15. Sin not imputed
Romans 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Blessedness is again promised to the one to whom sin is not imputed. “Impute” means to attribute something to someone as if he possessed it. This amazing Gospel promise affirms to us that sins are no longer attributed to us or even owned by us any longer. Our sins were imputed to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and He suffered, bled and died with our sins upon Him at the Cross. For those who have faith in Christ their sins are no longer imputed to them but to Christ. He paid the penalty so that the sins might be forgiven and forever taken away.
God mysteriously and miraculously transfers our sin and guilt to His Son and imputes the sin to Him and not to us. This miraculous, once-in-history-for-all-time-and-eternity, transfer and exchange is imputed to us who believe and take this promise into our inward being. In place of the sin that is no longer there (not imputed) the righteousness of God is imputed instead. This mysterious miracle cannot be seen or even logically explained to human reason, but it can be believed by the miracle of faith worked in us by the Holy Spirit through the preached Gospel.
When we hear the Gospel daily we are energized and empowered with God’s power to actually do good works and overcome the temptation to sin. Life is so much better that we consider life to be blessed: Blessed is the man.