mh_parser/vol_split/45 - Romans/Chapter 3.xml

<div2 id="Rom.iv" n="iv" next="Rom.v" prev="Rom.iii" progress="32.36%" title="Chapter III">
<h2 id="Rom.iv-p0.1">R O M A N S.</h2>
<h3 id="Rom.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Rom.iv-p1">The apostle, in this chapter, carries on his
discourse concerning justification. He had already proved the guilt
both of Gentiles and Jews. Now in this chapter, I. He answers some
objections that might be made against what he had said about the
Jews, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.1-Rom.3.8" parsed="|Rom|3|1|3|8" passage="Ro 3:1-8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. II. He
asserts the guilt and corruption of mankind in common, both Jews
and Gentiles, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.9-Rom.3.18" parsed="|Rom|3|9|3|18" passage="Ro 3:9-18">ver. 9-18</scripRef>.
III. He argues thence that justification must needs be by faith,
and not by the law, which he gives several reasons for (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.19-Rom.3.31" parsed="|Rom|3|19|3|31" passage="Ro 3:19-31">ver. 19 to the end</scripRef>). The many
digressions in his writings render his discourse sometimes a little
difficult, but his scope is evident.</p>
<scripCom id="Rom.iv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3" parsed="|Rom|3|0|0|0" passage="Ro 3" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Rom.iv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.1-Rom.3.18" parsed="|Rom|3|1|3|18" passage="Ro 3:1-18" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Rom.3.1-Rom.3.18">
<h4 id="Rom.iv-p1.6">The Advantages of the Jews; Objections
Answered; The Depravity of Jews and Gentiles. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.iv-p1.7">a.
d.</span> 58.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Rom.iv-p2">1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what
profit <i>is there</i> of circumcision?   2 Much every way:
chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
  3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief
make the faith of God without effect?   4 God forbid: yea, let
God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou
mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when
thou art judged.   5 But if our unrighteousness commend the
righteousness of God, what shall we say? <i>Is</i> God unrighteous
who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)   6 God forbid: for
then how shall God judge the world?   7 For if the truth of
God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I
also judged as a sinner?   8 And not <i>rather,</i> (as we be
slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do
evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.   9 What
then? are we better <i>than they?</i> No, in no wise: for we have
before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
  10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
  11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God.   12 They are all gone out of the way, they
are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one.   13 Their throat <i>is</i> an open sepulchre;
with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps
<i>is</i> under their lips:   14 Whose mouth <i>is</i> full of
cursing and bitterness:   15 Their feet <i>are</i> swift to
shed blood:   16 Destruction and misery <i>are</i> in their
ways:   17 And the way of peace have they not known:   18
There is no fear of God before their eyes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p3">I. Here the apostle answers several
objections, which might be made, to clear his way. No truth so
plain and evident but wicked wits and corrupt carnal hearts will
have something to say against it; but divine truths must be cleared
from cavil.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p4"><i>Object.</i> 1. If Jew and Gentile stand
so much upon the same level before God, <i>what advantage then hath
the Jew?</i> Hath not God often spoken with a great deal of respect
for the Jews, as a non-such people (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.29" parsed="|Deut|33|29|0|0" passage="De 33:29">Deut. xxxiii. 29</scripRef>), a holy nation, a peculiar
treasure, the seed of Abraham his friend: Did not he institute
circumcision as a badge of their church-membership, and a seal of
their covenant-relation to God? Now does not this levelling
doctrine deny them all such prerogatives, and reflect dishonour
upon the ordinance of circumcision, as a fruitless insignificant
thing.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p5"><i>Answer.</i> The Jews are,
notwithstanding this, a people greatly privileged and honoured,
have great means and helps, though these be not infallibly saving
(<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.2" parsed="|Rom|3|2|0|0" passage="Ro 3:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Much every
way.</i> The door is open to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, but
the Jews have a fairer way up to this door, by reason of their
church-privileges, which are not to be undervalued, though many
that have them perish eternally for not improving them. He reckons
up many of the Jews' privileges <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.4-Rom.9.5" parsed="|Rom|9|4|9|5" passage="Ro 9:4,5">Rom.
ix. 4, 5</scripRef>; here he mentions but one (which is indeed
<i>instar omnium</i>—<i>equivalent to all</i>), <i>that unto them
were committed the oracles of God,</i> that is, the scriptures of
the Old Testament, especially the law of Moses, which is called
<i>the lively oracles</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.38" parsed="|Acts|7|38|0|0" passage="Ac 7:38">Acts vii.
38</scripRef>), and those types, promises, and prophecies, which
relate to Christ and the gospel. The scriptures are the oracles of
God: they are a divine revelation, they come from heaven, are of
infallible truth, and of eternal consequence as oracles. The
Septuagint call the Urim and Thummim the
<b><i>logia</i></b>—<i>the oracles.</i> The scripture is our
breast-plate of judgment. We must have recourse to the law and to
the testimony, as to an oracle. The gospel is called the oracles of
God, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.12 Bible:1Pet.4.11" parsed="|Heb|5|12|0|0;|1Pet|4|11|0|0" passage="Heb 5:12,1Pe 4:11">Heb. v. 12; 1 Pet. iv.
11</scripRef>. Now these oracles were committed to the Jews; the
Old Testament was written in their language; Moses and the prophets
were of their nation, lived among them, preached and wrote
primarily to and for the Jews. They were committed to them as
trustees for succeeding ages and churches. The Old Testament was
deposited in their hands, to be carefully preserved pure and
uncorrupt, and so transmitted down to posterity. The Jews were the
Christians' library-keepers, were entrusted with that sacred
treasure for their own use and benefit in the first place, and then
for the advantage of the world; and, in preserving the letter of
the scripture, they were very faithful to their trust, did not lose
one iota or tittle, in which we are to acknowledge God's gracious
care and providence. The Jews had the means of salvation, but they
had not the monopoly of salvation. Now this he mentions with a
<i>chiefly,</i> <b><i>proton men gar</i></b>—this was their prime
and principal privilege. The enjoyment of God's word and ordinances
is the chief happiness of a people, is to be put in the
<i>imprimis</i> of their advantages, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.8 Bible:Deut.33.3 Bible:Ps.147.20" parsed="|Deut|4|8|0|0;|Deut|33|3|0|0;|Ps|147|20|0|0" passage="De 4:8,33:3,Ps 147:20">Deut. iv. 8; xxxiii. 3; Ps. cxlvii.
