3. In the Revised Version (British and American) the word used to render logizomai is the verb "to reckon.". And this is precisely what theology of the entire Christian church has meant by saying that the guilt of Adam's sin was imputed to his posterity. These words, both of which occur frequently in Scripture, and which in a number of instances mean simply "to think," express the above idea. The nature of this covering by the vicarious bearing of the penalty of sin is made clear in Isaiah 53. It is evidently intended as historical by its author, and is so regarded by the New Testament writers. It is not meant that Adam's sin was personally the sin of his descendants, but that it was set to their account, so that they share its guilt and penalty. The same thought is expressed in Galatians 3:13, where the statement that Christ was made a curse for us means that He was made to endure the curse or penalty of the broken law. His meaning is simply that Abraham was justified as a believer in God, and not as one who sought righteousness by works. To bear inquity or sin, though it may sometimes mean to bear it away or remove it, is an expression often applied in Scripture to persons charged with guilt and subjected to the punishment of their own sin (Leviticus 5:17; 7:18; 19:8; 22:9). All are similar in intent, but are distinct as to function. The act of imputation is precisely the same in each case. The verb in 1 Samuel 22:15 is sim. We impute wrong actions to bad motives, or to ignorance, or to folly and rashness. For example, God thinks of animals as carrying the sins of people, and therefore they do – by imputation. Imputation of Adam's Sin to His Posterity. It denotes the Divine attribute of righteousness in Romans 3:5,25 f. The customary exegesis was to regard the other instances as denoting the righteousness of a sinner which comes to him from God, in accordance with Philippians 3:9. One of the Bible's most important words to learn the meaning of is impute or imputation. and Saviour Jesus Christ" (the Greek, 2 Peter 1:1). "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". Free eBook: Getting Through the Storms in Life, Bible Dictionaries - Easton's Bible Dictionary - Imputation, Encyclopedias - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Imputation, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The idea of imputed sin and imputed righteousness, as was said, is the precise point of the parallelism between condemnation in Adam and justification in Christ. The thought of the prophecy is, as Delitzsch says, that of vicarious punishment, which implies the idea of the imputation of the guilt of our sins to Christ. THE SCRIPTURAL BASIS OF THESE DOCTRINES. We impute crimes, sins, trespasses, faults, blame, etc., to the guilty persons. Upon what ground this takes place, Paul states in the passage Romans 5:12-21. There are three major usages of Imputation in the New Testament. Accordingly, the apostle emphasizes the element of obedience in the death of Christ, and places this act of obedience at the basis of the sinner's justification (Romans 5:18). The same thought is expressed by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the contrast between the first and second advents of Christ is made to hinge upon the fact that in the first He came to be sacrificed as a sin-bearer, burdened with the guilt of the sin of others, whereas in His second coming He will appear without this burden of imputed or vicarious guilt (Hebrews 9:28). This truth is explicitly affirmed by Paul, who speaks of God's imputing righteousness without works, and of righteousness being imputed (Romans 4:6,11). In all these cases the act of imputation is simply the charging of one with something. Nor can he mean to say that just as God established a precedent in Adam's case that death should follow sin, so He acts upon this precedent in the case of all men because all sin, the real ground of the reign of death being the fact that all sin, and the formal ground being this precedent (B. Weiss); nor that the real ground is this precedent and the subordinate ground the fact that all sin (Hunefeld). Paul means that Christ was made to bear the penalty of our sin and that its guilt was imputed to Him in precisely the same way in which we sinners become the righteousness of God in Him, i.e. God used the principle of imputation to benefit mankind when He imputed the sin of believers to the account of Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for that sin—death—on the cross. Adam’s sin is imputed to all people ( Rom. (KJV WBS) 1 Corinthians 13:5 does not behave in an unseemly manner, does not seek what is its own, is not quickly provoked, does not impute evil, (DBY YLT) If, therefore, the race shares in the penalty of Adam's sin, it must also share in his guilt or the judicial obligation to suffer punishment. The phrase, however, cannot mean a righteousness which is valid in God's sight (Luther), although this thought is elsewhere expressed by Paul (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:11). Romans 4:8. Therefore, we are effectively all guilty before God. If, therefore, Christ secures life for us, it can only be in accordance with this principle. Three acts of imputation are given special prominence in the Scripture, and are implicated in the Scriptural doctrines of Original Sin, Atonement and Justification, though not usually expressed by the words chashabh and logizomai. 