Imputed Righteousness

Imputed righteousness is the teaching that God accepts sinners not because of anything good in themselves, but because the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ is counted as theirs. This doctrine stands at the center of the gospel. It answers the question of how a holy God can welcome guilty people without compromising his justice. The authors gathered here agree that justification is a legal or judicial act, not a gradual moral improvement. They also agree that the ground of this acceptance is entirely outside the believer, in the obedience and suffering of Christ. The doctrine matters because it determines whether a person stands before God in his own record or in the record of another.

The meaning of imputed righteousness

At its simplest, imputed righteousness means that God credits Christ's obedience to the account of a sinner. Edwards explains that justification is God counting or imputing righteousness to a sinner who has no righteousness of his own (Romans 4:3–5). He adds that this does not mean God mistakenly thinks believers personally obeyed. It means Christ's righteousness is credited to their account. Henry makes the same point when he says this righteousness is called the righteousness of God because God appoints and accepts it, and it is the righteousness of Christ, not of our own works (Romans 1:17). Spurgeon describes the exchange in vivid terms: Christ takes the sinner's guilt, and the sinner receives Christ's righteousness (Romans 3:24).

Is called the righteousness of God; it is of God's appointing, of God's approving and accepting. It is so called to cut off all pretensions to a righteousness resulting from the merit of our own works. It is the righteousness of Christ, who is God, resulting from a satisfaction of infinite value Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

Edwards stresses that justification addresses a person as ungodly, not as one who has prior godliness or goodness that could serve as its ground (Romans 4:5). This is why the doctrine is so offensive to human pride. It leaves no room for moral achievement. Henry adds that forgiveness is not the absence of sin, but God not charging sin to the sinner's account (Romans 4:8). Justification does not make sin to have never existed or to have never been sin; it covers it (Romans 4:7–8). The sinner remains a sinner in himself, but he is no longer regarded as guilty before God.

The ground of justification

The ground of justification is the obedience and suffering of Christ. Spurgeon says the whole weight of the sins and punishment of all his people was placed upon Christ alone, and he endured it all (Romans 3:24). Edwards argues that the law required both punishment for disobedience and perfect obedience for life, so Christ's active obedience was just as necessary as his suffering (Galatians 3:10, 3:12, 3:13). This is a crucial point. If Christ only paid the penalty, believers would be brought back to the state of innocent Adam, but innocence alone was not enough to obtain eternal life. Positive righteousness was still needed.

The whole of the tremendous debt was put upon his shoulders; the whole weight of the sins of all his people was placed upon him Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Justification by Grace”

Edwards develops this at length. Christ's atonement removes guilt and puts believers back in the state of innocent Adam, but innocence alone was not enough to obtain eternal life. Believers obtain eternal life not merely through being freed from guilt by Christ's atonement, but through Christ's active obedience credited to them. By bearing the penalty, Christ only brought himself into the state of the first Adam's initial innocence, so positive obedience was still needed to obtain the reward of eternal life. This is why Edwards insists that Christ's obedience must be reckoned to believers' account just as his atonement is, because believers are legally one with Christ as their head.

Henry agrees that Christ's righteousness comes by his obedience to the law of mediation, by which he fulfilled all righteousness and offered himself as a sacrifice for sin (Romans 5:18–19). Spurgeon adds that Christ's death was efficacious because, as God, He was under no personal obligation to the law, so His obedience and suffering were a surplus credited to guilty sinners (Romans 4:25). The Father laid the sins of believers on Christ and punished Him as if He were the guilty one, so that Christ cried out as one forsaken by God (Romans 4:25).

Faith as the instrument

Faith is the means by which the sinner receives this righteousness. Henry says Abraham was not justified by his works or external privileges, but by faith (Romans 4:1). Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness purely by God's free grace, not because faith itself has the formal nature of righteousness (Romans 4:3). Edwards is careful to say that we are not justified out of respect to the excellency or goodness of any qualification or act in us, including faith itself. Faith justifies by making Christ and the believer one in the acceptance of God the judge, so that the believer has a right to Christ's satisfaction and merits.

therefore he had not whereof to glory before God, it being purely of free grace that it was so imputed, and having not in itself any of the formal nature of a righteousness, further than as God himself was graciously pleased so to count it to him Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

Spurgeon says salvation depends entirely on trusting Christ's merits, not on any merit, power, or spiritual strength in oneself (Romans 4:19–21). Faith rests on Christ's substitutionary death for our offenses and His resurrection as proof that His sacrifice was accepted and believers are justified in Him (Romans 4:25). Henry adds that faith is the condition of justification and the root and spring of sanctification (Romans 10:10). The authors agree that faith is not a work that earns justification. It is the empty hand that receives what Christ has done.

Union with Christ

Edwards places special emphasis on union with Christ as the indispensable ground of imputation. An actual interest in Christ's federal perfection is obtained only by a vital union to Christ. Christ's incarnation shows that union is necessary for imputation: without union to us, our sin could not have been imputed to him; without vital union, his righteousness cannot be imputed to us. This is why Edwards says justification has its foundation in the federal perfection of Messiah and takes place as the immediate result of union to him.

Without this union to us, our sin could not have been imputed to him; and without a vital union, his righteousness could not be imputed to us. This is fairly and fully implied in many parts of Scripture, as might be shown if necessary.—From whence it is plain, that union is the indispensable ground of imputation Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone”

Spurgeon expresses the same idea in more popular language. Because Christ took the sinner's place, God now accepts the sinner as if he were Christ, his beloved Son (Romans 3:24). The justified sinner is no longer regarded by God as guilty, but is fully accepted (Romans 3:24). In justification the believer not only loses his guilt but receives Christ's righteousness, so that God loves him as he loves his Son (Romans 3:24). Henry connects this to the parallel between Adam and Christ. Adam's failure brought failure on those he represented, while Christ's perfect obedience brings benefit to those he represents (Romans 5:14).

