A Settled Matter

Until it is a settled matter in the mind of an individual as to WHEN the imputation of righteousness occurred, confusion will reign. There was only one imputation of righteousness. It exclusively occurred at the cross of the LORD Jesus Christ. It was strictly a judicial act. The result was God declaring all the elect of all time, righteous in His sight: Rom. 4:25; Rom. 5:1. God ratified this one-time declaration of righteousness by raising Christ from the dead. The resurrection of Christ was the objective proof positive, to the elect, of the finished justification of all those in Christ. Until Christ came, God did forbear with and did pass-over the sins of all the Old Testament saints, including Abraham: Rom. 3:25. For without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Likewise, His attribute of forbearance also granted a reckoning of the Faith by Promise, in which ‘Faith’ was the objective contents of Faith meaning Christ Himself and His future coming to bring in that everlasting righteousness that God would at long last impute to the elect upon the establishment of it: Rom. 4:3-13; Gal. 3:18. Like Abraham, all Old Testament saints believed the promise of that one true righteousness TO BE established by the LORD Jesus Christ on their behalf: John 8:56. New Testament saints look back to that one time declared righteousness. What God did by PROMISE for OT saints was actually accomplished and declared to be so upon the death of Christ: Rom. 4:25. This is precisely what the resurrection signified: righteousness imputed and sin not imputed resulting in finished justification at the cross of Christ.