fhfohuiical JSrminavu. So. S/nlf. -v :" 'I'Ih- Jolin >l . liri'lio Itoioitioii. H EXPOSITION EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; REMARKS :;OMMENTARIES OF DR. MACKNIGHT, PROFESSOR MOSES STUART, AND PROFESSOR THOLUCK. BY ROBERT'HALDANE, Esa. FKOM THE FIFTH EDINBURGH EDITION. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET, AND PITTSBURGH, 56 MARKET STREET. 1847. PREFACE. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Every page of the sacred volume is stamped with the impress of Deity, and contains an inexhaustible treasure of wis- dom, and knowledge, and consolation. Some portions of the word of God, like some parts of the material creation, may be more important than others. But all have their proper place, all proclaim the character of their glorious Author, and all ought to be earnestly and reverentially studied. Whatever be their subject, whether it relates to the history of individuals or of nations, whether it contains the words of pre- cept or exhortation, or whether it teaches by example, all is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. But while every part of the word of God demands the most serious attention, it is not to be doubted that certain portions of the sacred volume call for more frequent and deeper meditation. In the Old Testament, the Book of Psalms contains a summary of all Scripture, and an abridgment of its most important instructions and sweetest consolations. In the New Testament, the Epistle to the Romans is entitled to peculiar regard. It is the only part of Scripture which contains a detailed and systematic exhibition of the doctrines of Christianity. The great truths which are embodied and inculcated in every other part of the Bible, are here brought together in a condensed and compre- hensive form. More especially the glorious doctrine of justification by faith is clearly unfolded and exhibited in the strongest liglit. The Epistle to the Romans has always attracted the peculiar notice of those whose study has been directed to the interpretation of Scripture. To this portion of the divine record, all who look for salvation by grace have constantly appealed, and here they have a rich mine of evidence alike solid and inexhaustible. No considerable difference of interpretation has ever been given of its contents by those who have renounced their own wisdom, and determined to follow implicitly the obvious meaning of the word of God. This Epistle has been equally an object of attention to those who admit the authority of Scripture, but follow their own wisdom in forming their system of religious doctrine. Salvation by grace and salvation by works are so incompatible with each other, that it might well be supposed no attempt would ever be made to bring them into harmony. Still the attempt has been made. Human wis- dom cannot receive the doctrine of the Epistle to the Romans, and men professing Christianity cannot deny it to be a part of Scripture. What, then, is to be done ? A compromise is proclaimed between the wisdom of man and the revelation of God. All the ingenuity of Mr. Locke, one of the most acute and subtle metaphysicians that ever appeared, has been exerted to bring the doctrine of Paul into accordance with human science. Like him many others have labored to give a view of this Epistle that may reconcile human merit with divine grace. Nothing is more manifest than the direct opposition between the doctrine of inspira- tion, as unfolded in the Epistle to the Romans with respect to the state and pros- pects of mankind, and the doctrine of this world's philosophy. Paul contemplates all men in their natural state as ruined by sin, and utterly unable to restore them- selves to the Divine favor. Philosophers, on the contrary, survey the aspect of society with real or affected complacency. They perceive, indeed, that imperfection and suflering prevail to a considerable extent : but they discover a vast preponde- rance of happiness and virtue. They cannot deny that man is of a mixed character : IT PREFACE. but (Iiis is nrcpssary in ordpr that his virtue may be his own, and that in passing onwards to thf siiiniiiit of innnil oxcelleiirp, his strcn^rlh of principle may be more iliustrioiislv di!ost]c Paul in his representations of human nature. Man, it seems to them, is not so completely lost, but that lie may do something to repiin the Divine favor : and if a sacrifice were necessary for the expiation of sin, its blessing must Ih' eipially bestowed on all mankind. The doctrine of justification in |)articular so far transcends the powers of our dis- covery, that men are ever attempting to set it aside, or to mould it into accordance with their own preconceived notions. How wonderful is the contnij^t between the justification of which this Apostle treats, and the justification which critical ingenuity has often extorted from his Epistles! While l*aul speaks of the lK*liever as po.sses8- ing a righteousness perfectly commensurate to all Uie demands of the law, and stand- ing at the bar of God spotless and blameless, human wisdom lias contrived to exhibit his d(x;trine as representing salvation to be the result of a happy combination of mercy and merit. The doctrine of salvation by faith without works has ever appeared to the wise of this world not only as a scheme insufficient to secure the interests of morality, but as one whicli disparages tlie Divine authority. Yet its good ef!ects are fully demonstrated in every age ; and while notliing but the doctrine of salvation by grace has ever produced good works, this dectrine has never failed of its designed object. In all the ways of God there is a characteristic wisdom, which stamps them with the impress of divinity. There is here a harmony and consistency in things the most different in appearance ; while the intended result is invariably produced, although in a way which to man would appear most unlikely to secure success. The mind of every man is by nature disaffected to the doctrine of this Epistle ; but it is only in proportion to the audacity of his unbehef, that any one will directly avow his opposition. While some by the wildest suppositions will boldly set aside what- ever it declares that opposes their own preconceived opinions, others will receive its statements only with tlie reserve of certain necessary modifications. Thus, in the deviations from truth, in the exposition of its doctrines, we discover various shades of the same unhallowed disregard for the Divine testimony. The spirit of speculation and of novelty which is now abroad, loudly calls upon Christians to give earnest heed to the truth inculcated in the Epistle to the Romans. There is hardly any doctrine which has not been of late years exposed to the corrup- tions and penersions of men who profess to be believers of divine revelation. Many, altogether destitute of the Spirit of God, and the semblance of true religion, have nevertheless chosen the word of God, and its solemn and awfully momentous truths, as the arena upon which to exercise their learning and display their ingenu- ity. In consequence of the Scriptures being written in the dead languages, there is doubtless scope for the diligent employment of critical research. But if it were inquired how much additional light has been thrown upon the sacred volume by the refinements of modern critics, it would be found to bear a very small proportion to the evil influence of unsanctified learning applied to the holy doctrines of revelation. It has become common, even among Christians, to speak of the critical interpretation of Scripture as requiring little or nothing more tlian mere scholarship, and many seem to suppose that the office of a critical and that of a doctrinal interpreter are so widely diflerent, that a man may be a safe and useful critic who has no relish for the grand truths of the Bible. There cannot be a more lamentable delusion, or one more calculated to desecrate the character and obscure the majesty of the Word of God. To suppose that a man may rightly interpret the Scriptures, while he is ignorant of the truths of the gospel, ordisatTected to some of its grand fundamental doc- trines,— to imagine that this can be to him a useful or even an innocent occupation, is to regard these Scriptures as the production of ordinary men, treating of subjects of ordinary importance ; instead of containing, as tliey do, the message of the Most High God, revealing life or death to every soul to whom they come. If the Scriptures have not testified in vain that the carnal mind is enmity against PREFACE. V Grod ; if we are bound to believe that there is no middle state between the Christian and the unbeliever ; can wo wonder at the manner in which they have been pervert- ed, not only by the ignorance but by the inveterate prejudices of men from whom the gospel is hid ? Is it reasonable — is it agreeable to the dictates of common sense, to believe that the critical interpretations of such men are not tinged with their own darkened and hostile views of the divine character and the divine revelation ? '"And yet such is the opinion entertained of the labors of some of the most unenlightened commentators, that their works have obtained a celebrity altogether unaccountable on any principle of Christian wisdom. Christians ought to be particularly on their guard against tampering in any degree with the word of God. We should never forget, that when we are explaining any expression of Scripture, we are treating of what are the very words of the Holy Ghost, as much as if they had been spoken to us by a voice from heaven. The pro- fane rashness of many critics is much emboldened by the circumstance that men have been employed as the instruments of the Almighty in communicating his reve- lation. A sort of modified inspiration only is granted to the Scriptures, and they are often treated as the words merely of those who were employed as the penmen. When God is thus kept out of sight little ceremony is used with the words of the Apostles. The profound reverence and awe with which the Scriptures ought to be read and handled, are in many instances too little exemplified. The poor man's Bible is the word of God, in which he has no suspicion that there is anything but per- fection. The Bible of the profoundly erudite scholar is often a book that is not so necessary to instruct him, as one that needs his hand for alteration, or amendment, or confirmation. Learning may be usefully employed ; but if learning ever forgets that it must sit at the feet of Jesus, it will be a curse instead of a blessing. It will raise clouds and darkness, instead of communicating light to the world. The evil of studying the Scriptures, and commenting upon them with as little reverence as a scholar might comment upon the plays of Aristophanes or Terence, has extended itself much farther than might be supposed. This is the spirit in which the German Neologians have written ; and indeed it is to be feared that, as the neo- logian form of infidelity originated from this profane method of criticising the Scrip- tures, so the same cause may produce the same effect in this country. Certain it is, that works have been republished or translated here, which are very little calculated to uphold the ancient faith of the church of Christ, or to advance the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. From present appearances, there is every reason to fear that Britain will be inun- dated with German Neology. The tide has strongly set in, and unless the Christian public be upon their guard, the whole country will be brought under its influence. It is a solemn thing to be instrumental in ushering into more extended notoriety, publications that have a tendency to lower the character of the Holy Scriptures, to introduce doubt and confusion into the minds of those who are weak in the faith, and to embolden others who seek an apology for casting away the letters of educa- tion and authority, and desire to launch out into the ocean of wild and dangerous speculation. While some appearances in Germany of a return to the Scripture doc- trine of salvation by Jesus Christ should be gladly hailed by every Christian, yet it must be admitted that those who in that country seem to have made the greatest advances in the knowledge of the gospel, are still far from being entitled to be pointed out as guides to the Christians of Great Britain. Their modifications of divine truth are manifestly under the influence of a criticism too nearly allied to neology. There is great danger, that in the admiration of German criticism a tincture may be received from continental errors. It would be far preferable if learned Christians at home would pursue truth in a diligent examination of its own sources, rather than 6pend their time in retailing the criticisms of German scholars. " Their criticisms," it is observed by Dr. Carson, " are arbitrary, forced, and in the highest degree fantas- tical. Their learning is boundless, yet their criticism is mere trash. The vast extent of their literary acquirements has overawed British theologians, and given an importance to arguments that are self-evidently false." In these days of boasted liberality, it may appear captious to oppose with zeal the errors of men who have acquired a name in the Christian world. The mantle of VI PREFACE. charity, it will be said, oiipht to bo tlirowii over mistakes that have resulted from a free and iin|mrtiHl iiivestijralioii of truth, and if not wholly overhwked, they should be noticed with a nii<;ht expreK.sion ot disapprolwition. Such, however, was not the conduct of the Apostle I'aul. He s|)ared neither churcheH nor individuals, when the doctrines they maintaim-il tended to the subversion of the jfospel : and the zeal with which he resisted their errors was not inferior to that with wbicli he encountered tlie open enemies of Christianity. He atlirins that the doctrine introduced into the (ialalian churches is another f^ospel, and twice pronounces a curse ajjainst all by whom it was promiilfrated. Instead of complimenting the authors of this corruption of the pospel as only abusing, in a slight degree, the libc cut otl" as troublers of the churches, l^t not Chris- tians be more courteous in expressing their views of the guilt and danger of cor- rupting the gospel, than faithful and com|)assionatc to the people of ('hrist, who may be injured by false doctrine. It is highly sinful to bandy compliments at tJie exi)ense of truth. The awful responsibility of being accessory to the propagation of error is strong- ly expressed by the Apostle John. " If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed ; for he that biddeth him Cod speed is partaker of his evil deeds." If the imputation of Adam's ein and of Christ's righteousness l)e doctrines contained in the word of God, com- mentaries that lalwrto ex|)el them from that word must be grossly pestiferous books, which no Christian ought to recommend, but which, on the contrary, to the utmost of his power, it is his duty to oppose. A very dangerous misrepresentation of some of the great doctrines of the Epistle to the Romans has lately come l)efore the public, in a commentary on that Epistle, from the pen of Professor Moses Stuart of America. As that work has obtained an extensive circulation in this country, — as it has been strongly recommended, and is likely to produce a cnnsiderable eflect, — it has appeared proper to make frequent references to his glaring perversions of its important contents. On tlie same princi- ple, various remarks are introduced on the well-known heterodox commentary of Dr. Macknight; I have also alluded occasionally to the heretical sentiments contained in that of I'rofessor Tholuck, lately published. In the following exposition, I have availed my.self of all tlie assistance I could obtain, from whatever quarter. Especially I have made use of everything that appear- ed to be most valuable in the commentary of Claude, which terminates at the begin- ning of the twcnty-lirst verse of the third chapter. I have also had the advantage of the assistance of Dr. Carson, whose profound knowledge of tlie original language and well-known critical discernment peculiarly qualify him for rendering ellectual aid in such a work. As it is my object to make this exposition as useful as possible to all descriptions of readers, I have not always confined myself "simply to an expla- nation of the text, but have occasionally extended at some length, remarks on such subjects a.s seemed to demand particular attention, either on account of their own importance, or of mistaken opinions entertained concerning them. As to those which required a fuller discussion than could be conveniently introduced, I have referred to my work on the Evidence and Authority of Divine Revelation. By studying the Epistle to the Romans, an exact and comprehensive knowledge of the distinguishing doctrines of grace, in their various bearings and connexions, may. by the blessing of God, l)e obtained. Here they appear in all tlicir native force and clearness, unalloyed with the wisdom of man. The human mind is ever prone to soften the strong features of Divine truth, and to bring them more into accordance with its own wishes and preconceived notions. Those lowering and debasing modi- fications of the doctrines of Scripture, by which, in some popular works, it is endea- vored to reconcile error with orthodoxy, are imposing only in theory, and may be easily detected by a close and unprejudiced examination of the language of this Epistle. INTRODUCTION. The Epistle to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul from Corinth, the capital of Achaia, after his second journey to that celebrated city for the purpose of collecting the pecuniary aid destined for the cliurch at Jerusalem. This appears from the fifteenth chapter, where he says that he was going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. " For," he adds, " it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia, to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem." The Epistle appears to have been carried to Rome by Phebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, which was the port of Corinth, and we learn from the nineteenth and twentieth chapters of the Acts, and from different parts of the two Epistles to the Corinth- ians, that after having remained about three years at Ephesus, Paul purposed to pass through Macedonia and Achaia, to receive the con- tributions of the Corinthians, and afterwards proceed to Jerusalem. As to the period when this Epistle was written, it is certain that it was at a time previous to Paul's arrival at Rome. On this account he begins by declaring to the disciples there, that he had a great desire to see them, and to preach to them the gospel, that he had often pur- posed this, but had hitherto always been prevented. This statement he repeats in the fifteenth chapter. It appears to be earlier in date than the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians, and those to the Hebrews and Philemon, and the second to Timothy ; for all of these were written during the Apostle's first or second imprisonment at Rome, but later than the two Epistles to the Corinthians. It is generally supposed that it was written in the year 57 of the Christian era, about twenty- four years after the resurrection of our Lord. Notwithstanding that this Epistle was written after some of the rest, it has been placed first in order among them on account of its excel- lence, and the abundance and sublimity of its contents. It contains, indeed, an abridgment of all that is taught in the Christian religion. It treats of the revelation of God in the works of nature, and in the heart of man, and exhibits the necessity and the strictness of the last judgment. It teaches the doctrine of the fall and corruption of the whole human race, of which it discovers the source and its greatness. It points out the true and right use of the law, and why God gave it to 1 2 INTRODUCTION. tlic Tsraplitos ; and also slunvs the vanity of the temporal advantages over other men which that law conferrt-d on them, and whicii they so criminally al)used. It treats of the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ, of justification, of sanctificution, of free will, and of grace, of salva- tion and of condemnation, of election and of reprobation, of the per- severance and assurance of the salvation of believers in the midst of their severest temptations, of the necessity of aftlictions, and of the admirable consolations which (Jod gives his people under them, of the calling of the (Jentiles, of the rejection of the Jews, and of their final restoration to the communion of (Jod. Paul afterwards lays down the principal rules of Christian morality, containing all that we owe to Cod, to ourselves, to our neighbors, and to our brethren in Christ, and declares the manner in which we should act in our particular em- ployments ; uniformly accompanying his precepts with just and reason- able motives to enforce their practice. The form, loo, of this Epistle, is not less admirable than its matter. Its reasoning is powerful and conclusive ; the style condensed, lively, and energetic ; the arrangement orderly and clear, strikingly exhibiting the leading doctrines as the main branches from which depend all the graces and virtues of the Christian life. The whole is pervaded by a strain of the most exalted piety, true holiness, ardent zeal, and fervent charity. This Epistle, like the greater part of those written by Paul, is di- vided into two general parts, the first of which contains the doctrine, and extends to the beginning of the twelfth chapter ; and the second, which relates to practice, goes on to the conclusion. The first is to instruct tlie spirit, and the other to direct the heart ; the one teaches what we are to believe, the other what we are to practise. In the first part, he discusses chicfiy the two great questions which at the beginning of the gospel were agitated bclAxen the Jews and the Christians, namely, that of justification before God, and that of the calling of the C entiles. For as on the one hand the gospel held forth a method of justification very different from that of the law, the Jews could not relish a doctrine which appeared to them novel, and was contrary to their prejudices ; and as, on the other hand, they found themselves in possession of the covenant of God, to the exclusion of other nations, they could not endure that the Apostles should call the Gentiles to the knowledge of the true God, and to the hope of his salvation, nor that it should be supposed that the Jews had lost their exclusive pre-emi- nence over the nations. The principal object, then, of the Apostle, was to combat these two prejudices. He directs his attention to the former in the first nine chapters, and treats of the other in the tenth and eleventh. As to what regards the second portion of the Epistle, Paul first enjoins general precepts for the conduct of believers, afterwards in regard to civil lile, and finally with regard to church communion. In the first five chapters, the great doctrine of justification by faith, of which they exclusively treat, is more fully discussed than in any other part of Scripture. The design of the Apostle is to establish two things ; the one is, that there being only two ways of justification before God, namely, that of works, which the law proposes, and that of grace INTRODUCTION. 3 by Jesus Christ, which the gospel reveals ; the first is entirely shut against men, and in order to their being saved, there remains only the last. The other thing that he designs to establish is, that justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ respects indifferently all men, both Jews and Gentiles, and that it abolishes the distinction which the law had made between them. To arrive at this he first proves that the Gentiles as well as the Jews are subject to the judgment of God ; but that being all sinners and guilty, neither the one nor the other can escape condemnation by their works. He humbles them both. He sets be- fore the Gentiles the blind ignorance and unrighteousness both of them- selves and of their philosophers of whom they boasted, and he teaches humility to the Jews by showing that they were chargeable with similar vices. He undermines in both the pride of self-merit, and teaches all to build their hopes on Jesus Christ alone ; proving that their salvation can neither emanate from their philosophy nor from their law, but from the grace of Christ Jesus. In the first chapter, the Apostle commences by directing our atten- tion to the person of the Son of God in his incarnation in time, and his divine nature from eternity, as the great subject of that gospel which he was commissioned to proclaim. After a most striking introduction, every way calculated to arrest the attention, and conciliate the affection of those whom he addressed, he briefly announces the grand truth, which he intends afterwards to establish, that " the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," because in it is revealed " the righteousness of God." Unless such a righteousness had been provided, all men must have suffered the punishment due to sin, seeing God had denounced his high displeasure against all " ungod- liness and unrighteousness.''^ These are the great truths which the Apostle immediately proceeds to unfold. And as they stand connected with every part of that salvation which God has prepared, he is led to exhibit a most animating and consolatory view of the whole plan of mercy, which proclaims " glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." The first point which the Apostle establishes is the ruined condition of men, who, being entirely divested of righteousness, are by nature all under sin. Tlie charge of '* ungodliness" and of consequent " un- righteousness," he proves first against the Gentiles. They had departed from the worship of God, although in the works of the visible creation they had sufficient notification of his power and Godhead. In their conduct they had violated the law written in their hearts, and had sinned in opposition to what they knew to be right, and to the testi- mony of their conscience in its favor. All of them, therefore, lay under the sentence of condemnation, which will be pronounced upon the workers of iniquity in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men. In the second chapter, a similar charge of transgression and guilt is established against the Jews, notwithstanding the superior ad- vantage of a written revelation, with which they had been favored. Having proved, in the first two chapters, by an appeal to undeniable facts, that the Gentiles and the Jews were both guilty before God, in 4 INTRODUCTION. the third chapter, after obviating some objections regarding the Jews, Paul takes hotli Jews and (JciUilcs togolhor, and exhibits a fearful pic- ture, drawn tVoin the testimony of the Old Testament ^Scriptures, of the universal ^uilt and depravity of all mankind, showing thai "there is none righteous, no, not one," and that all arc depraved, wicked, and alienated from God. He thus establishes it as an undeniable truth, that every man in his natural state lies under the just condemnation of (iod, as a rebel against him, in all the three ways in which he has been pleased to reveal himself, whether by the works of creation, the work of the law written on the heart, or by the revelation of grace. From these premises, he then draws the obvious and inevitable conclusion, that by obedience to law no man living shall be justified ; that so far from justifying, the law proves every one to be guilty and under con- demnation. The way is thus prepared for the grand display of the grace and mercy of God announced in the gospel, by which men are saved consistently with the honor of the law. What the law could not do, not from any deficiency in itself, but owing to the depravity of man, God has fully accomplished. Man has no righteousness of his own which he can plead, but God has provided a righteousness for him. This righteousness, infinitely sup?rior to that which he originally pos- sessed, is provided solely by grace, and received solely by faith. It is placed to the account of the believer for his justification, without the smallest respect either lo his previous or subsequent obedience. Yet so far from being contrary to the justice of (iod, this method of justifi- cation, ** freely by his grace," strikingly illustrates his justice, and vindicates all his dealings to men. 80 far from making the law void, it establishes it in all its honor and authority. This way of salvation equally applies to all, both Jews and Gentiles — men of every nation and ever)' character ; " there is no diflference," for all, without excep- tion, are sinners. The Apostle, in the fourth chapter, dwells on the faith through which the righteousness of God is received, and in obviating certain objections, further confirms and illustrates his doctrine, by showing that Abraham himself, the progenitor of the Jews, was justified not by works but by faith, and that in this way he was the father of all believers, the pattern and the type of the justification of both Jews and Gentiles. And in order to com|)lete the view of the great subject of his discussion, Paul considers, in the fifth chapter, two principal effects of justification by Jesus Christ, namely, peace with God, and assurance of salvation, not- withstanding the troubles and afflictions to which believers are exposed. And because Jesus (Christ is the author of this divine reconciliation, he compares him with Adam, who was the source of condemnation, con- cluding with a striking account of the entrance of sin and of righteous- ness, both of wiiich he had been exhibiting. He next shows the reason, why, between Adam and Jesus Christ, God caused the law of Moses to intervene, by means of wiiich the extent of the evil of sin, and the efficiency of the remedy brought in by righteousness, were both fully exhibited, to the glory of the grace of God. These five chapters dis- close a consistent scheme in the Divine conduct, and exhibit a plan of * INTRODUCTION. 6 reconciling sinners to God, that never could have been discovered by the human understanding. It is the perfection of wisdom, yet in all its features it is opposed to the vi^isdom of this world.* As the doctrine of the justification of sinners, by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, without regard to their works, which mani- fests, in all their extent, the guilt, the depravity, and the helplessness of man, in order to magnify grace in his pardon, might be charged with leading to licentiousness, Paul does not fail to state this objection, and solidly to refute it. This he does in the sixth and seventh ciiapters, in which he proves that, so far from setting aside the necessity of obedi- ence to God, the doctrine of justification stands indissolubly connected with the very foundation of holiness and obedience. This foundation is union with the Redeemer, through that faith by which the believer is justified. On the contrary, the law operates by its restraints to stimu- late and call into action the corruptions of the human heart, while at the same time it condemns all who are under its dominion. But through their union with Christ, believers are delivered from the law ; and being under grace, which produces love, they are enabled to bring forth fruit acceptable to God. The law, however, is in itself holy, and just, and good. As such, it is employed by the Spirit of God to con- vince his people of sin, to teach them the value of the remedy provided in the gospel, and to lead them to cleave unto the Lord, from a sense of the remaining corruption of their hearts. This corruption, as the Apostle shows, by a striking description of his own experience, will continue to exert its power in believers, so long as they are in the body. As a general conclusion from all that had gone before, the believer's entire freedom from condemnation through union with his glorious head, and his consequent sanctification, are both asserted in the eighth chapter, neither of which effects could have been accomplished by the law. The opposite results of death to the carnal mind, which actuated man in his natural state ; and of life to the spiritual mind, which he receives in his renovation, are clearly pointed out; and as the love of God had been shown in the fifth chapter to be so peculiarly transcendent, from the consideration that Christ died for men, not as friends and worthy objects, but as " without strength," " ungodly," " sinners," " enemies," so here the natural state of those on whom such unspeak- able blessings are bestowed is described as " enmity against God." The effects of the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit in those who are regenerated are next disclosed, together with the glorious privileges which it secures. Amidst present sufferings the highest consolations are presented to the children of God, while their original source and final issue are pointed out. The contemplation of such ineffable blessings as he had just been describing, reminds the Apostle of the mournful state of the generality of his countrymen, who, though distinguished in the highest degree by • The former editions of this Exposition were published in three separate volumes. Of the first volume, including these five chapters, the present is the fifth edition. INTRODUCTION. their external privileges, still, as he himself had once done, rejected the Messiah. And as the doctrine he had been inculcating seemed to set aside the promises which God had made to the Jewish people ; and to take from liicm the Divine covenant under which they had been placed, Paul stall's that objection and obviates it in the ninlii chapter, showing that on the one hand the promises of spiritual blessings regarded only be- lievers, who are the real Israelites, the true seed of Abraham, and on the other, that faith itself being an effect of grace, God bestows it ac- cording to his sovereign will, so tiiat the difference between believers and unbelievers is a consecjuence of his free election, of which the sole cause is his good pleasure, whicii he exercises, both in regard to the Jews and the Gentiles. Nothing, then, had frustrated the purpose of God ; and his word had taken effect so far as he had appointed. The doctrine of God's sovereignty is here fully discussed, and that very objection which is daily made, " why doth he yet find fault ?" is stated, and for ever put down. Instead of national election, the great subject in this chapter is national rejection ; and the personal election of a small remnant, without which the whole nation of Israel would have been destroyed ; so devoid of reason is the objection usually made to the doctrine of election, that it is a cruel doctrine. In the end of the ninth chapter, the Apostle is led to the consideration of the fatal error of the great body of the Jews who sought justification by works and not by faith. Mistaking the intent and the end of their law, they stumbled at this doctrine, which is the common stumbling-stone to unregenerate men. In the tenth chapter Paul resumes the same subject, and by new proofs, drawn from the Old Testament, shows that the righteousness of God which the Jews, going about to establish their own righteousness for their justification, rejected, is received solely by faith in Jesus Christ, and that the gospel regards the Gentiles as well as the Jews ; and if re- jected by the Jews it is not surprising, since this had been predicted by the prophets. The Jews thus excluded themselves from salvation, not discerning the true character of the Messiah of Israel as the end of the law, and the author of righteousness, to every believer. And yet when they reflected on the declaration of Moses, that to obtain life by the law, the perfect obedience which it demands must in every case be yielded, they might have been convinced tiiat on this ground they could not be justified ; on the contrary, by the law they were universally condemned. Tiie Apostle also exhibits the freeness of salvation through the Redeemer, and the certainty that all who accept it shall be saved. And since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, the necessity of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles is inferred and asserted. The result corresponded with the prediction. The righteousness which is by faith was received by the Gentiles, although they had not been inquiring for it ; while the Jews, who followed after the law of righteousness, had not attained to rigiiteousness. The mercies of God, as illustrated by the revelation of the right- eousness which is received by faith, was the grand subject which had occupied Paul, in the preceding part of this Epistle. He had INTRODUCTION. 7 announced at the beginning that he was " not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ; because it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth — to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." This great truth he had undertaken to demonstrate, and he had done so with all the authority and force of inspiration, by exhibiting, on the one hand, the state and character of man ; and on the other, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. In the prosecution of this subject, the Apostle had shown that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men ; and by arguments the most irresistible, and evidence that could not be gainsaid, he had brought in both Jews and Gentiles as guilty and condemned sinners, justly obnoxious to the vengeance of heaven. Had the Almighty been pleased to abandon the apostale race of Adam, as he did the angels, to perish in their sins, none could have impeached his justice, or arraigned the rigor of the Divine procedure. But in the unsearchable riches of the mercies of God, he was pleased to bring near a righteousness by which his violated law should be magnified, and a multitude whom no man can number rescued from destruction. This righteousness is revealed in the gospel — a righteousness worthy of the source from which it flows — a righteousness which shall for ever abase the pride of the creature, and bring glory to God in the highest. The mercies of God are thus dispensed in such a way as to cut off all ground for boasting on the part of those who are justified. They are, on the contrary, calculated to exalt the divine sovereignty, and to hum- ble those in the dust who are saved before him who workelh all things according to the counsel of his own will, and without giving any account of his matters, either justifies or condemns the guilty according to his supreme pleasure. In the eleventh chapter, the Apostle finishes his argument, and in a manner concludes his subject. He here resumes the doctrine of the personal election of a remnant of Israel, of which he had spoken in the ninth chapter, and affirms, in the most express terms, that it is wholly of grace, which consequently excludes as its cause every idea of work, or of merit, on the part of man. He shows that the unbelief of the Jews has not been universal, God having still reserved some of them by his gratuitous election, while as a nation he has allowed them to fall, and that this fall has been appointed in the wise providence of God to open the way for the calling of the Gentiles. But in order that the Gentiles may not triumph over that outcast nation, Paul predicts that God will one day raise it up again, and recall the whole of it to communion with himself. He vindicates God's dealings both towards Jews and Gentiles, showing that since all were guilty and justly con- demned, God was acting on a plan by which both in the choice and partial rejection, as well as in the final restoration of the Jews, the Divine glory would be manifested, while in the result, the sovereign mercies of Jehovah would shine forth conspicuous in all his dealings toward the children of men. A most consolatory view is, accordingly given of the present tendency and final issue of the dispensations of God in bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles, and in the general sal- O INTRODUCTION. vation of Israel. And tliiis also l)y the annunciation of the reception wliicli the gospel shoiilii iiieel with from the Jews, first in rejecting it for a long periini, and afterwards in einhraeing it, the doctrine of the sovereignty of him who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and hardeneth whom he will, is further displayed and established. Lost in admiration of the majesty of God as di.scovcrcd in the gospel, the Apostle prostrates himself before his Maker, while, in language of adoring wonder, he sunuuons all wiiom he addresses to unite in ascrib- ing glory to him who is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Ahnighty. From this j)oint, Paul turns to survey the practical results which naturally How fr()m the doctrine he had been illustrating. He was addressing those who were at Rome, " beloved of God, called, saints," and by the remembrance of those mercies of which, whetlier Jews or (Jentiles, they were the monuments, he besceclies them to present their bodies a living sacrifice to (J!od, whose glory is the first and tiic last end of creation. In thus demanding the entire surrender or sacri- fice of their bodies, he enforces the duty by designating it their reason- able service. Nothing can be more agreeable to the dictates of right reason, than to spend and be spent in the service of that God, whose glory is transcendent, whose power is infinite, whose justice is inviola- ble, and whose tender mercies are over all his works. On this firm foundation, the Apostle establishes the various duties to which men are called, as associated with each other in society, whether in the ordinary relations of life, or as subjects of civil government, or as members of the Ciiurch of Christ. The morality here inculcated, is tiie purest and most exalted. It presents nothing of that incongruous medley, which is discernible in the schemes of philosophy. It exhibits no traces of confusion or disorder. It places everything on its right basis, and in its proper place. It equally enjoins our duty towards God and our duty towards man ; and in this it differs from all human systems, which uniformly exclude the former or keep it in the back ground. It siiows how doctrine and practice are inseparably connected, — how the one is the motive, the source or the principle, — how tlie other is the effect ; and how both are so united that, such as is the first, so will be the last. According to our views of the character- of God, so will be our conduct. The corruption of morals, which degraded and destroyed the heathen world, was the natural result of what in- fidels have designated " their elegant mythology." The abominable characters of the heathen gods and goddesses were at once the tran- script ant! the provocatives of the abominations of their worshippers ; but wherever the true God lias been known — wherever tiie character of Jehovah has been proclaimed, tiiere a new standard of morals has been erected ; and even those by whom his salvation is rejected are in duced to counterfeit the virtues to wiiich they do not attain. True Christianity and sound morals are indissolubly linked together ; and just in proportion as men are estranged from the knowledge and service of God, so shall we find their actions stained with the corruptions of sin. Where in all the boasted moral systems of Socrates, Pialo, Ajristotle, INTRODUCTION. 9 Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, or the rest of the Greek and Roman philosophers, shall be found anything comparable to the purity and beauty of the virtues enjoined by Paul in the closing chapters of this Epistle ? Even modern writers on Ethics, when departing from the only pure standard of virtue, discover the grossest ignorance and incon- sistency. But Paul, writing without any of the aids of human wisdom, draws his precepts from the fountain of heavenly truth, and inculcates on the disciples of Jesus a code of duties, which, if habitually practised by mankind, would change the world from what it is — a scene of strife, jealousy, and division — and make it what it was before the entrance of sin, a paradise fit for the Lord to visit and for man to dwell in. EXPOSITION, &C. CHAPTER I. PART I. ROMANS I., 1-15. This chapter consists of three parts. In the first fifteen verses, which form a general preface to the whole epistle, Paul, after announcing his office and commission, declares the majesty and power of Him by whom he was appointed, who is at once the Author and subject of the gospel. He then characterizes those to whom he writes, and states his longing desire to visit them, for the purpose of confirming their faith. The second part of the chapter, comprising only the 16th and 17th verses, embraces the substance of the grand truths which were about to be discussed. In the remainder of the chapter, the Apostle, at once entering on the doctrine thus briefly but strikingly asseited, shows that the Gentiles were immersed in corruption and guilt, and consequently subjected to condemnation. . V. 1.— Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Conformably to the practice of antiquity, Paul commences his Epis- tle by prefixing his name, title, and designation. He had, as was usual among his countrymen, two names ; by the first as a Jew, he was known in his own land ; by the second among the Gentiles. Formerly his name was Saul, but after the occurrence related of him, Acts xiii., 9, he was called Paul. Paul was of unmingled Jewish descent, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but educated at Jerusalem ; a Pharisee by profession, and distinguished among the disciples of Gamaliel, one of the most celebrated teachers of his age and nation. Before his conver- sion, he was an ardent and bigoted supporter of the traditions of his fathers, violently opposed to the humbling doctrines of Christianity, and a cruel persecutor of the church. From the period of his miracu- lous conversion — from the hour when Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, down to the moment when he sealed his testimony with his blood, his eventful life was devoted to the promulgation of the faith 12 ROMANS I., 1. wliich once lie destroyed. Throufrhout llie whole of his long and arduous course, he experienced a continual alternation of trials and graces, of afflictions and benedictions ; always borne down by the hand of nnan, always sustained by the hand of God. The multiplied perse- cutions he endured, furnish a remarkable example of that just retribu- tion which even believers seldom fail to experience in this world. When scourged in the synagogues of the Jews — when persecuted from city to city, or suifering from cold and hunger in the dungeons of Nero, — with what feelings must he have remembered the time, when " breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," he *' punished them oft in every synagogue," and " being ex- ceedingly mad against them, persecuted them even unto strange cities ;" or, when he was stoned at Lystra, and cast out of the city as dead, how must he have reflected on the prominent part he bore in the ston- ing of .Stej)hcn ! A servant of Jesi/s Christ. — Paul, who once verily thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, now subscribes himself his servant — literally slave. This is an ex- pression both of humility and of dignity — of humility, to signify that he was not his own, but belonged to Jesus Christ — of dignity, to show that he was accounted worthy to be his minister, as Moses and Joshua are called the ^rvanls of God. In the first sense, it is an appellation common to believers, all of whom are the slaves, or exclu- sive property of Jesus Christ, who has purchased them for himself by the right of redemption, and retains them by the power of his word and Holy Spirit. In the second view, it denotes that Jesus Christ had honored Paul by employing him in his church, and making \ise of his services in extending the interests of his kingdom. He assumes this title to distinguish himself from the ministers or servants of men, and in order to command respect for his instructions, since he writes in the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ. Called to be an Apostle, or a called Apostle. — Paul adds this second title to explain more particularly the first, and to show the rank to which he had been raised, and the employment with which he was entrusted. He was called to it by Jesus Christ himself; for no man could bestow the office of an Apostle, or receive it from the hand of man, like the other offices in the church. Called too, not merely ex- ternally as Judas, but internally and efficaciously ; and called with a vocation which conferred on him all the qualities necessary to discharge the duties of the office he was appointed to ; for the Divine calling is in this respect dilTerent from that which is merely human, inasmuch as the latter supposes those qualities to exist in the person called, while the former actually confers them. The state of Paul before his call- ing, and that in which his calling placed him, were directly opposite to each other. The office to which Paul was called, was that of an Apostle, which signifies one that is sent by another. The word in the original is sometimes translated messenger, but is specially appropriated in Scripture to those who were sent forth by Jesus Christ to preach his ROMANS I,, 1. 13 Gospel to the ends of the earth ; and this appellation was given to the twelve by himself, Luke vi., 13, and has, as to them, a more specific signification than that of being sent, or being messengers. This office was the highest in the church, distinct from all others, in which, both froin its nature and authority, the manner of its appointment, and the qualifications necessary for its discharge, those on whom it was con- ferred could have no successors. The whole system of the man of sin is built on the false assumption, that he occupies the place of one of the Apostles. On this ground he usurps a claim to infallibility, as well as the power of working miracles, and in so far he is more con- sistent than others who, classing themselves with those first ministers of the word, advance no such pretensions. As the Apostles were appointed to be the witnesses of the Lord, it was indispensably necessary that they should have seen him after his resurrection. The keys of the kingdom of heaven were committed to them exclusively. They were to promulgate its laws, which bind in heaven and on earth, proclaiming that word by which all men shall be judged at the last day. When Jesus Christ said to them, " as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," he pledged himself for the truth of their doctrine ; just as when the voice from the excellent glory proclaimed — " This is my beloved Son, hear him," the Father set his seal to whatever his Son taught. In preaching the Divine word, though not in their personal conduct, the Apostles were fully inspired, and the Holy Scriptures, as indited or sanctioned by them, are not the words of man, but the words of the Holy Ghost. The most awful anathema is accordingly annexed to the prohibition either to add to or take from the sacred record. Thus the Lord, who had appointed the Apostles not to a ministry limited or attached to a particular flock, but to one which extended generally through all places, to preach the gospel in all the world, and to regulate the churches, endowed them with an infallible Spirit which led them into all truth. They were also invested with the gift of working miracles on every necessary occasion, and of exclusively communicating that gift to others by the laying on of their hands. From all this it followed, that they were perfectly qualified to preach the everlasting gospel, and possessed full authority in the churches to deliver to them those immutable and per- manent laws to which thenceforth to the end of lime they were to be subject. The names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb are accord- ingly inscribed in the twelve foundations of the wall of the New Jeru- salem ; and all liis people are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. Every qualification of an Apostle centred in Paul, as he shows in various places. He had seen the Lord after his resurrection, 1 Cor. ix., 1. He had received his commission directly from Jesus Christ and God the Father, Gal. i., 1. He possessed the signs of an Apostle, 2 Cor. xii., 12. He had received tlie knowledge of the gospel, not through any man or by any external means, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, Gal. i., 11, 12 ; and although he was as one born out of due time, yet by the grace vouchsafed to him, he labored more 14 ROMANS I., 1. abiindnntly than all the rest. When he here designates himself a called Apostle, lie seems to refer to tiie insinuations of his enemies, who, from iiis not havinif been appointed dnrin<^ the ministry of our Lord, eonsidered him as inferior to the other Apostles. The objcrl of nearly the whole of the 2d Kpistle to the Corinthians, is to esialjlish his Apostolic authority ; in the third chapter especially, he exhibits the superiority of the ministration committed to the Apostles, over that entrusted to Moses. Thus the designation of servant, the first of the titles here assumed, denotes his general character — the second, of Apostle, his particular ollice ; and tlie term Apostle being placed at the begiiming of this Mpistle, impresses the stamj) of Divine authority on all that it contains. Separated vnto the Gospel of God. — This may regard eiliier God's eternal purpose concerning Paid, or his preordination of him to be a preacher of the gospel to which he was separated from his mother's womb, as it was said to Jeremiah, i., 5, " Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee ; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations ;" or rather it refers to the lime when (Jod revealed his Son in him, that he might preach him among the heathen, Gal. i., 16. The term separated here used, appears to allude to his having been a Pharisee before his conversion, which signifies one separated or set apart. Now, however, he was separated in a far different manner ; for then it was by human pride, now it w'as by Divine grace. Formerly he was set apart to uphold the inventions and traditions of men, but now to preach the gospel of (Jod. The gospel of God, to which Paul was separated, signifies the glad tidings of salvation which God has proclaimed. It is the super- natural revelation w"hich he has given, distinguished from the revelation of the works of nature. It denotes that revelation of mercy and salvation which excels in glorj', as distinguished from the law, which was the revelation of condemnation. It is the gospel of God, inasmuch as God is its author, its interpreter, its subject ; its author, as he has pur- posed it in his eternal decrees ; its interpreter, as he himself hath declared it to men ; its subject, because in the gospel his sovereign perfections and purposes towards men are manifested. P'or the same reasons it is also called the gospel of the grace of (lod, the gospel of peace, the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of salvation, the everlasting gospel, the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Tiiis gospel is the glad tidings from (Jod of the accomplishment of the promise of salvation that had been made to Adam. That promise had been typically represented by the institution of sacrifice, and transmitted by oral tradition, it had been solemnly proclaimed by Enoch and by Noah before the flood ; it had l)ecn more particularly announced to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ; by Moses, it was exhibited in those typical representations contained in the law, which had a shadow of good things to come. Its fulfilment was the spirit and ol)ject of the whole prophetic testimony, in the predictions concerning a new covenant, and in all that was fore- told respecting the advent of the Messiah. ROMANS I., 3. 16 V. 2. — Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures. By declaring that the gospel had been before promised, Paul tacitly repels the accusation that it was a novel doctrine. At the same time he states its divine origin as a reason vs^hy nothing new is to be admitted in religion. He further shows in what respect the Old and New Testaments differ — not as containing two religions essentially dissimilar, but as exhibiting the same grand truth predicted, prefigured, and fulfilled. The Old Testament is the promise of the New, and the New the accomplishment of the Old. The gospel had been promised by all the prophecies which foretold a New Covenant, — by those which predicted the coming of the Messiah, — by all the observances, under the law, that contained in themselves the promise of the things they prefigured — by the whole of the legal economy, that preceded the gospel, in which was displayed . the strictness of Divine justice, which in itself would have been a ministration only of condemnation, had it not been accompanied by all the revelations of grace and mercy, which were in substance and embryo the gospel itself, and consequently fore- told and prepared the way for a more perfect development. By his Prophets. — Paul here, also, repels another accusation of the Jews, namely, that the Apostles were opposed to Moses and the Prophets ; and intimates their complete agreement. He thus endeavors to secure attention and submission to his doctrine, by removing the pre- judices entertained against it, and by showing that none could reject it without rejecting the Prophets. In addition to this, he establishes the authority of the Prophets by intimating, that it was God himself who spoke by them, and consequently that their words must be received as a revelation from heaven. In the Holy Scriptures. — Here he establishes the inspiration of the Scriptures, by pronouncing them holy : and asserting that it was God himself who spoke in them ; and shows whence we are now to take the true word of God and of his Prophets, not from oral tradition, which must be uncertain and fluctuating, but from the written word, which is certain and permanent. He teaches, that we ought always to resort to the Scriptures ; for that, in religion whatever they do not contain is really novel, although it may have passed current for ages ; while all that is found there is really ancient, although it may have been lost sight of for a long period. v. 3. — Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.* The gospel of God concerns his Son. The whole of it is comprised in the knowledge of Jesus Christ ; so that whoever departs one step from him departs from the gospel. For as Jesus Christ is the Divine image of the Father, he is set before us as the real object of our faith. It is of him that the gospel of God, promised by the Prophets, treats ; *In the original the words " Jesus Christ our Lord," stand at the conclusion of verse 4th, and the words between them and " concerning his son," may be read as a paren- thesis ; but the sense remains the same. 16 ROMANS I., 3. SO that he is not simply a legislator or interpreter of die Divine will like Moses, iiiid the Prophets, and the Apostles. Had the law and the gospel been given by others than Moses and the Apostles, the essential characteristics of these two economies would have remained the same. But it is altogether different respecting Jesus Christ, who is exclusively the Aijiha and Omega of the gospel, its proper object, its beginning and its end. For it is he who founded it in his blood, and who has connuunicated to it all its virtue. On this account he himself says, " I am the way, and the truth, and the life ; no man comelh unto the Father but by me." He is the .Son of God, his own Son, the only begotten of the Father ; which proves, that he is truly and exclusively his Son, of the same nature, and equal witli the Father, and not figuratively, or in a secondary sense, as angels or men, as Israel or believers. Jesus Christ. — He was called Jesus, the Greek name of the Hebrew Joshua, signifying Jehovah that savcth ; and so called by the angel before he was born. " Thou shall call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins." Malt, i., 21. The title Christ — that is Messiah, or " Anointed,"* — being so often added in designation of his otlice, at length came into use as a part of his name. Our Lord. — This follows from his being the Son of God. The word translated Lord, comprehends the different names or titles which the Hebrews gave to God, but most usually corresponds with that of Jehovah. Where it is used as the name of God, it designates essentially the three persons of the Godhead ; but it is also applied to any one of the Divine persons. In the Acts of the Apostles, and Epistles, it generally refers to Christ ; and in these divine writings this appellation is applied to him in innumerable instances. He is called " the Lord of glory ;" " the Lord both of the dead and living ;" " the Lord of all." The name Jesus refers to his saving his people ; the designation Christ, to his being anointed for tiiat purpose ; and that of Lord, to his sovereign authority. On whatever subject Paul treats, he constantly introduces the mys- tery of Christ. In writing to the Corinthians, he says, " I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." This is a declaration, that tiie doctrine concerning Christ is the whole of religion, in which all besides is comprehended. In delivering his instructions to the saints at Corinth, respecting the incestuous person, he points out to them Jesus Christ as the Lamb that was sacrificed. Jf his subject respects the promises he has made, or the engagements • Oil was the instituted emblem of the grace of the Holy Spirit which was given to the Lord Jesus Christ without measure ; and anointing oil was the outward visible sign ol the Spirit's inward and spiritual graces. We meet with the institution, Kxodus XXX., 22, to the end. The holy ointment was to be used in consecrating the tabernacle, and all its vessels, and in setting apart certain persons for some great offices. It was unlawful to use it upon any other occasion — whosoever did so was to be cut otffrom the people. This consecrating unction was used on the tabernacle, whicii was a type of the hody of Christ, and on all the vessels of the tabernacle, to show that Christ, and everything respecting him, was under tlie sanctifying influence of the H0I3' Spirit ; and it was used to set apart the prophets, the priests and kings, because he was to sustain these offices. TIOMANS I., 3. 17 he has entered into, he draws our attention to the promises of God, which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. When he treats of the precepts to be obeyed, he regards them as connected with the know- ledge of Christ ; all duties are considered in relation to him, as the only Saviour from whom we can derive power to fulfil them, the only altar on which they can be accepted, that model according to which they are to be performed, and the motive by which those who perform them are to be actuated. He is the head that gives life to the members, the root which renders the branches fruitful. Believers are the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Jesus Christ is the end and object of their obedience, in order that the name of the Father may be glorified in the Son, and that the name of the Son may be glorified in them. Accordingly, the Scriptures speak of the commencement and the continuation of the life of believers as being derived from Christ ; of their being planted together with him ; buried and risen with him ; walking in him ; living and dying with him. The principal motives to holiness, in general, or to any particular duty, are drawn from some special view of the work of redemption, fitted to excite to the fulfilment of such obligations. The love of God in Christ is set before us in a multitude of passages, as the most powerful motive we can have to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. When we are exhorted to look not to our own things only, but also to those of others, it is because we ought to have the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, humbled himself to do such wonderful things for us. The duty of almsgiving is enforced by the consideration, that he who was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich. Forbearance to weak brethren has for its motive the death of Christ for them. If we are exhorted to forgive the offences of others, it is because God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us. The reciprocal duties of husband and wife are enforced by the consideration of the love of Christ, and the relation in which he stands to his church. The motive to chastity is, that we are members of Christ's body, and tem- ples of the Holy Ghost. In one word, the various exhortations to the particular duties of a holy life, and the motives which correspond to each of them, are all taken from different views of one grand and important object, the mystery of redemption. He, " his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness." " Ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Having referred to Jesus Christ under the title of the Son of God, the Apostle immediately subjoins a declaration concerning his person as God and man. Which was made of the seed of David. — The wisdom of God was displayed in the whole of the dispensation that related to the Messiah, who, in his human nature, was, conformably to many express predictions, to descend from David King of Israel.* He was born of a virgin of • In regard of his Divine subsistence, Jesus Christ was begotten, not made ; in regard 2 18 ROMANS I., 3. the family of Diivid, ami tlic first promise, containing his earliest name — the seed of the woman — indicated that he was in this super- natural manner to come into the world ; as also that he was to be equally related to Jews and to Gentiles. To Abraham it was afterwards promised, that the Messiah should spring from him. " In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." But as this promise was still very general, it was next limited to the tribe of Judah. " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." And to David the Lord had sworn, " of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne." Thus, as the period of his birlh approached, the promises concerning him were more particular and more restricted. The wisdom of God was pleased in this manner to designate the family in which the Messiah, as to his human nature, was to be born, that it might be one of the characteristics which should distinguish, and make him known ; as well as to confound the unbelief of those who should reject him, and deny his advent. For if he has not yet come, it was to no purpose that the prophets foretold that he should descend from a certain family, since all the genealogies of the Jews are now lost. It must, therefore, be admitted, either that these predictions, thus restricted, were given in vain, or that the Messiah must have appeared while the distinction of Jewish families still subsisted, and the royal-house of David should still be recognized. This declaration of the Apostle was calculated to have great weight with all, both Jews and Gentiles, who reverenced the Old Testament Scriptures, in convincing them that Jesus Christ was indeed the Mes- siah, the hope of Israel. God has also seen it good to exhibit in the birth of Jesus Christ that union of majesty and dignity on the one hand, and weakness and abasement on the other, which reigns through the whole of his economy on earth. For what family had there been in the world more glorious than that of David, tiie great King of Israel, most honored and beloved of God, both as a prophet and a king? And what family was more reduced or obscure when Jesus Christ was born ? This is the reason why he is represented by the prophet Isaiah as the rod out of tlic stem of Jesse, and a branch growing out of his roots, which marks a family reduced, as if nothing more remained but the roots, which scarcely ap- peared above groimd : and by the same prophet, it is also said, " He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." According to thefiesh. — The prophets had abundantly testified that the Messiah was to be truly man, as well as truly God, which was necessary, in order to accomplish the purpose of his advent. " Foras- much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death." The Apostle John declares that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Tiiis expression could not be employed respecting any mere man, as no one who was only a man, of his manhood he was not begotten, but made of the seed of David, John i., 14; Gal. iv., 4. ROMANS I., 4. 19 could come except in the flesh. Since, then, Jesus Christ might have come in some other manner, these words affirm his humanity, while at the same time they prove his pre-existence. V. 4. — And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Declared to he the Son of God. — The word here translated, *' de- clared," imports, according to the sense of the original as well as the connexion, defined or proved. The term properly signifies, to point out or to limit, as when bounds are set to a field to regulate its measure- ment. .Tesus Christ was made or became the Son of David, but he did not become, but was declared, defined, or demonstrated to be the Son of God. That Jesus Christ is not called in this place the Son of God with reference to his incarnation or resurrection merely, is evident from the fact, that his nature, as the Son of God, is here distinguished from his descent from David. This expression, the Son of God, de- finitely imports Deity, as applied to Jesus Christ. It as properly denotes participation of the Divine nature, as the contrasted expression, Son of Man, denotes participation of the human nature. As Jesus Christ is called the Son of Man in the proper sense, to assert his humanity, so, when in contrast with this he is called the Son of God, the phrase must be understood in its proper sense, as asserting his Deity. The words, indeed, are capable of a figurative application, of which there are many examples in Scripture. But one part of the contrast is not to be taken as literal, and the other as figurative ; and if the fact of a phrase being capable of figurative acceptation, incapaci- tates it from expressing its proper meaning, or renders its meaning inexplicably uncertain, no word or phrase could ever be definite. A word or phrase is never to be taken in a figurative sense, where its proper sense is suitable ; for language would be unintelligible, if it might be arbitrarily explained away as figurative. This appellation, Son of God, was indeed frequently ascribed to pious men ; but if this circumstance disqualified the phrase from bearing a literal and definite meaning, there is not a word or phrase in language that is capable of a definite meaning in its proper signification. The Apostle John says, " But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," by which he means to say who Christ is. Paul, after his conversion, " preached Christ in the synagogues." And what did he preach concerning him ? " That he was the Son of God." The great burden of Paul's doctrine, was to prove that Jesus is the Son of God ; that term, then, must definitely import his Divine nature. It is not only used definitely, but as express- ing the most important article in the Christian faith ; it is used as an epitome of the whole creed. When the Eunuch desired to be baptized, " Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." The belief, then, of the import of this term, is the substance of Chris- tianity. Faith in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, overcometh the world. " Who is lie that overcometh the world, but he that 20 ROMANS I., 4. believetli that Jesds is the Son of God ? " In the confession of Peter, Matt, xvi., 16, this phrase is employed as an epiloinc of the Christian faith. To llic (|ueslioii, " Whom say ye that I am ?" Peter rephes, *' Thou art the ('hrisl, iht; Son of tlie iivinar in their Commentaries.* The declaration in the lOlh and 17th verses, that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one thai believclh, to the Jew first, and also lo the Greek, because therein is the righteousness of God revealed, serves as the text or ground of the whole of the subsequent disquisition in this and the following nine chapters. V. IS. — For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness Here commences the third division of this chapter, where the Apos- tle enters into the discussion, to prove that all men being under the just condemnation of God, there remains for them no way of justification but that by grace, which the gospel holds out through Jesus Christ. Mr. Stuart understands this verse and the 17th as co-ordinate, and as supplying — each of them severally — a reason of the statement that Paul was not ashamed of the gospel ; but the subsequent discussion shows the utter inapplicability of verse 18th to the gospel, inasmuch as the Apostle dcvelopes^ at great length, the truth that the wrath of God is declared against tliose to whom no explicit revelation has been given. It is connected by the particle for with the preceding verse, and con- stitutes an argument in favor of the statement, that nowhere, except in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed for the justification of sinners, and marks the necessity for this purpose of that revelation. This argument is evolved at great length, and the exposition of it does not terminate till the 20th verse of the third chapter. In this long section of the Epistle, a foundation is laid for the doctrine of grace in the announcement of the doctrine of wrath ; all men are concluded under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe — that it might be shown beyond question, that if men are to be justified, it cannot be by a righteousness of their own, but by the righteousness provided l)y God, and revealed in the gospel. The A])ostle begins here by proving that the Gentiles were all guilty, and all subjected to the just judgment of (iod. The ivrath of God is revealed. — The declaration of the wrath of God is a fit preparation for the announcement of grace ; not only • On the subject of Inspiration, see the Author's work on " The Authenticity and Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures," and Dr. Carson's unanswered and unanswerable treatise on " Th«- Theories of Inspiration by the Rev Daniel Wilson (now Hishop of Calcutta), the Rev. Dr. Pye Smith, and the Rev. Dr. Dick, proved to be erroneous," and his " Refutation of Dr. Henderson's doctrine on Divine Inspiration, with a Critical Discussion on 2 Tim. iii., 16." ROMANS I., 18. 53 because wrath necessarily precedes grace in the order of nature, but because, to dispose men to resort to grace, they must be aflfected with the dread of wrath and a sense of their danger. The wrath of God denotes his vengeance, by ascribing, as is usual in Scripture, the pas- sions of men to God. Jt implies no emotion in God, but has reference to the judgment and feeling of the sinner who is punished. It is the universal voice of nature, and is also revealed in the consciences of men. It was revealed when the sentence of death was first pronounced, the earth cursed, and man driven out of the earthly paradise, and afterwards by such examples of punishment as those of the Deluge, and the destruction of the Cities of the Plain by fire from heaven, but especially by the reign of death throughout the world. It was pro- claimed in the curse of the law on every transgression, and was intimated in the institution of sacrifice, and in all the services of the Mosaic dispensation. In the eighth chapter of this Epistle, the Apostle calls the attention of believers to the fact, that the whole creation has become subject to vanity, and groaneth and travaileth together in pain. The same creation which declares that there is a God, and publishes his glory, also proves that he is the enemy of sin and the avenger of the crimes of men. So that this revelation of wrath is universal throughout the world, and none can plead ignorance of it. But, above all, the wrath of God was revealed from heaven when the Son of God came down to manifest the divine character, and when that wrath was displayed in his sufferings and death, in a manner more awful than by all the tokens God had before given of his displeasure against sin. Besides this, the future and eternal punishment of the wicked is now declared in terms more solemn and explicit than formerly. Under the new dispensation there are two revelations given from heaven, one of wrath, the other of grace. Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. — Here the Apostle proceeds to describe the awful state of the Gentiles, living under the revelation of nature, but destitute of the knowledge of the grace of God revealed in the gospel. He begins with accusing the whole heathen world, first of ungodliness, and next of unrighteousness. He proves that, so far from rendering to their Creator the love and obedience of a grateful heart, they trampled on his authority, and strove to rob him of his glory. Failing, then, in their duty towards God, and having plunged into the depths of all ungodliness, it was no wonder that their dealings with their fellow-men were characterized by all unrighteousness. The word all denotes two things ; the one is, that the wrath of God extends to the entire mass of ungodliness and unrighteousness, which reigns among men, without excepting the least part ; the other is, that ungodliness and unrighteousness had arrived at their height, and reigned among the Gentiles with such undisturbed supremacy, that there remained no soundness among them. The first charge brought under the head of ungodliness, is that of holding the truth in unrighteousness. The expression, the truth, when it stands unconnected in the New Testament, generally denotes the gospel. Here, however, it is evidently limited to the truth concerning S4 ROMANS I., 19. God, wliicli by llic works of crcjition, aiul the remains of tlic law of conscience, ami partly from tradition, was notified to the heathens. The word " hohr^ in the original, siifnifies to hold fast a thing supposed to be valuable, as well as to withhold, as it is rendered 2 Thess. ii., 6, and to restrain or suppress. The latter is the meaning here. The heathens did not hold fast the truth, but they suppressed or restrained what they knew about God. The expression signifies they retained it as in a prison, under the weight and oppression of their iniquities. But besides this general accusation, the Apostle appears particularly to have had reference to the chief men among the l\'igans, whom they called philosophers, and who professed themselves wise. The declara- tion that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in mirighteousness, attacked directly the principle which they universally lield to be tnie, namely, that God could not be angry with any man. Almost all of them believed the truth of the Divine unity which they comnuuiicated to those who were initiated into their mysteries. But all of ihcm, at the same time, held it as a maxim, and enjoined it as a precept on their disciples, that nothing should be changed in the popu- lar worship of their country, to which, without a single exception, they conformed, although it consisted of the most absurd and wicked idola- trous rites, in honor of a multitude of gods of the most odious and abominable character. Thus they not only resisted and constantly acted in opposition to the force of the truth in their own minds, but also suppressed what they knew of it, and prevented it from being told to the people. V. 19. — Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them ; for God hath showed it unto them. The Apostle here assigns the reason of what he had just affirmed respecting the Gentiles as suppressing the truth in unrighteousness ; namely, that which may be known of God, God had manifested to them. They might have said, they did not suppress the truth in unrighteousness, for God had not declared it to them as he had done to the Jews. He had, however, sufficiently displayed in the works of creation his Almighty power, wisdom, and goodness, and other of his divine attributes, so as to render them without excuse in their ungodli- ness and unrighteousness. That luhich may be known of God. — That is to say, not absolutely, for that surpasses the capacity of the creature. — God is incomprehensible even by angels, and it is by himself alone that he can be fully and perfectly comprehended ; the finite never can comprehend the infinite. Job xi., 7, Nor do the words before us mean ail that can be known of him by a supernatural revelation, as the mystery of redemption, that of the Trinity, and various other doctrines, for it is only the Spirit of God who has manifested these things by his word. It is on this account that David says, " He showed his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation ; and as for his judgments, they have not known them." Ps. cxlvii., 19. But ROMANS I., 20. < ^S5 what may be known of God by the works of creation he has not con- cealed from men. Is manifest in them, or rather to them. — This respects the clearness of the evidence of the object in itself, for it is not an obscure or ambi- guous revelation ; it is a manifestation which renders the thing certain. It is made to them ; for the Apostle is referring here only to the external object, as appears by the following verse, and not to the actual knowledge which men had of it, of which he docs not speak till the 21st verse. For God hath showed it unto them. — He has presented it before their eyes. They all see it, though they do not draw the proper conclusion from it. In like manner he has shown himself to the world in his 8on Jesus Ciirist. " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Yet many saw him who did not recognize the Father in him. These words, " hath showed it unto them," teach us, that in the works of creation, God has manifested himself to men to be glorified by them ; and that in preserving the world after sin had entered, he has set before their eyes those great and wonderful works in which he is represented ; and they farther show that there is no one who can manifest God to man except himself, and consequently, that all we know of him must be founded on his own revelation, and not on the authority of any creature. V. 20. — For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and God- head ; so that they are without excuse. Invisible things of him. — God is invisible in himself, for he is a Spirit, elevated beyond the reach of all our senses. Being a Spirit, he is exempted from all composition of parts, so that when the Apostle here ascribes to him " invisible things " in the plural, it must not be imagined that there is not in God a perfect unity. It is only intended to mark the different attributes of Deity, which, although one in principle, are yet distinguished in their objects, so that we conceive of them as if they were many. From the creation of the world ore clearly seen. — By the works of creation, and from those of a general providence, God can be fully recognized as the Creator of heaven and earth, and thence his natural attributes may be inferred. For that which is invisible in itself has, as it were, taken a form or body to render itself visible, and visible in a manner so clear that it is easy to discover it. This visibility of the invisible perfections of God, which began at the creation, has continued ever since, and proves that the Apostle here includes with the works of creation, those of providence, in the government of the universe. Both in the one and the other, the divine perfections very admirably appear. Being understood by the things that are made. — The works of crea- tion and providence are so many signs or marks, which elevate us to the contemplation of the perfections of Him who made them, and that so directly, that in a manner these works, and these perfections of their author, are as only one and the same thing. Here the Apostle tacitly fi6 ROMANS I., 20. refutes the opinion of some of the philosophers respecting tlic eternity of tlie world; he eslahhshes the fact of its creiition, and at tlic same time teaches, contrary to the atheists, that, from the soK' contemplation of the norld, there are sutlicient jiroofs of the existence of Hod. Fi- nally, hy referring to the works of creation, he indicates the idea that ougnt to he formed of God, contrary to the false and chimerical notions of the wisest heathens respecting him. Even his eternal poioer and (iodlicad. — The Apostle here only spe- cifies God's eternal power and (uHlhead, marking iiis eternal power as the first ohject which discovers itself in the works of creation, and in the government of the world ; and afterwards denoting, hy his God- head, the other attributes essential to him as Creator. His pojoer is seen to be eternal, because it is such as could neither begin to exist, nor to be communicated. Its present exertion proves its eternal exist- ence. Such power, it is evident, could have neither a beginning nor an end. In the contemplation of the heavens and the earth, every one must be convinced that the power which called them into existence is eternal. Godhead ; — tiiis does not refer to all the divine attributes, for they are not all manifested in tlie works of creation. It refers to those which manifest God's deity. The heavens and the earth prove the deity of their author. In the revelation of the word, the grand truth is the deity of Christ ; in the light of nature the grand truth is the deity of the Creator. By his power may be understood all the attributes called relative, such as those of Creator, Preserver, Judge, Lawgiver, and others that relate to creatures ; and by his (iodhead, those that are absolute, such as his majesty, his infinity, his iminortality. So that they are tvilhout excuse. — The words in the original may either jefer to the end intended, or to the actual result — cither to those circumstances being designed to leave men without excuse, or to the fact that they are without excuse. The latter is the interpretation adopted by our translators, and appears to be the true meaning. It cannot be said that God manifested himself in his works, in order to leave men without excuse. This was the result, not the grand end. The revelation of God l)y the light of nature the heathens neglected or misunderstood, and therefore are justly liable to condemnation. Will not tiien the world, now under the light of the supernatural revelation of grace, be much more inexcusable ? If the pcrverters of the doctrine taught by the works of creation were without excuse, will God sustain the excuses now made for the corrupters of the doctrine of the Bible V When the heathens had nothing else than the manifestation of the di- vine perfections in the works of creation and providence, there was enough to render them inexcusable, since it was their duty to make a good use of them, and the only cause of their not doing so was their perversity. From this, however, it must not be inferred that since the entrance of sin the subsistence of the world, and the proviilence which governs it, sufficiently furnish man, who is a sinner, with the knowledge of God, and the means of glorifying him in order to salvation. The Apostle here speaks only of the revelation of the natural attributes of God, which make him indeed the sovereign good to man in innocence, ROMANS I., 21. 57 but the sovereign evil to man when guiUy. The purpose of God to show mercy is not revealed but by the Spirit of God, who alone search- eth the deep things of God. 1 Cor. ii., 10. In order to this revelation, it was necessary that the Holy Spirit should have animated the Pro- phets and Apostles. It is, therefore, to be particularly observed, that while, in the next chapter, where tiie Apostle proceeds to prove that the Jews are also without excuse, he urges that the forbearance and long suffering, and goodness of God, in the revelation of grace, led them to repentance, he says nothing similar respecting the heathens. He does not assert that God, in his revelation to them, called them to repent- ance, or that he held out to them the hope of salvation, but affirms that that revelation renders them inexcusable. This clearly shows, that in the whole of the dispensation to the heathen, there was no revelation of mercy, and no accompanying Spirit of grace, as there had been to the Jews. The manifestations made by God of himself in the works of creation, together with what is declared concerning the conduct of his providence. Acts xiv., 17; and what is again said in chap. 2d of this Epistle, V. 14, 15, respecting the law written in the heart, comprise the whole of the revelation made to the heathen, after they had lost sight of the original promise to Adam of a deliverer, and the preaching of the righteousness of God by Noah ; but in these ways God had never left himself without a witness. The works of creation and pro- vidence spoke to them from without, and the law written in their heart from within. In conjunction they declared the being and sovereign authority of God, and man's accountableness to his Creator. This placed all men under a positive obligation of obedience to God. But his law thus made known, admits not of forgiveness when transgressed, and could not be the cause of justification, but of condemnation. The whole, therefore, of that revelation of God's power and Godhead, of which the Apostle speaks in this discourse, he regards as the founda- tion of the just condemnation of men, in order afterwards to infer from it the necessity of the revelation of grace. It must not be supposed, then, that he regards it as containing in itself a revelation of grace in any manner whatever, for this is an idea opposed to the whole train of his reflections. But how, then, it may be said, are men rendered inex- cusable ? They are inexcusable, because their natural corruption is thus discovered, for they are convicted of being sinners, and conse- quently alienated from communion with God, and subjected to con- demnation, which is thus shown to be just. V. 21. — Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Knew God. — Besides the manifestation of God in the works of cre- ation, the heathens had still some internal lights, some principles and natural notions, which are spoken of, chap, ii., 12, 15, from which they had, in a measure, the knowledge of the existence and authority of God. There may be here, besides, a reference to the knowledge of God which he communicated in the first promise after the Fall, and 68 noMANs I., 21. ayaiii after the Flood, but which, not liking to retain God in their knowleilife, and being " haters of (iod," mankind had lost. Elsewhere, Paul says, that the (Jentiles were without God in the world, Eph. ii., 12; yet here he says they knew God. On this it may be observed, that they had very confused ideas of the (iodhead, but that they fur- ther rurrupled ihein by an almost infinite number of errors. Respect- ing their general notions of deity, these represented the true God ; but respeeting their erroneous notions, these only represented the phantoms of their imagination. In this way they knew (Jod, yet nevertheless tlu'v were without (iod. They knew his exislej^ce and some of his perfections, but they had so entirely bewildered their minds, and added so many errors to the truth, that they were in reality living without God. They might be said to know God when they confessed him as the Creator of the world, and had some conception of his unity, wis- dom, and power. The Apostle may particularly refer to the wise men among the heathens, but the same truth applies to all. They all knew more than they practised, and the most ignorant might have discovered God in his wurks, had not ennnty against him reigned in their hearts. But when Paul says, Eph. ii., 12, that they were without God, he has respect to their worship and their practice. For all their superstitions were exclusively those of impiety, which could only serve to alienate them from the love and the conununion of the true God. They were, therefore, in reality, without God in the world, inasmuch as they set up devils, whom, under the name of gods, they served with the most abominable riles. They glorified Jiirn not as God. — Paul here marks what ought to be the true and just knowledge of God, namely, that knowledge which leads men to serve and worship him in a manner agreeable to his sovereign will, and worthy of his holy character. To glorify God signifies to ac- knowledge and worship him with ascriptions of praise, because of his glorious attributes. Now the heathens, though in their speculations they might speak of God in a certain way consistent with some of his attributes, as his unity, spirituality, power, wisdom, and goodness, yet never reduced this to practice. The objects of their professed worship were either the works of (iod, or idols. To these they gave the glory that belonged to (Jod ; — to these they fell and expressed gratitude for the b'cssings which God bestowed on them. God left them not with- out a witness of his existence and goodness, in that he gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons ; but the glory for these things, and for all other blessings, they rendered to the objects of their false wor- ship. It appears also that the Apostle had in view the fact tiiat the philosophers in their sciiools entertained some proper ideas of God, but in their worship conformed to the popular errors. Men often justify their neglect of God by alleging that he has no need of their service, and that it cannot be profitable to him ; but we here see that he is to be glorified for his perfections, and thanked for his blessings. Neither were thankful. — We should constantly remember that God is the source of all that we are, and of all that we possess. From this it follows that he ought to be our last end. Consequently one of the ROMANS I., 22. 