Sin imputed, righteousness imputed

Imputed is not a word that I use very often. The dictionary says it means to attribute or ascribe something credible or discreditable to a person such as righteousness or guilt, and done a person or persons vicariously. That is, something is ascribed to a person but derived from another.

This describes that “great exchange” from a recent devotional post. It is how Jesus, who had no sin of His own, took my sin. It was imputed to Him by God.

I’m trying to imagine what this would be like and how it can be illustrated. One way is using the word exchange. A father teaches his children this great truth by trading their dirty napkin for his shiny coin. From that, they begin to understand that God the Father trades their sin for the priceless righteousness of His Son.

However, that illustration is more about the results of imputation. How about adding that the napkin is so loved by God that He was willing to offer His spotless Son, and then use the coin to clean the napkin? But that doesn’t work either.

Another illustration is when an innocent person offers to take the place of a convicted felon and the judge accepts the offer. The guilty person is declared (imputed) innocent and the one who did not commit the crime takes responsibility for it and the punishment. That really doesn’t work either.

Another image is that of an accountant. He sees from the ledgers that one client is poor while the other client is wealthy. The wealthy person willing offers His savings, so the accountant transfers the money from the rich man’s books to the poor man’s account. The poor man did not earn it or deserve it; it came to him by the grace of the one who was able to do it. Also, the fit what biblical imputation means, the rich man would also have to take on all the poor man’s debts and pay them. This isn’t a perfect illustration either.

This is a challenge. No illustration grasps the magnitude of biblical imputation because all illustrations involve humans and imputation is a God-thing. When God is involved, the issue goes beyond our ability and usually beyond our understanding. It makes no sense to take the sin and guilt off people who sin, curse, and rebel against you and put them on your sinless Son so you can forgive their sin and kill your Son so He could pay their penalty for sin.

All I can say is that God did it. Not only did He impute my sin to His Son and give me His righteousness, that righteousness changed my life. It changes all sinners who accept it. He then puts them to work so that others can hear this good news and perhaps accept it also . . .

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:17–21)

This is the “most marvelous thing that ever took place upon the earth, the most stupendous thing ever executed by the power of heaven . . . Jesus Christ, God the eternal Son, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him!” (Donald Fortner)

Jesus, that You were willing to die for me is one thing, but that You were willing to take upon Yourself the sin that is in me and trade it for Your righteousness boggles my mind. May I never cease to worship, adore, love, and trust You with all my heart, soul, mind and strength!

He is my righteousness

God created the human race in His own image that His glory, the glory of the God who is invisible, might be seen in this world. At that time, He could have insisted on obedience and ensured that humanity would live according to that lofty purpose. Instead, God obliged Himself by a covenant with one condition: humans could have eternal life by obedience to one command.

It was a simple command. They could eat from every tree in the garden but one. He told them to stay away from that tree, “For when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) From that, He inferred that as long as they were obedient and did not eat from it, they would surely live.

Genesis 3 tells how the first human beings broke this covenant. At that point, they fell into sin and needed a better righteousness than their own which was now ruined. Because of their sinful disobedience, that sin was imputed to the rest of humanity and we cannot make ourselves acceptable to God. We need something more than we have. Throughout the Old Testament, God promises to make that available to us . . . 

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ (Jeremiah 23:5–6)

The grand story of Scripture is the love of God to humanity, for what we could not do, Jesus Christ does it for us. As the New Testament says, in order that God might be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus, Jesus took the nature of a servant, even human nature. In that nature he obeyed, doing everything that God wanted of us. He displayed to the world the glory of God in human flesh. By His sinless life, Jesus fulfilled all of the moral law and that covenant in our stead.

But this sinless life angered the religious leaders and they determined to destroy Him. They had no idea that His death on the cross was part of God’s plan for sinners. He took our sin to that cross and died for it, taking the punishment we deserve upon Himself. As fully God and fully human in one person, He satisfied both the plan of God and the wrath of God. He worked out a full and perfect righteousness for us, a righteousness He offers as a gift.

How do we get it? Gifts are not earned. Rather they are given, and the Bible says this is an imputed gift. It means God attributes (righteousness, guilt, etc.) to a person or persons vicariously, ascribing it as derived from another. Just as the disobedience of Adam and Eve was imputed on the entire human race (for we all have sinned) so also is the righteousness of Christ made available for sinners. As the New Testament says, we become in Christ the righteousness of God because He became to us our righteousness.

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:28–31)

What touches my heart today is the reminder of what this righteousness means. It is not only the passive obedience of Jesus dying on the cross, but the active obedience of His life. Christ not only died for me, but also lived for me. He not only suffered for my sin, but obeyed God for me. Both His life and death jointly make up that complete righteousness that God imputed to me.

I tend to dwell on the negative, on my sinfulness and therefore on His death for sin as my substitute. This is good, but it is not all that the Gospel means. As I struggle to live for Him, I need this reminder that Jesus is also my substitute for that life that I am unable to live on my own.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Because the Lord is my righteousness, and because this righteousness is imputed to me, I don’t need to flounder or fret over my weaknesses and inabilities. By the power of God and the gracious gift of His righteousness, He has given me all that I need to live.