https://youtu.be/Us0bWJgQ2eE
In our verse by verse study of Romans last time we finished Rom 4:7; with the expanded translation "Happinesses to those whose lawlessnesses have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered over."
Notice that there is a contrast made between lawlessness and sins. The sins from the old sin nature were poured out and judged at the cross but lawlessness that is not sin was not judged on the cross.
We are covered because our sins were judged. Human good and evil continues throughout human history as testimony in the angelic conflict and is judged in the final judgments.
Rom 4:8; is a quotation from the first half of Psa 32:2: "Blessed in the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." The nominative singular of "makarios" (happy) in his quotation Paul puts it into the singular rather than the plural.
This is because he is now dealing with one blessing. While the passage in the Psalms that he quotes deals with many blessings, Paul is dealing with one and he is using it to make a point. "Happy" is in the singular in Romans and in the Hebrew of Psa 32:2; it is plural. See both verses in the ESV interlinear version to see the differences.
The word he uses for "man" here is "aner" (nobleman) used for a man in a noble sense. He is going to take sin and show that it is forgiven, and then show that even after our sins are forgiven we are still nothing.
God does not pour His blessing where there is no capacity for it. God is not going to bless the believer because his sins are forgiven. The believer must get on with doctrine for God's blessings to be conveyed.
At some point a transition must be made from being occupied with one's sins to being occupied with the person of Jesus Christ. "Happy is the man "aner." This is a noble man, a man who is a member of God's royal family. who had been imputed God's righteousness.
Then a possessive genitive singular from the relative pronoun "hos" (to whom). Plus another subject, "kurios" (Lord) but it has the connotation of deity.
The moment a person believes in Jesus Christ is the moment he enters into union with Christ, and that is the moment that Jesus Christ becomes his "Kurios" (Lord).
"Kurios" is the equivalent of the Hebrew Jehovah. The verb is the aorist middle subjunctive of the verb "logizomai" (impute) or credit. This is a dramatic aorist that states a present reality with the certainty of a past event.
It is an idiom for emphasis. The middle voice is the indirect middle whereby the Lord as the agent produces the action of the verb. In this case it is an emphasized negative action.
A double negative in the English inverts to a positive but a double negative in the Greek is an intensified negative. Here we have the double negative "ou me" (not not). "
"Ou" rejects the alleged fact; "me" rejects the alleged reality. The subjunctive mood with the double negative is a subjunctive of emphatic negation.
When special stress is placed on a negative proposition the subjunctive is always used with the double negative. Salvation adjustment to God's justice means the imputation of God's righteousness instead of the imputation of man's sins because after salvation God doesn't impute any personal sins committed to the believer.
This means that God cannot condemn a believer after salvation even when they commit personal sin because from God's perspective believers are always righteous because God's righteousness always supersedes personal sin.
Expanded Translation Rom 4:8;"Happy is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."
The documentation from Psa 32:1-2; emphasizes the blessings that come from salvation adjustment to God's justice. These blessings are equivalent to the advantages that come from the advantage. Without the advantage (God's integrity) there are no advantages (blessings from God's integrity).
In this case the advantage is acquired from personal faith in Jesus Christ, for salvation that is the basis for the process of salvation adjustment to God's justice that addresses two factors.
One of the salvation advantage factors is the imputation of God's righteousness and resultant justification. Since God loves His own righteousness with a perfect eternal love this love is directed toward the believer at the moment of the imputation of God's righteousness.
The other factor deals with the believer's sins that are covered by the blood or God's judgment of Jesus Christ on the cross.
This means that sin cannot be imputed to the person who believes in Jesus. Instead God's righteousness that is the basis for all blessing from God's justice is irrevocably imputed for time and eternity.
It is very important to notice the imputation of God's righteousness is first because it is the predicate for all other blessings from God.
Rom 4: 9; " Is this blessing then upon the circumcision only" The phrase begins with the inferential conjunction "oun" (then) that denotes what was introduced as an inference from the preceding paragraph.
It is used as a real question and can be translated "Is then." with the nominative singular subject from the noun "makarismos"(blessing). One blessing is in view here. It can be translated "Is this blessing then."
