A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM XXXII.
_Blessedness consisteth in remission of sins.—Confession of sins giveth ease to the conscience.—God’s promises bring joy._ A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed _is he whose_ transgression _is_ forgiven, _whose_ sin _is_ covered. Blessed _is_ the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit _there is_ no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou _art_ my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, _or_ as the mule, _which_ have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Many sorrows _shall be_ to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all _ye that are_ upright in heart. This Psalm is a very remarkable and valuable one. St. Paul quotes it in that profound discussion of his, Rom. iv. where he teaches us what sin is, and how we obtain the remission of sins, and, in a word, how we are justified before God: for it is in this matter that all hypocrites so deeply err: because human reason cannot imagine that sin is accompanied with such great and such infinite guilt before God, and with a guilt that no human powers nor works can wash away. In a word, it knows not what sin is, and thinks that it can be washed off, and taken away by works. Whereas David here plainly says, “For this shall every one that is godly pray:” and he says also, that no one can be justified or sanctified before God, unless he acknowledge himself to be a sinner, and know that he is to obtain the remission of sins without any works and merits, by the mere mercy of God, and by a free and gratuitous imputation. In a word, our righteousness is not placed in us, or in our works; but is such, that the remission of our sins is truly and rightly called the free REMISSION of our sins: and also that our sins are truly said ‘_not to be imputed_,’ but ‘_to be covered_.’ ‘Blessed (says David) are they (that is, such are accepted before God, and are truly righteous and reconciled to God) whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sins are covered.’
Here David says, in plain words, that all the saints are, and still remain, sinners; and that they are justified and sanctified in no other way than this;—God of his free mercy, for Christ’s sake, is pleased not to impute their sins unto them, nor to judge them, but, in mercy, to forgive them, and cover over their sins, and forget them. And although in many other respects there is a great difference between the saints and the wicked, yet, in this point there is no difference,—they are all equally sinners, and all equally sin every day. But the sins of the saints are not imputed unto them: they are covered and forgiven on account of their faith in the promise of free grace. Whereas the sins of the wicked are imputed unto them, and they are exposed to the eye and to the awful judgment of God. The wounds of the latter are not bound up: but the wounds of the former are bound up, and are cured with healing plasters and oil: and yet they are both truly wounded and truly sinners! But of this, more in its place; and I have said much upon it in others of my writings.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.