Imputed Righteousness

Imputed Righteousness

“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” V. 3. This was said about Abraham when God promised him that his descendants would be as many as the stars that cannot be counted. Did Abraham believe in imputed righteousness? Not at all! He believed in God’s promises, and that was accounted to him for righteousness. It was God who reckoned like that.

The promise to Abraham was that he would receive a son who would come from his own body. Gen. 15:4. He believed God, not in his own strength. He believed that God would give him a real son, not a son who was imputed to him. When Abraham believed that, God “who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did” reckoned that he already had a son. Rom. 4:17.

Faith must be tested. Abraham and Sarah had to wait for the fulfillment of the promise until their own strength was poured out. Abraham considered their dying bodies, but he did not become weak in faith, for faith has nothing to do with one’s own strength. He gave glory to God and was not put to shame. He received Isaac in reality, a son who came from his own body.

The apostle uses this as an illustration for us. We have the promises of the gospel. Their sum total is “to present you holy, and blameless, and irreproachable in His sight.” Col. 1:22. These promises are proclaimed to us while we are still ungodly sinners. If we believe God’s promises, as Abraham did, then God also reckons it to us as our righteousness.

We do not have works, but we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly; this faith is accounted for righteousness. Rom. 4:5. Do we believe in imputed righteousness? Not at all! We believe, just as Abraham did, in a real personal righteousness that shall come from our own body, and we believe that God will work this transformation in us. He who calls those things which do not exist as though they did, He sees us already as though we were what we believe He is mighty to make us into. He reckons our faith in Him as righteousness, and we will not be put to shame. He will fulfill His promise in our lives. However, our faith has to be tested. Our own strength, too, must be poured out before the promises can be fulfilled. God can come to our aid with His strength after we have tried to overcome and have been crushed because of our own ungodliness. 2 Cor. 12:9.

Most people lose faith when they look at themselves, and so they give up altogether. They say, “We’ll just have to be satisfied with imputed righteousness. We are only human and cannot be anything else. It is good that God imputes Jesus’ life to us,” etc. Many preachers travel around and proclaim this imputed righteousness and that people should not consider themselves. This is not Abraham’s faith at all!

The usual preaching of imputed righteousness is as if Abraham should have been satisfied with an imputed son without actually receiving one. Thousands upon thousands of people live in this terrible darkness and deception. The hope of the gospel about victory over sin is not proclaimed to them; but an imputed victory is proclaimed to them, and so they come to believe in an imputed righteousness and never experience being transformed into new creations so that righteousness can come from their own bodies. The spirit of Antichrist has perverted the gospel so that those who hear never experience anything true and real. They have everything by faith, which turns out to be pure fantasy! God never reckons such a faith to be their righteousness.

Abraham’s faith gave him a true and visible experience. Those who have Abraham’s faith in these days have the same experience. “Who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our offenses, and was raised for our justification.” Rom. 4:24-25. We experience that He justifies us so that it is true and visible to all that the virtues of Christ come from our own body.