Imputation

Introduction

One of my favorite quotes by John Maxwell is, “Educators make simple things complicated. Communicators make complicated things simple.”

Theologians make very good educators. So good, in fact, that they have taken the word, imputation, and explained it into oblivion. Having heard their definition, just seeing the word makes my eyes glaze over. How many times have they tried to explain it to me, and “I still don’t get it.” When I even sense the threat of someone trying to explain it to me, I defensively pretend to agree with whatever they say, knowing that if I force them to make sense of what they are saying, it will not end well, or worse, it may never end at all.

Having said that, against my better judgment, I will begin with the conventional theological definition, a short version, and attempt to show how it fits into their narrative; the problem being that their narrative is contrived. When one starts with a foundation that is not square, not right, not orthogonal, the house built thereon will also be skewed. 

Conventional Definition

According to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, imputation is defined in a condescending manner, with the expectation that his audience will not be able to understand, nor should they expect to. I almost hate to do this to you, catapulting you into his confusion.

Here, he is explaining it in the context of sin, so we mere mortals will have some chance of understanding this concept. Here it comes:

“A technical term that is sometimes used in this connection is impute, meaning ‘to think of as belonging to someone, and therefore to cause it to belong to that person.”

Impute is a technical term. Don’t worry, trust me, this is deep; if you don’t get it, it’s OK; it’s a technical term. This is not Theology 101. This is graduate level work and you should not expect to comprehend such things as deep as this, so he would like you to believe.

Conventional Usage

Here is the narrative in Systematic Theology as he applies it to imputation of sin. Once again, this is deep, and you should not attempt to understand the complexities of this without guidance from someone you trust; trust me, says the doctor.

Dr. Grudem guides us with his interpretation of the following verse:

^{Romans 5:18}Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life.

Just as one person’s offense led to condemnation of all men unto death, so did one man’s righteousness lead to justification of all men unto life.  He goes on to say that it is not your personal sin that condemns you, nor is it your personal righteousness that justifies you. That interpretation is not the only way to look at these verses. Dr. Grudem assumes his interpretation to be correct and uses it as a basis for the remainder of his doctrine, skewing everything that follows.

Here is impute being applied to sin, a quote from Systematic Theology.

“Impute, meaning to ‘think of as belonging to someone, and therefore to cause it to belong to that person.’ God rightly imputed Adam’s guilt to us.”

Here is impute being applied to righteousness, again, a quote from Systematic Theology.

“When we say that God imputes Christ’s righteousness to us it means that God thinks of Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us. He ‘reckons’ it to our account.”

Wait, is imputation done in the mind of God, or in our account? God’s thinking is performed in the mind of God. The account to which it is reckoned is in the heart of man. God thinking and God reckoning it to our account are two different activities.

Notice also, that his definition of impute does not stand alone. Two definitions were given: one for sin and one for righteousness. The Greek word contains log, which refers to logon, the Greek word for account. Impute [logizomai] means to make an entry in the account [logon].

Furthermore, in the parable of the talents, the servants, looking at their account (reckoned), read the content of the account to the Lord, recounting how many talents were given and how many were gained. They were not reading the lord’s mind. From this verse we get to see what is in the account, both talents received and talents gained.

Dr. Grudem’s logic is problematic because he is not able to identify the point at which a servant is justified. This forces the Evangelical community to play games with their “once saved, always saved” doctrine. They say fruit is not required for salvation, but hedge their bet by saying that a person who bears no fruit was never really saved. That muddies the waters as to when a person is really saved.

I emailed Dr. Grudem on this issue, and his grad student, answering for him, was not able to identify the point at which the servants were justified in the parable of the talents. His promise to answer challenges to his theology was not sincere, or he succumbed to cognitive dissonance.

Dr. Grudem’s logic, the structure of his narrative, is a serial construction. It is a series of, if this is true, then it must also be true that, statements. If any of the many conclusions are in error, the whole narrative is in error. This is a problem because the entire Evangelical community as signed on to his theology. Of all the people I have asked, no one has been able to answer the question, when were the servants justified in the parable of the talents? Their claim is that the question is irrelevant. If that is the case, I doubt they can accurately identify when they were justified.

Dr. Grudem’s interpretation of Romans 5:18, above, becomes a claim that is critical to the entire narrative of his version of the gospel. His argument is built with a serial structure, such that the veracity of any of his claims is dependent on the accuracy of all prior claims. If this were to be an incorrect assumption, the whole narrative would collapse. He has constructed a house of cards.