59 principal parts of our worship is to acknowledge our dependence, and to magnify him in all things by consecrating ourselves to his service. The opposite of this is what is meant by tlie expression, " neither were thankful," and this is what the heathens were not, for they as- cribed one part of what they possessed to the stars, another part to fortune, and another to their own wisdom. But became vain in their imaginations, or rather in their reasonings, that is, speculations. — Paul calls all their philosophy reasonings, be- cause they related to words and notions, divested of use or efficacy. Some apply this expression, " became vain in their reasonings," to the attempts of the heathen philosophers to explore, in a physical sense, the things which the poets ascribed to the gods. Dr. Macknight sup- poses that the object of the wise men was to show that the religion of the vulgar, though untrue, was the fittest for tliem. Many explanations, equally fanciful, have been given of these words. The language jtself, in connection with the writings of the wise men to whom the Apostle refers, leaves no good reason to doubt that he speaks of those specula- tions of the Grecian philosophers, in w^hich lliey have manifested the most profound subtilty, and the most extravagant folly. Their reason- ings diverged very far from that truth which they might have discovered by the contemplation of the works of creation, and besides, produced nothing for the glory of God, in wliich they ought to have issued. In fact, all their reasonings were to no purpose, so far as regarded their sanctification,-or the peace of their conscience. The whole of what the Apostle here says, aptly describes, and will equally apply to vain specu- lations of modern times. It suits not only modern schools of philosophy, but also some of theology ; not only t!ie vain interpretations of Neolo- gians, but of all who explain away the distinguishing doctrines of revela- tion. Without being carried away with the learning and research of such persons, every one who loves the Scriptures and the souls of men, should lift up his voice against such degradations of the oracles of God. Their foolish heart was darkened. — " Imprudent heart," as Dr. Macknight translates this, comes not up to the amount of the phrase. It designates the heart, or understanding, as void of spiritual discernment and wisdom — unintelligent in divine tlnngs, though subtle and perspica- cious as to the things of the world. Their speculations, instead of leading them to the truth, or nearer to God, were the means of darkening their minds, and blinding them still more than they were naturally. The Apostle here marks two evils, the one that they were destitute of the knowledge of the truth, and the other, that they were filled with error, for here their darkness does not simply signify ignorance, but a know- ledge false and depraved. These two things are joined together. V. 22. — Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. It appears that, by the term wise, the Apostle intended to point out the philosophers, that is to say, in general, those wlio were most es- teemed for their knowledge, like those among the Greeks who were celebrated by the titles eitiier of wise men or philosophers. To the two 60 ROMANS I., 23. evils remarked in the foregoinf^ verse, of llicir foolishness and their darkness, Pavd here adds a third — that with all this they helicvcd tluMUstdvcs to be wise. This is tlhc greatest uiihappiness of man, not only not to feel his malady, hut to extract matUr of pride from what ought to be his shame. What they esteemed their wisdom, was truly their folly. All their knowledge, for which lliey valued themselves, was of no avail in promoting virtue or happiness. Their superstitions were in themselves absurd, and instead of worshipping God, they ac- tually insulted hiiTi in their j)rofessed religious observances. How won- derfully was all this exhibited in the sages of (jreccc and Rome, who rushed headlong into the boundless extravagances of scepticism, doubt- inn or denying what was evident to common sense ! How strikingly is tiiis also verified in many modern philosoplicrs ! So far were the heathen philosophers from wisdom, that they made no approach towards the discovery of the true character cither of the justice or mercy of God, while with respect to the harmony of these attri- butes, in relation to man, they had not the remotest conception. The idea of a plan to save sinners, which, instead of violating the law of God, and lowering his character as the moral governor of the world, magni- fies the law, and makes it honorable, giving full satisfaction to his justice, and commensurate with his holiness, is as far beyond the con- ception of man, as to create the world was beyond his power. It is an idea that could not have suggested itself to any finite intellect. Want of knowledge of the justice of God gave occasion to the mani- festation of human ignorance. All the ancient philosophers considered that consummate virlue and happiness were attainable by man's own efforts, and some of them carried this to such an extravagant pitch, that they taught that the wise man's virtue and happiness were independent of (Jod. Such was the insanity of their wisdom, that they boasted that their wise man had in some respects the advantage of Jupiter himself, because his virtue was not only independent, or his own property, but was voluntary, whereas that of the divinity was necessary. Their wise man could maintain his happiness, not only independent of man, and in the midst of external evils, but also in defiance of God himself. No power, either human or divine, could deprive the sage of his virtue or happinees. How well does all this prove and illustrate the declara- tion of the Apostle, that professing themselves to be wise, they became fools ! V. 23. — And chapged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasta, and creeping things. Here Paul produces a proof of the excess of the folly of those who pro- fessed themselves to be wise. Their ideas of God were embodied in images of men, and even of birds and beasts, and the meanest reptiles. Changed the glory of the incorruptible God, — that is, the ideas of his spirituality, his immateriality, his infinity, his eternity, and his majesty, which are his glory, and distinguish him from all creatures. All these are included in the term incorruptible ; and as the Apostle supposes thea to be needful to the right conception of God, he teaches that these ROMANS I., 24, 61 are all debased and destroyed in the mind of man when the Creator is represented under human or other bodily resemblances. For these lead to conceptions of God as material, circumscribed, and corruptible, and cause men to attribute to him the meanness of tiie creature, thus eclips- ing his glory, and changing it into ignommy, Tlie glory of God, then, refers to his attributes, which distinguish him from tlie idols wliich the heathens worshipped. In verse 25, it is called the truth of God, be- cause it essentially belongs to the Divine character. Both expressions embrace the same attributes, but under different aspects. In the one expression these attributes are considered as constituting the divine glory ; in the other, as essential to his being, and distinguishing, him from the false gods of the heathen. It is impossible to conceive of anything more deplorably absurd, farther removed from every semblance of wisdom, or more degrading in itself and dishonoring to God, than the idolatrous worship of the iiea- thens ; yet among them it was universal. The debasing images to which the Apostle here refers, were worshipped and feared by the whole body of the people, and not even one among all their philoso- phers, orators, magistrates, sages, statesmen, or poets, had discernment sufficient to detect the enormity of this wickedness, or honesty enough to reclaim against it. On the contrary, every one of them conformed to what the Apostle Peter calls "abominable idolatries." It is to no purpose to say that the Heathens did not believe that their images which they set up, were gods, but only resemblances, for the Apostle condemns them under the character of resemblances or like- nesses. Nor is it to any purpose to affirm that those resemblances were only aids to assist the weakness of the human mind, for he also shows tliat those pretended aids were hurtful and not beneficial, because they corrupted the holy and reverential notions we ought to entertain of the Deity. Neither does it avail to say that they did not serve their images as God, but that the adoration they rendered was to God ; since the medium itself derogates from his glory. Nor will it do to profess that by those images they did not intend to express the essence, but only the perfections or attributes of God, and that they were rather emblems than images. The Heathens said all this, and the Roman Catholics now say the same : but they are not on this account the less condemned by the Apostle. V. 24. — Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Wherefore God also gave them up. — The impurities into whicxi the Gentiles were plunged, sprang from their own corrupt hearts. We must therefore distinguish between their abandonment by God, and the awful effects of that abandonment. The abandonment proceeded from divine justice, but the effect from the corruption of man, in which God had no part. The abandonment is a negative act of God, or ratiier a negation of acting, of which God is absolutely master, since, being under no obligation to confer grace on any man, he is free to withhold it as he sees good ; so that in this withholding there is no injustice. 62 ROMANS I,, 25. But besides Uiis, it is a nervation of acting which men have deserved by their previous sins, and ci)ns(M|uently proceeds from liis justice, and is in this view to he considered as a punishment. Sin is indeed the consecpience of this ahaiuloiuuent, Init the oidy cause of it is Iniman perversity. CJod's <^irini( tlirm vn, ihiin, does not signify any positive act, but ilenotes his not hoKhng lliem in checli by tliosc restraints by means of which lie usually maintains a certain degree of order and ap- pearance of moral rectitude among sinners. God did not, however, totally withdraw those restraints, by which his Providence rules the world in the midst of its corruption ; for if he had done so, it would have been impossible that society could have subsisted, or the succes- sion of generations continued. (Jod, for these ends, still preserved among them some common rectitude, and certain bonds of humanity. But in other respects, so far as concerned the impurities to which the Apostle here refers, he relaxed his restraints on the fury of their pas- sions, as a corresponding punishment for their idolatries. Thus was his justice manifested in giving up those who had dishonored him to dishonor themselves, in a manner the most degrading and revolting. V. 2^i. — Who chant?cd the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. By changing the (ruth of God, referring to the attributes essential to his being, is here meant the changing of the just and legitimate notions which ought to be formed of him, not only in contemplation, but chiefly in practice. The He in the same way principally refers to practice, not consisting only in speculative errors, but in perversity of action in superstitions and idolatries. Tiie heathens changed the truth of God, that is, the true idea of (Jod exhibited in the works of creation, into the false representations made of him in their superstitious idol- atries. Thus departing from the true God, and receiving false gods in his stead, they worshipped the creature more, or rather than, the Crea- tor. They pretended, indeed, that they did not forsake the Creator, while they served numerous divinities. They acknowledged that these were inferior to the sovereign God, whom they called the Father of gods and men. But whenever religious worship is offered to the crea- ture in any manner whatever, it is forsaking (Jod, whose will it is not only that his creatures shoidd serve him, but that they should serve him alone, on which account he calls himself a jealous God. The idolatry of the Pagans was in reality, according to the view here given by the Apostle, a total abandonment of the worship of God. Who is blessed for ever. Amen. — This expression is here used by the Apostle for the purpose of inflicting a greater stigma on idolatry, denoting that we ought to honor and adore (iod alone, and are not per- mitted to take away from him even the smallest ray of his glory. It is an expression that was almost in perpetual use among the Jews, and is still frequently found in their writings when they speak of (iod. It de- notes that we should never speak of God but with profound respect, and that this respect ought to be accompanied with praise and thanksgiving. In particular, it condemns idolatry, and signifies that God alone is ROMANS I., 28. 63 worthy to be eternally served and adored. The word " Amen" is here not only an affirmation, or an approval ; it is also an inspiration of pious feeling, and a token of regard for the honor of God. V. 2G. — For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections : for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. V. 27. — And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust one toward another ; men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. The Apostle having awfully depicted the magnitude of Pagan wick- edness, and having shown that their ungodliness in abandoning the worship of the true God was the reason why they had been abandoned to their lusts, here descends into particulars, for the purpose of showing to what horrible excesses God had permitted them to proceed. This was necessary, to prove how odious in the sight of God is the crime of idolatry. Its recompense was this fearful abandonment. It was also necessary, in order to give a just idea of human corruption, as evinced in its monstrous enormities when allowed to take its course, and also in order to exhibit to believers a living proof of the depth of the evil from which God had delivered them ; and, finally, to prove the falsity of the Pagan religion, since, so far from preventing such excesses, it even in- cited and conducted men to their commission. Receiving in themselves that recompense. — As the impiety of the Pagans respecting God reached even to madness, it was also just that God should permit their corruption to recoil upon themselves, and pro- ceed also to madness. It was just that they who had done what they could to cover the Godhead with reproaches, should likewise cover themselves with infamy, and thus receive a proportionate and retributive recompense. V. 28. — And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. The Apostle shows here how justly the Pagan idolators were aban- doned, since they had so far departed from the right knowledge of God. In the 18th verse, he had declared that the wrath of God was revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. He had now conclusively established the first charge of ungodliness against the Gentiles, adding to it their consequent abandonment to the vilest affec- tions ; he next proceeds to demonstrate their unrighteousness. And as they did not like. — This is not quite literal, yet it seems the best phrase that can be used to convey the spirit of the original. The word in the Greek signifies to prove or approve. They did not approve of retaining God in their knowledge. But this cannot mean that their approbation respected their conscience, dark as it was. They did not approve, because, as the common translation well expresses it, they did not like.* There is no just ground to conclude with Dr. Macknight that there is here a reference to the magistrates and lawgivers, who did * The words not to approve are frequently used in the sense of not liking. It is often said that a person does not approve of, i. c. does not like a person. GI ROMANS I., 29. not approve of giving the knowledge of God to the people. It applies to tliein all ; Jicither the lawgivcns, nor the peoj)le, liked to lioki in re meinhraiice a (Jod of holiness and justice. To retain (hxl in their knoivlejirr. — The common translation has here substantially given tlm spirit of the origiiuil, and is bntu-r than " holding (kkI wiih acknowledgment," as rendered liy Dr. Mackuight. The Heathens are thus said to have known God, but knowing him, they did not wish to retain that knowledge. This is a crime in the sight of God which subjects men to the most awful judgments of his justice, for it is on this account that the Apostle adds, that (Jod also gave them up to a reprobate mind. This pointedly refers to the word applied to ihem, as not approving the retaining of the knowledge of God. It denotes a minil judicially blinded, so as not to discern the dif- ference between things distinguished even by the lights of nature. Tims the dark eclipse of their understanding, concerning divine tilings, which they had despised and rejected, had been followed by another general eclipse, respecting things human, to which they had applied themselves, and in this consisted the proportion which God observed in their punishment. They did not act according to right reason and judg- ment towards God ; this is their crime : they did not act according to it among themselves in society ; this was the effect of the abandonment of God, and became their punishment. This passage clearly shows that all that remains of moral uprightness among men, is from God, who restrains and sets bounds to the force of their perversity. Not convenient. — This is a very just and literal translation, accord- ing to the meaning of the word convenient in an early stage of the history of our language ; but it does not, at present, give the exact idea. The original word signifies what is suitable to the nature of man as a rational and moral being. To do things not convenient, is a figurative expression denoting the doing of things directly contrary and opposite, namely, to the light of reason, the reflections of prudence, and the dictates of conscience. V. 29. — Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whisperers. Being filled. — This signifies that the vices here exposed were not tempered with virtues, but were alone and uncontrolled, occupying the mind and heart even to overflow'ing. Unrighteousness. — When this word in the original is taken in a limited sense, it signifies injustice. It is often used for iniquity in general, as in the 18th verse. 8ome understand it here in the latter sense, as a general word which includes all the different particulars that follow. There is no reason, however, why we should not understand it as one species of the evils which are here enumerated, and confine it to its specific meaning, viz. injustice. This was the public crime of the Romans, who l)uilt their empire on usurpation and rapine. Fornication. — Cicero speaks of fornication as unblameable, as a thing universally allowed and practised, which he had never heard was condemned, either in ancient or modern times. Here it includes all the violations of the Seventh Commandment, and ROMANS I., 30. 65 is not to be confined to the distinctive idea which the term bears in our language. Wickedness. — This refers to the general inchnation to evil that reigned among the Heathens, and made them practise and take pleasure in vicious and unprofitable actions. Covetonsness. — The original word strictly signifies taking the advantage, overreaching in a bargain, having more tiian what is just in any transaction with our neighbor. Of thi?, covetonsness is the motive. This was universal among rich and poor, and was the spring of all their actions. Maliciousness denotes a disposition to injury and revenge. Full of envy. — Tacitus remarks, that this was the usual vice of the villages, towns, and cities. Murder was familiar to them, especially with respect to their slaves, whom they caused to be put to death for the slightest ofilences. Debate, strife about words for vain glory, and not truth. Deceit was common to them all, and exemplified in their conduct and conversation, as is said, chap, iii., 13. Malignity. — Though the word in the original, when re- solved into its component parts, literally signifies bad custom or dis- position, yet it generally signifies something more specific, and is with sufficient propriety rendered malignity, whicli is a desire to hurt others without any other reason than that of doing evil to them, and finding pleasure in their sufferings. The definition of the term, as quoted from Aristotle by Dr. Macknight, seems true rather as a specification than as a definition. It " is a disposition," he says, "to take everything in the worst sense." No doubt, malevolence is mclined to this, but this is only one mode of discovering itself. Whisperers. — Dr. Macknight errs in saying that the original word signifies " those who secretly speak evil of persons when they are present." The word does not im- port that the speaker whispers, lest the person against whom he speaks, being present, should hear. The person spoken against may as well be absent. It refers to that sort of evil speaking which is communicated in secret, and not spoken in society. It is called whispering, not from the tone of voice, but from the secresy. It is common to speak of a thing being whispered, not from being communicated in a low voice, but from being privately spoken to individuals. It refers to sowing di visions. It is one of the most frequent and injurious methods of calumny, because on the one hand the whisperer escapes conviction of falseiiood, and on the other the accused has no means of repelling the secret calumny. V. 30.— Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. Backbiters. — The original word is here improperly translated back- biters. Dr Macknight equally misses the meaning of this term, which he translates " revilers," distinguishing it from whisperers, or " persons who speak evil of others to their face," giving them opprobrious lan- guage and bad names. The word indeed inchides such persons ; but it applies to evil speaking in general ; to those, in short, who take a pleasure in scandalizing their neighbors, without any reference to the presence or absence of those who are spoken against ; and it by no means designates, as he says, the giving of " opprobrious language and 5 66 ROMANS I,, 30 ^ . bad names." Such persons arc included in it, but not dcsitrnated by it. Whisperers or tattU^rs arc evil speakers, without any peculiar distinc- tion. Our translators have erred in rendering it backbiters. As Dr. Macknight has no authority to limit the word to what is spoken face to face, it is ecpially unwarrantable to confine it to what is spoken in the absence of those who arc spoken against. The word translated " whisperers," refers, according to Mr. Thohick, to a secret, and the word translated " backbiters," to an open slander. Sccresy is undoubt- edly the characteristic of the first word, but the last is not distinguished from it by contrast, as implying publicity ; on the contrary, the former class is included in the latter, though here specifically marked. Besides, though the communication of both the classes referred to may usually be slander, yet it appears that the signification is more extensive. Whisperers, as speakers of evil, may be guilty when they speak notliing but truth. Mr. Stuart has here followed Mr. Tholuck. The former lie makes a slander in secret, the latter a slander in public. It is not necessary that all such persons should be slanderers, and the evil speaking of the latter may be in private as well as in public. Haters of God. — There is no occasion, with Mr. Tholuck, to seek a reference here to " those Heathens mentioned by Cyprian, who, whenever a calamity bcfel them, used to cast the blame of it upon God, and denied a providence." Nor is it necessary to suppose, with him, that the propriety of the charge is to be found in the fact, that supersti- tion begets a hatred of the gods. The charge is applicable to the whole Heathen world, who hated God, and therefore did not like to keep him in remembrance. This was manifest throughout the world in the early introduction of polytheism and idolatry. No other cause can be assigned for the nations losing the knowledge of the true (jod. They did not like to retain him in tlieir knowledge. Had men loved God, he would have been known to them in all ages and all countries. Did not mankind receive a sufficient lesson from the Flood ? Yet such was their natural enmity to (Jod, that they were not restrained even by tlmt awful manifestation of Divine displeasure at forgetfulness of the Almighty. Although no one will acknowledge this charge to be appli- cable to himself, yet it is one which the Spirit of God, looking deeply into human nature, and penetrating the various disguises it assumes, brings home to all men in their natural state. '• The carnal mind is enmity against God." They hate his holiness, his justice, his sove- reignty, and even his mercy, in the way in which it is vouchsafed. The charge here advanced by the Apostle against the Heathens was remarkably verified, when Christianity on its first appearance among them, was so violently opposed by the philosophers and the whole body of the people, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. This melancholy fact is written in the history of the persecutions of the early Christians in characters of blood.* Despiteful. — This term does not e.xpress the • Hatred to God, and not dislike to mysteries, is remarkably verified in infidels. Hatred to God is the oris^in of Arianism and Socinianism. It is hatred to the sove- reignty of God that influences the Arminian. Hatred to God manifeata itself by an almost universal neglect of his laws. ROMANS I., 31. 67 meaning of the original. Archbishop Newcome translates it injurious ; but though this is one of the ideas contained in the word, it is essen- tially deficient. It signifies injur}'- accompanied with contumely ; inso- lence, implying insult. It always implies contempt, and usually reproach. Often, treatment violent and insulting. Mr. Stuart trans- lates it " reproachful,^^ i.e., he says, " lacerating others by slanderous, abusive, passionate declarations." But this does not come up to the meaning of the original. All this might be done without affecting to despise its object, or in any point of view to assume superiority over him — an idea always implied in the original W'Ord. Besides, the reproachful words may not be slanderous. Mr. Tholuck makes it pride towards a fellow creature ; but this designation is not sufficiently peculiar. A proud man may not insult others. This vice aims at attaching disgrace to its object ; even in the injuries it commits on the body, it designs chiefly to wound the mind. It well applies to hootings, hissings, and pcltings of a mob, in which, even when the most dignified persons are the objects of attack, there is some mixture of contempt. Proud. — Tliis word translates the original correctly, as it refers to the feeling generally, and not to any particular mode of it, which is implied in arrogance, insolence, haughtiness, to persons puffed up with a high opinion of themselves, and regarding others with contempt, as if they were unworthy of any intercourse with them. Boasters. — The term in the original designates ostentatious persons in general ; but as these usually affect more than belongs to them, it generally applies to persons who extend their pretensions to consideration beyond their just claims. Inventors of evil things. — Dr. Macknight translates this inven- tors of unlawful pleasures, and no doubt such inventions are referred to, but there is no reason to restrict it to the invention of pleasures when there are many other evil inventions. In such a case it is proper to give the expression the utmost latitude it will admit, as including all evils. Disobedient to parents. — Obedience to parents is here considered as a duty taught by the light of nature, the breach of which condemns the Heathens, who had not the Fifth Commandment written in words. It is a part of the law originally inscribed on the heart, the traces of which are still to be found in the natural love of children to their parents. When the Heathens, then, disregarded this duty, they departed from the original constitution of their nature, and disregarded the voice of God in their hearts. V. 31. — Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, impla- cable, unmerciful. Without understanding. — This well expresses the original, for although the persons so described were not destitute of understanding as to the things of this world, but as to these might be the most intelligent and enlightened, yet in a moral sense, or as respects the things of God, they were unintelligent and stupid. This agrees with the usual signification of the word, and it perfectly coincides with universal experience. All men are by nature undiscerning as to the things of God, and to this there never was an exception. Dr. Macknight entirely misses the 69 ROMANS I., 32. meaning, when lie explains it as signifying persons who are " impru- ilcnl in the inanagcinciit of affairs." The Iranslalion of Mr. Sluart, " inconsiileralc," is eqnally erroneous. Covenant breakers. — This i.s a correct Iranshilion, if covenant is understood to apply to every agree- ment or bargain referring to the common business of life, as well as solemn and important contracts between nations and individuals. With- out natural affection. — There is no occasion to seek for some particular reference in this, which has evidently its verification in many difTerent things. Dr. Macknight supposes that the Apostle has the Stoics in his eye. Be/a, and after him Mr. Stuart, suppose that it refers to the exposure of children. Mr. Tholuck, with more propriety, extends the term to filial and parental love. But still the reference is broader ; still there are more varieties comprehended in the term. Why limit to one thing what applies to many ? Even though one class should be peculiarly prominent in the reference, to confine it to this robs it of its force. IinplacahJe. — The word in the original signifies as well persons who will notcnter into league, as persons, vvhohaving entered into league, per- fidiously break it. In the former sense it signifies implacable, and designates those who are peculiarly savage. In the latter sense it refers to those wiio violate the most sacred engagements, entered into with all the solemnities of oaths and religious rites. Our translation affixes to it the first sense. But in this sense it applies to none but the rudest and most uncivilized nations, and was not generally exemplified in the Roman empire. It appears that it should rather be understood in the latter sense, as designating the common practice of nations in every age, who, without hesitation, violate treaties and break oaths sanctioned by every solemn obligation. The word above rendered covenant-breakers, designates the violators of any engagement. The word employed here signifies tiie breaker of solemn engagements, rati- fied with all the solemnities of oaths and religious ceremonies. Unmerciful. — There is no reason, like Dr. Macknight, to confine this to those who are unmerciful to the poor. Such, no doubt, are in- cluded ; but it extends to all who are without compassion. Persons need our compassion who are not in want ; they may be suffering in many ways. It applies to those who do not feel for the distresses of others, whatever may be the cause of their distresses ; and to those who inflict these distresses it peculiarly applies. V. 3'2. — Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy ot'd<'ath, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them tlial do them. Knowing the judgment of God. — Sentence or ordinance of God. This the Heathens know, from the work of the law written in their hearts. Although they had almost entirely stifled in themselves the dictates of conscience, it did not cease, in some measure, to remon- strate against the unworlhiness of their conduct, and to threaten the wrath of (Jod, which their sins deserved. They recognized it by some remains they had of right notions of the Godhead ; and by which they still understood that God was Judge of the world ; and this was con- ROMANS 1., 32. 69 firmed to them by examples of Divine vengeance which sometimes passed before their eyes. They knew it even by the false ideas of the superstition in which they were plunged, which required them to seek for expiations. That they knew it in a measure is evident by their laws, which awarded punishments to some of those vices of which they were guilty. Worthy of death. — It is difficult to determine with certainty whether death is here to be understood literally or figuratively. Mr. Stuart considers it as decided that it cannot mean literal death, because it cannot be supposed that the Heathens judged everything condemned by the Apostle to deserve capital punishment. He understands it in its figurative sense, as referring to future punishment. But an equal diffi- culty meets him here. Did the Heathens know that God had deter- mined to punish the things thus specified with death, accordmg to its figurative import — everlasting punishment? He does not take the word, then, in this sense to its full amount, but as meaning punish- ment, misery, suffering. But this is a sense which the word never bears. If it refer to future punishment, it must apply to that punish- ment in its full sense. That the Heathens judged many of the sins here enumerated worthy of death, is clear from their ordaining death as their punishment. And the Apostle does not assert that they judged them all worthy of death, but that they judged the doers of such things worthy of death. It seems quite enough, then, that those things, for the commission of which they ordained death, were such as he mentions. In this sense Archbishop Newcome understands the word, " For they themselves," he says, " punished some of their vices with death." Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.. — This is added to mark the depth of their corruption. For when men are not entirely abandoned to sin, although they allow of it in their own circumstances and practice, yet they condemn it in their general notions, and in the practice of others, because then it is not connected with their own interest and self-love. But when human corruption has arrived at its height, men not only commit sins, but approve of them in those who commit them. While "this was strictly applicable to the whole body of the people, it was chargeable in the highest degree on the leaders and philosophers, who, having more light than the others, treated in their schools some of those things as crimes of which they were not only guilty themselves, but the commission of which they encouraged by their connivance, especially in the abominable rites practised in the worship of their gods. By these. conclusive proofs, Paul substantiates his charge, in verse 18, against the whole Gentile world, first of ungodliness, and then of unrighteousness as its consequence, against which the wrath of God is revealed. It should also be observed, that as, in another place, Titus ii., 12, he divides Christian holiness into three parts, namely, sobriety, righteousness, and godliness, in the same way, in this chapter, he classes Pagan depravity under three heads. The first is their ungod- liness, namely, that they have not glorified God — that they have 70 ROMANS II. changed his glory into imaiffs iiiade like to corruptible creatures — that they have changed his truth into a lie, which is opposed to godliness. The second is intcmpvruncc. (iod has delivered them u|) to iiiiclean- ness and vile alTections, whicii are opposed to sobriety. Tlic third is unrigJitcousness, and all the other vices noted in the last verses, which are opposed to righteousness. It is impossible to add anything to the view here given of the reign of corruption among the Heathens, even the most celebrated and civil- ized, which is fully attested by their own historians. Nothing can be more horrible than this representation of their slate ; and as the picture is drawn by the Spirit of (Jod, who is acquainted not only with the outward actions, but with the secret motives of men, no Christian can suppose that it is exaggerated. The Apostle, then, had good reason to conclude in the sequel, that justification by works is impossible, and that in no other way can it be obtained but by grace. From the whole, we see how terrible to his posterity have been the consequences of the sin of the first man ; and, on tlie other hand, how glorious in the plan of redemption is the grace of God by his Son. CHAPTER II. ROMANS U., 1-29. In the preceding chapter, the Apostle had described the state of the idolatrous Pagans, whom he had proved to be under the just condem- nation of God. He now passes to that of the Jews who, while they rejected the Righteousness of God, to which the law and the Pro- phets bore witness, looked for salvation from their relation to Abraham, from their exclusive privileges as a nation, and from ihoir observance of the law. In this and the two following chapters, Paul combats these deeply-rooted prejudices, and is tlius furnished with an oppor- tunity of clearly unfolding the doctrine of the gospel, and of proving that it alone is the power of God unto salvation. In the first part of this chapter, to the 24th verse, he shows that the just judgment of God must be the same against the Jews as against the Gentiles, since the Jews arc equally siiuicrs. In the second part, from the beginning of the 25th verse to the end, lie proves, that the external advantages which the Jews had enjoyed, were insufficient to ward off this judgment. From his language at the commencement of this chapter, in respect to that judgment which the Jews were accustomed to pass on other na- tions, and to which he reverts in the 17th verse, it is evident that through the whole of it he is addressing the Jews, and not referring, as many suppose, to the Heathen philosophers or magistrates. It was not the Apostle's object to convince ihcm in particular that they were sin- ROMANS II., 1. 71 ners. Besides, neither tlie philosophers nor magistrates, nor any of the Heathens, occupied themselves in judging others respecting their religious worship and ceremonies. Such observances, as well as their moral effects on those by whom they were practised, appeared to the sages of Greece and Rome a matter of perfect indifference. The Jews, on the contrary, had learned from their law, to judge, to condemn, and to abhor all other religions ; to keep themselves at the greatest distance from those who profess them ; and to regard all idolators as under the wrath of God. The man, then, who judges others, to whom, by a fig- ure of speech, Paul addresses his discourse in the 1st verse, is the same to whom he continues to speak in the rest of the chapter, and whom he names in the 17th verse, " Behold, thou art called a Jew." V. 1. — Therefore thou art inexcusable, 0 man, whosoever thou art that judgest; for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. Therefore. — This particle introduces a conclusion, not from anything in the preceding chapter, but to establish a truth from what follows. The Apostle had proved the guilt of the Gentiles, who, since they had a revelation vouchsafed to them in the works of God, though they did not possess his word, were inexcusable. The Jews, who had his word, yet practised the same things for which the former were condemned, must, therefore, also be inexcusable. In the sequel, he specifies and unfolds the charge thus generally preferred. O man. — Tliis is a manner of address, betokening his earnestness, which Paul frequently employs, as in the ninth chapter of this Epistle. Whosoever thou art that judgest. — The Apostle here refers to the judgment which the Jews passed on the Gentiles. It is generally ex- plained as if he was finding fault with those whom he addressed, and declaring they were inexcusable, because they judged others. But this is erroneous. What he censures, is not their judging, but their doing the same things with those whom they condemned. The character of the Jews, which distinguished them from the Gentiles, was that they judged others. God had conferred on them this distinction, when he manifested his covenant to them, to the exclusion of all the other nations of the world. This character of judging, then, can belong only to the Jews, who, according to a principle of their religion, condemned the other nations of the earth, and regarded them as strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. In this manner the Jews were seated as on a tribunal, from which they pronounced judgment on all other men. Paul, then, had good reason for apostrophizing the Jew as thou that judgest. But, as there were also distinctions among the Jews themselves, and as the Priests, the Scribes, and chiefly the Pharisees, were regarded as more holy than others, he says, whosoever thou art, — thus not excepting even one of them. Thou art inexcusable. — Paul intended to bring in all men guilty be- fore God, as appears by what he says in the 19tli verse of the third chapter, " that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be- 72 ROMANS II., 1. come guilty before God." He had already proved the inexcusableness of the (I entiles, and he here proceeds to do the sanne respecting the Jews, wiioni he addresses directly, and not in a manner only implying that he refers to them, as is sui)|)osed by Professors Tiioluck and .Siuart. Mr. Siuart, especially, endeavors to show, that in the first part of this chapter, Paul does not proceed at once to address the Jews, " but first," he says, " prepares the way, by illustrating and enforcing the general proposition, that all who have a knowledge of what is richt, and approve of it, but yet sin against it, are guilty." This view oi the passage is equally erroneous with that of those who suppose"" that the Apostle is addressing the j)hilosophers and magistrates. Both these interpretations lead away from the true moaning of the several parts of the chapter, through the whole of which the address to the Jews is direct and ex- clusive. The Apostle's object w^as to conduct men to the grace of the gospel, and so to be justified in the way of pardon and acquittance. Now, in order to this, their conviction of sin, and of their ruined condition, was absolutely necessary, since they never would have recourse to mercy, if they did not feel comp'ellcd to confess themselves condemned. It is with this view that he here proceeds to strip the Jews, as he had done the (i entiles, of all excuse. For u-Jicrein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself . — Where- in, that is, in the thing in which thou condemnest another, thou con- demnest thyself. Dr. Macknight translates it whilst. But, though the words in the original thus translated often in certain situations bear this signification, here this cannot be the case. When there is nothing in the conte.vt to fix the reference, the most general substantive must be chosen. There is nothing in the context to suggest the idea of time, and thing is a more general idea. It is indeed true, that the self-con- demnation of the Jew is contemporaneous with his condemnation of the Gentile. But it is so, because this is implied i|i the very thing that is alleged, and the thing alleged is more important than the time in which it occurs. Nothing, then, is gained by thus de- viating from the common version. The translation, because that, which is suggested by Professors Tholuck and Stuart as a possible meaning, is also to be rejected. To suggest a great variety of possible meanings has the worst tendency ; instead of serving the truth, it essentially in- jures it. Besides, as has been remarked, the cause of the condem- nation of the Jew was not his judging the (ientiles. The cause of his condemnation was his doing the things which he condemned. The reasoning of the Apostle is clear and convincing. It consists of three particulars, on which the Jew had nothing to object, namely, — 1st, Thou judgest another ; 2d, Thou doest the same things ; 3d, Thou condemnest thyself, consequently thou art without excuse. Thou judgest another. — That is to say, thou boldest the Gentiles to be criminal and guilty before God, thou regardest them as people whom God has abandoned to themselves, and who therefore, being plunged in vice and sin of all kinds, are the objects of his just vengeance, 'i'his is what the Jew could not deny. I'hou doest the same things. — Tiiis the Apostle was to prove in the sequel. Thou condemnest thyself. — The ROMANS II., 2. 73 consequence is unavoidable ; for the same evidence that convicts the Gentiles in the judgment of the Jew must, if found in him, also bring him in guilty, V. 2. — But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. Paul proceeds here to preclude a thought that might present itself, and to stifle it, as it were, before its birth. It might be suggested that the judgment of God, that is, the sentence of condemnation with re- spect to transgressors, is not uniform ; that he condemns some and acquits otlicrs as it pleases him, and therefore, although the Jew does the same things as the Gentile, it does not follow that he will be held equally culpable, God having extended indulgence to the one which he has not vouchsafed to the other. The Jew, then, does not hold himself guilty when he condemns the Gentile, although he does the same things. This is the odious and perverse imagination which the Apostle here repels. We are sure, or more literally, we know. Who knows ? "Koppe," says Mr. Tholuck, " deems that there is here an allusion to the Jews, who boasted that they alone possessed the true knowledge." But this is palpably erroneous, because the Jews in general did not be- lieve the thing asserted to be known. The Apostle's object is to correct their error. Mr. Tholuck himself is still further astray when he understands it of " those apprehensions of a Divine judgment, which are spread among all mankind, to which the Apostle had alluded, v., 32." It was the Apostle himself, and those taught by the same Spirit, who knew with unfaltering assurance the thing referred to. The judgment of God, that is, sentence of condemnation — not, as Dr. Macknighl says, the curse of the law of Moses. The law of Moses and its curse are different from the sentence which God pronounces according to them. According to truth, against them which commit such things. Not truli/, this would qualify the assertion that the judgment of God is against such persons, which, as the general truth, neither the Jew nor the Gentile is supposed to question. In this sense, truly would express the same as really. Nor does it signify according to truth, as synonymous with justice, as Mr. Tholuck supposes. About the justice of the thing there is no question. If the Gentile is justly condemned for every breach of the law written on the heart, the justice of the condemnation of the transgressing Jew could not be a question. Nor, with Mr. Stuart, is it to be understood as meaning agreeably to the real state of things ; that is, according to the real character of the person judged. This is doubtless a truth, but not the truth asserted in this passage. This meaning applies to the judgment that examines and distinguishes be- tween the righteous and the wicked. But the judgment here spoken of, is the sentence of condemnation with respect to transgressors. Nor, with Dr. Macknight, are we to understand this phrase, as signify- ing " according to the true meaning of God's covenant with the Fathers of the Jewish nation." This is not expressed in the text, nor is it sug- gested by the context. The real import of this phrase will be ascertained in considering the 74 ROMANS II., 3. chief error of the Jews about this matter. While they admitted that God's law ill general condemns all its transtrrcssors, yet they hoped that, as the cliildri'ii of Ahraliam, (Jiul would in their case relax the rigor of his re(iuireinent.s. What the Apostle asserts, then, is designed to explode this error. If (iod should sentence (MMililes to condeuuiation for transgression of the work of the law written in the heart, and pass a dilferent sentence on Jews transgressing the law of Moses, his judg- ment or sentence would not be according to truth. If some transgres- sors escaped, while others were punished, the truth of the threat or penalty was destroyed. The truth of God in his threatening, or in the penalty of the breach of his law, is not affected by the deliverance of those saved by the gospel. The penalty and the precept are fulfilled in Jesus Christ the .Surety. While God pardons, he by no means clears the guilty. His people are absolved because they are righteous ; they have fulfilled the law, and suffered its penalty, in the death and obedience of Jesus Christ, with whom they are' one. The object of the Apostle, then, was to undeceive the Jews in their vain hope of es- cape, while they knew themselves to be transgressors. And it equally applies to nominal Christians. It is the most prevalent ground of hope among false professors of Christianity, that (iod will not be so strict with them as his general threatening declares, because of their relation to him as his professed people. V. 3. — And thinkest thou this, 0 man, that jud^est them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God ? Thinkest thou. — This question evidently implies that the Jews did think they would escape, while they committed the very sins for which they believed the Heathens would be condemned. This affords a key to the meaning of tlie foregoing phrase, according to tnith, which im- plies the contrary of this, namely, that all will be punished according to the truth of the threatening or penalty. Escape. — This expression imports three things ; first, that the Jew could not avoid being judged ; second, that he could not avoid being condemned ; and third, that he could not prevent the execution of the sentence that God will pronounce. We may decline the jurisdiction of men, or even, when condemned by them, escape from their hands, and elude the execution of their sen- tence, but all must stand before the judgment-scat of Christ ; all must be judged according to their works ; and all who are not written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire. We may here observe how prone men are to abuse, to their own destruction, those external advantages which God bestows on them. God had separated the Jews from the Gentiles, to manifest himself unto them, and by doing so he had exalted them above the rest of the world, to whom he had not vouchsafed the same favor. The proper and legi- timate use of this superiority would have been to distinguish them- selves from the Gentiles by a holy life. But instead of this, owing to a fatal confidence which they placed in this advantage, they committed the same sins as the Gentiles, and plunged into the same excesses. By this means, what they considered as an advantage became a snare ROMANS II., 4. 75 to them, for wlierein they judged others, they condemned themselves. We may hkewise remark how much self-love blinds and betrays men into false judgments. When all the question was respecting the Gen- tiles, the Jews judged correctly and conformably to divine justice ; but when the question is respecting themselves, although they were equal in guilt, they would not admit that they were equally the subjects of condemnation. V. 4. — Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suf- fering: not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ? Goodness. — This is the best translation of the word. Mr. Tholuck says, that it signifies love in general. But the idea expressed is more general than love. An object of goodness may be very unworthy of being an object of love. A distinction must be made between good- ness, forbearance, and long-suffering. Goodness imports the benefits which God halh bestowed on the Jews. Forbearance denotes God's bearing with them, without immediately executing vengeance — his de- laying to punish them. It signifies the toleration which he had exer- cised towards them, after extending to them his goodness, so that this term implies their ingratitude after having received the benefits which God had bestowed, notwithstanding which he had continued the course of his goodness. Long-suffering signifies the extent of that forbear- ance during many ages, denoting a degree of patience still unexhausted. Their sins were not immediately visited with the Divine displeasure, as would be the case in the government of men. The term goodness respects their first calling, which was purely gratuitous. Deut. vii., 7. Forbearance respects what had passed after their calling, when, on different occasions, the people having offended God, he had, notwith- standing, restrained his wrath, and had not consumed them. It is this that David celebrates in Psalm ciii., 10, and cvi. Long-suffering adds something more to forbearance, for it respects a long course of ingrati- tude and sins on the part of that people, and imports an extreme degree of patience on the part of God, a patience which many ages, and a vast accumulation of offences, had not exhausted. The Apostle calls all this the riches of his goodness, and long-suffering, and forbearance, to mark the greatness of their extent, their value and abundance, and to excite admiration in beholding a God all-powerful, who has no need of any of his creatures, and is infinitely exalted above them, striving for so long a period with an unrighteous, ungrateful, a rebellious and stiff- necked people, but striving with them by his goodness and patience. This language is also introduced to correct the false judgments of men on this patience of God, for they are apt, on this account, to imagine that there is no God. If, say they, God existed, he would not endure the wicked. They suppose that God does not exercise his providence in the government of the world, since he does not immediately punish their sins. To repress these impious thoughts, the Apostle holds forth this manner of God's procedure as the riches of goodness and patience, in order that the impunity which it appears that sinners enjoy, might not be attributed to any wrong principle. 76 ROMANS II., 4. Or despispst thou. — God's goodness is despised when it is not im- proved as ii means to load men to repentance, but, on the contrary, serves to harikni tliem, from the siipposiiion that (mhI entirely overlooks their sin. 'I'he Jews despised that goodness, — for the greatest con- tempt that could be shown to it was to shut the ear against its voice, and to continue in sin. This is acting as if it were imagined that the justice which lingers in its execution has no existence, and that it consists solely in empty threats. The interrogations of the Apostle in this and the preceding verse add much force to his discourse. Think- est thou, says he, that thou canst avoid the judgment of God ? By this he marks the erroncousness and folly of such a thought. Dcspisest thou the riches of his goodness ? This is added to indicate the great- ness of the crime. Not knoivhifr, — There is no necessity, with Professors Tholuck and Stuart, to translate this " not acknowledging." The thing itself the Jews did not know, and the bulk of those called Christians are equally ignorant of it. Tiic whole of the Old Testament was sufficiently clear on this point, but the Jews excluded the light it furnished. They did so by the presumptuous opinion they entertained of their own external righteousness, in which they made the essence of holiness to consist, imagining that by it they would obtain acceptance with God. They likewise did so by the confidence they placed in the promises that God had made to Abraham and his posterity, flattering themselves with the vain thought that these promises acquired for them a right of impunity in their sins. And, finally, they did so, by the gross error into which they had fallen, tiiat the sacrifices and other legal expiations were suffi- cient to procure the pardon of their sins. By reason of these delusive prejudices they remained in their stale of corruption, and did not pene- trate farliicr into the design of God, who, by lavishing on them so much goodness, loudly called them to repentance. Leadcth thee to repentance. — It has been already remarked that the Apostle said nothing like this when speaking in the first chapter respect- ing the Gentiles. He did not ascribe to God either goodness, or for- bearance, or long-suffering in regard to them. He did not say that God invited, or called, or led them to repentance. This shows, as has also been observed, that in the dispensation of Providence which re- garded them, there was no revelation of mercy. But if there was none for the Gentiles, it was otherwise with the Jews. The Old Testament contained in substance all the promises of the gospel, as well as the temporal covenant which God had made with the Jews, which was a figure and type of the spiritual covenant made in Christ, and even all the rigors of the law indirectly conducted the Jews to the grace of God, and conse([uently called them to repentance. This call was all along accompanied among some of them by the Spirit of sanctification, as appears by the example of the Prophets and others. But with respect to the greater number, it remained unaccompanied with that Spirit, and consequently continued to be merely an external calling, without any saving effect. The Apostle, in the following verse, declares that the Jews by their impenitence drew down upon themselves the just anger ROMANS II., 5. T7 of God. From this it evidently follows, that God externally calls many to whom he has not purposed to give the grace of conversion. It also follows, that it cannot be said that when God thus externally calls per- sons on whom it is not his purpose to bestow grace, his object is only to render them inexcusable. For if that were the case, the Apostle would not have spoken of the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, terms which would not be applicable, if, by such a call, it was intended merely to render men inexcusable. V. 5. — But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The Apostle here intimates, that the contempt which the Jews had evinced of the divine caUing could not remain unpunished. Thy hard- ness.— Tiiis is a figurative expression, and strongly expresses the natural obduracy and insensibility of their hearts with respect to God, as impenetrable by the strongest external force. Nothing but the power of the Spirit of God can overcome it. It is the term which Moses often employs to express the obstinacy of Pharaoh. He also employs it to mark the corruption of the Israelites, and in general the Prophets use it to signify the inflexible perversity of sinners. It is in this sense that Ezekiel attributes to man a heart of stone — a heart which does not feel, and which nothing in man himself can soften. These passages, and many similar ones, denote an inclination to wick- edness so strong and so rooted, that it has entire possession of the man and of all the powers of the soul, without his being able to undeceive himself, and to turn to God. It is this also which is marked by the expression impenitent heart, for it does not refer merely to the act of impenitence, and to the heart being in that state at present, but to the fact of its being so enslaved to sin, that it never would or could repent. Dr. Macknight, while he admits that the word literally signi- fies, "cannot repent," most erroneously adds, " here it signifies, which does not repent." The greatness of this obduracy was made manifest by the number and force of the external invitations which God had employed to lead the Jews to repentance, and which the Apostle calls his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering ; for these invitations refer to the frequent and earnest exhortations of his word, his temporal favors, the afflictions and the chastisements he had sent, and all his other dispensations towards the Jewish people, respecting which it is said, " What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it ?" Is. v., 4 ; and again, " I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people." Is. Ixv., 2. When men remain inflexible under such calls, it is the indication of an awful obduracy, of a heart steeled and shut up in impenitence. Such was the state of the Jews. This passage is explicit in opposition to all who suppose that God employs nothing for men's conversion but the efficacy of his word, accompanied with other circumstances calculated to make an impression on their minds. Without the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit, these will always prove ineffectual. Thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath. — This is a strong expression, 78 ROMANS II., 5. aiul :i l)oautiful figure. It proves lliat sins will be punished according to tlitMr arcuiiiulation. A man is rich according to his treasures. The wicked wil! he punished accurchng to the number anil aggravation of liicir sins. Dr. ]\IarUnight makes the whole beauty and energy of the expression to evaporate, when he explains it as comprehending the thing referred to by an Hel)raislic extension of meaning. There are two treasures which Paul opposes to each other, that of goodness, of forbearance, and long-sulfering, and that of wrath ; and the one may be compared to the other. The one provides and amasses blessings for the creature, the other punishments. The one invites to heaven, the other precipitates to hell ; the one looks on sin to pardon it on repentance, the oilier regards obstinate continuance to jnuiish it, and avenge favors that arc despised. God alone prepares the first ; but man himself the second, and on this account the Apostle says, " thou treasuresl up unto thyself wrath." lie had just before ascribed to the Jew a hard and impenitent heart, expressions which, as we have seen, si'nufv an entire and settled inclination to evil, a corruption which nothing in man can overcome. He adds, that by this means he trea- sures up wratli. This is very far then from countenancing the opinion of those who say, that if men were absolutely and entirely unable to convert themselves, they would be excusable, and that God could not justly require of them repentance. Such is not the doctrine of the Apo.stle Paul, which, on the contrary, teaches that the more a man is hardened in crime, the more he becomes an object of divine justice and wrath. The reason is, that this want of power has its seat in the will itself, and in the heart, and that it consists, in an extreme degree, of wickedness and perversity, for which there can be no excuse. Against the day of ivrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. — That is, the day of the last judgment, which is called the day of wratli, because then the wratli of God will display itself upon the wicked without measure. Till that day the judgments of heavenly justice remain as it were concealed and covered under the veil of divine patience ; and till then the sins of men are treasured up as in a heap, and punishment is awaiting them. But on that rlay, the coming of which is plainly declared in the Scriptures, but which will then be actually revealed, a deluge of wrath will descend upon the wicked. It is called the day of the righteous judgment of God, namely, of the display of his strict justice, for judgment will then be laid to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies; and the waters shaU overflow the hiding-place. It will, therefore, be the day of the cxecu- ion of the justice of God, for it is in its execution that it will be fully made manifest. When the Apostle speaks here of the day of wrath and of God's right- eous judgment, he refers to the judgment of those who are under the law. There is no judgment of (iod which is not according to strict justice; there is none tiiat is a judgment of mercy. Mercy and justice are irreconcilable except in Christ, in whom mercy is exercised consistently with justice. There is no judgment that admits repentance and amend- ment of life as satisfactory to justice. Repentance and amendment are ROMANS II., 6. 79 not admitted to stand in the room of righteousness. It is a truth to which there is no exception, either with respect to God or man, that rigiiteous judgment admits no mercy. The acquittal of the bchever in that day will he as just as the condemnation of the sinner. It will be the day in which God, by Jesus Christ, will judge the world in righteousness according to the strict rules of justice. Acts xvii., 31, in which none will be acquitted except those whom the Lord, in his representation of the judgment, calls the " righteous," Matt, xxv., 37-46, and he calls them righteous because they are really so in Christ Jesus, But the judgment to which the Apostle here refers, which he characterizes as the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judg- ment of God, is that of the execution of unmingled wrath upon the wicked. He is not speaking of believers who are in Christ, but of those who are under the law, before which nothing but perfect and per- sonal conformity to all its commands can subsist ; " for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse : for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." All the sins of such persons will be punished, but especially those of obstinacy and contempt which shall have been shown towards the goodness and patience of God ; for what the Apostle is here aiming at, is to convince the Jews that it is to that judgment those will be remitted who reject the grace manifested to them. V. 6. — Who will render to every man according to his deeds. God, as the sovereign judge of men, receives from them their good and evil actions. These he takes from their hands, so to speak, such as they are, and places them to their account, whether they are to his glory or dishonor. Sinners do not calculate upon this righteous proce- dure. They commit sin without thinking of God, and without consi- dering that he remembers all their actions. There is, however, an invisible hand which is treasuring up all that a man thinks, all that he says, and all that he does ; not the least part is lost ; all is laid up in the treasury of justice. Then, after God has thus received all, he will also restore all ; he will cause to descend again upon men what they have made to ascend to him. To every man. — The judgment will be particular to every individual ; every one will have to answer for him- self. This judgment of those who are under the law will not receive either an imputation of good or of bad works of one to another, as the judgment of those who are under grace receives for them the merits of Jesus Christ ; but every one of the former shall answer for his own proper works. According to his deeds. — That is to say, either according to his righteousness, if any were found in himself righteous, which will not be the case, for all men are sinners, but it will be according to the judgment to require righteousness ; or it will be according to his sins ; in one word according as every one shall be found either righteous or unrighteous. This signifies also that there will be a diversity ol pun- ishment, according to the number or greatness of the sins of each indi- 80 ROMANS II., 7. vidual, not only as to the nature, but also the degree of their works, good or bad, for ihc punishnirnt of all will be equal. Matt, xi., 22, 24 ; Luke xii., 47, 48. Tiu'rc will not, however, as the Pharisees iniai^iiu'd, and as many nominal Clirislians suppose, he two accounts for each person, the one of his r^ood works, the other of his sins, the juiliimcnt being favorable or unfavorable to him, according as the one or the t)ther predominates ; for there will be no balancing of this sort.* " According to his deeds" means, that in the judgment, God will have no regard either to descent or to birth, either to the dignity or the quality of the person, or whether he were Jew or (ientile, as to the privileges he enjoyed, or any such ihinir, which might counteract justice, or turn it from its course ; but that it will regard solely the works of each individual, and that their deeds will comprehend everything that is either obedience or disobedience to the law of God. The judgment of the great day will be to all men according to their works. The works of those who shall be condemned will be the evidence that they are wicked. The works of believers will not be appealed to as the cause of their acquittal, but as the evidence of their union with Christ, on account of which they will be pronounced righteous, for in them the law has been fulfdlcd in their Divine Surety. V. 7.— To them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life. Patient continuance in well-doing. — This well expresses the sense of the original. It signifies perseverance in something arduous. It is not mere continuance, but continuance in doing or suffering something that tries patience. The word is used to signify perseverance, pa- tience, endurance — a perseverance with resistance to all that opposes, namely, to all temptations, all snares, all persecutions, and, in general, to all that could discourage or divert from it, in however small a degree. It is not meant that any man can produce such a perseverance in good works, for there is only one, Jesus Christ, who can glory in having wrought out a perfect righteousness. He alone is holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. But here the Apostle only de- clares what the Divine Judgment will demand according to the law, to which the Jews were adhering for justification before God, and reject- ing that righteousness which he has provided in the gospel. He marks what the law will require for tiie justification of man, in order to con- clude from it, as he does in the sequel, that none can be justified in this way, because all arc guilty. This shows how ignorantly the Church of Rome seeks to draw from this passage a proof of the merit of works, and of justification by works, since it teaches a doctrine the very con- trary ; for all that the Apostle says in this chapter is intended to show the necessity of another mode of justification than that of the law, namely, by grace, which the gospel sets before us through faith in Jesus" Christ, according to which God pardons sins, as the Apostle •This most erroneous sentiment, in direct opposition to the word of God, is main- tained by Dr. Macknight. See his note on verse 3d of chapter iv., afterwards quoted. ROMANS II., 7. 81 afterwards shows in the third chapter. To pretend, tlien, to estabhsh justification by works, and the merit of works, by what is said here, is directly to oppose the meaning and reasoning of the Apostle. Seek for glory, and honor, arid imiriortality. — Glory signifies a state brilliant and illustrious, and honor, the approbation and praise of God, which, with immortality, designate the blessings of eternal life. These God would, without doubt, confer in consequence of perseverance in good works, but which cannot be obtained by the law. Here we see a condenuiation of that opinion which teaches, that a man should have no motive in what he does in the service of God but the love of God. The love of God, indeed, must be the predominant motive, and without it no action is morally good. But it is not the only motive. The Scriptures everywhere address men's hopes and fears, and avail them- selves of every motive that has a tendency to influence the human heart. The principles of human nature have God for their author, and are all originally right. Sin has given them a wrong direction. Of the expressions glory and honor. Dr. Macknight gives the following ex- planations : — " Glory is the good fame which commonly attends virtu- ous actions, but honor is the respect paid to the virtuous person him- self by those who have intercourse with him." According to this interpretation, those who are seeking for immortality and eternal life are seeking for the favor and respect of men ! Eternal life. — The Apostle does not say that God will render salva- tion, but " eternal life." The truth declared in this verse, and in those that follow, is the same as that exhibited by our Lord when the rich young man asked him, " What good thing shall I do that I may inhe- rit eternal life ?" His reply was, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," Matt, xix., 16 ; and when the lawyer, tempting him, said, " Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ? " Jesus answered, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all tliy soul, and with all th}^ strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." Luke x., 25. Thcj, verse before us, then, which declares that eternal life shall be awarded to those who seek it hy patient continuance in well-doing, and who, according to the 10th verse, work good, both of which announce the full demand of the law, are of the same import with the 1 3th verse, which aflirms that the doers of the law shall he justified. In all these verses the Apostle is refer- ring to the law, and not, as it is generally understood, to the gospel. It would have been obviously calculated to mislead the Jews, with whom Paul was reasoning, to set before them in this place personal obedience as the way to eternal life, which, in connexion with what he had said on repentance, would tend directly to lead them to mistake his meaning on that subject. But besides this, if these verses refer to the gospel, they break in upon and disturb the whole train of his reasoning, from the 18th verse of the first chapter to the 20tli of the third, where he arrives at his conclusion, that, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God : Paul was afterwards to de- clare the way of justification, as he does, ch. iii., 21, 26, immediately after he drew the above conclusion ; but till then, his object was to ex- 6 82 ROMANS II., 7. hibit, both to Jews and Gentiles, the impossibility of obtaining justifica- tion by any works of their own, and by convincing ihcm of this, to lead tliern to the grace of the gospel. In conversing with the laic Mr. Robert Hall at Leicester, respecting the Kpistle to the Roniaiis, he remarked to me, that this passage had always greatly perph'xed him, as it seemed to be not only aside from, hut even opposed to what appeared, from the whole context, to be the drift of tiic Apostle ; and 1 believe, that every one who supposes that the Apostle is here referring to the gospel, will experience a similar dilficulty. I know that the view here given of these verses is contrary to that of almost all the English couuncntaries on this Epistle. I have con- sulted a great number of them, besides those of Calvin, and licza, and Maretz, and the Dutch annotations, and that of Qucsnel, all of wliich, with one voice, explain the 7lh and lOlh verses of this ciiapter as refer- ring to the gospel. The only exception that I am aware of among the English commentaries is that of Mr. Fry, who, in his exposition of the 16th verse, remarks as follows : — " He (the Apostle) introduces this statement of the certainly of a judgment to come, of tiie universal guilt and inevitable condemnation of mankind in the course of justice, in order to show the universal necessity of a Saviour, and of that rigiit- eousness wliicli was of God by faith. And it seems altogether extraor- dinary, tiiat some expositors should conceive the above account of the last judgment to include a description of the Redeemer's bestowing the reward of the inheritance upon his people, and that of such the Apostle speaks when he says, ' To them that, by patient continuance in well- doing, seek glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life ;' ' CJlory, honor, and peace, to every one tliat doeth good.' For most assuredly, this is not the language of the righteousness of faith, but the exact manner of speaking which the Apostle ascribes to the rigiiteousness of tiie law." To tiie same purpose, Mr. Marshall, in his work on " the Gospel Mys- tery of Sanctification," 14th edit., p. 94, observes, " They grossly pervert these words of Paul, ' Who will render to every man according to his deeds ; to them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality — eternal life ;' where they will have Paul to be declaring tiie terms of the gospel, when he is evidently declaring the terms of the law, to prove that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, and that no flesh can be justified by the work of the law, as appeareth by the tenor of tlie following discourse." I have noticed that from I his passage the Churcii of Rome endeavors to establisii the merit of works, and of justification by means of works. Accordingly, Quesnel, a Roman Catholic, in expounding the 6th verse, exclaims, " Merites veritahles ; necessite des bonnes CBUvres. Ce sont nos actions bonnes ou mauvaises qui rendent doiix on severe le jugement dc Dieu .'" " Real merits ; necessity of good works. They are our good or bad actions wiiich render the judgment of God mild or severe !" And indeed, were the usual interpretation of this and the three follow- ing verses the just one, it must be confessed that this Romanist would have some ground for his triumph. But if we take the words in their plain and obvious import, and understand the Apostle in this place as ROMANS II., 8. 83 announcing the terms of the law, in order to prove to the Jews the ne- cessity of having recourse to grace, and of yielding to the goodness and forbearance of God, leading them to repentance, while he assures them that " not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified ;" then the whole train of his discourse is clear and consistent. On the other supposition it appears confused and self- contradictory, and calculated not merely to perplex, but positively to mislead, and to strengthen the prejudices of those who were going about to establish their own righteousness. For in whatever way these expressions may with certain explanations and qualifications be inter- preted in an evangelical sense, yet unquestionably, as taken by them- selves, and especially in the connexion in which they stand in this place, they present the same meaning as is announced in the 13th verse, where the Apostle declares, that the doers of the law shall be justified, V. 8. — But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey un- righteousness, indignation, and wrath. Paul here describes the wicked by three characteristics. Their first characteristic is that they are contentious ; that is, rebellious, and mur- murers against the divine laws, quarrellers with God, and indicating their natural enmity against God by disapproving of his government or authority. The second is rebels agaiiist the truth ; that is to say, in revolt, and at open war against what is true and right concerning God and his will as made known to them, and as opposed to unrighteous- ness, which God abhors. The third is obedient to unrighteousness ; that is, revolting against what is good, and becoming slaves to what is evil. Here a striking contrast is indicated between that contentious spirit which disobeys the truth, and yet obeys unrighteousness. The one denotes an extraordinary haughtiness, and an exceeding boldness, and the other extreme meanness and servility of soul. They who do not choose to serve God as their legitimate sovereign become the slaves of a master who is both a tyrant and usurper. Indignation and wrath. — These two terms united, mark the great- ness of the wrath of God, proportioned to the dignity of the Sovereign Judge of the world, to the authority of those eternal laws which have been violated, to the majesty of the legislator by whom they have been promulgated, to the favors which sinners have received from him, and proportioned also to the unworthiness and meanness of the creature compared with God. Although, when human passions are ascribed to God, we must not suppose that he is affected as we are ; yet the ex- pressions employed here, show that God will certainly punish the wicked. The Scriptures represent God in the character of a just Judge, as well as of a merciful Father. The flattering doctrine which insinuates the hope of the final universal happiness of transgressors, both of devils and men, is altogether without countenance from Scrip- ture. The word of God contains the most awful denunciations of the Divine wrath. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living hk- 84 ROMANS II., 10. God. Yet soino writers lead sinners to liojic that the cliaracter of God will secure ihein froin j)uiiishiiieMl. V. 0. — Tribulation and anguish upon ovcry soul of man that docth evil ; of the Jew first, and also of tiio Ueiitile. Tribulation and anf^uish. — These two terms tlciiotc the punishment, as the indignation and wralh designate the princij)le on which the con- denmalion proceeds. Tiicy also designate the greatness of the punish- ment. Upon every soul of man. — i'his universality is intended to point to the vain exj^ectations of the Jews that they would be exempt from that punishment, and assists in determining the import of the phrase, " according to truth," in verse 2, meaning what is just. It signifies, too, the whole man, for it must not be imagined that the wicked do not also suffer in their body. Jesus Christ says expressly, that they shall come forth unto the resurrection of damnation. This refutes the opinion of Socinian heretics and others, who insist that the punishment of the wicked will consist in an entire annihilation both of body and soul. The terms, " tribulation and anguish," signify a pain of sensa- tion, and consequently suppose the subsistence of the sul)ject. That docth evil. — The word in the original designates evil workers, as persons who practise wickcducss habitually. The connection of punishment with sin is according to the order of Divine justice ; for it is just, that those who have offended infinite majesty should receive the retribution of their wickedness. It is likewise according to the denun- ciation of the law, whether it is viewed as given externally by the word, or as engraven internally in the conscience of every man, for it threatens punishment to transgressors. Of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile (literally Greek). — In this place, " the Jew first" must mean the Jew principally, and implies that the Jew is more accountable than the Gentile, and will be punished according to his superior liglit ; for as the Jew will have received more than the Gentile, he will also be held more culpable before the Divine tribunal, and will consequently be more severely punished. His privileges will aggravate his culpal)ility, and increase his punishment. " You only have I known of all the families of the earth ; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities," Amos iii., 2 ; xMalt. xi., 22 ; Luke xii., 47. But although the judgment will begin with the Jew, and on him be more heavily executed, it will not terminate with him, but will be also extended to the Gentile, who will be found guilty, though not with the same aggravation. V. 10. — But Klf'O'' honor, and peace to every man that worketh good ; to the Jew '.'■■•■A. nd also to the Gentile. G'ory, honor, and peace. — Glory, as has already been observed, refers to the slate of blessedness to which those who shall inherit eternal life will be admitted ; honor, to the praise and approbation of God, to which is here added peace. Peace is a slate of confirmed joy and prosperity. As added to glory and honor, it may appear feel)le as a climax, but in reality it has all the value that is here ascribed to it. No blessing can bo enjoyed without it. What would glory and honor ROMANS II., 11. 85 be without peace ? Wliat would they be if there was a possibility of falling from the high dignity, or of being afterwards miserable ? To every man that worketh good. — Happiness, by the established order of things, is here asserted to be the inseparable consequence of righteousness, so that virtue should never be unfruitful ; and he who had performed what is his duty, if any such could be found, should enjoy rest and satisfaction. This is also according to tlie declaration of tiie Divine law ; for if, on the one hand, it threatens transgressors, on the other, it promises good to those who observe it. " The man that doeth them shall live in them." Gal. iii., 12. Since, then, no righteous man could be disappointed of the fruit of his righteousness, it may, in consequence, be asked, if any creature who had performed his duty exactly would merit anything from God ? To this it is re- plied, that the infinite majesty of God, which admits of no propor- tion between himself and the creature, absolutely excludes all idea of merit. For God can never be laid under any obligation to his creature, and the creature, who is nothing in comparison of him, and who, be- sides, has nothing but what God has given him, can never acquire any claim on his Creator. Whenever God makes a covenant with man, and promises anything, that promise indeed engages God on his part, on the ground of his truth and faithfulness ; but it does not so engage him as to give us any claim of merit upon him. " Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again." Rom. xi., 35. Thus, in whatever manner we view it, there can be before God no merit in men ; whence it follows, that happiness would not be con- ferred as a matter of right on a man who should be found innocent. It must be said, however, that it would be given by a right of judgment, by which the order and proportion of things is preserved, the majesty of the law of God maintained, and the Divine promises accomplished. But, in awarding life and salvation to him who has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, God is both faithful and just, on account of the infinite merit of his Son. