Please carefuly read this study, it is of salvific value, great light from the second apartment of the sanctuary that shines in the midst of great darkness.
1. Observe these blanket statements that are lies. We are told that because the Greek word “logizomai” means impute, count, or reckon, it could never mean “to make” righteous.
“A careful study reveals that all the English translation of the New Testament (of which I am aware) recognized that the Greek word logizomai-impute-in its contextual usage with the NT doctrine of righteousness always means to reckon, count, or account righteous, never to make righteous. In any of its NT. Usages, logizomai never means ‘to make’ but always to consider or to reckon.” Gordon W. Collier, Sr., “Reckon” [logizomai] in the NT and its translators, p. 1.
The Jesus Institute Forum that is making this claim is assuming that because the word means to reckon, count or impute, it could never mean “to make” or even to be used in such a context, thus they interpret “imputed righteousness” to mean that the person is not “made righteousness”.
“It bears repeating that logizomai in the context of the NT teaching of ‘righteousness by faith’ cannot be rendered to mean, making inwardly righteous. Accordingly, the righteousness of ‘justification by faith’ or ‘righteousness by faith’ is not in us! Our righteousness is only in Christ in heaven.” Ibid, p. 1.
So what do they think? That we are devoid of the righteousness of Christ, but in sanctification we have a different “righteousness” in us? Yes, they seem to believe. Observe what the Jesus Institute Forum is saying.
“Our righteousness is only in Christ in heaven. The righteousness of sanctification by the indwelling Holy Spirit is in us on earth, but it is a lifelong process of growth and is always relative and not complete in this life.” Ibid, p. 1.
A chart at this point in time will help us see a little more clear what these people are really teaching us.
5. This outrageous teaching is a religion that suits well the carnal mind, because it achieves two delusions in the so-called Christian.
a. It makes him think, assume or presume (for that is what he really does) that he has a perfect sinless righteousness in heaven, and yet be satisfied that it is not in him, and still have hope of salvation based upon it.
b. It makes him think that he has some form of goodness (sanctification righteousness) in him and yet be not troubled that he is not sinfree but still does wrong, because it is not complete in this life, and always relative; and he feels secure while never becoming sinfree because this “sanctification righteousness” is a lifelong process of growth. Mrs. White spoke of this delusion in this way:
“My soul is made very sad to see how quickly some who have had light and truth will accept the deceptions of Satan, and be charmed with a spurious holiness … And if men and women who have the knowledge of the truth are so far separated from their Great Leader that they will take the great leader of apostasy and name him Christ our Righteousness, it is because they have not sunk deep into the mines of the truth. They are not able to distinguish the precious one from the base material.” Ellen G. White, Notebook Leaflets from the Elmshaven Library, p. 57.
6. Because these people have chewed upon second handed food that have be chewed by others before and mixed with their bitter bile, they are blind in presumption. They even overlook the fact that they might be making a serious mistake with the word impute or logizamai. Can it not be that the word count can mean a gift to someone of something? Who tells them that count means “make-believe having”? Or that it means having something without actually possessing the thing in person? It is true that the words “impute”, “reckon”, “count” or “credit” can mean esteeming something to someone he does not really have, but that is “make believe” imputation. The Dictionary meanings of these words does not always mean “having in a non-possessive sense,” they can also mean “a method of actually giving” something to someone so that they actually possess it also. Let’s book at the Dictionary meanings that is also possible for these words.
Impute. Reckon. Count. Credit.
a. One can impute something to someone that they really have. If we say that “We impute humility to you”, this will mean that because the person actually has the humility, we can declare it as their trait. Observe that the word impute does not always mean “not really having” but only make believe having.
“IMPUTE, to think, reckon; properly, to set, to put, to throw to or on … To charge; to attribute; to set to the account of … to ascribe …” Noah Webster, 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
“Impute, … To attribute or ascribe, usually something discreditable, to a person; to charge a person with, as a fault …” The Lexicon Webster Dictionary, Vol. 1., p. 483.
b. Just as both Dictionaries just revealed that the word impute does not necessarily mean “make-believe possession”, but could also mean actual possession, so to the word “reckon” can mean a counting something the really have.
