Imputed righteousness is a concept in Christian theology proposing that the "righteousness of Christ ... is imputed to [believers]—that is, treated as if it were theirs—through faith." It is on the basis of Jesus' righteousness that God accepts humans. This acceptance is also referred to as justification.
The teaching of imputed righteousness is a signature doctrine of the Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican traditions of Christianity.
In Protestant theology, the active obedience of Jesus Christ (sometimes called his preceptive obedience) comprises the totality of his actions, which Christians believe was in perfect obedience to the law of God. Christ's active obedience (doing what God's law required) is usually distinguished from his passive obedience, namely suffering, dying, and substituting himself for sins of his people.
In Reformed theology, Christ's active obedience is generally believed to be imputed to Christians as part of their justification.
Imparted righteousness, in Methodist theology, is that gracious gift of God given at the moment of the new birth which enables a Christian disciple to strive for holiness and sanctification. John Wesley believed that imparted righteousness worked in tandem with imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus credited to the Christian, enabling the Christian to be justified; imparted righteousness is what God does in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit after justification, working in the Christian to enable and empower the process of sanctification (and, in Wesleyan thought, Christian perfection).