The Makarios Man

The Blessed Man

Who is a blessed man? Is it the man who is the world’s greatest athlete, or the world’s most wealthy man, or the man holding the most political power? Is it the healthiest man, or the wisest man, or the most-admired man? Not according to the Bible. The most blessed man is the man who is right with God, who has been acquitted in God’s court and declared righteous, the man whose sins have been forgiven, the man to whom God imputes God’s own righteousness and does not put into his account his sins. The blessed man is the man who is justified on the basis of Christ’s redemption and propitiatory sacrifice and is declared righteous through his faith in Christ. Such a man has no boasting in himself, but praises God all his life and gives God all the glory. He is the blessed man in the biblical sense.

The Testimony of Abraham (Romans 4:1-2)

Judaism boasted that Abraham, the progenitor of Israel, was justified by his own works and not by faith. The Book of Jubilees states that Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord and well-pleasing in righteousness all the days of his life. Rabbis cited Genesis 15:6 as proof that Abraham was justified by his works and not by faith and stated, “No one has been found like Abraham in glory. Abraham had obeyed the law perfectly even before it had been given” (Sirach 44:19). But concerning the righteousness of God, Paul states, “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded” (Rom. 3:27). The Jews were saying, “Paul, you are wrong. Our father Abraham was justified by his works.” But according to Scripture, Abraham was not justified by his works. So Paul says, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before God” (Rom. 4:1-2). To Paul, Abraham was no exception to the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone.

The proud Pharisee of Luke 18 represents the Jews of Paul’s day. According to them, Abraham worked for his salvation and God owed him his justification. But as Paul said, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Abraham was an ungodly sinner like everyone else. Joshua said Abraham was an idol worshiper before the God of glory called him (Josh. 24:2).

No one can be saved by his works. From eternity there has been only one God and one way of salvation: salvation by grace through faith. All the people of God, from Genesis through Revelation, are saved by grace. We cannot earn salvation; we receive it as a free gift. Noah found grace in the sight of God (Gen. 6:8), as did Abraham, and as does every true, elect child of God.

Abraham believed in the promised Messiah and was saved by grace alone. Jesus spoke of this to the Jews: “‘Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” This puzzled the Jews, who exclaimed, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham!” He replied, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:56-58). Jesus was declaring to them, “I am the Messiah, I am God, I am the Lord. Abraham saw me and was saved by his faith.”

Paul writes, “The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you,'” (Gal. 3:8). This was speaking about Abraham’s offspring, Jesus Christ. He continues, “For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise” (Gal. 3:18). So Paul is telling his Jewish adversaries who believed in salvation by good works that they were wrong; Abraham was saved by grace through faith. Abraham was no exception to the principle of justification by faith that Paul articulated. Abraham had nothing to boast about before God.

The Testimony of Scripture (Romans 4:3)

Paul was right, and Judaism was wrong. But then Paul goes on to a second point, which is the testimony of the Scripture itself. He asks, “What does the Scripture say?” (Rom. 4:3). Then he quotes Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Paul appealed to the Scripture on this matter of Abraham’s justification. He did so because the Scripture is word of God himself: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching” (2 Tim. 3:16). The term “Scripture” refers to the written word of God. It can refer to part or whole of the Scripture. Though written many centuries ago by different people, it is the word of God and it always speaks to those who read with faith. In the Scripture God himself speaks authoritatively; therefore, the Scripture is the basis for all teachings. It is the standard for our doctrine and life, which all biblical churches affirm, declare, and practice. Ever settled in heaven, the Scripture is the final authority. The Scripture is perfect; it is flawless.

Therefore Paul poses the question, “What does the Scripture say?” Judaism had cited Genesis 15:6 to prove that Abraham was justified by works; now Paul uses the same scripture to prove the opposite, that Abraham was justified by faith.

Abraham’s faith was personal, meaning that he trusted in a personal God, not in an undefined entity. Our trust and confidence should also be in the infinite, personal God. We rest in him, putting our entire weight on him. When we do so, we discover he is able to bear all our concerns, whether past, present, or future, including death.

Abraham’s faith was also propositional, meaning he believed in the promise that God made to him concerning a vast multitude of descendants. But his faith rested, not on that vast multitude, but in one descendant-the Messiah-who would save him and every elect of God.