20</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p6"><i>Object.</i> 2. Against what he had said
of the advantages the Jews had in the lively oracles, some might
object the unbelief of many of them. To what purpose were the
oracles of God committed to them, when so many of them,
notwithstanding these oracles, continued strangers to Christ, and
enemies to his gospel? <i>Some did not believe,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.3" parsed="|Rom|3|3|0|0" passage="Ro 3:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p7"><i>Answer.</i> It is very true that some,
nay most of the present Jews, do not believe in Christ; <i>but
shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?</i> The
apostle startles at such a thought: <i>God forbid!</i> The
infidelity and obstinacy of the Jews could not invalidate and
overthrow those prophecies of the Messiah which were contained in
the oracles committed to them. Christ will be glorious, <i>though
Israel be not gathered,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.5" parsed="|Isa|49|5|0|0" passage="Isa 49:5">Isa. xlix.
5</scripRef>. God's words shall be accomplished, his purposes
performed, and all his ends answered, though there be a generation
that by their unbelief go about to make God a liar. <i>Let God be
true but every man a liar;</i> let us abide by this principle, that
God is true to every word which he has spoken, and will let none of
his oracles fall to the ground, though thereby we give the lie to
man; better question and overthrow the credit of all the men in the
world than doubt of the faithfulness of God. What David said in his
haste (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.11" parsed="|Ps|116|11|0|0" passage="Ps 116:11">Ps. cxvi. 11</scripRef>), that
all men are liars, Paul here asserts deliberately. Lying is a limb
of that old man which we every one of us come into the world
clothed with. All men are fickle, and mutable, and given to change,
<i>vanity and a lie</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.9" parsed="|Ps|62|9|0|0" passage="Ps 62:9">Ps. lxii.
9</scripRef>), <i>altogether vanity,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.5" parsed="|Ps|39|5|0|0" passage="Ps 39:5">Ps. xxxix. 5</scripRef>. All men are liars, compared with
God. It is very comfortable, when we find every man a liar (no
faith in man), that God is faithful. When <i>they speak vanity
every one with his neighbour,</i> it is very comfortable to think
<i>that the words of the Lord are pure words,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.2 Bible:Ps.12.6" parsed="|Ps|12|2|0|0;|Ps|12|6|0|0" passage="Ps 12:2,6">Ps. xii. 2, 6</scripRef>. For the further proof
of this he quotes <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.4" parsed="|Ps|51|4|0|0" passage="Ps 51:4">Ps. li. 4</scripRef>,
<i>That thou mightest be justified,</i> the design of which is to
show, 1. That God does and will preserve his own honour in the
world, notwithstanding the sins of men. 2. That it is our duty, in
all our conclusions concerning ourselves and others, to justify God
and to assert and maintain his justice, truth, and goodness,
however it goes. David lays a load upon himself in his confession,
that he might justify God, and acquit him from any injustice. So
here, Let the credit or reputation of man shift for itself, the
matter is not great whether it sink or swim; let us hold fast this
conclusion, how specious soever the premises may be to the
contrary, that <i>the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy
in all his works.</i> Thus is God justified in his sayings, and
cleared when he judges (as it is <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.4" parsed="|Ps|51|4|0|0" passage="Ps 51:4">Ps.
li. 4</scripRef>), or when <i>he is judged,</i> as it is here
rendered. When men presume to quarrel with God and his proceedings,
we may be sure the sentence will go on God's side.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p8"><i>Object.</i> 3. Carnal hearts might hence
take occasion to encourage themselves in sin. He had said that the
universal guilt and corruption of mankind gave occasion to the
manifestation of God's righteousness in Jesus Christ. Now it may be
suggested, If all our sin be so far from overthrowing God's honour
that it commends it, and his ends are secured, so that there is no
harm done, is it not unjust for God to punish our sin and unbelief
so severely? If the unrighteousness of the Jews gave occasion to
the calling in of the Gentiles, and so to God's greater glory, why
are the Jews so much censured? <i>If our unrighteousness commend
the righteousness of God, what shall we say?</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.5" parsed="|Rom|3|5|0|0" passage="Ro 3:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. What inference may be drawn from
this? <i>Is God unrighteous,</i> <b><i>me adikos ho
Theos</i></b>—<i>Is not God unrighteous</i> (so it may be read,
more in the form of an objection), <i>who taketh vengeance?</i>
Unbelieving hearts will gladly take any occasion to quarrel with
equity of God's proceedings, and to condemn him that is most just,
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.17" parsed="|Job|34|17|0|0" passage="Job 34:17">Job xxxiv. 17</scripRef>. <i>I speak
as a man,</i> that is, I object this as those of carnal hearts; it is
suggested like a man, a vain, foolish, proud creature.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p9"><i>Answer. God forbid;</i> far be it from
us to imagine such a thing. Suggestions that reflect dishonour upon
God and his justice and holiness are rather to be startled at than
parleyed with. Get thee behind me, Satan; never entertain such a
thought. <i>For then how shall God judge the world?</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.6" parsed="|Rom|3|6|0|0" passage="Ro 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. The argument is much the
same with that of Abraham (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.25" parsed="|Gen|18|25|0|0" passage="Ge 18:25">Gen. xviii.
25</scripRef>): <i>Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?</i> No doubt, he shall. If he were not infinitely just and
righteous, he would be unfit to be the judge of all the earth.
