Verse 8. APOSTLE.-And not rather, &c.] And why do you not say, seeing you assume this ground, that in all cases we should do wickedly, because God, by freely pardoning, can so glorify his own grace? This is a most impious sentiment, but it follows from your reasoning; it has indeed been most injuriously laid to the charge of us apostles, who preach the doctrine of free pardon, through faith, without the merit of works; but this is so manifest a perversion of the truth, that a just punishment may be expected to fall on the propagators of such a slander. Verse 9. JEW-What then?] After all, have not we Jews a better claim to the privileges of the kingdom of God, than the Gentiles have? APOSTLE—No, in no wise] For I have already proved that both Jews and Gentiles are under the guilt of sin; that they are equally unworthy of the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom; and that they must both, equally, owe their salvation to the mere mercy of God.-From this, to the end of the 26th verse, the apostle proceeds to prove his assertion, that both Jews and Gentiles were all under sin; and that he might enforce the conviction upon the heart of the Jew, he quotes his own scriptures, which he acknowledged had been given by the inspiration of GOD, and consequently true. have either abandoned or corrupted the worship of God: the Jews, in forsaking the law and the prophets; and the Gentiles, in acting contrary to the law which God had written on their hearts. And the departure of both from the truth, proves the evil propensity of human nature in general. They are together become unprofitable] Hypewrozv; they are useless, good for nothing; or, as the Hebrew has it, ne-elachu, they are putrid: he views the whole mass of mankind as slain, and thrown together, to putrify in heaps. This is what is termed the corruption of human nature; they are infected and infectious: what need of the mercy of God to save from such a state of degeneracy! There is none that doeth good] In ver. 10. it is said, there is none righteous-here, there is none that doeth good: the first may refer to the want of a righteous principle; the 2d, to the necessary consequence of the absence of such a principle. If there be no righteousness within, there will be no acts of goodness without. Verse 13. Their throat is an open sepulchre] This, with all the following verses, to the end of the 18th, are found in the Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew text; and it is most evident that it was from this Version that the apostle quoted, as the verses cannot be found in any other place with so near Verse 10. As it is written] See Psal. xiv. 1, 2, 3. from an approximation to the apostle's meaning and words. The which this, and the two following verses, are taken. There is none righteous] This is true, not only of the Jews, but of the Gentiles; of every soul of man considered || in his natural and practical state, previously to his receiving the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no righteous principle in them, and, consequently, no righteous act can be expected from them; see on ver. 12. God himself is represented as looking down from heaven, to see if there were any that feared and sought after him; and yet he, who cannot be deceived, could find none! And therefore, we may safely conclude there was none to be found. Verse 12. They are all gone out of the way] Пaves verses in question however, are, not found in the Alexandrian MS. But they exist in the Vulgate, the Æthiopic, and the Arabic. As the most ancient copies of the Septuagint do not contain these verses; some contend that the apostle has quoted them from different parts of Scripture; and later transcribers of the Septuagint, finding that the 10th, 11th, and 12th verses were quoted from the xivth Psalm, imagined that the rest were found originally there too, and so incorporated them in their copies, from the apostle's text. Their throat is an open sepulchre-By their malicious and wicked words, they bury, as it were, the reputation of all men: the whole of this verse appears to belong to their habit of lying, defamation, slandering, &c. by which they wounded, the lust of dominion; the insatiable thirst for money; and the blasted, and poisoned the reputation of others. Verse 14. Whose mouth is full of cursing, &c.] They never speak but in profane oaths, blasphemies and malice. Verse 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood] They make use of every means in their power, to destroy the reputation and lives of the innocent. Verse 16. Destruction and misery are in their ways] DESTRUCTION is their work, and MISERY to themselves and to the objects of their malice, is the consequence of their impious and murderous conduct. Verse 17. And the way of peace have they not known] They neither have peace in themselves, nor do they suffer others to live in quiet: they are brooders and fomenters of discord. Verse 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.] This completes their bad character: they are downright atheists, at least practically such. They fear not God's judgments; although his eye is upon them in their evil ways. There is not one article of what is charged against the Jews and Gentiles here, that may not be found justified by the histories of both, in the most ample manner. And what was true of them in those primitive times, is true of them still. With very little variation, these are the evils in which the vast mass of mankind delight and live. Look especially at men in a state of warfare; look at the nations of Europe, who enjoy most of the light of God; see what has taken place among them, from 1792 to 1814; see what destruction of millions; and what misery of hundreds of millions, have been the