📜WEB · Romans 4:7
What does Romans 4:7 mean?
"“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered."
— Romans 4:7 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed.
But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works,
“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.”
Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
Explanation
Romans 4:7 reads, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered." In plain language, this verse pronounces a blessing—a state of genuine happiness and favor with God—upon those whose wrongdoing has been forgiven and whose sins have been covered over, no longer counted against them. It is a declaration that a person's moral failures do not have to be a permanent barrier between them and God's favor, because those failures can be dealt with and removed from the ledger, so to speak.
This verse is actually a quotation. Paul, writing to the Christians in Rome, is quoting Psalm 32:1, a psalm traditionally attributed to David. Paul uses this Old Testament citation as part of his larger argument in Romans 4, where he is establishing that righteousness before God has always come through faith rather than through works or law-keeping. Just before this verse, Paul has been discussing Abraham, showing that Abraham was counted righteous because he believed God, not because of anything he did to earn that status. Paul then brings in David as a second witness to this same principle, showing that David himself spoke of a blessedness that comes apart from works—the blessedness of having sin forgiven rather than earned righteousness.
Theologically, this verse is significant because it emphasizes the concept of imputation—God crediting or not crediting something to a person's account, quite apart from what they have actually done. The word "covered" is especially rich, evoking the Old Testament sacrificial system where sin was atoned for, hidden from view, and no longer held against the s
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