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Ps 133.3 "As the dew
of Hermon, and as the dew
that descended upon the mountains of Zion:
for there
the LORD commanded the blessing,
even life for evermore."
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The blessedness of
the man in connection with...
- the accounting of
Christ's righteousness to him personally by God's free grace, when still in his native state of sin
and condemnation, for his justification before God, and
- the reckoning of
his faith (in Christ) to him to experience the blessedness of his justified
state by God's free grace
The two are DISTINCT
and INDEPENDENT; the former is logically and chronologically prior; the justification APPLIED freely by grace is
distinct and prior to the justification EXPERIENCED through faith in Jesus
Christ.
For Abraham, the
former took place when he was still in the Ur of the Chaldean; the latter,
happened many years later in Genesis 15.
Romans 4
6 Even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works,
7 Saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
9 ¶Cometh this
blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also?
for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.