IMPUTATION

by Tony Alamo

One of the Bible's most important words to learn the meaning of is "impute" or "imputation." The word actually means to transfer something from one person to another, such as "Adam's sin was given (or transferred) or imputed to the whole human race."1 His unrighteousness was given, transferred, or imputed unto us because he is the human father of us all. So his sinfulness and failure is reckoned unto us all, or imputed unto us all. Therefore, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). Because of this, we all need to have that Adamic sin as well as all other sins washed away from our souls so that we may be able to enter Heaven.

We need to have Christ's righteousness imputed or transferred unto and into us in order to be blessed here on earth and to enter Heaven. If we're obedient to Christ, His righteousness will be imputed unto us, transferred unto us, if we want it to be thus by our continuous serving Him to the end. “And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him” (Rom. 4:22-23).

The teaching of Paul is clear in Romans 5:12-21. Verse 12 shows that death has come upon the entire human race because "all (have) sinned." The word "sinned," the simple sense without the full meaning, doesn't have anything to do with sins other than Adam's sin. This scripture is clear. It shows that when Adam sinned, all men had sin imputed unto them. Therefore, all men must receive the penalty of physical death and an eternity in Hell and the lake of fire if they reject God's mercy of Christ's dying for them, after He first lived a sinless life. He suffered, died, shed His atoning blood, and resurrected from the dead and ascended into Heaven so that He might impute by the Holy Spirit, His righteousness unto and into us if we repent of our own sins and let Him live His life, the life of Christ, through His power imputed or transferred into us.

Paul states that between the time of Adam and Moses, the Jews were given the moral law and the temporary law of burnt offerings, sacrifices which were merely pointing to the true atoning sacrifice which was to come by, Jesus, the true "Lamb of God. " However, before the law, "all died." The exception was that innocent people who died, such as infants and imbeciles, were not guilty of defiance or sinning willfully, as in Adam's case.

Imputing or Transferring the Sins
of the Human Race unto Christ

This is a matter of judgment. This was a judicial imputation, inasmuch as our sins, including the Adamic sin, didn't belong to Christ, and when they were laid upon Him, they were His in a fearful way. The truth of the Gospel lies in this major truth or fact. The term impute is not used with regard to the laying of the sin of Adam's race upon Christ, our sin-bearer. The fact of this truth is brought forth contained in such scripture phrases as "caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him," "He Himself bore our sins," and "made Him who knew no sin to be sin" (Isa. 53:5-6, I Pet. 2:24, II Cor. 5:21).

Isaiah 53:5-6 says, "But He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions [sins], He [Jesus] was bruised for our iniquities [sins—disobedience]: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him: and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

"Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins [if we don't sin any longer], should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24).

"For He [God] hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him [Christ]" (II Cor. 5:21). "In Christ" means no more sinning, because there is no sin in Christ. He was obedient, so if we are "in" Christ, we are obedient!!

His righteousness will be ours by our acceptance of His blood, the work Jesus did on the cross, and by our denying ourselves, our taking up our crosses, and (very important) our following Christ in His righteousness, continuing in Christ's righteousness to the end (Matt. 10:22). "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same SHALL BE SAVED," (Matt. 24:13).

Because Christ died and resurrected, we, if we follow His truth, are dead to the world but alive in Christ. His righteousness, has no legal basis or justification to sin. Sin is so bad that Christ had to die to give us a chance to accept salvation and power on His (God's terms). No sinner, even if they profess Christianity, shall enter the kingdom of Heaven!

If we really repent, which means to receive Christ by the Holy Spirit and live in Christ, the Holy Spirit, God is given the basis for the remission of sin. Thus we are furnished with God's legal basis to impute (transfer) Christ's righteousness unto and into us. This can only be done if we are, according to God's Word, "righteous," living according to "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1-2, read the whole chapter). This truth is of great consequence to every Christian's salvation. The entire writings of the apostles tell us clearly that imputation of the righteousness of Christ is given to us if we, by faith, receive Christ. That is, it is given to us IF we also receive His purity (His righteousness). No sinner, Christian or otherwise, has any standing before an infinitely Holy God. Only Christ's transfer of His righteousness will find acceptance for our salvation.

The Word of God says "the Righteousness of God"

Romans 1:17-18 tells us that wrath is upon those who say they are the righteousness of God without being righteous. "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith [from faith in God's Word to more faith received from more of God's Word]: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them."

It is true that before Christ, no human being in God's eyes was righteous, but when we die (when our own will dies, when Christ and we go to the cross together), Christ by the Holy Spirit enters us, and we become the home or temple (holy temple) of God. This is because He, (Christ with His righteousness) enters us, His home, His temple, imputing (transferring) Himself into us, making us (if we continue in Him to the end) "the righteousness of God." Our only hope is to accept God through Christ and continue in Him to the end.

The only way we are fit to be in the presence of God is by being in Christ and having Christ living in us. This is how we are able to be keeping the commandment of “be ye perfect”. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect," (Matt 5:48). "Be ye holy; for I am holy," (I Pet. 1:16). "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord," (Heb. 12:14). "Yea doubtless, and I count all things (of this world) but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law (that I never kept), but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death" (Phip. 3:8-10).

