Dunk's Bible Palace

The Motif Searcher: one word across the Douay, the Latin, the Greek and the Hebrew.

Romans 4:8

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin.

Challoner: The Lord hath not imputed sinThat is, blessed is the man who hath retained his baptismal innocence, that no grievous sin can be imputed to him. And, likewise, blessed is the man, who after falling into sin, hath done penance and leads a virtuous life, by frequenting the sacraments necessary for obtaining the grace to prevent a relapse, that sin is no more imputed to him.
Open Romans 4:8 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →

The verse in its languages

Vulgate (Clementine)
Beatus vir, cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum.
Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
μακάριος ἀνὴρ οὗ οὐ μὴ λογίσηται κύριος ἁμαρτίαν.

Haydock's commentary

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin. That is, blessed is the man who hath retained his baptismal innocence, that no grievous sin can be imputed to him. And likewise, blessed is the man who, after falling into sin hath done penance, and leads a virtuous life by frequenting the sacraments necessary for obtaining the grace to prevent a relapse, that sin is no more imputed to him. (Challoner)

From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.

The Fathers on this verse

Clement of Alexandria The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Chapter XV. On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding

Mistake is a sin contrary to calculation; and voluntary sin is crime ( ἀδικία ); and crime is voluntary wickedness. Sin, then, is on my part voluntary. Wherefore says the apostle, “Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Addressing those who have believed, he says, “For by His stripes we were healed.” Mistake is the involuntary action of another towards me, while a crime ( ἀδικία ) alone is voluntary, whether my act or another’s. These differences of sins are alluded to by the Psalmist, when he calls those blessed whose iniquities ( ἀνομίας ) God hath blotted out, and whose sins ( ἁμαρτίας ) He hath covered. Others He does not impute, and the rest He forgives. For it is written, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. …

St Augustine A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants, From the Epistle to the Romans

Let me now request your attention to the testimony of the Apostle Paul on this subject. And quotations from him may of course be made more abundantly, because he wrote more epistles, and because it fell to him to recommend the grace of God with especial earnestness, in opposition to those who gloried in their works, and who, ignorant of God’s righteousness, and wishing to establish their own, submitted not to the righteousness of God. In his Epistle to the Romans he writes: “The righteousness of God is upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; since all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, a …