Just wanted to know what you thought of this written by michael pearl on imputed and impartial right

sermonindex Jul 11, 2010

Imputed vs. Imparted Righteousness
Article by Michael Pearl, October 2007
By: Michael Pearl
October 2007
.“There is a man in my community who claims to be a preacher. He is preaching Romans 5:9 means that he is perfect. Now I know this is not true, but he has others believing this. I don’t want to see these people burn in hell because they believe this. I would appreciate any information you can give me on this matter.”

—A Reader

Michael answers:

I do not know what this preacher is saying regarding Romans 5:9. But I will attempt to clarify popular and prevailing conceptions regarding Biblical salvation. No matter our theological persuasion, we all start at the same place, a conviction that the entire human race lies in sin and is lost without some act on God’s part. Man cannot remake himself into a condition that would make him acceptable to God. This you believe, and this the man in question believes.
But doctrines diverge on the point of how the grace of God works to save a man. There are all shades, but basically two opposing positions. The one belief that is most popular—believed by 99% of Christianity—is that the grace of God works in our hearts to bring us to repentance of sin and faith, transforming us into obedient children, thereby making us acceptable to God. This I call Imparted Righteousness. That is, God imparts to our experience his righteousness so that we are changed into sons and daughters of God. This is the Roman Catholic position as well as what most Protestants believe in practice. It is also the position of most Plain people, Mennonite and Amish. Since this view is based on God transforming the individual no one can ever say for sure that he has been sufficiently changed so as to be worthy of Salvation. The sinner must be constantly engaged in repentance and confession, trying to maintain a proper humility and fear, keeping his sins confessed, making sure he doesn’t die with any unconfessed sins, and not daring to presume that he has arrived at that place of unqualified acceptance. The person under this system cannot know that he is saved. He lives all his life in doubt and confusion. Such a one is often the most religious and devout among us, and they make great neighbors, for they labor for their own salvation. This belief is a vain hope. It is purely human in his basic precepts and dead wrong.
The contrasting view, held by very few, was the belief of the early church and of the reformation fathers. In contrast to Imparted Righteousness we call this position Imputed Righteousness. That is, God sees us as too sinful to be transformed into anything that could remotely be acceptable. We are without hope in our sin, but God sent his Son Jesus to take our place as a son of Adam. Jesus received our sin upon himself as if he were the sinner. God “imputed” our sin to the perfect God/Man Jesus. He dies as if he were the sinner and was raised from the dead because he was indeed righteous. God now imputes the righteousness of Jesus to all who will believe upon him. This is called “the gift of righteousness.” Romans 5:17.
Here is the contrast between the two positions: Imparted righteousness changes the individual so as to make him righteous. Imputed righteousness just changes the man’s legal standing with God. Imparted righteousness is the man’s own experience. Imputed righteousness is God’s experience of righteousness placed to the account of the sinner as if it were his. Read 1Corinthians 5:21. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
You can listen to my “Righteousness” set of CDs and get this message in detail. The single message “Imputed Righteousness” discusses this subject in detail. If you want it in print, the last half of my book Divine Design covers this subject quite well.
Now, back to your preacher who claims to be sinless according to Romans 5:9. Anyone who claims to be sinless is a liar (1 John 1:8-10) and you need listen to him no further unless you just want a laugh. That is not the same as claiming to overcome sin as did the Apostle Paul. All believers have the power to sin not. And it is normal for a believer to sin not. But the power to sin not is not the same as being sinless. To claim sinlessness is to claim to not be able to sin. A Christian is able to sin not on a moment by moment basis, but he will always be able to sin until he gets rid of this fleshly body.
Could it be that the preacher actually said something like this, “Based on the imputed righteousness of Christ God sees me as sinless. God counts me as if I have never sinned. It is a free gift of perfect righteousness that God reckons to me”?
Any preacher worthy of the name should boldly profess to be enjoying the complete gift of God’s righteousness and he should also testify that God is delivering him from the acts of sin on a daily, moment by moment basis.
God made Jesus to be something he wasn’t—sin, so that he can make us something we are not—righteous. Just as Jesus received our sin in an act of faith, we receive his righteousness in an act of faith. My sin took Jesus where he did not deserve to go—death and hell, so his righteousness can take me where I do not deserve to go—eternal life and heaven.

J

JB1968 Jul 11, 2010

I seems to me that he has a misconception of what imparted righteousness means by those who believe in it. In my understanding, imparted righteousness is where we are made partakers of God's righteousness. He so remakes us that we are pure in heart (Acts 15:7,8).
We have the imputed righteousness of Christ which enables us to have the righteousness of God imparted into our souls. It is not our righteousness, but His in us.
When this happens we have the witness of the Spirit that the work of Christ is applied to our hearts.

