“Charge it.” “Charge it to my
account.” Those are words we hear every day in the
business world.
But did you know that those
words have eternal significance, too?
“Imputation” (logizomai) is a
word the apostle Paul used meaning, “to reckon,” “to
charge to one’s account.”
In Philemon 18 the apostle
asked Philemon to have Onesimus’ debts transferred
to Paul. “If he has wronged you,” Paul said, “charge
that to my account.” One who has something imputed
to him is accountable under the law.
In the New Testament the
believer in Christ receives the “alien
righteousness” of God as a “free gift in the grace
of that one man Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:15). God
reckoned Abraham as righteousness on the basis of
Abraham’s faith alone (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3).
Similarly, God does not impute the iniquity of the
believer who trusts in Christ’s death (Rom 4:7-8).
This act of God is based, not on our human merit,
but on God’s love and saving grace (Rom. 5:6-8). We
stand in the need of God’s grace (Rom. 3:23; 6:23).
In Adam, God judged the entire
human race guilty, but only in Jesus is this fact
fully understood (Isa. 53:4-6). But not only has
humanity been declared guilty; it has acted out its
personal guilt.
Jesus said charge it to My
account. The apostle Paul wrote, “He [God] made Him
[Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our
behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of
God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
"God made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin." God took all of our sins and
"imputed" them to His Son, put them on Him, i.e.,
put them to His account. He charged them to Jesus'
account. That is the meaning of "imputation."
When you charge to someone's
account you take something that belongs to one
person and you put it to the account of another. If
someone owes you a debt you take it out of his page
in your ledger and put it to the page belonging to
another person in the ledger. Therefore, you have
"imputed" the debt to another. That is what God has
done with our sins. He has imputed our sins to His
Son, and He has punished them in His substitutionary
death on the cross (Rom. 5:6, 8).
Moreover, that is not all God
does. We need something else. Just to take away my
sins is not enough because before I can stand in the
presence of God I must be positively holy. I need to
be positively righteous. The Bible teaches us that
God is righteous, just and holy. "God is light, and
in Him is no darkness at all" (1 Jn. 1:5). Now
anything less that His standard of righteousness
cannot stand in His presence. I need to be
positively righteous. God does something marvelous
out of His grace. The moment you and I believe on
God’s Son and His work for us He "imputes" His
righteousness to us, He imputes that perfect
observance of the law to us. We stand guilty before
God because we have not kept the law. However,
Christ has kept it perfectly and He is righteous
before the law. God "put to my account," i.e.
"imputes to me" righteousness of His own Son.
When we stand before a
righteous and holy God we are clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. He clothes us with it. He
puts it all to our account. Therefore, when the
believer stands in the presence of God, God does not
see you, He sees the righteousness of His Son
covering you, clothing you completely and
absolutely. That is grace! That is something only
God can do.
This is one of the most
important doctrines in the Christian faith. The
imputed righteousness is Christ’s perfect
righteousness attributed to me. It is imputed to me
or put upon me by God. When God looks at me clothed
in the righteousness of Christ, God pronounces me to
be a just man, a righteous man, and the Law cannot
touch me!
No wonder the apostle Paul
declared, “There is therefore now no condemnation to
them that are in Christ” (Romans 8:1). As a believer
in Jesus Christ you are covered by this perfect
spotless righteousness of the Son of God Himself,
and have on the "breastplate of righteousness.”
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author's written consent.
Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB." "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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