Question
In II Corinthians 5:19, Paul says, “not imputing their trespasses unto them” and the teaching that is based upon this which says that God has already forgiven the sins of all men, and that therefore God’s judgment of unbelievers will not be because of their sins, but will only be because they did not believe the gospel.
Response
This teaching is common enough, and Paul’s expression in II Corinthians 5:19 is often the foundation for it. However, this teaching is contrary to what “the gospel of Christ” itself says, plus it also misunderstands what Paul is saying in II Corinthians 5:19.
Now when it comes to showing that it is in error, there is much that could be looked at and said. But a brief look at a few things ought to suffice.
For example, when Paul in Acts 26 described to King Agrippa how the Lord appeared to him, and also related what the Lord said to him when He commissioned him to be the apostle of the Gentiles, he makes it plain that the “forgiveness of sins” only comes from believing “the gospel of Christ”. For as it says in verse 18, the Lord told Paul that He was sending him to the Gentiles…
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18)
So it is obvious from what the Lord said to Paul that God has NOT already forgiven the sins of all men. But rather the “forgiveness of sins” is something that men “may receive” because God offers to forgive them their sins in view of what Christ has accomplished on the cross, just as “the gospel of Christ” says. But men can only “receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance” when they believe “the gospel of Christ” and so get “sanctified by faith that is in (Jesus Christ)”.
Now this is also the very same thing that the prophets had said before when they prophetically spoke about anyone benefiting from Christ’s redemptive work, just as Peter explained to Cornelius and his household. For as Peter said…
42 And he (the Lord) commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:42-43)
As Peter says, “all the prophets witness, that through his name WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHALL RECEIVE REMISSION OF SINS.” Hence, once again, “remission of sins” only comes by ‘believing in Him’.
And this is in perfect accordance with what “the gospel of Christ” says, especially with the legal terminology that God uses in the gospel to describe Christ’s work on the cross, and also to describe what a person receives from God when he believes “the gospel of Christ”. For as the gospel’s terminology makes plain, there is a legitimate distinction between the issue of the provision the Lord Jesus Christ made on the cross for the complete forgiveness of a person’s sins, and the actual response of God’s Justice to that person which results in His Justice completely forgiving him all of his sins past, present, and future.
This legitimate distinction is both resident in, and is a legal component of, the three judicial terms that are used in “the gospel of Christ” to describe the legal relationship between the cross work of Christ and the Justice of God. And, of course, these three terms are “redemption”, “propitiation”, and ‘’justification”. Moreover, of these three terms the first two pertain to the provision that Christ made for us to have complete forgiveness of sins, while the third term is the one that involves the actual possession of complete forgiveness.
Briefly and simply put (as well as generically speaking) “redemption” through a redeemer is the issue of a legally qualified substitute taking the place of another who is in some legal predicament in order to deliver him from the judicial consequences of the predicament that he is in. And this is accomplished by the substitute-redeemer himself paying whatever price is legally required to be paid (having been so stipulated by Justice) in order to provide for releasing the other from the predicament that he is in.
Then in connection with “redemption” through a redeemer, “propitiation” is the term that describes the complete judicial satisfaction of all the legal claims and demands against the one needing redemption. It is the full satisfaction of Justice brought about by means of the redeemer fully accomplishing all things demanded by Justice in connection with the predicament of the one needing redemption. “Propitiation” is the legal term that more or less says that the redeemer has successfully done his job. Which means that Justice is completely satisfied by what the redeemer has accomplished, and in view of this Justice is now in the position of being able to dismiss (or forgive) the judicial consequences of the predicament against the one who is in the predicament, and also impute to him the judicial benefits purchased for him by his redeemer. And this is what “justification” involves.
Now let’s understand and appreciate these three judicial terms in connection with “the gospel of Christ”.
As Paul sets forth in the first two parts of “the gospel of Christ” (i.e. in Romans 1:18-32 and then in Romans 2:1-3:20), all men are in a helpless and hopeless legal predicament with the Justice of God. They are ungodly sinners worthy of receiving God’s wrath and everlasting death for their ungodliness, unrighteousness, and sins; and they are helpless to do anything about it on their own, having no way on their own to propitiate God’s Justice and escape the judgment of God. All men, therefore, are “guilty before God” with the effectual working of the first two parts of the gospel stopping their mouths at every attempt they make to deny or refute the charges that God brings against them; or at every attempt they make at defending themselves against them; or at every attempt they make to get their case thrown out of court; or at every attempt they make to propitiate God’s Justice on their own.
Hence, the first two parts of “the gospel of Christ” conclude with nothing less than the absolutely horrible realization that all men are in the completely hopeless predicament of being “guilty before God” as ungodly sinners, who as such are fully and legally worthy of death and suffering the eternal consequences of paying the price for their own sins. And with their mouths stopped before the bar of God’s Justice, their only hope is that the Judge of all the earth will say something to them in mercy and grace.
In fact the truth of the matter is that men’s only hope is that a redeemer can be found. And in view of what Romans 1:18-3:20 has set forth, the redeemer must be able to propitiate God’s Justice in connection with men’s sin guiltiness, and in so doing provide for God’s Justice to be able to legally and freely forgive them their sins and replace their sin guiltiness with the imputation of God’s own perfect righteousness. Nothing less, or nothing else, will do. And, of course, this means that God Himself must become man’s redeemer. And this is just what the good news of the gospel in Romans 3:21-26 goes on to say that God did.