2. The term impute is used both legally and financially and means “to designate any action, word, or thing as credited to another person’s account.” Biblically, Adam’s sin was imputed to all his descendants, and they are to be dealt with as guilty. God imputed our sins to Christ who knew no sin. Imputation of Adam's Sin to His Posterity, 2. Why is this important? Orr, James, M.A., D.D. And God imputed his righteousness to … The Scriptural Basis of These Doctrines. II. Imputation is an important doctrine in the Bible. KJV Dictionary Definition: imputable imputable. Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to His People. We impute misfortunes and miscarriages to imprudence. Original Sin, Atonement, Justification. Romans 3:23 notes, "all … The Bible knows no such term as imparted righteousness, however, when men refer to this, most mean the work of the Holy Spirit in a sinner to give that sinner spiritual life (a principle of life and godliness), faith, repentance, love, humility, and all the graces of the Spirit. III. Rechfertigungslehre, 1901, 147-96; Pfleiderer, Die Paulinische Rechtfertigung, ZWT (Hilgenfeld herausg. We impute wrong actions to bad motives, or to ignorance, or to folly and rashness. 2. II. The old Arminian theologians, and some modern exegetes (H. Cremer) assert that Paul means that Abraham's faith was accepted by God instead of a perfect righteousness as the meritorious ground of his justification. Although the idea of the imputation of righteousness is not explicitly asserted in these passages, the idea is not merely that the righteousness spoken of is recognized by Yahweh (Cremer), but that it comes from Him, so that Yahweh, through the work of the Messiah, is the source of His people's righteousness. 100 Bible Verses about Imputation. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Here we have a double imputation. Find 4 ways to say imputed, along with antonyms, related words, and example sentences at Thesaurus.com, the world's most trusted free thesaurus. When, therefore, the Servant of Yahweh in Isaiah 53 is said "to bear iniquity" (53:11), or that "the chastisement of our peace was upon him" (53:5), or that "Yahweh hath laid (literally, "caused to fall") on him the iniquity of us all" (53:6), the idea expressed is that Christ bore the punishment of our sin vicariously, its guilt having been imputed to Him. It is the righteousness of Philippians 3:9; the righteousness which God imputes to the believer in Christ. It means a righteousness which comes from God and of which He is the author. See more. By it God considers or regards something physical – humans, animals, grain and so on – as having a different or new status. 2. Romans 4:8. To attribute; to ascribe. ( Romans 4:8 ). The apostle's conversion by the appearance of the risen Christ determined his conception of the true way of obtaining righteousness, since the resurrection of Christ meant for Paul the condemnation of his entire past search for righteousness by works of the law. 1. To impute means to reckon to someone the blessing, curse, debt, etc., of another. Hence, when God is said "to impute sin" to anyone, the meaning is that God accounts such a one to be a sinner, and consequently guilty and liable to punishment. The comparison is between Adam and Christ, and the specific point of the comparison is imputed sin and imputed righteousness. The gospel sets forth God's righteousness which is Christ's. This is done, however, by Paul. THE THREEFOLD USE OF THE TERM IN THEOLOGY. The first two of these doctrines have been the possession of the entire Christian church, while the third one of them is affirmed by both the Reformed and Lutheran branches of Protestantism. This latter view is the one which accords with the narrative itself. This idea is taken up by Paul, who makes explicit the way in which this righteousness comes to sinners, and who puts the idea of imputed righteousness at the basis of his doctrine of Justification. Moreover, Paul affirms that our redemption from all the demands of the law is secured by the fact that Christ was born under law (Galatians 4:4). He introduces the subject of Adam's relation to the race to illustrate his doctrine of the justification of sinners on the ground of a righteousness which is not personally their own. