Later text
Romans 4:7-8BSB
“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Intertextuality Pair
Quotation
Later text
Romans 4:7-8BSB
“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Earlier text
Psalm 32:1-2BSB
Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Paul quotes David's beatitude on forgiveness from Psalm 32 as a second witness (alongside Genesis 15:6) to justification apart from works. David speaks of the blessedness of the person whose sins God does not count — Paul argues this is the same principle as righteousness credited apart from works. Crucially, David wrote this as a circumcised Jew under the law, yet described blessedness in terms of non-imputation of sin rather than law-keeping, confirming Paul's argument that justification has always been by faith, not works.