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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Imputed Righteousness | Rom 4:6 | srbaegon | 52667 | ||
Thanks Joe Now for the anticipated (obligatory?) follow-up based on a portion of an e-mail that prompted my original question: "[The Reformers] taught that the believer is still under the Law as a 'code of conduct'. Christ's death certainly paid for my sins, and now I am to serve God by keeping the Law. Of course, I cannot keep it in its entirety. So, the doctrine states that Christ's perfect righteousnes, as having kept the Law perfectly, is given to me. So, as the common expression goes, when God looks at me, He sees Christ. The more important Biblical doctrine is the Righteousness of God. We are made the Righteousness of God in Christ - that is, while sinful men were allowed to roam the earth and experience God's blessings, God's righteousness was NOT revealed. Why was this sin not judged?!? Rom 1 tells us that the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel: the death of Christ on the cross reveals what God really thinks about sin, what His righteousness demanded. So, in Rom 3, death of Christ is seen as declaring God's righteousness apart from the Law. If God were to manifest His righteousness according to the Law, the sinner would die when he commits his first sin. The death of Christ shows how God could be 'just' in two distinct spheres: for the 'sins that are past', that is all of God's dealings with man before the cross; and for 'this time', 'justifying' the one who believes in Jesus. In Rom 4:6 (KVJ) we have the word 'imputeth righteousness', but that is a serious mistranslation, reflecting the bias of the reformers. The word is the same as 'counted' in Rom 4:5, and 'reckon' in Rom 6. It does not mean, in any sense, 'give to'; it describes the action of the beholder, not something done to the object beheld. So, we are 'reckoned' righteous by God - when He looks at me, He does not see Christ, He sees (I cannot fathom this!) me, but He sees me as _righteous_. I have been justified, declared righteous, because all of my sins have been removed. Now, it is true that He sees me _in Christ_. But this is a different thing than 'seeing Christ.'" 1. Is the Reformed position given accurately? 2. What are comments concerning the "more important" doctrine of the righteousness of God? Are these things mutually exclusive, or are they possibly mutually misunderstood? Steve |
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2 | Imputed Righteousness | Rom 4:6 | Reformer Joe | 52688 | ||
Steve: You wrote: "1. Is the Reformed position given accurately?" Not really. The Gentiles were never "under the Law," but as believers we are called to follow God's moral will, which is reflected in the moral commandments of the Law. The whole, "when God looks at me, he sees Christ" thing could not be further from the Reformed position. What the original poster described as his own position is much closer to the Reformed view. Again, imputation does not mean that we are GIVEN Christ's righteousness (i.e. "made righteous"). That is infusion, the position of Rome at the Council of Trent. He is correct about the Greek word tranlated "imputeth," but the Reformers did not declare it to mean something different than reckoning us righteous because of Christ. This may seem like a small distinction, but it is an important one. Faith is not the grounds for our justification. We are not simply declared righteous because we have faith in Jesus Christ. While that is all WE do to be saved, Jesus Himself had to do the work of living a sinless life and dying a substitutionary death and rising from the dead. While God sees us, by means of our faith we are identified with Christ in his sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection. (Romans 5 and 6 explain this in detail). So your fellow poster errs on the other side of the issue. While God does not "see only Christ" when He sees me, He also does not just see ONLY me. In some inscrutible way, the Father sees me CLOTHED with Christ's righteousness; he takes both me AND Christ into account, and sees me as me, but declares me as righteous because of His Son's work on my behalf, applied to me by the Holy Spirit according to the foreknowledge and plan of the Father. All three persons of the Trinity are at work in our salvation, and Christ is the one who is the second Adam, righteously living and dying for all those whom He represents before the Father. --Joe! |
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