“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered.“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered.
3 sermons cite this verse
One of the benefits of moving through a book like Romans somewhat slowly is that we are able, I hope, to feel the proportionate weight of certain doctrines. That is, if you move quickly, and sometimes there's good reason to move through books quickly, but by moving slowly, we can get a sense for how central certain ideas are in Paul's thinking and how essential they are to a right understanding of the gospel. Remember the theme for the whole book in chapter 1, 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel. In some ways, the rest of the book is about the indicatives of the gospel and then what follows in those imperatives. This is a book about the gospel. And right at the top of the list of those essential truths is the doctrine of justification. This is not what we find in all branches of the church. We're actually reading as a staff, a faculty at Reformed Theological Seminary this semester. We pick a book every semester. …
… all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. The gospel says, blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. The law says, the wages of sin is death. The gospel says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The law demands holiness. The gospel gives holiness. The law says do. The gospel says done. The law makes blessing the result of obedience. The gospel makes obedience the result of blessing. The law puts the day of rest at the end of the week. The gospel puts it at the beginning of the week because we have new life in Christ. The law says, if, the gospel says, therefore. The law says, run, but it gives us no legs. The gospel says, fly, and it gives us wings. Why? Why? Because Christ fulfilled the law. He said, I didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came to fulfill it. And when God forgives my sin, God doesn't overlook his law. God doesn't say the law doesn't matter. Oh, my dear friend, listen, Jesus paid in full for my sin debt. …
4. Least of all does justification imply, that God is deceived in those whom he justifies; that he thinks them to be what, in fact, they are not; that he accounts them to be otherwise than they are. It does by no means imply, that God judges concerning us contrary to the real nature of things; that he esteems us better than we really are, or believes us righteous when we are unrighteous. Surely no. The judgment of the all-wise God is always according to truth. Neither can it ever consist with his unerring wisdom, to think that I am innocent, to judge that I am righteous or holy, because another is so. He can no more, in this manner, confound me with Christ, than with David or Abraham. Let any man to whom God hath given understanding, weigh this without prejudice; and he cannot but perceive, that such a notion of justification is neither reconcilable to reason nor Scripture. 5. The plain scriptural notion of justification is pardon, the forgiveness of sins. It is that act of God the Father, hereby, for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of his Son, he “showeth forth his righteousness (or mercy) by the remission of the sins that are past.” This is the easy, natural account of it given by St. Paul, throughout this whole epistle. So he explains it himself, more particularly in this and in the following chapter. Thus, in the next verses but one to the text, “Blessed are they,” saith he, “whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” To him that is justified or forgiven, God “will not impute sin” to his condemnation. He will not condemn him on that account, either in this world or in that which is to come. His sins, all his past sins, in thought, word, and deed, are covered, are blotted out, shall not be remembered or mentioned against him, any more than if they had not been. God will not inflict on that sinner what he deserved to suffer, because the Son of his love hath suffered for him. And from the time we are “accepted through the Beloved,” “reconciled to God through his blood,” he loves, and blesses, and watches over us for good, even as if we had never sinned. …