Abraham believed God by trusting in his promises to give this aged man a multitude of children, one of which would be the Messiah, the Savior of Abraham and of the world. “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” This word “reckon” (logizomai) appears five times in verses 3 through 8. It is a very important word, an accounting term that deals with reality, not fiction. It means that what we did not possess is put into our account by another. We had no money in our account; now we have a million dollars, put into our account by someone else. It is not wages we earned; it is purely a gift from God who puts into our account his righteousness and does not count our unrighteousness against us.

Notice, God is not reckoning our faith as righteousness. He is not considering our faith in lieu of righteousness. God’s own righteousness is put into our account through the channel of our faith, which itself is a gift of God to us.

Paul then states, “David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness, apart from works” (Rom. 4:6). Of Abraham he writes, “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of righteousness that he had by faith, while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them” (Rom. 4:11). Friends, we are unrighteous; we need righteousness. God puts into our account his own righteousness to deal with all our unrighteousness. It is imputed to us in place of our unrighteousness, in view of our faith. Faith is the instrumental, not efficient, cause of our salvation. The efficient cause is grace, what God has done in Jesus Christ. Our faith is a gift of God. It is likened to a beggar’s hand lifted up to receive the gift of grace.

Paul also uses logizomai in Philemon 18-19 in speaking about Onesimus the slave and his debt: “If he has done you any wrong, or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back.” In the same way, Jesus is saying to the Father, “If my people owe you anything, put it to my account. I will pay it back.” Our debt is put into Christ’s account and his infinite riches are put into ours. Abraham believed God and in his promise of a Son, a Savior of the world, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the son of virgin Mary, who saves all elect sinners.

God Who Justifies the Ungodly (Romans. 4:4-5)

Paul goes on, “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom. 4:4-5). Justification by faith is a gracious act of God. The one who works receives wages, not grace. If we could work for our salvation, then God would owe it to us and we could boast that we saved ourselves by our good works. Such salvation would not be by grace. Whenever a Christian boasts, he is behaving like the Pharisee of Luke 18 who boasted in his salvation and looked down on everyone else.

All human boasting, therefore, is excluded. And Paul explains that the one who does not work for his salvation but trusts in the one who justifies the ungodly-to such a one God credits his faith for righteousness, even the righteousness of God, apart from any work that we do.

Some might argue that believing is working, but Paul dispels that myth: “To the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom. 4:5). Trusting is the opposite of working. In other words, believing is not a meritorious work.

Romans 4:5 includes a surprising and shocking phrase: “God who justifies the wicked.” When God comes to save us, we are ungodly, unrighteous, wicked, sinful enemies of God, without strength. It is not that we can wash ourselves a little and make ourselves a slightly more acceptable to God. The truth is, all have sinned, all are ungodly, all are enemies of God. But God justifies the ungodly.

Yet there seems to be a paradox. The Bible says we should not justify the guilty. How can God contradict the Scripture? The answer is found in Romans 3, where we learn that God can justify sinners justly because our sin problem is dealt with in the life and death of another, Jesus Christ. God himself justifies the ungodly through the death of his eternal Son. As we meditate on this great truth, we will discover the munificence of God’s grace unleashed toward us. God pursued, found, saved, and justified us. He never justifies the godly. He always justifies ungodly.

Why do you think people do not want to believe in Jesus Christ? Because they maintain they are righteous on their own terms. They measure themselves by their own perceived standard. But God in Jesus Christ justifies the ungodly on the basis of Christ’s redemptive and atoning work on the cross. If we come to Christ as ungodly, we will go home as godly. If we come weary of the burden of our real guilt, we can go in heavenly peace. The publican cried out, “Have mercy upon me, a sinner,” and he went home justified. The thief on the cross cried out to Christ, and Jesus said, “Today you will with me in paradise.”

Romans 4:5, therefore, is the most important verse in this passage. It is music in the sinner’s ears. “The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”

William Temple stated: “The only thing of my own, my very own, which I can contribute to my redemption is the sin from which I need to be redeemed.” Let us bring our sin and come to God as one who is without strength and at enmity with him. God who justifies the ungodly will redeem us from all our sins. This justification is a divine verdict. He can justify us this very moment if we cry out to him.

