Imputed Righteousness Vs. Imparted Righteousness

Once we have entered into the new covenant, our spirit is perfect (complete), and there is no fixing that needs to occur there. This is where, legally, we have been made right with God freely and immediately the moment we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. This is where Christ’s righteousness is credited to us on the basis of faith alone.[1] This is what we call imputed righteousness. We need to recognize that God has done all that is required to fix us already. All we need to do is rest in that finished work and allow the fruit of the Spirit to begin to naturally produce in our lives from our knowledge of Him, our love for Him[2] and our dependence upon the Holy Spirit.[3]

Imparted righteousness is where we grow in righteousness from glory to glory. It is where we lean on, yield to, and cooperate with the Holy Spirit daily to live a holy life―a life that is pleasing to God. Imparted righteousness consists of our progressive and experiential sanctification. It is the righteousness that is worked from the inside out, or in other words, from our spirit, through our soul, and into the realm where people can see. Our imparted righteousness can only happen on the basis of our positional or imputed righteousness through faith in Christ. If we try to grow in the love of God and to overcome our weaknesses, failures, and sin in our own strength, that is, apart from the Holy Spirit’s help, and apart from a revelation of who we are in Christ or without an understanding that Christ has already set us free from sin, all we will be left with is the law. The law, that is the old covenant, tells us what we must do and must not do or how we must be, and our only job will be to meet it somehow. But the law will not help us meet it.[4] On the other hand, grace, that is the new covenant, not only will teach us what is right but also will help us do it.[5] Again, grace is not only the unmerited favor of God, but also the power of God to live holy.[6]

We are loved apart from our works. We must ask ourselves “Am I serving God to get saved or because I am saved?” All of our works must have been first purified by the grace of God—we work because we are already accepted through Christ. Out of the revelation that He loves us, we will obey Him, but it cannot be the other way around. Obedience is a symptom of salvation—salvation comes first. We must always keep the order right, or we will always be prey to legalism and to religious OCD.

We will be asked to give an account of what we did with our free gift of salvation the day we stand before Him. But He will not ask us for anything other than what He has first given us and equipped us to be able to produce. In other words, what He is looking for is faithfulness. But again, if we will stop doing things because we believe we have to, we will realize that we want to—our new nature, given to us as a free gift, strongly desires to serve God; we have been given the power, the authority and the right to be children of God![7] Therefore, be encouraged―there is hope! There is a way out.

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[You] who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

—1 Peter 1:5 KJV

—Kathleen Kaczmarek

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[1] See Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 10:14.

[2] See John 14:15 AMPC. If you read it from the KJV, make sure to read the footnote from the NKJV; it says “You will keep”. This helps understand the spirit of the verse.

[3] See Galatians 3:3; Galatians 5:22-23.

[4] See Luke 11:46.

[5] See Titus 2:12; 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 3:6.

[6] See Romans 6:14.

[7] See John 1:12.

Two Kinds of Righteousness

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

—Philippians 3:7–9 NIV

I particularly like how The Message translates verse 9 of the third chapter of Philippians: “I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.”

We are instructed here that there are two kinds of righteousness, the righteousness that comes from keeping the law and the righteousness that comes from personal reliance and trust in Jesus Christ. The first one depends on our own efforts and ability to do it right (self-righteousness); the second depends on Christ’s ability to do it right (Christ righteousness). Self-righteousness is worked from the outside, while Christ righteousness is imputed to us as a free gift. The first fosters condemnation, pride, and insecurity; the second fosters righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.[1] Self-righteousness keeps us focused on ourselves and appeals to the human pride; Christ righteousness keeps us focused on Christ and leads to the death of self altogether.

We know from Scripture that no one except Jesus has ever been able to keep the law perfectly. “All have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.”[2]

What solution did God come up with when He saw that His people simply couldn’t keep His law? Did He require that they try harder? Or did He say, “Away with you!”? How did God respond to His people’s inability and failure to obey His righteous law? We can find the answer to this dilemma in Jeremiah 31:31–33.

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.[3]

The Lord simply annulled the first covenant as a means of righteousness[4] by fulfilling it Himself[5], then nailing it to the cross[6] and making a new covenant![7] One that would empower us to obey Him by writing His law within our hearts. He places His Holy Spirit within us. He gives us a new heart, a new nature, and a desire to do His will and to live righteously; and then He helps us do it.[8]

In her book In Pursuit of Peace, Joyce Meyer describes a Christian as “someone who has had his heart changed by faith in Jesus Christ. He has had a change in his moral nature (See 2 Corinthians 5:17). He is not just someone who has agreed to follow certain rules and regulations and observe certain days as holy. Religion is filled with rules and regulations one must follow to be part of a certain religious group. Christianity, however, is agreeing to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit entirely.”[9]

Those in Christ have chosen to submit to the leadership of the Holy Spirit completely and not to the demands of the law. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I had to take Him at His Word and that nothing other than entire reliance and dependence upon Him would ever work.

Under the new covenant, we have been called to an exciting relationship with the Lord where we are made right with God freely by His grace through faith and from there we are led by the Holy Spirit day by day, moment by moment. The Bible says that as people born of the Spirit of God, we will be like the wind which blows where it wills; and though you hear its sound, you don’t know where it comes from nor where it is going.[10] This is why we rightly say that Christianity is relationship with God.

Remember that faith brings peace and rest, not distress and struggles.[11] That means that the more you know and believe the truth of God’s Word concerning your right standing with God through Christ, the more it will bring peace to your troubled heart. Just stick with Him and do not be afraid, continue to trust Him, and He will sort everything out for you—everything will come together in harmony—every piece of the puzzle will come together.

In the next blog, I will share on imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness. This teaching will help with some of the confusion you may still be experiencing regarding the righteousness that God prescribes—the righteousness that is of faith. Until then be encouraged my dear one; there is hope! There is a way out.

—Kathleen Kaczmarek

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[1] See Romans 14:17.

[2] Romans 3:23.

[3] Jeremiah 31:31–33.

[4] See Romans 10:4 KJV.

[5] See Matthew 5:17.

[6] See Colossians 2:14.

[7] See 2 Corinthians 3:6.

[8] See Ezekiel 36:26-27; Philippians 2:13.

[9] Joyce Meyer, In Pursuit of Peace: 21 Ways to Conquer Anxiety, Fear, and Discontentment (New York: Warner Faith, 2004), 31.

[10] See John 3:8 AMPC.

[11] See Hebrews 4:3.