June 23, 2002

IMPUTED, & IMPUTED FOR

Romans 3:30 - 4:25

 

   In Abraham's case, "his faith was counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:5) by God. The word for "count" is used throughout the Bible. Its principle is universal and it usage is both ancient and modern.

   The Greek word for "counted" is logizomai. It appears 41 times in the NT. Of these, 35 are from the pen of Paul and 19 are in Romans, 11 of which are in chapter 4! This word is difficult to trace in our English Bible because 12 different words are used in its translation. Of these our chapter uses reckon, impute, and count.

   These uses must be put into two groups: "imputing" is charging or putting something upon one's account. Wages are reckoned in 4:4, righteousness in 4:6,11,23,24, and sin in 4:8, and they are all actualities. Whereas when something is "imputed for," it is imputed for something which it is not. Faith is not righteousness, but it is reckoned for it by God!

   A modern illustration will serve to explain this difference. Thinking back to days of gold coinage, we realize that the worth of a gold coin is intrinsic, that is, worth is not "imputed for" gold because gold has the worth in itself. But paper money is another matter, for it is worth nothing more than waste paper unless worth has been imputed for it. A fire will quickly prove it gives no more heat nor is its ash of any value. If worth is imputed for the paper, then, and only then might its purchasing power equal that of gold. Yet it would be a mistake to say that a paper note was actually of the same value as gold.

   Worth "imputed for" paper money depends solely upon the re-sources of the backing government. History records the worthlessness of paper money upon the collapse of governments. So with faith! Faith is not righteousness, but faith is reckoned for righteous-ness. Righteousness is only in the Lord. True merit is found in "the faith of Christ," and because of His faith (fidelity) my faith may be reckoned by God for righteousness. If Christ's faith and righteousness did not exist, my faith would have no value. There, in the Bank of Heaven, is the gold of perfect righteousness, wrought by Another on our behalf, which alone makes our faith of any value.

 

Ivan L. Burgener