Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Double imputation

"If I may be so bold, the singular contribution of the Reformation doctrine of atonement and justification was that of double imputation. Justification is the courtroom declaration of God that an individual human is forgiven and in good standing with God. This declaration could occur, the Reformation thinkers argued, because of God;s imputing a human's sin to Christ and then imputing Christ's active obedience and righteousness to that human. A consistent understanding of the Reformation's theory of justification is that it is bound up with double imputation.

"I not only agree with double imputation, I up it. I think being 'in Christ' involves multiple imputations: every thing we are is shuffled to Christ and all that Christ can offer is shuffled to us. It is that big. he became what we are so that we could become what he is..."—A Community Called Atonement, p. 90 (italics his)

<idle musing>
Amen to that. I am convinced that we sell the atonement short, stopping with mere forensic statements of righteousness. The atonement is much more than a forensic decision; it is new life! New life in Christ—death to self in order that we might experience the true life of Christ in us. "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1
</idle musing>

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