Elin,
Your position is flawed.
For example you appeal to Rom 5:17-19 in the context of the Augustinian view of Original Sin, ie. inherited guilt, inherited corrupted constitution.
Thus you say this...
In these verses, Paul is paralleling the trespass of Adam with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Note that he says in v.18 that we are all condemned by Adam's trespass,
just as we are made righteous by Christ's obedience (not by our own obedience).
Christ was a second Adam (v.14; 1Co 15:45).
In one man we were made sinners, just as in one man we are made righteous.
Paul is drawing clear parallelisms of imputation in vv.18-19.
In both parallels, the outcome (guilt, righteousness) has nothing to do with what men did, or our involvement would not be of the same nature, and the parallelism would be destroyed.
The clear meaning is that Adam's guilt is imputed to us, just as (in the same way)
Christ's righteousness is imputed to us.
If that were true and if you truly wanted to be consistent then you would have to adhere to the doctrine of universal salvation via imputation. You cannot take the first half of the verses Rom 5:17,18,19 and apply that as "universal" and then take the second half and not do likewise.
To do so must mean you throw logic out the window. Think about it.
Paul is making a comparison between the unrighteousness found in the carnal man of Adam and the righteousness found in the Spiritual man of Christ.
When Paul teaches that righteousness is imputed it is not in the sense of some abstract provisional cloak as you believe, rather it is in God looking at the heart of an individual apart from their outward deeds.
God does not count one righteous based on "outward perfection" but rather on "heart purity." "Heart Purity" is found through "Abiding in Christ." Hence righteousness is via the faith of Jesus Christ or even by faith "in" Jesus Christ (so long as one is abiding.)
There is no such thing as righteousness being imputed upon those who are still in rebellion. That is a satanic deception ("ye shall not surely die") wrought in the mind of Martin Luther which took off with the reformation. Martin Luther completely disconnected "manifest deeds" from "imputed righteousness" and that is the reason why he rejected the book of James and called it a book of straw.
What James did is clearly elaborated on the connection between "faith" and "works" in the sense that "genuine faith" is ACTIVE as opposed to being PASSIVE BELIEF, hence...
Jam 2:20-26
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent
them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Martin Luther's doctrine of "faith alone" (ie. trust in Christ alone) was in conflict with what James wrote and thus instead of Martin Luther refining his doctrinal error, he rejected the teaching of James. Paul's writings are easier to twist out of context than the writings of James.
Hence when John writes that "he who does what is righteous is righteous" it has to to do with the "active faith" of one who is "abiding in Jesus Christ." Hence when he talks about the "implanted seed" and the "manifest conduct it produces." This is why those "who keep the commandments" in 1Joh 2 are not the liars but those who don't are liars. A good tree manifests itself with good fruit.
The modern Gospel taught in most churches denies this because it has twisted Paul's writings into teaching the work of Christ into an "abstract judicial provision" where a believer is "imputed righteous WHEN HE IS STILL WICKED." That is one of the most significant errors of the reformation for it denies the whole essence of true Reconciliation whereby one is actually REDEEMED FROM SIN.
There is no "salvation IN sin" for those who "yield to sin" are still in bondage. Bondage is the opposite of freedom.
Satan has been able to pervert the Gospel at a foundational level by redefining the nature of man through the doctrine of Original Sin (which denies ability to yield to God) and thus doctrines have had to be created which cloak the ongoing "inability to yield" hence the saved in sins Gospel because "sin you must."
Your doctrine completely falls apart at the foundational level when presented with questions like "does a serial killer have to forsake murdering BEFORE forgiveness is granted."
Your doctrine has to state equivocally that the murdering CAN CONTINUE otherwise every other willful sin of the flesh would have to cease as well. Your teachers simply cannot say that.
You see your doctrine is erroneous at the root. The foundation is wrong. You have a little leaven beneath everything which ensures that everything on top must be twisted. Those who preach the error want to "debate the branches" of the tree like OSAS etc. when the real error is in the root.
This is why the whole debate between those who hold to an Arminian point of view and those who hold to a Reformed point of view is a total red herring. They are debating within the confines of a paradigm of error.
This is why Paul warned Timothy...
20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust,
avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace
be with thee. Amen. The first to Timothy was written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana.
You have erred concerning the faith and while you think I am a heretic (as most do, for the truth is never popular) you ought to really examine these things.
The students of the Apostles never taught anything close to what is being taught today in the Church System. The Bible can only be used to support it by isolating and twisting passages from context. Another means of support is also the sheer volume of people who believe the fundamental errors as they support each other.
The bottom line is this...
Your Gospel offers freedom IN bondage. Your Gospel denies heart purity. Your Gospel argues in favour of an ongoing rebellious state and thus the remedy must be some sort of cloak for rebellion.
It's the "error of the wicked."
2Pet 3:16 As also in all
his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as
they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2Pet 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know
these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pet 3:18 But grow in grace, and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him
be glory both now and for ever. Amen.