<i>Shall even he that hateth right govern?</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.17" parsed="|Job|34|17|0|0" passage="Job 34:17">Job xxxiv. 17</scripRef>. Compare <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.18-Rom.3.19" parsed="|Rom|3|18|3|19" passage="Ro 3:18,19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>. The sin has never the
less of malignity and demerit in it though God bring glory to
himself out of it. It is only accidentally that sin commends God's
righteousness. No thanks to the sinner for that, who intends no
such thing. The consideration of God's judging the world should for
ever silence all our doubtings of, and reflections upon, his
justice and equity. It is not for us to arraign the proceedings of
such an absolute Sovereign. The sentence of the supreme court,
whence lies no appeal, is not to be called in question.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p10"><i>Object.</i> 4. The former objection is
repeated and prosecuted (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.7-Rom.3.8" parsed="|Rom|3|7|3|8" passage="Ro 3:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7,
8</scripRef>), for proud hearts will hardly be beaten out of their
refuge of lies, but will hold fast the deceit. But his setting off
the objection in its own colours is sufficient to answer it: <i>If
the truth of God has more abounded through my lie.</i> He supposes
the sophisters to follow their objection thus: "If my lie, that is,
my sin" (for there is something of a lie in every sin, especially
in the sins of professors) "have occasioned the glorifying of God's
truth and faithfulness, why <i>should I be judged</i> and condemned
<i>as a sinner, and not rather</i> thence take encouragement to go
on in my sin, that grace may abound?" an inference which at first
sight appears too black to be argued, and fit to be cast out with
abhorrence. Daring sinners take occasion to boast in mischief,
because the <i>goodness of God endures continually,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.52.1" parsed="|Ps|52|1|0|0" passage="Ps 52:1">Ps. lii. 1</scripRef>. <i>Let us do evil that
good may come</i> is oftener in the heart than in the mouth of
sinners, so justifying themselves in their wicked ways. Mentioning
this wicked thought, he observes, in a parenthesis, that there were
those who charged such doctrines as this upon Paul and his
fellow-ministers: Some affirm that we say so. It is no new thing
for the best of God's people and ministers to be charged with
holding and teaching such things as they do most detest and abhor;
and it is not to be thought strange, when our Master himself was
said to be in league with Beelzebub. Many have been reproached as
if they had said that the contrary of which they maintain: it is an
old artifice of Satan thus to cast dirt upon Christ's ministers,
<i>Fortiter calumniari, aliquid adhærebit—Lay slander thickly on,
for some will be sure to stick.</i> The best men and the best
truths are subject to slander. Bishop Sanderson makes a further
remark upon this, <i>as we are slanderously
reported</i>—<b><i>blasphemoumetha.</i></b> Blasphemy in scripture
usually signifies the highest degree of slander, speaking ill of
God. The slander of a minister and his regular doctrine is a more
than ordinary slander, it is a kind of blasphemy, not for his
person's sake, but for his calling's sake and his work's sake,
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.5.13" parsed="|1Thess|5|13|0|0" passage="1Th 5:13">1 Thess. v. 13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p11"><i>Answer.</i> He says no more by way of
confutation but that, whatever they themselves may argue, the
damnation of those is just. Some understand it of the slanderers;
God will justly condemn those who unjustly condemn his truth. Or,
rather, it is to be applied to those who embolden themselves in sin
under a pretence of God's getting glory to himself out of it. Those
who deliberately do evil that good may come of it will be so far
from escaping, under the shelter of that excuse, that it will
rather justify their damnation, and render them the more
inexcusable; for sinning upon such a surmise, and in such a
confidence, argues a great deal both of the wit and of the will in
the sin—a wicked will deliberately to choose the evil, and a
wicked wit to palliate it with the pretence of good arising from
it. Therefore their damnation is just; and, whatever excuses of
this kind they may now please themselves with, they will none of
them stand good in the great day, but God will be justified in his
proceedings, and all flesh, even the proud flesh that now lifts up
itself against him, shall be silent before him. Some think Paul
herein refers to the approaching ruin of the Jewish church and
nation, which their obstinacy and self-justification in their
unbelief hastened upon them apace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p12">II. Paul, having removed these objections,
next revives his assertion of the general guilt and corruption of
mankind in common, both of Jews and Gentiles, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.9-Rom.3.18" parsed="|Rom|3|9|3|18" passage="Ro 3:9-18"><i>v.</i> 9-18</scripRef>. "<i>Are we better than
they,</i> we Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God? Does
this recommend us to God, or will this justify us? No, by no
means." Or, "Are we Christians (Jews and Gentiles) so much better
antecedently than the unbelieving part as to have merited God's
grace? Alas! no: before free grace made the difference, those of us
that had been Jews and those that had been Gentiles were all alike
corrupted." They <i>are all under sin.</i> Under the guilt of sin:
under it as under a sentence;—under it as under a bond, by which
they are bound over to eternal ruin and damnation;—under it as
under a burden (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.4" parsed="|Ps|38|4|0|0" passage="Ps 38:4">Ps. xxxviii.
4</scripRef>) that will sink them to the lowest hell: we are guilty
before God, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.19" parsed="|Rom|3|19|0|0" passage="Ro 3:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>.
Under the government and dominion of sin: under it as under a
tyrant and cruel task-master, enslaved to it;—under it as under a
yoke;—under the power of it, sold to work wickedness. And this he
had proved, <b><i>proetiasametha.</i></b> It is a law term: <i>We
have charged them with it,</i> and have made good our charge; we
have proved the indictment, we have convicted them by the notorious
evidence of the fact. This charge and conviction he here further
illustrates by several scriptures out of the Old Testament, which
describe the corrupt depraved state of all men, till grave restrain
or change them; so that herein as in a glass we may all of us
behold our natural face. The <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.10-Rom.3.12 Bible:Ps.14.1-Ps.14.3" parsed="|Rom|3|10|3|12;|Ps|14|1|14|3" passage="Ro 3:10-12,Ps 14:1-3">10th, 11th, and 12th verses</scripRef> are
taken from <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.10-Rom.3.12 Bible:Ps.14.1-Ps.14.3" parsed="|Rom|3|10|3|12;|Ps|14|1|14|3" passage="Ro 3:10-12,Ps 14:1-3">Ps. xiv.
