Imputed Righteousness Series

Intro

Have you ever read something, and when you finished, you asked yourself, “What did I just read? What did these paragraphs say?” A common reason for that is we did not know what some of the words meant, so we just skimmed over them.

There is a word in our text today that is tempting to skim over. Yet it is essential to understanding Romans 4. If we are not clear on what it means, we can read the chapter over and over again, and still not understand the message. The word in the Greek is logizomai. It occurs 11 times in Romans 4.i It is the heart and soul of the chapter.

Depending on the context, logizomai can mean: to count, to think, to evaluate, to credit, or to place to one’s account.ii In Romans 4, the context indicates the word should be understood as to credit or to place to one’s account. The NIV consistently translates it that way, using the word “credited.” Follow with me as we read Romans 4:1-3 from the NIV translation: “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited [logizomai] to him as righteousness.’”iii Last week we talked extensively about the first part of verse 3: “Abrahm believed God.” This week we want to make sure we understand the last part of that verse: “and it was credited to him as righteousness.’”iv

When you deposit your paycheck, the bank credits it to your account. That money is considered yours, and you are treated as having that resource. Even if a benefactor deposited it to your account instead of you working it out, once it is deposited to your account it is considered yours. We will see in Romans 4 that in justification by faith, God gives us the righteousness of Christ—he credits it to our account, and we are treated accordingly. The KJV sometimes translates logizomai with the word impute.v “‘Impute’ means to put something to somebody’s account.”vi

There are three major imputations in the Bible:

(1) The sin of Adam was imputed to the human race.

(2) The sin of the world (including your sin) was imputed to Christ on the cross.

(3) The righteousness of Christ is imputed to those who believe in him. We will talk about the imputation of Adam’s sin when we get to Romans 5. The imputation of Christ’s righteousness to believers is the focus of our text. But our understanding of that is enhanced when we understand the imputation of our sin to Christ on the cross. So, I want to process that first.

I. IMPUTATION OF THE WORLD’S SIN TO CHRIST ON THE CROSS

God was teaching this truth through the Old Testament sacrifices. For example, Leviticus 4 describes the rituals for a sin offering. Leviticus 4:4 instructs the sinner: “He is to present the bull at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it there before the Lord.” Verse 15 gives similar instruction for a community except it is the city elders who lay hands on the head of bull. What is this laying on of hands about in those verses? The sin is being imputed to the bull, and then punished in him rather than in the

people.

On the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 two goats were brought before the Tabernacle. One was slaughtered as a sin offering, and the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat (v. 15). This symbolized Christ’s atonement of sin on the cross.vii Then the high priest took the other goat. Verse 21 gives this instruction to him: “He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head.” This principle of imputation is being taught to the people of God.viii This live goat is then sent into the wilderness carrying the sins of the people.

The prophet Isaiah saw the fulfillment of these revelations in Messiah. In Isaiah 53:4-6 he said of Christ, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”