Romans 4 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

405 4064.8 How happy a man whose missing-of-the-mark (the) Lord will not consider!”405The genitive masculine singular relative pronoun ou-, “of whom,” or “whose,” is read bythe first writer of Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, the first writer of Bezae, G, Minuscules 1506, 1739and a few other Greek manuscripts.It is changed to the dative singular w-|, “to whom,” by a corrector of Sinaiticus,Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, a corrector of Bezae, F, Psi, Minuscules 33, 1881 andthe “Majority Text.”The variant reading hardly changes the meaning of the text.406Psalm 32 is one of the great "penitential" psalms of the Prayer and Hymn Book of theSecond Jewish Commonwealth (Israel following its return from Babylonian Captivity in 536B.C., continuing until the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.). It has been used in worshipacross the centuries by those who feel the heavy hand of guilt, deservedly resting upon them.This Psalm proclaims the Good News of divine forgiveness--of the taking away ofrebellion, of the covering over of missings-of-the-mark, through the willingness of YHWH to notconsider a person's guilt, when that person comes to God in humble, open confession, askingfor forgiveness. Moo comments that “...It is not the ‘reckoning’ of peoples’ good works, butGod’s act in not reckoning their sins against them that constitutes forgiveness.” (P. 266)[v;P,ª-yWfn> ) yre îv.a;ha'(j'x] yWsåK.~d'ªa' yrev.(a;î!wO=[' Alå hw"åhy> bvoìx.y: al{ÜhY"mir> AxæWrB. !yaeÞw>O the happiness of one (whose) transgression is carried off,(whose) missing-of-the-mark is covered over!O the happiness of a human being--YHWH will not count iniquity to him;and there is no treachery in his innermost being!maka,rioi w-n avfe,qhsan ai` avnomi,aikai. w-n evpekalu,fqhsan ai` a`marti,aimaka,rioj avnh,r ou- ouv mh. logi,shtai ku,rioj a`marti,anouvde. e;stin evn tw/| sto,mati auvtou/ do,lojHow happy those of whom the breakings of law have been forgiven,and those of whom the missings-of-the-mark have been covered over!How happy a man to whom Lord will not consider missing-of-the-mark,neither is there deceit in the mouth of his!(continued...)221