“RECKON, … to count, to reckon, to esteem …” Noah Webster, 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
“reckon … to esteem, regard as, or consider …” The Lexicon Webster Dictionary Vol. 2., p. 799.
c. “COUNT, … To reckon; to place to an account … To esteem; to account …” Noah Webster, 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
“count; … to consider or regard; to estimate …” The Lexicon Webster Dictionary Vol. 1, p. 231.
d. “CREDIT, … Esteem … To set to the credit …” 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
“credit, … belief; trust … an entry on the right-hand side of an account indicating a payment or other item lessening the claim against a debtor ...” The Lexicon Webster Dictionary Vol. 1., p. 237.
7. So much we can use the word impute or count to mean the impartation of something, that even Mrs. White uses it so. We see here that God gives righteousness to us by imputing. To impute merely means the way it is given, impute is a mental giving, that is all, it does not say where the thing given is, so it is wrong to imply that the word refers to a righteousness not in the person on earth, or not in their actual possession. To say that is just to add to the meaning of the word. Observe how Mrs. White uses it.
a. “His imputed grace and power He gives to all who receive Him by faith.” Ellen G. White, Bible Commentary Vol. 7. (Emphasis added).
We ask, where is the grace and power He gives (imputes) to us? Is it in heaven? No, not at all, the power is in us.
b. Observe here that we can keep the commandments of God through imputed righteousness. Now if it does not change us or make us righteous, If the righteousness is only in Christ in heaven and not on earth, how then does it make us keep the Law? This shows us that when God imputes His righteousness to us, He actually gives it into us that we are actually enabled to keep the Law.
“Christ clothed his divinity with humanity and endued the test upon the point of appetite, ambition, and love of the world, thus making it possible for man to keep the commandments of God through his imputed righteousness.” Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, June 11, 1894. (Emphasis supplied).
c. Again we are told that we are actually made to obey God’s Law through imputed righteousness. This is not sham obedience, but real tangible obedience. Now, if imputed righteousness meant, as the Jesus Institute Forum tells us, that the righteousness was only counted as ours, was not in us, but only in heaven, how then does it make us obey? This goes to show that when we are told God imputes righteousness to us, He actually gives it to us IN us, so that with this righteousness in us, we are able to keep the Law of God. Thus impute is in fact the method of imparting to us.
“He testifies that through His imputed righteousness the believing soul shall obey the commandments of God.” Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, Jan. 16, 1896. (Emphasis supplied).
d. Here we see that imputed righteousness enable us to attain the perfection of Christian character. Now, if the fact that righteousness is imputed means that it is only counted to us but is not actually in our possession, if the righteousness is only in Christ in heaven, and not on earth in us, how then are we enabled to perfect Christian characters? This is not the Jesus Institute Forum’s so-called “righteousness of sanctification”, it is Christ’s righteousness, the one they tell us is in Christ alone in heaven and not on earth. Yet here we are told in enables us to perfect our human characters, showing us that this righteousness when imputed to us, is actually given to us and is in our possession. And where us it? Why, IN US of course, thus it enables us to perfect Christian characters.
“through the merits of Christ, through His righteousness, which by faith is imputed unto us, we are to attain to the perfection of Christian character.” Ellen G. White, Testimonies For the Church Vol. 5, p. 744. (Emphasis supplied).
e. Here we see imputed righteousness becomes a “living principle in our life,” this is how it enables us to keep the Law of God. Now, if the Jesus Institute Forum were right, if when righteousness is imputed to us, if it remains in Christ in heaven and never on earth as they say, then how does Mrs. White (which they conveniently use) say that it is a living principle in our life? This clearly shows that the Forum and its teachings about imputed righteousness is definitely and dreadfully wrong and must be given up or abandoned. The facts are, Christ’s righteousness, when imputed to us is actually given into us, so that imputed, reckoned, counted to credited are just ways of showing how God mentally gives us righteousness, but He actually gives it into our possession. So God imparts by imputing, counting or esteeming.
“Through faith in His name He imputes unto us His righteousness, and it becomes a living principle in our life.” Ellen G. White, That I May Know Him, p. 302. (Emphasis supplied).
f. Again, we see that the division made by the Jesus Institute Forum between “Christ’s Righteousness” and the “righteousness of sanctification” by telling us that the former is in heaven in Christ and not in us, when it is imputed to us, and the latter is in us by the “indwelling of the Holy Spirit”, is proven to be false by the very Mrs. White whom they use conveniently. She shows that is the imputed righteousness of Christ that we receive by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so this righteousness is not in Christ in heaven only, it is in us who are penitent when it is imputed to us, and it actually transforms us. Thus we get a clearer and true picture of the process of salvation. God imputes the righteousness of Christ into us, which is imparting it into us by the actual gift of His Spirit, so that righteousness dwells within us as the living principle of the Holy Spirit enabling and motivating us to keep the Law of God and so develop perfect Christian human characters. This is the real truth, not the fatal heresy of the Jesus Institute Forum.