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. When glory and honor are promised to the Jew first, it implies that he had walked according to his superior advantages, and of course would be rewarded in proportion ; while the Gentile, in his degree, would not be excluded. V. 11. — For there is no respect of persons with God Whatever difference of order there may be between the Jew and the Gentile, that difference does not change the foundation and substance of the judgment. To have respect to the appearance of persons, or to accept of persons, is the vice of an iniquitous judge, who in some way violates justice ; but the Divine judgment cannot commit such a fault. Besides we must never lose sight of the train of the Apostle's reason- ing. His design is to show that the Jews, being, as they really are, sinners equally with the Gentiles, are involved with them in the same condemnation. This is what he proves by the nature of the Divine judgment, which is according to truth, that is, which is perfectly just, 86 ROMANS II., 12. V. 2 ; wliich renders to every man according to his deeds, v. G ; and which has no respect of persons, v. 11; and, consequently, it will be equal lo the Jew and the Gentile, so that neither the one nor the other can defend himself against its sentence. The declaration, that (iod has no respect of persons, is frequently quoted as militating against the doctrine of election ; but it has no bearing on the subject. It relates to men's character, and God's judg- ment according to character. Every man will be judged according to his works. '1 his, however, does not say that God may not choose some eternally to life, and give them faith and create them unto good works, according to which, as evidences that they belong to Christ, they shall be judged, (iod's sovereign love to the elect is manifested in a way that not only shows him to be just in their justification, but also true to his declaration with respect to the future judgment. The assertion of the Apostle in this place is 'a truth of great importance, not only with respect lo the Jews, but also with respect to the profes- sors of Christianity, many of whom fancy that there is a sort of favorit- ism in liie judgment of God, that will overlook in some what is in others accounted condemnatory. V 12. — For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law : and as many as have sinned in (or under) law shall be judged by law. Kere Paul explains the equality of the judgment, both with respect lo the Gentiles and the Jews. Without law, that is, a written law, for none are without law, as the Apostle immediately afterwards shows. The Gentiles had not received the written law ; they had, however, sinned, and they shall perish, that is to say, be condemned without that law. The Jews had received the written law ; they had also sinned, they will be judged, that is to say, condemned by that law ; for, in the next verse, Paul declares, that only the doers of the law shall be justi- fied; and, consequently, as condemnation stands opposed to justification, they who are not doers of it will be condemned. In one word, the Di- vine justice will only regard the sins of men ; and wherever these are found it will condemn the sinner. The Gentiles shall perish without law. They will perish, though they are not to be judged by the written law. It is alleged by some, that although the Apostle's language shows that all the Gentiles are guilty before God, yet it does not unply that they will be condemned ; for that they may be guilty, yet be saved by mercy through Jesus Christ. But the language of the Apostle en- tirely precludes the possibility of such a supposition. It is not said that they who have sinned without law are guilty without law, but that they shall ^^ perish without law.''^ The language, then, does not merely assert their guilt, but clearly asserts their condemnation. They shall perish. No criticism can make this expression consistent with the sal- vation of the Gentiles who know not God. They will be condemned by the work of the law written in their hearts. Many are inclined to think that the condemnation of the Heathen is peculiarly hard ; but it is equally just, and not more severe than the punishment of those who have simied against revelation. They will not be judged by the light ROMANS 11., 13. 87 which they had not, nor punished so severely as they who resisted that light.* V. 13. — (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. This verse, with the two following, forms a parenthesis between the 12th and 6th, explanatory of the two propositions contained in the 12th. Some also include the 1 1th and 12th in the parenthesis. If this mode of punctuation were adopted, the 13th, 14th, and 15th verses would be a parenthesis within a parenthesis ; but for this there is no occasion, as the 11th and 12th verses connect with the lOth, and also with the 16th. For not the haarers of the law. — Against what the Apostle had just said concerning the equality of the judgment, two ob- jections might be urged, the one in favor of the Gentiles, the other in favor of the Jews. The first is, that since God has not given his law to the Gentiles, there can be no place for their condemnation, — for how can they be condemned as transgressors if they have not received a law ? The second objection, which is contrary to the first, supposes that the Jews ought to be more leniently treated, since God, who has given them his law, has, by doing so, declared in their favor, and made them his people ; he will therefore, without doubt, have a regard for them which he has not for the others, whom he has abandoned. The Apostle obviates both these objections in this and the two following verses, and thus defends his position respecting the equality of the judg- ment. As for the last of them, which he answers first in this 13th verse, he says, that it is not suflftcientfor justification before God to have received the law, and simply to be hearers of it ; but that it must be observed and reduced to practice. This is an incontestible truth. For the law has not been given as a matter of curiosity or contemplation as a philosophical science, but to be obeyed ; and the greatest outrage against the law and the legislator is to hear it and not to take heed to practise it. It will be in vain, therefore, for the Jew to say, I am a hearer of the law, I attend on its services, I belong to the covenant of God, who has given me his testimonies. On all these accounts, being a transgressor, as he is, he must be condemned. The presence of the article before the word law in both the clauses of this verse, which is wanting in the preceding verse, shows that the reference is here to the Jews under the written law. The doers of the law shall be justified. — By this we must understand an exact obedience to the law to be intended, whicti can defend itself against that declaration, " Cursed is everyone that continucth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." For it is not the same with tlie judgment of the law as with that of grace. The gospel indeed requires of us a perfect obedience to its commands, yet it not only provides for believers pardon of the sins committed before their calling, but of those also which they afterwards commit. But the judgment of the law admits of no indulgence to those who are under * On the state of the Heathen world destitute of the Gospel, see the Appendix. 88 ROMANS II., 14. it ; it demands a full and perfect personal observance of all its require- nicnts — a])alient continuance in \vell-(ioii>g — without the least deviation, or the smallest speck of sin, and when it does not find this state of perfection, condemns the man. But did not the law itself contain ex- piations of sin, and consecpiently shall not the judgment which will be passed according to the law, be accompanied with grace and indulgence through the benefit of these expiations ? The legal expiations had no virtue in themselves, but inasnuich as they were figures of the expia- tion made by Jesus Christ, they directed men to his sacrifice. But as they belonged to the temporal or carnal covenant, they neither expiated nor could expiate any but typical sins, that is to say, uncleanness of the flesh, Heb. ix., 13, winch were not real sins, but only external pollutions. Thus, as far as regarded the legal sacrifices, all real sins remained on the conscience, Heb. x., 1, for from these the law did not in the small- est degree discharge ; whence it follows, that the judgment, according to the law, to those who are under it, will be a strict judgment accord- ing to law, which pardons nothing. The word justified occurs here for the first time in this Epistle, and being introduced in connexion with the general judgment, means being declared just or righteous by a ludicial sentence. ¥. 14.— For when the Gentiles., which have not a law, do by nature the things con- «• tained in the law, these, having not a law, are a law unto themselves. For. — This is the proper translation of the Greek particle, and not therefore, according to Dr. Macknight, who entirely misunderstands both the meaning of the passage itself, and the connexion in which it stands, and founds upon it a doctrine opposed to all that is contained on the subject, both in the Old Testament and the New. This verse has no connexion with or dependence whatever on the foregoing, as is gene- rally supposed, but connects with the first clause of verse 12, which it explains. Together with the following verse, it supplies the answer to the objection that might be made to what is contained in the beginning of that verse, namely, that God cannot justly condemn the Gentiles, since he has not given them a law. To this the Apostle here replies, that though they have not an external and written law, as that which God gave to the Israelites, thej^ have, however, the law of the con- science, which is sufficient to establish tiie justice of their condem- nation. This is the meaning of tiiat proposition, having not a lata, are a law unto themselves, and of that other, which show the work of the law written in their hearts ; by which he also establishes the justice of what he had said in the 1 2th verse, that as many as have sinned without law shall also perish tvithout law. He proves it in two ways : 1st, Be- cause they do naturally the things that the law requires, which shows that they have a law in themselves, since they sometimes act according to its rule ; 2d, He proves it by their not being devoid of a conscience, since, according to its decisions, they accuse or excuse one another. This evidently shows that they have a law, the work of which is writ- ten in their hearts, by which they discern the difference between right and wrong — what is just and what is unjust. ROMANS II., 15. 89 They who have not a latv, — that is, an externally written law, — do hy nature the things contained in the law. It could not be the Apostle's intention to assert, that the Heathens in general, or that any one of them, kept the law written in the heart, when the contrary had been proved in the preceding chapter ; but they did certain tilings, though imperfectly, commanded by the law, which proved that they had, by their original constitution, a discernment of the difference between right and wrong. They did nothing, however, in the manner which the law required, tliat is, from the only motive that makes an action good, namely, a spirit of obedience and of love to God. God governs the world in this way. He rules the actions of men and beasts by the in- stincts and affections which he has implanted in them. Every good action that men perform by nature they do by their constitution, not from respect to the authority of God. That the Pagans do many things that as to the outward act are agreeable to the law of God is obviously true, and should not be denied. That they do anything ac- ceptable to God is not true, and is not here asserted. V. 15. — Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mednwhile accusing or else excusing one another.) The work of the law. — We have here a distinction between the law itself, and the loork of the law. The work of the law is the thing that the law doeth, that is, what it teaches about actions, as good or bad. This work, or business, or office of the law, is to teach what is right or wrong. This, in some measure, is taught by the light of nature in the heart of every man. There remains then in all men, to a certain de- gree, a discernment of what the law requires, designated here the " work" of the law : the performance or neglect of which is followed by the approbation or disapprobation of the conscience. It has no re- lation to the authority of the lawgiver, as the principle of the law itself ; but solely to the distinctions between actions, as right or wrong in themselves, and the hope of escaping future punishment, or of ob- taining future reward. The love and the reverential fear of God, which are the true principles of obedience, have been effaced from the mind ; but a degree of knowledge of his justice, and the consciousness that the violations of his law deserve and will be followed by punishment, have been retained. Written in their hearts. — This is an allusion to the law written by the finger of God upon tables of stone, and afterwards recorded in the Scriptures. The great principles of this law were communicated to man in his creation, and much of it remains with him in his fallen state. This natural light of the understanding is called the law written in the heart, because it is imprinted on the mind by the author of crea- tion, and is God's work as much as the writing on the tables of stone. Conscience witnessing together. — Together with the law written in the heart. But it may be asked, are not these two things the same ? They are not. They are different principles. Light, or knowledge of 90 ROMANS II., 15. duty, is one thing, and conscience is another. Knowledge shows what is riglit, llie conscience approves of it, and condemns the contrary. We init^ht suppose a being to have the knowledge of duty, without the principle that approves of it, and hhunes tiic transgression. Their thoughts the nicanwhilc accusing, or else excusing between one another. — Not alternately, nor in turn. Their reasonings (not thoughts) between one another, condenniing, or else defending. What is the object of their condemnation or defence ? Not themselves, but one another ; that is, those between whom the reasonings take place. The reference evidently is to the fact, that in all places, in all ages, men are continually, in their mutual intercourse, blaming or excusing human conduct. This supposes a standard of reference, a knowledge of right and wrong. No man could accuse and condemn another, if there were not some standard of right and wrong ; and no man could defend an action without a similar standard. This is obviously the meaning of the Apostle. To these ideas of right and wrong are naturally joined the idea of God, who is the sovereign judge of the world, and that of rewards and punishments, which will follow either good or bad actions. These ideas do not fail to present themselves to the sinner, and inspire fear and inquietude. But as, on the other hand, self-love and corrup- tion reign in the heart, these come to his support, and strive, by vain reasonings, to defend or to extenuate the sin. The Gentiles, then, how- ever depraved, lost, and abandoned, and however destitute of the aid of the written law, are notwithstanding, a law to themselves, having the law written in their hearts. They have still sufficient light to discern between good and evil, virtue and vice, honesty and dishonesty ; and their conscience enables them sufficiently to make that distinction, whether before committing sin, or in the commission of it, or after they have committed it. Besides this, remorse, on account of their crimes, re- minds them that there is a God, a judge before whom they must appear to render account to him of their actions. They are then a law to them- selves, they have the work of the law written in their hearts. That the knowledge of the revealed law of God has not been pre- served in every nation, is, however, entirely to be attributed to human depravity ; and if it was restored to one nation for the benefit of others, it must be ascribed to the goodness of God. The law of God, and the revelation respecting the Messiah, had been delivered to all men after the Flood by Noah, who was a preacher of the everlasting rigliteousness, 2 Peter ii., 5, which was to be brought in, to answer the demands of that law. But all the nations of the earth had lost the remembrance of it, not liking to retain God in their knowledge. God again discovered it to the Jews in that written revelation with which they were favored. If it be asked, why was the law vouchsafed, in this manner to that na- tion and not also to the Gentiles? Paul explains this mystery, chap, xi. It is sufficient then to say, that God has willed to make known, by this abandonment, how great and dreadful was the fall of the human race, and by that means one day to magnify the glory of the grace which he purposed to bestow on men by Jesus Christ. He willed to ROMANS II., 16. 91 leave a great part of men a prey to Satan, to show liow great is his abliorrence of sin, and how great was the wratli which our disobedience had kindled against the world. But why did he not also abandon the Jews ? Because he chose to leave some ray of hope in tiie world, and it pleased him* to lay the foundation of redemption by his Son. But why was the greater part abandoned ? Because then was the time of Divine wrath and justice, and sin must be allowed to abound that grace might superabound. Why, in fine, choose the nation of the Jews rather than any other nation ? Because, without any further reason, it was the sovereign good pleasure of God. V. 16.— In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, accord- ing to my gospel. This verse is to be construed in connexion with the 12lh, to the contents of which the three intermediate verses had given, in a paren- thesis, the explanatory answers. In the day when God shall judge. — It is here assumed by the Apostle that God is the judge of the world. This is a truth which nature and right reason teach. Since intelligent creatures are capable of obedience to law, it necessarily follows that they have a judge, for the law would be null and void if it were left as a dead letter, without a judge to put it in execution. And as there is a law common to the whole human race, it must also be admitted that there is a common judge. Now this judge of all can only be God, for it is only God who possesses all the qualifications for such an oflice. The Apostle likewise assumes that there will be a day when God will hold this judgment. This is also a truth conformable to right reason, for there must be a fixed time for rendering pulilic the decrees of justi- fication, otherwise it would not be duly honored, since its honor consists in being recognized to be what it is before all creatures. If, then, there were only individual judgments, either in this life or at death, justice would not be manifested as it ought to be. Hence it follows, that there must be a public and solemn day in which God will execute judgment before the assembled universe. Besides, the Apostle here intimates that there will be an end to the duration of the world, and the succession of generations ; for if there be a day appointed for a univer- sal judgment, it follows that all men must there appear. And if such be the case, their number must also be determined, while, without a single exception, the time of their calling and of their life must termi- nate, so that the succession of generations must come to an end. The secrets of men. — It is not here meant that God will judge only their secrets, so that their public and known actions should pass with- out being judged ; for there is nothing that God does not judge. But it is intended to show with what exactness the judgment will proceed, since it takes account of things the most secret and the most concealed. It will not resemble the judgment of men, which cannot fathom the hearts and thoughts. God will not only take cognizance of external, but also of internal actions, and will discover even the inmost thoughts of men. All actions then, whether open or secret, will come into judgment, but secrets or hidden things are here said to be judged, 92 ROMANS II., 17. because tl:cy arc reached by no other judgment. If men can conceal tlicir evil deeds, ihey are safe from huiDaii judgment. Not so with respect to the Judge at the great day. The most secret sins will then be manifested and punished. Bi/ Jesus Christ. — (Jod will carry into effect that judgment by Jesus Christ. " He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordaiiKid." Acts xvii., 31. Jesus Christ will conduct the judgmtnit, not only as it respects believers, but also the wicked. If the secrets of men are to be brought into judgment, and if Jesus Christ is to be the Judge, he must be the Searcher of hearts. Acts i., 24, Rev. ii., 23. He must then be truly God. In the economy of Jesus Christ there are two extreme degrees, one of abasement, the other of exaltation. The lowest degree of his abase- ment was his death and burial. The opposite degree of his exaltation will be the last judgment. In the former he received the sentence which condemned him, and which included in his condemnation the absolution of his people. In the latter he will pronounce the condem- nation or absolution of all creatures. In the one covered over with reproaches, and pierced U'ilh the arrows of Divine justice, he was ex- posed on the cross as a spectacle to the whole city of Jerusalem, when he cried, " My God, my (jod, why hast thou forsaken me !" In the other, arrayed in glory and majesty, he will appear before the whole universe, in the glory of his Father who commands all the Angels to worship him. According to my gospel. — Paul calls the gospel his gospel, not that he is the author of it, fol- it is solely from God ; but to say that of it he is the minister and herald, — that it is the gospel which he preached. The gospel, in a large sense, includes everything revealed by Jesus Christ. The judgment then shall take place according to the declara- tions therein contained. V. 17.— Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God. Here commences the second part of this chapter, where Paul pur- poses to show that all the external advantages of the Jews over the Gentiles were unavailing for their protection from the just condemna- tion of God. In the first place, he enumerates all their privileges, on account of which the Jews could exalt themselves above the Gentiles. Afterwards he lays it to their charge that, notwithstanding all these privileges, they were sinners, equally guilty as others. Finally, he shows that, being sinners, as they all were, their advantages would avail them nothing, and would only aggravate their condemnation. Behold, thou art called a Jevj. — The Apostle here continues his dis- course to the same persons whom, from the commencement of the chapter, he had addressed, and now calls on the Jew by name. In this verse, and the three following, Paul classes the" advantages of the Jews under six particulars : 1. Their bearing the name of Jew. 2. Having received the law. 3. Having the true God as their God. 4. Know- ROMANS II., 17. 93 ing his will. 5. Discerning what is evil. 6. Their ability to teach and guide other men. As to the first of these, the name, Jew, embraces three significa- tions : — confession, praise, and thanksgiving ; and by these three things that people was distinguished from all other nations. The Jew alone had been chosen as the confessor of God, while all the rest of the world had abjured his service. The Jew alone was appointed to celebrate his praises, while by others he was blasphemed. The Jew alone was appointed to render thanksgiving to God for multiplied benefits received, while others were passed by. In that name, then, in which the Jews gloried, and which distinguished them from all other nations, and implied all the privileges they enjoyed, they possessed already a signal advantage over the Gentiles,* Dr. Macknight and Mr. Stuart pcefer surnamed to called ; but the name was not exactly what is called a sur- name. It was the name of a whole people. The word called or denomi- nated, is more appropriate, for it answers both to their name as a people and to their religion, both of which are comprised in the name Jew. And restest in the law. — That is to say, thou hast no occasion to study any other wisdom or philosophy than the law. It is thy wisdom and thy understanding, Deut. iv., 6. The term restest signifies two things : the one that the labor was spared the Jews of employing many years and great endeavors, and travelling to distant countries, as was the case with other nations, in acquiring some knowledge and certain rules of direction. The law which God had given them rendered this unnecessary, and furnished abundantly all that was required for the regulation of their conduct. The other idea which this term conveys is, that they had an entire confidence in the law as a heavenly and Divine rule which could not mislead them, while the Gentiles could have no reliance on their deceitful philosophy. And 7)iakest thy boast of God. — Namely, in having him for their God and being his people, while the Gentiles, having only false gods, were " without God in the world." Eph. ii., 12. The Jews had the true God, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord who had performed glorious miracles in their favor, who had even spoken to them from the midst of fire, for the author of their calling, lor their deliverer, for their legislator, for the founder of their government, and for their king and protector. His earthly palace was in the midst of them ; he had regulated their worship, and caused them to hear his voice. The other nations possessed nothing similar. They had there- fore great reason to glory in him, and on this account David said, that in God was his strength and his refuge. Psalm Ixii., 7 ; Psalm Ixxxix.; and Psalm cxliv. * The name of Jew was in use before the return from the captivity, for we find it in the 3'2d chapter of Jeremiah. It appears, then, that it took its rise even from the time of the separation of the ten tribes, for the ten tribes retained that of Israel, and the others that of Judah ; the country was called Judea, Psalm Ixxvi., and the language Jewish, 2d Kings xviii., 26, and Isaiah xxxvi., 11-13 ; and afterwards the inhabitanta Jews, for this name is also found in Daniel iii., 8. 94 ROMANS II.. 20. V. 1^. — An(Ui/ ; and, on the other hand, they are conformable to three odious vices which he had noted among the (Jen- tiles, namely, uni^odlinrss, intrmjx'nincr, inirisj^/itrotis/irss. For theft includes, in general, every notion of unrighteousness ; adultery includes that of intemperance; and the guilt of sacrilege that of ungodliness.* Hence, it is easy to conclude, that whatever advantages the Jews pos- sessed above the Gentiles, they were, notwithstanding, in the same condition before the tril)unal of God — like them uiiriglit(K)us, like them intemperate, like them ungodly, and, consc(juenlly, like tliem sub- jected to the same condemnation. V. 24. — For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. The charge alleged here against the Jews, is not that they themselves blasphemed the name of (iod, as some understand it, but that they gave occasion to the Heathen to blaspheme. The Apostle is not charging the Jews with speaking evil of God, or with one particular sin, but with the breach of their law in general. He here confirms what he had just said to this purpose, in the foregoing verse, by the authority of Scrip- ture. Many suppose that he refers to a passage of Isaiah lii., 5, where the Prophet says, " and my name continually every day is blasphemed." But there the Prophet does not charge the Jews, as having by their bad conduct occasioned the injury which the name of God received. He ascribes it, on the contrary, to the Assyrians by whom they had been subjected. In the passage before us the reference is to Ezek. xxxvi., 17-20, where it is evident liiat the Jews, by the greatness and the number of their sins, had given occasion to the Gentiles to insult and blaspheme the holy name of God, which is precisely the meaning of the Apostle. The Gentiles, as the Propiiet there relates, seized on two pretexts to insult the name of God, tiie one drawn from the afflictions which the sins of his people had brought upon them, and the other from the con- templation of the sins themselves. According to the first, they accused the God of Israel of weakness and want of power, since he had not saved his people from so miserable a dispersion. According to the second, they imputed to the religion and the (iod of the Israelites all the crimes which they saw that people commit, as if it had been by the influence of (Jod himself that they were committed. It is on account of these two arrogant and malignant accusations that God reproaches his people for having profaned his name among the nations, and adds (not for the sake of his people, who had rendered themselves altogether unworthy, but for that of his own name) two promises opposed to those two accusations ; the one of deliverance, the other of sanctificalion. " For I will take you from among the Heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you unto your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean ;" ver. 24, 25. I ROMANS II., 25. 99 will deliver you, in order to repel their insult on me, in accusing me of want of power. I will cleanse you, ui order to vindicate myself from the accusation of being the author of your crimes. God had no need of either of these ways of justifying himself. He had shown, on nu- merous occasions, the irresistible power of his arm in favor of the Israelites ; and the sanctity of his law was self-evident. Yet he promises to do these things for his own glory, inasmuch as the Gentiles and his people had dishonored his name. No accusation against the Jews could be more forcible than that which, in the verse before us, was preferred from the testimony of their own Scriptures. It proved, that not only were they chargeable before God with their own sins, but that they were likewise chargeable with the sins which the Gentiles committed in blaspheming his name. This showed clearly that they were no more prepared to sustain the judg- ment of the strict justice of God than were the Gentiles, whom they were as ready to condemn as the Apostle himself was. V. 23. — For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep law : but if thou be a breaker of law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Paul here pursues the Jew into his last retreat, in which he imagined himself most secure. He presses him on the subject of circumcision, which the Jews viewed as their stronghold — that rile even more ancient than Moses, and by which they were distinguished from other nations. The sum of this, and the following verses to the end of the chapter, is, that the Jews being such as the Apostle had represented them, all tiieir advantages, including circumcision, could only enhance their condem- nation before the tribunal of God, and that, on the contrary, if the Gentiles, who have not received the law, observed its precepts, they would be justified without circumcision. Two things are here to be observed, namely, what is asserted of the Jews and Gentiles, and the proof that follows. The assertions are, that circumcision serves only as a ground of condemnation to transgressors of the law ; and, on the other hand, that the want of it would be no detriment to those who ful- filled the law. The proof is, that before God the true Jew and the true circumcision consist not in external qualities, but in internal and real holiness. The reason why circumcision was not included in the enumeration before given of the advantages of the Jews is, that in it- self it is not an advantage, but only a sign of other advantages, and it is mentioned here, because, in the character of a sign, it includes them ; to name circumcision, then, is to refer to them all. In this verse, the Apostle does not speak of circumcision according to its real and most important signification, as he does in the two concluding verses, but in that view in which the Jews themselves considered it, as the initiatory and distinctive rite of their religion, without the observance of which they believed they could not be saved. Circumcision verihj profiteth, if thou keep the law. — It is not meant that circumcision will come into the account before the tribunal of God, as the fulfilling of the law ; but that it would be an aid and motive to the observance of the law, and viewed in the light of an obligation to 100 ROMANS 11., 2G. keep the law ; if tlie Jew had ke|)t it Ik; could refer to liis circumcision as an i)l)Ii Ration which he had fuKillcil. ('ircuincision may be viewed in two lights, cilher as given to Abraham, or as eiijt)ined by Moses. 1. It was the token of the covenatil that Al)raham should be the father of the promised Saviour, aiid, moreover, a seal or pledge of the inlrothu:- tion and reality of the righteousness imputed to him through faith, wliile uncircumciscd, in order that he might be the father of all be- lievers, whether circumcised or not, to whom that righteousness should also be imputed. 13. (arcumcision, as enjoined by Moses, was a part of his law ; John vii., 22, 2H. In the first view, it was connected with all the privileges of Israel, Phil, iii., 4, 5; in the second, it was a part of the law, whose righteousness is described, Rom. x., 5.* The Jews entirely mistook the object of the laws Rom. v., 20; Gal. iii., 19; which shut up all under sin, Gal. iii., 22, by cursing every one who con- tinued not in all things written in the book of the law to do them ; and in this view, as a part of the law of Moses, circumcision could only profit those who kept the whole law. But, instead of this, the name of (iod was blasphemed among the Gentiles, through the wickedness of the Jews, and hence ilicir having the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law would only aggravate their condemnation. When, therefore, the Apostle says, if thou keep tJic law, he supposes a case, not implying that it was ever verified ; but if it should exist, the result would be what is stated. If, on the other hand, the Jew was a breaker of the law, his circumcision was made uncircumcision, Jer. ix., 20 ; it would be of no more avail than if he had not received it, and would give him no advantage over the uncircumciscd Gentile. This decla- ration is similar to the w^ay in which our Lord answers the rich young man. If the law is perfectly kept, eternal life wmH be the reward, as the Apostle had also said in verses 7 and 10 ; but if there be any breach of it, circumcision is of no value for salvation. V. 26. — Therefore, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision ? The Apostle does not mean to affirm that an uncircumciscd Gentile can fulfil the righteousness of the law, nor does he here retract what he had said in the first chapter respecting the corruption and guilt of the Gentiles, but he supposes a case in regard to them, like that concerning the Jews in the preceding verse. This hypothetical mode of reasoning is common with Paul, of which we have an example in this same chapter, where he says, that the doers of the law shall be justified ; of whom, however, in the conclusion of his aigument, chap, iii., 19, he affirms that none can be found. The supposition, then, as to the obe- • It is in this second view of circumcision being a part of the law, that the ApostU- tells the Galatians, that if they were circumcised, they were debtors to do the whole law. They had professed to receive Christ, who is the end of tlie law for righteous- ness to every one that believeth ; but their want of confidence in Christ's righteousness, in which they professed to rest, was evident, by their adding to it the observance of circumcision. " Thus they returned to the law, and were debtors to fulfil it." — Gal. v., 3, 4 The righteousness of the law and Christ's righteousness cannot, even in tlie 'east degree, be united. ROMANS II., 27. 101 dience of the Gentile, thougli in itself impossible, is made in order to prove that, before the judgment-seat of God, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision enters at all into consideration, for justification or con- demnation. If an uncircumciscd (ilentile kept the law, his uncircum- cision would avail as much as the circumcision of the Jew. The reason of this is, that the judgment of God regards only the observance or the violation of the law, and not extraneous advantages or disadvantages, and, as is said above, with God there is no respect of persons. In reality, then, the Jews and Gentiles were on a level as to the impos- sibility of salvation by the law ; in confirmation of which truth, the inquiry here introduced is for the conviction of the Jew on this import- ant point. But what is true upon a supposition never realized, is actually true with respect to all who believe in Jesus. In him they have this righteousness which the law demands, and without circum- cision have salvation. Dr. Macknight egregiou'sly errs, when he sup- poses that the law here referred to is the law of faith, which Heathens may keep and be saved ; this is a complication of errors. V. 27. — And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law ? Paul continues, in this verse, to reason on the same supposition as in the one preceding, and draws from it another consequence, which is, that if the Gentile who is uncircumcised, fulfilled the law, he would not only be justified, notwithstanding his uncircumcision, but would judge and condemn the circumcised Jew who did not fulfil it. The reason of this conclusion is, that, in the comparison between the one and the other, the case of the circumcised transgressor would appear much worse, because of the superior advantages he enjoyed. In the same way he said, Malt, xii., 41, that the Nincvites shall condemn the Jews. The uncircumcision which is by nature — That is to say, the Gentiles in their natural uncircumcised state, in opposition to the Jews, who had been distinguished and set apart by a particular calling of God. Dr. Macknight commits great violence when he joins the words " by nature" with the words " fulfil the law," as if it implied that some Gentiles did fulfil the law by the light of nature. Who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the laio. — Dr. Macknight affirms, that the common translation here " is not sense." But it contains a very important meaning. The Jews transgressed the law by means of their covenant and circumcision being misunderstood by them. This fact is notoriously true, they were hardened in their sin from a false confidence in their relation to God. Instead of being led to the Saviour by the law, according to its true end, they transgressed it, through their views of the letter of the law and of circumcision ; of both of which, especi- ally of circumcision, they made a Saviour. The fulfilling of the law and its transgression are here to be taken in their fullest import, name- ly, for an entire and complete fulfilment, and for the slightest trans- gression of the law; for the Apostle is speaking of the strict judgment of justice by the law, before which nothing can subsist but a perfect and uninterrupted fulfilment of all the commandments of God. But it 102 ROMANS II., 29. m:iy l>c ask(ni how {he. uiicircuincised Gcnliles could fulfil the law which they liad never received. They could not indeed Adlil it as written on tables of .stone and in the work of Moses, for it had never been iiiven to them in that way ; l)ut as tiie hook of the; law, or the doctrine it teaches, was written in th(Mr iiearls, it was their Ixjunden du- ly to obey it. From this, it is evident that in all this discussion respecting the condemnation of both (ienliles and Jews, the Apostle understands by the law, not the ceremonial law, as some imagine, but the inoral law ; for it is the work of it only which the (Icntiles have by nature written in their hearts. Besides, it is clear that he speaks here of that same law of which he says the Jews were transgressors when they stole, coinmillcd adultery, and were guilty of sacrilege. V. 2S. — For he is not a Jew, whicli is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision whicli is outward in the flesh : V. 'J9. — But he is a Jew, wliich is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; wliose praise is not of men, but of God. The Apostle now passes to what is reality, not supposition, and gives here tiic proof of what he had affirmed, namely, thai circumcision eficcts nothing for transgressors of the law, except to cause their deep- er condemnation, and that the want of circumcision would be no loss to those who should have fulfilled the law. The reason of this is, that when the Jew shall appear before the tribunal of God, to be there judged, and when he shall produce his title as a Jew, as possessing it by birth, and his circumcision, as having received it as a sign of the covenant of God, God will not be satisfied with such appearances, but will demand of him what is essential and real. Now, the essence and reality of things do not consist in names or in external signs ; and when nothing more is produced, God will not consider a man who possesses them as a true Jew, nor his circumcision as true circumcision. He is only a Jew in shadow and appearance, and his is only a figurative circumcision void of its truth. But he is a Jew, mho is one inwardly ; that is to say, that in judg- ing, God will only acknowledge as a true Jew, and a true confessor of his name, him who has the reality, namely, him who is indeed holy and righteous, and who shall have fulfilled the law ; for it is in this fulfil- ment thai confession, and praise, and giving of thanks consist, which are ihe things signified by the name Jew. It is thus we are to under- stand the contrast wliich Paul makes between " outwardly" and in- wardly." What is outward is the name, wiiat is inward is the thing itself represented by the name. And circumcision is tliat of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. It is essential to keep in view that here, and in all that pre- cedes, from the beginning of the 18th verse of the first chapter, Paul is referring not to the gospel, but exclusively to the law, and clearing the ground for the eslat)lishmenl of his conclusion in the following chapter, verses 19lli and 20lh, concerning the universal guilt of man- kind, and the consequent impossibility of their being justified by the law. The whole is intended to prepare the way for the demonstration ROMANS II., 29. 103 of the grand truth announced, chap, i., 17, — and resumed, chap, iii., 21, of the revckition of a righteousness adequate to the demands of the law, and provided for all who believe. From a misapprehension in this respect, very erroneous explanations have been given by many of this verse and the context, as well as of the 7th, 8lh, 9th, and 10th of the 2d chapter, representing these passages as referring to the gospel, and not exclusively to the law. This introduces confusion into the whole train of the Apostle's reasoning, and their explanations are entirely at variance with his meaning and object. And circumcision. — ^This passage is often considered as parallel to that in the epistle to the Colossians, chap, ii., 11. "In whom also ye are circumcised, with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ." But the purpose of the Apostle in the one place and the other is alto- gether different. Many passages, in different connexions, which are similar in their expressions, are not so at all in their meanings. For the illustration of this, it is necessary to remember that the Apostle, as has just been observed, is here referring solely to the law, and likewise that circumcision in one view respected the legal covenant, of which it was a ceremonial obligation, and in another, the evangelical covenant, of which it was a type. In the character of a ceremonial obligation of the legal covenant, it represented the entire and perfect fulfilling of the law, which consisted not merely in external holiness, but in perfect purity of soul ; and in this sense it represented what no man possessed, but which any man must have, in order to be justified by the laW. In the character of a type, it represented regeneration and evangelical ho- liness, which consist in repentance and amendment of life by the Spirit of ('hrist ; and in that sense shadowed forth what really takes place in those who believe in Jesus Christ. In Colossians ii., 11, the Apostle views it in this last aspect, for he means to say, that what the Jew had in type and figure under the law, the believer has in reality and truth under the gospel. But in the passage before us, Paul views it in its first aspect, for he is treating of the judgment of strict justice by the law, which admits of no repentance or amendment of life. The meaning then here is, that if the Jew will satisfy himself with bringing before the judgment of the law what is only external, and merely a ceremonial observance, without his possessing that perfect righteousness which this observance denotes, and which the Judge will demand, it will serve to no purpose but for his condenniation. Tltat of the heart in the spirit. — That is to say, what penetrates to the bottom of the soul ; in one word, that which is real and effective. The term spirit does not here mean the Holy Spirit, nor has it a mys- tical or evangelical signification ; but it signifies what is internal, solid, and real, in opposition to that which was ceremonial and figurative. And not in the letter. — Not that which takes place only in the flesh ac- cording to the literal commandment, and in all the prescribed forms. In one word, it is to the spiritual circumcision that the Apostle refers, which is real in the heart and spirit. Whose praise is not of men, but 101 ROMANS III. of God. — Here Paul alludes to the name of Jew, which signifies praise, which may he taken cither in an active sense, as signifying praisini^, or in a passive sense, as praisi-d. Moses has taken it in the second meaning, when, relating the hh^ssnig of Jacoh, he says, " Judah, thou art he whom thy hrclhrcn shall j)raisc." Tiie Apostle here takes it in the same way, hut he iloes not mean that this j)raise is of men, Imt of (lod. The meaning is, liiat in order to he a true Jew, it is not suf- ficient to possess external advantages, which attract human praise ; hut it is necessary to he in a condition to ohtain the praise of (iod. The ohject of the whole of this chapter is to show that the Jews are sinners — violators of the law, as well as the Gentile, and consequently, that they cannot he justified hefore (iod hy their works ; l)ul that, on the contrary, however superior their advantages are to those of the Gentiles, they can only expect from his strict justice, condenmation. The Jews esteemed it the highest honor to hclong to their nation, and ihey gloried over all other nations. An uncircumciscd person was hy them regarded with ahhorrence. They did not look to character, hut to circumcision or uncircumcision. Nothing, then, could he more cogent or more calculated to arrest the attention of the Jews than this argument respecting the name in which they gloried, and circumcision, their distinguishing national rite, with which Paul here follows up what he had said concerning the demands of the law, and of their outward transgressions of its precepts. He had dwelt in the preceding part of this chapter on their more glaring and atrocious outward violations of the law, as theft, adultery, and sacrilege, hy which they openly disho- nored God. Now, lie enters into the recesses of the heart, of which, even if their outward conduct had heen blameless, and the subject of ihe praise of men, its want of inward conformity to that law, which was manifest in the sight of God, could not obtain his praise. CHAPTER HI. PART I. ROMANS in., 1-20. This chapter consists of three parts. The first part extends to the 8th verse inclusively, and is (Unsigned to answer and remove some objec- tions to the doctrine previously advanced hy the Apostle. In the se- cond part, from the 9th to the 20th verse, it is proved bv the testimo- nies of various Scriptures that the Jews, as well as the Gentiles, are involved in sin and guilt, and, consequently, that none can be justified by the law. The third part commences at verse 21, where the Apostle reverts to the declaration, cliaj). i., 17, with which his discussion com- menced, and exhibits the true and only way of justification for all men, by the righteousness of God imputed through faith in Jesus Christ. ROMANS I., 2. 105 V I. — What advantage then hath the Jew ? or wliat profit is there of circumcision ? If the preceding doctrine be true, it may be asked, what advantage hath the Jew over tlie Gentile, and what profit is there in circumcision if it does not save from sin ? If on the contrary, the Jews, on account of their superior privileges, will be held more culpable before the tribu- nal of Divine justice, as the Apostle had just shown, it appears obviously- improper to allege that God has favored them more than the Gentiles. This objection it was necessary to obviate, not only because it is spe- cious, but because it is important, and might, in regard to the Jews, arrest the course of the gospel. It is specious, for if, in truth, the advantages of the Jews, so far from justifying them, contribute nothing to cause the balance of Divine judgment to preponderate in their favor — if their advantages rather enhance their condemnation, does it not appear that they are not only useless, but positively pernicious ? In these advantages, then, it is impossible to repose confidence. But the objection is also important, for it would be difficult to imagine that all God had done for the Jews, his care of them so peculiar, and his love of them so great — in short, all the privileges which Moses exalts so highly, were lavished on them in vain, or turned to their disadvantage. The previous statement of the Apostle might then be injurious to the doctrine of the gospel, by rendering him more odious in the eyes of his countrymen, and therefore he had good reasons for fully encounter- ing and answering this objection. In a similar way it is still asked by carnal professors of Christianity, of what use is obedience to the law of God or the observance of his ordinances, if they do not save the soul, or contribute somewhat to this end ? V. 2. — Much every way; chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. Paul here repels the foregoing objection as false and unfo\nided. Although the privileges of the Jews cannot come into consideration for their justification before the judgment-seat of God, it does not follow that they were as nothing, or of no advantage. On the contrary, they were marks of the peculiar care of God for that people, while he had, as it were, abandoned all the other nations. They were as aids, too, which God had given to deliver them from the impiety and depravity of the Gentiles ; and by the accompanying influences of his Spirit they were made effectual to the salvation of many of them. Finally, the revelation made to the Jews contained not only figures and shadows of the gospel, but also preparations for the new covenant. God had be- stowed nothing similar on the Gentiles ; the advantage, then, of the Jews was great. MucJt evcrij way. — This does not mean in every sense, for the Apostle does not retract what he had said in the preced- ing chapter, namely, that their advantages were of no avail for justifi- cation to the Jews continuing to be sinners ; for, on the contrary, in that case they only enhanced their condemnation. B\it this expression signifies, that their advantages were very great and very considerable. Chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. — 106 . ROMANS III., 2. The original denotes primarily, which is not a priority of order, but a priority in dignity and advantage ; that is to say, that of all the advan- tages (ukI had vouchsafed to them, the most estimable and most excel- lent was that of having entrusted to them his oracles. The word here used for oracles signifies the responses or answers given by an oracle, and when the Scriptures are so designated, it implies that they are alto- gether, in tvord, as well as in sense, the comnumications of (iod. By these oracles we must understand in general all the Scrij)tures of the Old Testament, especially as they regarded the Messiah, and, in particu- lar, the prophecies which predicted his advent. They were oracles, inasmuch as they were the words from the mouth of God himself, in opposition to the revelation of nature, which was common to Jews and Gentiles ; and they were promises, in respect to their matter, because they contained the great promise of sending Jesus Ciirisl into the world, (iod had entrusted these oracles to the Jews, who had been constituted tlieir guardians and depositaries till the time of their fulfil- ment, when they were to be communicated to all, Isaiah ii., 3, and through them possessed the high character of the witnesses of God, Isaiah xliii., 10 ; xliv., 8, even till the time of their execution, when they were commanded to be communicated to the w^hole world, accord- ing to what Isaiaii ii., 3, had said, — " For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." These oracles had not, however, been entrusted to the Jews simply as good things for the benefit of others, but also for their own advantage, that they might themselves make use of them ; for in these oracles the Messiah — who was to be born among them, and among them to accomplish the work of redemption — was declared to be the proper object of their con- fidence, and through them they had the means of becoming acquainted with the way of salvation. But why w^ere these oracles given so long before the coming of the Messiah ? It was for three principal reasons,— ;^rs<, To serve as a tes- timony that, notwithstanding man's apostasy, God had not abandoned the earth, but had always reserved for himself a people, and it was by these great and divine promises that he had preserved his elect in all ages ; secondly, These oracles were to characterize and designate the Messiah when he should come, in order that he might be known and distinguished ; for they pointed him out in such a manner that he could be certainly recognized when he appeared. On this account Piiilip said to Nathaniel, John i., 45, " We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Josepli ;" thirdly, Tiiey were to serve as a proof of the divine origin of the (Christian religion, for the admirable correspondence between the Old Testament and tlie New is a clear and a palpable demonstration of its divinity. It is, moreover, to be observed, that this favor of having been constituted the depositaries of the sacred oracles was peculiar to the Jews, and one in which the Gentiles did not at all participate. This is what the Apostle here expressly teaches, since he considers it as an illustrious distinction conferred upon this nation, a pre-eminence over all the kingdoms of the world. ROMANS III., 3. 107 But why again does the Apostle account the possession of these oracles their greatest advantage ? Might not other privileges nave been considered as equal, or even preferable, such as the glorious miracles which God had wrought for the deliverance of the Israelites ; his causing them to pass through tlie Red Sea, in the face of all the pride and power of their haughty oppressor ; his guiding them through the sandy desert by a pillar of fire by night, and of cloud by day ; his causing tliem to hear his voice out of the fire, when he descended in awful majesty upon Sinai ; or, finally, his giving them his law, written with his own finger, on tables of stone ? It is replied, tiie promises respecting the Messiah, and his coming to redeem men, were much greater than all the others. Apart from these, all the other advantages would not only have been useless, but fatal to the Jews, for, being sin- ners, they could only have served to overwhelm them with despair, in discovering, on the one hand, their corruption, unmitigated by the kind- ness of Jehovah ; and, on the other, the avenging justice of God. In these circumstances ihey would have been left under the awful impos- sibility of finding any expiation for their sins. If, then, God had not added the promises concerning the Messiah, all the rest would have been death to them, and therefore the oracles which contained these promises were the first and chief of their privileges. v. 3. — For what if some did not believe ? shall their unbelief make the faith of God \Yithout effect ? This is not the objection of a Jew, but as it might readily occur is supposed by the Apostle. It is nol '^ But lohat,^' as Dr. Macknight translates the first words, it is " For whaty The Apostle answers the objection in stating it. " For what if some have not believed ;" that is, " the unbelief of some is no objection to the doctrine." " Will their unbelief destroy the faithfulness of God ?" This repels, and does not, as Dr. Macknight understands it, assert the supposition. The meaning is, that the unbelief of the Jews did not make void God's faithfulness with respect to the covenant with Abraham. Though the mass of his descendants were unbelievers at this time, yet many of them, both then, as the Apostle asserts, chap, xi., 2, and at all other times, were saved in virtue of that covenant. Paul then here antici- pates and meets an objection which might be urged against his asser- tion of the pre-eminence of the Jews over the Gentiles, testified by the fact, that to them God had confided his oracles. The objection is this — that since they had not believed in the Messiah whom these oracles promised, this advantage must not only be reckoned of little value, but, on the contrar}', prejudicial. In reply to this objection, the Apostle, in the first place, intimates, that their unbelief had not been universal, which is tacitly understood in his only attributing unbelief to some ; for when it is said that some have not believed, it is plainly intimated that some have believed. It does not indeed appear that it would have been worthy of the Divine wisdom to have given to one nation, in preference to all others, so ex- cellent and glorious an economy as that of the Old Testament, to have 108 ROMANS III., 3. chosen ihem above all olners of his free love and good pleasure, and to have revealed to ihcm the mysteries respecting the Messiah, while, at the same limi% none of thcin should hav(! rt'spomicd to all this hy a true faith. There is loo much glory and too mucli majesty in the Persctn of Jesus Christ, and iti his work of redemption, to allow it to be siipposcd that he should be revealed only extcirnally, by the word, without profit to some, Isaiah Iv., 10, 11. In all ages, before as well as since the comin,"^ of the Messiah, although in a different measure, the gospel has been the ministration of the Spirit, It was fitting, then, that the an- cient promises, which were in substance the gospel, should be accom- panied wilh a measure of that Divine Spirit who imprints them in the hearts of men, and that as the Spirit was to be poured out on all flesh, the nation of the Jews should not be absolutely deprived of this bless- in<'. This was the first answer, namely, that unbelief had not been so general, but that many had profiled by the divine oracles, and conse- quently, in respect to them at least, the advantage to the Jews had been great. But the Apostle goes farther ; for, in the second place, he admits that many had ftdlen in incredulity, but denies that their incre- dulity impeached the faithfulness of God. Here it may be asked whether the Apostle refers to the Jews under the legal economy who did not believe the vScriplures, or to those only who, at the appearing of the Messiah, rejected the gospel. The reference, it may be answered, is both to the one and the other. But it may be said, how could unbelief respecting these oracles be ascribed to the Jews, when they had only rejected the person of Jesus Christ ? For they did not doubt the truth of the oracles ; on the con- trary, they expected with confidence their accomplishment ; they only denied that Jesus was the predicted Messiah. It is replied, that to reject as they did the person of Jesus Christ, was the same as if they had formally rejected the oracles themselves, since all that was contained in theiri could only unite and be accomplished in his person. The Jews, therefore, in reality, rejected the oracles, and so much the more was their guilt aggravated, inasmuch as it was their prejudices, and their carnal and unauthorized anticipations of a temporal Messiah, which caused their rejection of Jesus Christ. Thus it was a real dis- belief of the oracles themselves, for all who reject the true meaning of the Scriptures, and attach to them another sense, do in reality dis- believe tliem, and set up in their stead a phantom of their own imagi- nation, even while they profess to believe the truth of what tiie Scrip- tures contain. The Apostle, then, had good reason to attribute uiil)elief to the Jews respecting the oracles, but he denies that their unbelief can make void the faitli, or rather destroy the faithfulness, of Cod. By \\\c faithfulness of God some understand the constancy and faith- fulness of his love to the Jews, and they suppose that the meaning is, that while the Jews have at present fallen into unbelief, God wdl not however fail to recall them, as is fully taught in the lllli chapter. But the question here is not respecting the recall of the Jews, or the con- stancy of God's love to them ; but respecting their condemnation before his tribunal of strict justice, whicii they attempted to elude by produc- ROMANS III., 4. 109 mg these advantages, and in maintaining tliat if these advantages only- led to their condemnation, as the Apostle had said, it was not in sincerity that God had conferred them. This objection alone the Apostle here refutes. The term, tiien, Jaith of God, signified his sincerity or faith- fulness, according to which he had given to the Jews these oracles, and the Apostle's meaning is, that the incredulity of the Jews did not im- peach that sincerity and faithfulness, whence it followed that it drew down on then a more just condemnation, as he had shown in the pre- ceding chapter. V. 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 artjudged. God forbid. — Literally, let it not be, or far be it, a denial frequently made by the Apostle in the same way in this Epistle. It intimates two things, namely, the rejecting of that vv^hich the objection would infer, not only what is false, but even impious ; for it is an affront to God to make his faithfulness dependent on the depravity of man, and his favor on our corruption. Though the privileges of the Jew, and the good which God had done for him, terminated only in his condemnation, by reason of his unbelief, it would be derogatory to the Almighty to ques- tion his faithfulness, because of the fault of the unprincipled objects of these privileges. The Apostle also wished to clear his doctrine from this calumny, that God was unfaithful in his promises, and insincere in his proceedings. Let God he true, hut every man a liar. — The calling of men, inasmuch as it is of God, is faithful -and sincere ; but the fact that it produces a result contrary to its nature and tendency, is to be attributed to man, who is always deceitful and vain. If the Jews had not been corrupted by their perversity, their calling would have issued in salvation ; if it has turned to their condemnation, this is to be attri- buted to their own unbelief. We must therefore always distinguish between what comes from God, and w^hat proceeds from man ; that which is from God is good, and right, and true; that which is from man is evil, and false, and deceitful. Mr. Tholuck grievously errs in his Neological supposition that this inspired Apostle " utters, in the warmth of his discourse, the wish that all mankind might prove cove- nant breakers, as this would only tend to glorify God the more, by being the occasion of manifesting how great is his fidelity." Tliis would be a bad v^^ish ; it would be desiring evil that good might come. It is not a wish. Paul states a truth. God in every instance is to be believed, although this should imply that every man on earth is to be condemned as a liar. As it is loritten, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. — This passage may be taken either in a passive signification, when thou shalt be judged, or in an active signification, xohen thou shalt judge. In this latter sense, accord- ing to the translation in Psalm li., 6, the meaning will be clear, if we have recourse to the history referred to in the second book of Samuel, chap, xii., 7, 11, where it was said that Nathan was sent from God to David. In that address, God assumed two characters, the one, of the 110 ROMANS III., 4. party complaining and accusiMg David as an iiiifTratcfiil man, who had abused the favors he had received, and wlio had olFended liis benefactor; the other, of the judge who pronounces in his own cause, according lo his own accusation. It is lo tliis David answers, in the fourth verse of the Psahu : '^Ai^ainst thee, thee only have I sinyied, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou. 7/iightcst be justified when thou spenkesl .'" As if he had said, thou hast good cause to decide against trie ; 1 have offended thee ; lam ungrateful ; thou hast reason to complain and to accuse mc; thou hast truth and justice in tlie worils which thy Prophet has spoken from tiiee. He adds, tJiat thou mightcst he clrar ridicn thou judgest ; that is to say, as my accuser thou wilt obtain the victory over me, before thy triljunal, when thou pronouncest thy sentence. In one word, it signifies, that whether in regard to the ground of that sentence or its form, David had nothing to allege against the judgment which God had pronounced in his own cause, and that he fully acknowledged the truth and justice of God. Hence, it clearly follows, that when (Jod pleads against us, and sets be- fore us his goodness to »is, and on the other hand, the evil return we have made, it is always found that God is sincere and true towards us, but that we have been deceivers and unbelieving in regard to him, and therefore that our condemnation is just. This is precisely what the Apostle pro- posed to conclude against the Jews, (iod had extended to them his favors, and they had requited them only by their sins, and by a base incredulity. When, therefore, he shall bring them to answer before his judgment-scat, God will decide that he had been sincere in respect lo them, and that they, on the contrary, had been wicked, whence will follow their awful but just condemnation. Paul could not have adduced anything more to the purpose than the example and words of David, on a subject altogether similar, nor more solidly have replied to the objec- tion supposed. The answer of the Apostle will lead to the same conclusion, if the passive sense be taken. Thou shall be judged. Though so eminent a servant of (Tod, David had been permitted to fall into his foul trans- gressions, that (jod might be justified in the declarations of his word, which assert that all men are evil, guilty, and polluted by nature, and that in themselves there is no diflerence. Had all the eminent saints, whose lives are recorded in Scripture, been preserved blameless, the world would have supposed that such men were an exception to tlic character given of man in the word of God. They would have con- cluded that human nature is better than it is. But when Abraham and Jacob, David and Solomon, and Peter and many others, were permitted lo manifest what is in human nature, God's word is justified in its description of luan. (Jod "overcomes when he is judged;" that is, such examples as that of the fall of David, prove that man is what (^od declares him to be. Wicked men arc not afraid to bring God to their bar, and impeach his veracity, by denying that man is as bad as he declares. But by such examples God is justified. The passive sense, then, of the word "judge," is a good and appropriate meaning; and the phrase acquitting, or clearing, or overcoming, may be applicable, not to the person who judges God, but to God who is judged. Tliis meaning is ROMANS III,, 7. Ill also entirely to the Apostle's purpose. Let all men be accounted liars, rather than impugn the veracity of God, because, in reality, all men arc in themselves such. Whenever, then, the Divine testimony is contra- dicted by human testimony, let man be accounted a liar. V. 5. — Rut if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say ? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance ? (I speak as a man.) Out of the ansvi'er to the question in the first verse of this chapter, another objection might arise, whicii is here supposed. It is such as a Jew^ would make, but is proposed by the Apostle classing himself with the Jews, as is intimated, when he says I speak as a man, just as any writer is in the habit of staling objections in order to obviate them. The objection is this ; if then it be so that the righteousness of God, — that righteousness which is revealed in the gospel, chap, i., 17, by the imputation of which men are justified, — if that righteousness which God has provided is more illustriously manifested by our sm, showing how suitable and efiicacious it is to us as sinners, shall it not be said that God is unjust in punishing the sin that has this eifect? What shall we say ? or what answer can be made to such an objection ' Is God, or rather, is not God unjust, who in this case taketh vengeance ? This is a sort of insult against the doctrine of the gospel, as if the objection was so strong and well founded that no reply could be made to it. I speak as a man. — That is to say, in the way that the impiety of men, and their want of reverence for God, lead them to speak. The above was, in effect, a manner of reasoning common among the Jews and other enemies of the gospel. It is, indeed, such language as is often heard, that if such doctrines as those of election and special grace be true, men are not to be blamed who reject the gospel. V. 6. — God forbid ; for then how shall God judge the world ? Far be it. — Paul thus at once rejects such a consequence, and so perverse a manner of reasoning, as altogether inadmissible, and proceeds to answer it by showing to what it would lead, if admitted. For then how shall God judge the world ? — If the objection were well founded, it would entirely divest God of the character of judge of the world. The reason of this is manifest, for there is no sin that any man can commit which does not exalt some perfection of God, in the way of contrast. If, then^^t be concluded, that because unrighteousness in man illustrates the righteousness of God, God is unrighteous when he taketh vengeance, it must be further said, that there is no sin that God can justly punish ; whence it follows that God can no longer be the judge of the world. But this would subvert all order and all religion. The objection, then, is such that, were it admitted, all the religion in the world would at once be annihilated. For those sins, for whicli men will be everlastingly punished, will no doubt be made to manifest God's glory. !Such is the force of the Apostle's reply. V. 7. — For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am 1 also judged as a sinner ? 112 ROMANS III., 8. This verse is generally supposed to contain the objection here reite- rated, which was before stated in the 5th verse. It would appear strange, liowever, that the Apostle should in this manner repeat an ubjnclion, in a way, too, in which it is not strengthened, which he had cfrcclually removed, and that after proposing it a second time he should add nothing to his preceding reply, farther than denouncing it. It is not then a repetition of the same objection, but a second way in which Paul replies to what had been advanced in the 5th verse. In the preceding verse he had, in his usual brief, but energetic manner, first repudiated the consequence alleged in the 6th verse, and had next replied to it by a particular reference, which proved that it was inadmissible. Here l)y the word For, he introduces another consideration, and proceeds to set aside the objection, by exposing the inconsistency of those by whom it was preferred. The expressioii (t^yu) I also, shows that Paul speaks here in his own person, and not in that of an opponent, for otherwise he would not have said, / also, which marks an application to a particular individual. His reply then here to the objection is this : If, according to those by whom it is supposed and brought forward, it would be unrighteous in God to punish any action which redounds to his own glory, Paul would, in like manner, say, that if his lie — his false doc- trine, as his adversaries stigmatized it, commended the truth of God, they, according to their own principle, were unjust, because on this account they persecuted him as a sinner. In this manner he makes their objection recoil upon those by whom it was advanced, and refutes them by referring to their own conduct towards him, so that they could have nothing to reply. For it could not be denied that the doctrnie which Paul taught respecting the justification of sinners solely by the unrighteousness of God, whether true or false, ascribed all the glory of their salvation to God. V. S. — And not rather (as we be slanderously reported, and as some aflSrm that we say), Let us do evil that good may come ; whose damnation is just This is the third thing which the Apostle advances against the objection of his adversaries, and is in substance, that they established as a good and just principle, what they ascribed to him as a crime, namely, that men might do evil that good may come. They caluinniously imputed to Paul and his fellow-laborers this impious maxim, in order to render them odious, while it was they themselves who maintained it. For if, according to them, God was unrighteous in punishing the unrighteous- ness of men when their unrighteousness redounded to his glory, it fol- lowed that the Apostles might without blame do evil, provicfed that out of it good should arise. Tiieir own objection then proved them guilty of maintaining that same hateful doctrine which they so falsely laid to his charge. As we be slanderously reported. — Here Paul satisfies himself with stigmatizing as a slanderous imputation this vile calumny, from which the doctrine he taught was altogether clear. Whose damnation is just. — This indignant manner of cutting short the matter, by simply affirming the righteous condemnation of his adversaries, was the more proper, ROMANS III., 9, 113 not only as lliey were calumniators, but also because the principle of doinf evil that good might come, was avowed by them in extenuation of sin and unbelief. It was fitting, tiien, that an expression of abhor- rence, containing a solemn denunciation of the vengeance of God, on account of such a complication of perversity and falsehood, should for ever close the subject. On these verses we may observe that men often adduce specious reasonings to contradict the decisions of the Divine word ; but Christians ought upon every subject implicitly to credit the testimony of God, though many subtle and plausible objections should present themselves, which they are unable to answer. V. 9. — What then, are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. Here commences the second part of the chapter, in which, having proposed and replied to the above objections to his doctrine, Paul now resumes the thread of his discourse. In the two preceding chapters, he had asserted the guilt of the Gentiles and of the Jews separately; in what follows he takes them together, and proves by express testimonies from Scripture that all men are sinners, and that there is none right- eous, no not one. In this manner he follows up and completes his ar- gument to support the conclusion at which he is about to arrive in the 20th verse, which all along he had in view, namely, that by works of law no man can be justified, and with the purpose of fully unfolding in verses 21, 22, 23, and 24, the means that God has provided for our justi- fication, which he had briefly announced, ch. i., 17. In the verse before us he shows that, although he has admitted that the advantages of the Jews over the Gentiles are great, it must not thence be concluded that the Jews are belter than they. When he says, " are toe better," he classes himself with the Jews, to whom he was evidently referring ; but when, in the last clause of the verse, he employs the same term "t^e," he evidently speaks in his own person, although, as in some other places, in the plural number. Wliat then ? Are loe better than they ? — The common translation here is juster than Mr. Stuart's; which is, "have we any preference ?" The Jews had a preference. The Apostle allows that they had many advantages, and tliat they had a preference over the Gentiles ; but he denies that they were better. Not at all. — By no means. This is a strong denial of what is the subject of the question. Then he gives the reason of his denial ; namely, that he had before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. All not only signifies that there were sinners among both Jews and Gentiles, for the Jews did not deny this ; on this point there was no difference between them and the Apostle ; but he includes them all singly, without one exception. It is in this sense of universality that what he has hitherto said, both of Jews and Gentiles, must be taken. Of all that multitude of men there was not one found who had not wandered from the right way. One alone, Jesus Christ, was without sin, and it is on this account that the 8 114 ROMANS III., 10. Scriptures call him the "Just or Righteous One," to distinguish him by this singular cliaracter from the rest of men. " Under sin." Tliat is to say, guilty ; for it is in relation to the tri- bunal of Divine justice that the Apostle here considers sin, in the same way as he says, Gal. iii., 22, " The Scripture hath concluded (sliut up) all under sin, that the j)roniise by faith of Jesus Christ might l)c given to them that believe." That it is in this sense we must understand tiie expression undri- sin, and not as Roman Catholic commentators exj)lain * it, as under the dominion of sin, evidently apj)cars, 1st, Because in this discussion, to be under sin^ is opposed to being under grace. Now, to be under grace, Rom. vi., 14, 15, signifies to be in a state of justi- fication before (Jod, our sins being pardoned. To be under sin, then, signifies to be guilty in the eye of justice. 2d, It is in reference to the tribunal of Divine justice, and in the view of condemnation, that Paul has all along been considering sin, both in respect to Jews and dlentiles. To be under sin, then, can only signify to be guilty, since he here repeats in summary all that he tiad before advanced. Finally, he explains his meaning clearly when he says, in verse 19, "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." V. 10. — As it is written, There is none rigliteous, no not one. After having proceeded in his discussion, appealing lo the natural sentiments of conscience and luidcniablc fact, Paul now employs the au- thority of Scripture, and alleges several passages drawn from the books of the Old Testament, written atdilTcrent times, more clearly to establish the universal guilt both of Jews and Gentiles, in order that he might prove them all under condemnation before the tribunal of God. There is none righteous. — This passage may be regarded as the leading pro- position, the truth of which the Apostle is about to establish by the following quotations. None could be more appropriate or belter adapted to his purpose, which was to show tliat every man is in himself entirely divested of righteousness. There is none righteous, no not one. Not one possessed of a righteousness that can meet the demands of God's holy law. The words in this verse, and tliose contained in verses 1 1 and 12, are taken from Psalms xiv. and liii., which arc the same as to the sense, although they do not follow the exact expressions. But does it s.em proper that ]*aul should draw a consequence in relation to all, from what David has only said of the wicked of his tirne ? The answer is, that the terms which David employs are too strong not to contemplate the universal sinfulness of the human race. " The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to sec if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside ; they are all together become filthy ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." This notifies universal depravity, so that, according to the Prophet, the application is just. It is not that David denies that God had sanctified some men by his Spirit : for, on the contrary, in the same Psalm, he speaks of the afllicted, of whom God is the refuge ; but the intention ROMANS III., 10. 115 is to say that, in their natural condition, without tlie grace of regenera- tion, winch God vouchsafes only to his people, who are a small number, the wliole human race is in a slate of universal guilt and condemnation. This is also what is meant by Paul, and it is the use, as is clear from the context, that he designed to make of this passage of David, ac- cording to which none are excepted in such a way as that, if God ex- amined them by their obedience to the law, they could stand before him : and, besides this, whatever holiness is found in any man, it is not by the efficacy of the law, but by that of the gospel, and, if they are now sanctified, they were formerly under sin as well as others ; so that it remains a truth that all who are under the law, to which the Apostle is exclusively referring, are under sin, that is, guilty before God. Through the whole of this discussion it is to be observed that the Apostle makes no reference to the doctrine of sanctification. It is to the law exclusively that he refers, and here, without qualification, he asserts it as a universal truth, that there is no7ie righteous — not one who possesses righteousness, that is, in perfect conformity to the law ; and his sole object is to prove the necessity of receiving the righteousness of God in order to be delivered from condemnation. The parsage then, here adduced by Paul, is strictly applicable to his design. Dr. Macknight supposes that this expression, " there is none right- eous," applies to the Jewish common people, and is an Eastern expres- sion, which means that comparatively very few are excepted. There is not the shadow of ground for such a supposition. It is evident that both the passages quoted, and the Apostle's argument, require that every individual of the human race be included. And on what pretence can it be restricted to " the Jewish common people ?" Whether were they or their leaders the objects of the severest reprehensions of our Lord during his ministry ? Did not Jesus pronounce the heaviest woes on the Scribes and Pharisees? Matt, xxiii., 15. Did he not tell the chief priests and elders that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before them ? Matt, xxi., 31. Mr. Stuart also supposes that tlie charge is not unlimited, and justifies this, by alleging that the believing Jews must be excepted. But it is clear that the believing Jews are not excepted. For though they are now delivered, yet they were by nature under sin as well as others, and that all men are so is what Paul is teaching, without having the small- est reference to the gospel or its effects. In this manner Dr. Macknight and Mr. Stuart, entirely mistaking the meaning of the Apostle and the whole drift of his argument, remove the foundation of the proofs he adduces, that all men are sinners. Mr. Stuart also appears to limit the charges to the Jews, and in support of this refers to the 9th and 19th verses. The 9th verse speaks of both Jews and Gentiles, and the purpose of the 19th evidently is to prove that the Jews are not excepted, while the 20lh clearly shows that the whole race of mankind are in- cluded, it being the general conclusion which the Apostle draws from all he had said, from the 18th verse of the first chapter, respecting both Jews and Gentiles, of whom he affirms, in the 9th verse, that they were 1 10 ROMANS III., 10. all under sin. Ami is it nol strictly tnir, in iIh; fullest import of the term, that there is none righteous in himself, no, not one ? Is not righteousness the fulfilling of the law ? And do not the Scriptures testify, and everywhere show, that " there is no man that sinneth nol ?" 1 Kings viii., 46. " Who can say I have made my heart clean, T am j)ure from my sin ?" Prov. xx., 0. " For there is not a just ma» ui)on earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." Eccl. vii., 20. And the .A] ostle James, including himself as well as his brethren to whom he wrote, declares, *' In many things we all olfend."* Like Mr. Stuart, Taylorof Norwich, in his Commentary, supposes that in this and the following verses to the 19th, the Apostle means no uni- versality at all, but only the far greater part, and that they refer to bodies of people, of Jews and (ienliles in a collective sense, and nol to particular persons. To this President Edwards, in his treatise on Original Sin, p. 215, replies, " If the words which the Apostle uses, do nol most fully and determinalely signify an universality, no words ever used in the Bible are sufficient to do it. I might challenge any man to produce any one paragraph in the Scripture, from the begiiuiing to the end, where there is such a repetition and accumulation of terms, so strongly and emphatically, and carefully, to express the most perfect and absolute universality, or any place to be compared to it. What instance is there in the Scripture, or indeed any other writing, when the meaning is only the nnach greater part, where this meaning is signified in such a manner by repeating such expressions — They are all — thcij arc all — they are all — together — every one — all the ivorld ; joined to multiplied negative terms, to show the universality to be without exception ; saying. There is no flesh — there is none — there is none — there is none — there is none, four times over; besides the addition of no, not one — no, not one — once and again ! When the Apostle says, That every mouth may he stopped, must wc suppose that he speaks only of those two great col- * " Here a question," it is observed in the Presbyterian Review, "arises, whicli materially afTects the interpretation of the next two verses, — ' whether Paul continues to devote himself to the inculpation of the Jews only, or of all mankind.' It is natural, of course, to refer the quotations from the Old Testament to the sentiment which is nearest them, that all, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under sin ; and it is ri;:ht to do so, unless some strong reason can be shown to the contrary. Mr Stuart imagines he has discovered such a reason, in the alleged fact that, ' in the Old Testament, in the con- nection in which they stand, some of the passages have not an unlimited significati(\n.' 15ut this argument, if of any weight at all, proves a great deal too much, l-'or, if their original meaning was so specific as not to comprehend all the world, it was likewise so specific as not to comprehend all the Jews. On Mr. Stuart's supposition most of them refer primarily to the ' impious part of the Jewish nation.' \Vould then those who made their t)oast of God, submit to be marked as of this fraternity ? No, not one of them would identify himself with the impious ; and the arrows which the Apostle de- signed to pierce their hearts, would prove either pointless or misdirected. If, therefore, we must restrict the signitlcation of these verses, according to o\ir previous views of their force in the passages whence they liave been transplanted, let us do so consist- ently, and affirm at once, that the Apostle, wishing to bring home guilt to the Jewisli people (for we go on Mr Stuart's own supposition), adduced authorities which l)ear only upon part of them, and were of no efficacy for the conviction of the whole. But, if this is too appalling for our acceptance, let us renounce the argument whicli involves it ; let us learn from Paul himself the object of his own citations, connect them (as is most natural) with the nearest context, and understand them as expressive of the most perfect and absolute univeraadity." ROMANS III., 11. 