What is imputed sin?
To impute means “to lay to someone’s account such that they are fully and justly responsible for it.” In theological usage, it specifically means to give a person the credit or blame for something that he did not personally do. So when we say that Adam’s sin is imputed to us, it means that even though we are not the ones who personally violated God’s command in the Garden of Eden, we are given the blame for it. This doesn’t mean that Adam stops being guilty for his sin and we are guilty instead. It means that we share in his guilt. His sin and its guilt is transferred to every member of the human race such that we are counted guilty for it as well. To put this all into a single sentence, we may say that imputed sin is the doctrine that when Adam first sinned, that sin (and its blame) was rightly regarded by God to be our sin as well. What’s the difference between imputed sin and original sin? Do not confuse imputed sin with original sin. They are both true of all people and they are bo
