“just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works” (Romans 4:6).
Let’s envision a scene inside a courtroom where a legal trial is underway. The prosecutor is an unapologetic and unrepentant human being who disavows the moral authority of humanity’s Creator. The defendant is God. The indictment consists of the following charge: God is guilty of a moral deficiency (and thus lacks moral authority) in light of His association with several individuals of questionable character.
The prosecutor presses this charge against God with several pieces of evidence…
Exhibit A: Noah found favor with God according to Genesis 6:8. Yet Noah was the same man who once got so drunk that he passed out naked according to Genesis 9:18-22.
Exhibit B: Abraham is called a friend of God in James 2:23. Yet, that very same man lied about his wife to protect himself- twice.
Exhibit C: The evidence shows that God referred to Moses as “my servant” in Numbers 12:7 even though He knew Moses was guilty of murder.
Exhibit D: Israel’s king David once arranged to send a man to his death so he could marry that man’s wife. But Acts 13:22 refers to David as “…a man after [God’s] own heart.‘”
After presenting this evidence, our hypothetical prosecutor concludes with a closing argument that seems utterly devastating: “What kind of God associates with such people? What does it reveal about God’s character when He speaks this way about such individuals? A civilized human society would incarcerate people for engaging in some of these behaviors. Why then should humanity look to God for any form of moral authority?”
While this argument may seem to hold validity, we should note that God has not yet had His say in this imaginary courtroom. As Proverbs 18:17 reminds us, “Any story sounds true until someone tells the other side and sets the record straight” (TLB). For instance, let’s consider the final exhibit in this sequence: Israel’s king David. We can begin with the acknowledgment that David (as well as the others in these exhibits) was a faithful individual, not a perfect individual.
In Psalm 32, David acknowledged God’s prerogative in forgiving such behaviors (and others that are equally, or more heinous) by saying, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1-2). The following verses will use this Psalm to uncover the irrefutable legal defense associated with that act of forgiveness.