Romans 4:6-8 : Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckoneth righteous-ness apart from works, saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. The Lord does not reckon sin, but does reckon righteousness, to the person whose sins are forgiven. The Lord reckons, or imputes, sin to the person so long as he is a sinner, and because he is a sinner. But when his sins are forgiven, the Lord does not reckon them against him anymore. The forgiven man is right-ems, and hence the Lord imputes, or reckons, righteousness to him. It has been erroneously assumed and falsely argued that to impute a thing to a person is to put to his ac-count something he does not have, or somewhat more than he has. The Presbyterian and Baptist Confessions of Faith, and a host of theologians of both schools, teach that the righteousness of Christ is imputed, or credited, to the sinner. I was sorry to see it also taught in "The Way of Salvation." The doctrine is wholly without scriptural support. If to impute means to consider a person somewhat more than he is, or to credit him with something which belongs to another, then to impute sin to a person would be to consider him worse than he is, or to charge to him the sins of another! Righteousness belongs to character, and it is absurd to think that personal righteousness can be transferred to another. When by the power of the gospel a man has been made clean and free from sin, God reckons righteousness to him, because he is righteous. God does not pretend that a man is righteous when he is not. The denominational doctrine of imputed righteousness reminds one of the children's game of "play-like." And their doctrine discredits the gospel as God's saving power, and belittles the merits and efficacy of the blood of Christ, for it teaches that some corruption remains in the regenerate, but he is counted righteous because he is clothed with the righteousness of Christ. That is "play-like" theology. But the gospel makes men righteous, just as a soiled garment may be made clean, as clean as if it had never been soiled, by carrying it through a process of cleans-ing. So the gospel takes the sin-defiled person through a process of cleansing that makes him as clean as if he had never sinned. The Lord does not "play-like" he is righteous he makes him righteous by the gospel.