1-3</scripRef>, which are repeated as containing a very weighty
truth, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.1-Ps.53.3 Bible:Ps.14.1-Ps.14.3" parsed="|Ps|53|1|53|3;|Ps|14|1|14|3" passage="Ps 53:1-3,Ps 14:1-3">Ps. liii.
1-3</scripRef>. The rest that follows here is found in the
Septuagint translation of the <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.1-Ps.14.7" parsed="|Ps|14|1|14|7" passage="Ps 14:1-7">14th
Psalm</scripRef>, which some think the apostle chooses to follow as
better known; but I rather think that Paul took these passages from
other places of scripture here referred to, but in later copies of
the LXX. they were all added in <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.1-Ps.14.7" parsed="|Ps|14|1|14|7" passage="Ps 14:1-7">Ps.
xiv.</scripRef> from this discourse of Paul. It is observable that,
to prove the general corruption of nature, he quotes some
scriptures which speak of the particular corruptions of particular
persons, as of Doeg (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.3" parsed="|Ps|140|3|0|0" passage="Ps 140:3">Ps. cxl.
3</scripRef>), of the Jews (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.7-Isa.59.8" parsed="|Isa|59|7|59|8" passage="Isa 59:7,8">Isa.
lix. 7, 8</scripRef>), which shows that the same sins that are
committed by one are in the nature of all. The times of David and
Isaiah were some of the better times, and yet to their days he
refers. What is said <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.1-Ps.14.7" parsed="|Ps|14|1|14|7" passage="Ps 14:1-7">Ps.
xiv.</scripRef> is expressly spoken of <i>all the children of
men,</i> and that upon a particular view and inspection made by God
himself. The <i>Lord looked down,</i> as upon the old world,
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p12.12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.5" parsed="|Gen|6|5|0|0" passage="Ge 6:5">Gen. vi. 5</scripRef>. And this judgment
of God was according to truth. He who, when he himself had made
all, looked upon every thing that he had made, and behold all was
very good, now that man had marred all, looked, and behold all was
very bad. Let us take a view of the particulars. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p13">1. That which is habitual, which is
two-fold:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p14">(1.) An habitual defect of every thing that
is good. [1.] <i>There is none righteous,</i> none that has an
honest good principle of virtue, or is governed by such a
principle, none that retains any thing of that image of God,
consisting in righteousness, wherein man was created; <i>no, not
one;</i> implying that, if there had been but one, God would have
found him out. When all the world was corrupt, God had his eye upon
one righteous Noah. Even those who through grace are justified and
sanctified were none of them righteous by nature. No righteousness
is born with us. The man after God's own heart owns himself
conceived in sin. [2.] <i>There is none that understandeth,</i>
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.11" parsed="|Rom|3|11|0|0" passage="Ro 3:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. The fault lies
in the corruption of the understanding; that is blinded, depraved,
perverted. Religion and righteousness have so much reason on their
side that if people had but any understanding they would be better
and do better. But they do not understand. Sinners are fools. [3.]
<i>None that seeketh after God,</i> that is, none that has any
regard to God, any desire after him. Those may justly be reckoned
to have no understanding that do not seek after God. The carnal
mind is so far from seeking after God that really it is enmity
against him. [4.] <i>They are together become unprofitable,</i>
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.12" parsed="|Rom|3|12|0|0" passage="Ro 3:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Those that
have forsaken God soon grow good for nothing, useless burdens of
the earth. Those that are in a state of sin are the most
unprofitable creatures under the sun; for it follows, [5.] <i>There
is none that doeth good;</i> no, not a just man upon the earth,
that doeth good, and sinneth not, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.23" parsed="|Eccl|7|23|0|0" passage="Ec 7:23">Eccl.
vii. 23</scripRef>. Even in those actions of sinners that have some
goodness in them there is a fundamental error in the principle and
end; so that it may be said, There is none that doeth good.
<i>Malum oritur ex quolibet defectu—Every defect is the source of
evil.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p15">(2.) An habitual defection to every thing
that is evil: <i>They are all gone out of the way.</i> No wonder
that those miss the right way who do not seek after God, the
highest end. God made man in the way, set him in right, but he hath
forsaken it. The corruption of mankind is an apostasy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p16">2. That which is actual. And what good can
be expected from such a degenerate race? He instances,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p17">(1.) In their words (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.13-Rom.3.14" parsed="|Rom|3|13|3|14" passage="Ro 3:13,14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>), in three things
particularly:—[1.] Cruelty: <i>Their throat is an open
sepulchre,</i> ready to swallow up the poor and innocent, waiting
an opportunity to do mischief, like the old serpent seeking to
devour, whose name is Abaddon and Apollyon, the destroyer. And when
they do not openly avow this cruelty, and vent it publicly, yet
they are underhand intending mischief: the <i>poison of asps is
under their lips</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Jas.3.8" parsed="|Jas|3|8|0|0" passage="Jam 3:8">Jam. iii.
8</scripRef>), the most venomous and incurable poison, with which
they blast the good name of their neighbour by reproaches, and aim
at his life by false witness. These passages are borrowed from
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.9 Bible:Ps.140.3" parsed="|Ps|5|9|0|0;|Ps|140|3|0|0" passage="Ps 5:9,140:3">Ps. v. 9 and cxl. 3</scripRef>.
