“Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.’” (Romans 4:4-8 NIV)

What would you think if at the end of a week of work our employer said “I have a gift for you”. “Wow! A gift!” we might think. “What is it?” we ask of them. “Here is your pay for the week” we are told. “Hang on a second” we think – “I earned that! I worked for that! You owe me that!” You see, we know the difference between a gift and an obligation (in this illustration to be paid for a week of work).

This is the point Paul was making. Our forgiveness is not something we earn. God has no obligation to give it to us because of anything we have done (or how good we are, for that matter). Instead of working for forgiveness, as if we could, we trust in God. It is a matter of faith and trust. We trust God because he justifies those who are ungodly, he treats us even though we have sinned as if we had not sinned. Why? It isn’t because of anything we have done but it is because of what Jesus has done – and we have obediently accepted the price paid for our sins. Because of our faith in Jesus and our trust in him our faith is credited to us as righteousness. God treats us as someone who has no sin – because our sin has been cleansed because of Jesus’ death on the cross.

This was not a new idea but one we find in the writings of King David as well. Paul quoted from Psalm 32: those who have their sins are forgiven are blessed; those whose sin God never holds against them are blessed. What a great blessing – and this is what we have because of Jesus! God credits us, he gifts us, he looks on us as someone who is righteous, someone who does what is right and lives a life doing right, even though we sin. And he does this even though there is nothing we can do to receive this from him.

When we sin there is no way we can undo the sin. But God can ignore it because of Jesus. As David put it, he covers forgiven sins. If something is covered it can’t be seen. Yes, we have sinned and yes, we are terribly aware of what we have done. But if God has forgiven our sins he has covered it – he no longer sees it. That is quite a striking thought: we see and are aware of our sin, but if forgiven God no longer sees it! Through Jesus our sins are forgiven, they are covered. God then treats us as someone who is righteous. God will never again count those sins against us.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NRSVUE)

There is something we can earn, but it isn’t forgiveness. Sin if not forgiven will bring us wages: we earn death. Instead God offers us a free gift: eternal life in Jesus.

What a wonderful and powerful God we serve! We struggle to forget what someone has done, particularly when they have sinned against us. God doesn’t have that problem. When our sins are forgiven they will no longer be brought up. We can’t earn this – this is God’s gift to us. We don’t have to pay for it – it is free. What blessed people we are!

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Readings for next week: Matthew 27-28; Romans 1-4