John Owen: Different Types of Imputation

 

First, there are instances in which something is imputed unto us which is really inherent in us, before that imputation takes place. This includes two things in it:

   

1. A recognition that the thing which is imputed to us is truly inherent in the subject (the person receiving the imputation).

2. A judgment according to that recognition, whether it is good or evil. Such was the case with Jacob towards Laban - “So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face.” (Genesis 30:33)

“Concerning this imputation it must be observed, that whatever is our own antecedently thereunto, which is an act of God thereon, can never be imputed unto us for anything more or less than what it is really in itself….Wherefore, in the imputation of any thing unto us which is ours, God esteems it not to be other than it is. He does not esteem that to be a perfect righteousness which is imperfect; so to do, might argue either a mistake of the thing judged on, or perverseness in the judgment itself upon it. Wherefore, if, as some say, our own faith and obedience are imputed unto us for righteousness, seeing they are imperfect, they must be imputed unto us for an imperfect righteousness, and not for that which is perfect; for that judgment of God which is according unto truth is in this imputation. And the imputation of an imperfect righteousness unto us, esteeming it only as such, will stand us in little stead in this matter.” (The Works of John Owen, 5:168)

Second, there is an imputation to us of that which is not inherent in us or properly belonging to us in time before that imputation.

1. Things that are not inherently our own before imputation can still be credited to us ex justitia, “by the rule of righteousness.”

1. Federal Imputation - This takes place when an act done by one person is imputed unto another person, due to a covenantal relationship between them. Such was the case when Adam’s actual sin was imputed to us, because of Adam’s federal headship over the human race.

2. Natural Imputation (imputation ex justitia propter relationem naturalem) is when one person’s sin is imputed to another person because of a natural relationship between them, as when a father’s sin is imputed to his son. Such was the case with the children of Israel in Numbers 14:33. 

3. Imputation ex voluntaria sponsione - when one freely takes upon a charge which more properly belongs to someone else. Speaking on behalf of Onesimus, Paul said “If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.” (Philemon 18)

4. Imputation ex injuria - when something is imputed unto someone which he is not guilty of. Bathsheba said to David “Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.” (1 Kings 1:21)

5. Imputation ex mera gratia - when an action is imputed unto another from mere grace and mercy, although it was not properly ours before that imputation. Such is the case with the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us. In this case, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto us is logically prior to the declaration that we are righteous and just in Him. 

Imputation is not a declaration of justified persons to be righteous, when they are not really so in reality. People who misunderstand imputation in this way, are assuming what they have yet to prove, namely that a person can only be truly denominated as something if it is inherent in them (similar to the way an accident inheres in a substance, though perhaps the papists would not express themselves that way). This sort of false imputation does not fit into any of the categories we have described above.