Imputed righteousness
Imputed righteousness is a concept in Christian theology proposing that the "righteousness of Christ ... is imputed to —that is, treated as if it were theirs—through faith." It is on the basis of Jesus' righteousness that God accepts humans. This acceptance is also referred to as justification.
The teaching of imputed righteousness is a signature doctrine of the Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican traditions of Christianity.
Formulation
Catholic scholar Erasmus raises almost the first recorded distinction between to impute and to repute in 1503 Handbook of the Christian Knight. In his seminal 1516 Novum Instrumentum omne Latin rescension, Erasmus consistently rendered the Greek logizomai as "imputat" all eleven times it appears in Romans chapter four; however Erasmus did not believe that for every abstract word in Greek there was one exact equivalent in some other language. The Vulgate Erasmus intended to improve usually rendered it "reputat" ; Lorenzo Valla had previously used both.Luther did use the term in this sense as early as 1516. Some modern Lutherans deny that Luther taught it before other reformers such as Melancthon. Erasmus held that Luther's subsequent development of forensic imputation went too far.
Imputed, infused and imparted righteousness
Discussion of these concepts are complicated by different definitions of key terms, such as "justification" and "grace".- In Protestant theology, imputed righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus credited to the Christian, enabling the Christian to be justified. Double imputation is to the imputation of believers' sin to Christ and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to believers. It is closely related to the Reformed doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. Passages like 2 Corinthians 5:21, are employed to argue for a dual imputation – the imputation of one's sin to Christ and then of his righteousness to believers in him.
- * In the Protestant concept, justification is a status before God that is entirely the result of God's activity and that continues even when humans sin. Thus using different words for justification and sanctification reflects a distinction between aspects of salvation that are entirely the result of God's activity, and those that involve human cooperation.
- * In Methodist theology, imparted righteousness, is what God does in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit after justification, working in the Christian to enable and empower the process of sanctification. John Wesley believed that imparted righteousness worked in tandem with imputed righteousness.
- Infused righteousness, by contrast, can be described as: "In Augustine's view, God bestows justifying righteousness upon the sinner in such a way that it becomes part of his or her person." Starting with Augustine, the Catholic tradition has understood justification as the entire process by which God forgives and then transforms Christians.
Catholic theology uses a single term, in part because it does not recognize a distinction of this type. In Catholic theology, while everything originates with God, the entire process of justification requires human cooperation, and serious sin compromises it.
Imputed vs. infused
Both imputed and infused righteousness agree that God is the source of our righteousness, and that it is a gift that humans cannot deserve. Both models agree that God's activity results in humans being transformed, so that over time they become more obedient to God, and sin is progressively defeated in their lives.The distinction includes at least two areas:
; 1 How justification is maintained, and the effect of sin
; 2 Merit
While there are significant differences between imputed and infused righteousness, they can be regarded to a certain extent as differences in emphasis that are potentially complementary. Imputed righteousness emphasizes that salvation is a gift from God and is dependent upon him, while infused righteousness emphasizes the responsibility of humans to cooperate with God's actions in transforming their lives. The position that they are potentially complementary was taken in a joint declaration of the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church. Enough differences remain, however, both in doctrine and in practical consequences, that not everyone agrees that the two views can be regarded as complementary.
What is meant by righteousness?
The concepts here are nominally derived from the letters of Paul the Apostle, which form a large part of the Christian New Testament.However the concepts have been filtered through the concerns of later Christian theology. From at least the time of Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century, "righteousness" has been seen as a moral and religious quality. In the Catholic model, Christians are transformed by God's action, developing a righteousness of their own. In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformers came to understand human acceptance by God according to a "forensic" model, in which God declares humanity not guilty, even though they were in a moral sense still guilty of sin. However, the Reformers continued to accept the traditional concept of righteousness. What changed is that the righteousness was seen as Christ's, which was credited to Christians by God.
Starting in the middle of the 20th century, increased knowledge of first century Judaism has produced a reassessment of many of the concepts with which Paul was working. Many scholars now see "righteousness" as a Hebrew concept referring to fidelity to God's covenant with humanity or the status of being a proper member of that covenant. If this is correct, then righteousness is a status, not a quality of religious/moral perfection.
The case against both imputed and imparted righteousness
This section is a precis of N. T. Wright's work in "What Saint Paul Really Said".Wright, one of the best-known advocates of the New Perspective on Paul, teaches that "righteousness of God" and "righteousness from God" are distinct concepts that have been confused and conflated in the past. He relates the court-room metaphor, pointing out that there are three parties in the Hebrew court – two parties in disagreement and one judge. The judge decides the dispute between the parties declaring one to be correct and the other incorrect. The one who is declared "correct" in court is called "righteous" in the matter that was judged.
The "righteousness of God", referring to God's faithfulness to the covenant relationship, can be neither imputed nor imparted to anybody but refers only to his role as judge. "Righteousness from God" is roughly equivalent to "vindication", meaning that God is pronouncing that particular party to be correct/vindicated/righteous/acquitted in their dispute with the other party. The dispute in question in Christian theology is between those of faith, and "the wicked," meaning everyone else. Paul posited that the people of such faith are vindicated when the Messiah returns, being declared "righteous", which is the meaning of the Biblical term "justified", in Wright's view.
