The word “imputation” is the best attempt to translate into English a Greek word that means things like “regard,” or “attribute,” or “accredit,” or “credit.” In a nutshell, it boils down to something like “the treatment of something as having attributes that it does not intrinsically have.” Simple, right? At the recent Mockingbird conference, C. FitzSimons Allison (retired Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina) asserted that all of Christian theology, and the very Good News itself, hangs on this word.
But let’s talk about The Cooler. William H. Macy plays the unluckiest guy in the world, who works for a Las Vegas casino, cooling tables. He is so unlucky that his unluckiness exudes out of his pores and infects those around him. Winning streaks become losing streaks, hot streaks become cold streaks, and good rolls become bad ones. One day, though, he does a favor for cocktail waitress Maria Bello, and things begin to change. She starts to have feelings for him, and consequently, he begins to be less unlucky. In a sense, she treats him as though he is desirable, when he is clearly not. Then, because of this attribution, he becomes desirable.
But here’s the thing: Only God imputes. The Cooler is a good example, actually. Maria Bello begins to treat William H. Macy as desirable for only one reason: she loves him. There is no ulterior motive. Of course, she’s a character in a movie, so she’s immune to the vagaries of human nature with which the rest of us are beset. We, on the other hand, hear about imputation and we think, “Great! I’ll treat all the un-loveable people in my life as love-able, and they’ll actually become love-able! Won’t it be grand!”
Christians sometimes fall into talking about grace in this way: Treat someone graciously and good things will happen. As you can see, though, this turns into just one more law to follow, an iteration of Love Your Neighbor as Yourself. And, of course, since it moves under law, it becomes something that our inevitable ulterior motives taint. “If I’m nice to her, maybe she’ll be nicer to me!” Imputation is something that happens, like in The Cooler, automatically. Maria Bello isn’t looking for something from William H. Macy…she falls in love with him. The classic human example, the incontrovertible fact that we are inevitably attracted to the person who loves us when we feel unlovable, still feels (and is) like a lightning bolt out of heaven: a pure miracle.
So if the bad news is that only God imputes, the good news (I should say Good News) is that GOD IMPUTES! In the same way that William H. Macy becomes the person Maria Bello regards him to be, we become the kind of people that God regards us to be. In this case, Fitz Allison is absolutely correct: All of Christianity hinges on this word. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). We are regarded as righteous when we are not, and are therefore MADE RIGHTEOUS. And that is Good News indeed.
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7 responses to “Do You Feel Lucky? Imputation and "The Cooler"”
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I saw "The Cooler" when it was first released and hated it. Thank you for revealing the redemptive theme in this movie!
I love Fitz Alison's section on imputation in "Guilt, Anger and God."
Thanks Nick for this post. I did like The Cooler (sorry John B!) and I am nuts about almost anything that William H. Macy appears in. I especially love him in Magnolia; Homicide (not the TV show); and Happy, Texas. (Also Mystery Men, Pleasantville, Boogie Nights… the list goes on.)
Very helpful discussion of imputation — and I can't say enough how encouraged I am by the way you look to the language of love (as in horizontal love between two people) for theological insights into things vertical. Fitz Alison (whom you mention) is very big on this: whether it is him using that language to understand imputation, or the bound will, or how to approach the Bible.
The only thing I'd ask is that you not totally give up on horizontal imputation. (You say that "Only God imputes.") I agree 100% that imputation from one person to another fails when it is used as a tool to manipulate behavior. And I agree that only God imputes Righteousness.
But sometimes truly graceful loving, from one person to another, does indeed result in the beloved becoming lovable (or skilled, or or whatever quality is being imputed). At least that's been my experience.
Nick,
This post is truly helpful. You are right on the money.
John,
Nick does leave room for what we call "horizontal imputation" in the example of true love. When someone truly loves someone else it is indeed powerful and can make a huge difference in a person's life experientially. However, I think Nick is being extremely pastoral here by pointing us always to God's imputing work at the cross on our behalf. To emphasize the horizontal in any way has no hope but to end up back in the realm of the Law simply because we take it there every time without exception. To focus on the horizontal is like giving CPR to the old Adam or old Eve (the control thirsty maniac inside each of us).
Gerhard Forde warned against this in relation to sanctification specifically in his essay in "Five Views of Sanctification," and I think the principle applies here too. Because in our sin we have no option other than to TRY to impute to someone or to turn imputation into some sort of self-beneficial exercise, we would be wise to keep our eyes fixed on God and His imputing work through Jesus and His cross.
I love Nick's description of when imputation occurs on the horizontal level; it is like getting struck by "a lightning bolt out of heaven: pure miracle." Man, that's good!
Thanks Nick!
Hey StampDawg –
I'm with you. I just find that "truly graceful loving" is, like I said in the post, a miracle straight from heaven. It can be recognized in retrospect, I think, but can't be DONE. How's this: we can recognize horizontal imputation, rare as it might be, but God DOES imputation. The moment we begin to consider how we might impute, we tarnish the imputation.
Thanks for this, Nick. Interesting post and comments. My two cents is somewhere in the middle (crosshairs?) of the horizontal and vertical. To be given the gift of "seeing the person as God sees them" is, in a sense, horizontal imputation, but its origin is in God. God "sees" the person, i.e. imputes His righteousness to them, and we pick up on that when we "see them as God sees them." This imputation is, in practice, horizontal, but in origin, completely vertical. That can bring real change. Horizontal imputation that is purely hoizontal is usually just a form of "technique" grace that is really just an expression of our desire to control the other.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.
Rock on.