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. Similarly, logizomai is translated by the verb "to impute" (Romans 4:6,8,11,22,23,24; 2 Corinthians 5:19; James 2:23); by the verb "to count" (Romans 2:26; 4:3,5); "to account" (Galatians 3:6); and by the verb "to reckon" (Romans 4:4,9,10). Our sins were put upon, imputed, to Jesus on the cross where He became sin on our behalf ( 2 Cor. Hence, the gracious character of Justification, according to Paul, does not consist in its being merely a gracious pardon without any judicial basis (Ritschl); or in God's acceptance of a subjective righteousness produced by Him in the sinner (Tobac); or in the acceptance of faith instead of a perfect righteousness (Cremer). The word "imputation," according to the Scriptural usage, denotes an attributing of something to a person, or a charging of one with anything, or a setting of something to one's account. Free eBook: Getting Through the Storms in Life, Bible Dictionaries - King James Dictionary - Impute, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. This phrase is used by Paul 9 t: Romans 1:17; 3:5,21,25; 10:3 (twice); 2 Corinthians 5:21. Accordingly, the prophets speak of a righteousness which is not from man's works, but which is said to be in Yahweh or to come from Him to His people (Isaiah 32:16; 45:23; 54:17; 58:8; 61:3; Jeremiah 51:10; Hosea 10:12). 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. III. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. (1 Peter 2:24). Article Images Copyright © 2021 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. Imputation of the Sins of His People to Christ, 3. Compare also the appropriate sections in the Works on the Scripture doctrine of Justification, and especially on Paul's doctrine of Justification, e.g. 5:21) and died with them ( … The New Covenant is described as a "ministry of righteousness," and contrasted with the Old Covenant which is described as a "ministry of condemnation." But this interpretation is most strained in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where we are said to "become the righteousness of God," and in Romans 10:3-6, where the righteousness of God is identified with the righteousness which comes from faith, this latter being contrasted with man's own inward righteousness. Thus we "become the righteousness of God" in precisely the same sense in which Christ was "made to be sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). All rights reserved. We impute misfortunes and miscarriages to imprudence. This, however, cannot be the apostle's meaning. Hence, there is a precise parallel between Adam and Christ. It does not change the inward state or character of the person to whom something is imputed. In all these passages the underlying thought is that the guilt of our sin was imputed to Christ. We impute crimes, sins, trespasses, faults, blame, etc., to the guilty persons. The same idea underlies these expressions when they occur in the New Testament. If, therefore, this last expression does not denote a subjective condition of men under the old dispensation, but their relation to God as objects of His condemnation, righteousness must denote the opposite of this relation to the law, and must depend on God's judicial acquittal. In 1 Corinthians 15:21, Paul says that the death of all men has its cause in the man Adam in the same way in which the resurrection from the dead has its cause in the man Christ. Philemon 1:1:18; "if Onesimus hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account" In Romans 4:6 righteousness imputed without works must mean a righteousness not our own, yet reckoned as ours, namely, "the righteousness of (Him who is both) God. It is not meant that Christ shares personally in the sins of men, but that the guilt of his people's sin was set to his account, so that He bore its penalty. Paul says that it was by one man that sin and death entered into the world, and it was by one man that death passed to all men, because all were implicated in the guilt of that one man's Sin (5:12). The word actually means to transfer something from one person to another, such as Adam's sin was given (or transferred) or imputed to the whole human race. In two passages Paul affirms that Abraham believed God and "it was imputed to him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3 the King James Version; Galatians 3:6). of something which takes place in every individual, or of certain general truths concerning sin. This is also clear from the contrast between imputation according to grace and according to debt (Romans 4:4). The thought of the passage is imputed sin and imputed righteousness as the ground of condemnation and of justification respectively. Copyright © 2021, Bible Study Tools. In other words, the righteousness of Jesus is given to us when we believe in order to make us right before God. