So far, we’ve gone over how the gospel includes a universe of forgiveness in which we live AND the atonement of Jesus under which we exist. Next, the Bible explains that the perfect life that Jesus lived is imputed, or applied, to our account as a gift of God’s love and grace. God makes an exchange: all that is wrong with us is charged against Jesus and all that is right about Him is charged to us.
Jesus Himself explained how the Counselor—the Holy Spirit—would come and glorify Jesus by taking what belongs to Him and declaring it to us (John 16). The Old Testament prophet Hosea also explained that God would give us “double” for our wrong doing. “Double” does NOT mean that God will do twice as much harm to us as we have done. RATHER, God will take away what is wrong with us, on the one hand, and give to us all that is right, on the other.