God only justifies the ungodly and condemns the self-righteous. If we do not want to trust in Jesus Christ, we will die in our sins because all people die either in the Lord or in their sins. Come believing in Christ, who died for your sins. (PGM) God will grant you this faith as a gift right now. The faith God requires is not mathematical probability-it is supernatural faith, which God must give you, and he does. John Stott says, “Christ became sin with our sins, in order that we might become righteous with God’s righteousness.”¹

The Testimony of David (Romans 4:6-8)

What did David say about his salvation? “David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works” (Rom. 4:6). Here again Paul speaks of the idea of crediting faith as righteousness, or crediting faith for righteousness. God credits divine righteousness “apart from works.” Then Paul quotes Psalm 32:1-2 as proof from the Scripture.

David was a great sinner. There is no argument; we have the historical record. This man had a copy of the Bible. He knew God’s law and was supposed to live according to it, to counsel others from it, and to mete out justice in Israel in conformity to it. Yet he violated God’s law through adultery, murder, and deception. How could this ungodly man be justified by works? He had no good works of his own.

David did have something in his account-an infinite amount of unrighteousness. We all do, because any sin we commit is against an infinite God. But God blotted that out forever and in its place put divine righteousness. This is the fullness of blessing! So David celebrates his salvation by grace: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him” (Rom. 4:7-8). David is speaking of the inexpressible and glorious joy of the blessing of the man, Jew or Gentile, to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.

Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ are those whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered! “Iniquity” speaks about having a boundary and crossing over it. “Covered” means our sins are covered up forever; the Lord will never count them against us. “Sin” is falling short of the standard which God has given us in his word. Blessed are those whose sin the Lord does not ever count against them. This is what it means to be a blessed man.

Let us then look more closely at what this blessing entails.

1. Our iniquities are forgiven. The word “forgiven” (aphiêmi) is also used in Matthew 13:36: “Having sent the crowd away.” The idea is that God sent our sins far away from us. We may look for them, but they cannot be found. It speaks about the Day of Atonement, when the high priest confessed upon the scapegoat all the sins of Israel and sent the scapegoat away into the wilderness. It speaks of the mission of Jesus Christ: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).Our sins are forever separated from us! Our guilt, condemnation, punishment, and hell are separated from us forever. Isaiah 53 gives us more light on how this separation came to be, as does Peter: “[Jesus Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24).
2. “Blessed are those whose sins are covered up.” The Greek word epikaluptômeans fully and permanently covered up. Even God will not uncover them. Satan will try to accuse and uncover, but we must overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of God’s testimony.The picture is of the high priest going into the Holy of Holies and sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat. By doing so, he was covering the sins of Israel through the blood of an innocent substitute. Even so, the blood of Christ has fully covered up the guilt of our sins. If this does not cause us to praise the Lord, we may not have experienced this wonderful, radical separation of our iniquities, sins, and guilt.

   Proverbs 28:13 begins, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper.” How many people try to use every possible means to cover up their sins! But that is exactly what we should not do. Our business is to confess and expose our sins. If we are concealing them, we will be miserable and depressed. We may experience all sorts of problems in our bodies. We will have no joy of the Lord. Paul writes to those who sinned in the church: “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 11:30). But there is hope. The proverb continues: “but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Think about this: God already knows them. From whom, then, are we covering and concealing? We are trying to hide them from our spouse or parents or pastors or other authorities. But if we confess and renounce our sins, we shall find mercy. John says, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). It is our job to reveal our sins; it is God’s job to cover them permanently by the blood of Jesus Christ.

   We find an illustration of such covering in Zechariah: “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?’ Now, Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.” In other words, it was true that Joshua was a sinner. He was filthy, and he represents all God’s people. Do not think Satan always lies. There are times he tells the truth. Zechariah continues, “The angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Take off his filthy clothes.'” This is speaking about the forgiveness of sins. But there is more: “Then he said to Joshua, ‘See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you'” (Zech. 3:1-4). Justification is more than forgiveness; God clothes us with his righteousness and receives us as his sons. He loves us, embraces us, and fellowships with us. He is not saying, “I forgave your sins; now go away.” He qualifies us to be with him now and forevermore.

