Justification and Imputation

The doctrine of imputation is indispensable to comprehend the doctrine of justification.

What is justification?

Theologians say that this word is used in legal/forensic terms. Justification means being 'pronounced righteous'. Justification can be understood to have two elements viz., a)"Negative" element and b)"Positive" element. 

Both these elements include something known as imputation.

What is imputation? 

It is a word used in commerce meaning 'charged to an account.'

According to Paul, there are the three great imputations.

I. Imputation of Adam's sin to humanity (Romans 5:12)

II. Imputation of the sins of the believers to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21)

III. Imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the believers (Romans 5:19, 2 Corinthians 5:21)

a)Negative Element:

The negative element is the forgiveness/remission of sins based on the ground of the atoning work of Christ. The sin that Adam committed led to the fall of the whole humanity. Adam was the representative of the entire human race. In him the entire human race had to be born. God's creative order was that whatever that affects Adam had to affect the humanity as well.  Even Eve was formed out of Adam and hence Eve too found her head/representative in Adam.  Now that Adam had disobeyed and sinned, the whole of human race sinned (Imputation I). In justification this violation has to be taken care of and that is accomplished through the remission of sins.  The atoning work of Christ on the cross (Imputation II), also known as the 'passive obedience' of Christ, takes care of the remission of sins thereby offering forgiveness of all sins to the ones who believe in Christ. However this is only one side of the coin.

b)Positive Element:

Justification is not just about forgiveness of sins. It goes beyond mere pardoning of sins. The law not only condemns sin but also demands perfect obedience. Adam failed to uphold this demand of the law too. So this also had to be taken care of by our perfect Substitute. So the second Adam, Jesus Christ, in the place of first Adam fulfilled the demands of the law which is referred to as the 'active obedience' of Christ. This obedience of Christ is imputed to believers as positive righteousness (Imputation III). So this imputed righteousness makes the believers eligible in God's eyes to receive eternal life. The imputation of righteousness is a "constant" in the topic of justification.

So justification is twofold: the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of positive righteousness.

This subject is really massive and a blog post like this simply serves as a preamble to this great topic. For further reading, I recommend this book. - Jesus' Blood and Righteousness (Paul's Theology of Imputation) - Brian Vickers