[2.] Cheating: <i>With their tongues they have used deceit.</i>
Herein they show themselves the devil's children, for he is a liar,
and the father of lies. They <i>have used</i> it: it intimates that
they make a trade of lying; it is their constant practice,
especially belying the ways and people of God. [3.] Cursing:
reflecting upon God, and blaspheming his holy name; wishing evil to
their brethren: <i>Their mouth is full of cursing and
bitterness.</i> This is mentioned as one of the great sins of the
tongue, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Jas.3.9" parsed="|Jas|3|9|0|0" passage="Jam 3:9">Jam. iii. 9</scripRef>. But
those that thus love cursing shall have enough of it, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.17-Ps.109.19" parsed="|Ps|109|17|109|19" passage="Ps 109:17-19">Ps. cix. 17-19</scripRef>. How many, who are
called Christians, do by these sin evince that they are still under
the reign and dominion of sin, still in the condition that they
were born in.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p18">(2.) In their ways (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.15-Rom.3.17" parsed="|Rom|3|15|3|17" passage="Ro 3:15-17"><i>v.</i> 15-17</scripRef>): <i>Their feet are swift
to shed blood;</i> that is, they are very industrious to compass
any cruel design, ready to lay hold of all such opportunities.
Wherever they go, <i>destruction and misery</i> go along with them;
these are their companions—destruction and misery to the people of
God, to the country and neighbourhood where they live, to the land
and nation, and to themselves at last. Besides the destruction and
misery that are at the end of their ways (death is the end of these
things), destruction and misery are in their ways; their sin is its
own punishment: a man needs no more to make him miserable than to
be a slave to his sins.—<i>And the way of peace have they not
known;</i> that is, they know not how to preserve peace with
others, nor how to obtain peace for themselves. They may talk of
peace, such a peace as is in the devil's palace, while he keeps it,
but they are strangers to all true peace; they know not the things
that belong to their peace. These are quoted from <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.16 Bible:Isa.59.7-Isa.59.8" parsed="|Prov|1|16|0|0;|Isa|59|7|59|8" passage="Pr 1:16,Isa 59:7,8">Prov. i. 16; Isa. lix. 7,
8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p19">(3.) The root of all this we have: <i>There
is no fear of God before their eyes,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.18" parsed="|Rom|3|18|0|0" passage="Ro 3:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. The fear of God is here put for
all practical religion, which consists in an awful and serious
regard to the word and will of God as our rule, to the honour and
glory of God as our end. Wicked people have not this before their
eyes; that is, they do not steer by it; they are governed by other
rules, aim at other ends. This is quoted from <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.1" parsed="|Ps|36|1|0|0" passage="Ps 36:1">Ps. xxxvi. 1</scripRef>. Where no fear of God is, no good
is to be expected. The fear of God should lay a restraint upon
our spirits, and keep them right, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.15" parsed="|Neh|5|15|0|0" passage="Ne 5:15">Neh.
v. 15</scripRef>. When once fear is cast off, prayer is restrained
(<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.15.4" parsed="|Job|15|4|0|0" passage="Job 15:4">Job xv. 4</scripRef>), and then all
goes to wreck and ruin quickly. So that we have here a short
account of the general depravity and corruption of mankind; and may
say, O Adam! what hast thou done? God made man upright, but thus he
hath sought out many inventions.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Rom.iv-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.19-Rom.3.31" parsed="|Rom|3|19|3|31" passage="Ro 3:19-31" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Rom.3.19-Rom.3.31">
<h4 id="Rom.iv-p19.6">Justification by Faith; Christ a
Propitiation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.iv-p19.7">a.
d.</span> 58.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Rom.iv-p20">19 Now we know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight: for by the law <i>is</i> the knowledge of
sin.   21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is
manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;   22
Even the righteousness of God <i>which is</i> by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no
difference:   23 For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God;   24 Being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:   25 Whom God hath set
forth <i>to be</i> a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God;   26 To declare, <i>I say,</i>
at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.   27 Where
<i>is</i> boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works?
Nay: but by the law of faith.   28 Therefore we conclude that
a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.   29
<i>Is he</i> the God of the Jews only? <i>is he</i> not also of the
Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:   30 Seeing <i>it is</i>
one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and
uncircumcision through faith.   31 Do we then make void the
law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p21">From all this Paul infers that it is in
vain to look for justification by the works of the law, and that it
is to be had only by faith, which is the point he has been all
along proving, from <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.17" parsed="|Rom|1|17|0|0" passage="Ro 1:17"><i>ch.</i> i.
17</scripRef>, and which he lays down (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.28" parsed="|Rom|3|28|0|0" passage="Ro 3:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>) as the summary of his discourse,
with a <i>quod erat demonstrandum—which was to be demonstrated. We
conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the
law;</i> not by the deeds of the first law of pure innocence, which
left no room for repentance, nor the deeds of the law of nature,
how highly soever improved, nor the deeds of the ceremonial law
(the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin), nor the
deeds of the moral law, which are certainly included, for he speaks
of that law by which is the knowledge of sin and those works which
might be matter of boasting. Man, in his depraved state, under the
power of such corruption, could never, by any works of his own,
gain acceptance with God; but it must be resolved purely into the
free grace of God, given through Jesus Christ to all true believers
that receive it as a free gift. If we had never sinned, our
obedience to the law would have been our righteousness: "Do this,
and live." But having sinned, and being corrupted, nothing that we
can do will atone for our former guilt. It was by their obedience
to the moral law that the Pharisees looked for justification,
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.11" parsed="|Luke|18|11|0|0" passage="Lu 18:11">Luke xviii. 11</scripRef>. Now there
are two things from which the apostle here argues: the guiltiness
of man, to prove that we cannot be justified by the works of the
law, and the glory of God, to prove that we must be justified by
faith.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p22">I. He argues from man's guiltiness, to show
the folly of expecting justification by the works of the law. The
argument is very plain: we can never be justified and saved by the
law that we have broken. A convicted traitor can never come off by
pleading the statute of 25 <i>Edward</i> III., for that law
discovers his crime and condemns him: indeed, if he had never
broken it, he might have been justified by it; but now it is past
that he has broken it, and there is no way of coming off but by
pleading the act of indemnity, upon which he has surrendered and
submitted himself, and humbly and penitently claiming the benefit
of it and casting himself upon it. Now concerning the guiltiness of
man,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p23">1. He fastens it particularly upon the
Jews; for they were the men that made their boast of the law, and
set up for justification by it. He had quoted several scriptures
out of the Old Testament to show this corruption: Now, says he
(<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.19" parsed="|Rom|3|19|0|0" passage="Ro 3:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), <i>this that
the law says, it says to those who are under the law;</i> this
conviction belongs to the Jews as well as others, for it is written
in their law. The Jews boasted of their being under the law, and
placed a great deal of confidence in it: "But," says he, "the law
convicts and condemns you—you see it does." That <i>every mouth
may be stopped</i>—that all boasting may be silenced. See the
method that God takes both in justifying and condemning: he stops
every mouth; those that are justified have their mouths stopped by
a humble conviction; those that are condemned have their mouths
stopped too, for they shall at last be convinced (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.15" parsed="|Jude|1|15|0|0" passage="Jude 1:15">Jude 15</scripRef>), and sent speechless to
hell, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.12" parsed="|Matt|22|12|0|0" passage="Mt 22:12">Matt. xxii. 12</scripRef>.
