Justification: Union by Imputation - by Michael Schultz

 Found here. Our comments in bold.

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It's one thing to make honest mistakes. And, it's not necessarily an emergency if someone has a different doctrinal perspective. We don't even get overly concerned when some Bible teacher doesn't get a Scripture quite correct.

But this author egregiously misrepresents Scripture, lies to us about Christ's work, and gets salvation itself perilously wrong. This article is a tour de force of Bad Bible Teaching, coupled with the various bad doctrines of Calvinism/Reformed.

We often examine bad teaching while still giving a pass to the author, but this author is a false teacher and should be marked and avoided.

For the record:

• The Father did not impute our sins to Jesus. Jesus' blood washed them away (Ep. 1:7). We discuss imputation here.
• Jesus did not impute His righteousness to us, He made us righteous by faith (Ro. 1:17).
• The Father did not punish Jesus. Jesus' blood was enough, so there is no reason to additionally punish Jesus (Ep. 2:13). See our explanation here.
• Sin is not a debt we owe. Jesus did not pay for our sin debt, He paid for us (1Co. 6:20) We discuss this here.
• Jesus' obedience through suffering, though prophesied, does not come to bear on our salvation. It is His death on the cross that is effectual (Ph. 2:8). We discuss Jesus' suffering here.

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Because it is the case—that our sin creates distance between ourselves and God—the Bible tells us that God has provided a solution to this problem for His people. Rather than allowing our sins to continue to separate us from Him, He has chosen to separate us from our sins.

God couldn’t be clearer about this, as He repeats the sentiment throughout the Old Testament. Most famously, He says in Psalm 103:12 that He removes our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. I enjoy other passages which teach this concept with different illustrations, such as Micah 7:9, which says God steps on our sins and throws them into the bottom of the ocean. (The author must be thinking of some other verse, because Micah 7:9 says, 

I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.)

One other favorite of mine is Isaiah 38:17, which says God “in love” throws all our sins behind His back.

To be clear, God is not simply ignoring our sins. The Bible teaches that if He is going to forgive our sins and cleanse us of them, He must do so in a manner that is “faithful and just” (1 John 1:9). He cannot do anything that is unjust or unfaithful. So, God has chosen to forgive our sins by the atoning blood of Christ, shed on our behalf (Hebrews 9:13-14). That was accomplished by God imputing our sins to Christ’s account on the cross, such that when He was on the cross, it was as though God looked at Him and saw us instead (Colossians 2:14).(??? This verse does not mention the author's claims:

Col. 2:14 having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

There is nothing here about imputing our sins to Christ, or who God looked at. The author is zero for one.) 

Jesus died for our sins. He was crushed by God the Father because of what we did (Isaiah 53:5). (??? This verse does not tell us the Father crushed Jesus:

Is. 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

The Romans and the Jews inflicted this, not God. The author is zero for two.)

He took our punishment, alleviating us of any remaining guilt before God (Romans 8:1). (??? This verse does not tell us that Jesus took our punishment:

Ro. 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...

The author is zero for three.)

The Reconciliation

While being forgiven and alleviated of all the sins we ever committed is wonderfully glorious news, it might come as a surprise to many that this alone was not sufficient to reconcile us to God. The removal of our sin debt made us (in a sense) morally neutral. We had neither any good nor any evil to our credit. This might sound nice, but only the righteous can have communion with God (Matthew 5:8; Matthew 5:20). Jesus’ death on the cross removes all debt (negative relations) between us and God, (There was no debt between us and God, there was only our sin and death. Jesus' blood washed us clean, and the Holy Spirit gave us new life.)

but we still have no credit (positive relations) with God, because even our most righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). (While the author correctly interprets the contents of the verse, he does not apply it correctly. The person washed by the blood is not longer filthy.)

So, Christ went further, and beyond dying the perfect death to remove all guilt from our account, (??? In the very next sentence the author acknowledges that we are clean, therefore we are not as filthy rags.)

Christ also lived the perfect life to supply all the needed righteousness for us to be reconciled to God. The Bible says that in order for us to be reconciled to God, Christ became sin so that we could “become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:20) through Him. (Actually, 2 Corinthians 5:21. And this verse makes no mention of Christ living a perfect life as a requirement for our righteousness. The author is zero for four.)

The former effort, wherein Christ took away our debt and guilt, is theologically referred to as the “Passive Obedience” of Christ. That is to say, Jesus passively permitted something to happen to Him (Where does the Bible say this?)

—namely the imputation of our sin to His account—for the sake of paying our debt, and the reception of the punishment due to us in His body on the cross. His Passive Obedience on our behalf relieves us of any debt. (The author repeats his assertions, adding a mystifying theological term to no one's benefit.)

The latter effort, wherein Christ provides for us all the needed righteousness to be reconciled to God, is theologically referred to as the “Active Obedience” of Christ. (Where does the Bible say this?)

That is to say, Jesus actively fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf (Matthew 3:15; Matthew 5:17) (Let's quote:

Mt. 3:15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented.

Mt. 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them."

"On our behalf" does not appear in either verse. The author is zero for five and six.)

by keeping the Law perfectly, (This also does not appear in the cited verses. The author is zero for seven.)

and He has permitted the rewards due to Him to be given also to us. (This also does not appear in the cited verses. The author is zero for eight.)

His active obedience on our behalf gains us unimpeded access to the Father. (There is no verse in the Bible that tells us that Jesus leading a perfect life was a requirement to effect our salvation. Rather, the blood alone is sufficient.)

The Conclusion

Since Scripture says that there is now no condemnation from God for those who have been forgiven by the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ, and since God’s people have become reconciled to Him by the imputed active obedience of Christ, such that they become the righteousness of God, then believers should understand three necessary conclusions of these truths: (These untruths...)

• Because our acceptance and deservedness of rewards in the sight of God is predicated on the life and death of Jesus Christ and not our own performance, we can believe that from the moment of our salvation we are declared not only forgiven but just in the sight of God and can expect nothing but lovingkindness from His hand as we would expect Him to give to Jesus Christ. This is the concept of justification—to be made just before God.
• Because this occurs irrevocably at the moment of our salvation (being predicated on the life and death of Jesus and not our own performance), we can believe that our justification is legally declared, rather than earned, as we are welded to the life and death of Jesus Christ. Some believe our poor performance will undermine the perfection of Christ, which God imputes to our account, but in Christ’s life, no one’s unholiness ever overwhelmed His holiness. In fact, when He touched the leper, He didn’t get leprosy, the leper got healed. The light came into the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. In the same way, the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to our account, at the moment of salvation, results in our being declared just in the sight of God irrevocably and inalterably.
• Because we are loved, forgiven, and justified in the sight of God, we can believe that we have every right, like Esther with her King, to approach the throne of God with boldness (Hebrews 4:16), confidence (Hebrews 10:19), and with full assurance (Hebrews 10:22), knowing that it is God Himself who invites us to “give him no rest” (Isaiah 62:7) by praying to Him without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Let us affirm with our Brothers from almost 500 years ago (The Belgic Confession, Article 23, “The Justification of Sinners), “We should not plead that we are unworthy—for it is not a question of offering our prayers on the basis of our own dignity, but only on the basis of the excellence and dignity of Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is ours by faith.”

If you are united to Christ by faith, you have received forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of God, and a promise of eternal reward because of the life and death of Jesus Christ, in whom you have trusted. Go like Esther to the throne of the King and pour your heart to Him who has declared you justified.