consequence of Satanic excitement in fallen ferocious passions! O SIN, what hast thou done! How many myriads of souls hast thou hurried, unprepared, into the eternal world! Who, among men or angels, can estimate the greatness of this calamity! this butchery of souls! What widows, what orphans, are left to deplore their sacrificed husbands and parents; and their own consequent wretchedness! And whence sprang all this? From that, whence come all wars and fightings; the evil desires of men; desire to be sole and independent. This is the sin that ruined our first parents, expelled them from Paradise; and which has descended to all their posterity; and proves fully, incontestibly proves, that we are their legitimate offspring; ej the fallen progeny of fallen parents. Children in whose ways are destruction and misery; in whose heart there is no faith; and before whose eyes there is nothing of the fear of God. Verse 19. What things soever the law saith] That the word law, here, does not mean the pentateuch, is evident from the preceding quotations, not one of which is taken from that work. Either the term law must here mean the Jewish writings in general; or that rule of moral conduct which God had given to both Jews and Gentiles: to the former in their own Scriptures; to the latter, in that law written in their hearts by his own Spirit, and acknowledged in their written codes, and in their pleadings in every civil case. Now, according to this great law, this rule of moral conduct, whether given in a written revelation, as to the Jews, or by the secret inspiration of his Spirit, as in certain cases, to the Gentiles; every mouth must be stopped, and the whole world, was xorμos, both Jews and Gentiles, stand convicted before God: for all mankind have sinned against this law. Verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law] On the score of obedience to this moral law, there shall no flesh, cu maσa cape, no human being, be justified; none can be accepted in the sight of God. And why? Because, by the law is the knowledge of sin: it is that which ascertains what sin is; shews how men have deviated from its righteous demands; and sentences them to death because they have broken it. Thus the law is properly considered as the rule of right; and unless God had given some such means of discovering what SIN is; the darkened heart of man could never have formed an adequate conception of it. For, as an acknowledged straight edge is the only way in which the All have sinned, and come A.M. cir. 4062. A. D. cir. 58. cir. CCIX. 2. A. D. cir. 58. An. Olymp. cir. CCIX. 2. 21 But now the righteousness of a 23 For all have sinned, and come A.M. cir. 4062. An. Olymp. God without the law is manifested, || short of the glory of God ; 24 Being justified justified freely freely by his A.U.C.cir.811. grace, "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: A.U.C.cir.811. being witnessed by the law and the prophets; d 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: k 25 Whom God hath 'set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare straightness or crookedness of a line can be determined; so, the moral obliquity of human actions can only be determined by the law of God; that rule of right which proceeds from his own immaculate holiness. Verse 21. But now the righteousness of God] God's method of saving sinners, is now shewn by the gospel, to be through his own mere mercy, by Christ Jesus; without the law, without any right or claim which might result from obedience to the law; and is evidently that which was intended by God from the beginning; for it is witnessed by the law and the prophets; the rites and ceremonies of the one, and the preachings and predictions of the others, all bearing testimony to the great design of God; and to the absolute recessity there was for the sacrifice and salvation which God has provided. Verse 22. Even the righteousness of God] That method of saving sinners, which is not of works, but by faith in Christ Jesus; and is not restrained to any particular people, as the law and its privileges were; but is unto all mankind in its intention and offer; and becomes effectual to them that believe for God hath now made no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. Verse 23. For all have sinned] And consequently are equally helpless and guilty: and, as God is no respecter of persons, all human creatures, being equally his offspring, and there being no reason why one should be preferred be- || fore another; therefore, his endless mercy has embraced ALL. And come short of the glory of God.] Kal vsepovvTa Tys SEYS TOU EOU These words have been variously translated; failed of attaining the glory of God: Have not been able to bring glory to God: stand in need of the glory, (that is,) the mercy of God. The simple meaning seems to be this; that, as all have sinned, and none can enjoy God's glory, but they that are holy; consequently, both Jews and Gentiles, have 'failed in their endeavours to attain it; as, by the works of any law, no human being can be justified. Verse 24. Being justified freely by his grace] So far from being able to attain the glory of God by their obedience, they "are all guilty; and, to be saved, must be freely pardoned by God's grace; which is shewn to them who believe, through the redemption, aroλurpwois, the ransom price, which is in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. The original is compounded of ano, from; and Aurpow, I redeem; and properly means the price laid down for the redemption of a captive. Comprehendit hæc Christi, Arsurpwois, quicquid is docuit, fecit et passus est, eo concilio, ut homines malis liberati, præcipuè peccato, malorum fonte immunes, veram felicitatem adipiscerentur.