117 lective bodies, figuratively ascribing to each of them a mouth, and means that those two mouths are stopped?" Again, p. 241, " Here the thing which I would prove, viz., that mankind, in tlieir first state, before they arc interested in the benefits of Christ's redemption, are universally wicked, is declared with the utmost possible fulness and precision. So that, if here this matter be not set forth plainly, ex- pressly, and fully, it must be because no words can do it ; and it is not in the power of language, or any manner of terms or phrases, however contrived and heaped one upon another, determinately to signify any such thing." V. 11. — There is none that understandeth, there is none that sceketh after God. Paul here applies equally to Jews and Gentiles, that which he charges upon the Gentiles, Eph. iv., 18. " Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness (or hardness) of their hearts." This is true of every individual of the human race naturally. " The na- tural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him." In the parable of the sower, the radical dis- tinction between those who finally reject, and those who receive the word and bring forth fruit, is, that they who were fruitful " understood" the word, while the others understood it not. Matt, xiii., 19-23, and the neio man, he who is born again, is said to be renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that created him. The assertion, then, in this passage, requires no limitation with respect to'those who are now be- lievers, for they were originally like others. All men are naturally ignorant of God, and by neglecting the one thing needful, show no un- derstanding. They act more irrationally than the beasts. None that seeketh after God. — To seek God is an expression fre- quentl}' used in Scripture to denote the acts of religion and piety. It supposes the need all men have to go out of themselves to seek else- where their support, their life and happiness, and the distance at which naturally w^e are from God, and God from us, — we by our perversity, and he by his just wrath. It teaches how great is the blindness of those who seek anything else but God, in order to be happy, since true wis- dom consists in seeking God for this, for he alone is the sovereign good to man. It also teaches us that during the whole course of our life, God proposes himself as the object that men arc to seek, Isaiah Iv., 6, for the present is the time of his calling them, and if they do not find him, it is owing to their perversity, which causes them to flee from him, or to seek him in a wrong way. I'o seek God is, in general, to answer to all his relative perfections ; that is to say, to respect and adore his Sovereign Majesty, to instruct ourselves in his word as the primary truth, to obey his commandments as the commandments of the Sovereign Legislator of men, to have recourse to him by prayer as the origin of all tilings. In particular, it is to have recourse to liis mercy by repentance ; it is to place our confidence in Him ; it is to ask for his Holy Spirit to support us, and to implore his protection and bless- 118 ROMANS III., 13. ing ; and all this llirougli him who is ihc way lo ihc Father, and who declares, that no man comcth to the Father but by him. V. 12 — They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is inuu' lh;it doeth good, no, not one. Sin is a wandcrinii or departure from the rii^ht way; that is to say, out of the way of (hily and obligation, out of the way of the means which condnct to felicity. These arc the ways open before the eyes of men lo walk in them ; he who turns from them wanders out of the way. The Prophet here teaches what is the nature of sin, he also shows us what are its consequences ; for as the man who loses his way cannot have any rest in his mind, nor any security, it is the same with the sinner; and as a wanderer cannot restore himself to the right way without the help of a guide, in the same manner the sinner caimot restore himself, if the Holy Sj)irit comes not to liis aid. They are to- gether become nnprofituble. — They have become corrupted, or have rendered themselves usidess ; for everything that is corrupted loses its use. They are become unfit for that for which (lod made them ; un- profitable to God, to themselves, and to their neighbor. There is none that doeth good, no, not one — not one who comelh up to the require- ments of the law' of God. This is the same as is said abDve, there is none righteous, and both the Prophet and the Apostle make use of this repetition lo enhance the greatness and the extent of human corruption. V. iTi. — Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used de- ceit ; the poison of asps is under their lips. What the Apostle had said in the preceding verses /was general, he now descends to something more particular, both r^fepecling words and actions, and in this manner follows up his assertion that there is none that doeth good, by showing that all men arc engaged in doing evil. As to their words, he marks in this and the following verse, all the organs of speech, the throat, the tongue, the lips, the mouth. All this tends lo aggravate the depravity of which he speaks. The first part of this verse is taken from Psalm v., 9, and the last from Psalm cxl., 3. Open Sepulchre. — This figure graphically portrays the con- versation of the wicked. Nothing can be more abominable lo the senses than an open sepulchre, where a dead body beginning to putrify steams forth its lainleti exhalations. What proceeds out of their inouth is infected and putrid ; and as the exhalation from a sepulchre proves the corruption within, so it is with the corrupt conversation of sinners. WitJi their tongues they have used deceit — used them to deceive their neighl>or, or they have flattered with the tongue, and this flattery is joined with the intention lo deceive. This also characterizes, in a striking manner, the way in which men employ speech to deceive each other, in bargains, and in everything in whicii their interest is con- cerned. The poison of asps is wider their lips. — This denotes the mortal poison, such as that of vipers or asps, that lies concealed under the lips, and is emitted in poisoned words. As these venomous crea- tures kill with their poisonous sting, so slanderers and evil-m.inded per- ROMANS III., 18 119 sons destroy the characters of their neighbors. " Death and hfe," it is said, in the book of Proverbs, " are in the power of the tongue." V 14. — Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. This is taken from Psalm x., 7. Paul describes in this and the fore- going verse the four principal vices of the tongue, filthy and infected discourse, deceitful flatteries, subtle and piercing evil speaking, finally outrageous and open malediction. This last relates to the extraordi- nary propensity of men to utter imprecations against one another, pro- ceeding from liieir being hateful and haling one another. Bitterness applies to the bitterness of spirit to wiiich men give vent by bitter words. All deceit and fraud is bitter in the end ; that is to say, desolating and afflicting. " They bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words." " Their teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword ;" Psalm Ixiv., 3 ; Ivii., 4. " The tongue," says the Apostle James, " is set on fire of hell." V. 15. — Their feet are swift to shed blood. After having spoken of men's sinfulness as shown by their woros, the Apostle comes to that of actions, which he describes in this and the two following verses. This passage is taken from Isaiah lix., 7, and from Proverbs i., 16, which describe the general sinfulness of men, the injustice and violence committed among them, and how ready they are to shed blood when not restrained either by the consideration of the good of society, or by fear of the laws. Every page of history attests the truth of this awful charge. v. 16. — Destruction and misery are in their ways. This declaration, taken also from Isaiah lix., 7, must be understood in an active sense ; that is to say, men labor to destroy and to ruin one another ; proceeding in their perverse ways, they cause destruction and misery. V. 17. — And the way of peace have they not known. They have not known peace to follow and approve of it ; and are not acquainted with its ways, in which they do not walk in order to procure the good of their neighbor, for peace imparts prosperity, or the way to maintain concord and friendship. Such is a just descrip- tion of man's ferocity, which fills the world with animosities, quarrels, hatred in the private connexions of families and neighborhoods ; and with revolutions, and wars, and murders among nations. The most savage animals do not destroy so many of their own species to appease their hunger, as man destroys of his fellows, to satiate his ambition, his revenge, or cupidity. V. 18. — There is no fear of God before their eyes. This is taken from Psalm xxxvi., 1. After having followed up the 120 ROMANS III., 18. general charge, that there is " none riglitcous, no not one," by produc- ing the precedirig awful descriptions of luiman depravity, and having begun with tlie declaration of man's want of understanding, and his ahenation from God, the Apostle here refers to the primary source of all these evils, with which he sums them up. There is " no fear of God before tlieir eyes." They have not that reverential fear of him which is the beginning of wisdom, which is connected with departing from evil, and honoring and obeying him, and is often spoken of in Scripture as the sum of all practical religion. On the contrary, they are regardless of his majesty and authority, his precepts and his threat- enings. It is astonishing that men, while they acknowledge that there is a God, should act without any fear of his displeasure. Yet this is their character. They fear a worm of the dust like themselves, but disregard the Most High, Isaiah li., 12, 13. They are more afraid of man than of God — of his anger, his contempt, or ridicule. The fear of man prevents tliem from doing many things from which they arc not restrained by the fear of God. That God will put his fear in the hearts of his people, is one of the distinguishing promises of the new covenant, which shows that prior to this it is not found there. The Apostle could iiave collected a much greater number of passages from the law and the prophets to prove what he intended, for there is nothing more frequent in the Old Testament than the reproaches of God against the Israelites, and all men, on account of their abandoning themselves to sin ; but these form a very complete description of the reign of sin among men. The first of them, ver. 10, prefers the general charge of unrighteousness. The second, ver. 11, 12, marks the internal character or disorders of the heart ; the third, ver. 13, 14, those of the words ; the fourth, ver. 15, 16, 17, those of the actions; and the last, ver. 18, declares the cause of the whole. In the first and second we see the greatness of the corruption, and its universality. Its greatness, in the extinction of all righteousness, of all wisdom, of all reli- gion, of all rectitude, of all that is proper, and, in one word, of all that is good. Its universality, in that it has seized upon the whole man, without leaving anything that is sound or entire. In the third, we observe the four vices of the tongue which have been already pointed out, namely, corrupt conversation, flattery and deceit, envenomed slan- der, outrageous malediction. In the fourth, justice violated in what is most sacred — the life of man ; charity subverted in doing the evil, which it prohibits ; and that which is most fundamental and most necessary, peace destroyed. And in the last, what is most essential entirely cast off, which is the fear of God. In this manner, having commenced his enumeration of the evils to which men are addicted, by pointing out their want of understanding and desire to seek (iod, the Apostle terminates his description by exposing the source from whence they all flow, which is, that men arc destitute of the fear of God, — his fear is not before their eyes to restrain them from evil. They love not his character, not rendering to it that veneration which is due — they respect not his autiiority. Such is the state of human nature, while the heart is unchanged From all this a faint idea may be formed of ROMANS III., 19. 121 what will be the future state of those who slmll perish, from whom the gospel has been hid, — of those whose minds the god of this world has blinded, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them. Then the various restraints which in this life operate so powerfully, so extensively, and so constantly, will be taken off, and the natural depravity of fallen man will burst forth in all its unbridled and horrible wickedness. V. 19. — Now we know that whatsoever thing; 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. The article is in this verse prefixed to the term law, while it is want- ing in the followmg verse. This shows that here the reference is to the legal dispensation, and applies in the first clause specially to the Jews, while in the last clause, the expression " all the world," and in the following verse the term "law," without the article, refer to all mankind. Paul here anticipates two general answers which might be made to those passages which he had just quoted, to convict the Jews, as well as all other men, of sin. First, that they are applicable not to the Jews but to the Gentiles, and that therefore it is improper to employ them against the Jews. Second, that even if they referred to the Jews, they could only be applied to some wicked persons among them, and not to the whole nation, so that what he intended to prove could not thence be concluded, namely, that no man can be justified before God by the law. In opposition to these two objections, he says, that lohen the law sjyeaks, it speaks to those who are under it — to the Jews, there- fore ; and that it does so in order that the mouths of all, without dis- tinction, may be stopped. If God should try the Jews according to the law, they could not stand before his strict justice, as David said, " If thou. Lord, shouldst mark iniquity ; 0 Lord, who shall stand ?" Psalm cxxx., 3. And, in addition to this, whatever there was of piety and holiness in some, it was not by the efficacy of the law, but by that of the gospel — not by the spirit of bondage, but by the spirit of adoption ; so that it remains true, that all those who are under the law are under sin. That, or in order that. — This must be taken in three senses. 1st, The law brought against the Jews those accusations and reproaches of which Paul had produced a specimen in the passages quoted, in order that every mouth may be stopped ; this is the end which the law pro- posed. 2d, This was also the object of God, when he gave the law, for he purposed to make manifest the iniquity of man, and the rights of justice, Rom. v., 20. 3d, It was likewise the result of the legal economy. Every mouth may he stopped. — This expression should be carefully remarked. For if a man had fulfilled the law% he would have something to allege before the Divine tribunal, to answer to the de- mands of justice ; but when convicted as a smner, he can only be silent — he can have nothing to answer to the accusations against him ; he must remain convicted. This silence, then, is a silence of confes- sion, of astonishment, and of conviction. This is what is elsewhere 122 ROMANS III., 20. expressed by confusion of face. " O Lord, righteousness bclongeth unto tlico ; but unto us, confusion of faces." Daniel ix., 7. And all the world. — That is to say, both Jews and Gentiles. The first clause of this verse, though specially applicable to the Jews, proves, that since they who enjoyed such peculiar privileges were chargeable with those things of which the law accused tiiem, the rest of mankind, whom the Aj)oslle here includes under the term " all the world," must also be under the same condemnation. The law of nature, written on their consciences, sufficiently convicts the (ienliles, and as to the Jews, who try to sliflc the conviction of their consciences by abusing the advantages of the law, tiiat law jtself, while it accuses, convicts them also. This expression, then, must include the whole human race. It applies to all men, of every age and every nation. None of all the children of Adam are excepted. Words cannot more clearly include, in one general condemnation, the whole human race. Who can be excepted ? Not the Gentiles, since they have all been destitute of tiie knowledge of the true God. Not the Jews, for tliem the law itself accuses. Not believers, for they are only such through their acknowledgment of their sins, since grace is the remedy to which they have resorted to be freed from condemnation. All the world, then, signifies all men universally. May become gi/ilti/. — That is, be compelled to acknowledge them- selves guilty. Tiie term guilty signifies subject to condemnation, and respects the Divine judgment. It denotes the state of a man justly charged witii a crime, and is used both in the sense of legal responsi- bility and of blameworthiness. This manifestly proves, that in ail this discussion the Apostle considers sin in relation to the condemnation which it deserves. Before God. — When the question respects appear- ing before men, people find many ways of escape, either by concealing their actions, by disguising facts, or by disputing what is right. And even when men pass in review before themselves, self-love finds excuses, and various shifts arc resorted to, and false reasonings, wiiich deceive. But nothing of tiiis sort can have place before God. For although the Jews flattered themselves, in the confidence of their own rigiiteousness, and on this point all men try to deceive themselves, it will be entirely different in the day when they shall appear before the tribunal of God ; for then there will be no more illusions of conscience, no more excuses, no way to escape condemnation. His knowledge is infinite, his hand is omnipotent, his justice is incorruptible, and from him nothing can be concealed. Before him, therefore, every mouth will be stopped, and all the world must confess themselves guilty. V. 20.— Therefore by the deeds of law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by law is the knowledge of sin. This is the final conclusion drawn from the whole of the preceding discussion, beginning at verse 18th of chapter 1st. The Apostle had shown that both the Gentiles and the Jews are under sin ; that is, they have brought down upon themselves the just condemnation of God. He had proved the same thing in the preceding verse, according to the ROMANS III., 20. 123 Scriptures before quoted. Therefore. — The conclusion, then, from the whole as contained in this verse is evident. By the deeds of the law, or as in the original, of laiv. — The reference here is to every law that God has given to man, whether expressed in words, or imprinted in the heart. It is that law which the Gentiles have transgressed, which they have naturally inscribed in their hearts. It is that law which the Jews have violated, when they committed theft, adulteries, and sacri- leges, and which convicted them of impiety, of evil speaking, of ca- lumny, of murder, of injiistice. In one word, it is that law whicli shuts the mouth of llie whole world, as had been said in the preceding verse, and brings in all men guilty before God. The deeds, or works of law. — When it is said, by works of law no flesh shall be justified, it is not meant that the law, whether natural or written, was not capable of justifying. Neither is it meant that the righteousness thus resulting from man's fulfilment of all its demands, would not be a true righteousness, but that no man being able to plead this fulfilment of the law before the tribunal of God — that perfect obe- dience which it requires — no man can receive by the law a sentence pronouncing him to be righteous. To say that the works of the law if performed are good and acceptable, and would not form a true right- eousness, would contradict what had been affirmed in the preceding chapter, verse 13 — that the doers of the laio shall he justified. The Apostle, then, does not propose here to show either the want of power of the law in itself, or of the insufficiency of its works for justification, but solely to prove that no man fulfils the law, that both Gentiles and Jews are under sin, and that all the world is guilty before God. No flesh. — Tins reference appears to be to Psalm cxliii. David there says, ^' no man living.'''' Paul says, ^^ no flesh. ''^ The one is a term which marks a certain dignity, the other denotes meanness. The one imports that whatever excellence there might be supposed to be in man, he could not be justified before God ; and the other, that being only flesh, that is to say, corruption and weakness, he ought not to pretend to justification by himself. Thus, on whatever side man regards him- self, he is far from being able to stand before the strict judgment of God. Shall he justified in his sight. — The meaning of the term justified, as used by the Apostle in the whole of this discussion, is evident by the diff'erent expressions in this verse. It appears by the therefore with which the verse begins, that it is a conclusion which the Apostle draws from the whole of the foregoing discussion. Now, all this dis- cussion has been intended to show that neither Gentiles nor Jews could elude the condemnation of the Divine judgment. The conclusion, then, that no flesh shall be justified in the sight of God by the works of law, can only signify, thai no man can be regarded as righteous, or obtain by means of his works a favorable sentence from Divine justice. It is in this sense that David has taken the ievm justify in Psalm cxliii., to which the Apostle had reference. Enter not into judgment ivith thy servant ; for in thy sight shall no man living he justified. The terms, in his sight, testify the same thing, for they accommodate themselves 124 ROMANS III., 20. to llic iilca of a tribunal, before which men must appear to be judged. It is the same with regard to the other terms, by the deeds of lavj ; for if we understaiid a justification of judgment, the sense is plain ; no one can plead before the tribunal of God a perfect and complete fulfilment of the law, such as strict and exact justice demand ; no one, therefore, can in that way obtain justification. In justifying men God does all, and men receiving justification, contribute nothing towards it. This is in opposition to the justification proposed by the law by means of obe- dience, in which way a man would be justified by his own righteous- ness, and not by the righteousness wiiicli God has provided and bestows. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. — Paul does not here intend simj)ly lo sa)', that the law makes known in general the nature of sin, inasnuich as it discovers what is acceptable or displeasing lo God, what he commands, and what he forbids ; but he means to affirm that the law convicts men of being sinners. For his words refer lo what he had just l)efore said in the preceding verse, liial all that the law saith, it sailh to them ivho are under the law ; that every mouth may be stop- ped, and all the world may become guilty before God, which marks a conviction of sin. Bui how, it may be said, docs ihe law give that knowledge or that conviction of sin ? It does so in two ways. By the application of its commandments, and its prohibitions in the present stale in which man is placed, for it excites and awakens the conscience, and gives birth to accusing thoughts. This is common both lo the written law and the law of nature. It does this, secondly, by the de- claration of punishments and rewards which it sets before its trans- gressors and observers, and as it excites the conscience, and gives rise to fear and agitation, thus bringing before the eyes of men the dreadful evil of sin. This also is alike common lo the law of nature and the written law. Here it is important to remark, that God, having purposed to esta- blish but one way of justification for all men, has permitted, in his providence, thai all shoidd be guilty. For if there had been any ex- cepted, there would have been two difiercnt methods of justification, and consequently two true religions, and two true churches, and believ- ers would not have had that oneness of communion which grace produces. It was necessary, then, thai all should become guilty, Rom. xi., .'32 ; Gal. iii., 22. The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Gal. iii., 22 ; Rom. xi., 32. ROMANS in., 21. 125 CHAPTER III. PART III. ROMANS III., 21. At the opening of his discussion, chap, i., 16, 17, Paul had announced that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, because therein is the righteousness of God revealed. He had said that the righteous by faith shall live, intimating that there is no other way of obtaining life. In proof of this he had declared, that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and had shown at large that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, and that, therefore, by obedience to law, no flesh shall be justified. He now proceeds to speak more particularly of the righteousness of God provided for man's justification, describing the manner in which it is conferred, and the character of those by whom it is received. To this subject, therefore, he here reverts. V. 21. — But now the righteousness of God without law is manifested, being witness- ed by the law and the prophets. Now — That is to say, under the preaching of the gospel — in the period of tlie revelation of the Messiah ; for it denotes the time present, in opposition to that time when God appeared not to take notice of the state of the Gentile nations, as it is said, Acts xvii., .30, " The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men every- where to repent." And also in opposition to the legal economy respect- ing the Jews, as again it is said, John i , 17, " The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." This is what the Scriptures call " the fulness of times," Eph. i., 10; Gal. iv., 4. "The last days," Isa. ii., 2 ; Heb. i., 2; Acts ii., 17; 1 John ii., 18. "The acceptable year of the Lord," Isa. Ixi., 2. " Now is the accepted time ; behold now is the day of salvation," 2 Cor. vi., 2. The day of the Saviour that Abraham saw, John viii., 56. The righteousness of God. — This is one of the most important ex- pressions in tiie Scriptures. It frequently occurs both in the Old Testament and the New ; it stands connected with the argument of the whole of the first five chapters of this Epistle, and signifies that fulfil- ment of the law which God had provided, by the imputation of whicii sinners are saved. Although perfectly clear in itself, its meaning has been involved in much obscurity by the learned labors of some who know not the truth, and by the perversions of others by whom it has been greatly corrupted. By many it has been misunderstood, and has in general been very slightly noticed even by those whose views on the subject are correct and scriptural. To consider its real signification is the more necessary, as it does not appear always to receive that atten- tion from Christians which its importance demands. When the ques- tion is put, Why is the gospel the power of God unto salvation 1 how 126 ROMANS III., 21. few give llic clear and unfullcring answer of the Aposlle, Bnause therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Before attend ing to the true import of this phrase, it is proper to advert to some of the significations erroneously attached to it. Of these I shall select only a few examples irom many that might be furnished. Origen understood by this righteousness (jod's attribute of justice ; while Chrysoslom exi)lained it as Divine clemency. According to Dr. Campbell of Aberdeen, the righteousness of God consists in man's conformity to the declared will of God. In his note on Matt, vi., 33, he says, " The righteousness of God, in our idiom, can mean only the justice or the moral rectitude of the Divine nature, which it were absurd in us to seek, it being, as all .God's attributes are, inseparable from his essence. But in the Heb. idiom, that righteous- ness, which consists in a conformity to ihe declared will of God, is called his righteousness. In this way the phrase is used by Paul, Rom. iii., 21, 22; x. 3, where the righ/eoitsness of God is opposed by the Aposlle to that of the unconverted Jews ; and their own righteousness, which he tells us they went about to establish, does not appear to sig- nify their personal righteousness, any more than the righteousness of God signifies his personal righteousness. The word righteousness, as I conceive, denotes there what we should call a system of morality or righteousness, which he denominates their own, because fabricated by themselves, founded partly on the letter of the law, partly on tradition, and consisting mostly in ceremonies and mere externals. This crea- ture of their own imaginations they had cherished, to the neglect of that purer scheme of morality which was truly of God, which they might have learned even formerly from the law and the prophets, properly understood, but now more explicitly from the doctrine of Christ." Such is the explanation by this learned critic of that leading phrase, " the righteousness of God," according to which the reason why the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, is, because therein a pure scheme of morality is revealed. Were this explanation just, so far from being the reason why the gospel should be the means of salvation to sinners, it would be the cause of their universal and hopeless condemnation. Dr. Macknight supposes, that the righteousness of God signifies a righteousness belonging to faith itself, and not the righteousness conveyed and received by faith. " Righteousness by faith,'' he says, on Rom. ii., 18, "is called the righteousness of God, 1st. Because (uxl hath en- joined faith as the righteousness which he will count to siiniers, and hath declared that he will accept and reward it as righteousness : 2d. Because it stands in opposition to the righteousness of men, which con- sists in a sinless obedience to the law of God." Thus, while Dr. Macknight differs from Dr. Campbell in the meaning of the expression, the riglUeousncss of God, he so far coincides with him in his radical error as to suppose that it docs not signify the righteousness wliicii God provides for the salvation of sinners, but the righteousness which he requires them to perform. The explanations of both of these writers ROMANS III., 21. 127 are destructive of the Scripture doctrine of justification, opposed to the justice of God, subversive of the plan of salvation, and render the whole train of the Apostle's reasoning from Rom. i., 16, to the end of the 4tl) chapter, inconclusive and self-contradictory. Archbishop Newcombe, whose translations are so much eulogized by Socinians, together with many who have followed him, translates this phrase, " God's method of justification." What the Apostle has de- clared in precise terms, is thus converted into a general and indefinite annunciation, pointing to a different sense. In the Socinian version, as might be anticipated, it is also translated, " God's method of justifica- tion." " The righteousness of God" cannot mean Godh method of jusfifica- tion, nor the justification ivhich God bestows, because the word trans- lated righteousness does not signify justification. Righteousness and justification are two things quite different. God's righteousness is revealed in the gospel, just as God himself is said to be revealed. To reveal God is not to reveal a method of God's acting, and to reveal God's righteousness is not to reveal a method of God's making sinners righteous, but to reveal the righteousness itself. This righteousness is also said to be of God hy faith, that is, sinners become partakers of it by faith. The righteousness of God, then, is not a method of justifica- tion, but the thing itself which God has provided, and which he confers through faith. Nor can the expression, " the righteousness of God," in the 10th chapter, signify God's method of justification. It is true the Jews were ignorant of God's method of justification, but that is not the thing which is there asserted. They were ignorant of the righteousness which God had provided for the guilty ; and in conse- quence went about to establish their own righteousness. What is there meant by God's righteousness, is seen by the contrast. It is opposed to their own righteousness. Now, it was not a method of justification that the Jews went about to establish, but it was their oion rigliteous- ness which they endeavored to establish — a righteousness, in which they trusted, of their own working. If so, the righteousness of God contrasted with this must be, not a method of justification, but the righteousness which God confers on his people through faith. To establish a man's righteousness, is not to establish a method with re- spect to this, but to establish the thing itself. To say that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, because that in it is revealed a divine method, of justification, or the justification which God bestows, leaves the great question which immediately pre- sents itself utterly without an answer. Ii gives no light to the reader as to what the gospel reveals. It is oidy in general a divine scheme of justification. But the language itself, Rom. i., 17, leaves no such un- certainty. It shows that tlie gospel is the power of God unto salvation, because it reveals God's righteousness, — that righteousness wiiich fulfils the demands of his law, which his justice will accept, and which is upon all them that believe. Mr. Tholuck explains the phrase, the righteousness of God, thus : — " The gospel makes known a way to that perfect fulfilment of the law 128 ROMANS III., 21. which is required by God." What is the meaning of this exposition ? It does not give the true meaning, and may have a most erroneous im- port. The best that can be said for it is, that it is so dark, and vague, and equivocal, that it may elude condemnation on the principle of its not havinff any one definite meaning. It is more ambiguous tljan the answer otan oracle that has oiilv two meanings, for it may have several. Does it mean that the gospel reveals a way by which man may himself fulfil the law, so as to be perfectly righteous ? If Mr. Tiioluck does not mean this, the expressiun misjht mean it. Does it mean that the law is not vet fulfilled, but that the gospel reveals a way in which u may be fulfilled ? This is the most obvious sense. Does it mean that the gospel reveals a way in which men perfectly fulfil the law by faith ? This is evidonlly false, even according to Mr. Tholuck's sentiments ; for though faith were, as held forth by him, " the most excellent of vir- tues," he could not affirm that it fulfils the law. After this dark and vague account of the term righteousness, we need not wonder at that most erroneous meaning which he affixes to it in chapter iv., 3.* Mr. Stuart, in his translation of the Epistle, renders this phrase, in Rom. i., 17, and iii., 21, "The justification which is of God ;" and in his explanation of it, " the justification which God bestows, or, the jus- tification cf which God is the author.'''' He observes that this " is a phrase among the most important which the New Testament contains, and fundamental in the right interpretation of the epistle before us." This is true ; and the effect of his misunderstanding the proper signifi- cation of the original word in these passages, and rendering i\ justifica- tion, instead of righteousness, appears most prommenlly in several of his subsequent interpretations, especially as shall afterwards be pointed out in the beginning of the 4th chapter, where, like Mr. Tholuck, he entirely misrepresents the doctrine of justification. His translation he endeavors to defend at some length ; but none of his allegations sup- port his conclusion. The proper meaning of the original word in chap, i.. 17, and iii., 21, which he makes justification, is righteousness; and this meaning will apply in the other passages where it is found. In the New Testament it occurs ninety-two times, and, in the common version, is uniformly rendered righteousness. It occurs thirty-six limes in the Epistle to the Romans, in which Mr. Stuart has sixteen times translated it righteousness. But he appears to have been led to adopt the translation he has given in the above verses from the supposed • Not only has Mr. Tholuck failed in ^riii' any distinct explanation of the term " the righteousness of God," he has besides entirely mistaken the meaning of that other great leading expression, chapter vi., -2, "dead to sin." The former of these terms is laid as the foundation of the doctrine of justification, the latter of that of sanc- tification. After such interpretations as Mr Tholuck has given of these declarations which form the ground-work of the grand subjects of discussion in this Epistle, is it surprising that he should so often mistake the meaning of the Apostle, and the train of his argument, of in points of high importance directly contradict him ? \VTiat has been affirmed of the Commentary of Professor Stuart on this Epistle, applies with equal truth to that of Professor Tholuck. " The technicalities of his discussions are a very inadequate compensation for the errors he has broached ; and the truth he has elicited may be put in a nut-shell. The useful illustratioos in his work on the Romans bear no proportion to bis pernicioas errors." ROMANS III., 21. 129 necessity of llic case ; and, indeed, tliis was necessary for Mr. Stuart, who not only denies expressly the imputation of Adam's sin to his pos- terity, but also the imputation of Christ's rigJiteousness to believers. This should put Christians on iheir guard against a translation founded on the denial that Christ's righteousness is placed to their account for salvation, a doctrine which Dr. Macknight most ignorantly maintains is not to be found in the Bible. Mr. Stuart observes that there are three expressions, viz. " d.-ra ocn'^ij, iiKaiu^a, and iiKotioats. all employed occasionally in the very same sense, viz. that of justification, i.e. acquittal, pardon, freeing from condemna- ' tion, accepting and treating as righteous." There may be situations in wliich the one might supply the place of the other, but they have a clear characteristic difference. The difference appears to be this, duatoaiiTi, the original word in the verse before us, is not justification ; it signifies justice or righteousness in the abstract; that is, the quality of righteousness. It signifies also complete conformity or obedience to the law ; for if there be any breach of the law, there is no righteous- ness. A(«a.a)//o, as distinguished from this, signifies an act of righteous- ness, or some righteous deed. It is accordingly used for the ordinances of God, because they are his righteous appointments, and, perhaps, because they typically refer to the true " righteousness of God." In a few places it- may be an equivalent to 6iKaioaiyn. AiKaicoan is neither the one nor the other of the above. It is the act of being justified by this righteousness when on trial. Obedience to law is a different thing from being cleared, or acquitted, or justified, when tried by law. A man is justified on the ground of righteousness. There is the same difference between Ji-caioCTu-ij and iiKaiojats, that tliere is in English between righteous- ness and justification. In support of his explanation of the phrase " the righteousness of God," naniel)% that it is the justification which God bestows, Mr. Stuart, in the following observations, shows a wonderful misapprehension of the doctrine of those who oppose the view of it which he adopts. On ver. 22, he says, " What that StKatoavvr, dcov (righteousness of God) is, which is x^P'^ ""f"" (without law), the Apostle next proceeds explicitly to de- velopt. AiKaioaivn ic . . . haov xP"'^<>^, the justification which is of God by faith in Jesus Christ. This explanation makes it clear as the noon-day sun, that iiKaioaivn 0£oi; (righteousness of God), in this connexion, does not mean righteousness, or the love of justice, as an attribute of God. For in what possible sense can it be said, that God's righteous- ness or justice (as an essential attribute) is by faith in Christ? Does he possess or exercise this attribute, or reveal it, by faith in Christ ? The answer is so plain that it cannot be mistaken?" — P. 1.57, Why does Mr. Stuart labor to prove, that the phrase in question cannot here mean thu justice of God, or a Divine attribute ? Does any man suppose that it has here such a sense? We do not understand it of a Di- vine attribute ; but of confonnUy to law by a Divine work. This righteousness is God's righteousness, not because it is an attribute of his nature, but because it is tlie righteousness which God has provided and effected far Lis people, through the obedience unto death of his 9 130 ROMANS III., 21. own Son. The word itKoioovvn, indeed, always signifies righteousness ; but it may mean either a personal attrihute, or (n)nformity to law. Docs not Mr. Stuart himself afterwards ex|)laiii the |)hrase in this latter sense? Why, then, does he take it for granted, that if it does not signify justi- fication, as he makes it here, it nuist signify a j)ersonal attribute of (*od? In chap, iv,, 3, 6, and elsewhere, he ailmits that the word ifaio'uuii (righteousness) cannot signify juslificatioii, hut must be understood as denoting righteousness. "To say," he observes (p. 177), ^'was count- ed for justification, would make no tolerable sense." But nothing can be more obvious, than that the Apostle is. in the fourth chapter, treating of the same thing of which he is treating in this chapter, from the 21st verse. In all this connexion he is still si)eaking of this iiKaioaivf, (right- eousness) in the same view. Having here spoken of (iod's righteous- ness, he goes on to show, that it was through this very righteousness that Abraham was justified. The justification of Abraham, instead of being an exception to what he had been teaching, as if it had been on the ground of Abraham's own obedience to law, is appealed to by the Apostle as a proof, as well as an illustration and example, of justification by God's righteousness received by faith. It makes nothing in favor of ^Ir. Stuart that there may be instances in which the word i^Kdioawi (righteousness) may be interpreted by the word justification, so as to make sense. There is no signification that may not be ascribed to any word upon this principle. A word may make sense in a passage, when it is explained in a meaning directly opposite of its true meaning. This pnnciple the reader may see fully established in the writings of Dr. Carson. Several instances have been alleged from the Septuagint, in which it is asserted that .'(-cacoaiinj has the meaning of goodness, &c. ; but there is no instance there in which the word may not have its true meaning, and it is only igno- rance of the import of the phrase, " righteousness of God," that has in- duced writers to give the word a different meaning. For instance, nothing at first sight appears more to countenance the idea that i^Kaioavvn (righteousness) expresses mercy than Psalm li., 14. How could David speak of righteousness, if God would deliver him from blood-guilti- ness ? He might well speak of goodness or compassion, but would not righteousness in God prevent him from being acquitted? Not so. The righteousness of God was what David looked to : the same right- eousness that is more clearly revealed by Paul in this Ejiistle. And well mi'dit David speak of that righteousness, when by it he was clear- ed from all the guilt of his enormous wickedness. The word, rendered " righteousness," Rom. i., 17, ami in the verse before us, signifies both justice and righteousness ; that is to say, con- formity to the law. But while both of these expressions denote this conformity, there is an essential difference between them. Justice imports conformity to the law in executing its sentence, righteousness conformity m obeying its precepts, and this is the meaning of the word here. If these ideas be interchanged or confounded, as they often are, the whole -scope of the Apostle's reasoning will be mis- understood. ROMANS in., 21. 131 In various parts of Scripture this phrase, " the righteousness of God," signifies either that holiness and rectitude of character which is the attribute of God, or that distributive justice by which he maintains the authority of his law ; but wiicre it refers to man's salvation, and is not merely a personal attribute of Deity, it signifies, as in the passage be- fore us, ver. 21, that fulfilment of the law, or perfect conformity to it in all its demands, which, consistently with his justice, God has ap- pointed and provided for tlie salvation of sinners. This implies that the infinite justice of his character requires what is provided, and also that it is approved and accepted ; for if it be God's righteousness it must be required, and must be accepted by the justice of God. The righteousness of God, which is received by faith, denotes something that becomes the property of the believer. It cannot, then, be here the Divine attribute of justice, but the Divine work which God has wrought through his Son. This, therefore, determines the phrase in this place, as referring immediately not to the Divine attribute, but to the Divine work. Tlie former never can become ours. This also is decisive against explaining the phrase as signifying a divine method of justification. The righteousness of God is contrasted with tlie right- eousness of man ; and as Israel's own righteousness, which they went about to establish, was the righteousness of their works, not their method of justification, so God's righteousness, as opposed to this, Rom. X., 3, must be a righteousness wrought by Jehovah. As in 2 Cor. v., 21, the imputation of sin to Christ is contrasted with our be- coming the righteousness of God in him, the latter cannot be a method of justification, but must intimate our becoming perfectly righteous by possessing Christ's righteousness, which is provided by God for us, and is perfectly commensurate with the Divine justice. No explanation of the expression, "the righteousness of God," will at once suit the phrase and the situation in which it is found in the passage before us, but that which makes it that righteousness or obedience to the law, both in its penalty and requirements, which has been yielded to it by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is indeed the righteousness of God, for it has been provided by God, and from first to last has been effected by his Son Jesus Christ, who is the mighty God and the Father of eternity. Everything that draws it off from this signification tends to darken the Scriptures, to cloud the apprehension of the truth in the children of God, and to corrupt the simplicity that is in Christ. To that righteousness is the eye of the believer ever to be directed ; on that righteousness must he rest ; on that righteousness must he live ; on that righteousness must he die ; in that righteousness must he appear before the judgment-seat; in that righteousness must he stand for ever in the presence of a righteous God. " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord ; my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." Isaiah Ixi., 10. The righteousness of God provided for the salvation of sinners, like that salvation itself, differs essentially from all other righteousness that ever was or can ever be performed. It differs entirely from the right- 132 ROMANS in., 21. eousncss of men and angels, in its atitiior, for it is the righteousness not of creatures but of the Creator. " / tlir Lord have created it," Isaiah xlv., 8. It is a divine and infinitely perfect righteousness, wrought out l)y Jehovah himself, which in the salvation of man pre- serves all his attributes inviolate. It is the righteousness of (iod as of the (lodhead, without respect to distinction of personality, and strictly so in that sense in which the world is the work of God. Tiie Father created it by the Son in the same way as by the Son he created '• the world ; and if the Father effected this righteousness because his Son effected it, then his Son must be one with himself. Peter, in his second Epistle, chap, i., 1, according to the literal rendering of the passage, calls this righteousness the righteousness of Jesus Christ. " Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us, in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ." Most of the places in which the righteousness of God is spoken of, refer to it as the righteousness of the Father, as in 2 Cor. v., 21, where the Father is distinguished from the Son ; but in this passage of Peter it is explicitly declared to be the righteousness of the Son, where he is expressly called (xod. As it would be a palpable contradiction to assert that the work of creation could be executed by any creature, for he that built all things must be God, so the righteousness of God could not be ascribed to Jesus Christ, unless he had l)een in the beginning " (Jod," " with God," and " over all, God blessed for ever." It was during his incarnation that the Son of CJod wrought out this righteousness. Before he came into tlic world he was not a member or subject of the kingdom of heaven, he was its Head. He then acted in the form of God ; that is to say, as the Creator and Sovereign of the world, but afterwards in the form of a servant. Before that period he was perfectly holy, but liiat holiness could not be called obedience. It might rather be said that the law was conformed to Him, than that He was conformed to the law. His holiness was exercised in making the law, and by it governing the world. But in this latter condition it was that law by which he himself was governed. His righteousness or obedience, then, was that of infinitely the most glorious person that couki be subjected to the law. It was the righteousness of Emmanuel, God with us, — antl this obedience of the Son of (iod in our nature conferred more honor on the law than the obedience of all intelligent creatures He gave to every commandment of the law, and to every duty it enjoined, more honor than it had received of dishonor from all the transgressors that have been in the world. When others obey the law, they derive from that obedience honor to themselves, but on the occasion now referred to, it was the law that was honored by the obedience of its Sovereign. "The Lord," says the Projihet, "is well pleased for his righteousness' sake ; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isaiah xlii., 21. The obedience of Jesus Christ magnified the law, because it was rendered by Divine appointment. He was chosen of God and anointed for this end. He was Jehovah, whom Jehovah sent. " Lo, I come, ROMANS III., 21. 133 and I will dwell in the midst of thee, sailh Jehovah, — and thou shall know that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me unto thee." Zech. ii., 10, 11. And when it is considered that the most astonishing work of God which can be conceived, is the incarnation of his Son, and his sojourning in the world, and that these wonders were performed in order to magnif}' the law, — it necessarily follows, that it is impossible to entertain too exalted an idea of the regard which God has for the character of his holy law. In its author, then, this rigiitcousness is immeasurably distinguished from any other righteousness. And not only does it differ in its author, it differs also in its nature, in its EXTENT, in its DURATION, and in its influence, from all other right- eousness that ever was or ever can be performed. In its nature, this righteousness is twofold, fulfilling both the pre- cept of the law and its penalty. This, by any creature the most exalt- ed, is absolutely impossible. The fulfilment of the law in its precepts is all that could be required of creatures in their original sinless condi- tion. Such was at the beginning the state of all the angels, and of the first man. But the state of the Second Man, the Lord from heaven, when he came into the world, was essentially different. Christ was made under the law, but it was a broken law, and consequently he was made under its curse. This is not only implied when it is said he was " made of a woman," who was a transgressor, but it is also expressly asserted that he was "made a curse for us," Gal. iii., 13. Justice, therefore, required that he should fidfil not only the precept, but also the penalty of the law, — all that it threatens, as well as all that it commands. A mere creature may obey the precept of the law, or suffer the penalty it denounces, but he cannot do both. If he be a transgressor, he may be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord ; and God, whose vengeance he is suffering, being to him an object of unmingled hatred and abhorrence, there can be no place for his repentance, his love, or obedience. But Jesus Christ was capable at the same moment of suffering at the hand of God, and of obeying the precept to love God. This was made manifest during the whole period of his incarnation, as well as by the memorable words which he uttered on the cross, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" We are here taught that the prediction by the Prophet, " Awake, O sword, against the man that is my fellow," was at that moment receiving its accomplishment. The sword of Divine justice, according to the prophetic declarations contained in the 22d Psalm, was then piercing his inmost soul, but still he addressed God as his God. From this it is evident, that while suffering under the full weight of his Father's wrath against tiie sins of his people, which lie had taken upon him, all the feelings, both of love and confidence, also expressed in the same Psalm, were at that moment in full exercise. His righteousness, therefore, or conformity to the law, was at once a conformity in two respects which could not have been exemplified but by himself throughout the whole universe. By the sufferings of Jesus Christ, the execution of the law was 131 ROMANS III., 21. complete ; while no punishment which creatures could suflcr can be tlius desigiialecl. The law was fullv execiilctl when all the ihrealen- iiigs it containetl were carried into effect. Those who arc consigned to everlasting punishment will never be able to say, as our blessed Lord said on the cross, " It is finished." It is he only who could put away sin by the s.icrifice of hin)sclf. By enduring the threatened punish- ment, he fully satisfied justice. In token (»f having received a full discharge he came forth from the grave ; and when he shall appear the second lime, it shall be witlunit sin — the sin which he Jiad taken upon iiiiri, aiul all its effects, being for ever done away. This fulfilment of the law, in its penalty, by the Son of God, is an end which caiuiot otherwise than through eternity be attained by the punishment of mere creatures. Sin, as committed against God, is an infinite evil, and requires an infinite punishment which cannot be borne in any limited lime by those who are not capable of suffering punish- ment in an iiifinilc degree. But the sufferings as well as the obedience in lime of Him who is infinite, are equivalent to the eternal obedience and sufferings of those who are finite. The doctrine, that sin is an infinite evil, and requires an infinite punishment, is objected to by the Socinians. They say, that if each sin we commit merits eternal death — in other words, an infinite punish- ment— and since there are almost an infinite number of sins committed by men, then it must be said, that they merit an almost infinite number of punishments, and, consequently, that they cannot be expiated but by a like number of infinite satisfactions. It is replied, that the infinite value of the death of the Redeemer equals an infinite number of infinite punishments. For such is the nature of infinitude, that it admits of no degrees ; it knows nothing of more or less ; it cannot be measured ; it cannot be augmented ; so that ten thousand infinities are still only one infinite. And if Jesus Christ had suffered death as many times as the number of the sins of the redeemed, his satisfaction would not have been greater or more complete than by the one death which he suffered. The death of the Son of (^lod serves to magnify the law, by demon- strating the certainty of that eternal punishment, which, if broken, it denounces as its penalty. There are no limits to eternity ; but when the Son of God bore what was equivalent to the eternal punishment of those who had sinned, he furnished a visible demonstration of the eternal punishment of sin. But if nothing beyond the suffering of the penalty of the law had taken place, men would only have been released from the punishment due to sin. If they were to obtain the reward of obedience, its pre- cepts must also be obeyed ; and this was accomi)lishcd to the utmost by Jesus Christ. Every command it enjoins, as well as every prohibi- tion it contains, were in all respects fully honored by him. In this manner, and by his sufferings, he fulfilled all righteousness. The righteousness, therefore, of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ is infinitely glorious. It is the righteousness of the lawgiver ; and, beuig m its character twofold, it differs entirely in its nature from all ROMANS III., 21. 135 Other righteousness, and is of an order infinitely higher than ever was or can be exennplificd by any or all of the orders of intelligent creatures. This righteousness differs also from all other righteousness in its EXTENT. Every creature is bound for himself to all tliat obedience to his Creator of which he is capable. He is under the obligation to love God with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his strength, and beyond this he cannot advance. It is evident, therefore, that he can have no superahounding righteousness to be placed in the way of merit to the account of another. And, besides this, if he has sinned, he is bound to suffer for himself the ivJiole penalty annexed to disobedience, no part of which, consequently, can be borne by him to satisfy for the transgression of others. He is not in possession of a life at his own disposal to lay down for them ; and, if he had laid it down, it being in that case forfeited for ever, he could not take it again. But the obe- dience of Jesus Christ, who is himself infinite, as well as the punish- ment he suflfered, being in themselves of infinite value, are capable of being transferred in their effects without any diminution in their respective values. His life, too, was his own ; and, as he suffered voluntarily, his obedience and sufferings, which were infinitely merito- rious, might, with the most perfect regard to justice, be imputed to as many of those of whose nature he partook, as to the Supreme Ruler shall seem good. This righteousness likewise differs from all other righteousness in its DURATION. The righteousness of Adam or of angels could only be available while it continued to be performed. The law was binding on them in every instant of their existence. The moment, therefore, in which they transgressed, the advantages derived from all their previous obedience ceased. But the righteousness of God, brought in by his Son, is an " e?;er/^/5/mo" righteousness," Dan. ix., 24. It was performed within a limited period of time, but in its effects it can never termi- nate. " Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look upon the earth beneath ; for the heavens shall vanish awav like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like man- ner : but my salvation shall he for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished — my righteousness shall he for ever" Isa. li., 6, 8. " Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness," Ps. cxix., 142. " By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that arc sanctified," Heb. x., 14. " By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption," Heb. ix., 12. In respect to its duration, then, this righteousness reaches back to the period of man's fall, and forward through the endless ages of eternity. The paramount influence of this righteousness is also gloriously conspicuous. It is the sole ground of the reconciliation of siimers with God, and of their justification before him, and also of intercession with him before the throne. " If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the rigJileous," 1 John ii., 1. It is the price paid for those new heavens and that new earth, wherein dvvelleth righteous- ness ; for that kingdom prepared for those who are clothed with right- eousness— a kingdom commensurate with the dignity of him by whom 136 ROMANS III., 21. it was provided. The paradise in wliicli Adam was placed at his crea- tion was a paradise on earth. It might he corrupted, it iniglit be defiled, and it might fade away, all of which accordingly look place. Rut the paradise which, in virtue of the righteousness of (Jod, is pro- vided, ami to the hope of wliich, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the daid, his jieojile are hcgoilen, is an inheritance which is i/icorrnptihle and innlrjUrd, and that fadeih not airotj, reserved in heaven. Tliis righteousness, then, is the ransom by which men are delivered from going down to the pit of evcrhisting destruclion, and the price of heavenly and eternal glory. It is the fine linen, clean and white, in which llie l)ride, the Lamlj's wife, sliall be arrayed, "for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Man was made lower than tliC angels, but this righteousness exalts him above them. The redeemed people of (iod stand nearest to the throne, while the angels stand " round about" them. They enter heaven clothed with a right- eousness infmitely belter than that which angels possess, or in which Adam was created. The idea which some entertain, that the loss incurred by the fall is only compensated by what is obtained through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, is so far from being just, that the superabound- ing of the gain is unspeakable and immense. By the disobedience of the first Adam, the righteousness with which he was originally invested was lost for himself and all his post(!riiy, and the sin wliich he had committed was laid to their charge. By the obedience of the second Adam, not only the guilt of that one olfence is removed, but pardon also is procured for all the personal transgressions of the children of God ; while the righteousness, intinilely glorious, which he wrought, is placed to their account. By tlie entrance of sin and death, the inheritance on earth was forfeited. By the gift of the everlasting righteousness, their title to eternal glory in heaven is secured. And not as it loas by one that sinned, so is the ^ift : for the judgment was by one to condemnation ; but the first gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man^s offence, death reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ, ch. v., 16, 17. The evidence of the truth of Christianity might be rested on this one point — the righteousness of God pro\jded for the salvation of sinners. How could such an idea as that of a vicarious everlasting rigliteousness,tomeet all the demands of a DROKEN law, have ever entered into the conception of men or angels ? If it could have suggested itself to the highest created intelligence, and had the question been asked of all the host of heaven standing around the throne of God, " on his right hand and his left," Who shall work this righteousness, what answer could have been given ? What expedient for its accom- plishtnent could have been proposed by one or all of them together? All must have stood silent before their Maker. As no one in heaven, nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book with the seven seals, neither to look thereon, which was a subject of such bitter lamentation to the beloved disciple ; so no one, neither ROMANS III., 21. 137 man nor angel, nor all the elect angels together, could have wrought the righteousness necessary for the justification of a sinner. He alone, who is Emmanuel, God with us, who alone could open that book and loose the seals thereof, could " bring in this everlasting righteousness," of which it may be truly said, that eye had not seen it, nor ear heard it, neither iiad it entered into the heart of man, till God revealed it by his Spirit. Without laio. — This righteousness is " the righteousness of God," and altogether independent of any obedience of man to law, more or less. As the righteousness of God is the perfect fulfilment which the law demands, it is evidently impossible that any other righteousness or obedience can be added to it or mixed with it. On the cross, Jesus Christ said, It is finished ; that is, it is perfected. To exhibit this PERFECTION, — this fulfilment of the law, — this grand consummation, is the great object of the Apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap, vi., 1. And Christ,' it is said, Rom. x., 4, is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth. In each of these passages, the word used for "perfection,"* or " end," is, in tlie original, the 'same as the word " finished," used on the cross. And those persons are de- scribed as ignorant of God's righteousness, who go about to establish their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. " Without law," then, signifies, not without per- fect obedience, but without any regard whatever to the obedience of man to the law. The obedience which the believer is enabled to render to the law, has no part in his justification, nor could it justify, being al- ways imperfect. The Apostle had, in the foregoing verse, affirmed, that by his obedience to the law no man could be justified ; he estab- lishes the same truth in the 28th verse of this chapter, and in the 5th .verse of the 4th chapter, in a manner so explicit, as to place his mean- ing beyond all question. In the same sense he declares. Gal iii., 21, that " if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." And again he affirms, Gal. li., 21, " If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." It is needless here to dispute, as many do, about what law the Apostle alludes to, whether moral or ceremonial. It is to the law of God, whether written or unwritten, whatever is sanctioned by his au- thority, whether ceremonial or moral, all of which have been fulfilled by the righteousness of God, Matt, iii., 15. The righteousness of God is now 'manifested ; that is, clearly disco- vered, or made fully evident. It was darkly revealed in the shadows of the law, and more clearly in the writings of the prophets, but now it is revealed in its accomplishment. It was manifested in the life and * Tlie import of ttiis word perfection (Heb. vi., 1), which is the leading expression in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the key to the whole of it, Mr. Stuart has entirely misunderstood in his commentary on tluit Epistle, as he has misunderstood the meaning of the phrase, the righteousntss of God, the leading expression in this Epistle to the Romans For the signification of the word Perfection, which so often occurs in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and is also misunderstood by the other Commentators, I refer to my " Evidences," vol. i., p. 43S. 3d Edition. 138 ROMANS HI., 21. deatlj of Jesus Christ, and was, by liis resurrection from the dead, openly declared on the part of (Jod. By him, who was (Jod manifest in the flesh, it was wrou^dil out while he was on earth. lie fidfilltd all ri'Witeousncss ; not one jot of tlie law, either in its precepts or threalen- in"^s, passeil from it, but all was accomplished ; and of tliis rii^lileous- ness the Holy Spirit, when he came, was to convince the world, John xvi., 8. This righteousness is manifested in the doctrine of the Apostles. Besides being introduced so frequently in this Epistle to the Romans, it is often referred to and exhibited in the other apostolical epistles. To the Apostles was committed the ministration of the new dispensation, characterized as the " ministration of rigJdeousness,'" 2 Cor. iii., 9. By that dispensation, and not by the law, righteousness is come, (ial. ii., 21. In writing to the Philippians, Paul calls it "the righteousness which is of God by fuith ;" and contrasts it with his own righteousness which is of the law, Phil, iii., 9. Peter addresses his second Epistle to those who had obtained precious faith in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Peter i., 1. In one word, besides expressly naming it in many places under the designation of righteous- ness, the grand theme of the writings of the Apostles, as well as of their preaching, was the obedience and sufferings even unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Him, tiiey declared to be " the end of the law for righteousness to every one that belicveth ;" while they exposed the error of such as went about to estal)lish their own righteousness, and did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. Being ivitnessed by the law. — In the first part of this verse, " with- out law^" where the article is wanting, signifies law indefinitely — what- ever has been delivered to man by God as his law, and in whatever way ; but here, with the article, it refers to the five books of Moses, thus distmguished from the writings of the Prophets, according to the usual division of the Old Testament Scriptures, and adopted by our Lord, Luke xxiv., 44. This righteousness was obscurely testified in the first promise, respecting tiie bruising of the serpent's head. It was expressly named in the declaration of the manner of Abraham's justifi- cation, where it is recorded that he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness, Gen. xv., 6, as also in the covenant which God made with iuin, of which the sign, that is, circumcision, was a seal or pledge of the righteousness which is by faith : and when it was promised that the blessing of Abraham, which is this righteousness, was to come on all nations, (Jen. xii., 3. It was intimated in the writino-s of Moses, in every declaration of the forgiveness of sin, and every call to repentance. All the declarations of mercy that are to be found in the law of Moses belonged to the gospel. They are all founded on the Messiah and his righteousness, and are made in conse- quence of (iod's purj)ose to send his Son in the fulness of time into the world, and of the first promise respecting the seed of the woman. The ri'ditcousness of (iotl was witnessed not only in all the declara- tions of mercy and calls to repentance, but also by the whole economy of the law of which Moses was the mediator. Abraham was chosen, ROMANS III., 21. 139 his posterity collected into a nation, and a country appropriated to them, that from the midst of them, according to iiis promise, God niigiit raise up a prophet, who, like unto Moses, was to be a lawgiver and mediator, to whom, turning from Moses, they should listen so soon as he appear- ed, Ueut. xviii., 15, 19. The law of everlasting obligation was given to that nation, and renewed after it had been broken by them, and then solemnly deposited in the ark of the testimony, in token that it should be preserved entire, and in due time fulfilled by him of whom the ark was a type. The sacrifices offered by the Patriarchs, and the whole of the cere- monial law in all its typical ordinances and observances, bear their direct though shadowy testimony, to the righteousness of God, of which Noah was alike a preacher and an heir, 2 Peter ii., 5 ; Heb. xi., 7. The righteousness of God luas witnessed by the Prophets. Of their testimonies to it the following are a few examples from the Psalms : — " Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation ; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness,'''' Psalm li., 14. "My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day ; for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of the Lord God ; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. Thy righteousness, also, 0 God, is very high. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long," Psalm Ixxi., 15, 16, 19, 24. " Mercy and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth ; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps," Psalm Ixxxv., 10, 13. " In thy name shall they rejoice all the day ; and in thy righteous- ness shall they be exalted," Psalm Ixxxix., 1(3. " Tliy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness," Psalm cxix., 142. " They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness,'''' Psalm cxlv., 7. The righteousness of the Messiah, as connected with salvation, is the constant theme of the Prophets, especially of Isaiah. " The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake ; lie will magnify the law, and make it honorable," Isa. xlii., 21. " Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness ; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up to- gether ; I the Lord have created it," Isa. xlv., 8. The heavens were to drop down this righteousness, and the skies were to pour it down, while men's hearts, barren like the earth without rain, were to be opened to receive it by faith, having no part in doing anything to procure the gift. " JSurely, shall one say. In the Lord have I right- eousness and strength : In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be jus- tified, and shall glory," Isa. xlv., 24, 25. " I bring near my righteous- ness ; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry ; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory," Isa. xlvi., 13. " My righteousness is near ; my salvation is gone forth — my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,''^ Isa. li., 5, 7. " By his know- 140 ROMANS III., 22. ledge shall my righteous servant justify many," Isa. liii., 11. " This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord ; and their riirhlcousncss is of mo, sailh the Lord," Isa. liv., 17. " Thus saith the l^ord, Keep ye judizinenl, and do justice : for my salvation is near to cotne, and my righteousness to be revealed," Isa. Ivi,, 1. " For as tlie earlh l)ringeth forlli her l)ud, and as the garden causeth the things that arc sown in it to spring forth ; so the Lord (Jod will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations," Isa. Ixi,, 11. " For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burnetii. And the Gentiles shall sec thy right- eousness, and all kings thy glory," Isa. Ixii., 1,2. " Behold, the days come, sailh the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall exe- cute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely ; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness," Jer. xxiii., 5. " Se- venty weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness," Daniel ix., 24. " It is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain rigfitcousncss upon you," Hosea x., 12. '* But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings," Mai. iv., 2. To Balaam, who beheld the Saviour at a distance, he ap- peared as a star ; " There shall come a star out of Jacob," Num. xxiv., 17 ; while to Malaclij, the last of the prophets, on his nearer approach, he appeared as the Sun. V. 22. — Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. This righteousness of God, to which the law and the prophets render their testimony, and which is now manifested in the gospel, whereby man is justified, is not imputed to him on account of any work of his own in obedience to the law, but is received, as the Apostle had already declared, in the 17lh verse of chapter first, by faith alone. Faith is no part of that righteousness ; but it is through faith that it is received, and becomes available for salvation. Faith is the belief of the Divine testimony concerning that righteousness, and trust in him who is its author. Faith perceives and acknowledges the excellency and suitable- ness of God's righteousness, and cordially embraces it. " Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ;" be- cause, though we do not yet possess what God has promised, and do not yet see it accomplished in ourselves, we see it accomplished in Jesus Christ, in whom what we hope for really exists. In respect to the pro- mises not yet fulfilled, believers are now in the same situation as the fathers were of old respecting the unaccomplished pronuses in their day. Like them, they see these promises afar off, are persuaded of them, and embrace them. Believers thus flee to Christ and his right- eousness, as the refuge set before them in the gospel. By faith lliey ROMANS III., 22. 141 receive him as their Surety, and place their trust in him, as representing them on the cross, in his death, and in his resurrection. Before we can have a right to anything in Christ, we must be one with him ; wc must be joined with him as our head, being dead to l!ie law and married to him ; and as this union is accomphshed through faith, his righteousness, which we receive, and which becomes ours in this way, is therefore called the righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ, Rom. iii., 22 ; the righteousness of faith, Rom. iv., 11, 13; and the righteousness ivhich is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God Inj faith, Phil, iii., 9. It is called the righteousness of faith, because faith is the only instrument which God is pleased to employ in applying his righteousness. It is not called the righteousness of any other grace, but of faith ; Ave never read of the righteousness of repentance, of humility, of meekness, or of charily. These are of great price in the sight of God, but they have no office in justifying a sinner. This belongs solely to faith ; for to him that worketh not but believeth, is righteousness imputed ; and faith is the gift of God. This righteousness is unto all. — It is set before all, and pro'^laimed to all, according to the commandment of our blessed Lord ; — " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Upon all, is connected with the words that follow, viz., them that believe. While it is proclaimed to all men, it is actually upon believers. It is not put into them, as their sanctification is wrouglit in the soul by the Holy Spirit ; but it is placed upon them as a robe : — " He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,'''' Isa. Ixi., 10. It is the white raiment given by Jesus Christ to them who hear his voice, that they may be clothed, and that the shame of their nakedness may not appear, Rev. iii., 18. It is the fine linen clean and white with which the bride, the Lamb's wife, is arrayed ; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints, Rev. xix., 8. Thus, Jesus Christ is made of God to them that are in him, righteousness, 1 Cor. i., 30. Righteous7iess.^-^''T\\\i, doubtless, is meant," says Archbishop Leighton, in his sermon on 1 Cor. i., 30, " of the righteousness by which we are justified before God ; and he is made this to us, applied by faith : His righteousness becomes ours. That exchange made, our sins are laid over upon him, and his obedience put upon us. This, the great glad tidings, that we are made righteous by ('hrist : It is not a righteousness wrought by us, but given to us, and put upon us. This carnal reason cannot apprehend, and, being proud, therefore rejects and argues against it ; and says, how can this thing be ? But faith closes with it, and rejoices in it ; without either doing or suffering, the sinner is acquitted and justified, and stands as guihless of breach, yea, as having fulfilled the whole law. And happy tlicy that thus fasten upon this righteousness — they may lift up tlieir faces with gladness and boldness before God : whereas the most industrious self-saving justici- ary, and though in other men's eyes and his own possibly lor the present, he makes a glistering show, yet, when he shall conic to be examined of (iod, and tried according to the law, he shall be covered 142 ROMANS in., 23. Willi shame, and confounded in his folly and guiltiness. B\it faith triumphs over self-uuworlhincss, and sin, and death, and the law ; shroudin<{ the soul luulcr the mantle of Jesus Christ ; and there it is safe. All accusations fall off, haviiiir nowhere to fasten, unh^ss some blemish could he found in that rii^iitiHiusness in which faith hath wrapt itself. This is the very spring of soliil peace, and fills the soul with peace and joy. But still men W(.)uld have something within themselves to make out the matter, as if this robe needed any such piecing, and not find- ing what they desire, thence disquiet and unsettlemcnt of mind arises. True it is that faith purifies the heart and works holiness, and all graces flow from it : But in this work of justifying the sinner it is alone, and cannot admit of any mixture." V. 21. — (For tliere a no difference ; r>r all h;ive sinned, and come short of the glory of God.) The Apostle introduces this parenthesis to preclude the supposition that the receiving of the righteousness of God is not indispensably necessary to €ve7'i/ individual of the human race in order to salvation, and lest it should be imagined that there is any difTerence in the way in which, or on account of which, it is received. As there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles with respect to their character as sinners, so that there is no difference with respect to tiiem as to the receiving of God's righteousness — no difrcrence either as to sin or salvation — all of them are guilty, and salvation through faith is published to them all. " For there is no difTerence between the Jew and the Greek ; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him," Rom. x., 12. Before men receive this righteousness, they are all under the curse of the broken law, and in a slate of condemnation. Whatever distinc- tion there may be among them otherwise, whether moral in their con- duct, good and useful members of society, discharging respectably and decently the external duties of that situation in which they are placed, or having a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, and going about to establish their own righteousness, — or whether they be im- moral in their lives, entirely abandoned to every vice, they all stand equally in need of this righteousness — it is equally preached to them all — it is in the same manner bestowed upon all who believe. The reason of this is, that all have sinned — all, without one exception, as had been proved, are " under sin." The Apostle adds, as a consequence of this, that they have come short of the glory of God. They have come short, as in running a race, having now lost all strength (Rom. v., 6) and ability in themselves to glorify God, and attain to the possession and enjoyment of his glory. \n the second chapter, the Apostle, in announcing the terms of the law, had declared that the way to obtain eternal life was in seeking for glory by patient continuance in well-doing, and that to those who work good, honor and peace would be awarded. In other words, " if ihou will enter into life, keep the conmiandments ;" but he had after- wards proved that in this way it was altogether unattainable, since by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified. In this place he more ROMANS irr., 24. l43 briefly repeals the same tnilli, that all men, willioiit cxccptioi/, being sinners, have come short of this glory, while he is pointing out the way in which, through the atonement of the Saviour, and faith in that atonement, believers may now "rejoice in hope of the glory of God." All men, on the ground of their obedience to law, come short of glori- fying (lod, for to glorify God is the whole of the law, — even the second table is to be obeyed to glorify God, who requires it. If they come short of obeying the law, they have, as sinners, come short of that glory, and honor, and immortality, in his presence, which can only be obtained through the " salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory," 2 Tim. ii., 10. V. 24. — Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Justified. — Justification stands opposed both to accusation and con- demnation. " Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth ; who is he that condemneth ?" " Them whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth ; not by infusing right- eousness into them," as is well expressed in the Westminster Confes- sion of Faith, " but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, — not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone ; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience, to them as their righteousness ; but by imputing the obedience and satis- faction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith ; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of (xod." Or, according to Dr. Owen, on justification, " This imputation is an act of God, ex mera gratia, of his mere love and grace, Avhereby, on the consideration of the mediation of Christ, he makes an effectual grant and donation of a true, real, perfect righteous- ness,— even that of Christ himself, unto all that do believe, and accounting it as theirs, on his own gracious act, both absolves them from sin, and granteth them right and title unto eternal life." The Helvetic Confession of Faith, adopted by the church at Geneva, in 1536, and by all the evangelical churches in Switzerland thirty years afterwards, explains justification as follows : — " The word to justify, signifies, in the writings of the Apostle St. Paul, when he speaks of justification, to pardon sins, to absolve from guilt and punishment, to receive into grace, and to declare righteous. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to believers. — Our Saviour is then charged with the sins of ihe world, he has taken them away, he has satisfied Divine justice. It is then only on account of Jesus Christ dead and risen, that God, pacified towards us, does not impute to us our sins, but that he imputes to us the righteousness of his Son, as if it were ours ; so that, thenceforward, we are only cleansed from our sins, but besides, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and by it absolved from the punishment of sins, from death, or from condemnation, accounted right- eous, and heirs of eternal life. Thus, to speak properly, it is God only who justifies us, and he justifies us solely for the sake of Jesus 144 ROMANS iir., 21. Christ, not imputing to us our sins, but imputing to us the rigliteous- ness of Christ." In the Homily of the Church of England, on "justification," it is said — " Jiistification is not the ofHcc of man, but of (iod ; for man can- not make himself righteous by his own works, neitlier in pari nor in whole ; for that were the greatest arroganey and presumption of man that antichrist could set up against (lod, to afFirm that a man might by his own works take away and purge his own sins, and so justify jiim- sclf. But justification is the office of God only, and is not a thing which we render unto him, but which we reeeive of him; not which wo give to iiim, but whicli we take of him by his free mercy, and by the only merits of his most dearly beloved Son, our only Redeemer, Saviour, and Justifier, Jesus Christ : So that the true understanding of this doctrine, we be justified freely by faith without works, or that we be justified by Christ only, is not thai this our own act to believe in Christ, or this our faith in Christ whicii is within us doth justify us, and deserve our justification unto us (for that were to count ourselves to be justified by some act or virtue that is within ourselves), but the true understanding and meaning thereof is, thai although we hear God's word, and believe it, although we have faith, hope, charit}", repentance, dread, and fear of God within us, do never so many works thereunto ; yet wc must renounce the merit of all our said virtues, of faith, hope, charily, and all other virtues, which wc either have done, shall do, or can do, as things that must be far too weak, and insufficient, and imper- fect to deserve remission of our sins and our justification ; and there- fore we must trust only in God's mercy, and that sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, once offered for us on the cross." Again, " This doctrine all old and ancient authors of Christ's Church do approve. This doctrine adornelh and setlelh forth the glory of Christ, and bealeth down the glory of man ; this whosoever denieth, is not to he 'accounted for a Christian man, nor for a setter forth of Christ's glory, but for an adversary of Christ and his gospel, and for a setter forth of man's vain glory." The above quota- tions are not given in the way of authority, but as expressing the truth, and evincing the unanimity of believers of different communions on this all-important point. The sum of them is, that believers arc ab- solved from condemnation, and entitled to eternal life, l)y tlie free and sovereign favor of God, as its original first moving cause, without any desert in themselves, but solely in virtue of the righteousness of Christ, which includes an infinitely valuable price of redemption, a price that was paid for ihem by his obedience and sufferings lo death. There is no " coiidemnation to them which arc in Christ Jesus." The moment a sinner is united lo him the sentence of condemnation under which he formerly lay, is remitted, and a sentence of justification is pronounced by God. Justification, then, is at once co/upletc — in the imputation of a perfect righteousness, the actual pardon of all past sins, the virtual pardon of future sins, and the grant and title to the heavenly inheritance. The believer is found in Christ having ihe right- eousness which is of God, Phil, iii., 9. " Surely, shall one say, in the ROMANS III., 24. 145 Lord have I righteousness,^'' Isa. xlv., 24. He is complete in Christ, Col. ii., 10, who, by one offering, hath for ey ex perfected him, Heb. x., 14. In him the law has been fulfilled, Rom. viii., 4 ; his sin has been made Christ's and the righteousness which God requireth by the law has been made his. " He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. v., 21. On this passage Chrysostom remarks, "What word, what speech is this ? what mind can comprehend or express it ? For he saith, He made him who was righteous to be made a sinner, that he might make sinners righteous. Nor yet doth he say so neither, but that which is far more sublime and excellent. For he speaks not of an inclination or affection, but expresseth the quality itself. For he says not, he made him a sinner, but sin, that we might be made not merely righteous, but righteousness — and that the righteousness of God."* When we are here said to be made the righteousness of God in him, the meaning is, that we are made righteous in such a degree as admits of no addition. We could not be more righteous if our whole nature and constitution were made up of this one attribute, and there were nothing in us or about us but righteousness. After the Lord Jesus Christ condescended to take on him our sins, it would not have been just for him not to accoimt for them ; his respon- sibility for them was then the same as if he had himself sinned. On this proceeded God's treatment of him in hiding his face from him, till the debt was paid. . Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ; that is, being cursed, as the Apostle explains it. As the sins of Israel were all laid on the head of the scape- goat, so " the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." " How could he die," says Charnock, " if he was not a reputed sinner ? Had he not first had a relation to our sin, he could not in justice have under- gone our punishment. He must, in the order of justice, be supposed a sinner really, or by imputation. Really he was not ; by imputation, then, he was." On the whole, believers are accounted and pronounced righteous by God ; and if so accounted by him, it is and must be true in fact, that they are righteous, for righteousness is imputed to them ; that is, it is placed to their account — made over to them — because really theirs — and, therefore, without the smallest deviation from truth or fact — which is impossible in the great Judge — he will, from his * To explain Christ's being made sin in this passage with Dr. Macknight, Mr. Stuart, and others, as signifying his being made a sin-offering, ought to be most strenuously rejected. It entirely perverts the meaning of the passage, which asserts the transfer- ence of the sin of the believer to Christ, and of Christ's righteousness to the believer. He submitted not only to be treated as a sin-offering, but to be made sin for his people. It takes away the contrast, and obscures one of tlie strongest expressions of the vicari- ous nature of Christ's sufferings that is to be found in the Bible. In the same way, when it is said (Heb. ix., 2S), He shall " appear the second time without sin unto salva- tion," the true meaning of the passage is lost by changing the phrase, " without sin," as in the common version, to " without a sin-offering," according to Dr. Macknight and Mr. Stuart. When Jesus Christ first appeared, he came covered over with the sin which was imputed to him ; but when he shall come the second time, not the amallest remainder of it shall be found either upon him or his people. 