The two-way imputation that is the grounds for a believer’s justification. In this exchange, God imputes (or credits) the sins of the believer to Christ, and imputes (or credits) Christ’s righteousness to the believer.
- From scripture:
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 ESV)
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith … . (Philippians 3:8-9 ESV)
- From the London Baptist Confession, 1689, Chapter 11:
1. Those whom God effectually calls He also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting them as righteous, not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone. They are not justified because God reckons as their righteousness either their faith, their believing, or any other act of evangelical obedience. They are justified wholly and solely because God imputes to them Christ’s righteousness. He imputes to them Christ’s active obedience to the whole law and His passive obedience in death. They receive Christ’s righteousness by faith, and rest on Him. They do not possess or produce this faith themselves, it is the gift of God.
3. Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those who are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due to them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in their behalf;yet, in as much as he was given by the Father for them, and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them, their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.
Learn more:
- R. C. Sproul: Double Imputation: Our Sin For His Righteousness
- Got Questions: What does it mean that Jesus became sin for us? and Why does Christ’s righteousness need to be imputed to us?
- Stephen Nichols: The Doctrine of Imputation
- J. V. Fesko: The Doctrine of Imputation
- Albert N. Martin: Romans 5:12-21 - Justification: Double Imputation (mp3)
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