Book Review: Counted Righteous in Christ

The Reason Behind the Reading

I should probably begin by explaining why in the world I would ever attempt to slog through a book like this. If you think I am a little nutty by the end of this review, you are probably not too far off base!

For the past six weeks or more, God has been urging - no, compelling - me to go back to the cross. My relationship with Him has been at a real low point, due mostly to my lack of discipline in making time with Him my first priority. I kept demanding, "God, help me grow! I want to know you so much more deeply than I do right now." I'm not kidding, every time I asked, these words repeated themselves in my head: "If you want to know Me, go to the cross."

I decided to dive in. I read every gospel account of the crucifixion and many related verses. I actually borrowed "The Passion of the Christ" from the library and forced myself to watch every bit of it. (It was even more horrifying than I had imagined.) I asked Danny to bring home books from his library that had anything to do with this topic.

Of the books he chose, this one stood out for some reason: Counted Righteous in Christ by John Piper. I began reading.

If you have ever read a book by this author, you will understand when I say, I got about 2 chapters into it and gave up. Following his logic requires absolute concentration and a fully rested, lucid mind. My life being the way it is right now, I was 0 for 2. Not to mention that Piper's footnotes constitute another book in themselves (one chapter contained over 60 footnotes, the majority of which must be read for a full understanding of the material contained in the chapter). I believe if these notes were printed in the same font as the main text of the book, it would have been twice its current length.

For some reason (God's prompting, perhaps?) I threw this book in with several others "just in case" I needed something to read on our trip. As it turned out, I read from it nearly every day. Yes, it took me about 7 days to read a 125-page book. I considered it a HUGE success to get through 10-15 pages in a sitting and actually understand them. But once I gave Piper a chance, I found what he had to say riveting, which kept me coming back for more.

So here goes (deep breath) . . .


The Review

Piper writes this "short" book in response to the contemporary challenge to the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness. This doctrine states that "Christ has become our substitute in two senses: in His suffering and death He becomes our curse and condemnation. And in His suffering and life He becomes our perfection" (p. 41). Basically, God counts us as righteous through faith based on Christ's perfect obedience in both His life and His death.

He addresses four of the "revisions" made to traditional teachings on justification, which are as follows:

1. Instead of faith being the catalyst of Christ's imputed righteousness, faith itself IS our righteousness (based on Rom. 4:2-6).

2. Justification involves only the imputation of our sin to Christ; NOT the imputation of His divine righteousness to us.

3. Justification has to do with "liberation from sin's mastery." In other words, justification includes sanctification, or the process of becoming more Christlike.

4. The doctrine of Christ's righteousness being imputed to believing sinners needs to be abandoned as unbiblical.

Piper's exegetical response to these challenges blew me away. He delves into several key passages in Romans, Philippians, and 1 & 2 Corinthians (He camps out for quite a while in Romans 5), carefully laying out the original Greek meanings of numerous words and phrases Paul uses. Then he goes much deeper by looking at Paul's conceptual framework and flow of thought in order to penetrate to the reality behind the words. Amazing. Reading Piper is like reading a mathematical equation (granted, a very complex one!).

He makes a very solid and biblical case (in my opinion) for the traditional view of justification:

1) That the righteousness imputed to us is external and not our faith. "Paul's conceptual framework for imputation . . . would not be God's crediting something we have to be righteousness, but God's crediting a righteousness we don't have to be ours by grace through faith" (p. 57).

2) That the external righteousness credited to us is God's.

3) That justification does not equal liberation from sin's mastery. "Our union with Christ in His death for us secures our justification, which then leads, as a result, to our moral transformation" (p. 80).

4) That the divine righteousness imputed to believers is the righteousness of Christ. He draws parallels between the imputation of Adam's sin and Christ's righteousness based primarily on Romans 5:12-19. He also shows that Christ's "one act of righteousness" involves both His life and His death.

Why does any of this matter?

Far from "splitting hairs" as I thought when I began reading the first time, the arguments presented are of utmost importance in that the doctrine of imputation, as traditionally (and biblically) understood, "bestows on Jesus Christ the fullest honor He deserves" (p. 125). Simply put, the proposed revisions sell short the redeeming work of Christ! Understanding this doctrine profoundly impacts every aspect of life, from marriage to parenting to providing biblical counsel to evangelization and corporate worship.

Reading this book is work! There is no coasting through it or skimming its pages, if you desire a full understanding of its content. I have probably read the entire thing about three times, if you count the paragraphs and sentences I had to reread several times over to even begin to follow. But it was well worth the effort. Like never before, I have been impressed with the full weight of Christ's work on my behalf - both in life and death. This truth is overwhelming and humbling. I have been motivated to searth the Scripture for myself, to really examine the truth it contains.

In spite of all this, I will most likely not attempt to read another book of this nature until our next vacation! My brain is about as fried as it was after taking the SAT.