Faith in Jesus Christ Results in the Imputation of Divine Righteousness Resulting in Justification (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday June 14, 2023

Justification Series: Faith in Jesus Christ Results in the Imputation of Divine Righteousness Resulting in Justification

Lesson # 3

As we noted in our introduction, justification is one of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith is that of the doctrine of justification.

By way of definition, justification is a judicial act of God whereby He declares a person to be righteous as a result of crediting or imputing to that person His righteousness the moment they exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

Consequently, God accepts that person and enters that person into a relationship with Himself since they now possess His righteousness.

Imputation is the function of the justice of God in crediting something to someone for cursing or for blessing.

There are several different imputations in Scripture.

First, there is the imputation of soul life at the moment of physical birth (Genesis 2:7).

There is also the imputation of Adam's original sin in the Garden of Eden to every single human being at physical birth (Romans 5:12-19).

The Scriptures also teach that the Father imputed the sins of every human being-past, present and future to Jesus Christ on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21).

There is also the imputation of eternal life to the sinner when he exercises faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior (John 3).

Lastly, there is the imputation of divine righteousness to the sinner through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 4:3; Genesis 15:6).

The mechanics of justification are as follows: (1) God condemns the sinner, which qualifies them to receive His grace. (2) The sinner believes in Jesus Christ as His Savior. (3) God imputes or credits Christ’s righteousness to the believer. (4) God declares that person as righteous as a result of acknowledging His Son’s righteousness in that person.

Justification is God declaring a person to be righteous as a result of acknowledging or recognizing His righteousness in that person, and which righteousness He imputed to that person as a result of their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

It causes no one to be righteous but rather is the recognition and declaration by God that one is righteous as He is.

It is a once and for all declaration, which never changes and never can be rescinded since God is a perfect Judge who because He is immutable, always makes perfect decisions.

To be justified by God through faith alone in Christ alone means that God can never condemn us for our sins.

It means that a believer can never lose his salvation because of any sin since God, who is a perfect judge, rendered a perfect decision when he declared righteous the person, who exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ!

The Bible teaches that there is absolutely no one in the human race who is righteous.

There is none that is in right relation to both God and to their fellow man because of sin and disobedience to the commands to love God with one’s entire being and one’s neighbor as oneself.

Only the Lord Jesus Christ was perfectly obedient to the Word of God, which can be summarized by the commands to love God with one’s entire being and one’s neighbor as oneself.

No one in the human race is righteous before God and therefore justified before Him since no human being except Jesus Christ was ever perfectly obedient to the Law.

The function of volition in obeying the sin nature prevents any human being from keeping the Law perfectly.

Also, in Romans 3:9-20, Paul teaches that there is absolutely no one in the human race who can ever be accepted by a holy God and enjoy a relationship with Him by obeying the Law, i.e. the Old Testament Scriptures since they can never be perfectly obedient because they are under the power of the old Adamic sin nature.

Therefore, in order for man to be justified before God, God must treat him in grace and provide a way for him to be justified.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, based on this (principle), just as, through one man, the sin nature entered into the human race so that spiritual death entered through this sin nature. Thus, in this manner, spiritual death spread to each and every member of the human race without exception because each and every member of the human race sinned (the moment Adam sinned). (Pastor’s translation)

In Romans 5:12, Paul is teaching his readers of the “total depravity” of mankind.

“Total depravity” means not only that the corruption has extended to all aspects of man’s nature, to his entire being as well but also that because of that corruption mankind has no merit with God.

The implications of depravity are critical in relation to salvation in that man has no ability whatsoever to save himself or justify himself before a holy God.

The Lord labeled His disciples evil in Matthew 7:11 because of their depraved nature.

Romans 1:28 and Ephesians 4:18 teach that the mind of mankind is affected and Hebrews 9:14 says that the conscience is unclean.

The heart is deceitful according to Jeremiah 17:9 and by nature mankind is under the righteous indignation of God, i.e. His wrath according to Ephesian 2:3 and Romans 1:18.

Depravity affects the soul (Mark 7:20-23), thus defiling man’s thought process, which manifests itself in sinful words and actions.

The concept of total depravity does not mean that mankind cannot perform actions that are good or helpful to others or in God’s sight.

What it does mean is that man can perform no action that could gain him merit with God.

Total depravity means that man has absolutely no merit with God since he does not measure up to God’s perfect standards.

It also means that man’s conscience has been affected by the Fall of Adam so that it cannot be a safe and reliable guide.

Nor, does total depravity mean that people will indulge in every form of sin or any sin to the greatest extent possible.

The fact that the entire human race is totally depraved is manifested through the practice of sin among both Jew and Gentiles.

In Romans 1:18-32, Paul demonstrates that the Gentiles are unrighteous and totally depraved by virtue of their sinful conduct and failure to worship God in light of God’s self-revelation in creation as well as their failure to obey the moral law inherent within them.

In Romans 2:1-29, he demonstrates that the Jews are unrighteous and totally depraved as well as manifested in their failure to obey perfectly the written Law of God and committing the same sins that the Gentiles committed.

In Romans 3:9-20, Paul summarizes his statements in Romans 1:18-2:29 and teaches the totally depravity and universal unrighteousness of mankind, both Jew and Gentile.

There are other passages of Scriptures that address the issue of man’s total depravity (cf. Job 14:1-4; 15:14-16; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:19-20).

The Scriptures teach that the sinner receives the imputation of divine righteousness as a gift at the moment of conversion or in other words, justification.

They experience this righteousness by exercising faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ through appropriating by faith their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

So, the justified sinner appropriates the righteousness of God provided for them through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by exercising faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. (NIV84)

There are three forms of perception: (1) Empiricism: Trusting in one’s experiences in life to make decisions. (2) Rationalism: Trusting in one’s intellect to make decisions in life. (3) Faith: Trusting in the authority of another to make decisions in life.

Hebrews 11:1-3 gives a definition of faith and also a description of the nature of faith or in other words, what faith does and how it works.

Faith is the only system of perception that God will accept because it is compatible with His grace policy (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The object of the Christian’s faith at the moment of conversion is the Lord Jesus Christ and the object of his faith after conversion is the written Word of God.

Just as the Christian received the Lord Jesus as his Savior by exercising faith in Him for eternal salvation, so after conversion he is to live by the same principle of faith (Compare Ephesians 2:8-9 with Colossians 2:5-7).