The Justified/Righteous World of 2 Cor 5:19 !
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
The World of 2 Cor 5:19 is a Justified World ! Now why is this True ? Because they must be already, [in the reckoning of God] declared Righteous or Just in order for God not to impute or charge sin upon them, For God will not in no wise clear the guilty Ex 34:7
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Now that word clear is the hebrew word naqah and means:
) to be empty, be clear, be pure, be free, be innocent, be desolate, be cut off
a) (Qal) to be empty, be clean, be pure
b) (Niphal)
1) to be cleaned out, be purged out
2) to be clean, be free from guilt, be innocent
3) to be free, be exempt from punishment
4) to be free, be exempt from obligation
c) (Piel)
1) to hold innocent, acquit
2) to leave unpunished
It also means acquit as here Job 10:14; Nahum 1:3
3 The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
But non imputation of sin is acquittal . The Non Imputation of Trespasses = the forgiveness of them Col 2:13
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Yes, those are the same trespasses that God did not lay to their charge 2 Cor 5:19
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
So those God does not charge with sin, cannot be in His estimation guilty of sin, but on the contrary He must see them as Righteous. In other words, non imputation of sin presupposes Imputation of Righteousness,and so its demonstrated here in the Gospel of Romans 4:6-8
6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Thats what 2 Cor 5:19 is about, men of that world to whom the Lord will not impute sin or trespasses.
Here it is clearly stated, God accounting one Righteous apart from works [anything they did] is the foundation for His forgiveness and pardon of sin, and He will not impute it or charge it against them legally.
They are not imputed because they are forgiven, because they were afore Righteous.
Now how is this ? Its because they were chosen in Jesus Christ the Righteous before the foundation Eph 1:4
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
See 1 Jn 2:1 !
They already before the foundation had Christ's Righteousness imputed or charged to them, being in Him by Election.
So their trespasses in time beginning in Adam and also their own, were not charged to them, not imputed to them. It began with Adam Rom 5:15
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
That word offence in the original is the very same word for trespass and the same word in Col 2:13 were all trespasses have been forgiven ! That includes the very first one in Adam, it was not charged or imputed to them legally, being in Christ already !
In Election God put them in Christ 1 Cor 1:30
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
And being in Him, God already made Him unto them Righteousness !
So it is, the Elect World in Christ, that sinned or trespassed in Adam, God does not impute their trespasses unto them. Thats why Paul says right before 2 Cor 5:19,He writes this 2 Cor 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Being in Christ began for them before the foundation Eph 1:4 and Grace was given them in Christ Jesus before the world began 2 Tim 1:9
9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Rom 5:21
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Grace reigned to the Elect because of Christ's Righteousness, which was also Imputed to them in Him by Election !
With that in Mind, we know that #1 The world in 2 Cor 5:19 cannot possible be all mankind without exception, and #2, Believers are Justified or declared Righteous before God before they believe, in fact before they are even born sinners. 7