Romans 4:6-8

Paulos,
Unfortunately I had difficulty with my dial-up access last night, so I was unable to post last night. I have included my translation and comments. With this section, though, I actually have more questions than comments. Once we talk about my questions, then I will write a summary, and then move on to the next section.

Grace to you!

Romans 4.6-8

⁶ Just as David speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteous apart from works. ⁷ Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and those whose sins are covered. ⁸ Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not reckon (Psalm 32:1-2).

Just as Paul called on Abraham as a type of the Christian, who is reckoned righteous not because of possession of the Law, but because of grace through faith, Paul shows how David is a type of the Christian whose sins are covered not because of the Law, but on account of God’s mercy.

Aside from what I will mention at the end of this post, what I wrote above regarding these few verses is at this point as detailed as I can get. This is true, because I have a few questions regarding this passage that are not satisfactorily answered in the commentaries. Paulos, perhaps you will help me here as you have helped me in previous notes. Here are the questions:

• It seems that in the phrase I translated ‘apart from works’ (v. 6), that the ‘works’ should refer to the Law. This is a fair connection since Paul has already used ‘work(s)’ to refer to the deeds required by the Law of Moses. Also in 3.21 Paul says that God’s righteousness has been revealed ‘apart from the Law’. Putting these things together would make sense that the ‘apart from works’ would refer to the Law of Moses.
• Is the preceding interpretation correct? The reason I question is on account of the shift in 4:4 to talk of ‘works’ with a shade of difference in relation to ‘works of the law’. Is Paul making the connection with David to the ‘working’ in 4:4?
• If the first interpretation above is correct, then how does the Psalm support Paul’s point specifically regarding ‘apart from works’? The apart from works is a crucial theme here, but as far as I can see it the ‘apart from works’ is not argued in Psalm 32. Forgiveness is definitely described, but not ‘apart from works’.

Lastly, in verse 8 we have a helpful statement from David which helps us understand justification, as Paul views it. God is just to declare men guilty for their sin, but blessed is the man whom God does not reckon him guilty in keeping with his sin. This though raises a huge theological question for which Paul has already given the answer. The question? How can God be just and reckon guilty men to be righteous? Paul answers this question in 3:21ff.

Thanks for your help in understanding Romans! As you can see I still have many questions here, and I look forward to your response.

Timotheos