The Jewish rabbis often used a method of exegesis by which they would appeal to two passages in which the same word occurred, and would use the second passage to throw light on the use of the word in the first passage. In Genesis 15.6 (quoted in v. 3 above) the writer used a word rendered accepted by the Good News Translation. Paul uses this same word in verse 4, regarded as, and in verse 5, takes into account, and he now uses it again in verse 6, accepts. In the quotation from Psalm 32.1-2 (quoted in vv. 7 and 8) the word is used once more and is translated keep account of. By using a second scripture references, Paul not only strengthens his argument based on scriptural proof, but also elaborates on it. That is, the quotation from Psalm 32 is intended to prove that the man whom God accepts as righteous, apart from any works, is a happy man. He is happy because God has forgiven his wrongs and has covered over his sins and not kept account of them.

It may be necessary to recast the clause when he spoke of the happiness of the man whom God accepts as righteous, because the happiness of the man may itself require expression as a separate clause—for example, “when he said the man whom God accepts as righteous is truly happy.”

The final phrase apart from any works must normally be expressed as a complete clause—for example, “despite the fact that he had not worked to gain God’s favor,” “despite his not working in order to be accepted by God,” or “despite his not having done anything so that God would accept him as righteous.”

In speaking of works, Paul has reference to one’s obedience to the commands of the Law by which one hopes to put God in one’s debt, and so earn one’s own salvation. This approach is, of course, opposite to what Paul talks about when he speaks about a man being put right with God through faith. Through works one seeks to earn salvation as the workman earns his wages; through faith one accepts salvation as a free gift from God, and so experiences God’s forgiveness.

In the psalm that Paul quotes, the word rendered wrongs literally means “acts of lawlessness” (see New English Bible “lawless deeds”) and is rendered “crimes” by the Jerusalem Bible. It is not the usual word for sin, though it is used often in a way almost synonymous with the word rendered “sins.” The word should be understood primarily in terms of one’s attitude toward the commands of God, rather than toward the laws of society. For this reason An American Translation* renders “violations of the Law.” The exclamatory form of the two clauses in verse 7 may be expressed in some languages as merely a strong affirmation—for example, “those whose bad deeds God has forgiven are truly happy. These are the persons whose sins have been covered.” It is important in rendering verse 7 not to imply that there are two different kinds of persons who are happy—those whose evil deeds have been forgiven and those whose sins have been covered over. The two relative clauses are completely parallel and essentially synonymous; they simply reinforce each other.

In a number of languages it is necessary to avoid completely the expression of “sins being covered over,” since this may be merely a way of talking about surreptitious sinning or hiding one’s sins. If one retains such an expression as covered over, it may be necessary to specify “covered over by God.” It is frequently necessary, however, to change covered over to “blotted out,” “removed,” or “forgiven.”

Will not keep account of may be rendered in a number of ways: “will not keep adding up,” “will not keep marking down,” or even “will not keep reciting each day.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .