What Is Imputation--Part 1

The doctrine of imputation is never used in the sense of any transference of either immoral or moral character. Paul’s personal letter to Philemon contained a descriptive picture of Jesus Christ, and what His purpose was concerning the chosen ones the Father gave to Him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). The great principle given in this letter reveals that there is neither slave nor free man in Jesus Christ. The chosen one of God is Christ’s property by eternal choice. However, having fallen in Adam, the chosen sinner has not only run away from God but he has robbed God. The law affords the runaway sinner no right of asylum, but grace concedes him the right of appeal to the highest Tribunal, the God of grace and reconciliation.

By the grace of regeneration, Onesimus as the “passive” sinner is regenerated by the Holy Spirit and flees to Jesus Christ in a conversion experience. A sinner is depraved to the extent that he is passive to everything that is spiritual. After regeneration by the Holy Spirit, Onesimus went to the Apostle Paul who led him to a saving knowledge and understanding of what he had in Jesus Christ. This was Onesimus’ conversion experience. There is no conversion experience until there is regeneration by the Holy Spirit. God the Father and Jesus Christ are eternal Partners. In Jesus Christ, Onesimus returns to the Father and is received, not as a slave, but as Christ Himself because all the debt has been placed on Christ’s account. That is imputation.

The unprofitable Onesimus before regeneration became profitable to Paul, Philemon, and the assembly in Philemon’s house subsequent to his new birth. Paul delayed to mention the name of Onesimus until he had first paved the way (Philemon 4-9). The apostle acknowledged the wrong that had been done, but he was quick to point out that in God’s providence they had met and there was evidence of grace in his life.

It is impossible to defeat God’s purpose. Every person given to Christ in the eternal covenant of grace (Heb. 13:20-21) will be kept until regenerated and converted to Jesus Christ (Jude 1). God has a time for everything. Can man stop the tide? Can he retard the progress of the sun? The purpose of God in motion crushes every obstacle. God makes opposition an advantage. Thus, with Onesimus in mind, let us not despair of men, regardless of how rotten they might be. One of them might be chosen by God before the foundation of the world to become one of His as a result of regeneration and conversion. “…God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Matt. 3:9 NASB). Nothing is too hard for God. Saul was a very religious man who profited in the Jews’ religion, but he counted it all as rubbish, preferring to be found in Christ (Phil. 3:8). He was found at God’s appointed time. Saul of Tarsus became Paul, the aged, who wrote the letter to Philemon.

This story from the human viewpoint presents some problems. Suppose Philemon had demanded payment, and suppose Paul would have had to pay the debt of Onesimus! Would anyone be as quick to condemn Philemon as they would be to admire Paul? However, suppose Paul was both himself and Philemon! Suppose that when, as Philemon, he had been robbed at Colossae, but as Paul, he was planted in Rome for the salvation of Onesimus! This is what God has done for the elect in the Person of Jesus Christ. Christ was the surety of the covenant even before His death at Calvary.

Look at Philemon as a metaphor. A metaphor is a human form of Divine truth adapted to the weakness of human perception. In this case, Philemon represents the Father (Is. 53:6). Onesimus, the sinner, runs away from the Father. Paul, as Christ, into whose hands Onesimus falls, assumes Onesimus’ debt.

There are two Greek verbs used in the New Testament in the study of imputation. The verb logidzomai is used 41 times, and it basically means to reckon or, metaphorically, to put down to a person’s account. Paul used this verb 19 times in his writings—11 times in Romans 4. The verb used in Philemon is not logidzomai but ellogeo. The verb ellogeo means to charge to someone’s account. It is used in Romans 5:13—“For until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law” (NASB). It is also used in Philemon 18—“But if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account” (NASB).

Imputation may be used two ways: (1) when the debt of one is set down to the account of another, as in the case of Onesimus (Philemon 18); or (2) to reckon that to one which was antecedently his, as in the case of Phinehas. “Then Phinehas stood up and interposed; and so the plague was stayed. And it was reckoned to him for righteousness…” (Ps. 106:30, 31 NASB).