<i>All iniquity shall stop her mouth,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.42" parsed="|Ps|107|42|0|0" passage="Ps 107:42">Ps. cvii. 42</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p24">2. He extends it in general to all the
world: <i>That all the world may become guilty before God.</i> If
the world lieth in wickedness (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.19" parsed="|1John|5|19|0|0" passage="1Jo 5:19">1 John
v. 19</scripRef>), to be sure it is guilty.—<i>May become
guilty;</i> that is, may be proved guilty, liable to punishment,
all by nature <i>children of wrath,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.3" parsed="|Eph|2|3|0|0" passage="Eph 2:3">Eph. ii. 3</scripRef>. They must all plead guilty; those
that stand most upon their own justification will certainly be
cast. Guilty before God is a dreadful word, before an all-seeing
God, that is not, nor can be, deceived in his judgment—before a
just and righteous judge, who will by no means clear the guilty.
All are guilty, and therefore all have need of a righteousness
wherein to appear before God. <i>For all have sinned</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.23" parsed="|Rom|3|23|0|0" passage="Ro 3:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>); all are sinners by
nature, by practice, and <i>have come short of the glory of
God</i>—have failed of that which is the chief end of man. <i>Come
short,</i> as the archer comes short of the mark, as the runner
comes short of the prize; so come short, as not only not to win,
but to be great losers. <i>Come short of the glory of God.</i> (1.)
Come short of glorifying God. See <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.21" parsed="|Rom|1|21|0|0" passage="Ro 1:21"><i>ch.</i> i. 21</scripRef>, <i>They glorified him not as
God.</i> Man was placed at the head of the visible creation,
actively to glorify that great Creator whom the inferior creatures
could glorify only objectively; but man by sin comes short of this,
and, instead of glorifying God, dishonours him. It is a very
melancholy consideration, to look upon the children of men, who
were made to glorify God, and to think how few there are that do
it. (2.) Come short of glorying <i>before God.</i> There is no
boasting of innocency: if we go about to glory before God, to boast
of any thing we are, or have, or do, this will be an everlasting
estoppel—that we have all sinned, and this will silence us. We may
glory before men, who are short-sighted, and cannot search our
hearts,—who are corrupt, as we are, and well enough pleased with
sin; but there is no glorying before God, who cannot endure to look
upon iniquity. (3.) Come short of being glorified by God. Come
short of justification, or acceptance with God, which is glory
begun—come short of the holiness or sanctification which is the
glorious image of God upon man, and have overthrown all hopes and
expectations of being glorified with God in heaven by any
righteousness of their own. It is impossible now to get to heaven
in the way of spotless innocency. That passage is blocked up. There
is a cherub and a flaming sword set to keep that way to the tree of
life.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p25">3. Further to drive us off from expecting
justification by the law, he ascribes this conviction to the law
(<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.20" parsed="|Rom|3|20|0|0" passage="Ro 3:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>For by
the law is the knowledge of sin.</i> That law which convicts and
condemns us can never justify us. The law is the straight rule,
that <i>rectum</i> which is <i>index sui et obliqui—that which
points out the right and the wrong;</i> it is the proper use and
intendment of the law to open our wound, and therefore not likely
to be the remedy. That which is searching is not sanative. Those
that would know sin must get the knowledge of the law in its
strictness, extent, and spiritual nature. If we compare our own
hearts and lives with the rule, we shall discover wherein we have
turned aside. Paul makes this use of the law, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.9" parsed="|Rom|7|9|0|0" passage="Ro 7:9"><i>ch.</i> vii. 9</scripRef>, <i>Therefore by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.</i> Observe, (1.)
<i>No flesh shall be justified,</i> no man, no corrupted man
(<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.3" parsed="|Gen|6|3|0|0" passage="Ge 6:3">Gen. vi. 3</scripRef>), <i>for that he
also is flesh,</i> sinful and depraved; therefore not justified,
because we are flesh. The corruption that remains in our nature
will for ever obstruct any justification by our own works, which,
coming from flesh, must needs taste of the cask, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.14.4" parsed="|Job|14|4|0|0" passage="Job 14:4">Job xiv. 4</scripRef>. (2.) Not justified in his sight.
He does not deny that justification which was by the deeds of the
law in the sight of the church: they were, in their church-estate,
as embodied in a polity, a holy people, a nation of priests; but as
the conscience stands in relation to God, <i>in his sight,</i> we
cannot be justified by the deeds of the law. The apostle refers to
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.143.2" parsed="|Ps|143|2|0|0" passage="Ps 143:2">Ps. cxliii. 2</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p26">II. He argues from God's glory to prove
that justification must be expected only by faith in Christ's
righteousness. There is no justification by the works of the law.