10 146 ROMANS III., 24. throne of judgment in the last day, pronounce them " righteous, ^^ Matt. XXV., 37, 4(). The plan of salvation through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, is so deep and astonishing an instance of l)ivine wisdom, that while it is not at all perceived by the wisdom of the world, it even in some measure lies hid from those who are savingly eidightened by it. Many Ciirisliaiis are afraid to give the Scriptural language on this subject the full extent of its meaning ; and instead of representing themselves as being made right- eous, perfectly righteous by the righteousness of the Son of God, they look on their justification as merely an accounting of them as righteous while they are not so in reality. They think that God mercifully looks on them in a light which is more favorable than the strictness of truth will warrant. But the Scriptures represent believers as truly righteous, possessing a righteousness fully answerable to all the demands of the law. By their union with Christ they are " dead to sin," and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them, ch. viii., 4. They have paid its penalty and fulfilled its utmost demands, and are " made the righteousness of God in him." God never accounts anyone to be what he is not in reality, and as Christ's righteousness is reckoned ours as well as Adam's sin, believers ought to consider themselves as truly righteous in Christ as they are truly guilty in Adam. These two facts mutually reflect light on each other. Adam was the figure of Christ, and our sin in Adam is perfectly analogous to our righteousness in Christ, " For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous," ch. v., 19. Freely by his grace. — The expression is redoubled to show that all is of God, and that nothing in this act of justification belongs to, or proceeds from man. It is perfectly gratuitous on the part of God, both as to the mode of conveyance and tlie motive on which it is vouchsafed. Nothing being required of man in order to his justification, in the way of price or satisfaction, and there being no prerequisite or preparatory dispositions to merit it at the hand of God, believers are therefore said to be justified by his ^race, which excludes on their part both price and merit. And lest it should be imagined that grace does not proceed in its operation, as well as in the choice of its objects, consistently with its character of sovereign and unmerited goodness, the Apostle adds the word freely ; that is, without cause or motive on the part of man. The word here rendered "freely" is the same as that used by our Lord, when he says, they hated me without a cause, John xv., 25. " Freely (gratuitously) ye have received, freely give," Matt, x., 8 ; 2 Cor. xi., 7 ; 2 Thess. iii., 8 : " For naught" (gratis), Rev. xxi., 6, and xxii., 17 ; or without price, as Isaiah Iv., 1. This term " freely," in the most abso- lute manner excludes all consideration of anything in man as the cause or condition of his justification. Tlic means by which it is received is faith ; and, in the commencement of the next chapter, faith is placed in opposition to all works whatever, and in verse 16lh of that chapter it is said, " Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace." Faith is the constituted medium through which man receives " the gift of righteous- ness ;" because, as Paul there affirms, it interferes not with the gratui- ROMANS III., 24. 147 tous nature of the gift. It is impossible to express more strongly than in this place, that justification is bestowed without the smallest regard to anvliiing done by man. It cannot be pretended that it comes in consequence of repentance, or anything good either existing or foreseen in him. God " justifieth the ungodly" Rom. iv., 5. It comes, then, solely by grace — free, unmerited favor. " And if by grace, then it is no more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace," Rom. xi., 6. This is said respecting the election of believers to eternal life, and equally holds, according to the passage before us, in respect to their justification. Speaking of the advocates of human merit, " What can they say," observes Luther in answer to Erasmus, " to the declaration of St. Paul. Being justified freely by his grace. Freely, what does that word mean ? How are good endeavors and merit consistent with a gratuitous donation ? Perhaps you do not insist on a merit of con- dignity but only of congruity. Empty distinctions. How does Paul in one word confound in one mass all the asserters of every species and of every degree of merit ? All are justified freely, and without the works of the law. He who affirms the justification of all men who are justified to be perfectly free and gratuitous, leaves no place for works, merits, or preparations of any kind — no place for works either of condignity or congruity ; and thus, at one blow, he demolishes both the Pelagians, with their complete merits, and our Sophists, with their petty performances." Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. — The great bless- ing of justification is described above as proceeding from the free grace of God, which is the fountain from whence flow pardon, righteousness, and salvation, excluding all works, whether before or after faith. Here it is referred to the mei-itorious price provided by God, and that is the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. For though it comes freely to man, yet it is through the redemption or purchase of the Son of God. The word redemption signifies a buying back, and necessarily sup- poses an alienation of what is redeemed. In general it imports a deli- verance effected by a price, and sometimes a deliverance by power. In this last sense it is said, " Now these are thy servants, and thy peo- ple, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power," Neh. i., 10. "I will redeem you with a stretched out arm," Exod. vi., 6 ; Ps. Ixxvii., 15. The resurrection of the body by an act of Divine power is called a redemption, Ps. xlix., 15; Rom. viii., 23. But, more generally, re- demption signifies in Scripture deliverance by price, as that of slaves, or prisoners, or persons condemned, when they are delivered from slavery, captivity, or death, by means of a ransom. The word is here used in this last acceptation. Man had rebelled against God, and in- curred the just condemnation of his law, but God by his free grace, and of infinite compassion, had substituted his own Son in the place of the guilty, and transferred from them to him the obligation of their punish- ment. He hath made him to suflTer and die for their sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring them to himself. " His own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," 1 Peter iii., 18 ; ii., 24. In this manner the Scriptures represent the blood or death of Jesus Christ, 148 ROMANS III., 24. as ilie ransom price, lie came to give his life a ransom for many, Matt. XX., 28 ; 1 Cor. vi., 20. " Ye were not redeemed willi corrupti- ble things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fatlicrs, but with the precious blood of Christ," 1 Peter i., 18. " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood," Rev. v., 9. "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of ^ his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made"^ us accepted in the licloved ; in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence," Eph. i., 7; Col. i., 14. If, then, we are accounted righteous before God, because redeemed with a price paid by another, we receive what is not in ourselves, or in any measure from ourselves. In everyplace in Scripture where our redemption in Christ is men- tioned, there is an allusion to the law of redemption among the Jews. This law is contained in the book of Leviticus, ch. xxv., where we find regulations laid down for a twofold redemption, a redemption of persons and a redemption of possessions. The redemption of posses- sions or inheritances is regulated, verse 23-28, and that of persons from verse 47 to the end of the chapter, in both these cases, none had a right to redeem but either the person himself who had made the alienation, or some other tiiat was near of kin to him. But none of Adam's family ever was, or ever will be, able to redeem himself or others. " None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their soul is pre- cious," Ps. xlix., 7. It is too precious to be accomplished by such means, and had there been no other it would have " ceased for ever." All mankind had been engaged in a warfare against God, and as rebels were condemned to deatii. Satan had taken the whole human race captive, and employed them in the drudgery of sin. From the sen- tence of death and the slavery of sin, it was impossible for any of them ever to have been set free, if Christ had not paid the ransom of his blood. But He, the Son of God, having from all eternity under- taken the work of redemption of those whom God gave him, and being substituted by the everlasting covenant which God made with him in their place, the right of redemption was vested in him, by vim. of his covenant relation to them. And that nothing might be wanting either to constitute him their legal kinsman-redeemer, or to evidence him to be so, he took on him their nature, and in that nature paid their ransom to the last mite. Thus he performs the part of the Redeemer of his peo- ple, redeeming them from slavery and from death, and redeeming for them that inheritance which they had forfeited, and which they could not redeem forthemselves. In some cases both these sortsof redemption were conjoined, and the person redeemed was espoused to him wiio redeemed her; and in this manner our Lord Jesus Clirist has redeemed his Church. Having redeemed the heavenly iniieritance for her, he has at the same tinie redeemed her from her state of bondage, and has betrothed her to himself. " I will betroth thee unto me for ever ; yea, ROMANS III., 24. 149 I will betroth thee unto me m righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto mc in faithfulness ; and thou shalt know the Lord," Hosea xi,, 19, 20. The Socinian talks of redemption as an act merely of God's power, and of Christ as offering his sacrifice by presenting himself in heaven after his death. But this is not redemption. There is not only a price paid, but that price is expressly stated. " In whom we have redemp- tion through his bloods His blood, then, is the price by which we have redemption, " even the forgiveness of sins," Col. i., 14. The same thing that is redemption, is in another point of view forgiveness, yet these two things in human transactions are incompatible. Where there is forgiveness there is no price or redemption ; where there is redemption there is no forgiveness. But in the salvation of the gospel there are both. There is a price, but as God himself has paid the price, it is forgiveness with respect to man as much as if there had been no price. How wonderful is the wisdom of God manifested in the gospel ! Grace and justice, mercy and punishment, are blended together in the most perfect harmony. Many seem to think that nothing can be essentially wrong in the views of those who speak of gratuitous salvation. Yet this may be most explicitly confessed, and the distinguishing features of the gospel overlooked or even denied. Arians do not deny a gratuitous salvation. They contend that salvation is gratuitous, and boast that they are the only persons who consistently hold this doctrine. Calvinists, they say, have not a God of mercy ; he gives nothing without a price. Their God, they boast, is a God of mercy, for he pardons without any ran- som. Now the glory of the gospel is, that grace reigns through righteousness. Salvation is of grace ; but this grace comes to us in a way of RIGHTEOUSNESS. It is grace to us, but it was brought about in such a way that all our debt was paid. This exhibits God as just as merciful. Just in requiring full compensation to justice, and merciful because it was He, and not the sinner, who provided the ransom. He who is saved is saved without an injury to justice. Salvation is in one point of view forgiveness, but in another it is redemption. Still however it is urged, that though it is here said that God justifies man freely by his grace, yet, as a price has been paid for it, this takes away from the freeness of the gift. But he who pays the ransom is one and the same, as has just been observed, with him who justifies, so that the freeness of the blessing on the part of God is not in the smallest degree diminished. This proves that the doctrine of a free justification, through an atonement, rests entirely on the doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ ; on which also rests the transfer of his right- eousness to the guilty ; for, as has already been shown, no mere creature can have the least particle of merit to transfer to another. Every creature is bound for himself to fulfil the whole law. After doing all that is possible for him, in the way of obedience, he must confess himself to be an unprofitable servant, Luke xvii., 10. This redemption is in, or by Christ Jesus. — It is wholly in him and solely accomplished by him. Through the period of his ministry on 150 ROMANS III., 25. earth, his disciples who followed him were not aware of the work he was accoinplisliinff. During his agony in the garden they were asleep. When seized by his persecutors to be put to death, they all forsook him and fled. "Behold," says he, "the hour Cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone." No one participated or bore any share with him in that great work, which according to his appeal to his Father, on which he founded the petitions he offered for himself and his people, he alone had con- summated : " I have glorified thee on earth : I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." V. 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation throueth faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbear- ance of God. In the end of the preceding verse, the Apostle had said, that believ- ers are justified freely by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This redemption he here further explains. God hath set forth his Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice to make satisfaction to his justice. The expression Set forth means to exhibit to public view — to place before the eyes of men, to manifest, according as it is said, " who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you," 1 Pet. i., 20. To be a propitiation. — Some understand this as meaning a propitiatory, signi- fying the mercy-seat, as the same word is translated, Ileb. ix., 5; some as a propitiatory sacrifice which is to be preferred. But it comes to the same thing if, according to our translation, it be rendered propitiation, considering the word to be the adjective taken substantively. And this is countenanced by 1 John ii., 2, and iv,, 10 ; tliough a different word is employed, but of the same derivation. By a propitiation is meant, that which appeaselh the wrath of God for sins, and obtains his favor, as it is said, Heb. ii., 17, where the corresponding verb is used, to make reconciliation for (to propitiate) the sins of the people, and God be merciful to me a sinner. He was thus pacified towards believers in Jesus Christ, and made favorable to them, the demands of his law and justice being satisfied, and every obstruction to the exercise of his mercy towards them removed. This propitiation of Christ was typified by the propitiatory sacrifices whose blood was shed, and by the mercy- seat which was called the propitiatory, — that illustrious type of Christ and his work — covering the ark in which the law to be fulfilled by him was deposited, and on it, and before it, the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled by the High Priest. Through faith in his blood. — This propitiation was made by blood, by which is to be understood all the sufferings ol Christ, and above all his death, by which they were con- summated. And this becomes a propitiation to us through faith in his blood ; that is, when we believe that his death is a sacrifice which makes atonement for us, and when we rest on it as a sufficient answer to all accusations against us of the law of God, which in the punishment of death, it demanded for sin, for " without shedding of blood is no Xr ROMANS III., 25. 151 remission." The expression, " through faith in his blood," linnils to believers the effect of this propitiation.* God hath not only set forth his Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice, to be available through faith in his blood, but also hath done this to declare or manifest his righteousness. Righteousness. — Some here translate this word faithful/iess, or the righteousness of the character of God, or veracity; some goodness ; some holi7iess ; some pardoning ?/ierc?/; but all are wrong, and such translations are opposed to the sense of the passage. It is righteousness, namely, the righteousness of God, on account of which the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, ch. i., 17, to which the Apostle had recurred in the 21st and 22d verses of this chapter, declaring that it is now manifested. "Righteousness" in the above passages is the same as in the one before us, and in the fol- lowing verse. In the 21st and 22d verses the expression employed is the " righteousness of God," and in this and the following verse " his righteousness." Is it then to be supposed, that in repeating the same expression four times in the same breath, and with a view to establish the same truth, the Apostle used it in various senses, first, as that righteousness which fulfils the law which God has provided for sinners, and then as the faithfulness, or goodness, or holiness, or mercy, or justice of God, or the righteousness of his character ? — ideas entirely different from the former. That the meaning of the expression, " his righteous- ness," is the same in this and the following verse as that of the " right- eousness of God" in verses 21, 22, appears unquestionable from the reason given in this 21st verse for setting forth Jesus Christ to be a propitiation for sin. This, as is twice repeated, first here, and then in the following verse, was for the purpose of declaring or manifesting God's righteousness. In the 21st verse, it is asserted that the right- eousness of God is now manifested, and in the 25th verse it is shown in what way it is now manifested, namely, by setting forth Christ as a propitiation for sin, and in the following verse the reason is given, namely, for what purpose it is now manifested. On the whole, then, notwithstanding that a different sense is generally affixed to it by com- mentators, it appears clear that the signification of the expression "righteousness," is the same in each of these four verses which stand in so close a connexion. This signification being the same in aU the above instances, and generally in the various other places in the Epistle in which it so often occurs, entirely corresponds with the whole tenor of the Apostle's discourse, which is to prove that a perfect right- eousness is provided by God for man, who has lost his righteousness, and on which he had so forcibly dwelt throughout the first and second chapters, and dowm to the 21st verse of the chapter before us. For the remission of sins that are past, — rather as to, or with regard * This passage makes clear the meaning of 1 John ii., 2, " He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world," — for all, both Jews and Gentiles, whu have faith in his blood. In the end of that Epistle, ch. v., 19, the expression, " the whole world," is also used in a restricted sense, being distinguish- ed from those who are " of God." " And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." 152 ROMANS III., 26. to the passing by of sins before commillcd. Jesus Christ hath been set forth by (Jod to be a propitiatory sacrifice, by which he brought in " everlasting righteousness," and by which it is now publicly manifest- ed. On account, then, of this righteousness, even before it was intro- duced, Ciod pardoned or rciuitlcd the sins of his people under the Old Testament dispensation. These, having received the promises, although their accomplishment was yet afar on, were persuaded of them and embraced them ; thus exercising faith in the blood of that great ])ro- pitiatory sacrifice, which was typified by the legal sacrifices, and through this faith they received the remission of their sins. Through the forbearance of God. — It was owing to God's forbear- ance that he passed by the sins of his people before the death of Christ, till which time his law was not honored, and his justice had received no satisfaction. No sufficient atonement previous to that event was made for their sins, yet through the forbearance of God he did not immedi- ately proceed to punish them, but had respect to the everlasting right- eousness to be brought in, in the fulness of time, Dan. i.x., 24, by the propitiatory sacrifice of his Son, by which their sins were to be expiated. This verse beautifully indicates the ground on which Old Testament saints were admitted into heaven before the death of Christ. The same truth is declared in the Epistle to the Hebrews, ix., 15, where the Apostle refers to the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices to take away sins, and speaks of the blood of Jesus, by which he entered into the holy place, and obtained eternal redemption for his people. " And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called (literally the called) might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." All the people on whom the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled, were sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, but those of them who were efficaciously called, and offered the sacrifices in faith of the promise of God, received a real re- mission of their sins. They were, like Noah, heirs of the righteous- ness which is by faith, and consequently partakers in its benefits. To the same purpose, the Apostle speaks towards the end of that Epistle, of " the spirits of just men made perfect,'''' Heb. xii., 28. They had entered heaven on the pledge of that righteousness which was after- wards to be wrought ; but until that took place, their title to heavenly glory had not been completed or perfected.* Hence the declaration at the end of the 11th chapter of that Epistle, "that they without us should not be made perfect," that is, without the introduction of that righteousness in the days of the gospel, the ministration of which was committed to the Apostles, 2 Cor. iii., 8. V. 26. — To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness ; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. * Mr. Stuart's explanation is, " exalted to a state of final reward." This is not the truth here declared. The other commentators equally mistake the meaning, explaining it to signify exalted to a state of holiness and felicity. ROMANS III., 26. 153 God hath at this time also set forth his Son as a propitiatory sacri- fice, in order to make manifest his righteousness, on account of which now, under the gospel dispensation, he remits the sins of his people. He was always just in forgiving sin, but now the ground on which he forgives it is manifested, which vindicates his justice in doing so. The word here rendered just, is variously translated by those who do not understand God's plan of salvation. Some make it to signify, benevo- lent, kind, merciful, &c. ; but it has here its own proper meaning, which it never deserts. God is just ; he acts according to strict justice, as becometh his character, while he justifies, accounts, and treats as perfectly righteous all who believe in Jesus, who are thus one with him, and consequently have his righteousness imputed to them. In all this we see tiie accomplishment of that prediction, " Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other, truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven ; yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps," Psalm Ixxxv., 10. From the two last verses we learn that in the continuance of the legal dispensation, notwithstanding the sins of men, and also in the pre- servation of the nations, God had suspended the immediate effects of his justice. For if he had not acted in this manner, he would at once have put an end to that dispensation and to the economy of his provi- dence with respect to the other nations, in destroying both them and the people of Israel. During all that time which preceded the coming of his Son, he appeared to have forgotten the merited punishment of men's sins, and all the world remained under the shadow of his forbear- ance. But when Jesus Christ came, God did two things : the first was to continue no longer an economy of patience, or of an apparent forgetfulness of sin, but to bring in everlasting righteousness, by which he bestowed a true justification, which the law, whether written or na- tural, could not do, as it left men under guilt ; but Jesus Christ has brought the true grace of God. The second thing which God has done, is to manifest, in the revelation of his righteousness, his avenging justice, by the shedding of the blood of his Son upon the cross. And thus he now appears to be just in himself as the real avenger of sins, and at the same time the justifier of men ; granting them a real remis- sion of their sins by the imputation of his righteousness, which an- swers every demand of law and justice ; whereas, in the period of the forbearance of God, which continued to the time of Jesus Christ, God neither appeared just nor justifying. He did not appear just, for he suspended the effects of his justice. He did not appear the justifier, for he seemed only to suspend for a time the punishment of sins, and to leave men under the obligation of that punishment. But in the economy of Jesus Christ he manifests himself both as just and as the justifier, for he displays the awful effects of his justice in tiie person of his Son in the work of propitiation, in the shedding of his blood ; and at the same time, he justifies his people, granting to them a true remission of their sins. And when the greatness of him by whom this 154 ' ROMANS III., 27. expiation was made is considered, the glory of the Divine justice, as exliibited in his death, is elevated in tiie highest possible degree. In tlie proi)itiation tiien of Jesus Clirist, the justice of God in tlie salvation of sinners shines conspicuous. No man hath seen God al any tune ; the only begotten Son hath in his own person revealed him. Jesus Christ was set forth to display every attribute of Godhead. The wisdom and power of God are seen in the constitution and person of Cluist and his work, incomparably more fully than in the creation of the heavens and the earth. Perfect justice, mercy, and love to sinners, are beheld nowhere else. Here God is revealed as infinite in mercy, not so the God of man's imagination, whose mercy is a mixture of in- justice and weak compassion, and extends only to those who are sup- posed to deserve it. But in the incarnate God infinite mercy is extended to the chief of sinners. Here is pure mercy without merit on the part of man. And where do we find the perfection of Divine justice f Not in the God of man's imagination, where justice is tem- pered with mercy, and limited in a thousand ways. Not even in the eternal punishment of the wicked shall we find justice so fully dis- played as in the propitiation of Jesus Christ. He gave justice all it could demand, so that it is now shown to have secured the salvation of the redeemed in every age of the world as much as mercy itself. God is shown not only to be merciful to forgive, but he \% faithjul and just to forgive the sinner his sins. Justice, instead of being reduced to the necessity of taking a part from the bankrupt, has received full pay- ment, and guarantees his deliverance. Even the chief of sinners are shown, in the propitiatory sacrifice of their Surety, to be perfectly worthy of Divine love, because they are not only perfectly innocent, but have the righteousness of God. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. V. 27. — Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works ? Nay, but by the law of faith. Where is boasting then ? — That is, according to the doctrine which the Apostle, by the Spirit of God, is teaching. There is no ground for it, or for ascribing salvation in any part or degree to the works of men. This shows, that salvation was appointed to come to the redeemed through faitli, for the very purpose of excluding all pretences to allege that any human merit has any share in it. This applies to all works, moral as well as ceremonial. If ceremonial works only were here meant, as many contend, and if moral works have some influence in procuring salvation, or in justification, then the Apostle could not have asked this question. Boasting would not have been excluded. Paul had declared the only way in which a man can be "just with God." He had proved, that it is not by his own righteousness which is of the law, but hy tliat righteousness which is received by faith. This is clear from what had been advanced in the preceding verse, from which this is an inference. If, then — as if he had said — God had pur- posed that men should have any ground of boasting, he would not have ROMANS III., 28. 155 set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, that thereby a way might be opened for justifying sinners, so that liis justice might suffer no prejudice. But now he has taken this course ; and, therefore, the only way of justification precludes all boasting. " Paul is not here," says Calvin, " disputing merely concerning cere- monies, or any external works, but comprehends all works of every kind and degree. Boasting is excluded without all doubt, since we can produce nothing of our own that merits the approbation or com- mendation of God. And here he is not speaking of limitation or dimi- nution of merit, since he does not allow the leasi particle of it. Thus, if boasting of works be removed by faith, so that it takes away from man all praise, while all power and glory are ascribed to God, it follows that no works whatever contribute to the attainment of righteousness." By what law is boasting excluded ? — It is not by that of works ; for if works were admitted, in the smallest degree, to advance or aid man's justification, he might in that proportion have ground of boasting. It is, then, by the law of faith ; not by a law requiring faith, or as if the gospel was a law, a new law, or, as it has been termed, a remedial or mitigated law — but the word law is here used in allusion to the law of works, according to a figure usual in the Scriptures. By the same figure Jesus says, " This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent." Here faith is called a work, for a similar reason. Faith in the rigiiteousness of Christ is, by the appointment of God, the medium of a sinner's justification, without any consideration of works. This way of justification clearly shows that a man has no righteousness of his own, and that he can obtain nothing by means of conformity to the law, which can have no place, since he must admit that he is a transgressor. It impels him to flee out of himself, and to lay hold of the righteousness of another, and so leaves no room for glorying or boasting in himself, or in iiis own performances more or less. His justification is solely by faith ; and it is clear, that to believe a testi- mony, and rely on what has been done by another, furnish no ground for boasting. " Therefore it is by faith, that it might be by grace." The whole plan of salvation proceeds on this principle, "that no flesh should glory in his presence," but "that, according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord." No ingenuity can ever make salvation by human merit consistent with the passage before us. V. 28. — Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Therefore we conclude. — In the 20th verse the Apostle had arrived at the conclusion, from all he had said before, that by works of law no man shall be justified in the sight of God. He had next pointed out the way of justification by faith in the atonement ; and here he comes to his second grand and final conclusion, as the sum of all he had taught in the preceding part of the Epistle. Justified by faith. — Faith does not justify as an act of righteousness, but as the instrument by which we receive Christ and his righteousness. Believers are said to be jus- tified hy faith, and of faith, and through faith; but never on account 156 ROMANS III., 30. of faith. The declaration of James, that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only, is not in any respect opposed to the affirmation in the passage before us. The question with him is not how men may obtain righteousness for themselves in the presence of (Jod, but how they are proved to be righteous, for he is refuting those who make a vain boast of having faitli, when they have only what he calls a dead faith ; that is, faith only in profession, which he illustrates by a man's having the appearance of compassion without the reality, and by refer- ring to the body without the spirit of breath.* Without the deeds of the law, literally without works of law, for here, as in verse 3 1st, the article is wanting. — This does not signify, as Dr. Macknight understands it, that " perfect obedience " to law is not ne- cessary ; it signifies that no degree of obedience to law is necessary. Good works are necessary for the believer, and are the things which accompany salvation, but they are not in any respect necessary to his justification. Thev have nothing to do with it. This passage asserts not merely that men are justified by faith without perfect obedience to any law, but without any obedience of their own. It may likewise be remarked, tiiat believers will not be acquitted at the last day on account of their works, but will be judged according to their works. But God does not justify any according to their works, but freely by his grace ; and not by works, or according to the works of righteousness which they have done, Titus iii., 5. V. 29.— Is he the God of the Jews only ? is he not also of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Rather, Is he the God of Jews only ? Is he not also of Gentiles ? The article before Jews and Gentiles, which is not in the original, makes the assertion respect Jews and Gentiles in general. In the sense of the passage, God is not the God either of the Jews or of the Gentiles in general ; but he is the God of Jews and Gentiles indiffer- ently, when they believe in his Son. V. 30. — Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncir- cumcision through faith. Seeing it is one God. — This assigns the reason why God must be the God of Gentiles as well as of Jews. If he justifies both in the same way, he must be equally the God of both. In the previous part of the discussion, Paul had shown that by works of law no flesh shall be justified, proving it first respecting Gentiles, and afterwards respecting Jews. Now he aflSrms that God's method of justifying man applies equally to Jews and Gentiles. This confirms his doctrine respecting the ruin of all men by sin, and of there being only one way of recovery by the righteousness of God received through faith. To urge this was likewise of great importance, with a view to establish the kingdom of Christ in all the earth, Rom. x., 11, 13. Having thus reduced the whole human race to the same level, it follows that all dis- • See on this subject the Author's Work on Evidences, &c., vol. ii., p. 385. 3d edition. ROMANS III,, 31. 157 tinction among them must be from God, and not from themselves ; all standing on the same footing with respect to their works. There is but one God, and so but one way of becoming his people, wliich is by faith. By faith, and through faith. — It is difficult to see why the prepo- sitions here are varied. Similar variations, however, occur in other places, where there appears to be no difference of meaning, as in Gal. ii., 16, where justification, as applied to the same persons, is spoken of in the same sense, " Knowing that a man is not justified hy works of law, but through the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ." V. 31. — Do we then make void law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish law. From the doctrine of justification by faith alone, which the Apostle had been declaring, it might be supposed that the law of God was made void. This consequence might be drawn from the conclusion, that a man is justified by faith without any respect to his obedience to law. This the Apostle denies, and on the contrary asserts, that by his doctrine the law is established. The article is here wanting before law, indicating that the reference is not to the legal dispensation, or to the Books of Moses, as in the last clause of verse 21, but to the general law of God, whether written or unwritten. Make void law. — '' Bring it to naught," as the same word in the original is rendered, 1 Cor. i,, 28 ; or "destroy," 1 Cor, vi,, 13, and xv., 26; "done away," 2 Cor, iii,, 7-14; " abohshed," Eph, ii,, 15; 2 Tim. i,, 10. Professors Tholuck and Stuart, not perceiving how the doctrine of the Apostle establishes the authority of the law, understand law in this place as signifying the Old Testament. This entirely destroys llie meaning and use of the passage. That the Old Testament teaches the same way of justification as that taught by the Apostles, is indeed a truth, an important truth, but not the truth here asserted. Mr. Stuart says, " How gratuitous justifi- cation can be said to confirm or establish the moral law (as this text has been often explained), it seems difficult to make out." There is not here the smallest difliiculty. It is quite obvious in what way gratuitous justification by Christ establishes law. Can there be any greater respect shown to the law, than that when God determines to save men from its curse, he makes hfs own Son sustain its curse in their stead, and fulfil for them all its demands ? When a surety pays all that is due by a debtor, the debtor receives a gratuitous discharge, but has the debt, or the law that enforces the debt, been on that account made void ? Here, as well as in so many otiier parts of his exposition of this Epistle, we discover the unhappy effect of this commentator's misunderstanduig the meaning of the expression at its commencement, the righteousness of God. That he should feel the difficulty he states above, is not sur- prising, for, according to the view he gives of justification, the law of God is completely made void. Dr. Macknight explains establishing law, to be making it " necessary in many respects." " The gospel," he says, in his view and illustra- 158 ROMANS III., 31. lion of cli. i., 176, " leaclies, that because all have sinned, and are in- capable of perfect obedience, (lod hath appointed, for their salvation, a righteousness without law ; that is, a righteousness which does not consist in jierfect obocHence to any hiw wliatever, even the riixhteousness of faith* that being the only righteousness attainable by sinners ; and at the same time declares, that (iod will accept and reward that kind of righteousness through Christ, as if it were a perfect right- eousness."t Accordingly, in his interpretation of the 21st verse of chapter iii., he says : " But novo, under the gospel, a righteousness appointed by God, as the means of tlic justification of sinners, ivithout perfect obedience to latv of any kind, is made knoivn." In this man- ner, mistaking, like Professors Tholuck and Stuart, altiiough in a dif- ferent way, the import of the expression, "the righteousness of God," he misunderstands the whole train of the Apostle''s reasoning, from the 17th verse of the 1st chapter to the end of the 5th chapter, as well as its object, in this discussion on justification, and by his explanation altogether makes void the law. Instead of making it " necessary in many respects," Dr. Macknight, as well as Mr. Stuart, and Mr. Tho- luck, by representing it as satisfied with an imperfect obedience, which does not meet the demands of any law, either human or divine, makes it void in every respect. Such is the entire consistency among them- selves of the doctrine of scripture, that whenever any one of tiiem is misunderstood, it invariably leads to the misunderstanding of the rest. Many commentators, with more or less clearness, refer to the doctrine of sanctification, either in whole or in part, the Apostle's denial that he makes void the law. According to them, it is not made void for this reason, because it convinces men of sin, and does not release from personal obedience to its precepts. That the doctrine of justification, by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, does not release believers from obedience to the law, is a most important truth, which Paul fully establisiies in the sixth chapter of this Epistle. On the contrary, it lays them under additional obligations to obey it, by furnishing additional motives to the love of God. But since their sanctification is always in this life imperfect, were there nothing else to meet the demands of the law, it would be made void — it would remain unfulfilled, both in its precept and penalty. In addition to this, the whole of the previous discussion regards the doctrine of justification, while not a word is said respecting sanctification. And it is evident that this verse is introduced to obviate an objection which might naturally present itself, namely, if man's obedience, in order to his justification, be set aside, the law, which requires obedience, is made void. But Paul appeals to his doctrine, and according to his usual manner, strongly rejects such an inference. In the preceding verses, from the 20th, he had been announcing that the righteousness of God, wiiich is • Here, as elsewliere, lie misunderstands the meaning of the expression, the right- eousness q/'/ai7/j,iinagii)iiijj that it sifj;ni(ies the righteousness that belongs to faith, and not the righteousness which is received by faith. t " These inferences indeed," he adds, " tlie Apostle hath not drawn in this part of his letter." The Apostle never could draw such inferences. ROMANS IV. 159 the complete fulfilment of the law, is placed to the account of him who believes, for his justification, whereby God, in thus justifying the sinner solely on the ground of a perfect obedience, shows himself to be just. Do we then, he says, make void the law ? This doctrine not only maintains the authority of the law of God, but also exhibits the fulfil- ment of all its demands. The connecting particle shows that Paul rests his proof on what had gone before, to which he appeals, and not on the ground of sanctification, to which he had been making no re- ference, and which, if he had referred to it, would not have borne out his assertion, " Think not," said our blessed Lord, "that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." It is to this ful- filment— to the righteousness of God, which in the context the Apostle had been illustrating, and which Jesus Christ brought in — that he here appeals. Do we make law void when we conclude that a man is justi- fied by faith without doing the works of law, since we show that through his faith, he receives a perfect righteousness by which, in all its demands and all its sanctions, it i% fulfilled? No; it is in this very way we establish it. In this glorious establishment of the law of God, Paul, in another place, exults, when he counts all things but loss for the excellency of Christ, and desires to be found in him, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. While he thus tramples on his own righteousness, by which the law never could be established, he confidently appeals to the righteousness of God, now made by his faith. This is precisely in accordance with his conclusion in the 28th verse, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of law ; and afterwards, at the termination of his mortal career, in the immediate prospect of death, he triumphs in the consideration that there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness — a crown, the reward of that perfect obedience by which the law is magnified and made honorable. CHAPTER IV. ROMANS IV., l-M This chapter beautifully connects with all that precedes it. In the first chapter the Apostle had announced that "the righteousness of God" was revealed in the gospel, which is, on that account, the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. He had shown at great length, that this way of salvation was necessary for man, proving by 160 ROMANS IV. an appeal to fact, and then to Scripture, lliat both Jews and Gentiles were guilty before God, and that, conscfjucntly, no one could be justi- fied by his own obedience. He had afterwards reverted to this right- eousness which (lod hath provided in his Son. In this fourth chapter lie slrikinyly illustrates these truths by first obviating the objection that might be ollered by the Jews respecting their great progenitor Abraham, whose character they held in such veneration. This would lead them to suppose, that he must be an exception to the Apostle's doctrine, by furnishing an example of one justified by works. Having refuted this objection in the particular case of Abraham, and confirmed the truth of what he had advanced by the testimony of David, Paul makes use of the history of Abraham himself to prove what he had previously asserted, and to show. that in the matter of justification before God, there was no exception, and no difTcrencc between Jews and Gentiles. The chapter consists of four parts. In the first, the Apostle, by re- ferring, as has just been observed, to the history of Abraham and the authority of David, illustrates his doctrine of justification by faith. Nothing could be so well calculated to convince both Jewish and Gen- tile believers, especially the former, how vain is the expectation of those who look for justification by their own works. Abraham was a patri- arch eminently holy, the head of the nation of Israel, the friend of God, the father of all who believe, in whose seed all the nations of the world were to be blessed. David was a man according to God's own heart, the progenitor of the Messiah, his great personal type, and a chosen and anointed King of Israel If, then, Abraham had not been justified by his works, but by the righteousness of God imputed to him through faith, and David, speaking by the Spirit of God, had declared that the only way in which a man can receive justification, is by his sin being covered by the imputation of that righteousness, who could suppose that it was to be obtained by any other means ? By these two refer- ences, the Apostle likewise shows llial the way of justification was the same from the beginning, both under the old and the new dispensation. This he had before intmiatcd, in saying that both the law and the prophets bore witness to the righteousness of (jod, which is now mani- fested, and which is upon all them that believe. In the other three parts of this chapter, Paul shows, first, that cir- cumcision, to which the Jews ascribed so much efficacy, contributed nothing to Abraham's justification, and that the righteousness imputed to him was bestowed before his circumcision, with the express intention of proving that righteousness should be imputed to all who believe though they be not circumcised. In the next place, he proves that the promise of the inheritance made to Abraham was not through obedi- ence to law, but through that righteousness which is received by faith ; and that the whole plan of justification was arranged in this manner, in order that the blessing conveyed through faith by the free favor of God, might be made sure to all the seed of Abraham, — that is, to " the children of the promise," Rom. ix., 8, whether Jews or Gentiles. And, lastly, Paul describes Abraham's faith, and states the benefit resulting from its exhibition to believers, for whose sake chiefly his faith was re- ROMANS IV., 1. 161 corded. It. is particularly to be noticed, that not a word is said respect- ing Abraham's sanctification, although his whole history, after leaving his own country, furnishes so remarkable an example of a holy walk and conversation. All that is brought into view is his faith. It is thus shown, that neither moral nor ceremonial, neither evangelical nor legal works, are of any account whatever in the act of justification, or contri- bute in any degree to procure that blessing. The whole of this chapter is particularly calculated to make a deep impression on the Jews ; and no doubt the day is approaching, and probably near at hand, when they will read it with much interest, and derive from it signal benefit. V. 1. — What shall we then say that Abraham, our father as pertaining to the flesh, hath found ? In the third chapter the Apostle had replied to the objections which might be offered to what he had before advanced respecting the Jews. First, it might be inquired if, as appeared from his doctrine, the Jews could not be saved by their distinguished privileges connected with the law, or by observing the rite of circumcision, what advantage did thev possess over others, and what profit had they from circumcision ? Second, on the supposition of their being transgressors, it was asked, if tlieir sin was the means of com7nending the righteousness of God, was it not unjust to punish them as sinners ? Lastly, if all that had been said was true, what were they better than others ? After obviating all these objections, and proving from the character of the Jews, and of all other men, as delineated in the Scriptures, the impossibility of their justification by the works of law, Paul had exhibited the only way in which sinners could be justified before God, and had shown that it was effected in such a way, that all boasting on the part of man is excluded. Another objection might now naturally present itself to the Jews in connection with the case of Abraham, who had received the ordinance of circumcision from God himself, and whose eminent piety they held in such veneration. It might be asked what, according to the Apostle's doctrine, could be said regarding him ; what had he found, or ob- tained ? Did not he obtain justification in these ways ? Such is the objection which the Apostle introduces in this and the following verse, and answers fully in both its parts. Abraham our father. — In the course of this chapter Abraham is again and again denominated, in a spiritual sense, the father of all believers ; but in this place, in which the argument, from his circumcision and holy character, refers chiefly to the Jews, to wiiom much of what is said in the preceding chapter relates, it appears that he is here spoken of as the natural progenitor of the Jewish nation. The expression our is, therefore, to be considered as referring to the Jews, with whom, as being a Jew, the Apostle here classes himself, and not to believers generally, whether Jews or Gentiles, as in other verses of this chapter. That it is thus to be understood does not appear, however, from the expression pertainiiig to the flesh, since it is not joined with that of father in the original. The order there is, " Abraham our father hath found as pertaining to the flesh." 11 162 ROMANS IV., 3. As pertaining to the flesh. — That is, by circumcision, of which the Apostl« had spoken, chap. ii. ; or by any work or privilege, Phil, iii., 4. The expression, to the flesh, should rather be translated })y the flesh, as the word here translated as pertaining to, is rendered, chap, ii., 7, and in many other passages. Circwncision especially was the token of the covenant which contained all the promises that God had made to Al)raliam, saying, " My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlast- ing covenant." Could it be supposed that this rite, so solemnly en- joined and connected with such privileges, and his other good works, had no procuring influence in Abraham's justification ? Such is the objection which it is supposed in this first verse would occur to the Jews, and is therefore staled by the Apostle, which he fully answers in the sequel. V. 2. — For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory ; but not before God. The term " works" is here explanatory of the word flesh m the first verse, signifying any works, whether moral or ceremonial. If Abraham were justified on account of his works, as the Jews believed, it must be admitted that he had something to boast of, contrary to what the Apostle had just before declared, that all boasting on such grounds is excluded, whose doctrine, consequently, must be set aside. Than this no objection that could be oflercd would appear to the Jews more forci- ble ; it was therefore important to advert to it. Being, however, entirely groundless, the Apostle at once repels it, and replies to the question previously proposed, respecting circumcision, or any work oi privilege, in that prompt and brief manner of which we see an example at the end of the 8th verse of the former chapter. He answers. But not before God. Abraham had no ground of boasting before God, not having been justified either by the observance of the rite of circum- cision, or by any other work of obedience which he had performed ; and this Paul fully proves in the sequel. V. 3. — For what saith the Scripture ? Abraham believed God, and it was counteu unto him for righteousness. Having denied in the foregoing verse that Abraham was justified, or had any ground of boasting, either on account of his circumcision or his obedience, Paul next sujiports his denial by an appeal to Scripture, which was calculated to carry stronger conviction to the Jews, than all things else he could have alleged. His proof is drawn from the his- torical records of the Old Testament, and thus he sels his seal to its complete verbal inspiration, quoting what is there recorded as the de- cision of Ciod ; yet some who profess to receive the Bible as the word of God, deny that portion of it to be inspired ! His meaning, then, by the question, xohat saith the Scripture, is, that God himself, by his own word, has decided this mailer, for the fact is there declared that Abra- ham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. This quotation is taken from Gen. xv., 6, where the promise to Abra- ham is recorded, that his seed should be innumerable as the stars of ROMANS IV., 3. 163 heaven, being the renewal of the promise, Geu. xii., 2, when he was called out of his own country. It thus comprehended the truth an- nounced to him at different times, that all the nations of the world should be blessed in his seed, that is, in the Messiah, Gal. iii., 16. That promise referred to the one made to our first parents after the fall, in which was included the hope of redemption to be accomplished by the Deliverer of mankind, who was to spring from him, as God declared to Abraham. The above passage, then, according to Paul, proves that the righteousness of God is received by faith, and is an example of the testimony that is rendered to it by the law. It refutes the opinion of those who, misunderstanding the manner in which the Apostle James expresses himself, affirm that a man is first justified only by faith, but afterwards by works which flow from faith. And it loas counted to him for righteousness. — Rather unto righteous- ness.— It is not instead of righteousness, as this translation/or righteous- ness has led many to suppose. By faith a man becomes truly righteous. Faith is the recipient of that righteousness by which we are justified. Unto righteousness is the literal rendering, as the same word in the original is so often translated in this discussion, as where it is said, chap, i., 16, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation ; and chap, iii., 22, even the righteousness of God which is unto all ; and so in in- numerable other places, but especially in a passage precisely parallel to the one before us, chap, x., 10, " For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." This is the signification of the phrase in the verse be- fore us, which ought to have been translated in the same way. The ex- pression " unto righteousness " is elliptical, and signifies unto the re- ceiving of righteousness. In the different French translations, the meaning of the original is properly expressed " a justice ;" that is, to, or unto righteousness, and it is the same way in the Vulgate : " adjus- titiam,^' to righteousness. And this meaning is fixed down definitely by the verses immediately succeeding, where the Apostle introduces a passage from the Psalms, in illustration of the manner in which Abraham and his spiritual seed are justified. That faith is not itself the justifying righteousness is demonstrably evident, from the phraseology of many passages that speak of faith and righteousness in the same place. " Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe." Here righteousness is supposed to be one thing, and faith to be another. Can language more expressly show that righteousness and faith are two different things, for two different purposes, though always found united in the same persons, and both equally necessary ? Righteousness is what we want in order to justification ; faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as testified in the gospel, is the means through which we receive this right- eousness. Believing, then, is not the righteousness, but it is the means through which we become righteous. In like manner, in Rom. x., 10, above quoted, the Apostle says, " For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Here it is necessarily implied that faith is not right- eousness, but that it is the means through which we receive righteous- ness. Nothing, then, can be a greater corruption of the truth than to 164 ROMANS IV., 3. represent faith itself as accepted instead of righteousness, or to be the rij^ljteousncss that saves th(r sinner. Faith is not righteousness. Right- eousness is the fulfillin*^ of tlic hiw. This verse, conni'cted with the following, proves, like the 28th verse of the foregoing chapter, tliat faith is opposed to works, and not considered as a work in the matter of justification. Yet many speak of the excel- lence of Abraham's faith in such a way as to represent the patriarch to be saved by faith as a work — as the most excellent of all works. Mr. • Tholuck advances many observations on this subject that are altogether unscriptural, discovering most erroneous views of the gospel. He quotes various passages from Philo, which he calls "beautiful," in which Philo extols faith as " the queen of virtues," " the price of every blessing," and adils, " and well it is said, that faith was counted to him (Abraham) for righteousness." Here Philo exhibits faith as the righteousness by which Abraham was justified — the price of that blessing. Mr. Tholuck says, "AiKaiot, (righteousness) denotes her subjective holiness. God looked upon Abraham's child-like submission as if it were real holiness, and attached value to it alone." A greater perversion of Scripture, or a sentiment more directly opposed to the meaning of the passage, and to all the Apostle is proving in the context, and has been laboring to prove throughout the whole of his previous discussion from the 16th verse of the first chapter, as well as subversive of the grand doctrine of justifica- tion, cannot be imagined. If Abraham was justified by faith as a "/)?-/cc," or " as righteousness," — an expression which Mr. Tholuck employs again and again, then he was justified by faith as a work, — " as if it were real holiness," and God is thus represented as attaching a value to faith which does not belong to it ! In opposition to such unscriptural and fallacious statements, which at once make void the law and the gospel, we are here taught that Abraham was not justified by faith either as a price, or as a virtue, or as if it were really righteousness, but as the appointed medium of receiving righteousness, even the righteousness of God. This funda- mental error of Mr. Tholuck and Mr. Stuart, and long ago, of Socinus, that faith, although it is really not righteousness, is reckoned by God as righteousness, is most dishonorable to the character of God, and deroga- tory to his holy law. That law which is a transcript of his own un- changeable nature, can acknowledge nothing as its fulfilment but perfect conformity to all its requirements. Nor did the gospel come to pour dishonor upon it by modifying its demands, or to substitute another law for it, making faith meritorious. And besides, the nature of faith will not admit of this, for it excludes boasting. It implies a fleeing out of one's self, and our own performances — it consists in looking to another as the bestower of eternal salvation. Dr. Macknight has a long note on this verse, which is also directly opposed to the Apostle's doctrine of justification. " In judging Abra- ham," he says, " God will place on the one side of the account his duties, and on the other his performances. And on the sideof his performances he will place his faith, and by mere favor will value it as equal to a complete performance of his duties, and reward him as if he were a righteous person. But neither here, nor in Gal. iii., 6, is it said, that ROMANS IV., 5. 165 Christ's righteousness ivas counted to Abraham. In both passages the expression is, Abraham believed God, and it, viz. his believing God, was coimted. to him for righteousness. Further, as it is nowhere said in Scripture that Christ's righteousness was imputed to Abraham, so neither is it said anywhere that Christ's righteousness is imputed to believers." These statements, affirming that God in judging Abraham will place on the one side of the account his duties, and on the other his performances, and by mere favor will value faith as equal to a complete performance of his duties, argue most deplorable ignorance of the whole plan of salvation. The assertion that it is nowhere said in Scripture that Christ's righteousness is imputed to believers is directly contrary to fact. It is contradicted by the whole strain of Scripture relating to the subject, and expressly by the Apostle Peter in his address to them that have obtained like precious faith with us, in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Peter i., 1. (This is the literal rendering.) And also by the Prophet Jeremiah xxiii., 6, by whom Jesus Christ is called the Lord our righteousness. But by such groundless assertions does Dr. Macknight misrepresent the character of God, and labors to banish from the Bible the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's right- eousness, without which, consistently with the perfections of God and the demands of the law, there could be no salvation. He misunderstands, too, the meaning of the expression for righteousness. V. 4. — Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Some understand this as implying working perfectly — doing all that a man is bound to do. But this is contrary to the meaning ; it applies to work of any kind, and excludes all working of every kind or degree. No reward can be said to be of grace that is given for work of any description. Abraham did not obtain righteousness by faith as a good disposition, or by counting that disposition above its value. Had Abra- ham been justified by faith as an act or disposition worthy of approba- tion, or by anything whatsoever that he had done, he would have been justified by works, and might have boasted. V. 5. — But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. But to him that worketh not. — This is entirely misunderstood by Dr Macknight and Mr. Stuart, as if it meant, according to Dr. Macknight^ " one who does not work all that he is bound to do," or, according to Mr. Stuart, " the sinner who has not exhibited perfect obedience." It means, however, what it literally expresses, namely, that the person who is justified does not work at all for his justification. It is not that he does not perform all the works that he ought, but that for justification he does nothing. It is true that he works, but not for justification. Mr. Tholuck, who likewise misunderstands in this place the whole of the Apostle's argument, seems to think that the case of Abraham is only an analogy, and not an example of justification by faith. But Abraham's faith respected the Messiah, whose day he saw afar off, and by his righteousness he was justified. Justifieth the ungodly. — If the expression, " to him that worketh not," 16G ROMANS IV., 5. nct'ilcd any explanation, this term — the ungodly — would place its ineaniniT beyond all doubt. The terra ungodly is applied throughout the Scriptures to wicked men, Rora. v., 6 ; 1 Tim. i., 9 ; 1 Pet. iv., 18 ; 2 Pet. ii., 5 ; iii., 7 ; Jude, 4, 15. Men are ungodly in themselves, though, as soon as they are justified, they cease to be ungodly. They are ungodly till tliey believe ; but in the moment that they receive the gift of faith, they are thereby united to the Saviour, and are instantly invested with the robe of righteousness, and also partake, according to the measure of their faith, of all those other graces that are received out of his fulness. They then pass from death to life, a transition in which there is no medium ; they are turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, for till then, being without Christ, they are the children of the devil. They cannot at the same time be both dead and alive — under the power of God and under the power of the devil ; they must in every instant of their existence be either under the one or the other. In that moment, then, in which they believe they are justified; and to justify, signifies not to treat men as if they were just or righteous, though they are not so, but because they are in truth righteous by imputation, really righteous, the law having been fulfilled in them, chap, viii., 4. In this Professors Tholuck and Stuart most grossly err. To justify, with them, is not to acquit as being perfectly righteous, but to hold men to be righteous when they are not righteous. The expression, justifieth the ungodly, Dr. Macknight says, " does not imply that Abraham was an ungodly person when he was justified ; the Apostle's meaning is justifieth him who had been ungodly. ^^ This is making, not explaining Scripture. It entirely sets aside the Apostle's declaration. It is much to be regretted that it should be necessary to introduce the name of Mr. Scott in connection with such writers as Macknight, Stuart, and Tholuck. As an expositor of Scripture, he deserves to be spoken of in terms very different from any of them, but an impartial regard for the interest of truth requires that his very erroneous remarks on the passage last referred to should not pass unnoticed. Mr. Scott's note, in his Commentary on this expression, "justifieth the ungodly," is incorrect, and his ideas on the subject are confused. Contrary to the Apostle, he asserts that a man is not " absolutely ungodly at the time of his justification." It is true, as has been observed, that the moment a man is justified, he is godly ; but the question is, if he be godly or ungodly in the moment which precedes his justification. If he be godly before, then the words of the Apostle are false ; and the contrary, that God justifies the godly, would be true. But Mr. Scott's views on this point were very erroneous, as appears from his remarks on Cornelius, in his note preceding the verse before us. He says, " Even the proposi- tion, Good works are the fruits of faith, and follow after faith, in Christ, though a general truth, may admit of some exception, in such cases as that of Cornelius." This contradicts the 12th and 13th articles of his church, to which he appears to refer ; but, what is of more consequence, his statement explicitly contradicts the whole tenor of the Holy Scrip- tures, and of the plan of redemption. The case of Cornelius forms no exception ; nor does it contain even the shadow of an exception to the ROMANS IV., 5. 167 truth declared in the verse we are considering.* Mr. Scott closes his note on Acts x., 1, 2, by remarking, *' Perhaps these observations may assist the reader in understanding this instructing chapter, which cannot easily be made to accord with the exactness of systematical writers on these subjects. Now, there is not the smallest difficulty in showing that all which that chapter contains is in exact accordance with every other part of Scripture. Mr. Scott, after some further remarks on the justification of the un- godly, says, " Nay, the justified believer, whatever his holiness or dili- gence may be, never works for this purpose, and he still comes before God as ungodly in this respect.^^ This is incorrect. He always comes as a sinner ; that is, as one who is daily, hourly, and every moment sin- ning. And when he comes so, he comes as he is ; for this is truth. But he is not ungodlij after he believes, which is a character belonging only to the enemies of God. The Christian then cannot in any respect come m such a character, for he cannot come in a character that is no longer his. There is an essential difference between coming to God as a sinner, and coming to him as ungodly. " Abraham," Mr. Scott sub- joins, " several years before, by faith obeyed the call and command of God ; and therefore could not be, strictly speaking, altogether ungodly, when it was said, ' He believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness ;' so that the example of Abraham alone is a full and clear refutation of the construction by some put upon this text, that men are altogether and in every sense ungodly and unregenerate at the time when God justifies them — a sentiment of most dangerous tendency." The assertion of the Apostle is, that God justifies the ungodly, which can have no other meaning than that men are ungodly in the moment that precedes their justification. It is truly astonishing that the example of Abraham should be referred to as a full and clear refutation of the plain and obvious construction of this assertion of the Apostle, which it never can be of dangerous tendency implicitly to believe. The danger lies in not receiving it, and in raising difficulties and objections which obscure and neutralize a declaration, the meaning of which is so clear and manifest. This must always have the effiixt, as in the case before us, of leading into most palpable error, inconsistency, and misrepresen- tation of the Divine testimony. If Abraham was godly before the time when it is recorded that he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, he was also a believer before that time, and justified before that time, although his justification was then first recorded. The limitations, therefore, " strictly speaking," and "altogether ungodhj^^ which Mr. Scott introduces, are entirely misplaced. He was not ungodly at all. To intimate, as Mr. Scott does, that Abraham was not a justified believer till the period when it is recorded that his faith was counted to him for righteousness, is to say that a man may exercise strong faith, and obey God, and walk in communion with him, long before he is justified, which is to overturn the doctrine of justification. But no such * On the case of Cornelius I refer to the view given in the conclusion of this Expo- sition of " the State of the Heathen World destitute of the Gospel." 1G8 ROMANS IV., 6. confusion and discrepancies are to be found in the Scriptures. When, in the 11th chapter of the Ilchrcws, the Apostle illustrates his declara- tion in the end of the 10th ihapter, that the just shall live by faith, he afhnns tiiat, " By faith, Aljialuun, when he was called to go out into a plact-:, which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed." If, then, faith justifies, as the Apostle is there showing, Abraham was justi- fied by faitli when he " departed as the Lord had spoken to him," Gen. xii., 4, many years before the time of the declaration recorded in Gen. XV., 6. On the whole, there is not a spark of godliness in any man before he is united to Christ ; and the moment he is united to him, he is for ever justified. In the fourth and fifth verses before us, the distinction between receiv- ing a reward tor works, and receiving it through faith, is clearly estab- lished. In the first case, a man receives what is due to him as his wages; in the second, all comes in the way of favor. Here also faith and works are directly opposed to each other. To preserve the doctrine of these verses from abuse, it is only necessary to recollect that works are denied as having anything to do in justification, but that they are absolutely necessary in the life of the believer. "Works," says Luther, " are not taken into consideration when the question respects justification. But true faith will no more fail to produce them than the sun can cease to give light. But it is not on account of works that God justifies us." " We offer nothing to God," says Calvin, " but we are prevented by his grace altogether free, without his having any respect to our works." Men are prone to magnify one part of the Divine counsel, by dispa- raging or denying another, which to their wisdom appears to stand in opposition to it. Some speak of faith in such a manner as to disparage works. Others are so zealous for works as to disparage faith ; while some, in order to honor both, confound them together. The Apostle Paul gives every truth its proper value, and its proper place. In this Epistle he establishes the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and speaks not of the fruits of faith till the 5th chapter. But these fruits he shows to be the necessary result of that faith which justifies. V. 6. — Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. As the blessing of the pardon of sin cannot be separated from our being viewed as perfectly righteous in the sight of God, Paul further confirms his doctrine by a reference to the 32d Psalm, which gives the meaning of David's words. In this manner one part of Scripture is employed to open and explain what is said in another part. Impvteth. — The same word in the original, which, in verses 3, 4, 5, is rendered counted or reckoned, is here rendered imputed. All of them bear the same meaning of placing to the believer's account the righteousness of Jesus Christ, called in chap, v., 19, his " obedience." " Here we see," says Calvin, " the mere cavil of those who limit the works of the law within ceremonial rites, since what before were denominated works of the law, are now called ivorks simply, and without an adjunct. The simple and unrestricted language occurring in this passage, which ROMANS IV., 6. 169 all readers must understand as applying indifferently to every kind of work, must for ever conclude the whole of this dispute. For nothing is more inconsistent than to deprive ceremonies alone of the power of jus- tifying, when Paul excludes works indefinitely." The expression, " iraputeth righteousness without works," is import- ant, as it clearly ascertains that the phrase " for righteousness," literally unto righteousness, signifies unto the receiving of righteousness. It signifies receiving righteousness itself, not a substitute for righteousness, nor a thing of less value than righteousness which is accounted or ac- cepted as righteousness. In Dr. Macknight's note, however, on verse 3d, already quoted, where he is laboring to prove that faith is counted for righteousness, or according to Mr. Stuart and Mr. Tholuck, as righteous- ness, he affirms, as has been observed, that God values faith as equal to complete performance of duty, and that it is nowhere said in Scripture that Christ's righteousness is imputed to believers. The verse before us contains an explicit refutation of these unscriptural statements, which subvert not only the whole of the Apostle's reasoning on the doctrine of justification, but the whole doctrine of salvation. The righteousness here said to be imputed is that righteousness to which Paul had all along been referring, even the righteousness of God on account of the reve- lation of which the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and which, as has been noticed above, is by the Apostle Peter called the right- eous7iess of our God and, Saviour Jesus Christ, in which believers have obtained precious faith. That the Apostle refers in the verse before us to this righteousness lohich fulfils the law, is evident, if we look back to what he says in the 21st verse of the preceding chapter, and to what he continues to say respecting it onwards to this 6th verse, and to the effect he here ascribes to it. If any one can suppose that all this is insufficient to settle the question, I shall produce an argument which is unanswerable, and which all the ingenuity of man is unable to gainsay. It must he the righteousness of God {or the righteousness of Christ, which is the same) that is here spoken of, because there is no other RIGHTEOUSNESS ON EARTH. To say with the above writers that the God of truth values anything " as equal to the complete performance of duty," which is not so in reality, is to give a most unworthy, not to say a blasphemous, representa- tion of his character. Far different are the following sentiments of Dr. Owen in his treatise on justification. " The sinner is not accepted as if he were righteous, but because in Christ Jesus he is so. The majesty of the law is not sacrificed, its requirements are fulfilled in their exceeding breadth ; its penalty is endured in all its awfulness. And thus from the meeting of mercy and loving kindness with justice and judgment, there shines a most excellent glory, of which the full demonstration to men, and angels, and all the rational creatures of God, shall fill up the cycles of eternity." Mr. Stuart comes far short of the truth when he represents the Apos- tle as here confirming his doctrine by the case of David, as a second example or a single instance. David is appealed to by Paul, not in respect to his own justification, but as to the doctrine which he taught with 170 ROMANS IV., 6. respect to this subject in one of his Psalms, where he speaks as he was moved by tlie Holy Ghost. He is there teaching how all are justified who ever were or ever shall be justified. It is, then, much more than a secoivi example. It is the declaration of God himself, who spoke hy the vwnth of his servant David, Acts iv., 25. The effect of Mr. Stuart's misunderstanding the expression, " the righteousness of God," ch. i., 17, and iii., 21, and ascribing to it the signification of " the justification which God bestows," is, in his explanation of the verse before us, as in so many other places, abuiKhinliy evident. Although compelled here to attach to the original word its proper meaning of righteousness, instead of "justification," the vagueness of the meaning he had, as above, so erroneously ascribed to it, leaves an opening for explaining it to be a fictitious righteousness belonging to faith itself, instead of a real right- eousness, namely, the righteousness of Christ received by faith. " Here," he says," and elsewhere in this chapter, where the same phraseology occurs, it is evident that the word is not to be understood in the sense of jus- tification, which is the most common meaning of it in our Epistle." So far from this being its most common meaning, it is not even once its mean- ing out of no fewer than thirty -six times in which it occurs in this Epistle. Air. Stuart's views on the all-important subject of justification, are not only completely erroneous and unscriptural, but such as they are, he holds them in a manner so confused and indistinct, that he alternately asserts and contradicts what he has advanced. He one while speaks of faith as " not of itself such an act of obedience to the Divine laiv, as that it will supply the place of perfect obedience." " Nor has it," he adds, " any efficacy in itself, as a 7neritum ex condigno to save men ; it is merely the instrument of union to Christ, in order that they may receive a gra- tuitous salvation,''^ p. 176. At other times, he speaks as if faith were accepted at a rate much above its value, and that the justification of a sinner is gratuitous, because of such acceptance. " Their faith," he says, " was gratuitously reckoned as equivalent to the iiKaioaivn (righteous- ness) demanded by the law." Here faith itself is made the ground of justification, and taken at a value far above its intrinsic worth. But faith is, in no point of view, equivalent to the obedience the law requires. It is Christ's obedience that is taken as an equivalent to an obedience to the law ; and for the best of all reasons, because it is an equivalent. The value of faith is, that by the Divine appointment it is the medimn of union with Christ. If it be true that faith is " merely " an instru- ment of union to Christ, in order that we may receive a gratuitous salva- tion, as, in one of these passages, Mr. Stuart asserts, how is it that faith was gratuitously reckoned as equivalent to the righteousness demanded by the law ? If faith be accepted as an equivalent to righteousness, then it cannot be merely the medium of connecting us with Christ. He observes, p. 177 — " To say, was counted (namely, their iod. When Herod, Pilate, and the Gentiles, with the people of Isra- el, were gathered together against him, it was to do whatsoever God's word and counsel had determined before to be done. Acts iv., 28. The crucifixion of Christ being the greatest of all crimes, was hateful and highly provoking in the sight of God ; yet it was the will of God that it should take place, in order to bring to pass the greatest good. God decreed this event ; He willed that it should come to pass, and ordered circumstances in his providence in such a way, as gave men an opportunity to carry into effect their wicked intentions. In their sin God had no part ; and his determination that the deed should be done, formed no excuse for its perpetrators, nor did it in any degree extenu- ate their wickedness, which the Scriptures charge upon them in the fullest manner. " Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain," Acts ii., 23. This was an example of the same truth declared by Joseph to his brethren ; " As for you, ye thought evil against me ; but God meant it unto good," Gen. 1., 20. For our offences, or on account of our offences. — This shows the need of Christ's death. It was not for an example, or for a witness merely ; but for our offences. Raised again for our justification. — That is, he was raised that he might enter the holy place not made with hands, and present his own blood, that we might be made righteous through his death for us. As the death of Christ, according to the determinate counsel of a holy and righteous God, was a demonstration of the guilt of his people, so his resurrection was their acquittal from every charge. It is of importance to distinguish the persons to whom the Apostle refers in this and the following verses where he says, if we believe, and speaks of righteousness being imputed to us, and of our offences and our justification. In the beginning of the chapter he uses the expres- sion, " Abraham our father;" but there he is uitroducing an objection that might be offered by the Jews, and appears to speak of Abraham as his own and their progenitor. But when, in the 12th verse, he says, "our father Abraham," and in the IGth, "the father of us all, he ap- plies these expressions not to the Jews, or the natural descendants of Abraham, but to himself, and those to whom he is writing, that is, to believers, to all of whom, whether Jews or Gentiles, in every age, as walking in the same steps of Abraham's faith, they are appli- cable. And of the same persons he here speaks in the 24th and 25th verses, for whose offences Jesus was delivered, and for whose iustification he was raised again. They are those whom the Father ROMANS IV., 25 185 had given Him, John vi., 37, xvii., 2 ; Heb. ii., 13 ; for the effect of his death was not to depend on the contingent will of man, but was fixed by the eternal purpose of God. They are those of whom it was promised to the Redeemer, that when he should make himself an offer- ing for sin, he should see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied, — those who are or shall be saved, and called with an holy calling, not according to the'ir works, but according to God's purpose and grace which was given them in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2 Tim. i., 9, — those who have the faith of God's elect, who are brought by him to the acknowledgment of the truth which is after godliness, who have the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised from eter- nity to their Head and Surety, Titus i., 1,2. No one, then, is entitled to consider himself among the number of those to whom the Apostle's words are here applicable, unless he has obtained precious faith in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Yet the expres- sion our Saviour is often used by persons who reject God's testimony concerning him, and, consequently, have neither part nor lot in his salvation. Having substituted himself in the place of sinners, Jesus Christ suf- fered in his own person the punishment of sin conformably to that de- claration. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. He came forth from among the dead in testimony that the threatening of God was accomplished, and as a pledge of the acceptance of his sacrifice, and that by his obedience unto death Divine justice was satis- fied, the law honored and magnified, and eternal life awarded to those for whom he died, whose sins he had borne in his own body on the tree, 1 Pet. ii., 24. He was quickened by the Spirit, 1 Pet. iii., 18; by whom he was also justified, 1 Tim. iii., 16, from every charge that could be alleged against him as the Surety and covenant-head of those whose iniquities he bore. The justification, therefore, of his people, which includes not only the pardon of their sins, but also their title to the eternal inheritance, was begun in his death, and perfected by his resurrection. He wrought their justification by his death, but its effi- cacy depended on his resurrection. By his death he paid their debt ; in his resurrection he received their acquittance. He rose to assure to them their right to eternal life, by fully discovering and estabhshing it in his own person, for all who are the members of his body. 166 ROMANS v., 1. CHAPTER V. ROMANS v., 1-21. The Apostle describes in this chapter the blessed accompaniments, the security, and the foundation of justification. This last branch of the subject is interwoven with an account of the entrance of sin and death into the world ; while a parallel is drawn between the first and the second Adam in their opposite tendencies and influences. By the first came sin, condenmation, and death ; by the second, righteousness, justi- fication, and life. From this comparison occasion is taken to show why God had made the promulgation of the written law to intervene betwixt the author of condemnation and the author of justification. On the one hand, the extent, the evil, and the demerit of sin, and the obstructions raised up by law and justice to man's recovery, were thus made fully manifest ; while, on the other hand, the superabundant riches of Divine grace, in its complete ascendency and victory over them, in the way of righteousness, were displayed to the greatest advantage, and with the fullest elfect. V. 1. — Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore. — This particle of inference draws its conclusion from the whole foregoing discussion concerning justification by faith, though it may have a more immediate reference to the nearest preceding context. The Apo.stle having fully proved that salvation is by grace, and that it is by faith, now shows the consequences of this doctrine. Justified by faith. — This expression is elliptical : faith must be under- stood as inclusive of its object. This is very usual in all cases where the thing elliptically expressed is frequently spoken of, and therefore sufficiently explained by the elliptical expression. It is not by faith, abstractly considered, that we are justified, nor even by faith in every- thing that God reveals. It is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even this phrase itself, namely, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is still elliptical, and supposes the knowledge of what is to be believed with respect to Christ. It is not believing in his existence, but believing on him as revealed in the Scriptures, in his person and work. In the same man- ner, as we have the phrase "justified by faith," we have the phrase justi- fied by the blood of Christ. As, in the former case, faith implies its object, — so, in the latter, it is implied that we are justified by faith in the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ justifies by being the object of belief and of trust. We have peace ivith God. — This shows that all men, till they are justified, are at war with God, and that he is at war with them. But when they are justified by faith, the wrath of God, wlilch abideth on ROMANS V,, 1. 187 those who believe not on his Son, John iii., 36, is turned away, and they cease to be enemies to God. Thus peace, succeeding hostility, brings with it every blessing ; for there is no middle place for the crea- ture between the love and the wrath of God. This peace, then, arises from righteousness — the imputation of the righteousness of God by which the believer is justified, and is followed by a sense of peace obtained. While guilt remains in the conscience, enmity will also rankle in the heart ; for so long as men look upon their sins as unpar- doned, and on God as the avenger of their transgressions, they must regard him as being to them a consuming fire. But when they view God in Christ reconciling them to himself, not imputing their iniquities to them, peace, according to the measure of faith, is established in the conscience. This never can be experienced by going about to establish our own righteousness. If any man have peace in his conscience, it must flow from Christ's righteousness — it must be the effect of that righteousness which God has " created," Isa. xlv., 8 ; and of which the Spirit, when he comes, brings with him the conviction, John xvi., 8. Resting on this righteousness, the believer beholds God at peace with him, perfectly reconciled. The belief of this satisfies his conscience, which, being purged by blood, Heb. ix., 14, he is freed from guilty fears, and reconciled to God. Through this sense of the pardon of sin, and of friendship with God, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keeps his heart and mind through Christ Jesus. The maintenance of this peace, by preserving the conscience free from guilt by continual application to the blood of Christ, is the main point in the believer's walk with God, and the powerful spring of his obedience. In the New Testament, God is frequently denominated " the God of peace." The Apostle prays that the Lord himself may give his people peace by all means, and enjoins that the peace of God should rule in the hearts of be- lievers, to which they are also called in one body, and that they should be thankful. