What is imputation?
Question 07026
Imputation is a theological term that may sound abstract but describes one of the most personally significant realities in the whole of Scripture. It answers the question of how a guilty person can stand before a holy God without condemnation, and it does so by pointing to a transaction that took place at the cross. Understanding it is not a matter of theological sophistication; it is a matter of understanding what salvation actually involves.
The Meaning of Imputation
To impute is to reckon or credit something to someone’s account. The word in Greek is logizomai, the same word used in bookkeeping: to count something to someone’s account as a genuine transaction. Paul uses it decisively in Romans 4:3, quoting Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” The word translated “counted” is logizomai. Abraham’s faith was reckoned, credited, counted by God as righteousness. This is not a polite fiction; it is a judicial reality based on a genuine transaction.
The mechanism behind it is what makes it meaningful. When Christ died on the cross, two things happened in terms of this accounting. The sin of those who would believe was imputed to Christ, transferred to His account so that He bore its full penalty. The righteousness of Christ is then imputed to those who believe, credited to their account so that they stand before God not merely forgiven but positively righteous. 2 Corinthians 5:21 expresses this with remarkable economy: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The Old Testament Pattern
The principle was not invented by Paul. It runs through the whole of Scripture. In the sacrificial system, the worshipper placed their hand on the head of the animal before it was killed, symbolically transferring their sin to the animal that would bear the penalty. The Day of Atonement involved the high priest confessing the sins of the nation over the scapegoat before it was driven into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:21). These rituals did not themselves achieve what they pointed to; they were anticipatory signs of the one sacrifice that would.
Isaiah 53:6 expresses the same logic: “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The word translated “laid on” carries the sense of making meet, of bringing together two things at a point of transfer. The sin of God’s people was not merely overlooked; it was transferred to the Servant who bore it.
What Imputation Does Not Mean
Imputation is a legal or forensic category. It does not mean that Christ became personally sinful, or that the believer becomes inherently righteous in their nature at the moment of justification. Christ did not become a sinner at the cross; He bore the legal consequences of sin in the place of sinners. The believer is not declared righteous because they have ceased to sin; they are declared righteous because they are in Christ, and His righteousness is credited to their account. The standing before God is real and permanent, even as the process of becoming holy in practice continues throughout the Christian life.
This is why the Reformers described justification as involving a wonderful exchange. Christ takes what belongs to the sinner; the sinner receives what belongs to Christ. Not by merit, not by moral achievement, but by the grace of God through faith.
So, now what?
The believer’s standing before God is not built on their own performance. It is built on the imputed righteousness of Christ. This means that the Christian does not pray, serve, or obey in order to maintain their standing; they do so from a standing already secured. When guilt presses in and the enemy accuses, the answer is not a better track record but a better advocate: Christ, at the Father’s right hand, in whose righteousness the believer already stands.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
