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‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.’
Rom_4:8
I. To whom will the Lord not impute sin?—The answer is—
(a) To those who believe in Christ. ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness’ (Rom_4:3). But what did God reveal to Abraham which was the matter of his believing? The promise concerning his seed (cf. Gen_12:3; Gen_15:5-6). But that seed was Christ (cf. Gen_3:15; Gal_3:16). Agreeably to this God gave to Abraham ‘the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had’ (Rom_4:11). For this was a sign of the cutting off out of the land of the living of the holy seed of promise. It was also a sign of the cutting off or removal from the believer of all concupiscence through Christ. This also was the case with David. He had wonderful insight into the ‘manner of man’ Messiah should be, who was to arise in his line, and who was to become, by imputation, ‘wicked,’ and suffer the punishment of sin for us, from the hands of God and man (see 2Sa_7:14; 2Sa_7:19; Heb_1:5).
(b) To those who believe in Christ alone. This was the point at issue with the Judaisers. They pleaded for the works of the the law in addition. They especially pleaded for circumcision as a condition of justification. But was Abraham justified by the law? Certainly not, for the law was not given till four hundred years after Abraham’s time (see Gal_3:17-18). And as to circumcision: Abraham was justified by faith for at least fifteen years (some say twenty-five) before he received this rite. God’s mercy found Abraham a heathen (Jos_24:2). Then, he believed God, not as a righteous man, but being ungodly, and received the justification of faith. We are saved by grace, purely by God’s merciful prerogative, through the redemption of Christ. This also was the source of David’s justification, as expressed in the text. It is not in the nature of law to justify the ungodly. It will justify the innocent. To the ungodly law can only work ‘wrath,’ by discovering transgression, and bringing down its penalty.
(c) With what kind of faith must we believe? There are two kinds—viz. the faith of assent, and the faith of confidence or reliance. The former is the foundation of the latter. The former may exist without the latter. The latter is the saving faith. We must confide in Christ as our Saviour. We must rely upon Him for salvation. Justification by faith is so plain that all may comprehend it. It is so free that all may attain it.
(d) Here is no countenance to the Antinomian doctrine of imputed righteousness. That doctrine is that the active personal righteousness of Christ is imputed to every believer. But this is not St. Paul’s doctrine. It is nowhere stated in Scripture that Christ’s obedience to the moral law is imputed to any man. It is not common sense. For how could Christ, e.g., have fulfilled for us the moral duties of parents, husbands, wives, servants, etc., when He never sustained these relations? The meritorious cause of our justification, laid down in Scripture everywhere, is the death of Christ (cf. Rom_3:25; Rom_5:6; Rom_5:10; Eph_1:7; Eph_5:2; Col_1:14; Col_1:20; Col_1:22; 1Ti_2:6; Tit_2:14; Heb_10:10). In the death of Christ the requirement of the broken law is fully met. Before it was broken the law required obedience; but broken, it does not now look for obedience, but for the death of the sinner. This requirement Christ met by becoming the sinner, or sin-bearer, in our stead, and by suffering for us the penalty. The instrumental cause of our justification is faith. ‘Faith is imputed for righteousness.’ The ungodly is justified by his faith.
II. What is the blessedness of the believer?
(a) He is released from the punishment of sin. The death of hell is a fearful reality. Its fearfulness may be realised in the fact that it is the antithesis of the glorious life of heaven. The anger of God is a dreadful fire. It makes the death of the body a king of terrors. This death terminates our probation, as well as ends to the sinner the enjoyments of existence. It introduces him to the judgment seat. Release here is a grand relief. ‘Blessed is the man.’ ‘His iniquities are forgiven.’ He is healed as just. He has nothing now to fear.
(b) He enjoys the inheritance of the saints. He has the blessing of Abraham. For he is the son of Abraham. Not according to the flesh. To be lineal descendants of Abraham is not without its blessings (see Rom_9:1-5). But the ‘children of the promise’ are the children of faith. These are ‘counted for the seed.’ As Jabal was the father of shepherds, and Jubal of musicians, so is Abraham the father of believers. The blessing of Abraham makes us heirs of the covenant. It gives us the blessings of adoption into the family of God (Eph_1:5-6). It entitles us to the inheritance of heaven (Heb_11:8-10). He has also the ‘sure mercies of David.’ The royalty of the saints is brought out as the covenant was established with David (cf. 2Sa_7:12-17; Psa_89:1-4; Psa_89:27-37; Dan_7:18; Rom_5:17; 1Co_6:2; 2Ti_2:12; Rev_1:6; Rev_5:10; Rev_11:15; Rev_20:6; Rev_22:5).
THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS
I. Man owes perfect obedience to the law of God.—God ‘imputes,’ reckons with, a man in the matter of obedience. God’s law is holy, just, good; is adapted to man’s nature. Whatever his bias to sin, the great word ‘ought’ is felt by man as that which describes his relation to the law of God.
II. Man has not paid this perfect obedience.—He must acknowledge ‘sin.’ A debt is due by him. Was there ever such a hopeless bankrupt as man in relation to the law of God? We ‘have sinned; what shall we answer Thee, Thou preserver of souls?’ ‘Wert Thou just to mark our iniquities we could not answer.’
III. God for Christ’s sake offers to remit the debt.—He ‘will not impute sin.’ Nature has no full forgiveness for any transgression of her laws. In the healing of disease, etc., she mitigates, but does not entirely pardon. Her freed men have an inferior place to her free men. But the ‘blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin.’ It is a sea in which it is buried out of sight.
IV. This offer must be accepted by each man individually.—‘The man.’ You and I must have the announcement of forgiveness spoken into our ear. ‘Thy sins which were many are all forgiven thee.’
V. The great blessing of the Gospel.—‘Blessed is the man.’ ‘Redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin.’ It is the first and direct gift of God to man as a sinner. It is the entrance to the home of God’s love and peace and joy. Blessed only the man by whom the doorway is entered.
Illustration
‘If our sins were the cause of Christ’s suffering, the emotions which should be awakened in our breast should surely be a fear of sin. With the awful and mysterious declaration of the text before our eyes, what possible hope of escape can we have if we continue in sin? Another habitual feeling which the great truth of the text should leave in our hearts is a hatred for sin. Many reasons have we, indeed, to hate sin, for it is the degradation of our race, the cause of all our sufferings, and the peril of our everlasting future; and the more we are taught by God’s Spirit to see the beauty of holiness, and to love the just and the pure and the true, the more we shall hate sin for its own sake, its moral deformity, and its enmity to God and to good. But while fear and hatred of sin should accompany a belief in the atonement, the truth should be embraced by a trusting and cheerful faith. The mysterious greatness of the sacrifice offered when Christ suffered magnifies the Divine justice and the guilt of sin. It also demonstrates the infinitude of God’s mercy. The atonement thus embraced by faith should be the root and spring of a loving obedience. The highest conceivable instance of God’s love, it should enkindle in our hearts the love of God.’