“By receiving His imputed righteousness, through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we become like Him.” Ellen G. White, Bible Commentary Vol. 6, p. 1098. (Emphasis supplied).
g. This further statement destroys the very philosophical structure upon which the false concepts of the Jesus Institute forum is built. Their ideas of imputation righteousness, justification, sanctification are all wrong. Their claims are unguarded presumptions structured upon certain statements and scriptures. The righteousness imputed to us is Christ’s righteousness, and this is how God gives it to us that it may be our actual possession. It is IN us through the Holy Spirit, so that we are enabled to stand against the wiles of the devil. This could not be so if the Righteousness was in Christ in heaven and not in us.
“… put on the whole armor of God, open the soul to the righteousness of Christ; and this alone, Christ’s imputed righteousness,—makes you able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ellen G. White, Sons and Daughters of God, p. 346.
h. A better chart of the real nature of imputed righteousness can thus be presented. The Righteousness is Christ’s own, it is in us, imputed or given into us by the Holy Spirit, and this sanctifies us.
i. Again, we see that Christ's righteousness, when imputed to us is actually given into us, so that we can be made loyal to God. Now if it was in heaven in Christ, we would no be able to be loyal to God through this righteousness, and Christ’s righteousness is sinlessly perfect, so it is not the so-called imperfect “righteousness of sanctification” of the Jesus Institute Forum. Furthermore the loyalty we receive from Christ’s sinlessly perfect righteousness is 100% loyalty or it is no loyalty at all. This means that Christ's Righteousness makes us actually sinless, and breaks the power of Satan. So it is not the spurious holiness of Satan espoused by the Forum.
“The righteousness of Christ was brought in and imputed to him that he might be brought back to his loyalty to God.” Ellen G. White, Morning Talks, Oct. 20, 1888. (Emphasis supplied).
j. So evident it is that logizomai or imputation must be seen as impartation, and the impartation must be subjective, showing that the word can also be used that way, against the claims of the Jesus Institute Forum, that Mrs. White tells us that divine power is imputed to us. Now if imputed didn’t actually mean subjective imparted, pray tell us, when then is that divine power? If it is outside of us in Christ in heaven, then we cannot return to our allegiance to God, because we have no actual divine power in our possession. Thank God the concepts o f the Forum are false.
“Through the divine power imputed to them they are to return to their allegiance.” Ellen G. White, Mind Character and Personality Vol. 1, p. 14.
8. Before we look at some scriptures that explains imputation as subjective impartation, let us look briefly at another impulsive, presumptuous, forward misrepresentation of the Jesus Institute Forum concerning Justification or Righteousness by faith. They plainly tell us.
“The Protestant reformers and all these translators believed that ‘justification by faith’ is the same as ‘righteousness by faith’. They also believed that justification by faith—righteousness by faith-was not a making inwardly righteous, but a reckoning and declaring legally righteous.” “Reckon” [logizomai] in the NT and its translators, p. 1. by Gordon W. Collier, Sr.
9. This is a LIE! The Reformation started off with a subjective change oriented Justification, and this was later corrupted into what the Forum is now calling justification or righteousness by faith. Luther accurately taught Justification by Faith.
“The great doctrine of justification by faith, so clearly taught by Luther, had been almost wholly lost sight of …” Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 253.
Here is the very founder of the Protestant reformation himself, Martin Luther teaching that Justification is an inner change or transformation contrary to what the Jesus Institute Forum is saying.
“Natural motion is our motion, but the movement of justification is the work of God in us, to which our propositions refer.” Martin Luther, Disputation on Justification (1536), quoted in, Erwin R. Gane, The Scriptural Doctrine of Justification, pp. 13-14.
Martin Luther even explains “righteousness outside of us” different to deceived people like the Jesus Institute Forum. He does not mean that the righteousness is outside of our powers, we really have the righteousness in our possession. It is “outside of only in the sense of outside of our ability to merit it. Here is Luther plain as day.