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit, and the kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Th'ough our Lord Jesus Christ. — Peace comes through the death of Jesus Christ. The faith, therefore, by which it is obtained, must refer to him who made peace through the blood of his cross. He alone, as the one Mediator, can make peace between God, who is holy, and man, who is sinful. God has established three covenants, or three ways of communication with man. The first was the covenant of nature, the second the covenant of the law, the third the covenant of the gospel. Under the first covenant, man being in a state of innocence, needed no mediator. Under the second, there was a mediator simply of communi- cation, and not of reconciliation — a mediator as to the exterior, or a messenger who goes between two parties, a simple depositary of words spoken on the one side or the other, without having any part in the interior or essence of the covenant, of which he was neither the founder nor the bond. Under the third covenant, Jesus Christ is a true mediator of reconciliation, who has produced a real peace between God and ijaan, and is the founder of their mutual communion. " He is our peace." It is established by the new covenant in his hands, and is 188 ROMANS v., 2. everlastinp^, being made through the blood of that everlasting covenant. "The Lord is Wfll pleased for his righteousness' sake,'' Isa. xlii., 21. "The work of righteousness shall he prarr, and the effect of righteous- ness, quietness and assurance for ever," Tsa. xxxii., 17. This peace then is through Jesus Christ and his righteousness, which brings this quietness and assurance. He is the king of righteousness and prince of peace. In parting from his disciples before his death he said, " These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace," and this peace he bequeathed to them. " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." When he met them again after his resurrection, his first salutation to them was, " Peace be unto you." V. 2. — By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Believers have access into grace as well as peace. — The one is dis- tinguished from the other. In what, then, do they differ ? Peace de- notes a particular blessing ; access into grace, or a state of favor, implies general blessings, among which peace and all other privileges are in- cluded. And as they are justified by means of faith, and have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, so likewise it is through him that they enter into this state of grace ; for it is through him they have access by one Spirit unto the Father, by that new and living way which he hath consecrated for them through the veil ; that is to say, his flesh. They have access to a mercy-seat, to which ihey are invited to come freely ; and boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Jesus — boldness to come to the throne of grace, and enter into the holiest by his blood. And as it is by him they enter into this state of grace, so by him they stand in it, accepted before God, 1 Pet. v., 12 ; secured, according to his everlasting covenant, that they shall not be cast down ; but that they are fixed in this slate of perfect acceptance, conferred by sovereign grace, brought into it by unchangeable love, and kept in it by the power of a faithful God. " They shall be my people, and I will be their God." " I will not turn away from them to do them good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me," Jer. xxxii., 38, 40. And rejoice. — This is an additional blessing. The word here trans- lated rejoice signifies to glory or exult, and is the same that in the following verse is rendered " to glory." It may designate not ordy the excess of joy possessed by the soul in the contemplation of the future inheritance, but the language of triumph expressing this joy, which is properly meant by glorying. The Christian should speak nothing boaslingly, so far as concerns himself; but he has no reason to conceal his sense of his high destination as a son of God, and an heir of glory. In this he ought to exult, in this he ought to glory — and, in obedience to his Lord's command, to rejoice, because his name is writ- ten in heaven. The hope of eternal salvation through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot but produce joy ; for as there can be no true joy without such a hope, so it carries with it the very essence of joy. ROMANS v., 2. 189 Joy springing from faith is called the joy of faith, Phil, i,, 25, and is made a distinguishing characteristic of the Christian, Phil, iii., 3. " Where Christ is truly seen," says Luther, on the Galatians, p. 85, * there must needs be full and perfect joy in the Lord, with peace of conscience, which most certainly thus ihinketh : — Although I am a sinner by the law, and under condemnation of the law, yet I despair not, I die not, because Christ livetii, who is both my righteousness and my everlasting life. In that righteousness and life I have no sin, no fear, no sting of conscience, no care of death. I am, indeed, a sinner, as touching this present life, and the righteousness thereof, as the child of Adam ; where the law accuseth me, death reigneth over me, and at length would devour me. But I have another righteousness and life above this life, which is Christ, the Son of God, who knoweth no sin nor death, but righteousness and life eternal ; by whom this-, my body, being dead, and brought into dust, shall be raised up again, and deliver- ed from the bondage of the law, and sin, and shall be sanctified toge- ther with the spirit." In the hope of the glory of God. — This form of expression will equally apply to the glory that God bestows on his people, and to his own glory. The view and enjoyment of God's glory is the hope of believers. It is the glory that shall be revealed in them when they shall be glorified together in Christ — when they shall behold the glory which the Father hath given to the Son, and which the Son gives to them, John xvii., 22-24. Thus, faith relies on the truth of what God has promised, and hope expects the enjoyment of it. This hope is full of rejoicing, because everything it looks for depends on the truth and faithfulness of a covenant "God. There can be no failure on his part, and consequently on the believer's no disappointment. Here it should be particularly observed, that before saying one word ' of the fruits produced by the believer, the Apostle describes him as re- joicing in the hope of the glory of God. He represents him as draw- ing no motive of consolation, but from a view of God in Christ, whom he has received as his Saviour by faith, and this is the true source of his hope and joy. The disciples, after the day of Pentecost, as soon as they heard the word that Peter preached, gladly embraced it, and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. In the same way, when Christ was preached to them, the Eunuch and the Jailor rejoiced the moment that they believed. This hope is, indeed, capable of confirmation ; but if it has not its origin in Jesus Christ, and his sa- crifice alone, it is a false hope. As soon as a man believes the gospel of Christ, he ought to imitate the faith of Abraham, and give glory to God, resting securely on the sure foundation which is the basis of the hope : and he never can acquire a different title to glory, than that of which he is in possession in the moment when he believes, although as he grows in grace he perceives it more distinctly. Paul, while he urges the brethren at Colosse to a higher degree of conformity, in many particulars, to the will of God, yet gives thanks to the Father who had already made them meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, Col. i., 12. This was the state of the thief on the cross, and is so of every 190 ROMANS v., 4. converted sinner, in the monncnt wlien he is united to Christ ; for then he is justified by faith, and has poiiro with 'iod. Christians are cha- racterized as holding f;ist the beginning of their confidence, and the rejoicing of their hope, firm unto the end, Ileb. iii., 6-15. The begin- ning of their confidence and hope of salvation rested wholly on the person and righleolI^;noss of Jesus Christ, the Surety of the new cove- nant. It is true, that at the cotnnicncemcnt of their new life, faith is often weak, ami its objrct seen indistinctly. Jjove, and joy, and hope, cannot transcend the faith from which they flow. Hence the ])ropriety of that prayer by all the disciples of Jesus, " Lord, increase our faith ;" hence also the necessity of using diligence in the work and labor of love, tothe full assurance of hope unto the end, Heb. vi., 11. V. .']. — And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also ; knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Not only does the believer rejoice in hope of future glory, but he rejoices even in tribulations. This rejoicing, however, is not in tribu- lations considered in themselves, but in their effects. It is only the knowledge of the efTccls of aflhctions, and of their being appointed by his lieavenly Father, that enables the Christian to rejoice in them. Being in themselves an evil, and not joyous but grievous, they would not otherwise be a matter of rejoicing, but of sorrow. But viewed as proceeding from his Heavenly Father's love, Heb. xii., 6, Rev. iii., 19, they are so far from depriving him of his joy that they tend to increase it. The way to the cross was to his Saviour the way to the crown, and he knows that through much tribulation he must enter into the kingdom of (iod, Acts xiv., 22. The greatest tribulations are among those things that work together for his good, (jod comforts him in the •midst of his sorrows, 2 Cor. i., 4. Tribulation, even death itself, which is numbered among his privileges, 1 Cor. iii., 22, shall not separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Apostle Peter addresses believers as greatly rejoicing in the hope of salvation, though now, if need be, they are in heaviness through manifold trials. Tribulation worketh or off ecteth patience. Christians should be well instructed on this point, and should have it continually in their eye ; their happiness is greatly concerned in it. If they forget the end and tendency of afflictions they will nuumur like the Israelites. Patience is a habit of endurance, and Christian patience implies submission to the will of God. Paul says here that affliction worketh patience, and James i., 3, says that the trying of faith worketh patience. This proves that the afflictions of a Christian are intended as a trial of his faith. What by the one Apostle is called tribulation, is by the other called trial of faith. The effect of affliction is patience, a grace which is so necessary, as we are all naturally impatient and unwilling to sub- mit unreservedly to the dispensations of (iod. Patience gives occasion to the exercises of the graces of the Spirit, and of submission under afflictions to the will of God. V. 4. — And patience, experience ; and experience, hope. ROMANS v., 5. 191 Experience. — The Greek word translated experience signifies trial or proof. Here it means proof ; for trial may delect a hypocrite as well as a manifest saint. But proof implies that the trial has proved the goiiuineness of the tried person and also of the faithfulness and support of (lod, which will enable us to overcome every difficulty. And proof worketh hope. That is, when the genuineness of our profession is manifested by being proved, our hope of enjoying the glory promised to the genuine people of God is confirmed. Hope is here introduced a second time. This should be carefully noticed. At first, as we have seen, it springs solely from a view of the mediation and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here it acquires a new force from the proof the believer has of the reality of his union with the Saviour, by his being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. Thus the "good hope through grace" must be produced solely by faith, and confirmed, not produced, by the fruits of faith. V. 5. — And hope maketh not ashamed ; because the love of God is shed abroad in our he rts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Hope maketh not ashamed. — This may import either that hope will not be disappointed, or that hope will not allow us to be ashamed of its object. Various passages speak of the believer as not being put to shame in tiie day of retribution ; and the expression here is generally interpreted to signify that hope will not be disappointed, but will receive the object of its anticipation. This is an important truth, yet the Apostle may rather be understood as speaking of the usual effect of hope as exemplified in the life of a Christian ; and that it is not the future effect of hope in believers, but its present effect, as it is the present effect of the other particulars mentioned, to which he refers. Besides the primary signification of the word in the original is, not to disappoint, but to shame, put to shame, or make ashamed. Paul here evidently speaks of hope as a general principle, which in every instance, and on all subjects, has this effect ascribed to it. It is its nature, with regard to everything which is its object, to destroy shame, and excite to an open avowal, and even glorying in it, though it may be a thing of which others may be ashamed, and which is ridiculed in the world. The experience of every Christian confirms this view. When is he inclined to be ashamed of the gospel ? Not when his hopes are high, his faith unwavering, and his impressions of future glory strong. It is when his hopes fade and grow weak. Just m proportion as his hope is strong will he make an open and a bold profession of the truth. Here, then, by a well-known figure, the assertion before us appears to import that, so far from being ashamed, believers glory and exult. Hope causes Christians, instead of being ashamed of Christ and his word (which without hope they would be), to glory and proclaim their prospects before the world. Gal. vi., 14 ; 1 Peter i., 6-8, v., 1 ; 1 John iii., 2. They glory in the cross of Christ through hope. This shows the great importance of keeping our hope unclouded. If we suffer it to flag or grow faint, we shall be ashamed of it before men, to which, from the enmity of the world against the gospel, there is much temptation. 192 ROMANS v., 5. Accordingly, our blessed Lord, who knew what was in nnan, has, in the most solemn and awful manner, warned his disciples against it ; and the Apostle Peter enjoins on believers to add to their faith virtue — courage to profess it. Because. — This casual particle may be understood to intimate the reason why hope makes not ashamed, or to give additional reason why Christians are not ashamed. Agreeably to the latter interpretation, hope is one reason, and then another is subjoined, and certainly the love of God is a strong reason to prevent us from being ashamed of the gospel. Love of God. — This phrase in itself is ambiguous, and ac- cording to the connection or other circumstances, it may be understood, in its different occurrences, to refer either to God's love to us, or to our love to (Jod, two things which are entirely distinct. God's love to us is in himself; but the love he pours into our hearts may signify either a sense of his love to us, or as Augustine explains it, our love to him. Tiie use of language admits of liie first of these meanings, which appears to be the true one, and it is certain that it contributes more to our consolation to have our minds fixed upon God's love to us, than upon our love to God ; while our hope does not depend on our love to God but on our sense of his love to us. The connection, too, leads us to understand the phrase in the sense of God's love to us.* It connects with what follows, where the Apostle proceeds to prove God's love to his people from the wonderful manner in which, as is said in the 8th verse ; he commcndeth his love towards us in the way he has acted in the gift of his Son, notwithstanding our unworthiness and enmity against him. In the same way it is said, John iii., 16, " God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- soever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." It coincides, too, with such declarations as, " In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." " We have known and believed tiie love of God to us," 1 John iv., 9, 16. We cannot be beforehand with God in love, and we must perceive his love to make us love him. The first feeling of love springs up in the heart from a view of his grace and mercy to us in Jesus Ciirist. His love to us is the foundation of our love to God, and it is a view of his love that not only produces, but maintains and increases our love to him. " Thy love is better than wine." Poured out. — This refers to the abundant measure of the sense of the love of God to us, which is communicated to his people, and poured into their hearts, through all the faculties of their souls, moving and captivating their affections. By the Holy Ghost. — It is the Holy Ghost who pours out into the heart of the believer a sense of the love of God to him, fully convincing him of it, and witnessing this love to his spirit, chap, viii., 16. This sense of the love of God never exists in the * Some prefer explaining this expression, the love of God, as God's love to us rather th'an our love to God, because, they observe, while our love is variable, and liable to fail, God's love is unchangeable. But as our love to God is produced and maintained in us by the Holy Spirit, aud is the etTect of God's love to us, it can no more fail than God's love to us. ROMANS v., 5. 193 human heart till communicated by the Holy Ghost. All men naturally hate God, Rom. viii., 7 ; and it is only when lliey have a view of his love thus given by tlie promised Comforter, and behold his love in the gift of his Son, tiiat they repent and love God. Given unto us. — The gift of the Holy Ghost, in his operation in the heart in his sanctifying influences, was not confined to Apostles and Evangelists, but is enjoyed in common by all the saints, in all of whom the Holy Spirit dwells, and who are habitations of God through the Spirit, 1 Cor. iii., 16 ; Eph. ii., 22 ; Rom. viii., 9. Here we see that everything in us that is good is the effect of the Spirit of God. Man possesses by nature no holy dis- position. The lowest degree of true humility, and godly sorrow for sin, and a sense of the love of God, and consequently our love to God, are not to be found in any of the children of Adam till they are enlight- ened by the Spirit through the knowledge of the gospel, nor can they be maintained for one moment in the soul without his sacred influence. Though sinners should hear ten thousand times of the love of God in the gift of his Son, they are never properly affected by it, till the Holy Spirit enters into their hearts, and till love to him is produced by the truth through the Spirit. Here also we may see the distinct work of the Holy Spirit in the economy of redemption. Each of the persons of the Godhead sustains a peculiar office in the salvation of sinners, and it is the office of the Spirit to convert and sanctify those for whom Christ died. What fulness and variety of instruction and consolation are contained in the first five verses of this chapter ! The work of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is exhibited, all severally acting, as God alone can act, in the various parts of man's salvation. The right- eousness of God is imputed to the believer, who is therefore justified, and pronounced by the Judge of all the earth righteous. As righteous, he has peace with God, and free access to him through Jesus Christ ; and being thus introduced into the favor of God, he stands in a justified state, rejoicing in hope of future glory. Being justified, he is also sanc- tified, and enabled to glory even in present afflictions. He enjoys the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, through whose divine influence the love of God is infused into his soul. Here, then, are the peace, the joy, the triumph of the Christian. Here are faith, hope, and love, the three regulators of the Christian's life. Faith is the great and only means of obtaining every privilege, because it unites the soul to Christ, and re- ceives all out of his fulness. Hope cheers the believer in his passage through this world, with the expectation of promised blessings to be accomplished in future glory, and is thus the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which holds it firm, and enables it to ride out all the storms and troubles of life. Love is the renewal of the image of God in the soul, and the true principle of obedience. " The end of the com- mandment is love, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." Faith is thus the root of the whole. Faith in the resurrection of Christ produces a good conscience, 1 Peter iii., 21 ; the conscience being discharged from guilt the heart is purified, and from the heart when purified proceeds love. Thus faith purifies the heart, 13 104 ROMANS v., 7. Acts XV., 9 ; faith works by love, (Jal. v., 6. Faitli overcomes the worM, 1 John v., 4. V. I'l. — l''i>r vvlu'n we were yet without strt-riL^th, in ihw time Christ died iiT the un- godly. For. — This introduces the proof of the love of God to us, not a reason wliy the hope of the Ciiristian will not disappoint him. Having spoken of the love of (n)d shed abroad in our hearts, the Apostle here declares the evidence of this love. Though the Holy (jhost inspires our love to (iod, yet in doing so he shows us the grounds on which it rests, or the reasons why it should exist. In making us love God, he makes us perceive the grounds on which wc ought to love him. This also shows us another important fact, namely, that the Holy Spirit works in his people according to their constitution or the nature that he has given them ; and, in endowing us with proper feelings and affec- tions, he discovers to us the proper objects towards which they ought to be excited. The word of God through the Spirit, both in conversion and growth of srracc, acts according to the original constitution tliat God lias been pleased to bestow on the Christian. Without strength. — Christ died for us while we were unable to obey him, and without ability to save ourselves. This weakness or inability is no doubt sinful ; but it is our inability, not our guilt, that the Apostle here designates. When we were unable to keep the law of (Jod, or do anything towards our deliverance from Divine wrath, Christ interposed, and died for those whom he came to redeem. In due time. — At the time appointed of the Father, Gal. iv., 2, 4. The fruits of the earth arc gathered m their season; so in his season, that is, at the time appointed, Christ died for us, 1 Tim. ii., 6. Fur the ungodly. — Christ died for us, considered as ungodly, and without his gift of himself we must have for ever continued to be so. It was not then for those who were in some degree godly, or disposed in some measm-c to do the will of God, that Christ died. There are none of this character by nature. It is by faith in his death that any are made godly. V. 7. — For scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. I'or. — This brings into view a fact that heightens and ilhistrates the love of God to sinners. A righteous or just man. — A just man is dis- , tinguished here from a good or benevolent man. They are quite dis- tinct cliaraclers among men. A just man is approved — a benevolent man is loved. Scarcely, however, would any one give his life for the former, yd perhaps some one might do so for the latter. Scarcely. — This furnishes the reason why the Apostle uses the word righteous or just, when he denies that any one would die in his stead, because he does not mean to make the denial universal. " Even.^^ — This is designed to qualify the verb to die, not the verb to dare, though it stands immediately before it. It is not even dare, but dare even to die. Tliis intimates that to die is a thing to which men are of all things most ROMANS v., 9, 195 averse. It is the greatest trial of love, John xv., 13. "Hereby per- ceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us," 1 John iii., 16. V. 8. — But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. His love. — Here God's love to us is distinguished in the original as his own love, which in this place takes away all ambiguity from the expression- Yet sinners. — This is literally true with respect to all who are saved since Christ's death, and is substantially true of all who were saved before it. This may be said of Abel as well as of Paul. Christ died for him as a sinner. It was Christ's death through which Abel was accepted. For us. — Not for us as including all men, but for those believers and himself whom the Apostle was addressing, and this equally applies to all believers, to all who are or shall be in Christ, Christ's death for us as sinners, in an astonishing manner, commends, manifests, or exhibits God's love to us. V. 9. — Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved froiv. wrath through him! If God's love to us were such that Christ died for us when we were sinners, much more, when we are perfectly righteous through that death, he will save us from future punishment. The meaning of the expression much more in this verse, which is repeated in the 10th, 15th, and 17th verses, is not at first sight obvious in these different oc- currences ; since the things, which are compared to what follows, are complete in themselves. The sense appears to be, that in using these expressions, the Apostle, though inspired, reasons on the common principles that commend themselves to the mind of man. Having stated one thing, he proceeds to state another as still more clear to our per- ception. Justified by his blood. — This shows, that when we are said to be justified by faith, faith includes its object, and imports that we are not saved by faith as a virtue. It shows also that Christ's death was not that of a mere witness to the truth which he declared, but that it was for sin, and in order that we should be saved from wrath through him. All men are by nature the children of wrath, and with- out tlie death of Christ, and faith in him, we must have continued in that awful condition. " He that believeth not the Son, shall not see Ufe ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Dr. Macknight's expla- nation of this verse is as follows : — " Much more then, being now al- lowed to live under the new covenant, through the shedduig of his blood, we shall be saved from future punishment through him, if we be- have well under that covenant." In his note he adds, — ''■ \icvQ justi- fied by his blood means, that, in the view of Christ's shedding his blood, Adam and Eve were respited from death, and being allowed to live, he and they were placed under a new covenant, by which they might regain immortality. This is what is called justification of /j/e," v. 18. And this explanation follows naturally from what he gives as the meaning of the foregoing verse — " His own love to men God hath 19G ROMANS v., 9. raised above all human love, because, we being still sinners, Christ died for us, to procure us a temporary life on earth, under a better covenant than the first." On such interpretations it is unnecessary to remark. Ti)ey contain statements the most unscriptural and heretical, exhibiting most deplorable ignorance.* Me supposes, too, that it is here implied that some are said to be justified who are not saved from wrath. But this is not the fact. Justification is spoken of as having taken place, and salvation as future — not because any shall be punished* who have been justifiod, but because the wrath spoken of is future. The salvation of the Ciirislian from wrath is said to be future, in refer- ence to the time of the general execution of wrath in the day of judg- ment. It is evidently implied in the expression, that they who are justified shall never be punished. This expression, justified by his blood, gives a most awful view of the infinite evil of sin, of the strict justice of God, and of his faithfulness in carrying into execution the first sentence, " in the day that thou eatcst thereof thou shalt surely die." Without the shedding of his blood, and entering with it into the holy place, Christ could not have obtained eternal salvation for those who had sinned. On the other hand, what an astonishing view is thus presented of the love of God, who spared not his own Son, but deliver- ed him up for his people, and who with him will freely give them all things. The Divine wisdom is admirable in the manner in which the Scrip- tures are written. It is not without design that inspiration varies the phraseology respecting justification. Each variety is calculated to meet a different abuse of the doctrine. The human heart is so prone to self-righteousness, that the very doctrine of faith has been made to assume a legal sense. Faith is represented as a work, and the office assigned to it is not merely that of the medium of communicating righteousness, but it is made to stand itself for a certain value, either real or supposed. Had inspiration never varied the expressions, and always used the phrase jus tijicd by faith, though there would have been no real ground to conclude that faith is in itself the ground of justifica- tion, yet evidence to tiic contrary would not have been exhibited in the manner in which it is held forth by varying the diction. Instead of "justified by faith," we here read justified by the blood of Christ. This shows, that when we are said to be justified by faith, it is not by faith as a work of the law, but by faith as a medium : that is, faith in the blood of Christ. To the same purpose also is the expression, in the following verse, reconciled to God by the death of his Son. On the other hand, there are some who, strongly impressed with the great evil of making faith a work, have plunged into a contrary extreme, and are unwdling to look at the subject in any light but that in which it is represented in the phrase " justified by his blood," as if justification were independent of faith, or as if faith were merely an accidental or unimportant thing in justification. This also is a great * Tlie Presbyterian Review, referring to Dr. Macknight, charges him with the most " audacious heterodoxy." ROMANS v., 10. 197 error. Faith is as necessary in justification as the sacrifice of Christ itself, but necessary for a different purpose. The blood of Clirist is the price that has value in itself. Faith which unites the soul to Christ is the necessary medium, through the Divine appointment. Again, we have justified freely by grace, chap, iii., 24. Self-righteousness is fruitful in expedients. It is difficult to put it to silence. It will admit that justification is by faith in its own legal sense, and that it is through Christ's blood, as a general price for the sins of all men ; but it holds that every man must do something to entitle him to the benefits of Christ's sacrifice. Here, then, the phrase justification by grace comes in to cut off every evasion. Another variety of phraseology on this subject we have in the ex- pression ^'w^ii/ferf by Christ, Gal. ii., 17. This points to the ground of our justification, or our union with Christ, We are accounted perfect- ly righteous, having paid the debt of sin, and having fulfilled the whole law, by our union or oneness with Christ, as we were sinners by our natural connexion with Adam. It is of immense importance to the satisfaction of the mind of the believer, constantly and stead- fastly to consider himself as a member of Christ, — as truly a part of him. He rose for our justification. When he was justified from the sins which he took on him by having suffered for them, and when he had fulfilled the law, we were justified in his justification. We are therefore said not merely to be pardoned, but to be justified by Christ. We have suffered all the punishment due to our sins, and have kept every precept of tiie law, because he with whom we are one has done so. It is also worthy of remark, that while the Apostle speaks of being justified by Christ, he had, in the preceding verse, spoken of being justified by the faith of Christ. This shows that faith is the way in which our union with Christ is effected. V. 10. — For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Enemies. — It greatly enhances the love of God, that he gave his Son for us while we were yet his enemies. Had we discovered any symptoms of willingness to obey him, or any degree of love to him, his love to us would not have been so astonishing. But it is in this light only that the proud heart of man is willing to view his obligations to redeeming love. He will not look upon himself as totally depraved and helpless. He desires to do something on his part to induce God to begin his work in him by his Spirit. But Christ died for his people when they were the enemies of God, and he calls them to the know- ledge of himself when they are his enemies. Here, then, is the love of God. At the time when Christ died for us, we were not his friends, but his enemies. " The carnal mind is enmity against God." Reconciled to God by the death of his Son. — The word rendered reconciled signifies to change the state of matters between persons at variance, by removing their grounds of difference. The divine word and declarations, as well as the divine perfections, forbid us to unagine 198 ROMANS v., 10. ^ that God will clear the guilty. In order, then, to reconciliation with God, satisfaction must be made to his justice. What is meant here is not our laving aside our enmity to God, but God's laying aside his en mity to us, on account of the death of ins Son. It is true that we lay aside our enmity to God, when we see that he has laid aside his enmity to us, and never till then will we do so ; but what is here meant is, that God is reconciled to us. In Scripture this is spoken of as our being reconciled to God. We are reconciled to God when he is pacified to- wards us through his Son, in whom we believe. This is (juite agreeable to the use of the term in Scripture with respect to other cases, 1 Sam. xxix., 4 ; Matt, v., 23, 24. Socinians, however, maintain thai reconcili- ation between God and man consists only in bending and pacifying the heart of man towards (iod, and not in averting his just anger. This error, arising from their denial of the satisfaction made by Jesus Christ, is refuted by the consideration that God pardons our sins ; whence it follows, thai he was angry with us, and the redemption of Jesus Clirist is declared to be made by a propitiatory sacrifice, which clearly proves that God was angry. To this the idea of a sacrifice necessarily leads, for a sacrifice is offered to pacify God towards men, and not to reconcile men to God. Aaron was commanded to make an atonement for the con- gregation, for there was wrath gone out from the Lord. — " And he stood between the living and the dead, and tiie plague was stayed," Num- bers xvi., 46. God's anger was thus turned away by making this atone- ment. In David's time, by offering burnt offerings and peace offer- ings, the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel. By this it is clear, that the primary intention of such sacrifices, and consequently of the priest who offered them, imme- diately respected the reconciliation of God. The same is evident from the following passages : — " Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people ; thou hast covered all their sin. Sclah. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath ; thou hast turned from the fierceness of thine anger," Psalm Ixxxv., 2, 3. " Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me," Isa. xii., 1. "I will es- tablish my covenant with thee ; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord : Tiiat thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified (rccon- cUed, Lev. viii., 15; xvi., 20; 2 Chron. xxix., 24) toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God," Ezek. xvi., 63. All men being sinners, are, in themselves, while in unbelief, under the displeasure of God, who cannot look upon iniquity, Hab. i., 13, and are by nature children of wrath, or of the judgment of God. But as viewed in Christ, and in relation to his death, the elect are the ob- jects of God's everlasting love, and this love in his good lime takes effect. He sends his Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice for them, thus makinff satisfaction to his justice, and removing every obstacle to his being reconciled. He unites them to the Son of his love, and in him, clothed with his righteousness, they become the children of God, and then in themselves the proper objects of his love. Tiie ministry commit- ted to the Apostles is called the ministry of reconciliation. Men are ROMANS v., 10. 199 besought to be reconciled to God from the consideration of his liaving made him to be sin for his people who knew no sin. Here is a double reconciliation — namely, of God to men, and of men to God. The latter is urged from the consideration of the former, and this consider- ation is effectual for all for wiiom the reconciliation was made. The whole of this reconciliation is through the death of his Son. Thus does God call his people with a holy calling. He invites them to friendship with himself through an all-sufficient atonement ; and they lay aside their enmity to him when they see that God has laid aside his anger against them. They are reconciled to him through tiie death of his kSon. What in the preceding verse is spoken of as the hlood of Christ, is here spoken of as his death. These varied terms are useful to express the idea in such a manner that it cannot be innocently evaded. Christ's blood was an atonement, as it was his death. This shows that no degree of suffering would have been sufficient as an atonement for our sins without the actual death of the sacrifice, according to the original sen- tence against man. Jesus Christ might iiave suffered all that he did suffer without a total extinction of life. But he must not only suffer — he must also die. This phraseology, then, is calculated to meet the error of those Christians, who, from a desire of magnifying the efficacy of the blood of Christ, have said that one drop of it would have been sufficient to save. Had one drop been sufficient, two drops would never have been shed. Much more being reconciled, we shall he saved by his life. — If we were reconciled by his death, much more clear is it that we shall be saved by his life. Some find a difficulty in this, as if it imphed that the atonement and price of redemption were not complete at the death of Christ. But the Apostle is not speaking on that point. He is speak- ing of the security of the believer from any danger, by Christ as alive. The meaning is, we shall be saved by him as existing alive, or as living, Heb. vii., 25. We need Christ raised from the dead to inter- cede for our daily transgressions, and to save us from wrath. The efficacy of the death and tlie intercession of Jesus Christ have the same objects and the same extent, John xvii., 9. He intercedes for all those for whom he died. " It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh inter- cession for us," Rom. viii., 34. — For us, that is, for those whom the Apostle is addressing as beloved of God, and called, and saints, chap, i., 7, and all that are such. Two comparisons are made in this passage, one between the past and the present state of believers ; they were once the enemies, they arc now the friends, of God. The other is between the past and present condi- tion of Christ ; he was once dead, he is now alive. And the proposi- tion that unites these two is, that reconciliation with God is entirely owing to the death of Christ as its meritorious cause. Since, then, the death of the Redeemer could produce so great an effect as the reconci- liation to himself of those who were the enemies of the Most High, what room can there be to doubt that the life of Christ is sufficient 800 ROMANS v., 11 to accomplish what is less difficult ; that is to say, to obtain the continu- ation y.i the Divine friendship and benevolence for those whose recon- ciliation has been already purchased at a price of such infinite cost' By the dealh which he sulfored in their place, they are freed from con- demnation, the rigor of the law having run its course, and received its execution by the punishment of their sins in him, and thus they are saved from the effects of wrath. By his resurrection, his life, and his entrance into eternal glory, the reward reserved for his work as Media- tor, they become partakers of that glory. " In my father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." " Because I live, ye shall live also." " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me." Thus Jesus Christ, who was delivered for the offences of his people, was raised again for their justification ; and this unparalleled love of God, who has not spared his well-beloved Son, is the surest foundation for the absolute and unlimited confidence in him of every man who, renouncing his own righteousness, submits to his righteousness. At the same time, the necessity of the shedding of blood infinitely precious, in order to the justification of believers, is the strongest proof of the infinite evil of sin, and of the infinite holiness and awful justice of God. It shows the extreme difficulty there was in reconciling God to man, as it could only be done by a satisfaction to his justice, which could not be accomplished but by the death of his only begotten Son. V. 11. — And not only so, but we also joy in God, tnrough our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. This verse exhibits the last of those fruits which proceed from being brought into a state of justification. The first of them is peace with God, involving the comoiunication and enjoyment of every blessing which the creature is capable of receiving — for if God be with us, who can be against us ? and when this peace is known to be permanently established, immediately the cheering hope of future glory springs up in the mind. This hope transporting the believer beyond this world, and looking forward to unbounded blessedness, enables him to bear up under those tribulations that are inseparable from his present state. In them, though not in themselves joyous but grievous, he even glories, and ex- periencing their salutary effects, they confirm his hope of future and eternal enjoyment. The Holy Ghost, too, sheds abroad the love of God in his heart ; while his attention is directed to what God has done in giving for him his Son to the death, even while he was in the most determined state of hostility towards God. From the whole, the Apostle argues how much more it is evident that, being reconciled, he shall be saved frotn all the fearful effects of the wrath and displea.sure of God against sin. The view of all these unspeakable blessings conducts to that feeling of exultation and joy, with the declaration of which the enumeration is here terminated, of the effects which the knowledge of his justification in the sight of God, by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, produces in the heart of the believer. ROMANS v., 11. 201 Not only so. — That is, we shall not only escape the wrath to come, by the death of Christ, but attain to glory by his life. The measure of excess is future glory above mere exemption from misery. These two things are entirely distinct, and afford distinct grounds of thanksgiving. Joy in God. — The word here translated joy is the same which in verse 2 is rendered rejoice, and in verse 3, glory. It was before declared that believers have peace with God, that they have access to him, and that they rejoice in the hope of his glory. Now, the Apostle represents them as arrived at the fountain-head, looking through all the blessings con- ferred on them, and rejoicing, boasting, or glorying in God himself as the source of them all. The Christian's joy is all in God. He exults in his prospects, but all are ascribed to God, and not to anything in himself. God, even his own covenant God, is the great and ultimate object of his joy. " My soul shall make her boast in the Lord." " O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." " I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." " The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, my portion for ever. I will go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy." The sentiment of the love of God, in so great a salvation, and of joy in him, is more deeply impressed upon the believer, by considering the rock from which he has been hew-n, and the hole of the pit from which he has been dug. In the above verses, the former situation of those who are saved is de- clared in the strongest language. They were without strength, un- godly, SINNERS, UNDER WRATH, ENEMIES TO GoD. If such, then, was their original condition, what reason have they not only to rejoice in the hope of glory, but, above all, in the goodness and mercy of God, who has now reconciled them to himself, Phil, iii., 1; iv., 4. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. — Joy in God, with all those un- speakable blessings above enumerated, are again and again declared to come by him, through whom God manifests his love, and is reconciled to his people. The name of Jesus Christ being here introduced so often, should be especially remarked. The Christian joys and glories in God only through Christ ; without Christ, God could not be viewed as a friend. He must be an object of hatred. Our friendly relation to God is all through Christ. By whom ice have now received the atone- ment, or reconciliation, according to the translation of the same w'ord in the preceding verse. Atonement has been made through the death of Christ. The Apostle and they whom he addressed being believers, had received the atonement, which Christ has not only accomplished but makes his people receive it. Among the various errors that have discovered themselves in modern times, few are more lamentable or dan- gerous than the views of the atonement that have been adopted by many. Instead of considering the atonement of Christ as a real com- pensation to the Divine justice for the sins of those who are saved, so that God may remain just, while he is merciful to the chief of sinners, many look on it as nothing but a mere exhibition of the displeasure of God against sin, intended for the honor and maintenance of his govern- ment of the universe. This altogether destroys the gospel, and in reality leaves men exposed to the Divine justice. 202 ROMANS v., 11. It is alleged by those who represent the atonement as only an expe- (lient, subservient to the interests of morality, tliat sias are called debts merely in a llgurative sense. But notiuiig can be more clear than that the Scriptures which speak of sin jls a debt, speak quite literally. The word debt extends to everythini^ that justly demands an equivalent. We are said to be bouu;ht with the blood of Christ ;is the price paid for our sins, which certainly implies that the blood of Christ is that which has nriven an equivalent to the justice of God, and made an atonement for those who, according to justice, must otherwise have suflered the penalty of sin, which is death. In the remission, then, of the sins of those who have received the atonement, God is at once the just God and the Saviour, which he could not be without this atonement. In reference to the sacrifice of Christ by which he made the atone- ment, it is said, " Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood," Rev. v., 9. " Without shedding of blood is no remission, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul," Heb. xii., 22; Lev. xvii., 11. The blood is the life, Deut. xii., 23. It was the shedding, then, of the blood of Christ, which signifies his death, that procured this remission of sin. This was the ransom that God declared he had found, by which he saved his people from going down to de- struction, Job xxxiii., 24. It was their redemption. Redemption signifies a purchasing back, and supposes an alienation of what is redeemed ; and thus Christ redeemed them with his blood, which was the price he paid, and they are " his purchased possession." His blood was the ransom paid to the justice of God, without which it was impossible they should have been released from the bondage of Satan and the sentence of death. He died for the ungodly, who, being justified by his blood, shall be saved from wTath. The ransom, then, which Christ paid was the price that Divine justice demanded, and having made his soul an offering for sin, God has declared himself " well pleased for his righteousness' sake," he having " magnified the law, and made it honorable." It was necessary that he should yield obedience to its precepts, and suffer the penalty annexed to its violation. The law condemned sinners to eternal death. In order, then, to redeem them, it behoved him to suffer, and he did actually suffer the full equiva- lent of that death by which he made atonement for sin, and through faith his people receive that atonement. His blood is put by a usual fio-ure of speech for his death, in which his sufferings and his obedience terminated, and which was their consummation, containing a full answer to all the demands on his people, of law and justice. God, then, is now " faithful and just to forgive them their sins, and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness," 1 John i., 9. Believers have redemp- tion through his l)lood, even the forgiveness of sins, Eph. i., 7 ; Col. i., 14. Ye are bought with a price, 1 Cor. vii., 20-23. " Ye were not redeemed with corruptit)le things such as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers ; but with the pre- cious blood of Christ." 1 Pet. i., 18. Many who look on atonement as something real, yet overturn it by making it universal. This is an error which at once opposes the Scrip- ROMANS v., 11. 208 tures, and could be of no service, even were it true. Where is the difference, as respects the divine character, whether a man does not obtain pardon, from his sins not being atoned for by the blood of Christ, or because he has not been elected to eternal life? If Christ's death pays the price of the sins of all men, all men must be saved. If his redemption be universal, then all are redeemed from the captivity of Satan, and the guilt of sin, and delivered from wrath. For what can they be punished, if atonement has been made for their sins 7 If a man's debts are paid, how can he afterwards be " imprisoned for those debts ? A just God cannot punish a second time for the same offence. If Christ has paid the debt of all sinners, there is nothing remaining to pay in the case of any man. Would it be just that any should be pun- ished in hell for the sins for which Christ was punished on earth ? If Christ bore the sins of all men in his own body on the tree, shall any man bear them a second time ? Had the sins of all men been imputed to Christ, in that case his sacrifice did not answer its end. It left the greater part of them for whom it was offered under the curse of the broken law. But God, in appointing Christ to make atonement for sin, and Christ himself in undertaking to perform it, had in view from all eternity a certain select number of mankind, who were and still are known to God. For their salvation only was that atonement made, and for them it will be ultimately effectual. A Saviour being provided for any of the lost children of Adam was an act of pure grace, and there- fore the extent of this salvation depends solely on him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will. As Christ prayed not, John xvii., 9,* so he died " not, for the world," but for those whom God had given him out of the world. And all that the Father giveth him shall come to him. For those for whom he is the propitiation he is the advocate, and for whom he died he makes in- tercession, and for no others. In Israel there were sacrifices accompanied with the burning of incense, but these were not for the world, but for Israel. The sin-ofiering, on the great day of atonement, was for Israel only. It was for Israel whose sins were laid upon the scape-goat, that intercession was made, and when, after offering his sacrifice, the High Priest came out from the holiest of all, it was Israel who received the blessing. Of whose redemption was the deliverance of Israel from Egypt a figure ? For whose healing was the serpent lifted up in the wilderness ? In one word, of whom was Israel a type 1 Not of all mankind, but only of the people of God. As, then, the High Priest under the law offered sacrifice only for Israel, interceded only for them, * It is objected that in these words the Lord refers specially to his Apostles ; but he clearly excludes the world, which also he does afterwards, when he prays for none but for those who should believe in him. " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." The whole of this sublime prayer is exclusively oflered up by the Lord, first for himself, next for the Apostles, and, lastly, for all believers ; and for this purpose he says he received power over all flesh, that he might give eternal life to as many as the Father had give?} him, and all that the Father giveth him shall come to him, John vi., 37. No fewer tiian eight times does he refer to those who were give?i to him, for whom alone he prays that they might be with him to behold his glory. 204 ROMANS v., 11. and blessed them only, so Christ, the Hitrh Priest of our profession, has offered his sacrifice only for his people, for whom he intercedes on the ground of that sacrifice, and whom, in consequence of his sacrifice and intercession, he will at hist come out of tlie heavenly sanctuary to hless, Matt. XXV., 34; thus discharj^ing for them, and for them only, the three functions of the priestly office. His sacrifice and intercession, then, which are inseparable, are of the same extent, and for all for whom he offered his sacrifice he presents his intercession, which is founded upon it. Could it be supposed that he never intercedes for those for whom he gave the highest proof of his love in laying down his life ? Did he bear in his oxen body on the tree the sins of those to whom at Utst he will profess, " I never knew you," and will leave them under the curse, saying, " Depart from me, ye cursed," whose sins as the Lamb of God he had taken away, on account of which, notwithstanding, he will consign them to punishment everlasting 1 Far different is his language respecting those whom he calls his sheep, for whom he says he lays down his life. Them he professes to know, and declares that they know him. " I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life." WiTsius, in his economy of the covenants, observes, " That fictitious satisfaction for the reprobate and those who perish is altogether a vain and useless thing. For whom does it profit ? Not certainly God, who by no act can be rendered happier than he is. Not Christ himself, who, as he never seeks them, so he never receives them, for his peculiar pro- perty, and neither is he enriched by possessing them, though supposed to have purchased them at a dear rate. Not believers, who, content with their portion in God and in Christ, and fully redeemed by Christ, enjoy a happiness in every respect complete. In fine, not those that perish, who are constrained to satisfy in their own persons for their sins, to the uttermost farthing. The blood of Christ, says Remigius, formerly Bishop of Lyons, is a great price ; such a price can in no respect be in vain and ineffectual, but rather is filled with the superabundant advan- tage arising from those blessings for which it is paid. Nay, the satis- faction of Christ for the reprobate had not only been useless, but highly unworthy both of God and of Christ. Unworthy of the wisdom, good- ness, and justice of God, to exact and receive satisfaction from his most beloved Son, for those whom he neither gave, nor wanted to give his Son, and whom he decreed to consign to everlasting confinement, to suffer in their own persons, according to the demerit of their crimes. Unworthy of Christ to give his blood a price of redemption for those whom he had not in charge to redeem." " In respect of its intrinsic worth," says Brown of Haddington, " as the obedience and sufferings of a divine person, Christ's satisfaction is suflUcient for the ransom of all mankind, and, being fulfilled in human nature, is equally suited to all their necessities. But, in respect of his and his Father's intention, it was paid and accepted instead of the elect, and to purchase their eternal happiness. Christ died for those only for ROMANS v., 11. 205 whom he undertook, as Surety, in the covenant of grace, in order to obtain their eternal salvation." Brown of Wamphray, in his " Arguments against Universal Redemption," says, " All that Christ died for must certainly be saved. But all men shall not be saved. Christ's death was a redemption, and we are said to be redeemed thereby. And therefore, all such as he laid down this redemption, or redemption- money for, must of necessity be redeemed and saved ; and, consequently, he did not die for all, seeing all are not redeemed and saved. That all such for whom this redemption-money was paid, and this ransom was given, must be saved, is clear, otherwise it were no redemption ; a ransom given for captives doth say, that these captives, in law and jus- tice, ought to be set at liberty. Christ's intercession is really a present- ing unto God the oblation made. Therefore, says the Apostle, Heb. ix., 24, that Christ is entered into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us : and so, by appearing, he intercedeth, and his appearing is in his own blood, whereby he obtained eternal redemption, Heb. ix., 12 ; and so his intercession must be for all for whom the oblation was, and the eternal redemption was obtained." Many suppose that in preaching the gospel it is necessary to tell every man that Christ died for him, and that if Christ did not actually atone for the sins of every individual, the gospel cannot be preached at all. But this is very erroneous. The gospel declares that Christ died for the guilty, and that the most guilty who believe it shall be saved. " It is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," even the chief of sinners. The gospel does not tell every individual to whom it is addressed that Christ died for him, but that if he believes he shall be saved. This is a war- rant to preach the gospel unto all men ; and it is only as he is a believer that it is known to any man that Christ died for him individu- ally. To preach the gospel then to every man, and call on every one to believe and be saved, is quite consistent, as it is a truth that whoever believes shall be saved. If the most guilty of the human race believe in Jesus, there is the most perfect certainty that he shall be saved. If any man is straitened in preaching the gospel, and finds a difficulty in calliog on all men to believe, except he can at the same time tell them that Christ died for every individual of the human race, he does not clearly understand what the gospel is. It is the good news that Christ died for the most guilty that believe, not that he died for every indi- vidual, whether he believe or not. To the truth that every man shall be saved who believes, there is no exception. If there are any sins that will never be pardoned, they imply that the individuals guilty of them will never believe; for, if they believe, they will be saved. Whatever then the sin against the Holy Ghost may be supposed to be, it implies final unbelief ;" and the best way to relieve those persons who may think they are guilty of this sin, is not to labor to make them understand what the sin against the Holy Ghost is, but to make them see that, if they now believe, they cannot have ever committed the unpar- donable sin. To suppose that any believe who will not be saved, is to suppose a contradiction in the word of God. 206 ROMANS v., 11. The difriculty of those who ft-el themst-lvcs restrained in exhorting sinners to believe the gospel, on the ground that the atonement of Christ was not made for all, is the same as that whieh is cxpeiienced by some who, believing the doctrine of election, suppose it inconsistent to exhort all indiscriminately to believe the gospel, since it is certain that they who are not chosen to eternal life will never be saved. In this they err. The gospel, according to the commandment of the ever- lasting God, is to be made known to all nations lor the obedience of faith. It is certain, however, that they for whom Christ did not die, and who do not belong to the election of grace, will not bdieve. These are secret things which belong to God, to be revealed in their proper time. But the gospel is the fan in Christ's hand who, by means ot it, will thoroughly purge his floor, separating those who are his sheep from the rest of the world lying in the wicked one. He has therefore com- manded it to be preached to all men ; and by it those will be discovered for whom his atonement was made, and whom God hath chosen from the foundation of the world, and predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself. We are not, then, to inquire first, either for ourselves or others, for whom Christ died and who are chosen to eternal life, before we determine to whom the gospel is to be preached ; but to preach it to all, with the assuranc- that whoever believes it shall receive the remission of sins. In believing it, we ascertain for ourselves that Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree, and that God from the beginning hath chosen us to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The atonement of Christ is of infinite value, and the reason why all men are not saved by it is not for want of its being of sufficient value, but because it was not made for all. In itself it was sulHcient to make atonement for the sins of all mankind, had it been so intended. His sacrifice could not have been sufficient for any, if it had not been suffi- cient for all. An atonement of infinite value was necessary for every individual that shall be saved, and more could not be necessary for all the world. This intrinsic sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice was doubtless in view in the divine appointment concerning it. God made provision of such a sacrifice as was not only sufficient effectually to take away the sins of all the elect ; but also sufficient to be laid betbre all mankind, in the dispensation of the gospel. In the gospel it was to be declared to all men that, in their nature, the Son of God had made an atone- ment of infinite value, and brought in everlasting righteousness, which shall be upon all that believe. This atonement, then, being all-suffi- cient in itself, is proclaimed to all who hear the gospel. All are invited to rely upon it for pardon and acceptance, as freely and fully as if they knew that God designed it for them from all eternity, and all who thus rely upon it shall experience the blessing of its efficacy and infinite value. In the proclamation of the gospel no restriction is held forth respecting election and reprobation. No difference is announced between one sinner and another. Without any distinction the call is addressed, and a gracious welcome proclaimed, to all the children of Adam. " Unto you, 0 men, 1 call, and my voice is to the sons of men." ROMANS v., 12. 207 And well might the Apostle say in his own name and that of the be- lievers whom he addresses in the passage before us, " We joy in God tlirohgh oitr Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Qtonnneniy We now come to the second division of this chapter, from verse 12 to 19. Having spoken of justification by faith, and having culled our atieifition to several points connected with it, the Apostle now speaks of it, as it was figuratively exhibited in the condemnation of the human race in Adam. He first directs attention to the one man by whom sin was brciighl into the world, and declares that death came by sin. This necessarily imports that death is the lot of all that sin, and of none but such as are sinners. If death entered because of sin, it could affect none hI'O were not guilty. But the Apostle does not leave this to be inferred, nil bough this inference is both necessary and obvious. He draws it himself " So death passed upon all men for that all have sit!i;'V, ;" thus plainly asserting that all are sinners upon whom death passes. Every step in this process is natural and obvious. We may tiHce ti'c very train in the Apostle's mind. We may see the reason of ev'-rv suhjeined expression. Having said that all are sinners who die, it iiuniediatelv occurs to him that to some this would appear strange ; ho pri ceeds, ilierefore, to show how all have sinned. This he does by olser\ii;g, that sin was in the world before the law of Moses, and that it had existed from Adam until the law was given. But this, as he olsorves, could not have been the case, had not law existed ; "for sin is iK-J o>putcd where there is no law." What, then, is the evidence tluu Sin existed before the law of Moses? The evidence is, that death reigned. And what is the evidence that sin existed in infants ? The evidcjice is, that death reigned over them. If death came upon man by s;n, it could have no dominion over any of the human race who were noi siDuers. Adam is called the figure of him that was to come, and this must not be confined to one or two particulars, but must extend to everything in which Christ's seed are one with him, as contrasted with everything in which Adam's seed are one with him. If Christ's seed are one with him in any characteristic point in which Adam's seed are not oiic will; him, then the " figure," or type, would fail. Having shown the similarity, the Apostle proceeds to show the dissimilarity, or ihc abounding of grace over what was lost in Adam. This he con- tinues to the end of verse 19, summing up in the 18th and 19lh verses what he had referred to in the 12th, from which he was led by the con- siderations above specified. " In proceeding to analyze what is taught in ver. 12-19, Mr. Stuart profcsoes to feel great difficulty. Considering the lamentable manner in which he has perverted and misrepresented the whole passage, this is not at all surprising. In his Synopsis, he says, " As the conse- quences of Adam's sin were extended to all men, so the consequences ot Christ's obedience (viz. unto death) are extended to a// ; i.e. Jews and (.entiles all come on an equal footing into the kingdom of Christ," p. 196. And again he says, that verses 12-19 " are designed at once 208 ROMANS v., 12. to confirm tlic statement made in cli. iii., 23-30, and iv., 10-19; i.e. to confirm the senlimcnt, that (Jentilcs as well as Jews may rejoice in lliC n^concilialion cfl'ccted by Christ; while, at tlic same; time, the whole repri'seiilation serves very nmch to enhance tlic greatness of the blessings whicii Christ has jjrocurcd for siiniers, by ihe contrast in which these blessings are placed," p. 198. There is here no reference at all to the distinction between Jews and Gentiles. The design is evidently to show the likeness between the way in whicli righteousness and life came, and the way in which condemnation and death came, the former by Christ, the latter by Adam. He adds, "I cannot perceive the particular design of introducing such a contrast in this place, uidess it be to show the propriety and justice of extending the blessings of reconciliation to the Centiles as well as to the Jews, and to set off to the best advantage the greatness of these blessings." But the extension of these blessings to the Gentiles, however important a truth, and how- ever much dwelt on in other places, has nothing to do in this place, or with this contrast. The contrast here introduced is the same, whether the blessings arc supposed to be confined to the Jews or also extended to the Gentiles. The contrast is not between Jew and Gentile, but between Adam and Christ, between the way of condemnation and the way of justification. How does Mr. Stuart bring in the distinction between Jews and Gentiles ? He might as well introduce it into the history of the creation. But the common view of the passage is quite in accordance with the preceding context. The difficulty he feels is a difficulty to reconcile it with his own unscriptural views of this part of the word of God. The following observations of President Edwards on the connection of this passage, in reference to the commentary of Dr. Taylor, are equally applicable to the difliculties experienced respecting it by Mr. Stuart. " No wonder, when the Apostle is treating so full and largely of our restoration, righteousness, and life by Christ, that he is led by it to consider our fall, sin, death, and ruin by Adam ; and to observe wherein these two opposite heads of mankind agree, and wherein they differ, in the manner of conveyance of opposite influences and commu- nications from each. Thus, if this place be understood, as it is used to be understood by orthodox divines, the whole stands in a natural, easy, and clear connection with the preceding part of the chapter, and all the former part of the Epistle ; and in a plain agreement with the express design of all that the Apostle had been saying ; and also in connection with the words last before spoken, as introduced by the two immediately preceding verses, where he is speaking of our justification, reconciliation, and salvation by Christ ; w hich leads the Apostle directly to observe, how, on the contrary, we have sin and death by Adam. Taking this discourse of the Apostle in its true and plain sense, there is no need of great extent of learning, or depth of criticism, to find out the connection ; but if it be understood in Dr. Taylor's sense, the plain scope and connection are wholly lost, and there was truly need of a skill in criticism, and art of discerning, beyond, or at least different, from that of former divines, and a faculty of seeing something afar off, ROMANS v., 12. 209 which other men's sight could not reach, in order to find out the con- nection." Orig. Sin, p. 31 2. It would be well if those, who will not re- ceive the kingdom of God as little children, would employ their " skill in criticism, and art of discerning," on any other book than the Bible. V. 12. — Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. The general object of the Apostle in this place it is not at all difficult to perceive; He had treated largely of the doctrine of justification by faith, evinced its necessity, shown its accordance with the Old Testament Scriptures, and unfolded some of the privileges of a justi- fied state, and now he illustrates and displays the gospel salvation, by contrasting it with the misery and ruin introduced by the fall, and manifesting, in the plan of mercy, a superabounding of grace over transgression, and thus, as has been already remarked, exhibits the foundation both of condemnation and of justification. In the preceding verse, Paul had stated that he himself, and those to whom he wrote, had been brought into a state of reconciliation with God. Reconciliation, as has been noticed, implies two things — first, that the parties referred to had been in a state of alienation and hostility — and, secondly, that this hostility has ceased, and their discord been amicably terminated. Occasion is here given to the development and illustration of both these points ; first, the ground of the hostility and its effects, with which the Apostle commences in the verse before us, and not the manner with its consequences, in which this hostility had been termi- nated. This last he unfolds in the 15th and following verses, to the end of the 18th verse, and then in the 19th sums up the whole dis- cussion which properly follows from the declaration in the 11th verse of the reconciliation. Wherefore. — This introduces the conclusion which the Apostle draws in the 18th verse, but which is for a few moments interrupted by the explanatory parenthesis interposed from verse 13th to 17th inclusive. It connects with what goes before from the beginning of the lOth verse, especially with the one preceding, in which it is declared, that through our Lord Jesus Christ believers have now received the reconciliation. It also connects with what follows, as an inference drawn from what is still to be mentioned, of which we have several examples in the apostolic writings. Wherefore, or for this reason, namely, that as by one man sin entered, so by one man came righteousness. As introduces a com- parison or contrast, of which, however, only one branch is here stated, as the Apostle is immediately led off into the explanatory parenthesis already noticed, which terminates with the 17th verse. In the 18th verse he reverts to the comparison, not directly, however, but with re- ference to the intermediate verses, and on account of the interruption, not only slates it in substance, but repeats it in both its parts. By one man sin entered into the world. — Mr. Stuart interprets this as equivalent to sin commenced with one man. Sin did indeed com- mence with one man, but this is not the Apostle's meaning. If ever sin commenced among the human race, it must have commenced by 14 210 ROMANS v., 13. one. But tlic Apostle moans to tell us, not merely that sin commenced by one, but that it came upon the world from one. This is the only point of view in which the sin of Adam causing death can be contrast- e-17 express, is not the whole of mankind. It will not be pretended that all men obtain justification (verse 16) or that all ' shall reign in life through Jesus Christ' (verse 17). In these verses the second member cannot be un- derstood as comprising the entire human race ; and as confessedly the phrase * all men ' (see John xii., 32, 2 Cor. iii., 2) may be used in a limited signification, there is no obvious reason why in verse 18 it must be so used. " There is just one objection to this e.xegesis which it is worth while to notice. Mr. Stuart thus states it : — ' If we say that sentence of eternal perdition in its highest sense comes upon all men by the offence of Adam, and this without any act on their part, or even any voluntary concurrence in their present state and condition of existence, then, in order to make grace superabound over all this, how can we avoid the conclusion, that justification in its highest sense comes upon all men without their concurrence ?' It is always a great convenience to a reviewer when an author refutes himself. This is the case in the pre- sent instance. ' In regard to the superabounding of the grace of the gospel,' says Mr. Stuart, in the very same page, ' it must be noted, in order to avoid mistake, that I do not construe it as appertaining to the number of the subjects, but to the number of offences forgiven by it.' Now, on this principle, our view of the diversity of the two multitudes does not abolish the superabundance of grace. To the elect, not merely the penal consequences of Adam's sin are remitted, but those ROMANS v., 19. 221 of all their own innumerable transgressions, and thus grace still main- tains its due pre-eminence. " This objection, vanishing so easily by a wave of the same wand which conjured it up, we are enabled fully to conclude, that although the whole of mankind are comprehended in the first number of the comparison, only the elect are included in the second ; that the notion of placing extent of influence — the numher of persons to whom the condemning or saving energy reaches, — among the points of resem- blance, obtains no countenance from Paul, and that the opinion resting upon it, that sentence of condemnation can be passed upon none except for actual transgression, has no foundation."* V. 19. — For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedi- ence of one shall many be made righteous. For. — This assigns a reason for what the Apostle has said in the pre- ceding verses. By one man^s disobedience many were made sinners. — Here it is expressly asserted that the many (not many : it includes all who were in Adam, that is, all the human race) were made sinners by Adam's disobedience. Mr. Stuart attempts to evade this, by supposing that they are led into sin by the occasion of Adam's sin. This is a great perversion. Adam's disobedience is said not merely to be the occasion of leading his posterity into sin, but to have made tliem sin- ners. Mr. Stuart rests much on the absurdity of supposing that one man is punished for another's offence. But Adam's offence is the offence of all his posterity. It made them sinners. That sin must be theirs by which they were made sinners. If there is any self-evident truth, this is one of the clearest. We must, like little children, receive God's testimony upon this as well as every other subject. We must not rest our acquiescence in God's testimony upon our ability to fathom the depth of his unsearchable counsels. Mr. Stuart makes Adam's sin merely what he calls the instrumental or occasional cause. But with no propriety can Adam's sin be called the instrument by which his posterity sinned. This is altogether absurd. And an occasional cause is no cause. Every person knows the difference between a cause and an occasion. Besides, to suppose that Christ's own obedience is the real cause of our justification, and that Adam's sin is only the occa- sion, not properly the cause of our condemnation, is to destroy the contrast between Adam and Christ, on which the Apostle here insists. If Christ's obedience is the ground of our justification, Adam's disobe- dience must, by the contrast, be the ground of our condemnation. So by the obedience of one shall the many be made righteous. — Only a part of mankind are included in that covenant of which Christ is the surety. In consequence of Adam being the covenant head of all man- kind, all are involved in his condemnation, but Christ is not the head * Here it may be observed that, if all men had been saved, it would have given coun- tenance to the supposition that fallen men had some claim upon God, that there was some hardship connected with their being brought under condemnation not by their individual transgression, but by that of Adam, and thus the riches of grace would have been tarnished. 222 ROMANS v., 19. of all mankind but of ihc Cliurcli, and lo all Init the church he will say, " T never knew you." So. — That is, in this may, not in like, man- ner. It is not in a manner thai has merely some likeness, but it is in the very same manner. For althougli there is a contrast in the things, the one being disobedience, and the other obedience, yet there is a per- fect identity in the manner. This is important, as by the turn given lo the word translated so, Mr. Stuart perverts the passage. The many shall be constituted righteous. The many here applies to all in Christ. It is argued, that the phrase, " the many," must be equally extensive in its application in both cases. So it is as to the respective represent- atives. Tlie many, with reference to Adam, includes all his race. The mani/, with respect to Christ, implies all his seed. Again, if it is said that Adam'.s posterity became sinners merely by the example, influence, or occasion of his sin, it may, with equal propriety, be said that Christ's posterity became righteous by the example or occasion of his right- eousness. This makes the gospel altogether void. The passage before us is of the highest importance. It forms a striking conclusion to all that goes before from the beginning of the 12th verse, and asserts in plain terms two grand truths on which tiie gospel in all its parts proceeds, though by many they are strenuously opposed, and by others only partially admitted. In the 12th verse the Apostle had said, that death passed upon all men, /or that all have sinned. In the 13th and 14th verses he had shown that to this there is no excep- tion, and had further declared that Adam was the figure of Christ who was to come. In the following verses to the end of the 17th, he had asserted the opposite effects that follow from the sin of the one and the righteousness of the other. h\ the 18lh verse he had given a summary of what he had said in the preceding verses. Condemnation he had there affirmed had come by the oifence of one, and justification by the righteousness of one. But as it would not be readily admitted that either a curse or a blessing should come on men on account of the sin or righteousness of another, he here explicitly affirms this truth, which was indeed included in his preceding statements, but being of so great importance, it was proper that it should be declared in the plainest terms. It is grounded on the constituted unity of all men with their covenant heads. By the disobedience of Adam those who were one with him in the first creation were made sinners. In the same way, by the obedience of Jesus Christ, they who are one with him in the new creation are made righteous. This 19th verse contains the expli- cit declaration of these two facts, and the appellations " sinners " and '* righteous " mvist be imderstood in the full extent of these terms. Here, then, these two doctrines of the imputation of sin and of right- eousness, which are taught tliroughout the whole of the Scriptures, are exhibited in a maimer so clear, that without opposing the obvious mean- ing of the words, they cannot be contested. It is impossible to con- ceive how men could be made sinners by the disobedience of Adam, or righteous by the obedience of Jesus Christ, in any degree whatever, if the truth of the doctrine of the imputation of the sin of the former, and of the righteousness of the latter, be not admitted. ROMANS v., 19. 223 In order to remove every pretext for the supposition that the sin of Adam is not asserted in this 19th verse to be truly our sin, it is essen- tial to observe, that when it is here said, that by one man's disobedience many were made " sinners," there is no reference to the commission of sin, or to our proneness to it from our innate corruption. The refer- ence is exclusively to its guilt. It was formerly shown in the exposi- tion of the 3d chapter that it was in reference to the Divine tribunal, and respecting condemnation, tliat Paul had all along been considering sin both in regard to Jews and Gentiles, and that his assertion that they are under sin, can only signify that they are guilty, since he there repeats in summary what he had before advanced. And he fully establishes this meaning when he afterwards says, in the 19th verse of that chapter, " that every mouth maybe stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Now, these remarks equally apply to every part of his discussion from the beginning of the Epistle to the end of this 5th chapter. In the whole course of it, all he says of the commission of sin is solely with a view to establish the guilt of those of whom he speaks, on account of which they are under condemnation, in order that, in contrast, he might exhibit that righteousness by which men being justified, are freed from guilt and condemnation. In the same manner, it is evident from all the preceding context, that, by the term sinners in the verse before us, Paul does not mean that through the disobedience of one many were rendered depraved and addicted to the commission of sin, but that they become guilty of sin. In the 15th and 17th verses he says, that through the offence of one many are " dead," and that death reigned; and in verse 16, that the judgment was by one to " condemnation ;" and this he repeats in the 18th verse, where he says, that as by the offence of one, or by one offence, judgment came upon all men to " condemnation," so by the righteousness of one, or by one righteousness, the free gift came upon all men unto "justification" of life. He is speaking, then, all along, of sin only in reference to con- demnation, and of righteousness only in reference to justification. In the same way, in this 19th verse, where he repeats or sums up all that he had asserted in the preceding verses, when he says, that by the disobedience of one many were made " sinners," the reference is exclusively to the guilt of sin which occasions condemnation. When, on the other hand, he says, that by the obedience of one many were made righteous, the reference is exclusively to justification. And, as it is evident that the expression righteousness has here no reference to inherent righteousness or sanctification, so the term sinners has no reference to the pollution, in-dwelling, or actual commission of sin, or the transmission of a corrupt nature, otherwise the contrast would be destroyed, and, without any notification, a new idea would be introduced entirely at variance with the whole of the previous discussion from the beginning of the Epistle, and of that in the immediate connexion of this verse with its preceding context. It is, then, in the guilt of Adam's sin that the Apostle here asserts we partake, and, therefore, that sin must be truly our sin, otherwise its guilt could not attach to us. But although men are here expressly declared to be sinners by the 224 ROMANS v., 19. disobedience of Adam, just as they are righteous by the obedience of Christ, this is rejected by niulliumes, and by every man in iiis natural slate, to wlioni the things of God arc fooHshness. If such an one attends to it at all, it must undergo certain modifications, which, chang- ing its aspect, make it altogcllier void. On the other hand, that men are righteous in the way here declared, though not so repulsive to the natural j)rcposscssions of the iiuman mind, meets also with much oppo- sition. Hut why should there be such reluctance to receive these truths, which by every means possible are attempted to be avoided ? To him that submits to them nothing can be more consolatory. He is compelled to acknowledge that he sinned in Adam, and fell under con- demnation. But at the same time he is called to rejoice in the heart- cheering declaration that the righteousness of Christ is his righteous- ness, because he has been " created in Christ Jesus," Eph. ii., 10; with whom he is one. Gal. iii., 28 ; and that, being thus righteous in him, he shall reign with him in life. While, however, it is solely of the imputation of Adam's sin, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness, that the Apostle is treating, showing, tiiat by our oneness with these our respective covenant heads the sin of the first and the righteousness of the last Adam are really ours, it is proper to remark that, though it is not touched upon in the verse before us, there is a further beautiful analogy between the effect of our union with the first man who is of the earth earthy, and of our union with the second man wiio is the Lord from heaven. We not only partake of the guilt of the personal sin of Adam, and consequently of condemnation ; but also of a corrupt nature transmitted from him. In the same way, we are partakers not only of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and consequently of justification, but also of sanciification, by a new nature derived from him. Mr. Stuart seems to understand that, according to the doctrine of imputation, sins arc accounted to Adam's race that are not their sins, or in other words, that God accounts a thing to be fact which is not fact ; just as he had before affirmed, that faith is imputed as righteousness. But Adam's sin is imputed to his posterity, because it is their sin in reality, though we may not be able to see the way in which it is so. Indeed we should not pretend to explain this, because it is to be be- lieved on the foundation of the Divine testimony, and not on human speculation, or on our ability to account for it. 1. If God testifies that Adam's first sin is also that of all his posterity, is he not to be credited? If there be no such Divine testimony, we do not plead for the doctrine. It is on the Divine testimony the doctrine must rest. 2. Mr. Stuart speaks of imputation in its strict sense, or in a rigid sense. This too much resembles an artifice designed to deceive the simple into the belief that he admits the doctrine, if not substantially, at least in some sense. This, however, is not the fact. He cannot admit imputation in any sense. He does not admit Adam's sin to be our sin in the lowest degree. 3. If in reality he does admit imputation in the lowest degree, then it is not impossible in the highest. If it is essentially unjust, it cannot exist in the lowest degree. Why, then, does he speak in this ROMANS v., 19. 