The Bible presents three major imputations: (1) the imputation of the Adamic sin to the human race, (2) the imputation of the sins of the elect to the Divine Substitute, Jesus Christ, and (3) the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the elect. Furthermore, distinctions must be made between “real” and “judicial” imputation, and between “immediate” and “mediate” imputation.

An immature judgment will usually conclude that each of the major imputations is judicial in character, but such is not the case. Judicial imputation is the reckoning to one of that which is not antecedently his, and real imputation is the reckoning to one of that which is antecedently his. To illustrate judicial imputation, the Christian’s sins that Christ bore at Calvary were not antecedently His. Christ could not sin.

There are two principle views of imputation—mediate and immediate. Mediate imputation is the theory that the hereditary corruption of nature derived from Adam is the reason all die. It means all become corrupt by generation. Immediate imputation takes place immediately and is not mediated by hereditary corruption. This is the only view that harmonizes with Romans 5:12-21 and Scripture in general.

The Adamic sin is imputed to the human race. At the beginning of this subject, it must be admitted that one’s relation to the trespass of Adam is not expressly defined in terms of imputation. However, the doctrine is implied in such passages as “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT” (Rom. 4:8 NASB), and “For until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law” (Rom. 5:13 NASB). We find a no better word than logidzomai to discuss the subject of imputation. Original sin is immediately imputed to Adam’s posterity. Therefore, immediate imputation takes place immediately and is not mediated by hereditary corruption. It precedes corruption and is reckoned to be the cause of corruption. To impute sin is to regard and treat Adam’s posterity as sinners because they sinned in Adam.

Arminianism rejects the idea of Adam’s sin being imputed to his posterity. This view affirms as a matter of justice that God bestows upon each individual from the dawn of consciousness a special influence of the Spirit which is sufficient to counteract the effect of inherited depravity. This denies total depravity.

The sins of the elect were imputed to Jesus Christ. The imputation of their sins to Christ does not mean that Christ was corrupted by the infusion of their corrupt nature into His holy nature. This is proved by the fact that when Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the elect it does not make them as holy as Jesus Christ. To impute sin to Christ is not the same as the imputation of Adam’s sin to his posterity. The sins of the elect were not antecedently Christ’s by His solidarity with them, but the sin of Adam was antecedently theirs because of their solidarity with him. The sins of the elect became Christ’s imputatively, and the imputation was judicial—not real. Christ died as a sinner, even though He “committed no sin” (I Pet. 2:22), “in Him there is no sin” (I John 3:5), and He “knew no sin” (II Cor. 5:21). The Lord Jesus was able to suffer and die representatively because He took on Him the “seed of Abraham” (Heb. 2:14-16).

The belief by those in the religious world that Christ could sin but did not is horrible. An illustration is the following quote from a Baptist preacher, J. B. Moody, in his book “Sin, Salvation, And Saviour,” pages 10-11—“The child of Bethlehem was begotten of the Holy Spirit, but being born of a regenerated woman with the remains of depravity still in the flesh, there may have been a taint of the same kind of depravity imparted to her child which made it possible for Him to sin and to suffer for sin. He can sympathize with us in the depravity which He could have gotten only by heredity.” If Christ did sin, He could not suffer for sin. He would need somebody to suffer for His sin.

Finally, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the elect. The imputation of Christ’s righteousness rests upon a different kind of union from that upon which the imputation of Adam’s sin rests. There is no race unity in redemption. All men were not in Christ when He obeyed, but all men were in Adam when he disobeyed. All men fell in Adam, but all men are not redeemed in Christ. All men are in Adam by nature, but some are in Christ by Divine election.

Imputed righteousness guarantees the non-imputation of sin. The offended God is the forgiving God, and the basis of His forgiveness is imputed righteousness. Sins of the Christian are not charged to the believer. They were charged to the believer’s Substitute and Surety. God does not require for them the debt of punishment because the debt has already been paid by the sufferings of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Even the believer is conscious of his sins, but he is treated by God as if he had not sinned. Sins that have been paid for cannot be recharged upon the believer. How humbling this is to every person who understands the meaning of Christ’s payment for his sins at Calvary!