Opus 2012-213, Imputed or Imparted? Part 2 of 2

Last post I discussed the concept of “imputed righteousness.”  Let me repeat in case you just dropped in, if you don’t like theology you can skip this post.  If you have a short fuse it might also be a good idea to update your I-pod instead.

The other way of looking at God’s action in salvation is called “imparted righteousness.”  When you impart something you give it.  You don’t pretend, it is actually transferred.  Thus when we are washed in the blood and filled with the Holy Spirit, God imparts His righteousness to us.  He makes us righteous.

Let’s use the Biblical concept of adoption.  Five times in the NASB it refers to our “adoption as sons.”  Paul was writing in Greek.  Adoption had a much higher position in the Roman and Greek world than it does today.  Today people adopt when they can’t have children.  In those days adoption was considered a higher way of passing on the inheritance.  As Paul was writing even the Roman emperors were passing on the crown by adoption, not blood.  The adopted didn’t just happen, they were chosen because of the qualities they offered.

But even today we can get a glimmer of this idea of imparting righteousness when we are adopted.  If we were to adopt a child and bring him home and he had come out of some rotten environment we would not bring him home and just dress him nice and call him nice.  We would not poor perfume on him and declare him sweet smelling.  We would take the child in and scrub him down and get rid of all the dirt before we gave him the nice clothes and perfume.  And then we would take him to the doctor and have him inoculated to make sure there were no residual diseases.  We would keep scrubbing and checking up until we are satisfied.  Make the application.  God is not satisfied with sinners.  He makes us saints.  Jesus died for us when we were yet sinners but He did so to make us like Him.

Imparted righteousness.  It may not fit your theology, but it fits your Bible.

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