-Rosenmüller. This redemption of Christ comprehends whatsoever he taught, did, or suffered, in order to free men from evil; especially to free them from sin, the source of evils; that they might attain true felicity. And that it here means the liberation purchased by the blood-shedding of Christ, is evident from Eph. i. 7, We have REDEMPTION, απολύτρωσιν δια του αίματος αυτού, THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. See also Coloss. i. 14. where the same words are found. Λύτρα according to Suidas, is μισθος, η τα παρεχόμενα υπερ ελευθερίας, επι τῳ λυτρωσασθαι βαρβαρων δουλειας Α reward; or the price given to be redeemed from the slavery of the barbarians. Schleusner, under the word Awoλurswois, says, Negari quidem non potest, hanc vocem propriè notare redemptionem ejus, qui captivus detinetur, sive bello, sive alio captus sit modo, quæ fit per pretii solutionem; quo sensu verbum, amoλurpow, legitur haud raro in Scripp. Græcis. No man certainly can deny that this word properly means the redemption of a captive, (whether he may have been taken in war or in any other way,) which is procured by the payment of a price. That the word also means any deliverance, even where no price is paid down, no body will dispute: but that it means redemption by a price laid down; and the redemption of the soul by the price of the death of Christ, the above scriptures sufficiently prove. Verse 25. Whom God hath set forth] Appointed and published; to be a propitiation, I^asypior, the mercy-seat, or place of atonement; because the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on and before that, in order to obtain remission of sin, punishment, &c. The mercy-seat was the lid, or cover of the ark of the covenant, where God was manifest in the symbol of his presence, between the cherubim; therefore the atonement that was made in this place, was properly made own? Nothing accruing to us from our circumcision, and to God himself. See the note on Luke xviii. 13. Through faith in his blood] This shews what we are to understand both by the Amoλurpwois, redemption; and the Iλaspiov, propitiation; viz. that they refer to the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, as the atonement made, and the price paid down for the redemption of the souls of men. To declare his righteousness] Eis Evdiv, for the manifestation of his righteousness; his mercy in saving sinners, by sending Jesus Christ to make an atonement for them; thereby declaring his readiness to remit all past transgressions committed both by Jews and Gentiles, during the time in which his merciful forbearance was exercised towards the world; and this applies to all who hear the gospel now: to them is freely offered, remission of all past sins. Verse 26. To declare, I say, at this time] To manifest now, by the dispensation of the gospel, his righteousness, his infinite mercy; and to manifest it in such a way, that he might still appear to be the just God, and yet the justifier, the pardoner of him who believeth in Jesus. Here we learn, that God designed to give the most evident displays, both of his justice and mercy. Of his justice in requiring a sacrifice; and absolutely refusing to give salvation to a lost world in any other way; and of his mercy, in providing THE sacrifice which his justice required. Thus, because Jesus was an atonement, a ransom price for the sin of the world, therefore God can, consistently with his justice, pardon every soul that believeth in Jesus. This is the full discovery of God's righteousness, of his wonderful method of magnifying his law, and making it honourable; of shewing the infinite purity of his justice, and of saving a lost world. Hitherto, from the 9th verse, the apostle had gone on without interruption; proving that Jew and Gentile were in a state of guilt and condemnation; and that they could be saved only by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The Jew, finding his boasted privileges all at stake, interrupts him, and asks: Verse 27. JEW-Where is bousting then?] H xauxnois, this glorying of ours. Have we nothing in which we can trust for our acceptance with God? No merit of our being in covenant with God? APOSTLE-It is excluded] EExλEGO, It is shut out; the door of heaven is shut against every thing of this kind. JEW-By what law?] By what rule, doctrine, or reason is it shut out? by the law of works? The rule of obedience which God gave to us; and by which obedience we are accepted by him? APOSTLE-Nay] Not by the law of works; glorying is not cut off, or shut out by that; it stands in full force as the rule of life; but you have sinned, and need pardon. The law of works grants no pardon, it requires obedience, and threatens the disobedient with death. But all glorying in the expectation of salvation, through your own obedience, is excluded by the law, the doctrine of faith: faith alone, in the mercy of God, through the propitiation made by the blood of Jesus, (ver. 25.) is that, by which you can be justified, pardoned and taken into the Divine favour. Verse 28. Therefore we conclude, &c.] Seeing these things cannot be denied, viz. that all have sinned; that all are guilty; that all are helpless; that none can deliver his own soul; and that God, in his endless mercy, has opened a new and living way to the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Heb. x. 19, 20, &c. therefore we, apostles and Christian teachers, conclude λoyouata, prove by fair, rational consequence, that a man, any man, is justified, has his sins blotted out, and is received into the Divine favour, by faith in Christ's blood, without the deeds of the law, which never could afford, either to Jew or Gentile, a ground for justification; because both have sinned against the law which God has