|
Before I discuss Romans 5:12, I
thought it would be helpful if we first went over the teaching of
“Jesus’ imputed righteousness.” I must tell you that there is
no such teaching in the scriptures.
Without
a doubt, if you are an average churchgoer, you have probably heard
terms like:
-
Christ’s
imputed righteousness
-
Jesus
is our righteousness
-
Our
righteousness is as filthy rags
All
this falls into place of the false teaching of “Unconditional
Eternal Security,” known as “Once Saved, Always Saved” (OSAS).
It
is unfortunate that many are not aware that nowhere in the bible does
it say we are imputed
with Jesus’
righteousness no
matter if it is proclaimed from pulpits, streets, books, and by
televangelists.
“Impute”
means to
reckon, to take into
account, to evaluate, to consider. However,
the teaching of OSAS would have us believe the fallacy that upon one
accepting Christ as his savior, then Christ’s
righteousness is
“transferred”
to that person. So the meaning of “impute” has been redefined as
“transfer.”
Moral
Character Cannot Be Transferred
Moral
character cannot be transferred. Neither sin nor righteousness is
transferred between humans or between Christ and man. The bible does
not say the sins of mankind were transferred
to Jesus. This would make Christ guilty of sin. Nor is it said that
Jesus’ righteousness
(i.e., his obedience)
is transferred to us. Christ’s obedience is non-transferable. (See
John 15:10,14)
Scripture
shows us that righteousness is a personal trait and solely belongs to
the person possessing it. It is so vital we understand this that we
are warned not to be deceived about this matter:
Little children, let no one lead
you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he
[Jesus] is righteous. (1 John 3:7)
We
become righteous when we do
righteousness. When we do what is morally right, we are righteous as
He (Jesus) is righteous.
Righteousness
is used as a “moral” term by the early believers in scriptures.
It is not a “legal” term as Reformed theology would have us
believe. The modern term assumes that righteousness concerns
primarily one’s “legal standing before God” regardless
of conduct. Scripture
proves this wrong. The early believers use the term “righteousness”
as describing one living in accordance with God’s
moral requirement. God
does have a moral requirement, so conduct does matter and that is why
there will be those who will not inherit the kingdom of God if they
continue in sin (ex. Gal. 5:19-21; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Eph. 5:3-5; Rev.
21:8).
Correct
conduct characterizes a person as righteous.
People who live sinful lives are characterized as unrighteous.
What
Does “Righteousness of God” mean?
When
it comes to the term the “righteousness of God,” it has to do
with “conformity to a
standard.” Whose
standard? God’s standard. It simply means a
standard of conduct for humans that God considers correct. Matthew
6:33 uses the phrase that is consistent with the meaning:
But seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
And
James 1:20 as well:
For the anger of man does not
produce the righteousness of God.
Therefore,
the “righteousness of God” has nothing to do with the modern
interpretation as a
transfer of moral character.
It is impossible.
What
about 2 Cor. 5:21 where it states:
For he hath made him
to be sin for us, who
knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The
TLV translate it the correct way, which agrees with the Hebrew
scriptures (Old Testament).
He made the One who knew no sin
to become a sin
offering
on our behalf, so that
in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus
was a “sin
offering.” What
Calvinism theology would have us believe is that Jesus literally
became sin
itself, as though sin is a substance and can be transferred from one
person to another. We know that sin has to do with moral choices.
Calvinism
theology says that what happened on the cross was that Jesus made a
swap (there’s
that transfer).
This ungodly teaching taught by teachers like Charles Stanley, Chuck
Swindoll, John Piper, Ray Comfort, Paul Washer, Erwin Lutzer, Tony
Evans, John McAuthur, Pat Robertson, Ed Young, Billy Graham, Josh
McDowell, John Ankerberg, and a host of many others, really want us
to believe this traditional teaching. We are to believe that whatever
sins you or I committed or would have committed in the future, were
all transferred
to Jesus while he was on the cross. Friend, this is not true. Jesus
did not become sin itself; the bible is clear that he was a sin
offering (Isa.
53:10; Heb. 9:13-14; 9:28; 10:10). There was no exchange taking
place, nor a magnificent
transfer or imputation
that took place on the cross, or that he took “our
place,” or was “our
substitute.” He
simply gave his life up as a ransom. (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Tim.
2:6)
Once
someone can be convinced that sinning is their nature that they were
born with, there has to be a swap.
What we are to believe is that at the moment of initial salvation,
Jesus transferred
(swapped) his moral character (obedience) to us and our moral
character (disobedience) was transferred
to him, and so no
matter what sin you or I ever committed in the past or ever commit in
the future, it is now covered!