225 uncandid manner ? Does this language betoken a man writing under the full conviction that he is contending for the truth of God ? He pro- fesses to determine this question by an appeal to the natural sentiments of men. But if this tribunal is sufficient to decide this point, is it not equally so with respect to innumerable others, in wliich Deists and lieretics have made a like appeal ? On this ground may not a man say, I cannot admit the eternity of future punishment, for it is contrary to my natural sentiments : I cannot admit that a good Being is the creator of the world, for he would not have permitted evil to enter it had he been able to keep it out ? He says, p, 233, " We never did, and never can, feel guilty of another's act, which was done without any know- ledge or concurrence of our own." But if God has testified that there is a sense in wliich that act is our own, shall we not be able to admit and feel it ? It altogether depends on the Divine testimony. Now such is the testimony of the verse before us in its obvious sense. How this is, or in what sense this is the case, we may not be able to com- prehend. This is no part of our business. This is no part of the Divine testimony. We are to believe God on his word, not from our capacity to understand the manner in which the thing testified is true. Mr, Stuart himself asserts, p. 235, that the sufferings of infants may conduce to their eternal good, yet, he says, " In what way I pretend not to determine." And are we to determine in what way Adam's sin is ours, before we admit the fact on the Divine testimony ? He says, p. 233, " We may just as well say, that we can appropriate to ourselves and make our own the righteousness of another, as his unrighteous- ness." Here he denies the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. If the Divine testimony assures us, that by a divine constitution we are: made one with Christ, is not his righteousness ours ? If it be declared that God " hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," shall we not believe it ? In opposition to all such infidel reasonings, it is becoming in the believer to say, I fully acknowledge, and I humbly confess, on the tes- timony of my God, that I am guilty of Adam's sin ; but by the same testimony, and by the same Divine constitution, I believe that I am a partaker of God's righteousness — the righteousness of my God and Saviour Jesus Christ, of the free gift of that righteousness, wliich not only removes the guilt, and all the fatal consequences of that first sin, but of the many offences whicii I have myself committed. Regarding the difficulties that in both these respects present themselves, I hear my Saviour say, " What is that to thee ? follow thou me." In the meantime, it is sufficient for me to know, that the Judge of all the earth will do right : What I know not now, I shall know hereafter. The summary argument commonly used against the imputation of Adam's sin, namely, that it is " contrary to reason," proceeds on a mere assumption — an assumption as unwarrantable as that of the Socinian who denies the trinity in unity, because it is above his comprehension. Most persons are in the habit of considering many things which they_ cannot fathom, and which they cannot relish, as being contrary to reason. But this is not just. A thing may be very disagreeable, and 15 I22G ROMANS v., 19. far beyond the ken of human penetration, which is not contrary to reason. We are not entitled to pronounce anything contrary to reason which iloes not imply a contradiction. A contradiction cannot be true, but all other things may be true, and on sufficient evidence, ought to be received as true. That Adam's sin may, in a certain view, t)e our sin, and that Christ's righteousness may, in a certain view, be our right- eousness, no man is entitled to deny on the ground of self-evident truth. Whether it is true or not must depend on evidence. Now, the testi- mony of God in the Scriptures leaves no doubt on the subject. Adam's sin is our sin. Christ's righteousness is the righteousness of all his people. If it be contrary to reason to have the sin of Adam counted as our own, it is still worse to suppose that we suffer, as is generally admitted, for a sin which is not ours. If there is injustice in the one, there is much more injustice in the other. This surely is the language of reason, and, as such, has been insisted on by orthodox writers, both of our own and of other countries. Of this I shall give the following ex- amples. "If that sin of Adam," says Brown of Wamphray in his Life of Justihcation Opened, p. 179 ; " If that sin of Adam be im- puted, in its curse and punishment, the sin itself must be imputed as to its guilt ; else we must say, that God curseth and punisheth the pos- terity that IS no ways guilty, which to do suiteth not the justice of God, the righteous governor of the world." " Certainly," says B. Piciet, in his Christian Theology, vol. i., p. 368, " if the sin of Adam had not been imputed to his descendants, we could not give a reason why God has permitted that the corruption which was in Adam, the consequence of iiis first sin, should have pass- ed to his posterity. That this reasoning may appear just, we must consider that the corruption which we bring from the womb of our mothers is a very great evil, for it is the source of all sins. To permit, then, that this corruption should pass from their fathers to children, is to inflict a punishment. But how is it that God should punish men, if they had not sinned, and if they were not guilty ? Now, it is certain that, when this corruption communicates itself from fathers to children, the cliildren themselves have not sinned. It must then be the fact, that the sin of Adam is imputed to them, and that God considers them as having part in the sin of their hrst father. " It cannot be explained, consistent with Divine justice," says Wit- sius, in his Economy, vol. i., p. 153, " how, without a crime, death should have passed upon Adam's posterity. Prosper reasoned solidly and elegantly as follows : — ' Unless, perhaps, it can be said that the punishment, and not the guilt, passed on the posterity of Adam, but to say this is in every respect false ; for it is too impious to judge so of the justice of God ; as if he would, contrary to his own law, condemn the innocent with the guilty. The guilt, therefore, is evident, where the punishment is so, and a partaking in punishment 'shows a partaking in guilt ; that human misery is not the appointment of ilie Creator, but the retribution of the Judge.' If, therefore," continues Witsius, ROMANS v., 19. 227 " through Adam all are obnoxious to punishment, all, too, must have sinned in Adam." A considerable part of the resistance to the imputation of Adam's sin, is owing to the ground on which the evidence of the fact is often rested. It is not simply placed on the authority of the testimony of God, but is attempted to be justified by human procedure. The diffi- culty tiiat some persons feel on this subject, arises from the supposi- tion, that though the sin of the first man is charged upon his posterity, yet it is not theirs. But the Scriptures hold it forth as ours in as true a sense as it was Adam's. We may be asked to explain how it can be ours, and here we may find ourselves at a loss for an answer. But we ougiit to consider that we are not obliged to give an answer on this point either to ourselves or others. We are to receive it on the Di- vine testimony, assured that what God declares must be true, however unable we may be to comprehend it. We ought not to perplex our- selves by endeavoring to ascertain the grounds of the Divine testimony on this subject. Our duty is to understand the import of what is testi- fied, and to receive it on that authority — not to inquire into the justice of the constitution from which our guilt results This is not revealed, and it is utterly beyond our province and beyond our depth. Did Abraham understand why he was commanded to offer up his son ? No. But he was strong in faith, and his faith in obeying in that in- stance is held forth in Scripture for our imitation. Like Abraham, let us give glory to God, by believing implicitly what we have no means of knowing to be true, but simply on the testimony of God. The defenders of scriptural truth take wrong ground when they rest it on anything but the testimony of Scripture. It is highly dishonora- ble to God to refuse to" submit to his decisions till we can demonstrate their justice. Those who have endeavored to vindicate the Divine jus- tice in accounting Adam's sin to be ours, and to reconcile the mind of man to that procedure, have not only labored in vain, but actually in- jured the cause they meant to uphold. The connexion according to which we suffer with our first father, is not such as is to be vindicated or illustrated by human transactions. The union of Adam and his pos- terity is a Divine constitution. The grounds of this constitution are not to be found in any of the justifiable transactions of men ; and all attempts to make us submit by convincing us of its propriety, from what we are able to understand upon a comparison with the affairs of men, are only calculated to impose on credulity, and to produce unbe- hef. We receive it because God says it, not because we see it to be just. We know it to be just, because it is part of the ways of the just God. But how it is just we may not be able to see. We receive it like little children who believe the testimony of their father, though they do not understand the grounds or reasons of the thing testified. Nothing is more common than to vindicate the equity of our impli- cation in the ruin of Adam's fall, by alleging that had he stood, we should have been partakers in all his blessings. Had he stood, it is said, you would have reaped the benefit of his standing ; is it not there- fore just that you should also suffer the loss of his failure ? Here the 228 ROMANS v., 19. matter is rested, not on (lod's lestiinonv, but on our sense of justice in the airairs of men. To this it will be replied, that rf the transaction is not entered into with our consent there is no apparent equity in our being punished with the loss. Adam's sin, tlien, we acknowledge to be ours, not because a similar thing would be just among men, but because CJod, the just (iod, testifies that it is so ; and we know that the righteous (jotl will do righteously. To submit in this way is rational ; to submit on the ground of iiiulerstanding the justice of the thing, is to* pretend to understand what is incomprehensible, and to rest faith on a fallacy, namely, that the ground of the imputation of Adam's sin is of the same nature with human transactions. The method of vindicating Divine truth here censured has also the most unhappy tendency in en- couraging Christians to think that they must always be able to give a reason for their believing (iod's testimony, from their abihty to com- prehend the thing testified. It accustoms them to think that they should believe (j!od, not simply on his testimony, but on seeing with their own eyes that the thing is true independently of his testimony. On the contrary, the Christian ought to be accustomed to submit to God's testimony without question, and without reluctance, even in things the farthest beyond the reach of the human mind. " Speak, Lord, for thy servant hcarclh," ought to be the motto of every Christian. Yet how few follow out to their full extent the plain statements of the word of God on these subjects ; and while many utterly deny and abhor every representation of the imputation of sin and righteousness, others hide its genuine features by an attempt to enable men to understand the reasons of it, and to justify the Divine procedure. This is altogether improper. The ways of (iod are too deep for our feeble minds to fathom them, and it is impious as well as arrogant to make the attempt. Against nothing ought Christians to be more constantly and earnestly guarded, than the opinion thai they ought to be able to comprehend and justify what they believe on the authority of God. The true ground on which to vindicate it is the explicit testimony of God in the Scripture. This is so clear, that no man can set it aside, we need not say without wresting the Scriptures, but, we may assert, without being conscious of violence of interpretation. Our defence of this doctrine, then, should ever be, " Thus sailh the Lord." This method of defence, which we are taught in this same epistle, chap, ix., 20, is not merely the only scriptural one, but it is the one that will have the great- est success. As long as a reason is alleged by the wisdom of man in support of the doctrine, so long, from the same source, an argument will be produced on the other side. But when the word of God is ap- pealed to, and upon it all the stress of evidence rested, the Christian must submit. The writer knows from personal experience the effect of this method of leaching this doctrine. " You cannot comprehend," says Luther, "how a just God can con- demn those who are born in sin, and cannot help themselves, but .nust, by a necessity of their natural constitution continue in sin, and remain children of wrath. The answer is, God as incomprehensible through- out ; and therefore his justice, as well as his other attributes, must be ROMANS v., 20. 229 incomprehensible. It is on this very ground that St. Paul exclaims, * 0 the depth of the riches and the knowledge of God ! How un- searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out !' Now his judgments would not be past finding out, if we could always per- ceive them to be just." The imputation and consequences of Adam's sin are well expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, in which it is said, " These (our first parents) being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupt nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation.'^ And again, " The covenant, being made with Adam as a public person, not for himself only, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in the first transgression. . . . The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell consisteth in the guilt of Adam's first sin." V. 20. — Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. The Apostle had now arrived at the conclusion of the discussion, com- mencing at the 17th verse of the first chapter, in the course of which, after having briefly announced the remedy which God had provided for the salvation of man, he had proceeded to show the need there is for the application of this remedy by proving the sinful state of all, both Jews and Gentiles, whatever had been their various means of instruction. He had next fully exhibited that remedy for their deliverance, and also the manner in which it is applied. In the beginning of this fifth chap- ter he had unfolded the blessed effects that follow from its reception, in the experience of all believers, and had extolled the love of God in its appointment. Having next proved, from the universality of the reign of death, that the law and sin existed from the beginning, and so before the public promulgation of the law, at mount Sinai, he had taken occa- sion to point out the entrance both of sin and righteousness, and of the imputation first of the one and next of the other. And as it might now be asked, " Wherefore, then, serveth the law V Gal. iii., 19, if man's personal obedience to it enters in no respect into his justification, it there- fore formed a proper conclusion to the whole to recur, as in the verse before us, to that law at which, in passing, Paul had glanced in the 13th verse, and to show that it had been introduced, in order that on the one hand the abounding of sin might be made manifest, and on the other the superabounding of grace, on both of which he had been insisting in proof of the reality and fatal effects of the former, and the necessity, the glory, and the blessedness of the latter. The law entered, "privily entered," says Dr. Macknight, referring to the law of nature, which he says, privily entered after the fall of our first parents. But no new law entered after the fall. What is called the law of nature, is only the remains of the law written in creation on the heart of man. The law here is evidently the law of Moses, and the word in the original signifies that the law entered in addition to the law which Adam transgressed, and to the law written in the heart. This is the 230 ROMANS v., 20. effect of -apa in this place, 'r/mt the offence might abound. — The word translated oirenco, here and in several oi" the verses above, literally signi- fies " tail," and is aj)j)lied in these verses to the first sin ot Adam. In verse 16, however, in the plural, it refers to sins in t^^eneral, and in some other places is remk-red trespasses. In that l)efore us, it may refer par- ticularly, as in those preceding, to the first sin, which, as the root and cause of all other sins, has abounded in its baneful effects, and like a noxious plant shot up and spread in all directions ; so that, as God had testified before the flood, "■ the wickedness of man is great on the earth," Gen. vi., 5. This was fully discovered by the entrance of the law. The law then entered, not that sinners might be justified i)y it, for no law could give life to fallen man, Gal. iii., 21. Sinners, in order to be saved, must be redeemed from the curse of the law, and created again in Christ Jesus. But it entered that the offence might abound, and that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God, chap, iii., 19 ; that we might learn that the righteous God loveth right- eousness, that his law is exceeding broad, that it is spiritual, extending to all the imaginations of the thoughts, that he will not abate one jot or tittle of this perfect standard, which is a transcrij)t of his character. The law is a perfect standard, by which men are taught to measure them- selves, that they may see their guilt and condemnation, and be led to look to Him who is the end of the law tor righteousness to every one that believeth. Some translate this clause, which is rendered, that the offence might abound, " so as the offence eventually abounds." This is not the Apostle's meaning. They say that the intention of the law was not to make sin abound, but to restrain sin, and make fewer sins. If this was the intention of giving the law, the lawgiver has been disappointeii, for sins have been multiplied a thousandfold l)y the entrance of the law. This their view of the matter admits ; for they acknowledge that this was the event, though not the intention. But if this was the event, it must also have been the intention of the lawgiver, though not of the law. God cannot be disappointed of his intentions. But it is self-evidently clear that the intention of the promulgation of the law of Moses could not be to lessen the number of sins, when almost the whole ceremonial part of it makes things to be sin, which were not sin before the giving of the law, and which are not sinful in their own nature. Besides, sin is greatly increased as to the guilt of the breach of the moral law, by the promulgation of the law of Moses. While the law of God is holy, and just, and good, it was evidently God's intention, in the giving of it, that offences might abound. In this way the wickedness of the human heart was manifested. It showed men that they were sinners. Had not the law been repeated in its extent and purity at Sinai, such was the dark- ness in men's minds, that they would not have thought themselves trans- gressors of its precepts, or obnoxious to its curse ; and not seeing them- selves sinners, they would not have seen the necessity of a Surety. The " commandment is a lamp and the law is light." Prov. vi., 23. It discovers the real state of human nature, and manifests not only the evil and aggravation, but also the vast accumulation and extent of the wick- edness of man. The entrance, then, of the law between the author of ROMANS v., 21. 231 condemnation and the author of justification, in order that sin might abound, was of the highest importance. " By the law is the knowledge of sin." The law did not put sin into the heart, but it was an instrument to display the depravity already existing in the heart. But vain man will be wise, and he will compel the word of God to submit to his own views. It may be justly said, that such displays of the deep things of God as are made in his word, are intended to manifest the blindness of the human mind, and the deep depravity of human nature. Where sin uboimdcd grace did vnicli more ahcmnd. — This was another effect of the entrance of the law, that as by the clear light it imparts, sin would abound in all its extent and enormity, so grace might be exhi- bited as abounding above sin. The grace of God, dispensed from his throne, not only pardons the most numerous and most heinous sins, but also confers eternal life upon him who has sinned. It restores him to communion with God, \vhich by transgression he had forfeited ; re-es- tablishing it not only in a far higher degree, but in a manner so perma- nent as never again to be interrupted. " \^ hen sin," says Calvin, " had held men plunged under its power, grace came to their relief. For Paul teaches us, that the more sin is known the grandeur and magnifi- cence of grace is the more evident, and is poured out in so copious a manner as not only to overcome, but even to overwhelm the overflowing deluge of iniquity." V. 21. — That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. ' As sin hath reigned unto death. — Death here, and throughout this chapter, as well as in many other places, signifies not temporal death merely, but the whole punishment of sin, of which temporal death is perhaps the smallest part. Eternal misery is included in it, but the word " death" does not literally denote eternal misery. This is called the " second death," and this expression gives us the key to understand the full extent of the meaning of the word. The punishment of hell is the second death, according to Scripture explanation, Rev. xx., 14 ; xxi., 8, and therefore it is no fancy to understand future eternal punish- ment as included in the term. But though the expression includes this, it is not proved from the literal meaning of the word death. As death is the greatest of all temporal evils, it was not only a part of the punish- ment of the first sin, but it was the symbol of the second death. It is another proof that death includes the whole punishment of sin, that, in Rom. vi., 23, death is called the wages of sin. If death be the wages of sin, then death must include everything that is the wages or punish- ment of sin. But the Scriptures point out future misery, as well as temporal death, as the wages of sin. The proof is incontrovertible. The Scriptures show, that the punishmeni of sin is eternal misery ; if so, death includes eternal misery. While this lays no stress on the necessary literal meaning of the word death, it comes to the same conclusion. Another proof that death here signifies the whole punishment of sin, and, consequently, that it includes eternal misery, is, that the gift of God is said to be " eternal life." Now life literally is ^2 ROMANS v., 21. ^ limited as death. Yet life here signifies not merely existence ip a state of ooiisriousness, but of huppincss. Life, indeed, even without the woril eternal, is in Scripture taken to signify all the liaj)|)iness of the liiture state of the blessed. What objection, then, can there be to a like extended signification of the term death 1 Tiiat it includes spirit- ual death is beyond a question, as the Scrii)tures expressly use this term in this sense, Lph. ii., 1 ; Col. ii., 13. That they are all included in Ihe threatening against the eating of the forbidden fruit is most certain. It is no objection that it was not explained to Adam in this sense. If any part of Scripture explains it in tliis sense it is sufficient. It may be said, tiiat it would be unjust to punish Adam in any extent that he dill not understand as included in the threatening, lie understood by it destruction, or at least we have no ground to say that he did not. Re- turning to the dust is not the explanation of the threatening, it being God's appointment in connexion with the promise of Christ. But it is perfectly sufficient that he knew the law that W£is given him. To make him guilty there was no necessity for any threatening. Is not a child guilty when he breaks the command of a father, even though the com- mand be unaccompanied with threatening 1 With regard to Christ's suffering for us, it was not necessary that he should suffer eternally. It answers all the ends of justice if he has sufTered a perfect equivalent. That he has done so we have the clear testimony of the Scriptures, and we have no need to show how he has done so by metaphysical explana- tions and calculations of our own. Even so might grace reiii/i througli rightcoi/sncss. — Mr. Stuart having subverted, by his interpretations and reasonings, every idea of the imputation of sin, as he had formerly altogether set aside the impu- tation of righteousness, is only consistent in misrepresenting the meaning of this passage. As he has mistaken the import of the expression righteousness at the commencement of this discussion, so he also misun- derstands it here. His explanation is, that " grace might reign or have an influence widely extended, in the bestowment of justification or par- doning mercy." The passage informs us, that grace reigns unto eternal life, which does indeed include the bestowment of justification. But it informs us of something more, and that of the last importance, which Mr. Stuart's mistaking righteousness for justification leads him entirely to omit. Grace reigns through righteousness, even the righteousness of God, which fulfils his law, and satisfies his justice, and displays his holiness ; whereas, did grace bestow a justification in such a way as Mr. Stuart describes, it would do so at the expense of law and justice, and dishonor the whole Divine administration. Unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. — This is that life of which Jesus Christ, who is risen from the dead, is the author, as the death here spoken of is that which he came to destroy. The source of our natural life is Adam, but he is dead, and in his communion we all die. But a new source of life is provided in the second Adam, that he may deliver from death all that are in his communion. " The first Adam was made a living soul," that he might communicate natural life to those who had not received it. " The last Adam was made a quick- ROMANS V,, 21. 233 ening spirit," that he might impart spiritual life to those who had lost it. The first communicated an earthly and perishable life, the second a life that is celestial and immortal. Jesus Christ is that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us ; and the Father hath given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as he hath given him. " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life." The teimination, then, of the reign of death over those whom he represents, and the establishment of the reign of grace through the everlasting lighteous- ness which he has brought in, are all by Jesus Christ. He hath abolished death. By him came grace and truth ; he brought life and immortality to light. He " is the true God, and eternal lite." And " to this end Christ both died and rose, and revived, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and the living." The similarity of the Apostle's commence- ment in unfolding the doctrine of justification, and of his conclusion, is very striking. He begins, chap, i., 17, by declaring that the gospel of Christ is the power of God imfo salvatiun, because therein is the right- eousjiess of God revealed ; and he here ends by affirming, that grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In this 21st verse the doctrine of the whole preceding context, of the salration of believers, is summed up in a manner most beautiful and striking. Having exhibited in a strong light the righteousness of God, ch. iii., 21, 22, the Apostle returns to it in this chapter ', and having contrasted Christ and Adam, he brings out his conclusion in this verse with a contrast of the reign of sin and grace. Sin had an absolute sway over all the descendants of Adam. There was nothing good among them, or in any of them. Sin existed and predominated in every human soul. Therefore it is said to reign. The absolute and universal influence of sin is figured by the empire of a monarch exer- cising authority in uncontrolled sovereignty. Grace also reigns. There was nothing in men to merit salvation, or to recommend them in any measure to God. Grace, therefore, reigns in their salvation, which is wholly and entirely of free favor. Sin is said to reign unto, or in, death. This shows that death was, in every human being, the effect of his sin. The way in which death manifested its universal reign over the human race, was in causing their death. This most fully proves that infants are sinners. If sin ruled in causing death to its subjects, then all who died are the subjects of sin. Death to the human race is in everv instance the effect of the dominion of sin. Sin reigns unto death. But, if sin has reigned, grace reigns. If the former has reigned in death, the latter reigns in life; yea, it reigns unto eternal life. How, then, does it reign unto life ? Is it by a gratuitous pardon ? Doubtless it is. But it is not by forgiving the sinner in an arbitrary way, with respect to the punishment due to sin. Forgiveness is indeed entirely gratuitous, but if it cost believers nothing, it has cost much to their Surety. Grace reigns throitgh righteousness. — How beautifully is thus fulfilled the prophetic declaration of Psalm Ixxxv., 10-13. Grace did not, could not, deliver the lawful captives without paying the ransom. It did not trample on justice, or evade its demands. It reigns by pro- 234 ROMANS v., 21. viding a Saviour to sufftr in the room of the guilty. By the death of Jesus Christ, full compensation was made to the law and justice of Go / / cient for them, 2 Cor. xii., 9. The grace of God, which bringeth ' salvation, that hath appeared to all men, teacheth them to deny ungod- liness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, Titus ii., 11. Not only is this grace manifested to them, but it ope- rates within them. God works m them what is well pleasing in his sight, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. They who are under the law have nothing but their own strength in order to their obedience ; sin tlierefore must have the dominion over them. But they who are under grace are by God himself thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Sin, therefore, shall not have dominion over them. J The great principle of evangelical obedience is taught in this passage. Holiness is not the result of the law, but of the liberty wherewith Christ has made his people free. He sends forth the Spirit of grace into the hearts of all who belong to the election of grace, whom God hath from the beginning chosen to salvation through sanctification of ' the Spirit and belief of the truth ; and the word of God worketh , effectually in all who believe, 1 Thess. ii., 13. Jesus Christ is the ' absolute master of the hearts of his people, of which he has taken * possession, and in whom he reigns by the invincible power of the Spirit ' of Grace. The new covenant made with him, for those whom he has '. redeemed, and which is ratified with his blood, is immutable and irre- • versible. Here, again, it should be observed, that the assurance thus given to • believers that sin shall not have dominion over them, could not be duly appreciated except on the ground that they knew that they were dead to sin and alive to God. Just in proportion as Christians arc convinced * of this, they will feel encouragement from this promise to persevere in • 262 ROMANS VI,, 15. their course. The assurance ^ivcn to them, that sin shall not have the dominion over tliem, is iIumi very far from furnishing a pretext or induce- ment to a hfe of sin. On tlic contrary, tliey are thereby hound, by every consideration of love and gratitude, to serve (iod, while, by the certain ])rospect of final victory, they arc encouraged to persevere, in spite of all the difficulties and opposition, cither fronj within or from without. V. 15. — What then .' shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace ' God forbid. / / The Apostle had been proving that his doctrine of a free justification by faith without works furnishes no license to believers to continue in sin, but, on the contrary, that the death of Jesus Christ for the sins of his people, and his resurrection for their justification, secures their walking in holiness of life. ^ On this ground, in verses 12 and 13, he had urged on them the duty of obedience to God ; and having finally declared, in the 14th verse, that by the blessing of God they should be enabled to perform it, he now proceeds to caution them against the abuse of this gracious declaration. If a man voluntarily sins, on the pretext that he is not under the law, but under grace, it is a proof that the grace of (Jod is not in him. " Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him ; and cannot sin, because he is born of God." What then ? — What is the inference which should be deduced from the preceding declaration ? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace ? — This question, proposed by the Apostle as an objection likely to be urged against his doctrine, plainly shows in what sense we are to understand the term law in tiie 14th verse. Were it not understood of the moral law, it would not be liable to the supposed objection. The fact of not being under the ceremonial law, or of a change of dispensation from that of Moses to that of Christ, would never lead to such an objection. No one could suppose that the abolition of certain external rites would authorize men to break moral precepts. No view of the law could give occasion to the objection but that which includes freedom from the moral law. This would at once appear to furnish a license to sin with impunity ; and it would be justly liable to this objection if freedom from the moral law meant, as some have argued, a freedom from it in every point of view. The . freedom from tlie moral law which the believer enjoys is a freedom from an obligation to fulfil it in his own person for his justification — t a freedom from its condemnation on account of imperfection of obedi- f ence. But this is quite consistent with the eternal obligation of the ' moral law as a rule of life to the Christian. Nothing can be more self-evidently certain than that if the moral law is not a rule of life to believers, they are at liberty to disregard its precepts. But the very thought of this is abominable. The Apostle therefore rejects it in the strongest terms, in the way in which he usually expresses his disap- probation of what is most egregiously wrong. ROMANS VI., 16. 263 V. 16. — Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteous- ness. Knoio ye not. — That is, the thing by which I am now going to ilhis- trate the subject, is a fact of whicii you cannot be ignorant. All of them well knew the truth of what Paul was about to say, and by this similitude they would be able to comprehend the doctrine he was teaching. The ground, however, of the use of this phraseology has no resemblance, as Mr. Stuart supposes, to that used in verses 6 and 9. Here, the Apostle speaks of a thing which all men know, and which belongs to the common relations of society. — There, he speaks of what they know only as Christians by revelation. Yield yourselves, or present yourselves. — Not, as Mr. Stuart trans- lates it, " proffer yourselves." It is possible among men, that proffered service may be rejected ; or that, at least, something may occur to prevent performance of the actual service — and it is of transactions among men that the Apostle is speaking ; but in the Apostle's view, the presented service is accepted. Mr. Stuart's translation in his com- mentary is better. " Where you have once given up yourselves to any one as servants." This, however, is quite a different idea from what he expresses in the text. Servants to obey, literally, unto obedience. — Mr. Stuart's translation is not to be approved of here, " ready to obey," or " bound to obey." The idea is not that they were bound by this presentation of themselves to continue in obedience to the master. The servants unto obedience, are not servants who are bound to obey, but servants who actually obey — whose servitude is proved and perfected in their works. Mr. Stuart entirely mistakes the sentiment expressed by the Apostle, when he pa- raphrases thus : — " When you have once given up yourselves to any one as ioiUm gtj v-aKohv, you are no longer your own masters, or at your own disposal ; you have put yourselves within the power, and at the disposal, of another master." The language of the Apostle is not designed to prove that, by presenting themselves to a master, they are bound to his service, but to state the obvious fact that they are the servants of him whose work they do. If we see a number of laborers in a field, we know they are the servants of the proprietor of the field, of the person in whose work they are employed. The application of this fact to the Apostle's purpose is obvious and important. If men are doing the word of Satan, must they not be Satan's servants ? — If they are doing God's work, must they not be the servants of God? Mr. Stuart's exposition leads entirely away from the Apostle's meaning. Of sin. — Sin is here personified, and sinners are its servants. Unto death. — That is, which ends in death. This is the wages with which sin rewards its servants. Obedience imto righteousness. — Obedience is also personified, and the work performed to obedience is righteous- ness ; that is, the works of the believer are righteous works. Nothing can be more false as a translation, or more erroneous in sentiment than the version of Mr. Stuart. "Obedience unto justification." In his paraphrase, he says, "But if you are the servants of that obedience 264 ROMANS VI., 17. which is unto justification, i. e., whicli is connected with justification, wliicli imkIs in it — then you may expect eternal life." Ai.aioffi'xF,, which he here traiislalos justificalion, is righteousness, and never justification. In verses 18, 19, and 20, that follow, he himself translates it righteous- ness. And what can be more completely subversive of the doctrine^ of justification, and of the gospel itself, than tlic assertion that obedi- ence " ends in," or, as he says afterwards, will lead to justification ?i This is the translation of the English Socinian version, and of that! adopted in their different editions of the New Testament by the Soci-f nian pastors of the church of Geneva. " De I'obeissance qui conduit a la justification." Of obedience which leads to justification. They have, however, printed the word "conduit" (leads to) in italics, to show that it is a supplement. Mr. Stuart says that his view seems to him quite clear, from justifi- cation being the antithesis unto death. But justification is not an exact* antithesis to death. It is life that is the antithesis to death. There is no need, however, that there should be such an exact correspondence in . the parts of the antithesis as is supposed. And there is a most ob- vious reason why it could not be so. Death is the wages of sin, but life is not the wages of obedience. Mr. Stuart asks, " How can • StKatoaivny here mean holiness, vprightness, when virago.-, itself necessarily designates this very idea ? What is an obedience which leads to right- eousness ? Or how docs it differ from righteousness itself, inasmuch as it is the very act of obedience which constitutes righteousness in the sense now contemplated ?" It is replied that obedience is here personified, and therefore righteous actions are properly represented as performed to it. Mr. Stuart might as well ask why arc obedience to sin, and the lusts of sin, supposed to be different things in verse 12. • In like manner we have righteousneess and holiness in verse 19, and , fruit and holiness in ver3e 22. Besides, obedience and righteousness , are not ideas perfectly coincident. Righteousness refers to w^orks as to their nature ; obedience refers to the same works as to their principle. Mr. Stuart's remark is both false in criticism, and heretical in doctrine./ V. 17. — But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin ; but ye have obeyed from tlie heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Tlie Apostle here expresses his thankfulness to God, that they who had formerly been the servants of sin were now the servants of righteous- ness. To suppose, as some do, that sin itself could be a matter ol thank- fiilness, is a most palpable error, than which nothing can be more remote Jrom the meaning of this passage. Obeyed from the heart. — Christian obedience is obedience from the heart, in opposition to an obedience which is by constraint. Any attempt at obedience by an unconverted man, is an obedience produced by some motive of fear, self-interest or constraint — and not from the heart. Nothing can be more convincing evidence of the truth of the gospel than the change which, in this respect, it produces on the mind of the believer. Nothing but Almighty power could at once transform a man from the love of sin to the love of holiness. That form of doctrine which ivas delivered you. — There are various ROMANS vr., 19. 265 solutions of this expression, all substantially agreeing in meaning, but differing in the manner of bringing out that meaning. The most usual way is to suppose that there is a reference to melted metals transferred to a mould, which obey or exactly conform to the mould. It is, perhaps, as probable that the reference is to wax or clay, or any soft matter that takes the form of the stamp or seal. There is another method of explain- ing the phraseology not unworthy of consideration — Ye have obeyed flora the heart that form or model of doctrine unto which you have been committed. In this way the form of doctrine or the gospel is considered Eis a teacher, and believers are committed to its instructions. The word translated delivered, will admit of this interpretation, and it is sufficiently agreeable to the general meaning of the expression. The substance of the phrase, however, is obvious, and let it be translated as it may, there is no essential difference in the meaning. It proves the holy tendency of the doctrine of grace which believers have received, the blessed effects of which they have felt, and manifested in its fruits. Titus ii., 11, 12. V. IS. — Being t'.ien made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. Being then made free from sin. — The original word here rendered free^zs also in verses 20 and 22, is different, as has been observed, from that improperly rendered freed in verse 7th, and has no respect to the justified state of the believer, as is clear from the context, but relates to his freedom from the dominion of sin assured to him in the 14th verse. There is here a reference to the emancipation of slaves from their masters. Formerly they were slaves to sin, now they have been emancipated by the gospel. This deliverance is called their freerlom. It does not, how- ever, by any means import what has been called sinless perfection, or an entire freedom from the influence of sin. Ye hecaine servants of right- eousness.— Here we see the proper meaning of the word itKaioavvn- The servants of righteousness are men obedient to righteousness, being devoted to the practice of such works as are righteous, or as is said in ot-her words, in verse 22, " servants of God." What meaning could we attach to servants of justification 1 The idea is that the believer ouo;ht to be as entirely devoted to God as a servant or slave is to his master. Mr. Stuart is here of necessity compelled to allow the trtie meaning of the same word, which in the 16th verse, in consistency with his unscriptural system, he had mistranslated, by rendeiing it justification. V. 19. — I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh : for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity ; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. I speak after the manner of men. — This refers to the illustration of the subject by the customs of men as to slavery. Mr. Stuart has either missed the idea here, or expressed it too generally. He translates, " in language usual to men," and expounds, " I speak as men are accustomed to speak, viz. I use such language as they usually employ in regard to the affairs of common life." This makes the reference merely to the words used ; whereas the reference is to the illustration drawn from human customs. In what way could the Apostle speak but as men are 266 , ROMANS VI., 19. accastonied to .speak ? Could he speak in any other languapje than that •which was usual lo men ? This is a thing in which there is no choice. If he speaks at all he must use human language. But to illustrate spiri- tual subjects by the customs ol" nun is a matter of choice, because it might have been avoided. This est;d)lishes the juopriety of teaching Divine truth through illustrations t;ikcn IVom all suljjects with which those ad- dressed are accjuainted. This method not only facilitates the right per- ception or apprehension of the subject, but also assists the memory in retaining the informaiion received. Accordingly it was much used by our Lord and his Apostles, Calvin has not caught the spirit of this passage : " Paul," he says, " means that he speaks after the manner of men with respect to foims, not the suliject-matter, as Christ (John iii., 12) says, ' If I have told you earthly things,' when he is, however, discoursing on heavenly rnystei its, but not with so much majesty as the dignity of the subject dcmaridtd, because he accommodated himself to the capacity of a rude, dull, and slow people." Here Calvin also makes the reference apply not to human customs, but to human language and style. It may also be asked why the Lord did not express himself with so much majesty as the dignity of the subject demanded % It cannot he admitted that his lan- guage, or the language of inspiration, ever falls short of the dignity deviandcd by the subject. Because of the infinnity of your flesh. — That is, the weakness of their spiritual discernment through the corruption of human nature. This does not refer, as Mr, Stuart supposes, to " the feeble or infantile state of spiritual knowledge among the Romans," but is applicable to mankind in general. Men in all places, and in all ages, and in every period of their lives, are weak through the flesh, both in spiritual dis- cernment, and in the practice of holiness. Men of the most powerful mental capacity are naturally dull in appreliending the things of the Spirit. Accordingly, errors abound with them as much as with the most illiterate, and often in a far greater degree. Besides, such a pe(-uliar application to those in the church at Rome is inconsistent with chap, xv., 14, where the Apostle says that they were " fdled with all knowledge, .ible also to admonish one another," For as ye have yielded your numbers se7-vants to vncleanncss. — This shows the state of men by nature, and especially the state of the heathen world at the period of the highest refinement. Uncleanness means all impurity, but especially the vice opposed to chastity. Iniquity, as distinguished from this, refers to conduct opposed to laws human and divine. The one refers principally to the pollution, the other to the guilt of sin. Unto init/uiti/. — Some understand this as signifying from one iniquity to another, or from one degree of iniquity to another, which is not its meaning. Neither can . it signify, as it is sometimes understood, for the purpose of iniquity, for men often sin when it cannot be justly said tliat they do so for the pv7-pose of sinning. They often sin from the love of the sin, when they wish it was not* a sin. Their object is selfish gratification. It is evident that the phrase ROMANS VI., 21. 2(57 is to be understood on a principle already mentioned, namely, that iniquity is in the first occurrence personified, and in the second, it is the conduct produced by obedience to this sovereign. They surrender their members unto the slavery of iniquity as a king, and the result is, that iniquity is practised. This corresponds with the sense, and suits the antithesis. Righteousness unto holiness- -Righteousness is here personified as iniquity was before, and obedience to this sovereign pro- duces holiness. V. 20. — For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from rigliteousness. Mr. Tholuck misunderstands this verse, which, in connexion with the 21st, he paraphrases thus: " While engaged in the service of sin, you possessed, it is true, the advantage of standing entirely out of all sub- jection to righteousness ; but let us look to what is to be the final result."; The Apostle is not speaking of freedom from righteousness as an advan-' tage either real or supposed, nor could he thus speak of it. He isl speaking of it as a fact ; and from that fact he argues, that, as when! they were the servants of sin they were free from righteousness — yielding no obedience to it, and acting as if they had nothing to do with,^ and had no relation to it — so now, as they are ihe servants of right- eousness, they ought to hold themselves free from the slavery of sin.' The consequence, indeed, is not drawn, but is so plain that it is left to the reader. The sentiment is just and obvious. When they were th4 subjects of their former sovereign they were free from the service oi^ their present sovereign. So now, as they are the subjects to righteous^ ness, they ought to be free from sin. ■ Mr. Stuart also misunderstands this verse. He explains it thus : " When you served sin, you deemed yourselves free from all oblio-ation to righteousness." This the Apostle neither says, nor could say. For it is not true that natural men, whether Pagans, or under a profession \ of Christianity, regard themselves as bound by no obligations to right- ' eousness. The law of nature teaches the contrary. But whatever is their light on this subject, it is a fact that they are free from righteous- ness. This, we learn, is the state of all natural men. V. 21. — What fruit hid ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things is death. Whatfi-uit had ye then in those things. — Besides the exhortations to holiness which he had already employed, the Apostle here sets before believers the nature and consequences of sin. Unprofitable and shame- ful in its character, its end is death. He asks what advantage had they I derived from their former conduct. Fruit here signifies advantage, and \ not pleasure. Many interpret this verse as if the Apostle denied that j they had any pleasure in their sins at the time of committing them. \ This the Apostle could not do ; for it is a fact that men have pleasure \ in sin. To say that sinful pleasure is no pleasure, but is imagi- ; nary, is to abuse terms. All pleasure is a matter of feeling, and ' a* man is no less happy than he feels himself to be j if he imagines £68 ROMANS VI., 23. that he enjoys pleasure, he actually enjoys pleasure. But what advan- taf^e is (here in such pleasure ? This is the question which the Apostle asks. Wlivrrnf ye arc now ushamrd. — It is a remarkable fact that men in\ a state of alienation from God will commit sin, not finjy without siiame, but will glory in many things of which they are a.shamc(l the moment ; they are changed by the gospel. They now see their conduct in another light. They see that it was not only sinful but shameful. For the end of those things is death. — Here is the answer to the question, with respect to the fruit of unrighteous conduct. Whatever j)leasure they might have found in it, the end of it is ruin. Deatli. — This cannot be confined to natural death, for that is equally the end with respect to the righteous as well as the wicked. It includes the whole penalty of sin — eternal punishment. V. 22. — But now, being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Having concluded his triumphant reply to the objection, that his doc- trine concerning justification leads to intlulgence in sin, the Apostle here assures those to whom he wrote of the blessed effects of becoming ser- vants to God. In the eighth chapter these are fully developed. But now being made free from sin, that is, emancipated from a state of slavery to sin. Fruit unto holiness. — Fruit in this verse denotes conduct, and holiness its specific character or quality. When conduct or works are called fruit, their nature is not expressed. They are merely considered as the production of the man. Fruit unto holiness is conduct that is holy. And the end everlasting life. — Fruit unio holiness, or holy con- duct, is the present result of freedom from sin, and of becoming servants to God ; eternal life is the final result. Eternal life is the issue of the service of God, but it is not the reward of its merit. Hence, the Apostle here uses the phra.se eternal life, when he is speaking of the issue of the service of God. But in verse 16, he says, " obedience unto righteous- ness, and not obedience unto eternal life," because he had, in the pre- ceding member of the sentence, spoken of death as the punishment of sin. Had he used the word eternal life in connexion with obedience in this antithesis, it would have too much resembled an assertion, that eter- nal life is the reward of our obedience. V. 2.3. — For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of sin is death. — Here, as in the conclusion of the pre- ceding chapter, death is contrasted with eternal life. Sin is a service or slavery, and its reward is death or eternal misery. As death is the greatest evil in this world, so the future punishment of the wicked is called death figuratively, or the second death. In this sense death is frequently spoken of in Scripture, as when our Lord says, " whosoever believelh on me sliall never die." Death is the just recompense of sin. The Apostle does not add, but the wages of obedience is eternal life. This is not the doctrine of Scripture. He adds, but the gift of God is ROMANS VI., 23. 269 eternal life. The gift that God bestows is eternal life. lie bestows no less upon any of his people ; and it is the greatest gift that can be bestowed. Dr. Gill on this passage remarks — " These words, at first sight, look as if the sense of them was, that eternal life is the gift of (lod through Christ, which is a great and glorious truth of the gospel ; but their standing in opposition to the preceding words requires another sense, namely, that God's gift of grace issues in eternal life, through Christ ; Wherefore by tJte gift of God is not meant eternal life, but cither the gift of a justifying righteousness, or the grace of God in regeneration and sanctification, or both, whicii issue in eternal life." This remark does not appear to be well founded. The wages of sin do not issue in death, or lead to it, but the wages of sin is death. Death is asserted to be the wages of sin, and not to be another issue to which the wages of sin lead. And the gift of God is not said to issue in eternal life, but to be eternal life. Eternal life is the gift here spoken of. It is not, as Dr. Gill represents, " eternal life is the gift of God," but " the gift of God is eternd life." The meaning of these two propositions, though nearly alike, is not entirely coincident. The common version is per- fectly correct. Both of the propositions might with truth be rendered convertible, but as they are expressed by the Apostle tliey are not con- vertible ; and we should receive the expression as it stands. No doubt the gift of righteousness issues in eternal life ; but it is of the gift of etei-nal life itself, and not of the gift of righteousness, that the Apostle is here speaking, and the Apostle's language should not be pressed into a meaning which is foreign to his design. Life and death are set before us in the Scriptures. On the one hand, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish ; on the other, glory, and honor, and peace. To one or other of these states every child of Adam will finally be consigned. To both of them, in the concluding verse of this chapter, our attention is directed, and the grounds on which never-ending misery or everlasting blessedness will be awarded, are expressly declared. " The wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ Our Lord^ The punishment of that death which was the threatened penalty of the first transgression, will, according to Scripture, consist in the pains both of privation and suffering. Its subjects will not only be bereaved of all that is good, they will also be overwhelmed with all that is ter- rible. As the chief good of the creature is the enjoyment of the love of God, how great must be the punishment of being deprived of the sense of his love, and oppressed with the consciousness of his hatred ! The condenmed will be entirely divested of every token of the pro- tection and blessing of God, and visited with every proof of his wrath and indignation. According to the awful declaration of the Apostle, they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, in that day " wlien the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 270 ROMANS VI., 23. This punishment will be adapted to both the component parts of man's naliire, lo the soul as well as to the body. It will connect all the ideas of the past, the present, and the future. As to the past, it will brinii; to the recollection of the wicked the sins they committed, the trood thev abused, and the false pleasures by which they were de- luded. As to the present, their nusery will l)e aggravated by their knowhxlgc of the glory of the righteous, from which they themselves arc for ever separated, and by the direful company of the Devil and his angels, to the endurance of whose cruel slavery they are for ever doomed. As to the Aiture, the horrors of their irreversible condition will be rendered more insupportable by the overwhelming conviction of its eternity. To the whole must be added, that rage against (iod, whom they will hate as their enemy, without any abatement or diminution. It is not to be questioned that lliero will be degrees in the punishment of the wicked. This is established by our Lord himself, when he de- clares that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for the Jews. I'his punishment being the effect of Divine justice, the necessary proportion between crime and suffering will be observed, and as some crimes arc greater and more aggravated than others, there will be a difference in the punishment inflicted. In one view, indeed, all sins are equal, because ccjually offences against God, and transgressions of his law ; but, in another view, they differ from each other. Sin is in degree proportioned not only to the want of love to (/od and man, which it displays, but likewise to the manner in which it is perpetrated. Murder is more aggravated than theft, and the sins against the second table of the law are less heinous than those committed against the first. Sins likewise vary in degree, according to the knowledge of him who commits them, and inasmuch as one is carried into full execution, and another remains but in thought or purpose. The difference in the degree of punishment will not con- sist, however, in what belongs to privation — for in this it must be equal to all — but in those sufferings which will be positively inflicted by God. Our Lord, three times in one discourse, repeats that awful declara- tion, " Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." The term fire presents the idea of the intensity of the wrath or vengeance of God. It denotes that the sufferings of the condemned sinner are such as the body experiences from material fire, and that entire desolation which accompanies its devouring flames. Fire, however, consumes the matter on which it acts, and is thus itself extinguished. But it is not so with those who shall be delivered over to that fire which is not quenched. They will be upheld in existence by Divine justice, as the subjects on which it will be ever displayed. The expression, " their worm dieth not," indicates a continuance of pain and putrefaction such as the gnawing of worms would produce. As fire is extinguished when its fuel is consumed, in the same way the worm dies when the subject on which it subsists is destroyed. But here it is represented as never dying, because the persons of the wicked are supported for the endur- ance of this punishment. In employing these figures, the Lord seems ROMANS VI., 23. 271 to refer to the two methods in which the bodies of the dead were in former times consigned to darkness and obHvion, cither by incremation or interment. In the first, they were consumed by fire — in the second, devoured by worms. The final punishment of the enemies of God is likewise represented by their being cast into tiie lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. This imports the multitude of griefs with which the wicked will be overwhelmed. What emblem can more strikingly portray the place of torment than the tossing waves, not merely of a flood of waters, but of liquid fire ? And what can describe more awfully the intensity of the sufferings of those who are condemn- ed, than the image of that brimstone by which the fierceness of fire is augmented ? These expressions, their worm dielh not, and the fire is not quench- ed, to which it is added, " For every one shall be salted with fire," preclude every idea either of annihilation or of a future restoration to happiness. Under the law the victims offered in sacrifice were ap- pointed to be salted with salt, called " the salt of the covenant," Lev. xi., 13. Salt is an emblem of incorruptibility, and its employment an- nounced the perpetuity of the covenant of God with his people. In tiie same manner all the sacrifices to his justice will be salted with fire. Every sinner will be preserved by the fire itself, becoming thereby in- corruptible, and fitted to endure those torments to which he is destined. The just vengeance of God will render incorruptible the children of wratii, whose misery, any more than the blessedness of the righteous, will never come to an end. " The Son of Man," said Jesus, "goeth, as it is written of him ; but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed ! It had been good for that man if he had not been born." If the punishment of the wicked in the future state were to terminate in a period, however re- mote, and were it to be followed with eternal happiness, what is here affirmed of Judas would not be true, A great gulf is fixed between the abodes of blessedness and misery, and every passage from the one to the other is for ever barred. The punishment, then, of the wicked will be eternal, according to the figures employed, as well as to the express declarations of Scripture. Sin being committed against the infinity of God, merits an infinite pun- ishment. In the natural order of justice this punishment ought to be infinitely great ; but as that is impossible, since the creature is incapa- ble of suffering pain in an infinite degree, infinity in greatness is com- pensated by infinity in duration. The punishment, then, is finite in itself, and on this account it is capable of being inflicted in a greater or less degree ; but as it is eternal, it bears the same proportion to the greatness of Him who is offended. The metaphors and comparisons employed in Scripture to describe the intensity of the punishment of the wicked, are calculated deeply to impress the sentiment of the awful nature of that final retribution. " Tophet is ordained of old ; yea, for the king it is prepared ; he hath made it deep and large : the pile thereof is fire and much wood ; the 8^2 ROMANS VI., 23. breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." Isa. XXX., X). \\ lule the doctrine of eternal happiness is generally admitted, the eternity of future punishnieiU is doubted by many. The declarations, however, of the Iloly Scriptures respecting both arc equally explicit. Concerning each of them the very same expressions are used. " These shall go away into everlasting (literally eternal) pumshmcnl : but the righteous unto life eternal." Malt, xxv., 46. Owing to the hardness of their hearts men are insensible to the great evil of sin. Hence the threatenings of future punishment, according to the word of God, shock all their j)rejudices, and seem to them unjust, and such as never can be realized. The tempter said to the woman, " Ye shall not surely die" although God had declared it. In the same way that malignant de- ceiver now suggests that the doctrine of eternal punishment, although written as with a sunbeam in the book of God, although expressly affirmed by the Saviour in the description of the last judgment, and so often repeated by him during his abode on earth, is contrary to every idea that men ought to entertain of the goodness and mercy of God. He conceals from his votaries the fact that if CJod is merciful he is also just ; and that, while forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, he will by no means clear the gudty. Some who act as his servants in promoting this delusion, have admitted that the Scriptures do indeed threaten everlasting punishment to transgressors ; but they say that God employs such threatenings as a veil to deter men from sin while he by no means intends their execution. The veil, then, which God has provided is, according to them, too transparent to answer the pur- pose he designs, and they in their superior wisdom have been able to penetrate it. And this is one of their apologies for the Bible, with the design of making its doctrines more palatable to the world. On their own principles, tlien, they are chargeable with doing all in their power to frustrate what they alHrm to be a provision of mercy. Shall men, however eminent in the world, be for a moment listened to, who stand confessedly guilty of conduct so impious ? Infiiuiely great arc the obligations of believers to that grace by which they have been made to dilfer from others, to flee to the refuge set before them in tlie gospel, and to wait for the Son of God from Heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from wrath to come. Eternal life. — Of the nature of that glory of which the people of God shall be put in possession in the day of their redemption, we cannot form a clear and distinct idea. " It doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see Inm as he is." In the present state, believers, beholding as ilka glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. This transformation, while they see only through a glass Jarkly, is gradually proceeding ; but when they see face to face, and shall know even as they are known, this image shall be perfected. Their blessedness will consist in a knowledge of God and his mysteries, a full and exquisite sense of ROMANS VI., 23. 273 his love, ineffable consolation, profound tranquillity of soul, a perfect concord and harmony of the soul with the body, and with all the powers of the soul among themselves ; in one word, in an assemblage of all sorts of blessings. These blessings will not be measured in the pro- portion of the creatures who receive them, but of God who confers them ; and of the dignity of the person of Jesus Christ, and of his merit ; of his person, for they shall obtain that felicity only in virtue of the communion which they have with him ; of his merit, for he has purchased it with the price of his blood. So far, then, as we can con- ceive of majesty, excellency, and glory, in the person of the Redeemer, so far, keeping always in view the proportion of the creature to the Cre- ator, ought we to conceive of the value, the excellence, and tiie abun- dance of the eternal blessings which he will bestow upon his people. The Scriptures call it a fulness of satisfaction, not a fulness of satiety, but a fulness of joy, at the right hand of God, where there are pleasures for evermore. It will be a crown of righteousness ; they shall sit down with Christ in his throne, as he is set down with his Father in his throne. " Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage- supper of the Lamb." As to the duration of this blessedness, it shall be eternal. But why eternal ? Because God will bestow it upon a supernatural principle, and, consequently, upon a principle free from changes to which nature is exposed, in opposition to the happiness of Adam, which was natural. Because God will give it not as to hirelings, but as to his children in title of inheritance. " The servant," or the hireling, says Jesus Christ, " abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth ever." Because God will confer it as a donation, that is to say, irrevocably. On this account, Paul declares, that " the gift of God is eternal life." None of the causes which produce changes will have place in heaven ; — not the inequality of nature, for it shall be swallowed up in glory — not sin, for it will be entirely abolished — not the temptations of Satan, for Satan will have no entrance there — not the mutability of the creature, for God will possess his people fully and perfectly. Through Jesus Christ. — Eternal life comes to the people of God as a free gift, yet it is through Jesus Christ. By his mediation alone reconciliation between God and man is effected, peace established, communion restored, and every blessing conferred. The smallest as well as the greatest gift is bestowed through him ; and they are not the less free gifts from God, because Christ our Lord has paid the price of redemption. He himself was given for this end by the Father, and he and the Father are one. He, then, who pays the ransom is one and the same who justifies, so that the freeness of the gift is not in the smallest degree diminished. This gift of eternal life is bestowed through Jesus Christ, and by him it is dispensed, " Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee : as thou hast given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life,'* Our Lord. — His people are constantly to keep in mind that Jesus 18 274 ROMANS VI., 23. Christ is their Lord, vvlio.sc authority thoy arc ever to regard, and whom, as their Ijord and Master, they are imphcitly to obey. He is the Lord both of the dead and the hvint^, to whom every knee shall bow, and before who.so judirmeiit-scat wc shall all stand. 'I'hcre is a striking sinnlarity between tiic manner in which the Apostle winds up liis discussion on the free justification of sinners, in the close of the preceding chapter, and that in which he now concludes the doctrine of their sanctification. " Grace," he tiiere says, " reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord ;" and through Him, it is here said, " the gift of God is eternal life." All is of grace, all is a free gift, all is vouchsafed through, and in Him, who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justifica- tion, from whom neither death nor life shall separate us. " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." The doctrine of free justification by faith without works, on which the Apostle had been insisting in the preceding part of tlie Epistle, is vindicated in this chapter from the charge of producing those conse- quences which are ascribed to it by the wisdom of the world, and by all who are opposed to the gospel. Far from conducting to licentious- ness, as many venture to affirm, it stands inseparably connected with the santification of the children of God. In the conclusion of the preceding chapter, Paul had asserted that, as the reign of sin had been terminated by the death of the Redeemer, so the reign of grace, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord, has succeeded. He had shown in the third and fourth chapters, that this rigliteousness is upon all tliem that believe, who arc thus justified freely by grace. In the fifth chapter, he had ex- hibited the effects and accompaniments of their justification. The ob- jection which he had seen it proper to introduce in the beginning of this sixth chapter, had led to a further development of the way in which these blessed effects are produced. In order to tiiis, lie says nothing, as has been observed, of the character or attainments of believers, but simply describes their state before God, in consequence of their union with Christ. The sanctification of believers, he thus shows, proceeds from the sovereign determination, the eternal purpose, and the irresisti- ble power of (iod, which are exerted according to his everlasting cove- nant, through the mediation of his beloved Son, and in consistency with every part of the plan of salvation. While this, however, is the truth — truth so consolatory to every Christian — it is an incumbent duty to con- sider, and to seek to give effect to those motives to holiness, presented by the Spirit of (Jod in his own word, as the means which he employs to carry on this great work in the soul — presented, too, in those very doctrines, which the wisdom of the world has always supposed will lead to licentiousness. Every view of the character of God, and every part of the plan of salvation, tends to promote holiness in his people, and on every doctrine contained in the Scriptures, holiness is con- spicuously inscribed. The doctrine of justification without works, so far from leading to ROMANS VI., 23. 275 licentiousness, furnishes the most powerful motives to obedience to God. They who receive the doctrine of justification by the righteous- ness of God, iiave the fullest and most awful sense of the obligation wliich the holy law of God enforces on his creatures, and of the extent and purity of that law connected with the most profound sentiment of the evil of sin. Every new view that believers take of the gospel of their salvation, is calculated to impress on their minds a hatred of sin, and a desire to flee from it. In the doctrine of Christ crucified, they perceive that God, who is holy and just, pardons nothing without an atonement, and manifests his hatred of sin by the plan which he adopts for the salvation of sinners. The extent of the evil of sin is exhibited in the dignity and glory of him by whom it has been expiated, the depth of his humiliation, and the greatness of his sufferings. The ob- ligation of the law of God also derives unutterable force from the purity of its precepts as well as from the awfulness of its sanction. If the principal object, or one of the essential characteristics of the doctrine of justification by faith, was to represent God as easily pacified towards the guilty, as taking a superficial cognizance of the breach of his holy law, and punishing it lightly, it might with reason be con- cluded that it relaxes the bonds of moral obligation. But far from this, that doctrine maintains in the highest degree the holiness of God, and discovers the danger of continuing in sin. It teaches that even when the Almighty is determined to show compassion to the sinner, he cannot deny himself, and therefore his justice must be satisfied. That Jesus Christ should have purchased, at the price of his own blood, a license to sin against God, would be utterly incompatible with the wis- dom and uniformity of the Divine government. God cannot hate sin before its expiation by his Son, and love it after the sufferings inflicted on account of it. If it behoved him to punish sin so severely in the Divine Surety of his people, it can never be pleasing to him in those for whom the Surety has made satisfaction. His holiness is farther displayed by this doctrine, which teaches that it is only through a right- eous advocate and intercessor that they who are justified have access to God. The gospel method of justification by the blood of Christ discovers sin and its fatal consequences in the most hideous aspect, while at the same time it displays the mercy of God in the most attractive form. Believers are punished with death in the person of their Divine Surety, according to the original and irrevocable sentence pronounced against man on account of his transgression. But as Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead by the power of the Father, they also have been raised with iiim to walk in newness of life. They are, therefore, bound, by every consideration of love and fear, of gratitude and joyful hope, to regulate the actions of that life which has thus been granted to them in, a new and holy way. Being baptized into the death of Christ, in whom they are " complete," they ought to be conformed to him, and to sepa- rate themselves from sin by its entire destruction. Their baptism, which is the instituted sign of their forfeiture by sin of Adam's life, and their regeneration and fellowship with Christ in his death and resurrection, 276 ROMANS VI., 23. exhibit to llicm in llie clearest manner tlic necessity of purity and holi- ness, the way by which these arc attained confurinahiy to tlic gospel, and tlieir obhgation to renounce everything incompatible with the ser- vice of Ctod. "I am crucified," says the Ai)oslle Paul, "with Christ; nevertheless J live ; yet not I, but Christ livcth in me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." And addressing the belivers to whom lie wrote, he says, " As many of you as have been baptized into* Christ, have put on Christ." Ye are " buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye arc risen with him through tiie faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead," Col. ii., 12. These bless- ings believers enjoy by that faith which unites them to Christ, and which is wrought in their hearts by the same power that raised up Jesus from the dead, and that will raise them up at the last day. The inducements, then, to love and gratitude to God, held out and enforced by the doctrine of justification by faith, are the strongest that can be conceived. Tiie inexpressible magnitude of the blessings which they who arc justified have received ; their deliverance from everlasting destruction ; the right they have obtained to eternal blessedness, and their meetness for its enjoyment : the infinite condescension of the great author of tiiese gifts, extending mercy to those who, so far from serving him, have provoked liis wralli ; the astonishing means employed in the execution of his purpose of saving them, and the conviction which be- lievers entertain of tlieir own unworlhiness, all impose the strongest obligations, and furnish the most powerful motives, to walk in obedience to God. " We have known and believed," says the Apostle John, " the love that God hath to us." As long as the sinner continues to live under the burden of unpardoned guilt, so long as he sees divine justice and holiness armed against him, he can only be actuated, in any attempt towards obedience, by servile fear ; but when he believes the precious promises of pardon flowing from the love of God, when he knows the just foundation on which this pardon is established, he cleaves with reciprocal love to God. He rests his confidence solely on the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, and ascribes to his heavenly Father all the glory of his salvation. Being justified by faith, he has peace with God, which he no longer labors to acquire by his own works. His obedience is a constant expression of love and thankful- ness for the free gift of that righteousness which the Son of God was sent to introduce, which he finished on the cross, and which confers a title to divine favor sufficient for the most guilty of mankind. If any man professes to believe in Jesus Christ, to love his name, and to enjoy communion with (iod, yet he obeys not his commandments, he "is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him, verily, is the love of God perfected." That which does not produce obedience is not love, and what does not proceed from love is unworthy of the name of obedience. The pretence of love without obedience is hypocrisy, and obedience without love is a real slavery. ^^ The sanctification of the people of God depends on the death of "^ Christ m the way of its meritorious cause ; for through his death they ROMANS VI., 23. 277 receive the Holy Spirit, by v^rhom they are sanctified. Jesus Christ has also sanctified himself, that he might sanctify them. He had, in- deed, no corruption from which he needed sanctification ; but when he took on him the sins of his people, they were his sins as truly as if he had been personally guilty. This is in accordance with what is de- clared, 2 Cor. v., 21 — "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin : that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." In this light, then, he must be sanctified from sin, and this was effected by his suffering death. He was sanctified from the sin he had taken upon him by his own blood shed upon the cross, and in him they are sanctified. The sanctification ot believers depends, too, on the death of Jesus Christ in the way of obligation ; for, having redeemed his people to himself, he has laid them under an inviolable obligation to be holy. " Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradiiion from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." " Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Their sanctification arises also from the example of Jesus Christ ; for, in his death as well as in his life, all Christian virtues were exhibited and exercised in a manner the most admirable, and set before us for our imitation. " Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps." The sanctification of believers likewise depends on the death of Christ in the way of motive ; for it furnishes an almost infinite number of motives to holiness of life. In his death, believers discover the pro- found misery in which they were plunged in the slavery of sin and Satan — as children of rebellion and wrath separated from the commu- nion of God. To procure their deliverance it was necessary, not only that the Son of God should come into the world, but that he should suffer on the cross ; whence they ought to regard their former condition with holy terror and abhorrence. In his death they perceive how hate- ful sin is in the sight of God, since it was necessary that the blood of an infinite and Divine person should be shed in order to its expiation. In that death they discover the ineffable love of God, which has even led to the delivering up of his only begotten Son for their salvation. They discover the love and compassion of the Son himself, which in- duced him to come down from heaven to save them, which should beget reciprocal love, and an ardent zeal for his service. They per- ceive the hope of their calling, and realize the blessings of the eternal inheritance of God, which have been acquired by that death. They contemplate the honor and dignity of their adoption, for Jesus Christ has died that they might become the children of God. They have been born of his blood, which binds them never to lose sight of this heavenly dignity, but to conduct themselves in a manner suitable to their high vocation. In tiie death of Jesus Christ the eyes of believers are directed to the Spirit of sanctification, whom God hath sent forth ; for in dying Jesus 278 ROMANS VI,, 23. Cliri&t has obtained for his people the incxliaustible graces of tlie Holy iSi)irit. Tins leads them to renounce the spirit of the world, and sub- mit to the ilirection and guidance of the Spirit from on high. They feel the honor of their communion with Jesus Christ, being his bre- thren and joint heirs, the members of his body, those for whom he shed his blood, and whom he hath redeemed at so astonishing a price. 'I'iiey behold the peace which he has made between (Jod and ihcm, which imposes on them the duty of never dislurliiug that blessed recon- ciliation, but, on the contrary, of rendering the most profound obedience to the divine law. They discover the most powerful motives to humi- lity, for the death of Jesus Christ is a mirror in which they behold the vilencss and indignity of their natural corruption, and perceive that they have nothing in themselves wherewith to satisfy divine justice for their sins. His death placing before their eyes their original condition, leads them to cry out before Cod, " O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee ; but unto us confusion of face. " Our justification is a blessing which proceeds from thy grace, thou hast conferred on us the righteousness of tiiy Son, but to ourselves belongelh nothing but misery and ruin." The death of Jesus Christ presents the strongest motives to lepentance, for if, after the redemption he has wrought, they should still continue in their sins, it would be making him, as the Apostle says, " the minister of sin." And, finally, the death of Jesus Christ teaches them not to dread their own death, for he hath sanctified the tomb, and rendered death itself innoxious to his people, since for them he has condescended to suffer it himself. Their death is the last part of their fellowship on earth with their suffering Redeemer ; and as his death was the gate through which he entered into his glory, so the earthly house of their tabernacle must be dissolved, that they may be also glorified together with him. " O death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy vic- tory ? Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as his death, presents the strongest motives for the encouragement and sanctification of believers. His resurrection establishes their faith, as being the heavenly seal with which God has been pleased to confirm the trutii of the gospel. Having been declared to be the Son of God with power by his resur- rection from the dead, they regard him as the Creator of the world, and the eternal Son of the Father. It assures them of the effect of his death in expiating their sins, and obliges them to embrace the blood of his cross as the price of their redemption. His resurrection being the victory which he obtained over the enemies of his church, they are bound to place all their confidence in him, and to resign themselves for ever to his guidance. It presents the most powerful motive to have constant recourse to the mercy of the Father, for having himself raised up the Head and Surety of his people ; it is an evident pledge of his eternal purpose to love them, and of their freedom of access to God by his Son. In the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ believers are taught the certainty of their immortalitv and future blessedness. Laza- ROMANS VI., 23. 279 rus and ollicrs who were raised up, received their Hfe in the same state as they possessed it before ; and after they arose they died a second time ; but Jesus Christ, in his resurrection, obtained a hfe entirely dif- ferent. In his birth a hfe was communicated to him which was soon to terminate on the cross. His resurrection communicated a hfe imperishable and immortal. Jesus Christ being raised from the dead, death hath no more dominion over him. Of this new life the Apostle speaks as being already enjoyed by his people. " He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Elsewhere he calls that heavenly life which Jesus Christ now possesses, their life. " Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, ye also shall appear with him in glory." " Whosoever livelii and bclieveth in me," he himself hath said, " shall never die." All this should inspire his people with cou- rage to finish their course here, in order to go to take possession of the heavenly inheritance which he has gone before to prepare for them, and from whence he will come again to receive them to himself. It should inspire them with fortitude, that they may not sink under the afflictions and trials which they experience on earth. The Apostle counted all things but loss and dung, that he might win Christ — that he might know him and the power of his resurrection. On the resurrec- tion of Jesus Christ he rests the wliole value and evidence of the truth of the gospel. " If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is vain." '"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and be- come the first fruits of them that slept." The resurrection of Jesus Christ, on which believers rest their hope, is intimately connected with every part of the Christian religion. The perfections of the Father, his power, his justice, his faithfulness, were all engaged in raising up his Son from the grave. The constitution of the person of Jesus Christ himself also required it. He was the Son of God, the Prince of Life, holy, and without spot, consequently having nothing in common with death. His body was joined with his deity, of which it was the temple, so that it could not always remain under the power of the grave. His resurrection was also necessary on account of his office as Mediator, and of the general purposes of his coming into the world, to destroy the works of the devil, to subvert the empire of death, to make peace between God and man, and to bring life and immortality to light. It was necessary, too, in consideration of his office as a Prophet, in order to confirm by his resurrection the word which he had spoken ; and of his office as a Priest, for, after having presented his sacrifice, he must live to intercede for his people and to bless them. And to reign as a King, he must first triumph personally himself over all his enemies, in order to cause his people to triumph. Upon the whole, as in the preceding part of the Epistle the Apostle had rested the justification of believers on their union with Jesus Christ, so upon the same union he rests in this chapter their sanctifica- tion. It is in virtue of this union between Him as the head, and the church as his body, that the elect of God are the subjects of hia 280 ROMANS VI., 23. rcffcncrating p^race, enjoy the indwelling of his Spirit, and bring forth fniil unlo (!od. " As the branch cannot hear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; no more can yc, except yc abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringcth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." This union of believers with Jesus Christ is represented in Scrip- ture in various expressions and by different images. The Scriptures declare that we are one with him, that he dwells m our hearts, that he lives in us and we in him, that we are changed uUo his image, and tliat he is formed in us. This union is spoken of as resembling the union of the head with the other parts of the body, and the foundation with the superstructure. This union does not result solely from Jesus Christ liaving taken upon him, by his incarnation, the human nature. For if in this alone our union with him consisted, unbelievers would be as much united with him as believers. The union of believers with Jesus Christ is a spiritual and mystical union ; and as one with him, by him they are represented. He represents them in the act of making satisfaction to the Father, taking their sins upon him, and enduring the punishment they deserved ; for it was in their place, as their head and mediator, that he presented to God that great and solemn sacrifice which has obtained for them heavenly glory. He represents them in the act of his resurrection, for as the head he has received for them of his Father life and immortality. He represents them in his interces- sion in their name ; and also in his exaltation on his throne. The spiritual life which they derive from him consists in present grace and future glory. In grace there are three degrees. The first is peace with God ; the second is holiness, comprehending all that constitutes their duty ; and the third is hope, which like an anchor of the soul enters into that within the veil. In glory there are also three degrees ; the resurrection of the bodies of the believers ; their elevation to heaven ; and the eternal enjoyment of the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Paul enjoins on Titus to affnm constantly the great truths he had been declaring, in order that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. Those doctrines alone, which in the opinion of many make void the law, and give a license to sin — against which, since the days of the Apostle, the same objections have been repeated which in this chapter Paul combats — those doc- trines arc the means which the Holy Spirit employs for the conversion of sinners, and for producing effects entirely the opposite in their hearts. The Bible teaches us that tlic plan of salvation, which delivers man from sin and from death by the death of tlie Son of God, which had its origin in eternity in the counsels of God, both as to the choice of its objecls, and the manner in which they are justified and sanctified, and as to its consummation in glory, is founded wholly in grace. " By the grace of God," says Paul, " I am what I am." '" Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the ROMANS VII. 281 Church by Jesus Christ, throughout all ages, world without end Amen." CHAPTER VII. In the preceding chapter the Apostle had answered the chief objection against the doctrine of justification by faith without works. He had proved that, by union with Christ in his death and resurrection, be- lievers who are thereby justified are also sanctified ; he had exhibited and enforced the motives to holiness furnished by the consideration of that union ; he had, moreover, affirmed that sin shall not have domi- nion over them ; for this specific reason, that they are not under the law, bi>t under grace. To the import of this declaration, he now reverts ooth to explain its meaning and to state the ground of deliverance from the law. This, again, rendered it proper to vindicate the holiness of the law, as well as to demonstrate its use in convincing of sin ; while at the same time he proves that all its light and all its authority, so far from being sufficient to subdue sin, on the contrary, only tend by the strictness of its precepts, and the awful nature of its sanctions, the more to excite and bring into action the corruptions of the human heart. Paul next proceeds plainly to show what might be inferred from the preceding chapter. Although he had there described believers as dead to the guilt of sin, he had, notwithstanding, by his earnest exhortations to watchfulness and holiness, clearly intimated that they were still ex- posed to its seductions. He now exhibits this fact by relating his own experience since he became dead to the law and was uniied to Christ. By thus describing his inward conflict with sin, and showing how far short he came of the demands of the law, he proves the necessity of being dead to the law as a covenant, since, in the highest attainments of grace during this mortal life, the old nature, which he calls flesh, still remains in believers. At the same time he represents himself as delighting in the law of God, as hating sin, and looking forward with confidence to future deliverance from its power. In this manner he illustrates not only the believer's real character, but the important fact that the obedience of the m.ost eminent Christian, which is always im- perfect, cannot have the smallest influence in procuring his justification. He had proved that men cannot be justified by their works in their natural state. He now shows by a reference to himself, that as little can they be justified by their works in their regenerated state. And thus he confirms his assertion in the third chapter, that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified. He might have described more generally the incessant combat between the old and new natures in the beUever; but he does this more practically, as well as more 282 ROMANS VII., 3. cfTiciontly, ^W li^ying open the secrets of his own heart, and exhibiting it in Ills own person. V. 1. — Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know law), liow that the law hath dominion over man as long as he liveth ? Brethren. — Some have erroneously supposed that, by employing the term brclhren, the Aposilc was now addressing liimself exclusively to the Jews who belonged to the church at Rome. lie is here, as in other parts ol" the Epistle, addressing the whole church ; all its members, whether Jews or (icntiles, being equally concerned in the doctrine he was inculcating. It is evident, besides, that he continues in the follow- ing chai)ters to address the same persons to whom he had been writing from the commencement of the Epistle. They are the same of whom he had alhrmed, in the preceding chapter, verse 14th, that they were not under the law, which is the proposition he here illustrates. Breth.ren is an appellation whereby Paul designates all Christians, Gentiles as well as .Jews, and by which, in the lOih chapter, he distinguishes them from the unbelieving Jews. Know ye not. — There is much force in this interrogation, and it is one usual with Paul, when he is affirming what is in itself sufficiently clear, as in chap, vi., 16; 1 Cor. iii., 16 ; vi., 19. He here appeals to the personal knowledge of those to whom he wrote. For I speak to them that know law. — This parenthesis appears to imply, that, as they were acquainted with the nature of law, they must in the sequel be convinced of the truth of the explanations he was about to bring under their notice ; and in this manner he bespeaks their particular attention. Tlie law hath dominion over a man. — Man here is not man as distin- guished from woman, but man including both men and women, denot- ing the species. This first assertion is not confined to the law of marriage, by which the Apostle afterwards illustrates his subject, but extends to the whole law, namely, the law of God in all its parts. As long as he liveth. — The words in the original, as far as respects the phraseology, are capable of being rendered, either as long as he liveth, or as long as it liveth. It appears, however, that the meaning is, as long as the man liveth ; for to say that the law hath dominion as long as it liveth, would be saying it is in force as long as it is in force. v. 2. — For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband 80 long as he liveth ; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. V, :i. — So then if, while her husband liveth, she is married to another man, she shall be called an adultress : but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law ; so that jhe is no adultress, though she be married to another man. The Apostle here proves his assertion by a particular reference to the law of marriage. And no doubt this law of marriage was purpose- ly adapted by God to illustrate and shadow forth the subject to which it is here applied. Had it not been so, it might have been unlawful to become a second time a wife or a husband. But the Author of human nature and of the law, by which man is to be governed, has ordained the lawfuhiess of second marriages for the purpose of shadowing forth ROMANS VII., 4. 