To answer this great question I have a quote from John Piper in his extremely helpful and highly recommended book, Counted Righteous in Christ, (Crossway, 2002). In addition, I have added a couple of closing thoughts below.
“By imputation I am referring to the act in which God counts sinners to be righteousness through their faith in Christ on the basis of Christ’s perfect ‘blood and righteousness,’ specifically the righteousness that Christ accomplished by his perfect obedience in life and death….[the] historic Protestant teaching [is] that the basis of our justification through faith is the provision of Christ for both pardon and imputed perfection.
…Christ has become our substitute in two senses: in his suffering and death he becomes our curse and condemnation (Galatians 3.13; Romans 8.3). And in his suffering and life he becomes our perfection (2 Corinthians 5.21). On the one hand, his death is the climax of his atoning sufferings, which propitiate the wrath of God against us (Romans 3.24-25); on the other hand, his death is the climax of a perfect life of righteousness imputed to us (2 Corinthians 5.21; cf. Romans 4.6, 11 with 3.21-22, 5.18-19).”
This may seem like a mouth-full but read through it a couple of times and it should make sense. Imputation is the crediting (charging, reckoning, etc.) of the perfect righteousness of Jesus to the imperfect sinner. This is done on the basis of faith (Rom. 3.20-4.6; 1 Cor. 1.30; 2 Cor. 5.21; Phil. 3.9).
It is important to note a couple of additional aspects of clarity here:
/1/ When Christ became the sin-bearing substitute for the elect he was imputed (charged) with the sins of his sheep (2 Cor. 5.21; Gal.3.13). So in a very real sense your sin is fully charged to Jesus upon that cross and he sufficiently paid its penalty there. So there is no further offering needed, for the believer’s sin was charged to him there (cf. also Col. 2.13-14; Heb.1.3, 9.11-14; 10.10-12).
/2/ The imputation of Christ’s righteousness also carries with it the effect upon our daily lives (this is a huge over generalization here, but for a specific point). His perfect righteousness in obedience is our righteousness (in daily life) in spite of our disobedience. So we do not just cling to imputed righteousness at the bar of judgment but also daily through our everyday lives as he is our perfection while we remain imperfect. It is as Piper says above the imputation of Christ’s righteousness is “for both pardon and perfection”.
There is neither hope for forgiveness nor holiness apart from imputation. As a result, the imputation of Christ’s righteousness is a chief doctrine of Christianity which should be more greatly appreciated and more ardently defended.
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