You are eternally saved! As the saying goes, “God no longer sees
your sins, He sees Jesus!” This is what they call the “positional”
or “forensic”
standing before God. In other words, God now suffers permanent
moral blindness to your conduct
from that point on. Any future sins you commit God will not be able
to see them. He will simply ignore those sins because we now have the
supposed “imputed
righteousness of Jesus”
(his obedience) that secures our eternal salvation.
Nowhere
does the bible speak of the righteousness
of Jesus or that we
possess Jesus’
righteousness. Rather,
Jesus preached and showed us by
example how we can
live right with God and be reconciled. We, therefore, can live
righteously, and thus have no excuse to conform
to the standard that
God requires – “the
righteousness of God.”
With
the teaching that Jesus’ righteousness is transferred to us
permeating in many churches, it is no wonder that we do not see
sinful behavior discontinue. The new convert believes that since he
has said some magical
prayer and made a
mental assent,
he is now saved forever regardless of his conduct afterward! This is
why we see so many people who claim to be Christians whose conduct
has not changed for the better. It is all talk and no walk. What
people are learning is that they are “covered.”
Jesus has their back, so to speak, so their conduct usually stays the
same (though some try to do better) because they think they are saved
and can never lose their salvation. It is no wonder that those who
are non-Christian call them hypocrites.
We
have all heard the question, “When you stand before God on judgment
day, on what basis will God allow you into heaven?” (Not to mention
that no one goes to heaven when they die. More on this later). The
answer? As said above, “Nothing I did, but because of what Jesus
did. God will not see me, he will only see his Jesus.”
We
have all been programmed to answer like robots to this unbiblical
teaching. Note what Ewin Lutzer, an evangelical Christian pastor,
teacher, and author, says about Jesus’ perfect life supposedly
transferred to
us:
It is also that God looks at us
as if we have lived lives of perfect obedience. He sees us as being
loving, submissive, pure. He sees us having done everything Christ
has done. The righteousness is unchangeable. The righteousness is
permanent.
Oh
my, the fallacy of such heretical teaching! Character and practice
can never be separated. (1 John 3:7) Obedience cannot be transferred
or morals exchanged. Can anyone transfer honesty to a thief, or
transfer courage to the coward? Nor is righteousness permanent. The
scriptures warn the “beloved” that they can shipwreck their faith
and how it is possible to be carried away with the error of the
wicked!42
The
passage quoted often to try to prove Jesus’ righteousness is
imputed to us is taken from Rom. 4:6-8:
Even as David also describeth the
blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without
works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and
whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute sin.
The
word “imputeth” does not mean “transfer.” The same passage in
the ESV states:
…just as David also speaks of
the blessing of the one to whom God counts
righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose
lawless deeds are
forgiven, and whose
sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will
not count his sin.”
Paul
is quoting David’s 32nd Psalm where the context shows David had
repented before the LORD and confessed his sins and God forgave him
(See Ps. 32:5).
All
Romans 4:6-8 is saying is that one is spiritually blessed if he is
described like that, which applies to those who are forgiven of their
sins when they come to God in faith and repentance. The bible shows
that the pardoning of our sins is the same as the imputation (to
credit or ascribe) of righteousness. It means that at initial
salvation that any sins you or I committed before
(past) are forgiven and forgotten as far as God is concerned. In that
sense, they are covered,
and we are justified.
It has to do with all our past
sins that are
forgiven:
-
Rom.
3:25- sins that are
past
-
Col.
2:13- [God] when he
forgave all our sins
-
2
Peter 1:9- have forgotten that your past
sins are forgiven.
God
justifies the ungodly. How wonderful it is, that with God, we can be
accounted
righteous even though there are many sins we have committed in our
past that will never be charged against us! When we believe the
gospel Jesus preached and obey it, we can be assured that God has
forgiven us of all our past
sins. We start a new
life, with a new slate, and as a new creature. When we believe, we
have faith, because to believe is to obey. It is our “faith”
that is credited as righteousness. Note the passage:
However, to someone who does not
work, but simply believes in the one who justifies
the ungodly, his
faith is credited as
righteousness. (Rom. 4:5)
This
faith
is not simply a mental assent where there is no change in behavior.
If all our future sins are automatically forgiven, why would we be
encouraged to keep ourselves pure (1Tim 5:22)? And we are told in
Phil. 2:12 to “work
out your own salvation
with fear and trembling...” No one is once saved always saved.
There are multitudes of passages that show our salvation is
conditional.
____________________________________
|