Why does God impute righteousness to the one who believes on Christ?

There are many genuine Christians who struggle with the Gospel truth concerning imputed righteousness. The fact that God does impute righteousness to the believer is a mind-boggling concept, since there is nothing within human experience that corresponds to such a “strange” idea. The strange idea being that the one who believes is regarded as being as righteous as God and Christ! “How can that even be possible” is the thought that comes to mind immediately, but Jesus said that with God all things are possible.

The Greek word which has been translated as “imputed” is λογίζομαι (logízomai) pronounced as log-id'-zom-ahee. It’s meanings are: to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over, to take into account, to make an account of, metaphorically to pass to one's account, to impute. The KJV translates Strong's G3049 in the following manner: impute (8x), reckon (6x), count (5x), account (4x).

The key passage regarding this critical doctrine is the fourth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, and it should be noted that justification by grace through faith and imputed righteousness are two sides of the same coin. Here is what it says in the King James Bible:

ABRAHAM WAS NOT JUSTIFIED BY WORKS
1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD AND IT WAS IMPUTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

THE BELIEVER’S FAITH IS ALSO COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

THE BELIEVER’S SINS ARE FORGIVEN BECAUSE OF GOD'S GRACE AND CHRIST'S FINISHED WORK OF REDEMPTION
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.

IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FOR BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES
9 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision [Jews] only, or upon the uncircumcision [Gentiles] also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.10 How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

BELIEVER’S IN CHRIST MUST HAVE THE SAME FAITH AS ABRAHAM
12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. 13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

THE LAW OF MOSES SHOWS SINNERS THEIR GUILT BUT CANNOT SAVE
15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

GOD’S GRACE IS OFFERED PURELY ON THE BASIS OF FAITH
16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

ABRAHAM’S FAITH IS OUR PRIMARY EXAMPLE
17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

ABRAHAM’S FAITH WAS IMPUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

THE BELIEVER’S FAITH IS ALSO IMPUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

What is not stated in the above chapter is how the righteousness of Christ is put to the account of the believer. And for that we need to go to the Gospel truth that Christ Himself is our righteousness: In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jer 23:6) In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. (Jer 33:16) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption: (1 Cor 1:30)

God Himself is our righteousness, therefore when sinners receive Christ as Lord and Saviour, He indwells the believer by the Holy Spirit, and thus sanctifies the saint and also imputes Christ’s righteousness to him or her.

The question remains: “Why does God impute righteousness to the one who believes on Christ?” And the answer is found in the absolute righteousness and holiness of God. Unless the sinner is declared to be “not guilty” (justified), and unless the saint is made as righteous as Christ, that person cannot dwell eternally in the presence of God. As Jesus plainly said: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Mt 5:48). But since no man can perfect himself to become as perfect as God, God makes the sinner perfect through Christ, by His grace. We are not only justified by grace through faith, but we are also kept by the power of God, and then ultimately perfected at the Resurrection/Rapture. This is also the reason for the predestination and election of the saints for glorification.

Therefore the first step of salvation is justification, followed by sanctification. But the ultimate step is perfection and glorification: Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3). We are to purify ourselves through sanctification by the power of the Holy Spirit, but ultimately God perfects the one who believes on Christ. Which also means that justification is not a license to sin, but an imperative for holiness.

God's original plan with man was man would eat the Fruit of the Tree of Life. That would mean that God would be inside of man, and because the body assimilates what is eaten, God would become organically one with the man. But there is a catch. God is UN-created and eternal, and His creature, however intricate, orderly and beautiful, is created and temporal. Psalm 113:6 says that to even look at His creature, God has to humble Himself. How then will this ultra-holy God dwell inside a creature? Well, the answer is simple. God created man in three parts (Genesis 2:7; 1st Thess.5:23), and one of the parts is substance of God Himself - His breath. The human spirit is spirit in substance, and made as a "Holy of Holies" in the Temple that is man.

But before man ate of this Tree, he not only refused the "command" to eat of it, but ate of another and forbidden Tree. The effects of the fruit of this Tree were dramatic. Man was immediately corrupted in his soul and body unto death. And the result? It was then clear that a Holy God, though He designed the human spirit for Himself, could not abide in a polluted Temple.

So when God set aside Israel for Himself, He could still not dwell IN them. He must dwell WITH them - albeit separated by a Curtain of death. Only one man, once a year, having had a special washing and then clothed specially, could go in briefly with the blood of a carefully selected and prepared substitute animal. And the Israelite WITH WHOM this Holy God dwelt, had to establish THEIR righteousness by the Laws God gave them. So the Israelite, to be worthy host, and not to suffer dire consequences, had to walk according to God's instructions or face death.

