<p>4:22&nbsp;<i>Therefore also it was counted to him for righteousness</i>- This word occurs so many times in Romans 4. Abraham&rsquo;s faith that God would give him the promised blessing and salvation was counted to him as righteousness, with no reference to Abraham&rsquo;s works or sins. The word recurs in the practical section of Romans just once- in Rom. 14:14: &ldquo;To him that counts anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean&rdquo;- although there is nothing &ldquo;unclean in itself&rdquo;. God counts us as clean, not unclean. The person who is always paranoid about this that or the other being unclean, the need to separate from this brother or that sister for their uncleanness, hasn&rsquo;t been filled with the positive spirit of our Father, who rejoices to count unclean persons as clean. This isn&rsquo;t in any way to blur the boundary between clean and unclean, sin and righteousness. Rather is it the logical connection between Rom. 4:21, speaking of God calling sinners as righteous; and Rom. 14:14, which warns that men&nbsp;have a tendency to count / impute things as unclean rather than clean. Cleanness or uncleanness is a matter of perception, seems to be Paul&rsquo;s message. For &ldquo;there is nothing unclean in itself&rdquo;. Likewise sin and righteousness are matters of God&rsquo;s perception; for sometimes a man can do something which is counted a sin, other times the same act can be counted as righteousness. Yet God is eager to count us as clean; and we should have that same positive, seeking, saving spirit.</p>