Imputation

 

We enter God’s Kingdom when we are born again, the kingdom of God representing the spiritual state or condition a born-again believer is in. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27) “And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 14:15, a reference to Communion) “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21) “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ” (John 3:5-6) “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 14:17) “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” (I Corinthians 4:20) “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” (Ephesians 2:19)

What does it mean to “inherit?” Matthew 19:16 and Luke 18:18 are parallel passages, and comparing these two passages demonstrates that “have eternal life” is the same as “inherit eternal life.” “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16) “And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18)

I Corinthians 6:11 makes it clear that born again Christians are fit to inherit (have, share, enter) the kingdom of God because they are JUSTIFIED, and distinguishes them from those who are UNRIGHTEOUS (unjust, unsaved) in I Corinthians 6:9-10. (Compare I Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:5, and Revelation 21:8; also consider Ephesians 2:1 and Colossians 3:6) Salvation is only possible through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness.

We cannot be saved without the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. Entrance into the kingdom of heaven requires perfection, a perfection which is not merely outward righteousness but is both outward and inward conformity to God’s standards. (Matthew 5:20-48) We cannot measure up to that standard. For example, Christ taught the whole Law is summed up in two commandments: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) While we should make this our goal, if we are honest we all must admit that our every thought, word, and deed does not always stem from love of God and neighbor. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) Our righteousnesses cannot justify us or keep us saved and assuming that they can is spiritually dangerous. “Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?” (Isaiah 42:19) “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.” (Proverbs 30:12) Our works have everything to do with rewards but nothing to do with salvation. (Matthew 16:27; I Corinthians 3:8-15; II Corinthians 9:6; Revelation 22:12; Ephesians 2:8-9)

To impute means to ascribe or attribute something to someone. Christ paid the sin debt to God, and the sin of a believer is ascribed to Christ and the righteousness of Christ is ascribed to the believer so that a genuine believer becomes perfect in the sight of God. “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.” (Romans 3:21-22) “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:5) “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (II Corinthians 5:21) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)