Romans 4:6-8
6 David also spoke of this when he described the happiness(Blessed )of those who are declared righteous without working for it:
7 “Oh, what joy for those Whose disobedience is forgiven, Whose sins are put out of sight.
8 Yes, what joy for those Whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.
” David, Israel’s greatest king , sang about the blessedness that God gave him in forgiveness of his deliberate sins. David understood that in God’s accounting ledger his sins were wiped out and righteousness was inscribed in their place. Paul quotations of Ps 32 (NKJV) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
¹ A Psalm of David. A Contemplation. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.
² Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Four different Hebrew terms are used for sin in these verses, highlighting different aspects of sin (1) Transgression: has the basic idea of rebellion, (2) Sin: is a more general term referring to deliberate offence,
(3) Iniquity: has the idea of going astray,
(4) Deceit: emphasizes falsehood or even hypocrisy.
There are three different Hebrew verbs associated with the first 3 terms of sin, also showing different aspects of forgiveness
(1) Forgiven: literally “lifted up” and emphasizes the burden of sin being lifted from the person not feeling guilty anymore,
(2) Covered: means to hide something or cover something that is offensive,
(3) Impute: can mean “reckon”or “regard” but in legal contexts it means to reckon as liable for punishment ( impute with guilt).
This Explains Genesis 15:6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Paul similarly linked justification and the forgiveness of sin in his synagogue sermon
ACT 13
38 Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins.
39 Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do.