This means that we do not "receive" the righteousness of God, as in the classical Evangelical vernacular, nor is it "infused" as in the classical Catholic vernacular. The "righteousness of God" remains His alone, and our "righteousness from God" means that we are found to be "of" the people of God. Paul's argument is that it has always been so, but what has changed is that the Messiah, in Jesus of Nazareth, has now appeared.
An important verse to note is 2 Cor 5:21, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God", which has traditionally been interpreted to mean that the Christian has, in some way, become righteous, in exchange for Jesus' sinlessness. Moreover, Wright says, Paul is speaking here of the apostles, and pointing out that in their role as apostles, their activity is effectively God's righteousness in action. This meaning is natural when taken in context from verse 11 through 21.
The case for imputed righteousness
Imputed righteousness is the Protestant Christian doctrine that a sinner is declared righteous by God purely by God's grace through faith in Christ, and thus all depends on Christ's merit and worthiness, rather than on one's own merit and worthiness. On the one hand, God is infinitely merciful, "not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance." – though this passage is often interpreted by many Protestants as referring only to Christians, as the context of the epistle indicates that Peter's audience were believers, and the first half of the verse indicates that the promises of God to believers are not late but patiently enduring the unfolding of history as God sovereignly saves His own through time. On the other, God is infinitely holy and just, which means that he cannot approve of or even look upon evil, neither can he justify a wicked person. Because the Bible describes all men as sinners and says that there are none who are righteous this is a classic theological tension. To use the words of St Paul, how can God be "just and the justifier of those who believe ?" Through this argument, God cannot ignore or in any way overlook sin.Adherents say that God the Father resolves this problem by sending Christ, who is sinless and indestructibly perfect in character, to lead a perfect life and sacrifice himself for the sins of mankind. The sins of the repentant sinner are cast onto Christ, who is a perfect sacrifice. First of all, they note that the New Testament describes the method of man's salvation as the "righteousness of God". They then note that this imputed righteousness is particularly that of Jesus Christ. When they refer to the "imputed righteousness of Christ," they are referring to his intrinsic character as well as his life of sinlessness and perfect obedience to God's law on Earth, usually called his active obedience. The need for a human life of perfect obedience to God's law was the reason that Christ, who is God, had to become incarnate and live as a human being. Paul's statement in Romans 4:6, that God "imputes righteousness apart from works," is the basis for the fourth step in the argument that this righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believer's account. By this terminology, they mean that God legally credits the believer with the righteous acts that Christ performed while on this earth. Luther uses the language of a "fortunate exchange" to describe this concept, borrowed from St Paul's imagery in Colossians 3. Christ trades his "garments," holiness, righteousness, being blessed by God the Father, in exchange for human sin. This is really good news for sinners – Christ takes their sin and believers receive His blessed condition and righteousness.
This righteousness of Christ and its relationship to the recipient can also be likened to adoption. Adoption legally constitutes a child the son or daughter of a person that is not that child's birth parent. Similarly, in marriage the married partners are considered one entity legally. Sinners who believe in Christ are spiritually united with Christ, and that union makes it possible for God to credit believers with the righteousness of Christ without engaging in "legal fiction."
Arguments against the doctrine of imputed righteousness
A major objection to imputed righteousness is that it appears to be a means of acquitting the guilty rather than pardoning the guilty. The Greek word δικαιοο, usually translated "justify," may be understood in another sense: "to do justice" "to have justice done" or "to satisfy justice." The 1968 Supplement of Liddell Scott and Jones also includes the definition, "brought to justice"; this sense is the normative definition found in Hellenistic Greek meaning "to punish" or "administer justice." Instead of meaning declared righteous or made righteous, the term may mean the proper or legally approved punishment has been administered. Understood this way, the objectionable idea of acquitting the guilty in the term "justify" is avoided.Catholic
Many Christians, most notably Catholics, believe that when God declares a repentant person as righteous in Christ he also starts infusing that person with real righteousness. This, therefore, means that person is now infused with the righteousness of Christ: Christ's righteousness is a present reality, but it is also in the form of that person's own righteousness.Holiness movement
Denominations aligned with the Holiness tradition, including the Methodist Churches and Religious Society of Friends, in addition to certain Anabaptists and Restorationists (such as the Church of God (Guthrie, Oklahoma), have various doctrines that relate to a "second work of grace" that brings real not just imputed righteousness to the believer.Swedenborgianism
The Protestant doctrine of imputed righteousness is also opposed by the doctrine of The New Church, as explained by Emanuel Swedenborg. The "imputation" of the Lord's merit is nothing but the remission of sins after repentance. According to Swedenborg,Differing views about imputed righteousness
Catholic view
"The Catholic idea maintains that the formal cause of justification does not consist in an exterior imputation of the justice of Christ, but in a real, interior sanctification effected by grace, which abounds in the soul and makes it permanently holy before God. Although the sinner is justified by the justice of Christ, inasmuch as the Redeemer has merited for him or her the grace of justification, nevertheless he or she is formally justified and made holy by his or her own personal justice and holiness." Although internal and proper to the one justified, this justice and holiness are still understood as a gift of grace through the Holy Spirit rather than something earned or acquired independently of God's salvific work.Put starkly, the Catholic Church rejects the teaching of imputed righteousness as being a present reality. This is at the very center of the disagreements between Catholics and Lutherans, and remains the primary sticking point to a unification of these traditions to this day.