"In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under Heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister" (Col. 1:22-23). This imputation becomes null and void if we do not continue in the work and Word of God, His Spirit of life. Therefore, if we don't continue in righteousness, it is NOT forever. This imputation has rules because righteousness is not ours to abuse in any way because it belongs to Christ. If a believer is in Christ, and Christ is in him, then Christ's righteousness has been transferred into him. We were once in Adam (Rom. 5:12-21). Christ was made to be sin (suffer for our sins) for all men. "For He [God] hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God [but only] in Him [Christ]" (II Cor. 5:21).

By our baptism in water and the baptism of the Holy Spirit for obedience, by faith in Christ (the whole Word of God), by being baptized by the Spirit into Christ, and by our continuance in all these, the imputation, the transfer of Christ's righteousness, is made possible to us. Christ never guarantees salvation if we begin sinning again, if we stop living the life in Christ. To think that He does is to receive damnation because it is false doctrine. False prophets twist scripture to mean things that God never intended. We see this with certain theologians, in certain Bible Dictionaries, and in other false material. If we are in Christ, we are not sinning, and if we are not sinning, we are the bride of Christ, perfect, white, without spot, without blemish, dressed in white linen. Christ's bride is sinless (Eph. 5:25-27, Rev. 19:7-8).

What Christ has done is very explainable and is very comprehendible. "For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified [set aside from the world]" (Hebrews 10:14).

The Fullness of Christ

“For in Him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him [if you continue on in Him]" (Col. 2:9-10). The reason for this grace, this gift of God, for the faith and obedience to become the sons of God, is that Christ "offered himself without blemish [without sin]" (Hebrews 9:14).

No one else could merit being the perfect, sinless one, to be perfect enough to be an offering for sin, to take away the sins of the whole world. No one else could then, for repentance and obedience, transfer the righteousness of God to those who also wanted to be perfect. So as the cross made it possible to make it legal in the eyes of God to give remission of sins, so also, for commitment, is the basis for the imputation or transfer of Christ's righteousness to those who will be righteous. These both are a sweet savor and a bitter-sweet savor in the sight of God, the Father. This is expounded upon in the five offerings of Leviticus, chapters 1-5, the character of the perfect, sinless Lamb of God. Hebrews 9:14 shows the sweet savor truth. “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

The sweet savor truth of Christ's offering, and its achievement in a believing saint by his uniting with Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit, as well as our faith and obedience to the Word of God, constitute the legal ground Jesus uses for the imputation or transfer of God's righteousness to believing saints. This is the foundation of essential Christian teaching, and the essence of the Gospel is these three imputations. They are to be received in the world of Christianity. Receive the imputation of Christ right now by this prayer to God:

Prayer

My Lord and my God, have mercy upon my soul, a sinner. 1 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. 2 I believe that He died on the cross and shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of all my sins. 3 I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit 4 and that He sits on the right hand of God at this moment, hearing my confession of sin and this prayer. 5 I open up the door of my heart and I invite You into my heart, Lord Jesus. 6 Wash all of my filthy sins away in the precious blood that You shed in my place on the cross at Calvary. 7 You will not turn me away, Lord Jesus, You will forgive my sins and save my soul. I know because Your Word, the Bible says so. 8 Your Word says that You will turn no one away, and that includes me. 9 Therefore, I know that You have heard me, and I know that You have answered me, and I know that I am saved. 10 And I thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving my soul, and I will show my thankfulness by doing as You command and sin no more. 11

You've just completed the first step in a series of five steps which are necessary to receive salvation. Your second step is to deny yourself and take up the cross daily for the purpose of mortifying yourself, that is, for putting to death your own will, your soulful self, and the world with all of its lusts. All these must be baptized into the death of Christ.

Step three is your resurrection from the satanic life of Adam unto the sinless life of Christ. Step four is your ascension into a position of authority to reign for God on earth, and the fifth step is to reign for God on earth to the end for the purpose of bringing about the kingdom of Heaven on earth. You must learn the Word of God, then submit yourself and do what the Word says, so that the Church and the world may see evidence of your submission to God's Word, His order, and His authority in and by you.

Praise the Lord. May God reward you abundantly.

Pastor Tony Alamo


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Imputation footnotes:

1. Psa. 32:2, Rom. 4:6-8, 21-25, 5:12-19, II Cor. 5:19-21, Jas 2:23 return


Prayer footnotes:

1. Psa. 51:5, Rom. 3:10-12, 23 return

2. Matt. 26:63-64, 27:54, Luke 1:30-33, John 9:35-37, Rom. 1:3-4 return

3. Acts 4:12, 20:28, Rom. 3:25, I John 1:7, Rev. 5:9 return

4. Psa. 16:9-10, Matt. 28:5-7, Mark 16:9, 12, 14, John 2:19, 21, 10:17-18, 11:25, Acts 2:24, 3:15, Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:3-7 return

5. Luke 22:69, Acts 2:25-36, Heb. 10:12-13 return

6. I Cor. 3:16, Rev. 3:20 return

7. Eph. 2:13-22, Heb. 9:22, 13:12, 20-21, I John 1:7, Rev. 1:5, 7:14 return

8. Matt. 26:28, Acts 2:21, 4:12, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14 return

9. Matt. 21:22, John 6:35, 37-40, Rom. 10:13 return

10. Heb. 11:6 return

11. John 5:14, 8:11, Rom. 6:4, I Cor. 15:10, Rev. 7:14, 22:14 return