Romans 4:6 says that God credits people with righteousness apart from anything they have done, and that the Old Testament writer David described this as a blessing. Paul wrote this to the Christians in Rome, using David’s words from Psalm 32 to show that God’s acceptance has always rested on grace rather than on a person’s record. The verse is a bridge: it moves from Abraham’s faith to David’s joy over forgiveness.
Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works…
Romans 4:6 (WEB)
What Romans 4:6 Means
The phrase “counts righteousness” uses an accounting picture. In Paul’s day, a ledger recorded what was owed or earned, and righteousness here means being set right with God. To count it to someone is to write it into their account as though they had earned it, even though they have not.
The words “apart from works” are the heart of the verse. Paul is saying that a person’s good deeds do not make them acceptable to God in the first place. This does not mean that good works are unimportant to the Christian life, but it does mean they are not the basis of God’s acceptance. The verse does not promise a life free of trouble or guarantee any particular outcome. It describes the standing God gives to those who trust him.
Paul then calls this a “blessing,” a word that points to joy and favor. David, who had committed serious sins, knew the relief of being forgiven. Paul uses that experience to show that the joy of forgiveness is not something we invent; it comes from God’s own decision to cover sin and not hold it against us.
The Context of Romans 4:6
Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, a church made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers, and he was concerned with how people are made right with God. In chapter 4 he is answering a likely objection: if Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, was accepted by God, was it because of his circumcision and his obedience to the law? Paul points to Genesis 15, where Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,” which happened before his circumcision.
Just before verse 6, Paul contrasts the one who works, whose reward is something owed, with the one who does not work but trusts God, whose faith is credited as righteousness. Verses 7 and 8 then quote Psalm 32 directly. This shows why the verse reads the way it does: Paul is not inventing a new idea but drawing on the Scriptures his readers already revered, so that both Jew and Gentile can see God’s grace in the same story.
Key Phrases in Romans 4:6
Genesis 15:6
He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness.
(WEB)
This is the verse Paul quotes earlier in the chapter, where Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Reading it alongside Romans 4:6 shows that God’s pattern of accepting people through faith is rooted in the story of Abraham long before the law was given.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast.
(WEB)
Paul writes here that salvation is a gift received through faith and not earned by works. This passage gives a broader picture of the same truth found in Romans 4:6, helping you see grace as the foundation of the whole Christian life.
A Short Prayer From Romans 4:6
Lord, I come to you aware of how often I try to earn your acceptance through my effort and my track record. Thank you that you count righteousness to those who trust you, apart from what I have done. Help me rest in that truth when I fail, and when I feel proud of my progress. Let my life flow from gratitude for the forgiveness you have already given, not from fear of losing your favor. Amen.
