Well, there's a steady stream of questions that arrive from listeners seeking clarity on where Protestants differ from Roman Catholics. And there's much to talk about, of course. Today's question comes from a listener named Jordan. Pastor John, hello, and thank you for this podcast. I've recently discovered that a ministry I closely associated with in the past does not believe that Jesus' righteousness is imputed to us, but is imparted to us.

Can you explain the difference between imputation and impartation, and how does the Bible explain these concepts about us in relationship to Christ? The Roman Catholic Church pronounced anathemous curses on the Reformers, like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and their Protestant heirs like me, because the Reformers understood that the way we are justified before God is through imputation, imputation of Christ's righteousness, his perfection, to us through faith alone.

The language of imputation comes especially from Romans chapter 4, where Paul says, for example, in verses 4 and 5, "Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due, and to the one who does not work but believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted or imputed as righteousness." Or verse 6, "David speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts or imputes righteousness apart from works." So the picture is that the work of Christ is the foundation or ground for our acceptance, our forgiveness, our justification before God, and the way it is the foundation is that it provides a historical moment in time when God imputes our sin to the sinless Jesus on the cross and establishes his perfection and his righteousness with a consummating act of obedience so that he could impute then to us through faith that righteousness when we believe.

So we read in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin so that in him, in him, in union with him, we might become the righteousness of God." So that's the massive, unshakable, historical, once-for-all foundation and ground and basis for our justification, and the way we participate in that great exchange or substitution is through faith.

So Paul says in Philippians 3:8, "For Christ's sake we have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that we might gain Christ and be found in him, be in union with him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from law, but that righteousness which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." So faith is the instrument or the means through which God unites us to Christ.

Paul's words are "be found in him," so that in him, in union with him, through faith, his righteousness is counted or imputed as being ours, though it's not ours in the sense that we performed it or that we have become intrinsically good or virtuous or righteous. So the imputation is the work of God through faith by which we are declared or counted or imputed righteous because of Christ's blood and righteousness.

He bore our punishment and provided our righteousness, and we get in on that by imputation through faith. And this happens in the twinkling of an eye. When God creates saving faith in the fallen human heart, in that instant the believer is united to Christ, and all the benefits of Christ are counted as his.

He has accepted us and loved us and forgiven us and counted us righteous so that we're legally adopted into his family, secured forever, as he says in Romans 8, 30, "Those whom he justified he glorified." It's as good as done. If you're justified in the twinkling of an eye, you are as good as glorified in the last day.

God will see to it that you maintain the faith and enjoy the benefits of union with Christ forever. Now one of the reasons that the Roman Catholic Church rejected this understanding of the Bible, this understanding of justification by faith alone through imputation, is that it seemed to them to lead to lawlessness.

If Christ's righteousness is imputed to us by faith alone, why should we pursue a daily practical righteous life, a holy life? And the way the Roman Catholic Church conceived of justification to prevent that lawlessness was to conceive of justification and sanctification, the becoming of practical holiness, justification and sanctification as virtually the same.

So here's what the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Council of Trent, said, "Justification is not remission of sins merely but the sanctification." Let me say that again. Justification is sanctification and renewal of the inward man through the voluntary reception of grace. In other words, justification is not the imputation of Christ's righteousness, but the impartation—and here's why this is such a big deal and why those two words matter hugely—the Roman Catholic Church would say that justification is the impartation of goodness or righteousness or holiness.

It is a gift, but it is a real human virtue, a real obedience, a real transformation, a real sanctification. Justification is not a legal transaction; it is a moral transformation. And in view of what we've seen, I agree with the Reformers that this is not what the New Testament teaches that justification is.

Romans 5:19, "As by one man's disobedience the many were appointed sinners, counted sinners, sin imputed to them." So by one man's obedience, Christ's, the many will be appointed righteous. Now, besides being contrary to the Bible, there are two other problems with treating justification and sanctification as the same, or treating justification as the impartation of righteousness instead of treating it as the imputation of righteousness.

And one is, one of the problems is that if you do that, it destroys the New Testament way of life, the New Testament way of pursuing sanctification, the gospel way of pursuing, the confident, hope-filled way of pursuing sanctification. In the New Testament, by grace, through faith, in an instant, our sins are forgiven.

We're accepted by God, we're counted righteous, we are secure in an instant. And on the basis of that new standing with God, secure forever, now, on the basis of that, with that footing, with that ground under our feet, we fight sin and pursue holiness as those who are already accepted, already secured, already perfected.

Listen to two texts. Here's 1 Corinthians 5, 7. "Cleanse out the old leaven," picturing sin as leaven in a lump of dough. "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened." That whole dynamic of Christian living is destroyed. If justification is the becoming of having all the sin taken out of us already, we are supposed to get the leaven of sin out of us, so it must be there in a practical sense, because we are unleavened.

That is, we are counted as having no leaven. Or let me say it even differently and better, maybe from Hebrews 10, 14. "For by a single offering," namely Christ's, "he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." Amazing! In other words, you are now being sanctified, that is, practically being made holy or perfect, and that is an evidence that by a single offering you're already perfect.

Study 1 Corinthians 5, 7 and Hebrews 10, 14. So that whole way of life, fighting sin and pursuing holiness on the basis of an already being accepted, loved, holy, righteous, secure—that whole way of living is undermined by replacing imputation with impartation. So this is no small thing. This is a very, very, very big deal.

The Reformers didn't risk their lives for nothing. And the last thing I would say that makes it a big deal is that the glory of Christ is diminished when impartation replaces imputation, because that view does not honor Christ as having achieved a justifying righteousness that provides for the complete acquittal and vindication of all God's people in the instant they believe.

And that is a glorious truth to be sacrificed or lost. Amen. These conversations are not debates over mere semantics. These are matters weighty and significant and relevant to everyone. Thank you, Pastor John. And thank you for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast and making it a part of your day.

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Well, it seems that we see signs and wonders and miracles all over our Bibles. But for many of us, we see an absence of signs, wonders, and miracles in our own lives and in the world around us. Why? Where did all the wonders go? That's the question on the table when we return on Monday.

I'm really looking forward to that one. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you next week. Have a great weekend. week. Have a great weekend.