"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus …" (Rom. 8:1).
The way we are reconciled to God is through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. This is integral to the atonement because without it God’s justice would not be satisfied. It is necessary for us to be covered by the righteousness of Christ in order to be freed from the condemnation of the law. For this to happen, Christ had to live a perfect life and then die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin.
Before we look at imputation, we must understand that God cannot simply overlook sin. God is holy and just, and it would be contrary to His character for Him to say that it didn’t matter that we sinned against Him. Think of it this way: If a court of law never condemned people for their crimes, but simply let everyone off the hook, what kind of justice system would that be? There would be no justice because law would have no meaning. As we stated in previous lessons, we have transgressed God’s law and stand guilty before Him. He cannot simply look the other way, so how can we be justified and declared innocent before Him? How can this condemnation that hangs over us be removed?
This is where imputation comes in. By imputation our sin was reckoned to Christ on the cross and His righteousness was credited to our account. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and became a worthy sacrifice. He alone could stand in our place because He alone was sinless. If He had been a sinner, His sacrifice would have been unacceptable because someone would have had to make atonement for His sin. But because He was pure and unblemished, He was able to take our place on the cross, and thereby to satisfy God’s justice. Our guilt was imputed to Him, and He bore the penalty. But this alone does not make us righteous—Christ’s righteousness had to be imputed to us, making us righteous in God’s sight and acceptable to come before His presence.
This is a legal transference. We are still sinners, but we are declared just before God because of Christ’s righteousness. The only way we can ever receive the merit of Christ is by faith in Him. This is what it means to be justified by faith alone. We cannot be justified by our own works, but only by the righteousness of Christ who took our sins, bore the penalty, and transferred His righteousness to us.
Read Romans 7:14–25. To be a sinner yet justified before God has very practical implications. It means that we still struggle with sin, but that we have confidence that God loves us, that Christ is interceding on our behalf, and that we cannot lose our salvation. Memorize today’s verse, and repeat it to yourself when you doubt your salvation.