The Doctrine of Imputation

Imputation, in the scriptures, may be used of either righteousness or guilt. The imputation that is used in the Bible does not necessarily mean that the person to whom something is imputed necessarily partakes of that character. Imputation is not the same thing as infusion. The imputation of the guilt of sin binds us with the judicial obligation to satisfy divine justice. We are morally accountable, but not made sinners on this account. We are sinners by the consequence of our in-inherited corrupt nature. Now, consider this that Christ, under the imputation of our sins, remained personally righteous, but He was reckoned to sinner and had to pay the penalty of sin. For man, we are morally accountable and guilty, but also we are depraved because the pollution of Adam's sin has been placed on us, but for Jesus, imputation involved nothing more than the accounting of guilt, so that guilt was reckoned to His account, not the pollution of our sin. Regarding righteousness, the righteousness of Christ is said to be imputed to His people so that they are declared righteous. While, none the less, personally they may still be sinful. This is how it is that God can justify the ungodly. Adam's sin is imputed to us because he represents us as both our natural and convenantal head. We become sinners as a result of inheriting the corruption of nature from him, and so we produce sinful works. We also see those suffering from the effects of sin, who have not sinned personally as Adam did. Hence, there must also be a federal hedgeship, a covenantal relationship as well as the natural. This teaches us that in Adam's first sin, all of us died. Even those who not yet attained the age where they could actually sin, none the less, died. Infants died because they were guilty of Adam's sin and the guilt of that sin was imputed to them, though they themselves had not voluntarily violated the Law of God.

Adam is the federal head. In this view we see the imputation of both the guilt of Adam's sin and the depravity of his sin to his natural descendants. This same principle is clearly carried over to the work of Christ, for Adam is seen as the type of Christ. Since Christ is our vicarious representative, it must be assumed that Adam was our vicarious representative in Eden. In Adam, sin led to unrighteousness and death, in Christ; His obedience led to righteousness and life.