“Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, (7) Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Romans 4:6 - 8
The word “righteousness” means – justification – Vines defines the word this way, "the character or quality of being right or just" then God says, “the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness”. So now let us understand the word “imputeth”, -"to reckon, take into account," or, metaphorically, "to put down to a person's account," according to Vines. Now to get the full explanation and a full understanding we must understand what words mean. We can see verse 6 is a quote from David in his writings from the Psalms, “…Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Psalms 32:1 – 2. So, we see here that a person is blessed of God, if God “imputeth righteousness” meaning He has put righteousness down on our account. Exactly how did God do that, He done it by the blood of Jesus Christ. God goes on to say in verse 6 “without works,” or without merit on the part of the person that God imputed the righteousness. Since our righteousness was imputed by God and it was without works on our part then we are blessed because it was a gift and a blessing from God. David also said “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” how many sins, all our sins are covered by God washing our sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Revelation 1:5 The blessing to us who are saved is that God redeemed us through the blood of His own Son, Jesus the Christ. Then God makes sure we understand this is His blessing on us and not because of any deed on our own. It is so sad when people attempt to make the blessings of God, gifts of God to us as merit based. Words like mercy, grace, gifts, and blessing are from God and cannot be bought with merit or even money. We must also recognize that the Old Testament Jews were under the same blessings we are. God said David was, He said Abraham was, so were all Old Testament saints. All throughout the scriptures, Old and New Testaments alike people were blessed by God with righteousness by faith and not merit. Therefore, it was by this blessed gift of righteousness that David said, “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” Psalms 32:11 This scripture should be in the heart of everyone who God has blessed when He “imputeth righteousness without works”. This wonderful gift of our blessing was by God the Father sacrificing His own Son. Not by our merit, not with works which we have done, but by the choosing of the Father to bless us with His grace to forgive our filthy transgressions, in which He was pleased to give. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:10 – 12 No, God did not just impute His righteousness to us, oh no, it was God putting our sins on the Son as He was brutally beaten beyond recognition, humiliated, spit on, called names like “the devil”, stripped naked, a crown of thorns was put on His head, and He was crucified on that cursed cross between two thieves. This is the merit that Jesus did so that our God could “imputeth righteousness without works” to us who should never have been righteous in any way. This is the blessing of God to every believer from the Old Testament thru the New Testament times and to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and even to a remnant in the Tribulation period. So, you can understand what a disgrace it is when some attempt to make our gift of righteousness merit based on our part, it devalues the merit of our Saviour and takes His glory and gives it to man. Rom. 1:25 Therefore, let me leave this thought in your heart exactly the way God left it, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
