(IV.) The theologians who assert the extreme doc- trine of imputation are ably answered by the closing words of an article on this subject in Chambers's Cyclo- j)mUa, V, 529 : " To impute sin is to deal with a man as a sinner, not on account of his own act, or at least not primarily on this account, but on account of the act of another; and to impute righteousness is to deal with man as righteous, not because he is so, but on accoimt of the righteousness of Christ reckoned as his, and re- ceived by faith alone. The act of another stands in both cases for our own act, and we are adjudged — in the
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one case condemned, in the other acquitted — not for what we ourselves have done, but for what another has done for us.
" This is a fair illustration of the tyranny which tech- nical phrases are apt to exercise in theology as in other things. When men coin an imperfect phrase to ex- press a spiritual reality, the reality is apt to be forgot- ten in the phrase, and men play with the latter as a logical counter, having a force and meaning of its own. Impuhition of sin and imputation of i-ighteoitsness have in this way come to represent legal or pseudo-legal pro- cesses in tlieology, through the working out of the mere legal analogies suggested by the word. But the true spiritual reality which lies behind the phrases in both cases is simple enough. Imputation of sin is, and can be nothing else than, the expression of the spiritual uni- ty of Adam and his race. Adam ' being the root of all mankind,' the stock which has growia from this root must share in its degeneracy. The law of spiritual life, of historical continuity, implies this, and it requires no arbitrary or legal process, therefore, to account for the sinfulness ol' mankind as derived i'rom a sinful source. We arc sinners because Adam fell. The fountain hav- ing become polluted, the stream is polluted. We are involved in his guilt, and could not help being so by the conditions of our historical existence ; but, never- theless, his sin is not our sin, and cannot, in the strict sense, be imputed to us, for sin is essentially voluntary in every case — an act of self-will, and not a mere qual- ity of nature ; and my sin, therefore, cannot be anoth- er's, nor another's mine. In the same manner, the high- est meaning of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ lies in the spiritual unity of the believer with Christ, so that he is one with Christ, and Christ one with him, and in a true sense he becomes a partaker of the divine nature. The notion of legal transference is an after-thought — the invention of polemical logic — and the fact itself is deeper and truer than the phrase that covers it. The race one with Adam., the heliever one with Christ, are the ideas that are really true in the phrases imputation of sin and imputation oj righteous- ness."
See Watson, Institutes, ii, 215, 241 ; Knapp, Theology, § 7G, 115; Whitby, De imputatione Peccaii Adamitici; Taylor, Doctriiw of Origiiml Sin ; Wesley, Sermons, i, 171-4 ; Edwards, On original Sin ; Walch, De Obedientia Christi Activa (Gottingen, 1754, 4tfl) ; Walch, Neueste Religionsgeschichte, iii, 311; I-riiia/oii /.■-/■. April, 1860; Baird, The First and Second A, I, mi (I'hiladcliiliia, 1860, 12mo) ; Princeton lieperton/, ls3ii.|i. 4--") ; W'hately, Dif- ficulties oj St. Paul, Essay vi; Stuart, On Romans, Ex- cursus v, vi. See also the articles Obediesce of Christ; Justificatiox.
Im'rah (Heb. Yimrah', iT^^7» refractoriness; Sept. 'IfjKOft), one of the sons ot Zophah, of the tribe of Asher (1 Cluron. vii, 3G). B.C. post 1612. See Hothaji.
Im'ri (Heb. Imri', "•"I'SS, eloquent, the name of two men.
1. (Sept. omits either this or the preced. name, giv- ing only 'Afxpi ; ViUg. Omra'o). The son of Bani, and father of Omri of Judah (1 Chron, ix, 4). B.C. much ante 536.
2. (Sept. 'A/iapi,Vulg, ^mri). The " father" of Zac- cm, which latter repaired part of the AvaUs of Jerusalem after the Exile (Neh. iii, 2). B.C. ante 446.
Ina, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from 689 to 720, celebrated as the principal legislator of th« Anglo-Saxons, deser^'es mention here on account of his enactments in favor of religious observances. He was the tirst in that portion of England who made the laws of Christianity the basis of aU civil and social re- lations. Particular resjard was paid to the observance of the Sabbath day ; the rite of baptism was ordered to be performed on infants within thirty days after their birth, etc. His relation with the see of Kome was very intimate. He made several journeys to the Eternal
City, and originated in his dominions the payment of the annual tribute of the "Peter's pence." See Kiddle, Hist, of the Papaaj, i, 310 ; Baxter, Ch. Hist. p. 93 sq. (J. H.W.)
Inability, in theology, is generally used to denote want of power to do the will of God. It is natural ina- bility when the hiiiderance is physical ; moral inability when the hinderance lies in the will. This distinction has special prominence in American theology, and has been the subject of a great deal of controversy between New-school and Old-school Calvinists, and also between Calvinists and Arminians. The New-school contend that man is naturally able to obey God, but morally un- able. The Old-school deny both natural and moral ability. The Arminians deny natural and moral, but assert gracious ability on the part of man to accept Christ, and so to obey God.