Thursday, March 31, 2011

Sin Imputed or Sin Imparted?

"He made Him 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)

I was on the treadmill this afternoon, beloved, and doing what I do best when logging miles without going anywhere - reading a good book! The one I am working my way through right now is all about "forgiveness" and it is excellent. As I read, the glory of the mystery of God "imputing" our sins to Christ came into view and I felt overwhelmed by the wonder of His grace.

The truth of imputation we find above in Paul's words to the saints in Corinth - "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us." The New Testament word describes a legal reckoning or charging of something belonging to one to the account of another. In other words, when God imputed our sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, He charged Him with the sin that rightly belongs to each one of us. But Jesus only became guilty in a purely legal sense. And that is the difference between something "imputed" and something "imparted."

Some mistakenly believe that somehow Jesus Himself became a sinner when our sin was laid upon Him or that it was "imparted" to Him. If that had been true, then Jesus would have taken on Himself our sinful nature, His character radically and negatively changed. Had that happened, then Jesus would have borne the guilt of His own sin nature and He Himself would have needed a Redeemer. Very simply, Jesus could not have died as our substitute for who, then, would have died for Him?

Scripture itself makes abundantly clear that the imputation of our sins to Christ was legal in nature. The following are examples of how clear this truth is:

"He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:5)

"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross" (1 Peter 2:24)

The guilt that Jesus bore for us was our guilt, beloved, not His. But God still treated Him as if it had been His own and He felt the full wrath of the Father's hatred for sin as He bore the guilt that we rightly bear. That is the wonder of "imputation" and of Jesus Christ becoming sin for us! It was an act solely of grace and borne of love, the love of God for the sinner even as He hated the sin. And as a result, you and I are forgiven by God and cleansed of all unrighteousness. And the other side of that coin is that the personal righteousness of Jesus Christ was "imputed" to you and me so that we are fully acceptable to God. But that's another subject for another day! Maybe next week...

Ron