Romans 4:8
in Romans 4Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin.
KJV
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
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This verse in Romans 4
Commentary
13 notes on this verse"Forgive," "cover," "not reckon"—all amount to one and the same thing. For all three are given and received in the same way.Paul has three categories to cover the different types of sin. The first category is that of wickedness or ungodliness, in that the Creator …
This site's exposition
credits righteousness apart from works
on Romans 4:6-8
David is the second witness, quoted from Psalm 32:1-2. He calls a man blessed whose lawless acts are forgiven, and the Lord will never count his sin. The psalm ties pardon to a righteousness God supplies.
This site's exposition
whose sin the Lord will never count
Ambrosiaster reads the three verbs of verses 7 and 8, forgiven, covered and never counted, as one act said three ways. Barnes draws out the last. The Lord treats the ungodly man of verse 5 as though the sin had never been charged, the same crediting Paul described in Abraham.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Whence I think that David too, in the thirty-first psalm, which he entitled "Of the understanding of David," gave this beginning, admonishing by the very superscription that a deeper understanding must be sought in the things he was about to say, namely that "blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven": concerning which we have spoken, as far as we were able, when we dictated on the Psalms in order.
"Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." And he does not say this "forgiveness" then comes upon the circumcision; but what saith he? "Cometh this blessedness then" (which is the greater thing) "upon the circumcision or upon the uncircumcision?" For now the subject of enquiry is, With whom is this good and great thing to be found; is it with the circumcision or with the uncircumcision? And notice its superiority! For he shows that it is so far from shunning the uncircumcision, that it even dwelt gladly with it before the circumcision.
A commentator
Theodore of MopsuestiaPAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH · Written before 428.
proposed
Sinful works are not counted against the faithful. God's love of humanity is the greatest thing that has happened.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Third, in regard to venial sin he says, blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin, where sin refers to venial sins which, although light, if they be many, man is separated and distant from God: the good Lord will pardon …
For if he who receives forgiveness by grace is blessed, then far more blessed is he who has shown faith and been justified by it. Why, he says, do you hesitate over the fact that he receives forgiveness of sins by grace? You see that …
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), which makes it wholly a gracious act of God, not dealing with us in strict justice as we have deserved, not entering into judgment, not marking iniquities, all which being purely acts of grace, the acceptance and the reward cannot be expected as debts; and therefore Paul infers (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Saying, Blessed, &c.-- (Ps 32:1, 2). David here sings in express terms only of "transgression forgiven, sin covered, iniquity not imputed"; but as the negative blessing necessarily includes the positive, the passage is strictly in point.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin - That man is truly happy to whose charge God does not reckon sin; that is, they alone are happy who are redeemed from the curse of the law and the consequence of their ungodly life, by having their sins freely forgiven, through the mercy of God.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Will not impute sin - On whom the Lord will not charge his sins; or who shall not be reckoned or regarded as guilty. This shows clearly what the apostle meant by imputing faith without works. It is to pardon sin, and to treat with favor; not to reckon or charge a man’s sin to him; but to treat him, though personally undeserving and ungodly Rom 4:5, as though the sin had not been committed. The word “impute” here is used in its natural and appropriate sense, as denoting to charge on man what properly belongs to him. See the note at Rom 4:3.
The words behind it
8 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| μακάριος | makarios | blessed [is] | G3107 → | 50 times |
| ἀνὴρ | aner | [the] man | G435 → | 216 times |
| οὗ | hou | of whom | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| οὐ | ou | certainly | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| μὴ | me | not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| λογίσηται | logisetai | may reckon | G3049 → | 40 times |
| κύριος | kurios | [the] Lord | G2962 → | 711 times |
| ἁμαρτίαν.¶ | hamartian | sin. | G266 → | 173 times |
μακάριοςblessed [is]
makariosG3107 →50 times
ἀνὴρ[the] man
anerG435 →216 times
οὗof whom
houG3739 →1405 times
οὐcertainly
ouG3756 →1664 times
μὴnot
meG3361 →1066 times
λογίσηταιmay reckon
logisetaiG3049 →40 times
κύριος[the] Lord
kuriosG2962 →711 times
ἁμαρτίαν.¶sin.
hamartianG266 →173 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Peter 2:24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 53:4–6
Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
- Matthew 8:17
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took on our infirmities and carried our diseases.”
- Romans 6:11
So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
- Revelation 22:2
down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month.…
- 1 John 2:29
If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.
- Isaiah 53:4–6
Through
1 Peter 3:18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
it leads to
- Hebrews 9:28
so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
- Hebrews 9:26
Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by…
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Hebrews 9:28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies15
On this verse
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About Romans
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans 8; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; Theodore of Mopsuestia, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Romans and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans.