Imputation

I was listening to my daily dose of Romans today and the doctrine of imputation was raised.  It seems that not a lot of people with whom I have spoken lately have any idea what this doctrine means.  The doctrine of imputation is necessary for the understanding of justification, and these two doctrines are the Gospel, according to Paul.  Sounds like they might be important, then, so let’s try them on for size.

Justice in our culture is blind.  The idea is that all people get a just hearing based on the merits of the particular case to be decided by an impartial jury of peers.  The blindness of justice does not mean that justice cannot discern truth, but rather that the station in life and history of the defendant is not considered when rendering judgment.  God’s justice is not blind.  The station and history of the defendant is clearly at issue.  We enter Judgment Day with facts already stacked against us.  Regardless of any testimony given on that day, we have sin in our column thanks to Adam.  The sentence for sin is suffering God’s Wrath in the form of eternal separation from our creator.  God is not just a little put off by sin; sin really chaps Him and offends Him greatly.  Adam represented all of humanity in a federal way when he sinned.  

Therefore, we inherited his sinful condition.  This was the first great imputation.  Adam’s sin is imputed to all of humanity.  Imputation is therefore a legal declaration where the attribute of one party is transferred to another.  Another way of looking at this switch is by the analogy of an accounting move.  The sin of Adam appears on the ledger of all man for all time.

Is this fair and just?  Absolutely.  Adam is the prototype human.  His fall into sin is transmitted genetically and federally to all of mankind.  We inherit this sin in Adam.  God is aware of this sin and works with the Son and the Holy Spirit to solve the problem for us.  The Covenant of Redemption between the persons of the Trinity states the Father promises the Son He will receive a group of humans that will worship the Son, and the Holy Spirit will gather these elected persons to the Son.  Fair?  So far, what we have is that every human for all time is doomed by Adam’s sin to suffer death.  The Covenant of Redemption exists because God knew that Adam would sin and offered the solution to a remnant of the people.  Death is a just inheritance for the Fall.  Mercy and Grace are offered to a remnant elect people.

The second act of imputation is that the Righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to His elect at Judgment Day.  This portion of the great exchange means that Jesus gives us infinite merits for our judgment with no regard to our own merits, but in due exchange for our faith alone in Him alone by Grace alone to the Glory of God alone.  In return, the third act of imputation is that our sin is imputed to Jesus Christ so that when He dies, God’s Wrath is propitiated for the sin of the elect.

Time out!  Propitiation appears in Romans 3:25 but is mistranslated by the NIV as atonement.  Let’s talk about the difference between the two for a moment.  The Old Testament sacrificial system is set up to appease God periodically for the sins of His royal family, the Jews.  The problems with the sacrificial system are that it merely foreshadows the Ultimate Sacrifice of Christ,  the sacrifice of an animal for the sin of a man can only cover up the sin, but it cannot wash it away, and finally, the system only worked for those in the OT Covenants, i.e. the Jews.  These OT sacrifices atoned, or covered up, for the sins of the Covenant members.  The New Covenant in Christ Jesus is different.  Because Jesus actually fulfilled the Law and therefore became the first and only Man to successfully earn life from the Covenant of Law, He is a Lamb that not only atones for our sin, but actually turns away the Wrath of God from us, washes away our sin and reconciles us to God.  This last part is the definition of propitiation, the key component of which is reconciliation to God, something an atonement or cover up cannot do.  

Getting back to imputation, because the sin of the elect is imputed to Christ, we can say that Christ’s punishment is death and that this is just.  Also, we can say that because Christ’s righteousness is imputed to His elect, His elect can justly be judged righteous before God on Judgment Day.  Because of the imputation and great exchange that occurs between Christ and His elect, justification is possible for His elect.  

Is this fair?  To whom?  Is it fair to Jesus?  It seems that He gets one raw end of the deal.  He chose to do this for us, His elect.  It is not up to us to question His motives.  He is certainly noble and Worthy of tremendous Thanksgiving for this, His Ultimate Gift.  And, He gets a remnant of humans to be His people.  Is it fair to the elect?  No, we are unworthy of anything but death.  Instead, we receive His Grace and may correctly and justly be deemed righteous before God.  Is it fair to the reprobate, those who are not numbered among the elect?  Yes!  They will be judged fairly and justly according to their own merits.  To God the Father?  Absolutely!  He gets to enjoy a just and propitiating sacrifice to appease His Wrath and He gets to remain a Just and Holy God.  To the Holy Spirit?  Well, it seems like He gets the other raw end of the deal because He’s going around doing all of the work in us and for us, the elect, making us aware of the Work of the Cross. 

You must understand the federal relationship of Adam to all humans and Christ to His elect in order to understand imputation and subsequently justification.  Every other doctrine in the Bible flows easily from this beginning.

--Troll--