The completeness of justification

All three authors stress that justification is complete and perfect from the moment of faith. Spurgeon says justification is a perfect and complete washing, pardon, and imputation, making the believer fully accepted through Christ (Romans 3:24). The righteousness and blood of Christ remain always the same, so believers are always complete and accepted in Christ, never more or less (Romans 3:25). This means the believer's standing before God does not fluctuate with his spiritual condition. Even in holy living, the believer's standing is not in his own works or character but in what Christ did and in His finished work (Romans 3:27).

The same—the same in all its splendor, the same undimmed, as full of Glory, as full of majesty, the righteousness and blood of Christ abides; and we, standing before God in Him—not in ourselves—are always complete in Him—always accepted in the Beloved; never more so, never less so Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Christ Set Forth As A Propitiation”

Henry says the gospel way of justification is by an imputed righteousness, and this mercy will continue as long as God has a church in the world (Romans 4:24). The promise of imputed righteousness applies to all believers, including Gentiles and those far short of Abraham in privileges and performances (Romans 4:23–24). Spurgeon adds that all who are saved must be saved the same way, by faith in Christ's imputed righteousness (Romans 3:22). Every person stands before God either naked in sin or clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and all people equally need the gospel (Romans 3:22–23).

The reward of eternal life

Edwards is particularly concerned to show that justification includes a positive righteousness entitling the believer to reward, not just pardon. To be justified means God approves a person as free from the guilt of sin and its punishment, and as having a righteousness that entitles him to the reward of life. Adam would have been justified only by completing perfect obedience, showing that justification includes positive righteousness and reward, not just pardon. This is why Christ's active obedience is so important. Christ, as our surety and head, was both acquitted from our guilt and accepted to reward for his obedience, and believers share in both parts of his justification.

A person is said to be justified, when he is approved of God as free from the guilt of sin and its deserved punishment, and as having that righteousness belonging to him that entitles to the reward of life Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone”

Henry agrees that by Christ's righteousness believers are not only pardoned but advanced to reign in life, receiving more and greater privileges than were lost by Adam's offence (Romans 5:17). The righteousness and grace of Christ, who is the Lord from heaven, have more power to justify and save than Adam's sin had to condemn (Romans 5:15). Spurgeon says at the final judgment, grace will clothe believers with Christ's righteousness and give them boldness to stand before God (Romans 5:21). The believer is clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness, so that salvation is secure forever (Romans 5:1).

Differences in emphasis

The authors do not contradict one another, but they emphasize different aspects of the doctrine. Edwards gives the most detailed theological argument for the necessity of Christ's active obedience. He argues that if sinners received eternal life after their sin was paid for but without active obedience, the honor of God's law would not be sufficiently vindicated (Romans 3:31). If God gave the promised reward without the required obedience being performed, he would recede from his law and its honor would never be shown through obedience (Romans 3:31). Christ's subjection to the law and his obedience brought greater honor to the law and to God's authority than if mere man had obeyed it (Romans 5:19, Philippians 2:8).

Now, if the sinner, after his sin was satisfied for, had eternal life bestowed upon him without active righteousness, the honour of his law would not be sufficiently vindicated Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone”

Henry focuses more on the pastoral and covenantal dimensions. He emphasizes that Scripture is the final authority in religious controversies, and Scripture says Abraham's faith was counted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3). Circumcision was given as a seal of the righteousness Abraham already had by faith, confirming a previously established covenant (Romans 4:11). Spurgeon is the most vivid and emotional in his presentation. He says the Christian's peace with God rests on Christ having stood in his place, dying for his sins and keeping the law on his behalf (Romans 5:1). The obedience of a creature can never be completed, so it is far better to be accepted in Christ and clothed in his finished righteousness (Romans 3:27).

The obedience of a creature can never be finished. The duty of a servant of the Law is never over. So long as you were the creature of God, your Creator would have demands upon you. How much better to be accepted in the Beloved and to wear His finished righteousness as our glory and security Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Grace Exalted—Boasting Excluded”

Edwards also addresses a subtle question about degrees of glory. Different degrees of glory seem inconsistent with all saints being entitled to glory by the same imputed righteousness of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:8). If all have glory as the reward of the same righteousness, it is hard to explain why all do not have the same degree of glory (1 Corinthians 3:8). His answer is that Christ's righteousness purchased complete and perfect happiness for every saint according to each one's capacity. The saints are like vessels of different sizes cast into a sea of happiness, where every vessel is full; Christ purchased this fullness for all. God sovereignly determines the capacity of each saint, and Christ's righteousness does not determine this (Ephesians 4:4–7). This is a distinctive contribution of Edwards, showing how the same imputed righteousness can result in different degrees of glory without making those degrees merited by the believer's own works.

The saints are as so many vessels of different sizes, cast into the sea of happiness, where every vessel is full; this Christ purchased for all Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone”

The doctrine of imputed righteousness is therefore not a cold abstraction. It is the ground of peace with God, the end of boasting, and the assurance of eternal life. Henry says the soul's life is secured by the imputed righteousness of Christ and by inherent righteousness, which qualifies it for eternal life (Romans 8:10). Spurgeon says the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ will save every person who trusts Him, because there is no difference among sinners (Romans 3:22–23). Edwards concludes that the true gospel scheme makes Christ and his righteousness the sole foundation of first acceptance with God and all actual salvation. The believer's good works are rewarded only for Christ's sake, not because the works have any excellence or acceptability in themselves apart from Christ. This is the consistent testimony of the Reformed and Puritan tradition: a sinner is justified by a righteousness that is not his own, received by faith alone, grounded in union with Christ, and complete forever.