Must guilty man then remain eternally under wrath? Is there no
hope? Is the wound become incurable because of transgression? No,
blessed be God, it is not (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.21-Rom.3.22" parsed="|Rom|3|21|3|22" passage="Ro 3:21,22"><i>v.</i>
21, 22</scripRef>); there is another way laid open for us, <i>the
righteousness of God without the law is manifested</i> now under
the gospel. Justification may be obtained without the keeping of
Moses's law: and this is called <i>the righteousness of God,</i>
righteousness of his ordaining, and providing, and
accepting,—righteousness which he confers upon us; as the
Christian armour is called <i>the armour of God,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.11" parsed="|Eph|6|11|0|0" passage="Eph 6:11">Eph. vi. 11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p27">1. Now concerning this righteousness of God
observe, (1.) That it is manifested. The gospel-way of
justification is a high-way, a plain way, it is laid open for us:
the brazen serpent is lifted up upon the pole; we are not left to
grope our way in the dark, but it is manifested to us. (2.) It is
<i>without the law.</i> Here he obviates the method of the
judaizing Christians, who would needs join Christ and Moses
together—owning Christ for the Messiah, and yet too fondly
retaining the law, keeping up the ceremonies of it, and imposing it
upon the Gentile converts: no, says he, it is without the law. The
righteousness that Christ hath brought in is a complete
righteousness. (3.) Yet <i>it is witnessed by the law and the
prophets;</i> that is, there were types, and prophecies, and
promises, in the Old Testament, that pointed at this. The law is so
far from justifying us that it directs us to another way of
justification, points at Christ as our righteousness, to whom bear
all the prophets witness. See <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.10.43" parsed="|Acts|10|43|0|0" passage="Ac 10:43">Acts x.
43</scripRef>. This might recommend it to the Jews, who were so
fond of the law and the prophets. (4.) It is by the <i>faith of
Jesus Christ,</i> that faith which hath Jesus Christ for its
object—an <i>anointed Saviour,</i> so Jesus Christ signifies.
Justifying faith respects Christ as a Saviour in all his three
anointed offices, as prophet, priest, and king—trusting in him,
accepting of him, and adhering to him, in all these. It is by this
that we become interested in that righteousness which God has
ordained, and which Christ has brought in. (5.) It is <i>to all,
and upon all, those that believe.</i> In this expression he
inculcates that which he had been often harping upon, that Jews and
Gentiles, if they believe, stand upon the same level, and are alike
welcome to God through Christ; <i>for there is no difference.</i>
Or, it is <b><i>eis pantas</i></b>—<i>to all,</i> offered to all
in general; the gospel excludes none that do not exclude
themselves; but it is <b><i>epi pantas tous pisteuontas,</i></b>
<i>upon all that believe,</i> not only tendered to them, but put
upon them as a crown, as a robe; they are, upon their believing,
interested in it, and entitled to all the benefits and privileges
of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p28">2. But now how is this for God's glory?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p29">(1.) It is for the glory of his grace
(<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.24" parsed="|Rom|3|24|0|0" passage="Ro 3:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>Justified
freely by his grace</i>—<b><i>dorean te autou chariti.</i></b> It
is <i>by his grace,</i> not by the grace wrought in us as the
papists say, confounding justification and sanctification, but by
the gracious favour of God to us, without any merit in us so much
as foreseen. And, to make it the more emphatic, he says it is
<i>freely by his grace,</i> to show that it must be understood of
grace in the most proper and genuine sense. It is said that
<i>Joseph found grace</i> in the sight of his master (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.4" parsed="|Gen|39|4|0|0" passage="Ge 39:4">Gen. xxxix. 4</scripRef>), but there was a
reason; he saw that what he did prospered. There was something in
Joseph to invite that grace; but the grace of God communicated to
us comes <i>freely, freely;</i> it is free grace, mere mercy;
nothing in us to deserve such favours: no, it is all <i>through the
redemption that is in Jesus Christ.</i> It comes freely to us, but
Christ bought it, and paid dearly for it, which yet is so ordered
as not to derogate from the honour of free grace. Christ's purchase
is no bar to the freeness of God's grace; for grace provided and
accepted this vicarious satisfaction.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p30">(2.) It is for the glory of his justice and
righteousness (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.25-Rom.3.26" parsed="|Rom|3|25|3|26" passage="Ro 3:25,26"><i>v.</i> 25,
26</scripRef>): <i>Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation,</i> &amp;c. Note, [1.] Jesus Christ is the great
propitiation, or propitiatory sacrifice, typified by the
<b><i>hilasterion,</i></b> or <i>mercy-seat,</i> under the law. He
is our throne of grace, in and through whom atonement is made for
sin, and our persons and performances are accepted of God,
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.2" parsed="|1John|2|2|0|0" passage="1Jo 2:2">1 John ii. 2</scripRef>. He is all in
all in our reconciliation, not only the maker, but the matter of
it—our priest, our sacrifice, our altar, our all. God was in
Christ as in his mercy-seat, reconciling the world unto himself.
[2.] <i>God hath set him forth</i> to be so. God, the party
offended, makes the first overtures towards a reconciliation,
appoints the days-man;
<b><i>proetheto</i></b>—<i>fore-ordained</i> him to this, in the
counsels of his love from eternity, appointed, anointed him to it,
qualified him for it, and has exhibited him to a guilty world as
their propitiation. See <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.3.17 Bible:Matt.17.5" parsed="|Matt|3|17|0|0;|Matt|17|5|0|0" passage="Mt 3:17,17:5">Matt. iii.
