Throughout the New Testament, the language of money is used to discuss sin and the gospel: words like debt, forgiveness, redeem, and impute.
For example, Colossians 2 explains forgiveness of trespasses as cancellation of debt. This brings in both the metaphor of a trespass as a debt and the concept that such a debt can be cancelled or "set aside" as part of regeneration by "nailing it to the cross".
In Romans 3, those who are "justified by his grace" are said to be done so "as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Here justification (or righteousness) is made to be something that can be given as a gift, and it is done so by redeeming one as from bondage. Redemption (ἀπολύτρωσις here) language is often connected with paying the debt of someone else; often someone who has been made a slave to the creditor.
Finally, the language of "imputation" is sometimes used, in which funds are "transferred" from one account to another, at least on paper. I use the quotes and qualification to point out that there is no physical transference of monies, but rather, the funds are "counted" or "imputed" to the other account. This is not especially difference from the electronic transactions we have today. Romans 4 uses this language as a way of explaining how God gives righteousness to those who have faith in Jesus: "And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." Other translations here say that faith is "credited" is righteousness, or "reckoned" or "accounted", or can be translated "imputed". The Greek word here is λογίζεται, and these are all accounting terms with this same meaning in this context.
So my question is two-fold:
- Does the Old Testament use this sort of language to refer to sin and righteousness?
- In these Old Testament usages of monetary/accounting language, is such a concept of a transaction included, whereby sin is taken on by God, or that man is redeemed, his sin-debt forgiven, or righteousness granted?
