|
|
| |
 - Endorsed - Indifferent - Contested
|
| |
| The Nashville Statement
|
| |
|
|
| |
Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
My complete profile...
|
| |
Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich
His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole
[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
- C-Train
This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos
Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
- Jonathan Moorhead
There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
- Carla Rolfe
|
| |
|
email
|
|
| Definitions: Imputation of Righteousness |
 One of the dear saints in my church, a man of uncommon discernment, mentioned last night at our prayer meeting how he has noticed that there are some in the congregation who may not understand the simplicity of various gospel elements because some of the nomenclature may be unclear. So I thought I might do a quick series, ostensibly on Thursdays, to explain in simple terms some of the words we use in our theological discussion.
Today I want to talk about the imputation of righteousness.
Psalm 32:2 says, "2Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." [ESV]
Paul quotes from this in Romans 4:6-8 when he says, "6just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 'Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.' " [ESV]
The King James rendering uses the word impute, and comparing the two translations will help the one who is unfamiliar with the word get a good feel for how it was used and what it meant: "6Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."
Imputation means to "credit" a thing to someone.
When Jesus Christ took my sin to the cross, my sin was "imputed" to Him, however that came to be the end result was that my sin was charged to Christ's account, as it were so that I was released from my sin debt by transferring that debt to the person of Jesus Christ. That is what I mean when I say that my sin was "imputed" to Christ. It is this imputation of sin to Christ that justifies me as a sinner. My sin is not ignored by God, it is punished in full in Christ. My debt is not excused, it is paid in full having been transferred to another.
The imputation of righteousness however is the other side of that Christian coin. Jesus Christ not only lived without sinning, He lived righteously, doing good and pleasing God in all His ways. Just as Christ received my sin to his account, and was punished in my stead, so too His righteousness is given to my account - that is, all my interactions with God are brokered through Christ's righteousness and not my own.
The imputation of our sin to Christ justifies us before God, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness commends us to God. Had we only been justified we should have no reason to expect an audience with the King - for we are simply "not guilty" - but having Christ's righteousness we can draw boldly to the throne of grace, for we are regarded as the most welcome on Christ's account.
Now, I should add that God isn't playing with some cosmic switcheroo here. It isn't as though as Christ hung on the cross God pretended He was me and punished His innocent Son by pretending Christ was me. There is nothing righteous about punishing an innocent man even if the man is willing. Scripture says that we were crucified with Christ, and united with Him in his death and resurrection. Our union with Christ on the cross enabled Christ to truly and literally receive our condemnation - our mixing with Christ in this way is how our sin was imputed to Him - it wasn't mere roleplaying or mental assent, it was a union that clearly transcends the physical laws. We were in Christ, and our presence in Christ allowed a righteous God to punish Christ without corrupting His own righteousness. Christ truly bore our sin. Thus in being united in Christ's death our sin was imputed to Him.
Yet the union did not end in the grave, but just as we were united in Christ on the cross and in the grave, so too when the condemnation had been spent, and Christ's lifeless form was found by God - the righteousness by which Christ had lived demanded a righteous God to undo death - for it was not just that a righteous man should die thus. God was bound by His own righteousness to raise Christ from the dead, for the grave is no place for an innocent man - and when God raised Christ from the dead, we were still united with Him - and thus His righteousness is imputed to us.
When God raised Christ from the dead - it was God's testimony to all who were in Christ that they were acceptable to God in the beloved - that is, he no longer regarded them according to their sin, but rather according to the righteousness of Christ, for if it was any other way, God would by no means have raised Christ (and us who were united to Christ) from the dead.
This truth is a pillar in our relationship with God. We do not stand before God in our own righteousness - rather we look to the cross and the grave and the resurrection - that is, we look to our union with Christ, to His righteousness as our standing before God - and in that righteousness we rest, assured that we are accepted by God no matter how vile we understand our present condition to be.
Keeping our eyes on Christ is not some empty thought - it is the practice of a believer who is grounding themselves in truth so that they may walk in the Spirit, and walk in the path the Lord has given.Labels: Thursdays Theological Definitions |
posted by Daniel @
7:37 AM
8 comment(s)
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
