Accounting 101

Regarding John 1:29, which says, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," someone has asked the question that if sin is what sends people to hell and Jesus took away the sin as this verse says, then what sin do we have to pay for? Let me answer this by way of an illustration.

Suppose you have a mortgage for a house (a debt) and some benevolent rich person comes along and offers to pay your mortgage for you. So, he goes to the bank and out of his own checking account authorizes a cashier's check for the amount of your mortgage that you owe to the same bank. With check in hand this rich person comes and offers you the check, whose funds are guaranteed by the bank. Now, I ask, has the mortgage been paid off? Of course, the answer is a resounding "NO!" The reason the mortgage (debt) has not been paid is because the funds have not been transferred to your account. The payment is good, the check is good, and the money is guaranteed, but you still have a debt. It is not until you take the check, endorse it, and deposit the funds of the rich person's account to your account that your mortgage is paid. Even if you accept the check, but never deposit it to your own account, you still have a debt to be paid. In other words, the payment does not take effect until it is credited to your account. Likewise, the payment that Christ made at Calvary is of no effect to the person whose account it has not been applied. The funds are there, guaranteed, but until it is credited to a person by faith, there is still a debt to be paid. You can accept the payment offered by Christ or you can still choose to pay your own sin debt, which is eternity separated from God.

A vivid illustration of this taken from the Bible is that of the Passover Lamb. The Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a lamb (the payment) and apply the blood to the door posts of their houses (the transfer of funds). Suppose a person sacrificed the lamb as they were instructed to do so, but did not apply the blood as they were told. Were they "passed over" or did they pay with the death of the first born? The sacrifice itself was acceptable, but without the effectual application they would still be held accountable. You see, the sacrifice of the the lamb (not a pig, dog, cow, horse, cat, etc.) was the payment that provided salvation from the destroyer, but the application of the blood to the door posts was the transfer of payment to that household's account.

Another illustration found in the Bible is that of the serpent being lifted up in the wilderness. Because of the Israelites rebellion, God sent serpents among the people to bite them. The only cure from these bites was to look upon the brazen serpent Moses fashioned to a pole. The brazen serpent was the cure, but the people still had to look at it to be healed. The payment was made and was also guaranteed, but until the snake-bitten Israelite looked at the brazen serpent he would still have to pay with his own life. Numbers 21:9 says, "And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." Notice this verse says it was when the person looked at the serpent that he lived. He did not live because Moses made a brass serpent and placed it on a pole. Just the same, Jesus, too, was lifted up as He said He would be in John 3. However, it was not the act of lifting Him up that saves a person from their sins. His death and shed blood was the payment that God accepted for the redemption of mankind, but until that payment is transferred to an individual's account it does not resolve their sin debt.

This idea of transference has a theological term called imputation. To impute simply means to apply, transfer, or credit an account. It is a bookkeeping or accounting term in which the funds of one account are carried over to another account. There are three distinct kinds of imputation mentioned in the Bible. Adam's sin is imputed upon mankind; man's sins were imputed to Christ on Calvary; and God's righteousness is imputed to man through Christ. To have the righteousness of God imputed to an individual is solely through faith in the sacrificial payment of Christ. Paul makes this abundantly clear in Romans chapter 4. In this entire chapter Paul argues that it was the faith of Abraham that made him righteous in God's sight. Verse 3 says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted (same Greek word for imputed) unto him for righteousness." In verses 24-25 Paul relates Abraham's righteousness by faith to the Christian. He writes that these things were not written about Abraham for his sake alone, "But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Did you catch the words "if we believe"? The ransom payment that Christ made at Calvary is not automatically credited to the debt of sin that we owe simply because He died on the cross. It is imputed, credited, applied, etc. only if and when we place our faith in Him.

Yes, He is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," but unless a person accepts the payment He has made and has His righteousness imputed to them they must pay their debt for themselves. There is no double payment. Either you trust in Christ alone or you pay for your sins by death and eternal damnation.