BLESSEDNESS

“Just as David also describes the BLESSEDNESS of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works” – Romans 4:6

Paul the Apostle referred to King David’s description of the BLESSEDNESS of a Man: “Just as David also describes the BLESSEDNESS of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works”” (Rom.4:6). The noun BLESSEDNESS is used in few instances in the Bible. The words “bless,” “blessing,” and “blessed” are more commonly used. However, Blessedness speaks of the condition or state of beatitude; of being BLESSED; of being in God’s Grace or Favour. This redemptive reality of Blessedness is accessed through Faith in Christ.

Paul referred to David’s words in Psalm 32: 1-2. There, the king saw a glimpse of what was coming through the Messiah to those who would believe on Him. David then prophetically called our generation of forgiven and justified Believers, BLESSED, ahead of time! The Amplified Bible says: “Thus David congratulates the man and pronounces a blessing on him to whom God credits righteousness apart from the works he does: Blessed and happy and to be envied are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered up and completely buried. Blessed an happy and to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him” (Rom. 4:6-8 AMP).

King David saw something unique through the eyes of faith and declared that the people concerned should be congratulated for being extremely BLESSED! What David saw was that God would not only forgive sin, which David himself knew so much about, having personally experienced the pains of it, but that through the Messiah Jesus, believers in Him would live with sin never being charged against them. He went on to say that their sin will be forgiven, covered, and forgotten. Sin will never again be counted against the New Testament believer. Paul also used the word credited, an accounting term, that means imputed, charged, or reckoned with, to affirm that Lord will never charge sin against us making us pay for it. Why? Because Jesus was charged, and He paid the ultimate price for sin once for all (Heb.10:10, 14).

What an Amazing Grace! Without this Grace of Christ, the sinner is in a hopeless condition; nothing can be done for him. But through divine grace, supernatural power is imparted to whosoever believes. That power of Grace permeates and works in the heart, mind, and character. It is through the impartation of the Grace of Christ that sin is discerned and driven from the soul. It is through Grace that we are brought into fellowship with Christ, to be associated with Him in the work of salvation. Faith is the condition upon which God has seen fit to promise pardon to sinners quite apart from any personal merit. Faith lays hold of the Merits of Christ, the eternal remedy provided for sin.

Faith presents Christ's perfect obedience instead of the sinner's transgression and defection. Upon believing in Christ as his personal Saviour, then, according to His unfailing promises, God pardons his sin, and justifies him freely. The repentant soul realizes that he is justified because Christ, as his substitute and surety, has died for him, is atonement and for righteousness. The generation of people that would enjoy such privileges must be described by no less a term than BLESSED! Paul used two Models of great Men of Faith – Abraham and David – to support this claim that we’re completely justified and declared righteous by faith in what Jesus did apart from anything we can do.

Blessedness speaks of our inner state of well-being, the prosperity of our souls in Christ, which comes from unhindered fellowship with God the Father, through our Lord Jesus, in the power of the Indwelling Holy Spirit. To be blessed is to experience the full impact of God’s Presence in our lives. In Christ, we are too blessed to be stressed, and blessed beyond guilt, shame, or curses. However, we can choose to be weighed down by feelings of guilt and shame associated with sin or we can find the freedom to enjoy the righteous standing we have before God!