NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study.
Bible quotations are in maroon.
In the Bible there are several verses where we find the word “imputation.” We often read over them without spending too much time trying to understand exactly what is the meaning of this word which is not commonly used in every day conversation if at all. Yet, really knowing what this word means will allow us to understand something very important about God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
Here are the verses where we can find the word “imputation.” In these verse the word is used as a verb i.e., to impute.
2Sa 19:19 And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.
Psa 32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Rom 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
Rom 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
The word “impute” has the meaning that something is attributed, ascribed or reckoned as being part of a person though the person itself does not actually have it.
The Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith. It is something God gives us not something we provide for ourselves by our efforts to obey God.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
The faith that saves us is not our own human level faith; the faith that saves us is a gift from God; it is given by grace.
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The faith needed for salvation is “not of works,” it is not given us because of anything we can do as human beings to merit it.
Human beings do not and cannot have saving faith by their own doing; God must give it to them.
But in order for us to be given this saving faith we must first fulfill a certain condition. But, even if we fulfill the condition established by God for Him to give us saving faith; God is under no obligation to give it to us. He only gives it to us because He wants to. Remember, it is by grace which means it is not by works i.e., it is not because of anything we do or can do.
Paul spent some time explaining this to the congregations of the first century Church.
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Rom 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
What these verses are making clear is that if salvation is by grace i.e., if it is a free, unmerited gift from God (grace) — and it is — then it cannot be of works; grace cannot be something that is the result of anything we as human beings could ever do.
Grace is the opposite of works; grace cannot be the result of works as if it were grace would no longer be grace; it would no longer be a free, unmerited gift from God but something we can earn as human beings by our works of obedience to God.
The highest level of righteousness we can reach as human beings is like filthy rags to God by comparison to His righteousness.
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Whose faith is it that saves us?
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
This verse is simultaneously talking about two different but related things.
The Galatians before their conversion thought — and many were holding on to their former belief — that their sins were forgiven by the sacrifices commanded in the law of Moses i.e., the sacrifices that were instituted after Israel continued sinning after having received the ten commandments or God’s law. Paul taught, and they would also have known, that it is not by the blood of bulls that sin is forgiven.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
A better sacrifice was needed and that sacrifice was Christ. The Galatians (as well as all true Christians throughout the centuries) have to believe that the death of Christ on the stake was that perfect sacrifice. A very major change in thinking that the Galatians had to accept.
At the same time, in this verse Paul is also explaining that God’s saving grace, which does not result from the works of the law (of Moses) i.e., the performance of animal sacrifices and other symbolic rituals, can also not be earned by any human level works. Obedience to God’s law, the ten commandments, while a requirement for all Christians and which is the good works that they do upon becoming converted, does not forgive sin.
One more point of great importance that needs to be brought out and which is contained in this verse is that God through Paul is telling Christians of all eras that the condition for having the faith of Christ applied to us is that we must believe in Jesus-Christ.
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Here Paul is saying that even “we” the apostles have believed in Jesus-Christ i.e., we have believed that Jesus of Nazareth, begotten of God the Father and born of woman under the law subject to the second death was the promised Messiah or Christ whose death on the stake paid the penalty for the sins of mankind which is the second death from which no resurrection is possible. That’s what it means to “believe in Jesus-Christ.”
When we do so, we are then justified i.e., our sins are forgiven, we come under grace; the redemption of sin made possible through Christ’s death is then applied to us by imputation by God the Father.
It is applied to us not because we believe in Christ; it is applied to us by God the Father because He wants to. Our believing in Christ is the human level faith we must exercise for God to impute to us Christ’s perfect holy righteous character who was in all ways tempted as we are but without sin. Our believing in Christ does not in any way make us merit grace. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23) and there is nothing we can do as human beings that will result in God forgiving us our sins.
The righteousness that saves us is Christ’s righteousness and we can only have it as a gift from God as there is nothing we can do as human beings to earn it.
So how does God apply Christ’s righteousness to us?
By Imputation
In the Bible we read that blessed is the man unto whom God does not impute sin or iniquity.