   Let us look more closely at Psalm 32. If you find yourself in David’s miserable situation, here is the solution. In verse 3 David says, “When I kept silent.” This is arrogance. David was refusing to confess his sins. But God has a way of dealing with us. David continues, “My bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” David had many wives, many concubines, and many children. He had great wealth and held many great celebrations with feasting and music. David had everything, but he was not a blessed person. He had everything but joy. “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer” (v. 4). David was experiencing great pressure, pain, and depression. Pain can be God’s messenger. It has one message: Repent and confess. That sleepless night also says: Repent and confess. Here is David’s solution: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’-and you forgave the guilt of my sin” (v. 5). Weeks and months had gone by for David as he groaned in misery day and night. He went without sleep, was terrified, experienced bad dreams, and his bones wasted away. But finally he confessed his sins, and God forgave him.

   If we are miserable as Christians, it may be because we have failed to identify, confess, and forsake our sins. When we do so, the joy of the Lord will fill our hearts once again. So David sings: “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance” (v. 7). Joy is not something outside of David; it is within. God the Rock has a hiding place for us. He surrounds us with songs of deliverance; we are in the center of the circle called deliverance. David continues, “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him” (v. 10).

3. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him” (Rom. 4:8). In the Greek the idea is that the sin is never ever counted against us. Sin, guilt, death, and hell are gone from us forever, and God is with us forever. He will never leave us nor forsake us, whether in life or in death. The blessed man is the one whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered up by God, the one to whom the Lord does not count sin.

The Old Testament is filled with wonderful promises of God that he will put our sins away. Consider these verses:

1. “I will forgive their wickedness; I will remember their sins no more” (Jer. 31:34);
2. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12);
3. “You have put all my sins behind your back” (Isa. 38:17);
4. “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my sake and remembers your sins no more” (Isa. 43:25);
5. “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist” (Isa. 44:22);
6. “In those days, declares the Lord, a search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, because I will forgive the remnant I spare” (Jer. 50:20);
7. “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19).

God did not spare his own Son, but he spares us and forgives all our sins-past, present, and future. This illustrates the potency of the atoning blood of Christ. Sin prevented us from fellowshipping with God, but God in Christ has removed our sins. Now clothed in God’s righteousness, we enjoy everlasting fellowship with God. The joy of the Lord is our strength and all is well with our souls. This is true blessing.

Before he confessed his sins, David was miserable, though he was king. Guilt rested on him like a heavy iron girder. He was not a blessed man. But then he confessed and God forgave his iniquities, covered up his sins, and did not count his sins against him. Clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, his Lord and Son, David began to sing. Psalms 32 and 51 are the songs of a forgiven saint, a blessed man. Only a true Christian can be blessed in this way. And justification by faith does not merely mean forgiveness of sins; God also gives us his perfect righteousness and embraces us, accepts us as sons, and invites us to come into his presence, where there is fullness of joy and on his right hand pleasures forevermore.

Dr. John Piper says that this blessedness is a condition in which we are deeply secure and content and happy in God.² We are blessed in life and in death, in prison, when stoned, when beaten, when beheaded, when slandered, and when disease eats us up. Nothing can terrify the blessed man-he is with God and God is with him. He is surrounded with songs of deliverance and covenant love.

How does God justify the ungodly? Paul says that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting man’s sins against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). How can he do that? “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Elsewhere he says, “It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ is our life and our hope; we are united with him by faith. He will never leave us nor forsake us. All others may desert us or fall away, but the Lord will receive us.

Let us rejoice in the truth that God justifies the ungodly. When I read this as a young man, I questioned it and thought it was unjust. But now I appreciate it and rejoice in it.

James Boice speaks about a sixty-year-old woman who once came to an evangelist and confessed a murder she had committed when she was twenty years old. A boarder had raped her, so she went into his room, turned on the gas, and he died. She had carried this very heavy load of guilt for forty years. But when she trusted in Christ, the burden was instantly lifted from her. Her sins were separated from her and her iniquities sent away. God justified this ungodly woman and she became blessed instantly.³

Are you weary of the guilt of your sins? Come to Jesus; he will remove your burden. No one else can. He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). If you do, you will be blessed.

¹ John Stott, Romans: God’s Good News for the World (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 127.

²http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/when-the-lord-does-not-take-account-of-sin

³3 James M. Boice, Romans, Vol. 1: Justification by Faith, Romans 1-4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991), 447-448.