There is a theological word, ‘imputed,’ that we who are Believers need to understand and make use of by utilizing a better word. From the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary we find: 

“Imputed – – participle passive Charged to the account of; attributed; ascribed.” For my personal use I find ‘attribute’ to be best. 

Believers find the righteousness of Christ to have been attributed to us because we cannot attain righteousness. Before salvation in Jesus Christ, we were sinners, and not righteous. Believers were not in a holy relationship with God. We continue to need Christ’s righteousness ascribed to our lives by faith. To approach Him we must have His holiness credited to our account.

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 HCSB.

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.” Romans 5:6-11.

“And although you were dead in your offenses and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest… But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved! and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them.” Ephesians 2:1-10.

The importance of understanding of who a present Believer was as opposed to who that one now is cannot be overlooked. No longer are Believers ‘sinners,’ but now we are Believers having been made righteous because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for our behalf on the Cross.

We who choose to believe are now made one in Him by His grace.

Being “in Christ” explains that we have received His sacrifice for the redemption of our personal sins. Every sin we have committed has now been and future sins can be forgiven. “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (although it is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.”  Romans 3:19-22.. Paul also writes in Romans 5:10-11, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.” 

The Apostle did not complete the statement to the church in Rome, but said this to the Believers in Corinth, “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

A wonderful illustration of this righteousness is found in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 22:8-14 “Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy. So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Similarly, we are His invited guests and have been given a white robe of Christ’s righteousness. We receive this redemption of God’s grace by faith.

Jesus is Lord.