Psa 32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Rom 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
In Old Testament times the transgressions of the Israelites were imputed to an animal which was a substitute sacrifice for the transgressor of the law; the animal died rather than the human transgressor. But animals don’t and can’t sin nor can they actually take on the sins of others, it is only by imputation that they can take on the sins of others. Basically, it was a symbolic physical process that illustrated a spiritual principle. The transgressor’s sins were still on his own head though symbolically transferred to an animal but because the commanded ceremonial and symbolic process established for the forgiveness of sin to occur was followed, the sin was then forgiven; the human transgressor did not die. As Paul says later on in the book of Hebrews, animal sacrifices never forgave anyone’s sins; it was a purely symbolic gesture and a ceremonial process to teach the Israelites the consequence of sin i.e., the death of the sinner and that a sacrifice was needed that would really make the forgiveness of sin possible. Christ would be that perfect sacrifice.
The penalty for sin is the death of the sinner unless there is a sacrifice that covers sin. In OT times, animal sacrifices were only symbolic and ceremonial and prefigured the true sacrifice to come that would effectively pardon the sins of mankind, the Lamb of God, Christ.
In New Testament times, when Christ came and died on the stake He fulfilled God’s law by imputation.
What do I mean?
When Christ died upon the stake after having lived a perfect sinless life, He paid the price for the sins of all mankind. The penalty for sin is death, the death of the sinner and there is nothing the sinner can do to have his sins forgiven.
Christ never having sinned, died on behalf of all mankind who are all guilty of having sinned and who are all under the penalty of the law, death.
Christ died for the sins of mankind but He never actually bore the guilt of mankind’s sin; if He ever had, He could not have been the perfect, sinless sacrifice for sin. God the Father merely imputed the sins of mankind to Christ who remained sinless throughout the process.
Imputation does not mean to actually have something, it only means to be considered as having it. The person to whom something is imputed is not actually changed by the imputation. The value and strength of the imputation process is in the person making the imputation; that person chooses to consider that another person is a certain way and then act as though he really is that way even though he is not; that’s how Christians have Christ’s perfect character in God’s eyes if they are faithful.
Let’s understand, mankind is guilty of having sinned against God the Father, the lawmaker and God the Father is the God being that can choose to impute or not Christ’s character to men. He alone can decide how the sins of mankind can be forgiven for the sins have been against Him and His law. If it is acceptable to Him for Christ’s righteousness to be imputed to the truly converted then the truly converted become righteous in His eyes which is all that matters; God the Father is the one that needs to be satisfied with the process chosen. And if He is satisfied that the death of Christ was sufficient to atone for the sins of mankind past, present and future then it becomes so as there is no higher power that can prevent it or change it. And in the same way, if God chooses to consider a person as having the righteousness of Christ though in practice this is impossible, then that person though not capable of acting in a perfect, holy, righteous way is nonetheless in God’ eyes, a person of perfect, holy, righteous character.
In New Testament times, as Christians we are imputed the perfect holy righteous character of Christ which means that God considers us as though we had perfect holy righteous character when in fact we don’t have it and can never have it in this life as flesh-and-blood human beings. It is a God level characteristic or quality which only God has and He is the only one that can impute it as He has the power to do so and there is no higher power that can prevent Him from doing so.
God considers us as having perfect holy righteous character because of our maintaining our attitude of obedience to Him in all things but we don’t actually have it.
If we maintain our attitude of obedience to Him in all things then in His eyes we have Christ’s perfect holy righteous character which is to say that no sin is imputed to us and this is what saves us.
Finally, just to be clear salvation is not of works, it cannot be earned but it does require works as James tells us.
Jas 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Jas 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
In other words, what you believe, your faith will lead you to try to live your life in accordance with your beliefs if you really believe what you say you believe. Changing your life to the extent humanly possible to be in agreement with the requirements of God’s law and our efforts to obey God in all things are the works that result from our faith or belief in the Word of God.
As Christ makes clear and, here I am paraphrasing, a man is not known by what he says but by what he does or in Christ’s own words:
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Final Thoughts
It is all a rather interesting process where through imputation which means someone is ascribing or attributing a certain state of being to someone else though the one to which it is attributed is not changed by the imputation, but is nevertheless effectively changed in the mind of the one doing the imputation and treated accordingly.
It’s like saying, I consider him to be an honest person and my abiding attitude toward that person will now be that he is an honest person though he has proven to not always be honest in the past but since I know he is now trying to the best of his abilities to be honest then in my eyes he will continue to be an honest man even if now and then, there are slip-ups.
Christians are considered righteous because they are honestly trying to be righteous though they still sin now and then but God continues to consider them as having the perfect holy righteous character of Christ; he continues imputing it to them and there is no higher power than can prevent Him from doing so and from it being the means of satisfying the requirement of the law that those that are to be saved have to be sinless for the wages of sin is death (the 2nd death) but the gift (free, unmerited) of God is eternal life.
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