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not IMPUTE sin. The Tabernacle of Ancient Israel - Brief Overview of the Tabernacle of Moses in the Wilderness and the Ark of the Covenant. This takes place sometimes in a judicial manner, so that the thing imputed becomes a ground of reward or punishment. Verse Concepts. It is, moreover, the teaching of the Old Testament that the righteousness which God demands is not to be found among men (Psalms 130:3; 143:2; Isaiah 64:6). That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness [who did not seek salvation and a right relationship with God, nevertheless] obtained righteousness, that is, the righteousness which is produced by faith; AM. Impute definition, to attribute or ascribe: The children imputed magical powers to the old woman. by the imputation of His righteousness to us. That may be imputed or charged to a person; chargeable. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. The death of all men, accordingly, is not brought about by their personal sins, but has come upon all through the disobedience of Adam. Imputation of the Sins of His People to Christ: That our sins are imputed to Christ is not expressly stated in the Scripture, but is implied in those passages which affirm that Christ "bore our sins," and that our iniquities were "laid upon him" by Yahweh. The legal basis of salvation rests upon it. impute definition: 1. to say that someone is responsible for something that has happened, especially something bad, or…. And therefore it was imputed to him for. 1. Salem Media Group. Imputing our sin to Jesus, God treated Him as if He were a sinner, though He was not, and had Him die for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2). Thus in doctrinal language, This doctrine is also implied in the apostle's teaching that Justification is absolutely gracious, taken in connection with the fact that it leads to a complete salvation. Similarly, the non-imputation of sin means simply not to lay it to one's charge as a ground of punishment (Psalms 32:2). That the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the believer does lie at the basis of Paul's doctrine of Justification can be further seen from the fact that Justification is absolutely free and unmerited so far as the sinner is concerned (Romans 3:24; 5:15; Galatians 5:4; Titus 3:7); its object being one who is ungodly (Romans 4:5); so that it is not by works (Romans 3:20,28; Galatians 2:16; 3:11; 5:4; Philippians 3:9); and yet that it is not a mere pardon of sin, but is a strictly "forensic" or judicial judgment, freeing the sinner from all the claims of the law, and granting him the right to eternal life. The Threefold Use of the Term in Theology. (Romans 4:8) ": 106 It is on the basis of Jesus' righteousness that God accepts humans. The apostle says that just as men are condemned on account of a sin not their own, so they are justified on account of a righteousness which is not their own. He who seeks righteousness by works would be justified as a reward for his works, in antithesis to which, imputation according to grace would be the charging one with a righteousness which he does not possess. IMPU'TED, participle passive Charged to the account of; attributed; ascribed. Neither can Paul intend to say that all men are subject to death because they derive a corrupt nature from Adam (Fritzsche); nor that men are condemned to die because all have sinned (Pfleiderer). Those who have little concern for truth would likely balk at the idea that debate would ensue over two little words; yet, these words carry with them great meaning, laying out two very different views regarding the doctrine of justification, a doctrine central to the gospel. Hence, in 5:12 Paul does not mean simply to affirm that as Adam sinned and consequently died, so men sin and die. Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to His People: The righteousness upon the ground of which God justifies the ungodly is, according to Paul, witnessed to in the Old Testament (Romans 3:21). Salem Media Group. Imputation of Adam's Sin to His Posterity: The doctrine of the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity is implied in the account of the Fall in Genesis 2 and 3, taken in connection with the subsequent history of the human race as recorded in Ge and in the rest of the Old Testament. Besides the Comm., see works on Old Testament Theology by Dillmann, Davidson, Oehler, Schultz; and on New Testament Theology by H. Holtzmann, B. Weiss, Schmidt; also Chemnitz, De Vocabulo Imputationis, Loc. It is, therefore, objective to man, comes to him from God, is connected with the work of Christ, and is mediated by faith in Christ. