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INTRODUCTION

‘Imputation’ is an important revelation of divine 
dealings with man.  Walvoord (1960, p. 281) defines 
imputation as "reckoning to the account of another", 
giving the book of Philemon as a Biblical illustration 
(v. 18 reading, "Put that on mine account").

Imputation was an important component of the 
Levitical sacrificial system.  On the annual Day of 
Atonement the high priest was to take two male goats for 
a sin offering in order to atone for the sins of the 
Israelite community as a whole (Leviticus 16:5).  One 
goat was to be sacrificed in the usual manner, while on 
the living goat’s head the high priest was to lay both 
his hands and confess over it (thus, impute to it) all 
the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites (v. 21).  
He was then to drive the goat away into the desert, and 
it would carry on itself all their sins to a solitary 
place (v. 22).

In the New Testament, imputation relates 
specifically to the sin of Adam and the work of Christ, 
and may be categorised into three theological 
connections, to follow.

NEW TESTAMENT WORDS

In the New Testament, two words are used.
Ellogeo means to charge to one’s account (Vine, 1981, 
p. 252).  It occurs twice, in Philemon 18 and in Romans 
5:13.

Secondly, and more frequently, logidzomai
means to reckon, take into account or metaphorically put 
down to a person’s account (Vine, 1981, p. 252, 258).  
The word occurs 43 times in the New Testament, most 
frequently from Romans 2:3 to 14:14.  It is used of 
numerical calculations, such as in Luke 22:37; to 
consider or calculate, such as in II Corinthians 10:11; 
and to suppose, judge or deem, such as in Romans 2:3.  
However, more importantly logidzomai is used metaphorically, 
by a reckoning of characteristics or reasons to take into 
account - precisely that understood by imputation.  The 
Biblical passages that use the word in this sense provide 
significant data about imputation.

IMPUTATION OF ADAM’S SIN TO MAN

According to Paul’s argument in Romans 5:12-21 the 
one sin of Adam was imputed to mankind to the extent that 
"death reigned" (v. 14).  All were condemned in Adam (v. 
18) and all have been made sinners (v. 19).  It is 
because of Adam’s sin that one is born with a depraved 
nature and under God’s condemnation (Romans 5:12; 
Ephesians 2:3).

Controversy exists over the extent of the effect of 
Adam’s sin on modern man.  At one extreme, Pelagius 
taught that the only effect of Adam’s sin on his 
posterity is a bad example; each person is created 
entirely innocent and free from depravity (Thiessen, 
1979, p. 186).

Others, such as Thiessen, believe that not only 
does man receive a depraved nature from Adam’s sin but 
that each man is personally responsible for the sin of 
Adam.  He states, “There was an impersonal and 
unconscious participation by all of Adam’s progeny in 
this first sinful act” (Badham, nd., p. 38).

In attempting to refute the theories of Arminius 
Thiessen cites Romans 5:12 as meaning that all are 
responsible for the sin of Adam.  Yet, this is not what 
the verse teaches, despite Thiessen’s use of “according 
to the Scriptures” (1979, p. 187).  Romans 5:12 explains 
that sin has entered the world through Adam’s sin.  
Further, death has come through sin (as stated in Ezekiel 
18:4).  The conclusion then, is that death has and will 
come to all men, because all men have sinned.  To equate 
the sin of each person with the sin of Adam is to infer 
from the verse more than it actually says, and perhaps to 
suggest the likelihood that a person may not commit their 
own sins, the only reason that “all men have sinned” 
being that they have been held accountable for the sin of 
Adam.

The doctrine of the depravity of all men is most 
real.  However, although man is conceived with a sinful 
nature (Psalm 51:5) because of Adam there is no 
Scriptural reason why man is individually held 
responsible for Adam’s sin itself.  Rather, all have 
sinned (Romans 5:12) and are held accountable for this.  
All have been made sinners (Romans 5:19) but Zodhiates 
(1992, p. 924) explains that this is a declaration based 
on the disobedience of man, and not a setting or placing 
of man in such a position.

IMPUTATION OF MAN’S SIN TO CHRIST

In contrast to the imputation of Adam’s sin to 
mankind, the sin of man has been imputed to Christ.  
Walvoord (1960, p. 282) differentiates these as a real 
and a judicial imputation.

