Alien Righteousness? - Timothy Ministries

Adam and the way justification comes to men through the
righteousness of Christ. … The one ground upon which the imputation
of the righteousness of Christ becomes ours is the union with Christ.
In other words, the justified person is constituted righteous by the
obedience of Christ because of the solidarity established between
Christ and the justified person. The solidarity constitutes the bond by
which the righteousness of Christ becomes that of the believer. … To
put the argument in the order underlying the parallelism, immediate
imputation in the case of Adam’s sin provides the parallel by which to
illustrate the doctrine of justification …. 68
We will examine the message of Rom 5 more closely below, but for now let us
note that the key inference made from this passage in support of Alien
Righteousness, namely, the inference that the righteousness of Christ is
imputed to believers, is derived from the premise of Federal theology’s tenet
that the sin of Adam was imputed first to all mankind.
10. The righteousness of God is given to all who believe.
While the phrase “righteousness of Christ” does not appear in Scripture,
“righteousness of God” does, as does the shorter “His righteousness” (referring
to the righteousness of God). For example, we are all familiar with
Christ’s teaching to “seek first [the Father’s] kingdom and His righteousness”
(Mat 6.33). The fact that Scripture recognizes a “righteousness of God”
is a tenth line of argument offered in support of the current Alien Righteousness
doctrine, and specifically of the idea that Christ’s righteousness is
imputed to believers.
Of particular interest to Alien Righteousness proponents is Paul’s use
of the phrase “righteousness of God” in his epistles. For example, in 2Co 5.21,
Paul wrote,
He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
In his book Counted Righteous In Christ, John Piper comments on this
passage and says,
…it is not unnatural or contrived to see in the words “in [Christ] we …
become the righteousness of God” a reference to the imputation of
God’s righteousness to us.
… It follows from the parallel with Christ’s being “made sin”
for us. Christ is “made sin” not in the sense that he becomes a sinner,
68
John Murray, The Imputation Of Adam's Sin (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian And Reformed
Publishing Co., 1977), p. 70.
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