T

twayneb Jul 11, 2010

I have listened to Michael Pearl on several occasions, and have been blessed by his teaching on the grace of God. I must confess, until this week I had never heard anyone make a distinction between imparted and imputed righteousness. In fact, I had never heard of the concept of imparted righteousness. It seems to me very odd that anyone would even come up with the term and use it to described a distinction between two types of righteousness...very odd. Biblically there are only two types of righteousness. The righteousness I receive from God through no effort of my own, and my own self-righteousness which is filthy rags in God's sight.

The term imputed is used in relationship to righteousness in the Bible and is not a term that means to give someone something, but rather to consider someone to be something. It is God seeing us as or counting us as being righteous. It is the same accounting that we are to use when we reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin. Impartation is the giving or transferring of something to a person. It is used of the transfer of spiritual gifts or of other items or things, but not of righteousness.

I guess that is why the idea of the concept of imparted righteousness was so foreign and why I had never heard of it before. I am about as classical a pentecostal as there can be and am about as close to the roots of 20th century American pentecostalism as a person can be, and yet I had never heard of the concept. I was taught and was under bondage to the idea that if I died with any "unconfessed" sin that my eternal security was at risk. It was the whole saved-lost-saved-lost, born again again again every time you sin idea. If that is what imparted righteousness is all about, then I guess I don't see it.

I guess I think it more simple than all of the loaded terminologies. When I came to Christ in repentance and receive His sacrifice for sin and make Him Lord of my life, there was an exchange, a transaction that took place. The blood of Jesus atoned for my sin past present and future, which was something I could never do for myself. And my spirit was born again, made alive to God, regenerated. No longer did I have a spirit that was at odds with God, but now I desire from my spirit to follow Him and to do His will. And God, because of the blood of Jesus, now reckons me to be righteous, or right with Him. I have been freed from the consequences of sin. I am saved from wrath. I am set free from the dominion of sin. I no longer have to be in bondage to lusts and fears and the sin which used to control my life. Do I occasionally miss the mark? Absolutely. I agree with Mr. Pearl wholeheartedly here. If a man says that it is impossible for him to miss the mark he is greatly deceived or a liar. Do I have to live a life of constantly sinning? Praise God NO! And the more I am made conformable to the image of God, the more that Romans 12:1-2 is played out in my life, the more victory I will find myself walking in.

T

twayneb Jul 11, 2010

I seems to me that he has a misconception of what imparted righteousness means by those who believe in it. In my understanding, imparted righteousness is where we are made partakers of God's righteousness. He so remakes us that we are pure in heart (Acts 15:7,8). We have the imputed righteousness of Christ which enables us to have the righteousness of God imparted into our souls. It is not our righteousness, but His in us. When this happens we have the witness of the Spirit that the work of Christ is applied to our hearts.

Do you think that God remakes us so that we are pure in heart by the giving or imparting of something to us? Have those who are more pure in heart received a greater impartation? Or is the work of sanctification in the life of a believer more along the lines of Romans 12:2, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds? Is it more a thing of our responding in obedience as God moves in to work on some deep thing in our heart that we never knew was there and changes us a little bit more into His image and glory?

The way I read the Bible, righteousness is a one time shot. We are either considered 100% righteous in God's sight, or 100% unrighteous. The progressive work after salvation, to me, is what we mean when we speak of holiness. It is the peaceable fruit of righteousness borne in our lives by the Holy Spirit. i.e., I can never become more righteous, but I can grow in holiness. If that holiness is what we wish to call righteousness of the soul, then I guess I have no problem with that. If we say that holiness is imparted to us from God like a man imparts a gift to his child, then I would have to disagree with that idea. If we say that when God's transforming work is going on in our lives and He is dealing with some area of our life that needs changed that He gives us the gift of His grace, often a special grace in that hour, to deal with the issue and to be obedient to Him so that His work might bear fruit in our lives, then I say AMEN. Praise God for that grace.

J

JB1968 Jul 12, 2010

2 Peter 1:
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound , they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off , and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall :

These verses speak of the imparted righteousness of God in the soul and of growth in grace.
It is God who makes the heart clean. Not us. It is His blood that keeps us clean. I John 1:7
Some people think that salvation is just a change of record in heaven. It is, but it is more than that. God changes us. In a moment of time. Does that mean that we do not grow. Of course not. We must grow and mature if faith, etc. We must walk in the light.
If a person is "saved" and living like the devil. Are they saved? The Bible says: "Two can not walk together except they agree." "He that commiteth sin is the servant of sin." "Whosoever commiteth sin is of the devil."
God's standard is holiness. Not holiness in ourselves, but His holiness in our hearts and lives. He did say that He would change our hearts in Jer., Eze. and Heb. whereby we would be enabled to live pleasing to Him.

T

twayneb Jul 12, 2010

These verses speak of the imparted righteousness of God......

The great and precious promises by which we partake of the divine nature are the promise of the savior and of the indwelling presence of the comforter. I agree 100%, salvation is not just a change of record, but a regeneration of spirit. I agree that we must mature and grow. I guess if we want to coin a term called imparted righteousness and apply it to this, well, but it still seems to me an odd and extrabiblical construct.