Doctrinal note: the imputation of righteousness (grounded in Romans 4:3–8; 5:18–19; Philippians 3:9)

This short note is linked from 1:17. It does not argue the doctrine from 1:17, which states the theme without explaining how the gift is given. It also does not develop the doctrine fully, which belongs to the Romans 4 and 5 packages.

Implies The righteousness God gives to believers is credited (imputed) to them, not produced in them as the ground of their acceptance. Three passages ground this. - Rom 4:3–8. Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (4:3, BSB, citing Gen 15:6). Paul uses the verb λογίζομαι (logizomai, "to credit, count") eleven times in Romans 4. He applies it to "the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly" (4:5) and to "the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works" (4:6). With Ps 32:1–2 he pairs this with not counting sin (4:7–8). - Rom 5:18–19. "Through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (5:19, BSB). The parallel with Adam, through whom "the many were made sinners," ties the many's standing to the act of one representative. - Phil 3:9. Paul wants to be found in Christ "not having my own righteousness from the law, but … the righteousness from God on the basis of faith" (BSB). The righteousness is "from God" and not "my own."

The Reformed confessions state the doctrine this way: God justifies "by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them" (WCF 11.1). The team holds this confession. Uncertain Whether these passages require the imputation of Christ's own active obedience, and not only the counting of faith, or of Christ's death, as righteousness, is debated even among Protestant interpreters. The team holds that 5:18–19, read together with Phil 3:9, supports it, in line with WCF 11.1. The fuller case is left to Romans 4–5.