given them; and, consequently, forfeited all right and title to the blessings which the obedient might claim. Verse 29. Is he the God of the Jews only?] Do not begin to suppose that because you cannot be justified by the works of the law, and God has in his mercy found out a new method of saving you; that therefore this mercy shall apply to the Jews exclusively. Is not God the maker, preserver, and redeemer, also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, as much as of the Jews; for all have equally sinned: and there is no reason, if God be disposed to shew mercy at all, that he should prefer the one to the other; since they are all equally guilty, sinful, and necessitous. Verse 30. Seeing it is one God] ETTEITEр ås Oess, this has been rendered seeing God is one. It however makes little difference in the sense : the apostle's meaning most evidently is, it is one and the same God who made both Jews and Gentiles, who shall justify, pardon the circumcision, the believing Jews, by faith; and the uncircumcision, the believing Gentiles by the same faith; as there is but one Saviour, and one atonement provided for the whole. Matt. 5. 17, 18. Gal. 3. 19, 23, 21. death of Christ should be considered as a price paid down for the salvation of men: and, I confess, I cannot understaud the apostle in any other way. Nor can I see the weight of many of his observations, nor the force of his conclusions on any other ground than this, that the passion and death of Christ were an atonement made to Divine justice, in the behalf of man; and that it is through the merit of that great sacrifice, that God forgives sin. Nor can I see any reason why such great stress should be laid on faith, but as that lays hold on, and takes up, the sacrifice of Christ as a ransom price for the redemption of the soul from the thraldom and misery of sin and Satan, 2. This chapter contains a fine and striking synopsis of the It is fanciful to suppose that the apostle has one meaning when he says, EX TI5EWS, BY faith; and a different meaning, when he says a Tys mi5ews, THROUGH faith. Both the pre-whole Christian system. The wretched state of man is positions are to be understood in precisely the same sense; awfully exhibited, from the 10th to the 18th verse; and the only the addition of the article 75, in the last case extends, plan of salvation, in the 24th, 25th, and 26th verses. A pious and more pointedly ascertains, the meaning. It is one and writer calls these The Catechism of Christian Righteousness. the same God who shall justify the believing Jews by faith; The following points in this catechism are worthy of high and the believing Gentiles dia Tys Ti5EWS, by THAT SAME faith. consideration-viz. How is God glorified in us, and we in Verse 31. Do we then make void the law through faith?]|| him?-By his GRace. What does his grace work in us?— 1. By law here we may understand the whole of the Mosaic True holiness. Upon what motive?-Because it is pleasing law, in its rites and ceremonies; of which, Jesus Christ was to him. By whom does he give us salvation ?—By Jesus the subject and the end. All that law had respect to him;| Christ. How has Christ obtained this for us?—By redeemand the doctrine of faith in Christ Jesus, which the Christian ing us. What price did he give?-His BLOOD. What does religion proclaimed, established the very claims and demands his blood effect?—It reconciles us to God. How is it apof that law; by shewing that all was accomplished in the||plied?-By FAITH. Who has given this victim of reconciliapassion and death of Christ; for, without shedding of blood,||tion?—God the Father. Why did he chuse these means?—To the law would allow of no remission; and Jesus was confound the false righteousness of the Gentiles; to abolish that Lamb of God, which was slain from the foundation of the FIGURATIVE righteousness of the Jews; and to establish the world; in whose blood we have redemption, even the reWhat does this grace of God perform 2-It parmission of sins. 2. We may understand also, the moral law, dons sin; and purifies the heart. For whom is this dethat which relates to the regulation of the manners or con- signed? For all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles. To duct of men. This law also was established by the doctrine whom are these blessings actually communicated?—To all of salvation by faith; because this faith works by love, and who repent, turn from their sin, and believe on the Lord love is the principle of obedience: and whosoever receives Jesus. Why did not God make known this grand method of salvation through faith in Christ, receives power to live in salvation sooner?—1. To make it the more valued: 2. to holy obedience to every moral precept: for, such are God's shew his fidelity in the performance of his promises: and workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus, unto good 3. to make known the virtue and efficacy of the blood of works; in which they find it their duty and their interest, Christ, which sanctifies the present, extends its influence to incessantly, to live. the past, and continues the availing sacrifice, and way of salvation, to all future ages. 1. In the notes on the preceding chapter, I have, in general, followed the plan of Dr. Taylor, and especially in regard to its dialogue form; but I have often differed much from that very learned and judicious man, in the application of many words and doctrines. He cannot allow that the his own. 3. On considering this glorious scheme of salvation, there is great danger; lest, while we stand amazed at what was done FOR us, we neglect what must be done IN us. Guilt in the conscience, and sin in the heart, ruin the man. Pardon in the conscience, and Christ in the heart, save the soul. |