Echo Zoe Radio

Jayson York: Imputation[alist]

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JaysonYork Jayson York is pastor of Water’s Edge Bible Church in West Chicago, Illinois. The term “Evangelical”has become so widely used that it has effectively lost all meaning. We discuss the doctrine of imputation, and how this doctrine has been suggested as a new way to refer to Bible-believing Christians, and distinguish against those who use the term “Evangelical” more in a cultural sense than an ecclesiastical one.

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An Outline of the Discussion
  • The doctrine of imputation boils down to merit. It's juxtaposed against the Roman Catholic doctrine of infused righteousness. Imputation states that Christ's righteousness was imputed (given over) to us on the cross, and our sins and wretchedness was imputed (given over) to Him.
  • The Roman Catholic view, and really the Arminian (Wesleyan) view is similar, is that there is a certain amount of merit is infused in us, making us capable of doing good works.
  • The problem we have under a system of infused righteousness is: how do we ever know when we have enough? Thus, logically, the doctrine of infused righteousness necessitates the doctrine of purgatory.
  • In a sermon given by John MacArthur at the Ligonier conference in 1998, he lamented that the Gospel has been lost to the current generation, so much so that they want to reverse the Reformation.
  • MacArthur said that we don't want to call ourselves Fundamentalists because it has become no fun, too much dam(n), and not enough mental. We also have the word “Evangelical,” but that doesn't mean anything today.
  • It was Martin Luther, in breaking away from Rome, that first proposed that we be called the “Evangelical Church.” The term comes from the Greek for “Good News.”
  • The problems with the term “Evangelical” are evident during this political season, as candidates have been associated with support of “Evangelicals.”
  • In 2003, George Barna asked six questions (are the following True or False?) of people who identified as “born-again believers”:
    1. God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe who still rules the universe today.
    2. When Jesus Christ was on Earth, He lived a sinless life.
    3. Satan is not just a symbol of evil, but is a real, living entity.
    4. A Christian cannot earn salvation by being good or by doing good for other people, it is a free gift of God.
    5. Every person who believes in Jesus Christ has a responsibility to share his or her faith with people who might believe differently.
    6. The Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches.

    Only 9% of those questioned about the above statements agreed with all six.

  • After MacArthur spoke about the word “Fundamentalist” not being one we want to use to describe ourselves, and “Evangelical” being now meaningless, RC Sproul said “I know what word I'm using, I'm calling myself an Imputationalist.”
  • “Reformed” might (in some ways) be better term, but some who hold to Reformed doctrine are very protective of the term, and don't want it sullied by people that don't hold to Reformed doctrine.
  • The term “Evangelical” should mean a person is committed to the Gospel.
  • How serious are we? We aren't the right people to say. However, using the term can be a good opening to sharing the Gospel.
Scriptures Referenced
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21
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