109. The imputation of the justice or merits of Christ, enters at this day like a soul into the whole system of theology throughout the Reformed Christian world. It is from imputation that faith, which is therein accounted the only means of salvation, is affirmed to be justice before God, see above [n. 11 (d)]; and it is from imputation that man, by means of that faith, is said to be clothed with the gifts of justice, as a king when elected is invested with the insignia of royalty. But nevertheless imputation, from the mere assertion that a man is just, effects nothing, for it passes only into the ears, and does not operate in man, unless the imputation of justice be also the application of justice by its being communicated and so induced. This follows from its effects, which are said to be the remission of sins, regeneration, renovation, sanctification, and thus salvation. It is asserted further, that by means of that faith Christ dwells in man, and the Holy Spirit operates in him, and that hence the regenerate are not only called just, but they also are just. That not only the gifts of God, but likewise Christ Himself, yea, all the Holy Trinity, dwells by faith in the regenerate, as in their temples, see above [n. 15 (l)]; and that man both as to person and works, is just, and is called so, see above [n. 14 (e)]. From which it clearly follows, that by the imputation of the justice of Christ is meant its application, and thereby its being induced, from which man is made partaker thereof. Now, because imputation is the root, the beginning, and the foundation of faith, and all its operations towards salvation, and hence is as it were the sanctuary or sacred recess in the Christian temples at this day, it is necessary to subjoin here something concerning Imputation by way of corollary; but this shall be distinctly arranged in articles in the following order:
I. That to everyone after death is imputed the evil in which he is, and in like manner the good.
II. That the induction of the good of one into another, is impossible.
III. That a faith of the imputation or application of the justice or merits of Christ, because it is impossible, is an imaginary faith.
