Blessed [is] the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit [there is] no guile.
Ver. 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity] Let no man think this triplication of the same thing needless or superfluous; since the poor soul, afflicted with sense of sin and fear of wrath, is not easily persuaded of pardon; but when faith would lay hold on the promise Satan rappeth her on the fingers, as it were, and seeks to beat her off. Besides, by such an emphatic repetition and heap of words to one purpose, the great grace of God in pardoning men's sin, is plainly and plentifully declared and celebrated; it being a mercy that no words, how wide soever, can sufficiently set forth. By the word iniquity some understand original sin, that peccatum peccans, as the schools call it, that πανσπερμια, common cause and impure seminary of all actual disobediences. Neither this, nor any of the fruits of it, doth the Lord impute, reckon, count, or think to the pardoned sinner, 2 Corinthians 5:19. Cui non cogitat peccatum, so some render it, To whom he thinketh no sin, that is, he reputeth or imputeth it not for a sin, he putteth it not into the reckoning, Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 48:9; Isaiah 48:11; the bill or bond is cancelled, Colossians 2:14, and there remaineth no action. Christ is our surety, Hebrews 7:22. Now the surety and debtor are in law reputed as one person. Christ is made sin for us, that is, in our stead or place, that we might be "made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Corinthians 5:21 .
And in whose spirit there is no guile] Sed sincere et sine dolo a suis peccatis resipiscit, et ad Dei misericordiam se recipit. The justified are also sanctified, 1 Corinthians 6:11; they hide not their sins, as Adam; they neither excuse nor extenuate what evils they have done, but think and speak the worst of their sins; they lay load upon themselves; they hate hypocrisy, and detest dissimulation; it is a question whether they do more desire to be good or abhor to seem only to be so. Basil, as he commendeth that sentence of Plato, that seeming sanctity is double iniquity; so he justly condemneth that saying of Euripides, I had rather seem to be good than be so indeed. That maxim of Machiavel is the same for sense, that virtue itself should not be sought after, but only the appearance; because the credit is a help, the use an encumberance. The pardoned sinner is sanctified throughout, washed not only from his sin (the guilt and filth of it), but his swinish nature also (the love and liking of it); he hath no mind to return to his vomit or wallowing in the mire, saith R. Solomon here; he saith not, Resipiscam et denuo peccabo, vel peccabo et resipiscam, as R. David senseth it, I will repent, and then sin again; or sin again, and then repent. This he knoweth to be incompatible with faith unfeigned, and hope unfailable, 1 Timothy 1:5 1 John 3:3 .