English Definition

According to dictionary.com, impute means: Theology: to attribute (righteousness, guilt, etc.) to a person or persons vicariously; ascribe as derived from another.

This definition is used to support the conventional narrative, where someone else’s sin or righteousness is attributed to us, leading to our condemnation or justification. Where impute is used for both sin and righteousness, it must be referring to someone else’s sin or someone else’s righteousness, not anything we have done. The main problem is that impute is a blend of the English definition, to attribute, and the Greek definition, to consider.

It is easy to see how this could apply to righteousness; after all, it is Christ’s righteousness by which we are saved. But when one attempts to apply it to sin, whose sin could that be other than Adam’s? It is not our sin that condemns us, because if it were to be ours, it would not be attributed. It must be Adam’s sin, another false assumption. And so, we proceed down this slippery slope, convinced without daring to question the logic. 

Greek Definition

The Greek word for impute shares the same root as logon, which means account. Together with the preposition εν (en), meaning in, on, at or by: the verb ελλογεω (ellogeo), to count in, include or take into consideration.

Logon is the word used for the account that we will give God on judgment day. 

^{Matthew 12:37}For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Words is logōn, which shares the same root as logon, the account. Logōn is not the account, but the contents of the account.

The same word, ellogeo, is most often translated as considered, or thought of. My opinion is that one needs to consider who is the subject of the verb – who is doing the considering. When it is God doing the considering, and when he is making an entry in your account, how he considers what he is about to enter in your account is critical; it will determine your eternal inheritance. If it is righteousness being entered, it leads to justification; if it is sin being entered, it leads to condemnation.

The simple definition for impute has to do with logic. When the context of impute has to do with your account, is to make an entry in one’s account. The Holy Spirit is the one responsible for making entries one’s account, as we shall see.

Sin and Righteousness

It is time to consider an alternative. If it’s not our sin and it’s not Adam’s sin being imputed, whose sin could it be?

^{Romans 7:18}For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not. ¹⁹For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. ²⁰Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

I was not the one who did it, it was sin that dwells in me. Even though I was not the one who did it, it is imputed to my account because it was done in my body, with my resources.

^{Romans 6:13}Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.

When I yield my members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, sin uses my members to work unrighteous deeds, sin. This helps to explain Romans 7:20.

When I yield my members as instruments of righteousness to God, God, the Holy Spirit, uses my members for his purpose, according to his good pleasure. This righteousness is imputed to my account because it was done in me.

^{2 Corinthians 5:10}For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad.

Even though sin is the one performing the unrighteous deeds, they are credited to my account because they were done in my body. Since they were done in my body, they are attributed to me, they are imputed to me, they are credited to my account.

In the same way, if the righteousness added to my account is not mine, and it is not the work that Christ did in the past, then whose is it? It actually is Christ’s; it is just not the righteousness of Christ that was done in his body, it was the righteousness that was done in my body. It is the righteousness of God performed in my body as I yield my members to him as instruments of righteousness (Romans 6:13.)

When I am under grace, sin no longer has dominion over me because it is the Holy Spirit that indwells me, not sin. When I am under grace, I am under the New Covenant where sin is remembered no more.

Dispensation

^{Ephesians 1:10}That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him:

The Greek word for dispensation is the noun οικονομι (oikonomia), the office and administration of the house-manager; the affairs of the house. It is a administrative position.

Who is it that does all this imputation? There is a lot of administrative work that needs to be done, making all these entries into everyone’s account. Each transaction of righteousness involves an entry in someone’s account and sometimes involves more than one person’s account. This activity continues until the day of the Lord, judgment day when the accounts are opened and every man receives the things done in the body. Accounts are kept open even after death, where the work of righteousness can persist even after one’s death.

An example of that would be Abel, who offered a blood sacrifice to God, and was later killed.

^{Hebrews 11:4}By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Abel is still accruing righteousness in his account even though he is dead. His sacrifice was documented in scripture and the work of influencing people by his sacrifice are reckoned to him as righteousness. This concept is explained thoroughly in the All About Grace.

^{Philippians 1:6}Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:

If the work was begun in you, God will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The work that he continues to perform will be credited to your account, even after your death. That work, being performed by God, the Holy Spirit, is God’s righteousness, and, being performed in you, it gets imputed into your account as righteousness.