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Meditations on Psalm LI
No.8.
The inner character of sin indicated (verses 4 - 6).
p. 80
When David said "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned", no one doubts but that he
included the treachery of his act against his fellow man Uriah the Hittite; the recognition
that he had sinned against God in sinning against his fellow man, instead of belittling his
crime, only made it the greater. Had David left the matter there, no problem would have
arisen. He made, however, a fuller and more complicated statement than that, one that
touches very high doctrine, and has caused many controversies, and which provided the
Apostle Paul with an argument in the development of the teaching of the epistle to the
Romans.
"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou
mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest" (Psa. 51: 4).
Following this theological comment, David makes another reference to his sin; and as
before, he goes outside of his own immediate action.
"Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psa. 51: 5).