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. The sinner, therefore, is pardoned and accepted as a righteous person, not on account of anything in himself, but only on account of what Christ has done for him, which means that the merits of Christ's suffering and obedience are imputed to the sinner as the ground of his justification. Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to His People, The word "imputation," according to the Scriptural usage, denotes an attributing of something to a person, or a charging of one with anything, or a setting of something to one's account. III, 21-26, 1888; Kolbing, Studien zur Paulinische Theologie, TSK, 1895, 7-51; Haring bei Paulus, 1896. Third, 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Proud member
It is this same imputed righteousness which makes the gospel the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:17), which has been revealed by the law and the prophets, which is received by faith in Christ by whose expiatory death God's retributive righteousness has been made manifest (Romans 3:21,22,25,26), and which is represented by Peter as the object of Christian faith (2 Peter 1:1). It makes no difference, so far as the meaning of imputation is concerned, who it is that imputes, whether man (1 Samuel 22:15) or God (Psalms 32:2); it makes no difference what is imputed, whether a good deed for reward (Psalms 106:30) or a bad deed for punishment (Leviticus 17:4); and it makes no difference whether that which is imputed is something which is personally one's own prior to the imputation, as in the case above cited, where his own good deed was imputed to Phinehas (Psalms 106:30), or something which is not personally one's own prior to the imputation, as where Paul asks that a debt not personally his own be charged to him (Philemon 1:18). This same idea is also implied and asserted by Paul in the parallel which he draws between Adam and Christ (Romans 5:18). General Editor. On Paul's doctrine of the righteousness of God, of the many monographs the following may be mentioned: Fricke, Der Paulinische Grundbegriff der erortert auf Grund v. Rom. This idea finds its clearest expression in connection with the work of the Messiah in Jeremiah 33:16, where Jerusalem is called "Yahweh our righteousness" because of the coming of the Messianic king, and in Jeremiah 23:6 where the same name is given to the Messiah to express His significance for Israel. These doctrines have had a place in theology of the Christian church from the earliest Christian centuries, though the doctrine of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ was first fully and clearly stated at the time of and following the Reformation. It is on the basis of this "alien" righteousness that God accepts humans. In all these cases the nature of imputation is the same ( Romans 5:12-19 ; Compare Philemon 1:18 Philemon 1:19 ). The apostle in these passages wishes to illustrate from the case of Abraham the gracious character of Justification, and quotes the untechnical language of Genesis 15:6. Resources » Dictionary of Bible Themes » 6000 Sin and salvation » 6600 Aspects of salvation » 6674 imputation 6674 imputation The crediting by God to believers with … In the former passage the idea of substitution, although not expressed by the preposition huper which indicates that Christ's work was for our benefit, is nevertheless clearly implied in the thought that Christ, whose sinlessness is emphasized in the ver, is made sin, and that we sinners become righteous in Him. The main thought of the passage is that, just as men are condemned on account of the imputation to them of the guilt of Adam's sin, so they are justified on account of the imputation to them of the righteousness of Christ. THE SCRIPTURAL BASIS OF THESE DOCTRINES, 1. And therefore it was imputed to him for. Imputed is a form of the word imputation that means to designate an action as reckoned or given to a person. Because, however, of its "forensic" or "judicial" meaning, and possibly through its use in the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) to translate logizomai in Romans 4:8, the term "imputation" has been used in theology in a threefold sense to denote the judicial acts of God by which the guilt of Adam's sin is imputed to his posterity; by which the sins of Christ's people are imputed to Him; and by which the righteousness of Christ is imputed to His people.