📖 Biblical Definition
The imputation of Adam’s sin is the doctrine that the guilt of Adam’s first transgression is justly charged to the account of all his ordinary descendants, because Adam acted not merely as a private individual but as the divinely appointed federal head and representative of the whole human race in the covenant of works. When Adam fell, he fell not alone but as the public person of mankind, so that his one offense is reckoned to all whom he represented, and they are accounted guilty and liable to death in him. Paul makes this the great structural truth of redemptive history in Romans 5: by one man’s disobedience the many were made (constituted) sinners, and death passed upon all men because all sinned—sinned, that is, in Adam, their representative. The doctrine runs in exact parallel with the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, which is its glorious counterpart: as Adam’s one disobedience is imputed to all in him unto condemnation, so Christ’s one act of obedience is imputed to all in Him unto justification of life. The two federal heads, the first and last Adam, stand over the two humanities; to deny imputation in Adam is to undermine imputation in Christ, for they rest on the same principle of representation. The doctrine vindicates the justice of God—men are condemned in a head of their own kind, with a fair representative—and magnifies His grace, for the same principle that ruins us in the first Adam saves us in the second.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines IMPUTE as to attribute or charge to the account of another; the imputation of Adam’s sin is the charging of his guilt to his posterity.
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IMPUTE, v.t. — 1. To charge; to attribute; to set to the account of; usually in an ill sense. 2. In theology, to attribute or set to the account of; as, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to believers for justification; and the sin of Adam is imputed to his posterity.
IMPUTATION, n. — The act of imputing or charging; attribution; the reckoning to one of what belongs to another.
📖 Key Scripture
Romans 5:12 — "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
Romans 5:18 — "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."
Romans 5:19 — "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
1 Corinthians 15:22 — "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition, but the doctrine is rejected on grounds of individualism—“it is unjust that I be charged with another’s sin”—a complaint that, if valid, would equally forbid being saved by Another’s righteousness.
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The imputation of Adam’s sin offends the modern individualist above almost any other doctrine, for it insists that a man may be justly held accountable for the act of his representative, not merely for his own private deeds. “How is it fair,” the objection runs, “that I should be charged with the sin of a man who lived before I was born?” The complaint assumes a radical individualism foreign to Scripture, which everywhere deals with men in their corporate and covenantal solidarities—in their families, their nations, and supremely in their federal heads. We are not the autonomous atoms the age imagines, but members of a race that fell in its appointed representative.
What the objector seldom sees is that the very principle he rejects in Adam is the principle on which his salvation depends in Christ. The two imputations stand or fall together, for Paul deliberately yokes them: as condemnation comes by the imputed offense of the one, so justification comes by the imputed righteousness of the One. If it is unjust to be reckoned guilty through a representative, then it is equally impossible to be reckoned righteous through a Representative—and the sinner is left to stand or fall on his own works, which can only condemn him. The doctrine that humbles us in the first Adam is the very doctrine that exalts us in the last. To keep the gospel of imputed righteousness, the church must keep the doctrine of imputed sin.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The doctrine rests on the legal logizomai (to reckon, impute) and the representative heis (one man) whose parakoe (disobedience) constituted the many sinners.
Usage
"The imputation of Adam’s sin charges his guilt to all he represented as federal head of the race."
"Reject imputation in Adam and you must reject imputation in Christ—the two stand on one principle."
"‘Why am I charged with another’s sin?’ is the same objection that would forbid being saved by Another’s righteousness."