Predestinarian Network

As far as God was concerned, from eternity (as God is eternal and not temporally bound), He has looked upon Christ as the once and for all substitution for His people. He along with His people do not look to any other period in time except the entire life of Christ and His obedience culminating in His death on the cross for their justification. He has no need to wait until an individual possesses faith before He transfers righteousness to their account.

In fact, the very reason a person has faith is because righteousness has already been put to their account in the eternal mind of God. An elect person’s entire life is a result of the cross which involves their entire pre-conversion state. From the moment in time that one of God’s elect is born, the events of their life are directed and purposed by God for that person’s benefit. All that God has purposed for that person is because of God’s love for that individual, and that love must be conditioned upon something, which of course is the righteousness of Christ! A question we must ask ourselves is what is God’s love conditioned upon? Is it just a willy-nilly love that results in an imputed righteousness, or is it actually based upon righteousness itself? And if God’s love is conditioned upon imputed righteousness, then how in the world is it possible for imputed righteousness to occur at the time of faith or any other moment in time?

Before we continue, we must all ask ourselves what imputation is and where exactly imputation takes place so that we can understand when it takes place. Is the act of imputation something that is physical or is it something that has occurred in the mind of God? I think we can all safely conclude that imputation is not something that occurs outside the mind of God. Let it not be understood that I do not think the consequences of imputation are not real such as Christ suffering the wrath of God at His appointed time. However, sin and righteousness are not physical properties, but they are all legal principles that are defined by God and judged by God. Something is deemed as righteous or sinful because God defines it as such — period. Therefore imputation must then be understood as something that occurs in the mind of God because it is something that He has defined. He being the Almighty has the authority and the power to deem something as righteous or unrighteous simply because HE is God and can do whatever He pleases. Therefore we must not see the death of Christ as something that had to take place because God’s justice was at stake; but we must view it in light of the fact that His death was necessary to propitiate sin and transfer righteousness to the accounts of the elect because that is exactly what God decreed would be satisfactory to Him. In God’s view of Christ hanging in agony on the cross God forensically accounted Christ as sinful and He forensically accounted the elect as righteous. There was a judicial exchange in God’s mind of the righteous for the unrighteous and from His perspective all of salvation was accomplished. We must conclude that this is as true for Old Testament saints as it is for those in the New Testament because God’s view of this was from eternity. This is exactly what I mean when I use the terminology of a vital union. God was not merely an observer of this judicial exchange, but He purposed it and determined it all from eternity and as everything else has always been accomplished from His perspective.

I personally believe much misunderstanding has taken place because of a failure to understand imputation as an immanent act. Misunderstanding also exists because of an erroneous understanding of eternity and time. For example, I've heard it preached that justification is not something that happens in eternity and then happens at the cross and then later happens at the time of faith. I wholeheartedly agree with this! However, this proclamation in my opinion shows that there is a misunderstanding of exactly what eternity is. Eternity is not an extension of time as so many would have us believe. But eternity is transcendent of time, and while I cannot describe it fully with my limited faculties, I believe the Bible teaches it to be something that surrounds time and is from what all time proceeds. Time is defined as a succession of events, but eternity does not consist of such! All the events of time in the mind of God were decreed in a single moment (see we can’t even escape using timely language to describe eternity!) Yes, there was a logical order in the decrees, but they can all be summed up as a single decree. God said let there be light, and there was light! Could we not also conclude that God also said “let my people be righteous”, and they were righteous? God perfectly decreed and saw all the events of time, and this includes Christ’s sacrificial death. These things were not determined because God had to do so in order to abide by some eternal bar of justice which is often taught, but because this was His pleasure. He was pleased to create men and cause them to sin for the purpose of redeeming them in Christ. Adam’s fall, and thus his elect posterity was perfectly purposed by God because He had also determined to be glorified in their salvation. And He had everything that He decreed as soon as He thought it as His word is all powerful. He is God! And He needs not wait as an observer for His will to be accomplished! To suggest that He was waiting for something to happen in time (any condition) before He could view His elect as righteous is ludicrous because as far as He was concerned, it had already happened. Yes, the death of Christ, and the condition necessary for imputation of Righteousness was accomplished from His perspective. We may witness the events of time as participants and observers, but God is not merely an observer. He has done it all from beginning to end, and while we may have yet to experience His wonderful creation, we can rest knowing that it is completed in His infinite mind. Let us not take away from this at all!