I have been doing some study on Sin and I came across a verse from Psalm 32:2 “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity”. First of all I thought the psalmist was referring to Jesus Christ but then why does the word “man” not have a capital M. Who does the Lord spare from imputed iniquity? I thought we were all imputed with sin from Adam’s sin. Please help me here.
Mankind inherited a sin nature from our original parents that gives us a natural inclination toward sin, but the sins of others have not been imputed to us. The effects of a father’s sins can be visited upon the children of unbelievers (Exodus 20:5), and if someone under the law breaks one commandment it’s as if he or she broke all of them (James 2:10). But God made His rule clear.
The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him (Ezekiel 18:20).
What has been imputed to us is the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-22) which makes us as righteous as God Himself (2 Cor. 5:21) It’s an incredible blessing and this is what the opening verses of Psalm 32 were looking forward to.