“The phrase is grammatical. To be outside of us means not to be out of our powers. Righteousness is our possession, to be sure, since it was given to us out of mercy. Nevertheless, it is foreign to us, because we have not merited it.” Martin Luther, Luther’s Works 34:178; quoted in Ibid, p. 14.
Here we see that Christ our Righteousness does not dwell in heaven and not in us on earth also as the deceived Jesus Institute Forum tells us; Christ, according to Luther dwells in the heart of the believer.
“Therefore the Christ who is grasped by faith and who lives in the heart is the true Christian righteousness, on account of which God counts us righteous and grants us eternal life.” Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, 26:130; quoted in Ibid, p. 14.
“By faith alone, not by faith formed by love, are we justified. We must not attribute the power of justification to a “form” that makes a man pleasing to God; we must attribute it to faith, which takes hold of Christ the Savior Himself and possesses Him in the heart.” Martin Luther, Luther’s Works 26:137. Quoted in, Ibid, p. 14.
“But so far as justification is concerned, Christ and I must be so closely attached that He lives in me and I in Him. What a marvelous way of speaking!” Because He lives in me, whatever grace, righteousness life, peace, and salvation there is in me is all Christ’s; nevertheless, it is mine as well, by the cementing and attachment that are through faith, by which we become as one in Spirit. Since Christ lives in me, grace, righteousness, life, and eternal salvation must be present with Him; and the law, sin, and death must be absent.” Martin Luther, Luther’s Works 26:167-168. Quoted in Ibid, p. 14.
13. There is a simple pattern to understand that logizamai or imputation is a subjective giving of Faith and Righteousness into the heart of the believer. The pattern goes like the following.
a. Since the carnal mind is not subjected the Law of God, and no man by searching can find God, God must first temporarily remove the carnal mind that man may lose his blindness. (Romans 8:6-8; Job 11;7; Ephesians 4:18; Psalms 36:9)
b. That man may see the Righteousness of God which is in Faith, God must by His Spirit convict man of sin and of righteousness in his heart, this must be temporarily done in the heart. (John 16:7-8; Acts 2:37).
c. If the man repent and believe the Gospel and confess to God … (Mark 1:14,15; Romans 10:9,10).
d. The next step of God is to non-impute, that is, to no longer count the carnal mind (or sin-idols) as the man’s value or experience. Romans 4:8.
e. The next thing is that He counts or imputes or reckons the Faith and Righteousness that is in the man’s heart convicting him, as his new experience or ideal-values. Romans 4:3,5,6.
14. The question we need to ask is where is the Faith and Righteousness that is just imputed to the man? The answer is, they are IN HIS HEART, in him, so that God’s mental counting, imputation, or estimation actually gives the man Christ’s Faith and Righteousness in his heart. This is how imputation is in fact a subjective impartation. This is why a proper translation of Romans 3:22 tells us:
“Even the righteousness of God which is through faith of Jesus Christ into [Greek, “eis”] all and upon all that believe for there is no difference.” Romans 3:22.
This clearly shows that Righteousness through Faith is IN the person’s heart, thus David said he did not hide it there. Psalms 40:10.
It also shows us that all God has to do when he justifies the penitent is to mentally give, which is impute or esteem the Righteousness of Faith to the believer, and he has this Righteousness in Him which is Christ in Him by Faith. (Romans 4:3; (Romans 3:20 “in God’s sight,” God’s mental estimation), 1 Corinthians 1:30.; Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 3:17).
The Bible presents Justification as a gift of the Holy Spirit within the person’s heart, this same Justifications is by imputation. This means that the imputation of Righteousness is the subjective gift of the Holy Spirit in the heart, so that imputation (logizomai) is in fact a subjective giving, not a make believe-giving as is erroneously taught by the deceived Jesus Institute Forum. (Galatians 3:7-9,14; Romans 8:9; Romans 4:3,50).
We see that Faith is imputed to Abraham for Righteousness, but imputation gave him the Faith inwardly so much that he could walk in it as we are to do. This shows the inner giving of imputation contrary to what the Jesus Institute Forum says. (Romans 4:9,12,20-22.
When God counts something that was not as though it was, it does not remain in an unchanged state, but changes to the way God called it. Thus Sarah and Abraham reproductive organs were no longer dead by now alive to produce children. This proves the Forum dead wrong. Romans 4:17-22.
Fin.
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