In his commentary on the Book of Isaiah, Jerome (d. 420) understood the Suffering Servant of the Fourth Hymn (Jesus) being “reckoned” among sinners not as teaching the imputation of sin to Jesus but that he would be among the sinners, in his sufferings on the cross and his descent into Hades:
Now the Evangelist Mark
understands “the unjust” with whom “he was reckoned” as the thieves, since he
writes, “And with him they crucified two thieves, the one on his right hand,
and the other on his left, and the Scripture was fulfilled, which says: ‘And
with the unjust he was reckoned’ ” [Mark 15:27–28]. This can also be understood
in a deeper sense, since the Lord says of himself, “I have been reckoned with
those who go down to the pit, I became as a man without help; free among the
dead” [Ps 88:4–5]. For he was truly “reckoned” among sinners and the unjust,
when he descended into hell (infernum),
which in many passages of Scripture is called “the pit,” and he set free those
bound in prison. “Who was handed over for our sins, and rose again for our
justification” [Rom 4:25]. It was characteristic of such great mercy to pray on the cross for transgressors, no, for his persecutors, and say, “Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do” [Luke 23:34]. (St. Jerome's
Commentary on Isaiah: Including St. Jerome's Translation of Origen's Homilies
1-9 on Isaiah [trans. Thomas P. Scheck; Ancient Christian Writers 68;
Mahwah, N.J.: The Newman Press, 2015], 676-77)
Response to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness (a review of John Kauer, “Are You Considered as Good as Jesus? The Imputation Approach” in Eric Johnson and Sean McDowell, eds. Sharing the Good News with Mormons [Eugene, Oreg.: Harvest House Publishers, 2018), 273-81, 339]; also discusses Rom 4:1-8, a common "proof-text" for Reformed soteriology)
