Romans 4:8
Blessed is the man to whom the lord shall not impute sin.”
Truth to Learn
God considers those who believe His promises as sinless. As a result, He shows His favor to them.
Behind the Words
The word translated “Blessed” is makarios. We looked at the verb form of this word two verses back. It refers to one who possesses the fullness of God’s favor. Aristotle contrasted this word with endeēs, meaning “one who is lacking or in need.”
Another translation element that we want to look at is the word “not.” This is the translation of the two Greek words ou me. The word me indicates relative negation and the word ou indicates absolute negation. In English, a double negative is not proper, but in Greek it is a form of emphasis. So the expression ou me means “absolutely not” or “no way.”
“Impute” is from a Greek word that we have looked at before. It is the word logidzomai, which means, “to put to one’s account.” It is sometimes translated as “impute, reckon, credit or count unto.” It is an accounting term meaning that someone’s account has been (or hasn’t been) credited as having something. In this verse it says that the person unto whom God will not credit sin is full of God’s favor.
Meaning Explained
This verse is directly tied to the previous verse and it contains the crux of what Paul is trying to demonstrate. These two verses are quoted from Psalms 32:1, 2. In both these verses David describes the person as blessed. This is different from one who is happy because happy implies good luck (the root hap means “luck as a favorable circumstance”). A blessed person is one who is in the world but not of the world. That is, his or her satisfaction comes from God, not favorable circumstances. A person who is blessed of God is someone who experiences peace with or without pleasure.
What David is saying is that the person whose sins and acts of lawlessness are forgiven and the person unto whom God will absolutely not credit with sin is a recipient of God’s greatest favor. What is just as interesting is what David said at the end of this particular Psalm:
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Psalms 32:10-11)
David tells us to be glad, to rejoice, and to shout for joy because we have not been credited with sin.
What Paul is getting to is this: the person who does not earn (or deserve) salvation but believes God, not only does not have sin credited to his or her account but does have righteousness credited to his or her account. Let’s see, do I want God to see me as a sinner or as sinless? Hmmm. That’s not very hard to decide, is it?
Application
Deep down inside we all know that we are sinners and God knows us even better than we know ourselves. But through faith, the blood of Christ covers our sins and God sees us as righteous and without sin. That’s God’s grace, that’s God’s supreme favor, that’s blessedness!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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