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| The Great Exchange TOOK place at the Cross, not when you believe the gospel. The LORD God the Judge executed the Great Exchange - the Double Imputation |
#single_imputation
#double_imputation
#TheGreatExchange
The doctrine of
imputation is at the heart of the gospel;
No imputation, no salvation; period.
A few brief notes on
the subject:
The word “impute” is a legal and accounting term; it means “to credit to one’s account.” Imputation is the legal act of God the Judge alone.
1. There was a
single-imputation in the Garden of Eden
- Adam’s sin was
imputed to every single human of the whole human race represented by him; he
was appointed as the representative head by the LORD God the Creator.
- The imputation of
Adam’s sin brought the condemnation and death and alienation upon the whole
human race, EVEN THOUGH none represented by Adam has personal existence yet,
except the woman of whom Adam said, “bones of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”
Rom 5:12 “Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
- how was the sin of
one man (Adam) related to “all have sinned”? He was appointed the
representative head.
- how was the sin of
one man (Adam) related to “so death passed upon all men”? His sin was IMPUTED to
all represented by him.
Rom 5:18 KJV
Therefore as by the
offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life.
- how did the
offence of one bring judgment upon all men to condemnation? Adam represented
the whole human race; his one offence in the garden of Eden was imputed to all
posterity
1Co 15:22 “For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
- How in Adam all
represented by him die? His sin was imputed to all represented by him, i.e. the
whole human race.
2. There was a
double-imputation on the Cross of Calvary
- Please note well,
the double imputation took place at the cross; the misguided reformed people
believe it takes place when a sinner believes in Jesus Christ; when he gives
Christ his sins.
- “There WAS” – a
past complete legal action executed by the LORD God alone; you did nothing; you
did not have personal existence yet even though your name has been in the
Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
- Christ’s
righteousness was imputed by the LORD God the Judge to all represented by
Christ, and all the sins of all those represented by Him were imputed to Him.
Christ’s life of perfect obedience to all the laws of God secured the
righteousness needed for the justification of His people, to reverse the
condemnation brought about by the imputation of Adam’s sin (this is called
“original sin”) and their own actual sins.
- Christ bore the
curse of and suffered fully for all the sins of all His people that were
perfectly and completely imputed to Him by LORD God. No, no, no, it was not you
who give your sins to Christ; you did nothing, absolutely nothing in this GREAT
EXCHANGE; you were not even around yet! It was all by the free and sovereign
act of the LORD God for all those whom He had given to His Son to redeem.
- This Great
Exchange has secured and accomplished the LEGAL justification of God’s elect;
the legal justification of all God’s elect took place at the cross by the one
legal act of God in imputing the righteousness of Christ to them and imputing
all their sins to Christ.
- This is the LEGAL
justification, justification accomplished.
2Cor 5:21 "For he hath
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him."
- The LORD God has
made Christ Jesus to be sin for us: "has made" is present perfect, a
past completed action with the effect of that action remaining true to the
present moment.
3. An elect that is
LEGALLY justified is not yet PERSONALLY justified until it is vitally applied to that elect personally; they are NOT, NOT, NOT the
same.
- The legal
imputation of righteousness to you does not need your personal existence; the
personal application of righteousness to you requires your personal existence;
without it, the righteousness of Christ cannot be applied to you personally. What has
been legally imputed has to be applied to an elect personally.
- The righteousness
that was LEGALLY IMPUTED to all the elect (a class action) at the cross event
is PERSONALLY APPLIED to each elect at his effectual calling out of his native
state of sin, death, and alienation to that state of righteousness
(justification), eternal life (regeneration), and sonship (adoption). This is the VITAL justification -
justification applied.
- The effectual call
is the free and sovereign act of God alone in bestowing the eternal salvation
tha Jesus Christ the Redeemer has secured and accomplished for His people.
The effectually
called elect is bestowed with the Spirit of adoption; this Spirit of adoption
works in him all the saving graces, including faith; this saving grace of faith
enables a child of God to believe the gospel of his salvation. Believing the
gospel of his salvation by the righteousness and blood of Jesus Christ, his
faith justifies/demonstrates/vindicates that he has been feely justified by
God. This is PRACTICAL justification - justification experience.
The above truths
have been beautifully summarized by the Old School Baptists in the 1689 Baptist
Confession of Faith, 1689.11.4
"God did from
all eternity decree to justify all the elect,11 and Christ did in the fullness
of time die for their sins, and rise again for their justification;12
nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the Holy Spirit in
time does actually apply Christ to them.13"
i. God decreed the
justification of all the elect before the foundation of the world. This is the
ETERNAL justification - a term often misunderstood as though it says that the
elect are already justified personally in eternity. So, to avoid that
confusion, I use Decretal justification, i.e justification decreed in eternity.
ii. Christ Jesus
secured the legal justification of all the elect at his death and resurrection.
They are LEGALLY justified; this is the LEGAL justification.
iii. Though LEGALLY
justified, they are not justified PERSONALLY until the Holy Spirit in time does
actually apply Christ to each of them personally – this happens at the
effectual calling. This is the VITAL justification.
iv. The effectual
calling makes believing in Jesus Christ possible, leading to PRACTICAL
salvation;
It's the genius of
the Baptist's Framers to add that most significant word *personally* in the
1689 COF; it's not in the WCF.
May the LORD God bless you to know these things, and to cherish them.
Ignorance of these
vital gospel truths is bad, but representing them wrongly is even worse. May the LORD save us from this evil. Amen.
Job 42 KJV
7 ¶ And it was so,
that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz
the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends:
for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
8 Therefore take
unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer
up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for
him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not
spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
