ROMANS 4:4-8 ARE YOU SAVED BY WORKS OR BY FAITH?

Romans 4:4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."

 v4-5 Paul broadens the argument to include all men. If a man works to earn righteousness then a debt is owed by God to man, but as we saw in Eph 2:8-9 that salvation is a free gift given by a sovereign God in whom is supreme power and authority over all the world and universe.

He is contrasting faith with works and showing that faith must put an end to all attempts to earn salvation through works.

Justifies the ungodly .... only those who give up all claims of righteousness and acknowledge they are ungodly(sinners) are candidates for justification by God through faith.

Luke 5:32 "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

David Justified by Faith v-6-8

v-6 Paul now turns to David for support of this argument of righteousness through faith alone, in Christ alone, by God's grace alone.

v-7-8 Psalm 32:1-2 read through v-5

This is a Psalm in which David is telling about the forgiveness of the sin which occurred in 2Sam 11. David coveted Bathsheba, then committed adultery with her and lastly murdered her husband Uriah.

2Sam 12:13 -14 So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 "However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die."

Each of these sins that David committed were by themselves worthy of the death penalty under the Law