JM
Puritan Board Doctor
Are the following statements orthodox or heterodox?
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.
There can be no such thing as multiple imputations as has been suggested by those who oppose justification from eternity because imputation is something that is timeless and occurs exclusively in the mind of God.
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 heard David Simpson preach that justification is not something that happens in eternity and then happens at the cross and then later happens at the time of faith.
The act of justification which is to be understood as the act of Christ dying for His people did not take place in eternity. It took place in time. Please do not misunderstand me on this very important point. Surely we can all agree on this! There are not multiple imputations just as there are not multiple justifications. There is only one justification! There was no more work that needed to be done for salvation by Christ or even the Holy Spirit after the cross because it was completed in Christ. All of the work was finished. Done - Complete – Finito! I don’t think Scott Price or any of the parties involved with this important discussion would disagree with me on this. At least I hope not! We should all be able to say that it was in view of Christ’s finished work that God’s people were accounted as righteous (past tense), and this work of Christ was a timely event.
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