Luther on Imputation, Genesis 15:6

As for the verb חָשַׁב, I do not object very much whether you take it to mean either “to impute” or as “to think”; for the result remains the same. When the Divine Majesty thinks about me that I am righteous, that my sins have been forgiven, that I am free from eternal death, and when I gratefully grasp this thought of God about me in faith, then I am truly righteous, not through my works but through faith, with which I grasp the divine thought.

For God’s thought is infallible truth. Therefore when I grasp it with a firm thought—not with an uncertain and wavering opinion—I am righteous.

For faith is the firm and sure thought or trust that through Christ God is propitious and that through Christ His thoughts concerning us are thoughts of
peace, not of affliction or wrath.

God’s thought or promise, and faith, by which I take hold of God’s promise—these belong together. Therefore Paul correctly translates the word חָשַׁב with λογίζεσθαι, which also refers to thinking, as does the word “to account”; for if you believe God when He gives a promise, God accounts you righteous.

It is not stated here that God wants to regard the Law, circumcision, or sacrifices as worthy of righteousness. Only His accounting, only that thought of grace concerning us, brings this about.
For righteousness is given to Abraham not because he performs works but because he believes. Nor is it given to faith as a work of ours; it is given because of God’s thought, which faith lays hold of.


Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s works, vol. 3: Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 15-20. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 3, pp. 21–22). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.