals as doing this, and therefore it is so. People’s sins now belong to the animals – by imputation. When Christ took on the sins of the world, he did not go through an immoral inner transformation, and sin was not infused into him. He took on the sins by imputation.

C.. The reason for this mystery of a changed status is done by imputation.

The changed status finds its roots in the Hebrew verb ḥāšab and the Greek verb logizomai; both have the basic meaning of “thinking” and “considering.” They express mental activities. When God considers something as having a status, then in his sight it has that status. If God considers us declared righteous, then we have the legal status of righteousness, even though we may not feel righteous from one day to the next.

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts … ⁹ As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is. 55:8-9)

We now turn to Paul’s theology.

D.. Someone had to pay for our sins.

The penalty of sin is death. Either we pay the penalty or someone else does. If we pay for our own sins, we won’t survive God’s judgment, for he is infinitely holy. Paying for our own sins is out of our price range. Therefore, for the same reason, someone else who does it cannot be just any old person, like your wife or brother. He has to be God’s best. He has to be divine. He has to be from heaven. Most of all, he cannot be part of God’s created order or universe. He cannot be created, for creation suffers from decay and groans (Rom. 8:21-22). Only one person fits that description: Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God the Son.

E.. Origins of sin

The deepest part of our sin problem originates long before we were born. Humans die, and death is the result or wage of sin. Why are we born to die? Standard Reformation theology teaches us that when God imputes Adam’s sin and guilt to us, God considers it as belonging to us, and so it does, even though we did not sin in the specific way Adam did. We share an unbreakable human bond with our First Parents, in Paul’s theology.

F.. Solution

But the good news of a solution: when God imputes Christ’s righteousness to us, God considers it as belonging to us and so it does, even though we have not done any works of righteousness in ourselves that merit or earn God’s free and loving gift of righteousness. It is our new legal status before God, bestowed by him. It was declared in God’s heavenly courtroom.

G.. Declared righteousness

We covered this point in the post on Justification, but let’s repeat here (and in the posts on sanctification). God declaring us righteous, and his imputing righteousness to us does not depend on our inner moral transformation; it depends on him and his opinion. And his thinking or imputing depends on his grace and love for his Son. Then we receive this gift through faith. It would be inconsistent for God to send his Son as an atoning sacrifice and then withdraw its reality. God is perfectly consistent. Therefore the efficacy (getting the job done) of Christ’s death is like unshakeable bedrock. Now we are secure because we don’t depend on our own faith, but on Christ and his atonement.

H.. God does not change.

While it is true that my faith wavers and fluctuates, God’s gift does not. Once we exercise this saving faith, which was energized by the Spirit in the first place, God imputes or credits his righteousness to us as a free and once-and-for-all gift. So now it is not sustained by my faith, which might be weak one day or strong the next. Rather, it is sustained by God’s grace and love – for his Son first and then for us. Therefore we are secure in our walk with him.

I.. God will help us stand.

God is a living person, not an abstract principle. He will help us stand in faith, as he sees us through the atoning work of his Son, a work that God initiated before the beginning of time. So it does not depend on the man who runs or the man who wills, but on God who has mercy (Rom. 9:16). That’s God’s love and grace. And that’s the good news of the Gospel. By it the church stands or falls – and stand she will, if she remains in God’s grace alone apart from works.

VI.. Application

A.. God imputed righteousness is not a legal fiction.

God’s imputing or crediting righteousness to you is not a “legal fiction” (as some critics assert) because you have repented and asked for forgiveness, before the Heavenly and Merciful Tribunal of God. Now you are in Christ, and Christ is in you. Your sins are forgiven. Jesus puts the white robe of righteousness on you. In his Tribunal, he sees you has forgiven and not guilty, so he declares you forgiven. He acquits you. He announces the verdict, “not guilty in my Son!”

B.. Distinguish between imputed righteousness and sanctification.

Now are you ready to walk in holiness and righteousness, since he imparts righteousness in you after he declared you righteous in your legal standing? Paul prayed that the Philippians would be filled with the fruit of righteousness (Phil. 1:10-11). Allow the Spirit to produce righteousness in you, so you can behave righteously.

C.. Don’t confuse the two.

Remember: declared righteous first; live in righteousness second. We must not blur the distinction between justification (resulting in imputed righteousness as a one-time act) and sanctification (continuously imparted fruit of righteousness). Don’t confuse the two acts of God or their logical order, and then you will have peace and clarity with God.

The first is legal righteousness, the second is also called ethical justification (or sanctification)

At the end of the post on sanctification, I have placed a two-column table. One column is labeled “Forensic Justification,” and the other “Sanctification.” Since imputation and justification belong together on the one side, and sanctification flows out of being justified on the other, I trust the table will clarify matters.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Works Cited

Sources: TWOT 330; TDNT vol. 4, 284.