Imputation Bad vs. Good

Imputation by definition means: the act of placing something into one’s account. To lay something to one’s charge.

 Imputation is the effect of a prior cause; some act someone has committed.

In the Bible we deal with imputation negatively and positively.

            Let’s begin with the negative.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their act of sin was imputed, reckoned or charged to everyone of their descendants, the entire human race. Since we were all in the loins of Adam when he sinned, we in God’s eyes are guilty and condemned before we were ever born!

            Guilty by association to our father Adam.

Remember God told Adam specifically, “the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, you will die” (Gen 2:17).  Death was the result of disobedience to the command of God. The scripture says when Adam died (spiritually and eventual physical death), we all died (Rom 5:12). We were born dead as a result of Adam’s sin (Eph 2:1; Col 2:13).

David realized this truth when he confessed his sin of adultery and murder to the Lord in Psalm 51. David said, “Behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). David recognized that he was a sinner by nature even before he sinned experientially.

We are not sinners because of what we do, we are sinners because of who we are – by nature. As a result of our sinful nature inherited from our parents all the way back to our first parents Adam and Eve, we commit sin. This proves that we deserve condemnation; we do the same things our first father did, we disobey God.

In Romans 5:19a we read, “For by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners…”.

What this verse explains is that Adam’s sin was charged against us by God due to the fact we were in  Adam when the sin occurred. Seems like a raw deal, all of the human race being made guilty by the act of one man’s trespass, but that is how our sovereign Lord decided He would punish sin – by imputation.

           Don’t despair reader, their is a wonderful solution to this horrific dilemma.

As we look at  imputation positively, we go back to Romans 5:19 and look at the second part of the verse which reads, “by the act of one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:19b).

Obviously the act of obedience being discussed here is the loving act of the Lord Jesus dying on the cross and shedding his blood for sin. In Philippians 2:8 it reads, “And being in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

In Romans 5:19 the writer Paul is explaining to his readers just as one man’s disobedience made all sinners, one man’s obedience will make many righteous once they believe. Imputation is a double edged sword, cutting to the soul both negatively and positively. Those of us who are in Christ righteousness has been imputed, reckoned or deposited to our account. Our sins are no longer counted against us thanks to the obedience of the last Adam.

We read some wonderful truths in the following passages of scripture regarding imputation:

“For since it was through a man that death came into the world, it is also through a man that the resurrection of the dead has come. For just as (because of their union in nature) in Adam all people die, so also (by virtue of their union of nature) shall all in Christ be made alive” (I Cor 15:21-22) Amplified.

Further along in the chapter we read, “The first Adam became a living being (an individual personality), the last Adam (Christ) became a life giving Spirit (Restoring the dead to life)” (I Cor 15:45) Amplified.

 Another account of imputation we read is in Isaiah 6. When Isaiah sees the glory of the Lord he is overcome with the shame of his own guilt and sin, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:5-6, Esv).

                                                            
                                                                  Conclusion

 

Being that Adam was our representative in the earth, we received the benefits he received such as dominion over the earth, the benefit of a will, emotions, companionship etc,  and we had to receive the punishment of his sin which is death. Many have debated the idea that the rest of mankind should not have to suffer for one man’s sin. We cry “THAT’S NOT FAIR!” If we are honest if Adam and Eve had not sinned, one of their descendants would have down the line once the devil tempted one of them with another lie and plunged the world into sin and death anyway.

The message then turns evangelistic due to the fact that Jesus Christ reversed the curse of death, and now has provided the way to everlasting life to those who choose to believe in Him. We can now partake of a divine nature to replace the sinful nature (2 Peter 1:4).

There is a incredible contrast with these two men. With the first Adam sin was imputed due to natural birth. With the last Adam righteousness was imputed to due re-birth. With the first Adam humiliation due to sin, with the last Adam exaltation due to cleansing of sin.

With the first Adam we were written in Hell’s most wanted list, with the last Adam are names are written in heaven’s list (Luke 11:20).

The writer’s proverb: “The righteous can approach the throne because of the blood, the wicked are despised because of the blood they shed.”