Articles
Calvinistic Imputation: Theological Buck Passing
Man likes to shift responsibility away from himself. If he stumbles over his own big feet, he looks around to see who tripped him up. If he is assigned responsibility, he often looks around for someone to whom he can pass it. The buck passing game started with our first parents. Adam sinned against God and said, "The WOMAN whom THOU gavest to be with me SHE gave to me and I did eat" (Gen.3:12). Eve, likewise, refused to accept responsibility for her action. She said, "The SERPENT beguiled me, and I did eat" (Gen.3:13). Their efforts failed. They were punished for their sins and the entire human race suffers death (physical) as a result of it (I Cor. 15:22). Many of Adam's and Eve's descendants are blaming their sin upon that first pair. This is theological buck passing.
Religionists, influenced by Calvinistic concepts of imputation, are great buck passers. First, there is supposed to be the imputation of Adam's guilt upon the whole human race. This relieves the race of responsibility of their having become sinners in the first place. They are sinners by virtue of the fact that they were born descendants of Adam. Secondly, the supposed remedy for imputed sin is a second imputation -- the imputation of Jesus' perfect life to the sinner. You see, the sinner in Christ may go on sinning (because being in the flesh he cannot help it), but he doesn't need to worry about it because Christ lived a sinless life in his stead. Hence, a man is relieved of the responsibility of a godly life and even the responsibility of correcting his wrongs, because he will not be judged for his own actions but by the perfect life that Jesus lived. A rather convenient buck passer, wouldn't you say?
You and I must accept the responsibility for our sins. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die.. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him," so reads Ezekiel 18:20. The guilt of sin is a personal matter. I cannot blame all my guilt upon Adam for having sinned. While Imay suffer the consequences of another's error, I do not suffer the guilt. Paul wrote, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in HIS (not Adam's nor Christ's --FOB) body, according to that which HE (not Adam nor Christ--EOB) hath done, whether it be good or bad."
You and I must accept responsibility for living godly . Jesus did live a perfect life, making Him a perfect sacrifice for my sins, without any spot or blemish, leaving me a perfect example for my life - -but His perfect life is not imputed to me, Our lives are made righteous through pardon and not imputation - -there is a vast difference. Jesus died for my sins (Matt.26:28;Rom.5:8-9). His atoning death provides for my pardon-- if I will face up to my responsibility for sins by repenting and obeying God's law of pardon (cf. Acts 2:38: I John 1:7-9). Then, it is not a matter of God's playing a child's game of "let's pretend." Calvinistic imputation is a "pretend" game—man is not really righteous, but God pretends that he is, because Jesus was righteous. Pardon of sin is not a "pretend game" -- man actually becomes unrighteous because of his own sins, God removes those sins by the blood of Christ. Man actually becomes righteous. because his sins are no more (Heft 10:1-4).
The word, "impute," is mentioned nine times in the New Testament. Six of these are found in Romans 4. Calvinists sometimes claim that they find their concepts of imputation in these verses. Not so! "Blessed is the man to whom God will not impute sin" (Rom.4:8) does not say that God simply does not take account of a Christian's sins. The man to whom God will not impute sin is the forgiven man (read verse 7), not the sinning man. Some think they see their version of imputed righteousness in Romans 4:22. The idea is that the believer is not really righteous, but that God accounts (pretends) him so, because his faith is imputed to him for righteousness. They would have the expression, "for righteousness", mean INSTEAD of righteousness. The expression is "eis dikaiosunen" in the Greek. Hence, it is "eis" (unto or in the direction of) righteousness. Just like repentance and baptism is "eis" (unto) the remission of sins (Acts 2: 38). Our faith in the blood of Christ and our obedience to the faith makes us truly righteous--not just a pretended righteousness.
We must face up to our responsibility before God. We must accept the responsibility for our own sinfulness and repent of it. We must accept the responsibility for righteous living. If we fall short, we must accept the responsibility for it--ask God's forgiveness and try again. We cannot use the Calvinistic concepts of imputed sin and righteousness to escape our responsibility under God's gracious law.