The blessing refers to all of the advantages that Abraham and by extension the Jews had. But Abraham received circumcision at the point maximum capacity from advance in Bible doctrine he did not receive circumcision at the point of salvation. The blessing is in the singular so it is referencing only one blessing and in the case of Abraham it was sexual prosperity because He and Sarah were unable to have children.
The word for "this" is the nominative singular of the immediate demonstrative pronoun "autos" (this). Then the prepositional phrase "epi"(upon) plus the accusative of "peritome" (circumcision) referring to the Jews.
"or also upon the uncircumcision" the word uncircumcision refers to Gentiles, "epi"(upon) plus the accusative of "akrobystia" (uncircumcision) referring to those who had not been cut in a circular fashion. It can be translated "or for the uncircumcision" or as "is it for Gentiles as well as Jews?
The question emphasizes two factors. The first is weather the ritual of circumcision was necessary for salvation adjustment to God's justice? And secondly was salvation a Jewish monopoly in the Old Testament?
The Judaizers had distorted circumcision from a ritual related to maximum capacity from doctrinal adjustment to God's justice to a system of salvation by works. If ritual circumcision has anything to do with salvation then salvation is by works not by grace.
Refutation of salvation by circumcision is refutation of any ritual salvation, including the ritual of water baptism that is the favorite ritual today.
Circumcision has significance to Israel as a part of their genetic heritage, but genetic heritage is useless in any given generation without a personal relationship with God's integrity.
"for we say" the explanatory use of the conjunctive particle "gar" (for) connecting what has just been said and to what has been said previously in the passage plus the present active indicative of "lego" (to say or communicate).
In the adversative atmosphere that Paul is facing it means to contend so it could be translated "for we contend." The present tense is static present for a perpetually existing condition.
All of the writers of Scripture contended this; this is always what was communicated. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the dogmatic assertion of reality. "that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness" the definite article "ho" for a possessive pronoun plus the nominative singular subject pistis (faith) so we have "ho pistis" (the faith).
"Pistis"(faith) can have three general connotations. First it has the connotation of confidence, then an active connotation of believing, and then a passive connotation of doctrine or what is believed.
In this case it is the active connotation of believing that is the predicate for the human mechanic of salvation adjustment to God's justice. There is no merit in faith all of the merit resides in the object of faith.
Abraham's faith in Christ is the means of his salvation adjustment to God's justice resulting in the imputation of God's righteousness. The aorist passive indicative of "logizomai" (credited).
It means to credit to one's account, to impute, to reckon, to calculate, to evaluate, to consider. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist that views Abraham's salvation adjustment to God's justice in its entirety but puts emphasis on the primary result of the imputation of God's righteousness that results in justification from God's justice.
The passive voice tells us that Abraham received the action of the verb at the moment of faith in Christ. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of fact. Then the dative singular indirect object of the definite article with the indeclinable proper noun "Abraam" (Abraham).
The dative of indirect object indicates that as a result of this Abraham, in whose interest God's justice performed imputation and justification, has a future. Then we have the prepositional phrase "eis" (for) translated as "as" in the NASB plus the accusative singular of "dikaiosune" (righteousness), referring to God's righteousness as a part of His integrity.
All blessings from God's justice require the possession of God's righteousness. Therefore the importance of the imputation of God's righteousness followed by justification that must precede all other blessings from God's integrity.
Expanded Translation Rom 4:9; "Is this blessing therefore for the circumcision (the Jews) only? or is it also for the uncircumcised (the Gentiles) also? For we contend that his faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness."
We see from this that the imputation of God's righteousness is the predicate for God's blessing. God's blessing always comes from God's justice that has to function in compliance with God's righteousness.
God's justice cannot bless sinful man it can only curse sinful man because God's justice can only bless perfect righteousness. Perfect righteousness that is the positional half of God's integrity is required.
To solve this problem God's justice credits God's righteousness the account of any person who believes in Christ. At the moment of salvation the imputation of God's righteousness frees God's justice to provide eternal salvation and all of the additional advantages.
The order of blessing at salvation is the imputation of God's righteousness followed by justification, followed by all of the other blessings associated with salvation.
The source of blessing is God's justice, the target is God's righteousness because God's justice can only provide blessing for God's righteousness.
This makes grace is the exclusive protocol for all blessing from God.