17, and xvii. 5</scripRef>. [3.] That <i>by faith in his blood</i>
we become interested in this propitiation. Christ is the
propitiation; there is the healing plaster provided. Faith is the
applying of this plaster to the wounded soul. And this faith in the
business of justification hath a special regard to <i>the blood of
Christ,</i> as that which made the atonement; for such was the
divine appointment that without blood there should be no remission,
and no blood but his would do it effectually. Here may be an
allusion to the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices under the
law, as <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p30.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.8" parsed="|Exod|24|8|0|0" passage="Ex 24:8">Exod. xxiv. 8</scripRef>. Faith
is the bunch of hyssop, and the blood of Christ is the blood of
sprinkling. [4.] That all who by faith are interested in this
propitiation have <i>the remission of their sins that are past.</i>
It was for this that Christ was set forth to be a propitiation, in
order to remission, to which the reprieves of his patience and
forbearance were a very encouraging preface. <i>Through the
forbearance of God.</i> Divine patience has kept us out of hell,
that we might have space to repent, and get to heaven. Some refer
the <i>sins that are past</i> to the sins of the Old-Testament
saints, which were pardoned for the sake of the atonement which
Christ in the fulness of time was to make, which looked backward as
well as forward. <i>Past through the forbearance of God.</i> It is
owing to the divine forbearance that we were not taken in the very
act of sin. Several Greek copies make <b><i>en te anoche tou
Theou</i></b>—<i>through the forbearance of God,</i> to begin
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p30.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.26" parsed="|Rom|3|26|0|0" passage="Ro 3:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>, and they
denote two precious fruits of Christ's merit and God's
grace:—Remission: <b><i>dia ten paresin</i></b>—<i>for the
remission;</i> and reprieves: the <i>forbearance</i> of God. It is
owing to the master's goodness and the dresser's mediation that
barren trees are let alone in the vineyard; and in both God's
righteousness is declared, in that without a mediator and a
propitiation he would not only not pardon, but not so much as
forbear, not spare a moment; it is owning to Christ that there is
ever a sinner on this side hell. [5.] That God does in all this
<i>declare his righteousness.</i> This he insists upon with a great
deal of emphasis: <i>To declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness.</i> It is repeated, as that which has in it
something surprising. He declares his righteousness, <i>First,</i>
In the propitiation itself. Never was there such a demonstration of
the justice and holiness of God as there was in the death of
Christ. It appears that he hates sin, when nothing less than the
blood of Christ would satisfy for it. Finding sin, though but
imputed, upon his own Son, he did not spare him, because he had
made himself sin for us, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p30.6" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.21" parsed="|2Cor|5|21|0|0" passage="2Co 5:21">2 Cor. v.
21</scripRef>. The iniquities of us all being laid upon him, though
he was the Son of his love, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him,
<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p30.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.10" parsed="|Isa|53|10|0|0" passage="Isa 53:10">Isa. liii. 10</scripRef>.
<i>Secondly,</i> In the pardon upon that propitiation; so it
follows, by way of explication: <i>That he might be just, and the
justifier of him that believeth.</i> Mercy and truth are so met
together, righteousness and peace have so kissed each other, that
it is now become not only an act of grace and mercy, but an act of
righteousness, in God, to pardon the sins of penitent believers,
having accepted the satisfaction that Christ by dying made to his
justice for them. It would not comport with his justice to demand
the debt of the principal when the surety has paid it and he has
accepted that payment in full satisfaction. See <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p30.8" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.9" parsed="|1John|1|9|0|0" passage="1Jo 1:9">1 John i. 9</scripRef>. He is just, that is, faithful to
his word.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p31">(3.) It is for God's glory; for boasting is
thus excluded, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.27" parsed="|Rom|3|27|0|0" passage="Ro 3:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>.
God will have the great work of the justification and salvation of
sinners carried on from first to last in such a way as to exclude
boasting, that no flesh may glory in his presence, <scripRef id="Rom.iv-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.29-1Cor.1.31" parsed="|1Cor|1|29|1|31" passage="1Co 1:29-31">1 Cor. i. 29-31</scripRef>. Now, if
justification were by the works of the law, boasting would not be
excluded. How should it? If we were saved by our own works, we
might put the crown upon our own heads. But the <i>law of
faith,</i> that is, the way of justification by faith, doth for
ever exclude boasting; for faith is a depending, self-emptying,
self-denying grace, and casts every crown before the throne;
therefore it is most for God's glory that thus we should be
justified. Observe, He speaks of <i>the law of faith.</i> Believers
are not left lawless: faith is a law, it is a working grace,
wherever it is in truth; and yet, because it acts in a strict and
close dependence upon Jesus Christ, it excludes boasting.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p32">From all this he draws this conclusion
(<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.28" parsed="|Rom|3|28|0|0" passage="Ro 3:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>): <i>That a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.iv-p33">III. In the close of the chapter he shows
the extent of this privilege of justification by faith, and that it
is not the peculiar privilege of the Jews, but pertains to the
Gentiles also; for he had said (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.22" parsed="|Rom|3|22|0|0" passage="Ro 3:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>) that there is no difference: and
as to this, 1. He asserts and proves it (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p33.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.29" parsed="|Rom|3|29|0|0" passage="Ro 3:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>): <i>Is he the God of the Jews
only?</i> He argues from the absurdity of such a supposition. Can
it be imagined that a God of infinite love and mercy should limit
and confine his favours to that little perverse people of the Jews,
leaving all the rest of the children of men in a condition
eternally desperate? This would by no means agree with the idea we
have of the divine goodness, for his <i>tender mercies are over all
his works;</i> therefore it is one God of grace that <i>justifies
the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through
faith,</i> that is, both in one and the same way. However the Jews,
in favour of themselves, will needs fancy a difference, really
there is no more difference than between <i>by</i> and
<i>through,</i> that is, no difference at all. 2. He obviates an
objection (<scripRef id="Rom.iv-p33.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.31" parsed="|Rom|3|31|0|0" passage="Ro 3:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), as
if this doctrine did nullify the law, which they knew came from
God: "No," says he, "though we do say that the law will not justify
us, yet we do not therefore say that it was given in vain, or is of
no use to us; no, <i>we establish the right use of the law,</i> and
secure its standing, by fixing it on the right basis. The law is
still of use to convince us of what is past, and to direct us for
the future; though we cannot be saved by it as a covenant, yet we
own it, and submit to it, as a rule in the hand of the Mediator,
subordinate to the law of grace; and so are so far from
overthrowing that we establish the law." Let those consider this
who deny the obligation of the moral law on believers.</p>
</div></div2>