Christ bore the griefs and carried the sorrows of 
man.  He was wounded for the transgressions of all and 
carried the iniquity of all (Isaiah 53:4-6).  He knew no 
sin but was made to be sin on mankind’s behalf – that 
humans might become the righteousness of God in Him (II 
Corinthians 5:21).  He bore the sins of man in His own 
body (I Peter 2:24).  God declined to impute sins to man, 
or count them against man (II Corinthians 5:19), but has 
imputed them to Christ Himself.

Stott (1989, p. 148-9) makes the important point 
that such imputation does nothing at all to imply the 
transference of one person’s moral qualities to another.  
The moral turpitude of sins has not been transferred to 
Christ, and He has not been made personally sinful or 
ill-deserving.

The work of Christ has provided a means of 
atonement for the consequences of man’s depravity.  He 
has voluntarily accepted liability for man’s sin.

IMPUTATION OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS TO THE BELIEVER

Thirdly, embodied in the doctrine of justification 
by faith is the imputation of the righteousness of God to 
the Christian believer.

The imputation of righteousness is a judicial act 
by which the believer is declared righteous before a holy 
God.  Although experiential sanctification, conversion 
and other spiritual manifestations accompany such 
imputation, it is not in itself an experience but a fact, 
and a divine pronouncement.  Christian believers are 
declared to be “justified by faith” (Romans 5:1) and 
Abraham and David are cited as Old Testament examples 
(Romans 4:1-22).

This imputation must be received through repentance 
of sin, and by faith towards God.  It is not an automatic 
action, as would be the ramification if man were held 
responsible for Adam’s sin.  If Romans 5:19 (“through the 
disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners”) 
meant that the guilt of Adam’s sin had been credited to 
every person (in addition to a depraved nature), then the 
parallel with Jesus (“so also through the obedience of 
the one man the many will be made righteous”) would imply 
that the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to all 
men – unconditionally, and universally.  There is no 
distinction between believer and unbeliever, and no need 
for man to repent, for just as Adam’s sin was imputed to 
all, so has Christ’s righteousness been imputed to all.

The righteous work of Christ is reckoned to the 
account of the believer as a gift of righteousness apart 
from human merit or works (Ephesians 2:8-9).  As John 
Owen states, “we ourselves have done nothing of what is 
imputed to us, nor Christ anything of what is imputed to 
Him” (Stott, 1989, p. 148).

CONCLUSION

Imputation is an important Biblical doctrine and 
Walvoord (1960, p. 282) believes it “rests at the heart 
of the doctrine of salvation”.  Stott (1989, p. 149) 
states that when one considers the New Testament 
application of imputation to the death of Christ one is

obliged to conclude that the cross was a 
substitutionary sacrifice.  Christ died for us.  
Christ died instead of us.  Indeed . . . [the Old 
Testament] use of sacrificial imagery has the 
intention of expressing the fact that Jesus died 
without sin in substitution for our sins.

Imputation and its important ramifications, both 
negatively and positively, are summarised by Paul in 
Romans 5:18 thus:

Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation 
for all men, so also the result of one act of 
righteousness was justification that brings life to 
all men.


WORKS CITED

Badham, D. nd. Man and Sin, Rhema Bible College, 
Townsville.

________. nd. Soteriology, Rhema Bible College, 
Townsville.

Morris, L. 1994. The Cross of Jesus, The Paternoster 
Press, Carlisle, U.K.

Pecota, D. 1994. ‘The Saving Work of Christ’, in 
Systematic Theology: A Pentecostal Perspective, ed. 
S. M. Horton, Logion Press, Springfield, Missouri.

Stern, D. 1992. Jewish New Testament Commentary, Jewish 
New Testament Publications, Maryland.

Stott, J. R. W. 1989. The Cross of Christ, 2d. ed., 
Inter-Varsity Press.

Thiessen, H. C. 1979. Lectures in Systematic Theology, 
rev. ed., Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand 
Rapids, Michigan.

Vine, W. E. 1981. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and 
New Testament Words, World Bible Publishers, Iowa 
Falls, Iowa.

Walvoord, J. F. 1960. `Imputation’, in Baker’s Dictionary 
of Theology, ed. E. F. Harrison, Baker Book House, 
Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Wright, D. F. 1968. In Understanding be Men, 6th. ed, 
Inter-Varsity Press.

Zodhiates, S. 1992. The Complete Word Study New 
Testament, 2d. ed., AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, 
Tennessee.

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