Imputation

In most Reformation theology, imputation is a distinct act from justification. God Christ’s righteousness to us, and in a distinct act declares that we are righteous because Christ’s righteousness clothes and covers us.

Is this what Paul means by LOGIZOMAI (“reckon, impute”)? I don’t mean to resolve that question in this brief comment; but there is evidence that Paul considers LOGIZOMAI to be virtually interchangeable with KRINEIN (“judge”). Thomas Schreiner points to Rom 2:3; 14:14; and 1 Cor 4:1 as examples. Each uses LOGIZOMAI in places where KRINEIN would serve just as well.

In Rom 2:3, Paul warns the sinner that passing judgment on others does not save anyone from condemnation; don’t “reckon” that you will escape the judgment of God by casting accusations in other directions, Paul says. Don’t reckon yourself, in short, safe from God’s condemning judgment; don’t judge yourself favorably simply because you have condemned other sinners. LOGIZOMAI here, especially in combination with the final clause of the verse, is virtually equivalent to KRINEIN.

In Rom 14:14, Paul says that anyone who “reckons anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” Here reckon does not mean first covering over something clean with a cloak of uncleanness, and then judging it unclean. To “reckon” a thing unclean simply means to judge it unclean, to put it in the category of unclean.

In 1 Cor 4:1, Paul tells the Corinthians how they are to “reckon” Paul and his associates ?Eas servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Clearly, this has nothing to do with reckoning Paul to be something other than he is. Nor is there any notion of transferring servanthood to Paul’s account. Paul’s exhortation is that the Corinthians judge him according to what he in fact is – a servant of Christ.

If this is how LOGIZOMAI is to be taken in Rom 4:3, for instance, we would have this conclusion: The phrase “reckon righteous” is simply a synonym for “justify.” When God “reckoned Abraham righteous,” he was judging him to be so. This doesn’t work so well with the usage of the verb in verse 4, it appears. But it is a line of investigation worth pursuing.