When the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross of Calvary, He functioned as our substitute-Redeemer. In so doing He took upon Himself the judicial consequences of our sinful guiltiness, paying for us in our place the debt and penalty of our own sins in order to provide for delivering us from the predicament of being fully and legally worthy of paying for them ourselves. He “propitiated” God’s Justice in so doing, and God raised Him from the dead in view of the propitiation. And in view of the “redemption” and “propitiation” that Christ accomplished and secured. God is able to be “the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus”. The provision, therefore, for “justification” (with its forgiveness of sins and imputation of Christ’s righteousness) has been made through the “redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. However, the “justification” is not automatic. Instead it is conditioned upon the ones needing redemption ‘believing in Jesus’; i.e. believing in the complete sufficiency of their substitute-Redeemer. In full accordance with the doctrine of redemption as “witnessed by the law and the prophets”, sins will only be forgiven and God’s righteousness will only be imputed to those who respond properly to the work of the Redeemer.
As “redemption” and “propitiation” are the terms that describe the provision being made for the forgiveness of sins and for the imputation of righteousness to be put in their place, “justification” is the term that describes the judicial response of God’s Justice to “him which believeth in Jesus” by which the believer actually receives the complete forgiveness of his sins and in their place he receives the imputation of God’s righteousness. “Justification” involves two components: (1) the forgiveness of sins, and (2) the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. For in order for the imputation of God’s righteousness to occur, the previously imputed sins that it will replace have to be completely forgiven by God’s Justice. Moreover, once God justifies, sin is no longer imputable, so to speak.
So again, there is a legitimate distinction between the provision being made by Christ on the cross for the complete forgiveness of sins, and the actual possession of it. The “gospel of Christ” that we preach in this present dispensation of God’s grace declares that all men are ungodly sinners in God’s sight; are “under sin” and are guilty before God as such; and if they die as such they will begin to pay the price for their sins, and so experience the debt and penalty for their sins. But no man has to pay the eternal debt and penalty of his own sins, because God in love, mercy, and grace has provided for him to have the complete forgiveness of his sins and to have the righteousness of God imputed unto him in his sins’ place, so justifying him in God’s sight and giving him “peace with God”. This has all been provided for “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.”
So in view of this, when someone has “faith in his blood,” God’s Justice responds with (1) the complete forgiveness of sins and (2) the imputation of God’s righteousness, which is “justification”. And this, once again, is just what Acts 10:42-43 and Acts 26:18 say, as we previously noted.
Now this, therefore, clearly means that when Paul in II Corinthians 5:19 speaks of God “not imputing their trespasses unto them” he is not referring to God never imputing men’s sins unto them. Nor is he referring to God forgiving all men their sins. Instead Paul is referring to something else.
As the verse says, and as its context shows, what Paul is referring to is the provision that God has made for not yet imputing men’s trespasses unto them in connection with Him “reconciling the world unto himself.” And indeed God made just such provision through the cross work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For as Paul has previously taught in Romans 9-11, when God made provision to legally suspend His program with Israel so that He could legally bring in this present dispensation of His grace, one of the things He did was to legally change both Israel’s status and the Gentiles’ status. In so doing God produced the “reconciling of the world” as Paul says in Romans 11; or as he says in II Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” And by “reconciling the world unto Himself God legally made it so that He could suspend His program with Israel, and He legally made it so that He could become longsuffering in connection with postponing the administration of His day of wrath and judging men for their ungodliness, sins, and iniquities, and He also legally made it so that He could bring in this present dispensation of His longsuffering and grace to the world.
Wherefore, as part of making it so that He could legally do these things, by “reconciling the world unto himself God has made it so that He does not yet have to be imputing men’s trespasses unto them. Though God’s program with Israel called for Him to begin to administer His day of wrath once He concluded giving “repentance to Israel” (and therefore the program called for Him to begin to impute men’s trespasses unto them as He ‘punishes the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity’), by reconciling the world unto himself God has made it so that He does not legally have to do this just yet.
God is still going to have His day of wrath and revelation of His righteous judgment in which He will impute men’s trespasses unto them and will judge them accordingly, just as He has said in the prophets, and just as “the gospel of Christ” itself testifies and promises. But by having ‘reconciled the world unto Himself,’ God has provided for Himself to legally postpone His day of wrath and righteous judgment, and to legally become longsuffering towards men, and to legally not yet be imputing their trespasses unto them. God therefore has legally and mercifully provided for there to be “an accepted time” and a “day of salvation” for this world at large, before He begins to administer His prescribed day of wrath and revelation of His righteous judgment against men and their sins.
Hence in accordance with God being “in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them”; and in accordance with Him having “committed unto us the word of reconciliation” and we being “ambassadors for Christ” therewith; we therefore, like Paul, are to proclaim to men that “now is the accepted time”, “now is the day of salvation” (while it is that God is not yet imputing men’s trespasses unto them) and in so doing we are to urge men to become personally reconciled to God by believing “the gospel of Christ”.
This is the gist of what Paul is referring to in II Corinthians 5:19 when He speaks of God “not imputing their trespasses unto them.”
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
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