THREEFOLD IMPUTATION "Even as David also describeth (spoke of, affirmed and maintained) the blessedness (happiness; the condition of being well off, highly favored) of the man, unto whom God imputeth (reckons, accounts or credits) righteousness (innocense, guiltlessness, purity; being just before God) without works" (Romans 4:6). There is a threefold imputation set forth in the Bible. 1. Adam’s sin imputed to His offspring. Adam was the representative of the human race. When he sinned against God, we were all legally constituted to be sinful; his transgression was reckoned, charged or imputed to all his seed. "By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners" (Romans 5:19). 2. The sins of God’s elect imputed to our Surety. The Son of God became accountable for the sins of His people when, in the everlasting covenant of grace, He assumed responsibility for our salvation. Our sins being eternally charged to the Savior’s account, divine justice looked to Him for full satisfaction. "By the obedience of One shall many be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). 3. The righteousness of Christ imputed to His people. By the Savior’s obedience unto death He put away the sins of His people and brought in everlasting righteousness. Because He rendered to God the perfect sacrifice for sin, all of His seed are declared to be righteous. "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). –Pastor Jim Byrd
THE NON-IMPUTATION OF SIN "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:8). The Lord does not impute sin to those whom He justifies in Christ by His righteousness. The sins of such He has imputed to His Son, as their Surety, and He has borne them and taken them away, having made full satisfaction for them so that these persons will never be charged with sin. They now appear before the throne without fault, and are blameless and irreproveable in the sight of God. They must, therefore, be eternally happy for He will never think of their sins any more to their hurt. He will remember them no more. He will never reckon them to them, but acquit them from them, justify and accept them. Wherefore they must be secure from wrath and condemnation, enjoy much peace and comfort now, and be happy hereafter. –John Gill
THE PRECIOUSNESS OF IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS The older I get the more precious Christ’s imputed righteousness is to this sinner. Here is a truth about which we cannot say too much. 1. THE ETERNALITY OF IMPUTATION. God eternally justified and declared His people to be righteous in the Son of God. He has always been, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jeremiah 23:6). How could God justify and pronounce His people to be righteous even before the Savior died? Our sins were charged to Him before the world was made and God looked to our Surety for satisfaction to His justice. From old eternity we have been "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). 2. THE LEGALITY OF IMPUTATION. The Savior’s death was a justice-satisfying transaction between the Father and the Son. The sins of His people having been charged to our Substitute, Christ died and rendered full payment for the wages of our sins. Don’t underestimate the importance of the legality of salvation. Here is the greatest issue of all time: "How can God be just and justify the ungodly?" Here is the gospel answer - only through the substitutionary, sacrificial, justice-satisfying death of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. THE REALITY OF IMPUTATION. The sins of God’s elect were really charged to the spotless Savior and His righteousness has really been credited to His people. We are actually "made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Like the infant described by Ezekiel, we are made perfect through the comeliness of Christ (Ezekiel 16:14). –Pastor Jim Byrd
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