But the councils of the Almighty are immutable. He did not, for one minute, give up His plan with man. He MUST live IN man, not WITH man. But the problems of Eden do not just disappear. Man is polluted in nature and this causes him to live unrighteously. A rotten tree cannot bring forth good fruit. So this is how God solves the problem. In due course, the Son of God was born to a woman and was born an Israelite under Law. From His conception from God (Matt.1:18; Lk.1:35), this Man did not possess the sin-nature that Adam had set in motion (Rom.5:12). He was not only sinless, but he intrinsically tended to keep God's Law. This He did throughout His life without one slip-up. He was designated RIGHTEOUS by God - the Giver of the Law that Christ kept in every detail. But then God requested something from Him that went beyond Law. God requested this Man Jesus to go to a death commensurate with the sum of men's evil nature, and the sum of the sins that this putrid nature spawned. I say "requested" because God, in His intrinsic righteousness, would never command that the just die for the guilty. This substitutionary death had to be VOLUNTARY and an act of LOVE towards both the Father and the beneficiaries.

So, by going to this horrendous death voluntarily, and out of love, Jesus Christ added a dimension of righteousness OVER AND ABOVE Law. And because Jesus was divine, whatever He experienced became (i) part of ETERNITY, and (ii) became part of the Tri-une God. For instance, God cannot die. But the God-Man Jesus went through human death, so human death is now and addition to the Godhead. So is resurrection. AND SO IS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT JESUS ESTABLISHED IN LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION. This human walk of utter righteousness - well beyond fulfilling Law - is added to the Godhead and becomes "GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS". So, in one magnificent move of incarnation, human life, human death, human resurrection and perfect human righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ BOTH (i) put away sin and sins, and (ii) established a righteousness that was acceptable to God FOR HIM TO DWELL IN ANY MAN WHO HAD THIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

So God was now in the position to enter and live IN man. Sin and sins were atoned for, and by IMPUTING the established righteousness that was now His, via Jesus Christ, God could JUDICIALLY, and without hurting His HOLINESS, dwell IN MAN'S spirit. The intricate, profound and expensive WORK of Christ fully satisfied this Holy God. Now all that was needed was a REASON to impute this righteousness - a LEGAL REASON to do away with the best a man could do, and replace it with the best that Christ did. And the PREREQUISITE was as simple as it was profound. The man or woman who aspire to have this righteousness must BELIEVE INTO the the WORK that was involved. God made the very work of Christ the target of a man's FAITH, and when that man BELIEVED, the effects of that Work were imputed to that man. That is, God put the man in the POSITION of Christ. He was GIVEN POSITIONAL RIGHTEOUSNESS. His DISPOSITION - his thoughts, feelings and decisions, were still the same - fallen. He was still a sinner, but God clothed Him in Christ like the High Priest of Israel. The putrid flesh that a Holy God cannot look upon, was covered.

But the fact remains that underneath that beautiful and perfect Clothing, the polluted sinner remained. So how does God deal with that? He does it in a another simple but profound move. He has put the man INTO Christ and thus into His WORK for righteousness, and so He declares that if a man is IN Christ then he must have DIED WITH CHRIST (Gal.2:20). For all JUDICIAL intents and purposes, you and I are DEAD, and the dead do not sin anymore (1st Pet.4:1). So, by putting us into Christ, God sovereignly deals with His intrinsic nature of 100% righteousness, AND He deals with the unholy part of man that remains. It is a masterpiece of planning and execution. It sets up a situation where sinful men can be given a JUDICIAL POSITION that satisfied all of God's Holiness, but which saves these men's lives.

But there is a danger. The BELIEVER still has the effects of the forbidden Tree of death. When Adam and Eve ate from this Tree, the first thing that happened to them was that they recognized their nakedness. And to satisfy each other, they PUT ON leaves from another Tree. But when God arrived on the scene, Adam admitted that he was still naked. That is, one of the poisons of the Tree of Knowledge of GOOD and and evil, is that man wants to cloth himself with GOOD. Christians are generally very thankful to God and Christ for their salvation, and this thankfulness contains a trap. They want to do something for God. This is not evil, and God will eventually require you to DO something. But the new and unlearned Christian jumps the gun, and starts to DO things for God - THINKING THAT THEY WILL BE FOUND "RIGHT" IN GOD'S EYES. They unwittingly try to set up THEIR righteousness. Be it the works of the Law, or be it philanthropic works, the young Christian tries to DO right things. AND THE TERRIBLE TRAGEDY OF THIS IS THAT THEY INADVERTENTLY DECLARE GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS AS INADEQUATE.

The Book of Galatians deals with this. Besides Revelation, it is the harshest Book of the New Testament. Why? Because God has declared Christ's Work the only Work He accepts, and then come fallen men with their "fig leaves" and claim THEIR righteousness! In reality they declare that Christ was not enough, and that they must contribute to the righteousness needed to be Home to the Living God. The annul the work of Christ (Gal.2:21), and they fall from grace (Gal.5:4) and they are in danger of bring the fury of God on them for (i) demeaning a Work He so highly treasured, and (ii) setting aside a worthy holiness for their totally inadequate righteousness! It is a DEEP INSULT to God, to Christ and to the PRICE paid for IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS, to try to set up one's own righteousness. Paul wishes such men as do bring this teaching to be "cut off"! (Gal.5:12).

great post

took years for me to really understand that and even then, I had to find it out through study because it was never taught in the church I grew up in

they were great on salvation and living for Christ, but our position IN our Savior was not really taught, resulting in folks struggling with the concept of sin etc

much needed teaching!