Psalm 32:1 says, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin covered!" What does "covered" mean? Does it mean the same as forgiven?

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Curt Hayashida
member, Community Bible Church (Non-denominational)
Vallejo, CA

In term of Heb. parallelism, the two lines of the strophe are synthetic, that is they repeat the same basic thought.

in terms of what they are not, they are not antithetic, or contrasting; nor are they an expansive type, where the second line repeats but also adds something

Blessed is he who
has lifted away from him rebellion
has covered over of him sin

The two lines are in a very nice parallel, with the "blessed" at the beginning serving as a descriptive exclamation that is then explained.

The verb forms say things that seem opposite, taking away and covering up, but in both cases the sin has been dealt with. Indeed, the word "sin" is also used for the offering for sin, which highlights the substitutionary nature of the offering. The covering is in blood, in other words. That which was lifted away is the guilt, hence "forgiveness".

So, the words aren't saying exactly the same thing, but they are speaking about essentially the same thing, in two different ways.

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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Perhaps the second verse allows a little insight..."blessed is the man to whom He has not imputed sin." This, coupled with the first verse, shows the double imputation that occurs.....the imputation of our sins to Christ and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us. And so, our sins are covered, because they are removed from us and placed onto Christ, and also, his righteousness is placed as a covering over us, so that we wear it now as a cloak. As a husband allows his wife to be a beneficiary of all that he owns, so now we benefit from all that Christ has. We are now beneficiaries of all of his possessions, and so, of his righteousness as well. And so, our sins are now well covered. And, not only covered, but atoned for too.

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Charles Plauger
Member/Grace Reformed Church
Oakland, MD