283 the truth referred to, as marriage itself was from the first a shadow of the relation between Christ and his church. Some apply the term law in this place to the Roman law, with which those addressed must have been acquainted ; but it is well known that it was usual both for husbands and wives among the Romans to be married to other imsbands and wives during the life of their former consorts, without being considered guilty of adultery. The reference is to the general law of marriage as instituted at the beginning, V. 4. — Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. In the illustration it was the husband that died, and the wife remain- ed alive to be married to another. Here it is the wife who dies ; but this does not make the smallest difference in the argument ; for whether it is the husband or wife that dies, the union is equally dissolved. Dead to the law. — By the term the law, in this place, is intended that law which is obligatory, both on Jews and Gentiles. It is the law, the work of which is written in the hearts of all men ; and that law which was given to the Jews in which they rested, chap, ii., 17. It is the law, taken in the largest extent of the word, including the whole will of God in any way manifested to all mankind, whether Jew or Gentile. All those whom the Apostle was addressing, had been under this law in their unconverted state. Under the ceremonial law those among them who were Gentiles had never been placed. It was, therefore, to the moral law, only that tliey had been married. Those who were Jews had been under the law in every form in which it was delivered to them, of tiie whole of which the moral law was the grand basis and sum. To the moral law exclusively, here and throughout the rest of the chapter, the Apostle refers. The ordinances of the ceremonial law, now that their purpose was accomplished, he elsewhere* character- izes as " weak and beggarly elements," but in the law of which he here speaks, he declares in verse 22 of this chapter, that he delights. Mr. kStuart understands the term " dead to the law," as importing to renounce it, " as an adequate means of sanctification." But renounc- ing it in this sense is no freedom from the law. A man does not be- come free from the law of his creditor, when he becomes sensible of his insolvency. The most perfect conviction of our inability to keep the law, and of its want of power to do us effectual service, would not have the smallest tendency to dissolve our marriage with the law. Mr. Stuart entirely misapprehends this matter. Dead to the law means freedom from the power of the law, as having endured its curse, and satisfied its demands. It has ceased to have a claim on the obedience of believers in order to life, although it still remains their rule of duty. All men are by nature placed under tlie law, as the covenant of works made with the first man, who, as the Apostle had been teaching in the 5th chapter, was the federal or covenant head of all his posterity ; and it IS only when they are united lo Christ that they are freed from this covenant. 984 ROMANS VII., 4. Wliat is simply a law implies no more than a direction and obliga- tion aullioritatively enforcing obedience. A covenant implies promises made on certain condition.s, with tlircatenings added, if such conditions be not fulfilled. The language, accordingly, of the law, as the cove- nant of works, is, " Do and live ;" or, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments ;" and " cursed is every one that continuelh not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." It thus requires perfect obedience as the condition of life, and pronounces a curse on the smallest failure. This law is here represented as being man's original or first husband. But it is now a broken law, and there- fore all men arc by nature under its curse. Its curse must be executed on every one of the human race, either personally on all who remain under it, or in Christ who was made under the law, and who, accord- ing also to the 5th cl)a{)ter of this Epistle, is tiie covenant head or rep- resentative of all believers who are united to him and born of (Jod. For them he has borne its curse under which he died, and fulfilled all its demands, and they are consequently dead to it, that is, no longer under it as a covenant. By the body of Christ. — Tliat is, by '* the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." Heb. x., 10. Although the body is only mentioned in this place, as it is said on his coming into the world, " a body hast thou prepared me," yet his whole human nature, composed of soul and body, is intended. Elsewhere his soul, without mentioning his body, is spoken of as being offered. " When thou shalt make his soul an offer- ing for sin." Isa. liii., 10. Dead to the law by the body of Christ, means dead to it by dying in Christ's death. As believers are one body with Christ, so when his body died they also died, chap, vi., 3, 4, They are, therefore, by the sacrifice of his body, or by his death, dead to the law. They are freed from it, and done with it, as it respects either their jiistification or condemnation, its curse or its reward. They cannot be justified by it, having failed to render to it perfect obedience, Rom. iii., 20 ; and they cannot be condemned by it, being redeemed from its curse by him who was made a curse for them. As then the covenant relation of a wife to her husband is dissolved by death, so believers are released from their covenant relation to the law, by the death of Christ, with whom they died ; for he died to sin, chap, vi., 10, and to the law, having fulfilled it by his obedience and death, so that it hath no further demand upon him. Married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead. — Being dead to the law, their first husband, by their union with Christ in his death, believers are married to him, and are one with him in his resur- rection. Christ is now their lawful husband according to the clear illustration employed by the Apostle respecting the institution of mar- riage, so that, though now married to him, no fault can be found in respect to their original connection with their first husband, which has been dissolved by death. To believers this is a most consoling truth. They are as completely and as blamelessly free from the covenant of the law as if they had never been under it. Thus the Apostle fully explains here what he had briefly announced in the 14th verse of the ROMANS VII., 4. 285 preceding chapter, " ye are not under the law, but under grace." From the covenant of Adam or of works, believers have been transferred to the covenant of Christ or of grace. I will " give thee for a covenant of the people " — all the redeemed people of God. Before the coming of Ciirist, those who relied on the promise con- cerning him, likewise partook of all the blessings of the marriage union with him, and were, therefore, admitted to heavenly glory, tiiough as to their title to it not " made perfect " (Heb. xii., 23) till he died under the law, and put away sm by the sacrifice of himself. Till that period there was in tiie Jew^ish ceremonial law a perpetual recognition of sin, and of a future expiation which had not been made while that economy subsisted. It was, so to speak, the bond of acknowledgment for the debt yet unpaid — the handwriting of ordinances which Jesus Christ, in paying the debt, cancelled and tore asunder, " nailing it to his cross," Col. ii., 14, as a trophy of the victory he had accomplished. Christ, then, is the husband of the church ; and under this figure his marriage relation to his people is very frequently referred to in Scrip- ture. Thus it was exhibited in the marriage of our first parents. In the same way it is represented in the book of Psalms, and the Song of Solomon, and in the New Testament, where Christ is so often spoken of under the character of ''the bridegroom," and where the church is called "the bride, the Lamb's wife." What ignorance, then, does it argue in some to deny the inspiration and authenticity of the Song of Solomon, because of the use of this figure.* But though believers, in virtue of their marriage with Christ, are no longer under the law in respect to its power to award life or death, they are, as the Apostle says, 1 Cor. ix., 21, " Not without law to God, but under law to Christ." They receive it from his hand as the rule of their duty, and are taught by his grace to love and delight in it ; and being delivered from its curse, they are engaged by the strongest addi- tional motives to yield to it obedience. He hath made it the inviolable law of his kingdom. Wiien Luther discovered the distinction between the law as a covenant and as a rule, it gave such relief to his mind, that he considered himself as at the gate of paradise. That vje should bring forth fruit unto God. — One of the great ends of marriage was to people the world, and the end of the marriage of believers to Christ is that they may bring forth fruit to God, John XV., 4-8. From this it is evident that no work is recognized as fruit unto God before union with Ciirist. All works that appear to be good previous to this union with Christ, are " dead works," proceeding from self-love, self-gratification, pride, self-righteousness, or other such mo- tives. " They that are in the flesh cannot please God." " The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." We can never look upon the law with a friendly eye, * On the genuineness and authenticity Of the Song of Solomnn, see the author's work on " The Books of the Old and New Testament proved to be canonical, and their Ver- bal Inspiration maintained and established ; with an account of the introduction and character of the Apocrypha." Fourth edition, enlarged, Ss. 6d. And also his Work of Evidences, &.c., vol. i., p. 164. Third edition. 886 ROMANS VII., 5. till we see il disarmed of the sting of death ; and never can bear fruit unto (Jod, nor deliglit in the law as a rule, till we are freed from it as a covenant, and are thus dead unto sin. J low important, then, is the injunction — " Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to l)e dead indeed unto sin," — and tliis applies ef|ually to the law, — " but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord," chap, vi., 11. " It is impossible," says Luther, " for a man to be a Christian with- out having Christ, and if he has Christ, he has at the same lime all that is in Christ. Wiiat gives peace to the conscience is, that by faith our sins are no more ours, but Ciirist's, upon whom God has laid them all ; and that, on the other iiand, all Christ's righteousness is ours, to whom God hath given it. Christ lays his hand upon us, and we are healed. He casts his mantle upon us, and we are clothed ; for he is the glorious Saviour, blessed for ever. Many wish to do good works before their sins are forgiven them, whilst it is indispensable thai our sins be pardoned before good w'orks can be done ; for good works must be done with a joyful heart, and a good conscience toward God, that is, with remission of sins." V. 5. — For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. When we were in the Jlesh, that is, in our natural state. — The flesh here means the corrupt state of nature, not " the subjects of God's temporal kingdom," as paraphrased by Dr. Macknight, to which many of those whom the Apostle was addressing never belonged. Flesh is often opposed to spirit, which indicates that new and holy nature com- municated by the Spirit of God in the new birth. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," John iii., 6. In these words our Lord points out the necessity of regeneration, in order to our becoming subjects of his spiritual king- dom. The nature of man since the fall, when left to itself, possesses no renovating principle of holiness, but is essentially corrupt and entirely depraved. On this account, the word flesh here signifies man in his ruined condition, or that state of total corruption in which all the children of Adam are born. On the other hand, the word spirit has acquired the meaning of a holy and divine principle, or a new nature, because it comes not from man, but from (Jod, who communicates it by the living and permanent influence of his Holy Spirit. Hence the Apostle Peter, in addressing believers, speaks of them as " par- takers of the divine nature." The motions of sins, or affections or feelings of sins. When the Apostle and the believers at Rome were in the Jlesh, the desires or affections forbidden by the law forcibly operated in all the faculties of their depraved nature, subjecting them to death by its sentence. Dr. Macknight and Mr. Stuart translate this our " sinful passions." But this has the appearance of asserting that the evil passions of our nature have their origin in the law. The Apostle does not mean what, in English, is understood by the passions, but the working of the passions. Which were by the laiv, rather through the law. — Dr. Macknight ROMANS VII,, 6. 287 translates the original thus, " which we had under the law." But the meaning is not whicli we had under the law, but that were through the law. The motions of sin, or those sinful thoughts or desires, on our knowing tliat the things desired are forbidden, are called into action through the law. That it is thus natural to the corrupt mind to desire what is forbidden is a fact attested b)* experience, and is here the clear testimony of Scripture. With the philosophy of the question we have nothing to do. Why, or how this should be is a question we are not called to resolve. Thus, the law, as a covenant of works, not only cannot produce fruits of righteousness in those who are \mder it, but excites in them the motions of sin, bringing forth fruit unto death. Did work in our members. — The sinful desires of the mind actuate the members of the body, to gratify them, in a manner adapted to different occasions and constitutions. Members appear to be mentioned here rather than body, to denote that sin, by the impulse of their various evil desires, employs as its slaves all the different members of the body. To bring forth fruit unto death. — In the same way as bringing forth fruit unto God is spoken of in the 4th verse, so here the Apostle speaks of bringing forth fruit unto death, that is, doing works which issue in death. Death is not viewed as the parent of the works. It is the desires that are the parents of the works. This is contrasted with fruit unto God, which does not mean that God is the parent of the fruit, but that the fruit is produced on God's account. V. 6. —But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held ; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldiiess of the letter. But noio ive are delivered from the law. — This does not import merely that the Jews were, according to Dr. Macknight, delivered from the law of Moses, but that believers are delivered from the moral law, in that sense m which they were bound by it when in unbelief. Christ hath fulfilled the law, and suffered its penalty for them, and they in consequence are free from its demands for the purpose of obtaining life, or that, on account of the breach of it, they should suffer death. Mr. Stuart paraphrases thus, " No longer placing our reliance on it as a means of subduing and sanctifying our sinful natures." But ceasing to rely on the law for such a purpose was not, in any sense, to be delivered from the law. The law never proposed such a thing, and therefore, ceasing to look for such an effect is not a deliverance from the kiw. That being dead wherein we were held. — By death, whether it be considered of the law to believers, or of believers to the law, the con- nexion in which they stood to it, and in which they were held in bond- age under its curse, is dissolved. All men, Jews and Gentiles, are by nature bound to the moral law, under its condemning power and curse, from which nothing but Christ can to all eternity deliver them. Dr. Macknight translates the passage, " having died in that by which we were tied," and paraphrases thus, " But now we Jews are loosed from the law of Moses, having died with Christ by its curse, in that fleshly nature by which, as descendants of Abraham, we were tied to the law." 288 ROMANS VII., 7. Bui this most erroneously confines the declaralion of the Aposllc to tlie Jews aiul the lci!;al dispensation. Tlidl tfc should scfve in 7irwness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. — This is the efTecl of being dchvcred from the hiw. The Aj)osllc here refers to the difference in practice between iJiosc wlio were married to Christ, and tliose who were still under the law. A believer serves (H)d from such principles, dispositions, and views, as the Sjjirit of CJod iujplants in iiearls which he renews. Serving in the spirit is a service of fihal oljcdicncc to him who gave himself fur us, as constrained by his love, and in the enjoyment of all the privileges of the grace of the new covenant. Believers have thus, under the influ- ence of the Holy Spirit, become capable of serving God with that new and divine nature of wliich they partake, according to the spiritual meaning of the law, as his children, with cordial affection and gratitude. It is the service, not of the hireling, but of the son, not of the slave, but of the friend, not with the view of being saved by the keeping of the law. but of rendering grateful obedience to their Almighty De- liverer. Serving in the oldness of the letter respects such service as the law, by its light, authority, and terror, can procure from one who is under it, and seeking life by it, without the Spirit of (iod, and his sanctifying grace and iiifluence. Much outward conformity to the law may in this way be attained from the pride of self-righteousness, without any prin- ciple better than that of a selfish, slavish, mercenary, carnal disposition, influenced only by fear of punishment and hope of reward. Serving, then, in the oldness of the letter, is serving in a cold, constrained, and wholly external manner. Such service is essentially defective, pro- ceeding from a carnal unrenewed heart, destitute of holiness. In this way Paul describes himself, Phil, iii., as having formerly served, when he had confidence in the " flesh," as he there designates such outward service. Serving in newness of spirit, and in oldness of the letter, are here contrasted, as not only different, but as incompatible the one with the other. V. 7. — What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law : for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shall not covet. Wliat shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? — In the 5th verse Paul iiad described the effect of the law on himself and those whom he ad- dressed before conversion, while he and they were under its dominion. In the 6lh verse he had spoken of their deliverance and his own from the law, here and in the four following verses he illustrates what were the effects of the law on himself. While he peremptorily rejects the supposition that there was anything evil in the law, he shows that, by the strictness of its precepts exciting the corruptions of his heart, it was the means of convincing him that he was a sinner, and under its condemnation, and was thus the instrument to him of much good, for he would not have known sin to be sin but by the law, Mr. Stuart says this is the language of an objector against the Apes- ROMANS VII., 7. 289 tie. For this there is no foundation whatever. It is a mere figment to suppose that there is here a kind of discussion betweeiuhe Apostle and a Jewish objector. It is an objection stated by the Apostle in his own name, an objection that will occur to the carnal mind in every age and country, and is therefore properly introduced by tiie Apostle. If tlie law occasions more sin is it not itself sinful ? God forbid. — Literally, let it not be — by no means. It is the expression, as formerly noticed, by which the Apostle usually intimates his abhorrence of whatever is peculiarly unworthy of God. Paul now begins to describe his own experience respecting the operation of the law. Nay. — Mr. Stuart says this expression intimates, that the Apostle had some exception to the universal sense of the words translated God for- bid. But this is not the effect here of the word rendered " Nay." There could be no exception to the denial of the consequence in the sense in which the thing is denied. Is it possible that there can be any exception to the denial that the law is sinful ? It is not possible. That the law is the occasion of sin, or, as Mr. Stuart expresses it, though " not t!ie sinful or efficient cause of sin," is no exception to the univer- sal denial in any point of view. An occasion of sin and a cause of sin are two things essentially different. It is no exception to the assertion that the law is not the cause of sin, to say that it is the occasion of sin. The word here translated nay, intimates opposition. So far from the law being sinful, I had not known sin, says the Apostle, but by the law. Known sin hut by the law. — Paul does not say that he would not liave been a sinner without the law, but that he would not have known sin as now he knew it, or have seen himself to be a sinner. Now, though no man is without sin, yet a proud Pharisee might think him- self free from sin by his keeping the law, when he did not look to it as extending to the thoughts of the heart. Paul, referring to his stale before his conversion, says that, touching the righteousness of the law, he was blameless, Phil, iii., 6 ; and it was only when he understood tiie law in its full extent that he became self-condemned. For I had not known lust. — The original word for lust signifies strong desire, whether good or bad. Here it is used in a bad sense. It is that disposition by which we are inclined to evil, — the habit and incli- nation to sin, and not merely the acts which proceed from it. It is evi- dent that the Apostle here speaks of this habit, that is to say, of our inclination to sin and habitual corruption ; for he distinguishes this in- clination from its acts in verse 8th, saying, sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, or lust. Except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. — Without the law he would not have known that the desire of wliat is forbidden is sinful ; that the very thought of sin is known only by the word of God. Indeed, many who hear that word will not receive this doctrine. The Roman Catholics hold that such desires are not criminal, if the mind do not acquiesce in them. Thou shalt not covet. — Tiiis implies lusting against the will of God, and extends to the first rise and lowest degree of every evil thought. It is not to be confined to what are called inor- 19 890 ROMANS VII., 8. dinatc desires, or desires carried to excess, but comprehends every de- sire contrary to the commandment. V. 8. — Rut sin, takinjij occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For witliout the law sin was dead. The same word rendered lust in the foregoing verse is liorc rendered concupiscence, which is not so proper a translation, having a more hmitod meaning generally attached to it. In both verses tiie original word indicates our natural inclination to sin, and not voluntary sinful acts — not sins produced, which are the acts proceeding from lust, but our innate and vicious propensity to sin producing those acts. In the preceding verse, Paul had shown that the law does not cause sin, but discovers it, stripping it of its disguise, and bringing it to light. Here he asserts that the commandment discovered to him the sinful nature of evil desires. It laid on him the most solemn obligations to resist them ; and the natural corruption of his heart took occasion from tlie restraints of the law to struggle against it, and break out with more violence. Sin, he says, wrought in him all ipanner of lust. It excited and discovered in him those corruptions of which he had been uncon- scious until they were encountered and provoked by the restraints of the law. It does not appear that it is by feeling the curse and condem- nation of the law, that sin takes occasion by the law to work in us all manner of concupiscence. By feeling the curse and condemnation of the law, the impenitent sinner is excited to hate the law and to hate God. But the thing to which we are here said to be excited is not this, but we are excited to desire things forbidden by the law. It is quite true that tlie feeling of the condemnation of the law aggravates the evil of our hearts, but it is lust or concupiscence that is here said to be inflamed by the prohibitions of the law. Nothing can more clear- ly discover tlie depravity of human nature than the holy law of God, tlie unerring standard of right and wrong, becoming an occasion of sin ; yet so it is. Whatever is prohibited is only the more eagerly de- sired. So far, then, was the law from subduing the love of sin, that its prohibitions increased the desire of what is prohibited. It may restrain from the outward act, but it excites the evil inclinations of the mind. Without the law sin was dead. — Some understand this as meaning the same with the declaration, " that where there is no law there is no transgression ;" but the connexion requires that we understand it of the sleeping or dormant state of sin. The Apostle would not have been without sin, but he would not have felt the action of his unlawful desires, if the strictness of the commandment had not become the occa- sion of e.xciting and making them manifest ; for without the law sm, or the workings of his corrupt nature, encountering no opposition, their operation would not have been perceived. Every Christian knows by experience the truth of all the Apostle declares in this verse. He knows that as soon as his eyes were open- ed to discover the spirituality of the law, he discerned in himself the fearful working of that corruption in his heart, which, not being per- ceived before, had given him no uneasiness. He knows that this cor- ROMANS VII., 9. 291 ruption was even increased in violence by the discovery of the strict- ness of the law, which makes not the smallest allowance for sin, but condemns it in its root, and in its every motion. " The wicked na- ture," says Luther, " cannot bear either the good, or the demands of the law ; as a sick man is indignant when he is desired to do all that a man in health can do." Such is the effect of the law when the eyes of the understanding are first opened by the Spirit of God. A power, formerly latent and inefficacious, then appears on a sudden to have gathered strength, and to stand up in order to oppose and defeat the purposes of the man, who hitherto was altogether unconscious of the existence in himself of such evils as those which he now perceives. V. 9. — For I was alive without the law once : but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Paul was alive without the law when he thought proudly of his good life, but when the commandment came with the power of the Spirit, then it slew him and destroyed all his legal hopes. / was alive. — That is, in my own opinion. Mr. Stuart finds fault with this sense as given by Augustine, Calvin, and many others. But his reasons are without weight. After exhibiting the meaning of tiie whole connexion in this view, he asks, " Is this then the way in which the law of God proves fatal to the sinner, viz., by convincing him of the true and deadly nature of sin ?" Not fatal to the sinner, but fatal to his view of salvation by the law. Nothing can be clearer than this passage, and no- thing more consistent than this meaning with the whole context. Witliout the law once. — Was Paul ever without the law? He was in ignorance of it till his conversion ; and this he here calls being without the law. He was ignorant of its spirituality, and consequently had no true discernment of his innate corruption. Mr. Stuart asks, " But when did the com7nandment come ? " and answers, " We may suppose it to be in childhood, or in riper years." It cannot have been in child- hood or in riper years, at any time previous to his seeing Christ. For if he had had such a view of the law previously, he would not, in his own opinion, have been blameless concerning its righteousness. It is obvious that Paul had his proper view of the law only in the cross of Christ. When the commandment came. — That is, when he understood the true import of the commandment as forbidding the desire of anything prohibited by the law. He had heard and studied it before in its let- ter ; but never till then did it come in its full extent and power to his conscience. All men know that to a certain extent they are sinners, but from this passage and its context in which the Apostle gives an account of his own experience, both in his unconverted and renewed state, we learn that unconverted men do not perceive the sin that is in them in its root, called in the 7th and 8th verses "lust" or " concu- piscence." This is only felt and known when by the Holy Spirit a man is convinced of sin, when as it is here said the commandment comes — when it comes to him with power so that he perceives its real extent and spiritual import. He then discerns sin not only in its 202 ROMANS VII., 10. various raniilicalions and aclinga both internal and external, but also sees that it is inherent in him, and that in his flesh dwells no good thing ; that he is not only by nature a sinner and an enemy to God, but that he is ivithout stre.np;lh, Rom. v., 6, entirely unaljlc to deliver himself from the power of sin, and that this can only be cirecled by the Spirit of (Joel, by whom he is at the same time convinced of the right- eousness of Cod — that righteousness which has been provided for those who are destitute in themselves of all righteousness. < Sin revived. — It was in a manner dead before, dormant and unob- served. Now that the law was understood, it was raised to new life, and came to be perceived as living and moving. The contrast is with sin as dead, without the understanding of the law. It is true, as Mr. Stuart observes, that sin gathers additional strength in such circum- stances ; but this is not the idea held forth in the context. I died. — That is, I saw myself dead by the law, as far as my own observance of the law was concerned. All Paul's lio|)es founded on what he was in himself were destroyed, and he discovered that he was a sin- ner condemned by the law ; so that the law, which promised life to those who observed it, to which he had looked for justification, he now saw subjected him to death. The expression by no means imports, as Mr. Stuart understands it, that Paul at the period referred to, was really under the sentence of death as a sinner who had not fled to Jesus. " I fell under the sentence of death," is the explanation that Mr. Stuart gives, which he confirms by " the soul that sinneth shall die." " Tiie wages of sin is death." At the period when Paul died in the sense of this passage, he was really brought to spiritual life. It was then that he through the law became dead to the law, that he might live unto God ; Gal. ii., 19. Then Paul was without the law during all that time when he profited in the Jews' religion above many of his equals ; when, according to the straitest sect of their religion, he lived a Pharisee ; and when as touch- ing the law, according to the common estimation, he was blameless. He was without the true knowledge of it and its spiritual application to his heart ; but, in his own esteem, he was alive. He was con- fident of the Divine favor. Sin lay as dead in his heart. He could therefore go about to establish his own righteousness. He had not found the law to be " a killing letter," working wrath ; so far from it, he could make his boast of the law, and assiune it as the ground of his rejoicing before God. But when the commandment came, sin revived and he died. Such is the account which Paul now gives of himself, who declared, Acts xxii., 3, that formerly he had been, and as he aflirms in the beginning of the 10th chapter, that the unconverted Jews still were, " zealous towards God." V. 10. — And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. And the commandment which was ordained to life. — Literally, the comrnandraent which was unto life. That is, which was appointed to give continuance of life to those who obeyed, and which, therefore, it ROMANS VII,, 12. 293 would have been life to obey, as it is said, " The man that doeth them shall live in them." By the commandment here referred to, the law, in all its parts, appears to be meant, with a special allusion to the tenth commandment, which shows that the desire of M'hat is forbidden is sin. This commandment might well be put for the whole law; for it could not be obeyed without the whole law being kept. As the law held out the promise of life to those who obeyed it, on this ground Paul had sought and imagined he had attained a title to eternal life. Unto death. — The law was ordained to life, but through sin, it was found to be unto death. As soon, then, as it came home to his conscience, Paul found himself condemned by that law from which he had expected life, for, though it could not justify a sinner, it was powerful to condemn him. It then destroyed all the hope he had founded on it, and showed him that he was obnoxious to the curse which it pronounces on all transgressors. The law, however, which was ordained to life, will at last be proved to have attained this object in all in whom it has been fulfilled, Rom. viii., 4, by him who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. All such shall, according to its original appointment, enjoy everlasting life. V. 11. — For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Sin, by blinding his mind, as to the extent of the demands of the law, had led Paul to believe that he could fulfil it, and so obtain justifi- cation anfi life, and had thus by the law taken occasion to deceive him. Till the commandment came home to him in its spiritual application, sin was never brought to such a test as to make a discovery to Paul of its real power. But when he was enlightened to perceive this, sin by the law slew him. It showed him that he was a transgressor of the law, and therefore condemned by that very law from which he had before ex- pected life. Thus sin, as he had said, revived and he died. All his high thoughts of himself and self-confidence, from supposing that he had kept the law, were swept away and destroyed. V. 12. — Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Having now shown that the law is not the cause, but only the occa- sion of sin, Paul here draws the conclusion as 1o its character and excel- lence. W/wrcforc. — In the 7th verse he had strongly denied that there was anything sinful in the law ; and in the intermediate verses had shown by its eifects, that so far from being the cause of sin, it had been the means of enlightening his mind in giving him to discover the evil nature of sin and its deceitful workings in himself. From these effects he now draws the conclusion here stated, which fully illustrates the above assertion, proving how far the law is removed from sin, namely, thai it is holy, and just, and good. The two words law and commandment appear to be used to give the greater force to his declaration ; thus meaning the law and every precept it enjoins. It is holi/, in opposition to whatever is sinful ; holy as embodying the perfect rule of what is 294 ROMANS VII., 13. right and conformable to the character of God and a transcript of his perfections, it \sjusf. Can anything be more just than that we should abstain from all that (jod prohiljils'l It is highly just that we should not only abstain from all that (iod forbids, but that we should not even desire what is forbidden. The law demands what is equitable, and due to God, and nothing more, and what is just and equitable in regard to man, and a just law could demand no less. And good. — It is not only just, it is also good. It is good in itself, and its whole tendency is adapted to maintain perlect order, and to establish in the highest degree thehappiness of all who are under its authority. Every commandment of the Decalogue tends to promote human happiness. This is the glory of the law, and shows that it proceeds I'rom the Giver of every good and perfect gift, from him who alone is good. But this is not the ground of obedience, and those "who have endeavoured to place the foundation of morals on the principle of utility or of the happiness of the many, have only proved their short- sighted ignorance, and verified the declaration of Scripture, " professing themselves to be wise they become fools." From the nature of the Apostle's description of the glory and excel- lence of the law, it is clear that he is speaking of the Decalogue, and not of the ceremonial law or the Mosaic institutions. These had a figu- rative excellence " for the time present," but " made nothing perfect," as he himself declares in the Epistle to the Hebrews, but consisted only in " carnal ordinances " intended to continue " until the time of reforma- tion." But the law as embodied in the ten commandments is in itself eternal and immutable, while the words of the Apostle in this verse beautifully accord with those of the Psalmist in the 19th Psalm. " The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Tlie fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever : the judg- ments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb." If God had left men free from the law, it would still be for the happiness of society that they should strictly obey its precepts. V. 13. — Was then that which is good made death unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by tiiat which is good ; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Was that then which is good made death unto me ? — This is not, as Dr. Macknight supposes, an objection in the person of a Jew, but an objection put by the Apostle himself, which was likely to occur to every carnal man in every age. It might require an answer even with respect to Christians themselves. If the law is holy, and just, and good, how could it be found by the Apostle to be unto death ? Could a good law be the cause of death ? By no means. It was not the good law that was the cause of death. But sin. — That is, it is sin which is the trans- gression of the law, that causeth death. Tliat it might appear sin. — Dr. Macknight translates, " that sin might appear working out death." But the construction evidently is, " But ROMANS VII., 14. 295 sin has caused death, that it might appear sin ;" that is, that it might manifest itself in its own proper character. Working death in me by that which is goud. — It was not the good law that wrought death in him, but sin by means of the good law. Hence the manifestation of the exceeding vileness and hatefulness of sin. How evil must that thing be which works the greatest evil through that which is the perfection of righteousness ! That sin by the co/nmand?nent jnigJtt become exceed- ing sinful. — This again is another form of expression designed to aggra- vate the evil character of sin. There is nothing worse than sin itself. The Apostle then does not resolve it into supposed first principles that would exhibit its guilt. The worst that can be said of it is that it is sin, and is so in excess. Here, and in the preceding verses from the 7th, Paul does not speak merely of outward sin, or sinful acts, but also and chiefly of the sinful and disordered lusts of the mind, or the depraved in- clination to commit sin ; and this naturally conducts him, in what follows to the end of the chapter, to describe and dwell on the workings of that inward evil disposition which he calls the law of sin in his members. It was by having his attention turned to this inward w'orking of sin, when, as he says, " the commandment came," that he was convinced he was a sinner. V. 14. — For we know that the law is spiritual : but I am carnal, sold under sin In the foregoing part of the chapter, the Apostle had illustrated the truth, that believers are dead to the law by the sacrifice of Christ. He had next shown the effects of the law on himself before his conversion, when he was under it, and after his conversion when delivered from it. During the former period he was ignorant of its true nature, and, con- sequently, of himself, supposing that he was righteous. " I was alive without the law." But when he understood its real character, he dis- covered the deceitfulness and sinfulness of sin closely cleaving to him, and inherent in him. "When the commandment came, sin revived and I died." He had remarked that sin, taking occasion by the com- mandment, had wrought in him all manner of evil desires, and had de- ceived him. He affirms, nevertheless, that the law is holy, and just, and good ; and, lastly, he now further asserts that it is spiritual. This last characteristic of the holy law, proving that it takes cognizance, not only of the outward conduct, but also of the thoughts and intents of the heart, leads him, as has just been observed, to show how far sin still contmued to adhere to and afflict him. The view, however, which he gives through the remainder of the chapter, of tiiis working of sin in his members, in no respect contradicts his assertion in the preceding chapter, that believers are " dead to sin," for there he refers exclusively to its guilt, but here to its power. Nor docs it contradict his affirma- tion that sin should " not have dominion" over them ; for, notwitlistand- ing the struggle he describes, proving the power of the law of sin in his flesh, he asserts that, with his mind, he serves the law of God; while he expresses his conviction that even from that power of indwell- ing sin God would finally deliver him. From all this we see how natu- rally the Apostle was conducted to detail in what follows his own per- 296 ROMANS VII., 14. sonal and internal experience, both past and present ; wliich formed also so full an iiluslralion of his leading argument, tliroughout the whole of the previous part of the Epistle, of the impossibility of a just law justifying those by whom it is not perfectly obeyed. For ire know. — This assertion, " we know," is llie usual form imder which Paul states what needs no proof. This fundamental and import- ant truth — that the late is spiritual, although, while in his imconvcrtcd stale, he was ignorant of it, he now affirms that both he, and they to whom he wrote, knew it. It is a thing of which no Clirislian is igno- rant. All Christians know it experimentally. They know it when the commandment comes to them, not in word only, but also in power, and in tlie Holy (ihost, — when, according to the promise of the new cove- nant, God puts his law in their inward parts, and writes it in their hearts ; when they receive it, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not outwardly in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart. The laiv is spiritual. — The law, which proceeds from the Holy Spirit of God, demands not only the obedience of external conduct, but the internal obedience of the heart. If Paul had still regarded the law as a rule extending merely to his outward conduct, he might as formerly, when he strictly adhered to its letter, have continued to suppose himself just as good. But when he now understood that it was also spiritual, extending to the most secret desires of his heart, he discovered in him- self so much opposition to its penetrating and discerning power that, as he had said, sin revived and he died. Perceiving, then, that it requires truth in the inward parts, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, not only prohibitmg the smallest outward deviation from holiness, but detecting every hidden ambush of the deceitful heart, Paul the Apostle, a man of like passions with ourselves, exclaims, / am carnal, sold under sin. He here begins to declare his present experience, and changes the past time for the present, in which he con- tinues afterwards to speak to the end of the chapter. Having so fully declared the nature and extent of the law, the Apos- tle, now applying the whole to his own case, proceeds to exhibit in its light the inward state of his own mind. And all he here says is en- lirclv conformable to every description in the word of God, of man in his present fallen condition ; for, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Thus, in the most forci- ble and impressive manner, Paul, in declaring his own experience, exhibits the light which the law in its spiritual aspect also sheds on the character of all other believers in whom, notwithstanding that they are renewed in the spirit of their minds, the old man is not yet dead, nor the body of sin altogether destroyed. For if such was the state of mind of' Paul the Apostle in regard to the remainder within him of in- dwelling sin, and the working of the old man, where is the Christian that can suppose that he is exempted from that inherent corruption, and that internal spiritual warfare, which, in the following context, the Apostle so feelingly describes ? / am carnal. — This respects what the Apostle was in himself. It ROMANS VII., 14. 297 does not imply that he was not regenerated, but shows what he was even in his renewed slate, so far as concerned anything that was natu- ral to him. Every Christian in this sense is carnal ; in himself he is corrupt. Paul applies the epithet carnal to the Corinthians, although they were sanctified m Christ Jesus, and even in the same sentence in which he denominates them carnal, he calls them babes in Christ. The word carnal, however, has not here exactly the same meaning that it has in 1 Cor. iii., 3. The Corinthians were comparatively carnal. Their disputes and envyings showed their attainments in tlie divine life to be low. But, in the sense of the word in this place, all Christians — the best on earth not excepted — are always carnal. Tlrey are so when compared with the spiritual law of God. They have an evil principle in their hearts or nature. While in this world, Adam lives in them, called the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceit- ful lusts. Sold under sin. — Dr. Mackiiight and Mr. Stuart suppose that this expression decidedly proves that this account of carnality belongs not to the regenerate, but only to the unregenerate. It has, however, no such import. All men have been sold under sin by the fall, and as long as any of the evil of their nature introduced by the fall remains in them, so long do they remain sold under sin, to whatever extent and in whatever respect it exists. The Christian, it is true, receives a new nature, and the old nature is mortified ; but it still lives, and so far as it lives, the individual is properly said to be sold under sin. The old nature is not made holy, but a new nature is communicated. As far then as the old man manifests himself, and acts, so far even the Christian is sold under sin. It is not to be admitted, as these writers take it for granted, that the phrase imports the height of wickedness. Let it be remarked also, that, as signifying the greatest wickedness, the expression is not more suitable to their own view, than it is to that of those whom they oppose. If the Apostle speaks of unregenerate men, it must be in a character that will suit all unregenerate men. But all unregenerate men are not excessively abandoned to wickedness. Many of them are moral in their lives. Looking to the external form of the law, the Apostle declares (Phil, iii., 6) that he was, in his unconverted state, blameless ; and in respect to his conduct afterwards as before men, he could appeal to them (1 Thess. ii., 10) how holily, and justly, and unblamably he had behaved himself among them. But in referring also, as he does here, to what is internal, and therefore speaking as before God, who alone searcheth the heart, and measuring himself by the Holy law in all its extent, he confesses himself to be carnal and sold under sin. His na- ture, or old man, was entirely opposed to the spirituality of the law. He felt a law or power within him against which he struggled, from which he desired to be free, but which still asserted its tyrannical au- thority. Notwithstanding the grace he had obtained, he found himself far from perfection, and in all respects unable, though ardently desiring, to attain that much wished for object. When he says he is carnal — sold under sin — he expresses the same sentiment as in the 18th verse, 298 ROMANS VII., 14. whcro, distinguishing between his old and new nature, he says, " in mc (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing;" or, as lie speaks elsewhere concerning the old man in believers, " which is corrupt ac- cording to the deceitful lusts," which he exhorts them to put off. It ought to be noted, that when the Apostle says, I am carnal, sold under sin, it is the language of bitter complaint, as appears from the sequel, and ts])cciidly from the 24lh verse, which expresses a feeling respect- ing sin that does not Ijclong to any unregeneratc man. It is, then, in comparing himself with the holy, just, good, and spi- ritual law. now come home in its power to his conscience, that the Apostle here declares himself to be carnal, sold under sin. The law requires us to love God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength ; and our neighbor as our- selves. Of this, every man in his best state and in his very best thought or action falls continually short. He proceeds a certain length in his obedience, but beyond that he caiuiot go. And why is it that into the region beyond this he does not advance ? Because he is carnal, sold under sin. The sin that remains in him binds him so that he cannot proceed. Sin, however, does not reign over him ; otherwise, as it is directly opposed to every degree of obedience to the law, it would not suffer him to do anything, even the least, in conform- ity to the will of God. Yet it so far prevails, as to hinder him, as is here inunediately added, from doing the good that he would ; and in so far, he is sold under it. It therefore prevents him from attaining to that perfection of obedience to the law of God which is the most earnest desire of every Christian, and to which the believer shall attain when he sees his blessed Lord as he is, 1 John iii., 2. That Paul had not attained to this state of perfection he, in another place, assures us, Phil, iii., 12. " Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." How then are these expressions, carnal, sold under sin, inapplicable to the Apostle ? If Paul had said he had no sin, he would have deceived himself, and the truth would not have been in him, 1 John i., 8. And if he had sin, and was unable to free himself from its power, was he not carnal, sold under it '( There was spirit in him, but there was also flesh, and in his flesh he tells us dwelt no good thing : it was still sin or corrupt nature, and nothing but sin. In one point of view, then, Paul the Apostle could truly say that he was spiritual ; in another, with equal truth, that he was carnal, literally and truly both spiritual and carnal, " The flesh lusted against the spirit, and the spirit agamst the flesh, and these were contrary the one to the other." He was sold under sir as a child of the first Adam, and he delighted in the law of God as a child of the second Adam. Accordingly, through the whole of this passage, to the end of the chapter, Paul describes liimself as a twofold person, and points to two distinct natures operating within him. This is a universal truth respecting all believers. As Paul declares to the churches of Galatia, and, as in the passage before us, he affirms of himself, they cannot do the things that they would, Gal. iv., 17. In the end of this chapter he asserts the same truth. So then xoith ROMANS VII., 16. 299 the mind — what he before called the inward man — / myself serve the laio of God, hut with the flesh — wliat remained of his corrupt nature, in which dwelt no good thing — the law of sin. — Sin was displaced from its dominion but not from its indwelling. There was, then, in the Apostle Paul, as in every Ciiristian, " as it were the company of two armies," Song of Solomon vi., 13. From this warfare, and these op- posing principles within, no Christian in this world is ever exempt ; and of this every one who knows the plague of his own heart is fully convinced. V. 15. — For that which I do I allow not : for what I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that do I. For. — This verse explains and confirms the preceding. That which I do, I alloiu not. — Literally, I know not. Tiie English word know, as well as the word in the original, is often used as implying recognition or acknowledgment. We are said not to know a person whom we do not choose to recognize. Paul committed sin, but he did not recognize or approve it. He disclaimed all friendly acquaintance with it. For what I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that do I. Every man, regenerate or unregenerate, must be sensible of the truth of this, so far as it imports that he does what he knows to be wrong. As there is no regenerate man in whom this is not verified, it cannot be- confined to the unregenerate. But as it is of the regenerate the Apostle is here speaking ; that is, as he is speaking of himself at the time of writing, it is necessary to apply it here peculiarly to the regenerate. Besides, as it is said that he did what he hated, it must be here applied exclusively to the regenerate. Though an unregenerate man disap- proves of evil, he cannot be said to hate sin. This is characteristic of the regenerate, and of such only. " Ye that love the Lord, liate evil.' — Ps. xcvii., 10. It is characteristic of the Redeemer himself: "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity." — Heb. i., 9. The follow- ing words are decisive on the subject : — " The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." — Prov. viii., 3. Some suppose that what the Apostle says in this verse is to the same purpose with the noted heathen confession : — " Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor." " I see what is better and approve of it ; 1 follow what is worse." But these propositions are not at all identical. The heathen confesses that he practises what he knows to be wrong, but his inconsistency arises from the love of the evil. Paul confesses that he does what is wrong, but declares that instead of loving the evil, he regards it with hatred and abhorrence. V. IG. — If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law, that it is good. If then I do that which I would not. — Dr. Macknight translates " which I inclijie not.'''' But this is not according to fact. A man may do what his conscience disapproves, but in acting thus he does not thwart his inclination. Liclination is a tendency or bent in a particular direction, and the bent of every man is naturally to sin. Mr. Stuart translates the word "desire," but neither is this correct. Sin may be 300 ROMANS VII., 17. contrary to reason and consciciiro, but it is agreeable to desire. / consent vnto the law that it is good. — When a regenerate man does what lie hales, his own mind testifies his approval of the law that pro- hibits the sin which he has practised. V. 17. — Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. By the / here, Dr. Macknight and Mr. Stuart understand reason and conscience. But reason and conscience can in no sense be called a man's self. In this way a murderer might aflirm that it was not he who con)niittcd the crime, for no doubt his reason and consci(>ncc dis- approved of the action. It is quite obvious that the reason why Paul '' says that it was not he but sin in him, is because, as he had ju.'^l staled, that which he did he allowed not, for he did that which he would not. This implies more than reason and conscience. Il was, therefore, sin ^^a/ dwelt in him — the old man, his carnal nature, which not only ex- isted and wrought in him, but had its abode in him, as it has in all those who are regenerated, and will have so long as they are in iHe body. It is not, then, to extenuate the evil of sin, or to furnish an excuse for it, that Paul says, it is no more I, but sin that dwelleth in me ; but to show that notwithstanding his seeing it to be evil, and hating it, the root still subsisted in him, and was chargeable upon him. if^l is not necessary to be able to point out metaphysically the way in which the truth that all sin is voluntary, harmonizes with Paul's de- claration, the good that I would I do not. Things may be consistent which the human mind cannot penetrate. We are to receive God's testimony from the Apostle, and believe il on (iod's authority ; and every Christian knows, by painful experience, ihe truth of all thai the Apostle asserts. " What here would strike any mind free of bias," says Mr. Frazer, in his excellent exposition of this chapter, in his work on Sanclification, "is, that this (I) on the side of holiness against sin, is the most pre- vailing, and what represents the true character of ihe man ; and that sin which he distinguishes from this (I) is not the prevailing reigning power in the man here represented ; as il is, however, in every unre- gcnerate man."* On this verse Calvin also has remarked — " This ! passage clearly proves Paul is disputing concerning none but the pious, ^ who are now regenerated. For man, while he continues like himself, 1 whatever his character may be, is justly considered to be vicious." No one can disclaim sin, as in this verse il is disclaimed, except the converted man ; for who besides can conscientiously and intellibly affirm, " Now then it is no more I thai do il, but sin thai dwelleth in me ?" * A man of God, so deeply acfiuainted with the human heart, and so advanced in the divine life aa this writer cvidenUy was, is a much beUer jud^e of the import of this cliapter than a mere critic, however distinguished for talents and learning. To eminent godliness Mr. Frazer added profound penetration and remarkable discrimination; Jualities in which many critics who attempt to expound the Scripture are greatly eficient. ROMANS VII., 19- 301 V. 18. — For I know that in mc (that is, in my flesh) dwellcth no good thing ; for to will is present with me ; but how to perform that which is good I find not. I know. — This is a thing which Paul knew as an Aposlle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he must have known by experience also. Whoever has a proper knowledge of himself will be convinced that naturally there is nothing good in him. What Paul knew was, that in him dwelt no good thing. This goes beyond what he had asserted in the end of the preceding verse. There he asserts that the evil which he did was caused by sin dwelling in him. Here he asserts not only that sin dwelt in him, but that no good tiling dwelt in him. But how could he say so, if he was a regenerated man 1 If there was some- thing in him which he calls himself, and which he would not allow to have any share in his sin, how can he say that there is in him no good thing ? Is not this principle that hates the sin which he commits a good principle ? Certainly it is. And to prevent such an inference from his words, he explains by a parenthesis tlie sense in which he asserts that no good thing dwelt in him. That is in my Jlesh. — He confines the assertion to his carnal nature. Nothing can more clearly and expressly show that this description is a description of the regene- rate man. What has an unrenewed man but flesh ? His very reason and conscience are defiled, Titus i., 15. To ivill is present ivith me ; hut how to perform that ivhich is good I find not. — " That is," says Mr. Frazer, " to will what is good and holy : and thus it was with him habitually and ready with him." Mr. Stuart, in his commentary, renders this, " for to will that which is good, is in my pov\-er ; but to do it, I do not find (in my power)." Yet in the next he translates it, " for to desire what is good, is easy for me, but to do it I find difficult," which is an entirely different and contra- dictory idea. A thing that is very difficult may yet be performed. Dr. Macknight renders it, " indeed to incline lies near me, but to work out what is excellent, I do not fiud near me," giving no distinct sense, from an affectation of rendering literally. Calvin says, " He (Paul) does not mean that he has nothing but an ineffectual volition and desire, but he asserts the efficacy of the work does not correspond to the will, because the flesh hinders him from exactly performing what he is en- gaged in executing." V. 19. — For the good that I would I do not : but the evil which I would not, that I do. For the good that I ivould I do not. — This does not imply that he did not attempt, or in some sense perform what he purposed, but that in all he came short. Calvin, in continuation of the last quotation from him, says, " What follows — to do the evil which he would not, must also be taken in the same sense, because the faithful are not only hindered from running speedily by their own flesh, but it also opposes' many ob- stacles against which they stumble ; and they do not, therefore, perform their duty, because they do not engage in it with becoming alacrity. The will, therefore, here mentioned, is the readiness of faith, while the Holy Spirit forccs'the pious to be prepared and zealous in employing 302 ROMANS Vll., 22. their lime to ixM-forin obedience to (lod. liul P:uil, hecausc his power is iiiUMiual to the l;isk, asserts, that he does not find what he was wish- ing to attain — the accoinphshuient of iiis good desires." Jh/t the evil which I would not that J do. 80 far from being unsuital)le to the real character of regenerate man, every regenerate man must be sensible from liis own experience lliat this charge is true. V. CO. — Now, if I do tliiit I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwcllcth in me. This is a confirmation of what was asserted, verse 17, by alleging the reason on which the assertion is founded. It is not reason and con- science that Paul here declares to have no share in the evil ; it is the will which he expressly mentions, and, whatever metaphysical difficul- ties it may involve, of the will it must be imderstood. The conclusion we ought to draw, is not to contradict the Apostle by denying that he speaks of the will, but that m one sense it is true that no sin is involun- tary, and that in another sense, what the Apostle here asserts is also an undoubted truth. V. '21. — I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. The evil propensity of our nature the Apostle calls a law, because of its str'^ngth and permanence. It has the force of a law in corrupt nature. This proves that it is of himself as to his present state that the Apostle speaks. None but the regenerate man is properly sensible of this law. It does not refer to conscience, which in an unregencrate man will smile him when he does that which he knows to be wTong. It refers to the evil principle which counteracts him when he would do that which is right. This law is the greatest grievance to every Chris- tian. It disturbs his happiness and peace more than any other cause. It constantly besets him, and from its influence, his very prayers, in- stead of being in themselves worthy of God, need forgiveness, and can be accepted only through the mediation of Christ. It is strange that any Christian should even hesitate as to the character in which the Apostle uses this language. It entirely suits the Christian, and not in one solitary feature does it wear the feeblest semblance of any other character. V. 2-2. — For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. In the preceding verse Paul had said, I would do good ; here he more fully expresses the same desire after conformity to the holy law. For I delight in the law of God. — This is decisive of the character in which the Apostle speaks. None but the regenerate delight in the law of God. Mr. JStuart, after the Arminian Whitby, and the Ariau Taylor, has referred to a number of passages, in order to lower the import of this term. But they have no similarity to the present case. They are too numerous to be introduced and discussed in this place. Whoever wishes to examine them may consult Mr. Frazcr's w#rk on Sanclifica- ROMANS VII., 24. 303 tion, in whicli they arc most satisfactorily proved to be misapplied, and wrested to tlie perversion of the truth. To delight in the law of the Lord is characteristic of the regenerate man. The unregencrate man hates that law as far as he sees the extent of its demands to transcend his power of fulfilment. He is en- mity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ; chap, viii., 7. How then can he delight in it? After the in- ward man. — The inward man is a term used only by Paul, and in refer- ence to those who are regenerated. It is the new or spiritual nature, not merely the reason and conscience. Than this nothing can be more obviously characteristic of the Christian. Notwithstanding the evil of his corrupt nature, he is conscious of delighting in the law of God in its full extent. V. 23. — But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to tlie law of sin, which is in my members. In the preceding verse, the Apostle had spoken of the law of God in the inward man ; here he speaks of another law in his meynbers, warring against the laiu of his mind. Thus, he denominates his new and spirit- ual nature his " inward man" and his " mind," and his old and carnal nature his " members." The bent of the Apostle's mind, according to his renewed nature, inclined him to delight in the law of God. But he found an opposite bent in his corrupt nature, which he calls a law in his members. This he represents as warring against the other. Is not this the experience of every Christian 7 Is there not a constant struggle of the corruptions of the heart against the principle of holiness implanted by the Spirit of God in the new birth ? And bringing me into captivity to the law of sin. — Mr. Stuart en- deavors to aggravate this description in such a manner as to render it unsuitable to the regenerate man. He supposes that this repre- sents the person as brought entirely and completely into captivity, which cannot be supposed of the regenerate. He refers to captives taken in war, who are entirely in the power of their conquerors, and are reduced to the most abject slavery. This is feeble reasoning. How far this captivity extends cannot be known from the figure. And as a matter of fact, if the evil principle of our nature prevails in exciting one evil thought, it has taken us captive. So far it has conquered, and so far we are defeated and made prisoners. But this is quite consistent with the supposition that on the whole we may have the victory over sin. V. 24. — 0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? O wretched man that I am. — This language is suitable only to the regenerate. An unregenerate man is indeed wretched, but he does not feel the wretchedness here expressed. He may be sensible of misery, and he may be filled with anxious fears and dreadful forebodings ; but ^ the person here described is wretched only from a sense of the evil prin- ciple which is in his members. Such a feeling no unregenerate man ever possessed. An unregenerate man may wish to be delivered from i danger and punishment j but instead of wishing to be delivered from j 304 ROMANS VII., 25. the law of his nature, he (lelic;hts in that law. lie has so much plea- 1 sure in in(iuli;int!; that law, that lor its sake he risks all conscquc-nces. 7V/r htxhf of this (IcalJt. — Some undcrstatul this of his natural body, and suppose the exclamation to be a wish to die. But this would be a sentimt'ut totally at variance with the piinciples of the Apostle, and unsuitable to the scope of the passage. It is evidently an expression of a wish to be free from that corrupt principle which caused hiin so much affliction. This he calls a body, as before he had called it his membeis. And he calls it a body of death, because its demerit is death. It causes death and everlastinp^ ruin to tbe world; and had it not been for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it must have had the same con- sequences; with respect to all. V. 25. — I thank God, tliroiij;li Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I my- self serve the law of God : but with the flesh the law of sin. I thank God. — Some suppose that this expresses thanks for the victory as already obtained. But this cannot be the meaning; as in the same breath, the Apostle speaks of his wretchedness, because of the existence of the evil. Some, again, supposing that it refers to present deliverance, explain it to be the freedom from the law spoken of in the preceding part of the chapter. But this would make the Apostle speak entirely away from the purpose. He is discoursing of that corruption which he still experiences. Besides, the form of the expression requires that the deliverance should be supposed future, u'ho shall deliver me I I thank God throii fully assured, it is that Paul has in this passage described his experi- ence ; and the more the believer advances in knowledge and holiness, the more does he loathe himself as by nature a child of that corruption .( which still so closely cleaves to him. So far is the feeling of the'j power of indwelling sin from being inconsistent with regeneration, that ' it must be experienced in proportion to the progress of sanctification. The more sensitive we are, the more do we feel pain ; and the more our hearts arc purified, the more painful to us will sin be. Men per- ceive themselves to be sinners in proportion as they have previously^ discovered the holiness of God and of his law. -^ The conflict here described by Paul, his deep conviction of sin con- sisting with delight in the law of God, and this agreement of heart with its holy precepts, are peculiar to those only who are regenerated by the Spirit of God. They who know the excellence of that law, and earnesily desire to obey it, will feel the force of the Apostle's language. It results from the degree of sanctification to which he had attained, from his hatred of sin, and profound humility. This conflict was the most painful of his trials, compelling him in bitterness to exclaim, " O wretched man thai. I am !" — an exclamation never wrung from liim by all his multiplied persecutions and outward sufferings. The proof that from the 14lh verse to the endof tlie chapter, he relates bis own experience at the time when he wrote this Epistle, is full and complete. Throughout tlie wliole of this passage, instead of employing the past / time, as lie docs from the 7th to the Mlh verse, Paul uniformly adopts X the present, while lie speaks in the first person about forty times, with-* out the smallest intimation that he is referring to any one else, or to Ittrnseif at any foriner period. ' His professed, object all along is to show that the l.VvV c:in effect nothing for the salvation of a siinier, which he had proved lo be t!ie character of all men ; and, by speaking in his own name, lie s!iov»"s that of this every one wlio is a partaker of his grace is in his best stale convinced. In the end he Iriumphant'.y alfirms t.'iat Christ will deliver him, while in tlie meantime he experiences this j^ainful and mn-emilling warfare', and closes the wlu.'lc bv saying, " So then with the nnnd I myself serve the law of (Tod ; but v»'ith the flesh y the law of sin." Can it be supposed that in saying, " I myself," the Apos- j/ lie meant another man, or that in using the present time he refers to a i 308 ROMANS VII., 25. I fonnor period ? Of what value is laiiirnairc, if it can be so tortured as to admit of an interpretation ;it direct variance with its obvious mean- ing ? To suppose that another, and not the Apostle iiimself, is here ;' designed, is contrary to ever)' principle of sound interpretation. / Paul, in this chapter, contrasts iiis former with his present state. Formerly, when ignorant of the true import of the law, he entertained a high ojiinion of himself. " I was alive without the law once." Ac- cordingly he speaks, in other parts of his writings, of his sincerity, his religious zeal, and his irreproachable moral conduct before his conver- «. sion. Aftcrwartls, when the veil of self-delusion was removed, he dis- *covercd that he had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious, and in unbelief; so that, when he was an Apostle, he calls himself the chief of sinners. If he was convinced that he had been a sinner, condemned by the law, it was when the Lord Jesus was revealed to him ; for till then he was righteous in his own esteem. Before that time he was dead in trespasses and sins, having nothing but his original corrupted nature, which he calls sin. lie had no conviction that he was radically and practically a sinner, of which the passage before us proves he was now fully conscious. From this period the llesh or sin, which he else- where calls "the old man," remained in him. Though it harassed him much, he did not walk according to it ; but being now in tlie spirit, the new nature which he had received predominated. He therefore clearly establishes in this chapter the opposition between the old man and the working of the new nature. This is according to the uniform language of his Epistles, as well as of the whole of Scripture, both in its doc- trinal and historical parts. In consistency witb this, he exhorts the '^saints" at Ephesus to "put off the old man, which is corrupt accord- ing to the deceitful lusts ;" and calls on the '"faithful' brethren" at Co- losse to mortify their members which are upon the earth. All his instructions "to the?/i that are sa?ictifed in Christ Jesus" proceed on the same principle. And why were they cautioned by him even against the grossest sins, but because there was still in them a principle dis posed to every sin ? There are three circumstances in this passage which are of them- selves decisive of the fact, that Paul here recounts his own present experience. The first is that the Apostle hates sin. He hates it be- cause it is rebellion against (lod and the violation of his law. This *no unconverted man does oi can do. He may dislike the evil effects of sin, and consequently wish that he had not committed it ; but he does not, as the Apostle here declares of himself, hate sin. Hating sin is the counterpart of loving the law of God. The second circumstance in proof that the Apostle is here referring to the present time, is that he delights in the law of God after the inward man. Now it is only when sin is dethroned and grace reigns in the titcn, that this can be a truth. " I delight," says the Psalmist, "to do thy will, O my Ciod ; yea, thy law is in my heart." "I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I love." — Psal. xl., 8 ; cxix^, IG, 24, 35, 47, 92, \)7, 174. Delight in his law and the fear of God cannot be separated. The Holy Spirit pronounces such persons ROMANS VII., 25. 309 blessed. " Blessed is the man that fearetli the Lord, that dehgliteth greatly in his commandments," Psal. cxii., 1, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sittcth in the seat of the scornful ; but his delight is in the law of the Lord,'''' Psal. i., 1. Thus the man that delights in the law of the Lord is blessed ; and who will affirm that an unconverted man is blessed ? Far from delighting in the law of God, which the first commandment enjoins, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," " the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Such is the state of every unconverted man. And if, as all Scripture testifies, enmity against God be the characteristic of the wicked, and delight in God and his law be the characteristic of a regenerate man, by what perversion of language, by what species of sophistry, can it be affirmed, that the Apostle, while describing his inward delight in God, is to be regarded as portraying himself in his original unconverted state ? So far was he, while in that state, from delighting in God, either inwardly or outwardly, that his carnal mind was enmity against Jehovah, and his zeal was ma- nifested in persecuting the Lord of Glory. The third circumstance which incontestibly proves that Paul is here relating his present personal experience, is his declaration that he ex- pects his deliverance from Jesus Christ. Is this the language of a man dead in trespasses and sins — of one who is a stranger to the truth as it is in Jesus, and to whom the things revealed by the Spirit of God are foolishness? — 1 Cor. ii., 14. "No man," says Jesus, "can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." " No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. xii., 3. How, then, shall an unconverted man look to him for deliverance ? Li another place already referred to, the Apostle describes the inter- nal warfare experienced by Christians between the flesh and the spirit, or the old and new man, in language precisely similar to what he here employs concerning himself; " The fl.esh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." — Gal. v., 17. In the midst of his apostolic labors, where he is endeavoring to ani- mate those to whom he wrote, Paul represents himself engaged as here in the same arduous struggle. " I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." — 1 Cor. ix., 27. Having there a different object in view, lie refers to his success in the struggle ; while, in the chapter before us, his design is to exhibit the power of the enemy with whom he has to contend. But, in both cases, he speaks of a severe contest v/ith an enemy within, striving to bring him into captivity to sin and death. In another place, addressing those at Ephe- sus, whom he describes as " quickened together with Christ," and in- cluding himself, whilst speaking in the character of " an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God," he uses the following unequivocal and energetic language — " For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark- 310 ROMANS VI r., 2'). ncss of this world, against siiiritiial wickedness in liifjli places." He therefore calls on those to whom he wrote to " take the whole srmor of Uod, that they may I)c able to withstand and to qnencii the fiery darts of the wicked one." — Ej)h. vi., 12. Does not this describe a con- flict eqnally severe as that in which, in the passage before us, he repre- sents himself to be engaged ? Does not this imply that evil existed in himself, as well as in those to whom he wrote, witiiout which the fiery darts of the devil could have taken no more effect than on him in whom the prince of this world when he came found " nothing ?" And what is the purpose of the Christian armor, but to fit us to fight with flesh and blood ; namely, our corruptions, as well as other enemies, against which Paul says we wrestle ? Was the Apostle Peter chargeable with the sin of dissimulation, and did the Apostle Paul experience no internal struggle with the old man which caused the fall of his fellow Apostle ? Did Paul call upon other saints to put off" the old man, and was there not in hina an old man ? Did he admonish all his bretiiren, without excep- tion, to mortif}^ their members which were upon the earth, and had he no sins to mortify ? And why was it necessary for the Lord to send him a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, to curb the pride of his nature, and prevent him from being exalted above measure, had it not been for the remaining corruption of his nature working powerfully in his heart, which from this it appears all his other severe trials and afflictions were insufficient to subdue ? This alone determines the question. Was it not incumbent too on Paul, as on all other believers, to pray daily for the forgiveness of .his sins ? Was it not necessary for him, like David, to pray that his heart might be enlarged that he might run the way of (iod's commandments ? — Psal. cxix., 32. All that Paul says in this chapter concerning himself and his inward corruption entirely corresponds w^ith vviiat we are taught both in the Old Testament and the New respecting the people of God. Tlie piety and devotedness to God of the holiest men did not prevent the evil that was in them from appearing in many parts of tlicir conduct ; while at tiie same time we are informed of the horror they expressed on ac- count of their transgressions. God declares that there was no man like Job on the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil ; and by God himself Job is classed with two others of his most eminent saints, Ezck. xiv., 14. Yet Job exclaims, " Behold I am vile ; what shall I answer thee ? I will lay my hand upon my mouth." " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee ; wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes," Job xl., 4 ; xli., 5. " My soul," says the Psahnist in the same Psalm in which he so often asserts that he delights in the law of God, " My soul cleavcth unto the dust," while in the preceding sentence he had declared, "Thy testimonies also arc my delight;" and again, " 1 will delight myself in thy commandments, which J have loved ;" " O how I love thy law ! it is my meditation all the day ;" " My soul hatli kept thy testimonies ; and I love them exceedingly ;" yet he says, " Mine iniquities arc gone over my head as an heavy burden ; they are ROMANS VII., 25. 311 too lieavy for me. My wounds stink and arc corrupt, because of my foolishness ;" " my loins arc filled with a loathsome disease, and there is no soundness in my flesh ;" " My groaning is not liid from thee ;" " I will declare mine iniquity." Yet in the same Psalm David says, " In thee, 0 Lord, do I hope." " They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries ; because I follow the thing that is good, Make haste to help me, 0 Lord, my salvation." Liiquities, he says, prevail against him, while he rejoices in the forgiveness of his sins. " Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." " Woe is me," exclaims the Prophet Isaiah, '' for I am a man of un- clean lips," vi., 5. " Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ? " Prov. xx., 9. God promised to establish an everlasting covenant with Israel, Ezek. xvi., 63 ; and the consequence was to be that they should loathe themselves and be confounded when God was pacified towards them. The complaints of the servants of God all proceeded from the same source, namely, their humiliating ex- perience of indwelling sin, at the same time that, after the inward man, they delighted in the law of God. And could it be otherwise in men who by the Spirit of God were convinced of sin ? John xvi., 8. There is not a man on earth that delights in the law of God who does not know that his soul decweth unto the dust. Comparing himself with the law of God, Paul might well lament his remaining corruption, as the Apostle Peter, experiencing the same con- sciousness of his sinfulness, exclaims, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord ;" or, as the Apostle James confesses, " In many things we all offend." Both Peter and James here declare that they themselves, although Apostles of Christ, had sin in them. Was then Paul an exception to this ? and if he had sin, is it not a, just account of it, when he says that there was a law within him warring against the law of his mind ; in short, a contest between^what he elsewhere calls the new and the old man ? If, on the other hand, an account of any- thing done either by him or in him, of any zeal, excellency, or attain- ment, Paul, or any man, sliould fancy himself in a slate of sinless per- fection, the Holy Ghost by the mouth of the Apostle John charges him with self-deception. " If we" (Apostles or others) " say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," 1 John i., 8. Whence, then, is there any difficulty in admitting that in the account of the internal struggle in the passage before us, Paul de- scribed his own warfare with mdwelling sin, or that it portrays a state of mind incompatible with tliat of an Apostle '? Did Paul's sanctifica- tion differ in kind from that of other believers, so as to render this in- credible, or, in as far as it may have exceeded that of most other be- hevers, did it differ only in degree ? There is then no ground whatever for denying that he here related his own personal experience, according to the plain, literal, and obvious import of the expressions he employs. Were Paul, when judged at the tribunal of God, to take his stand on the best action he ever performed in the midst of his apostolic labors, he would be condemned for ever. Imperfection would be found to cleave to the very best of his services ; and imperfeclion even in the 312 ROMANS VII., 25. least possible degree, as it respects the law of God, is sin. " Cursed is every one that contimieth not in all things that arc written in the book of the law to do them." And who is the mere man that, since the fall, came up for one moment lO the standard of this huly law, which says, "Thou shalt love the Lord witli all thy heart ?" It was on a frround very different from that of his own obedience, that Paul, when about to depart from the world, joyfully exclaimed, " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day." Yes, it will be a crown of righteousness, because Christ having been made of God imto him " wisdom," Paul had renounced his own righteousness, that so being found in Him, ho might possess " tiie righteousness which is of God, by faith." He was, therefore, covered with the robe of right- eousness, even the righteousness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, — Jehovah our righteousness, — who is the end of the law for righteous- ness to every one that belicvetii. And thus, in the judgment of strict justice, Paul with all believers, notwithstanding all his and their sins and shortcomings, shall be pronounced " righteous," — a character twice given to those who shall appear on the right liand of the throne, Matt. XXV., ;^7-46, — in that day, when the " righteous servant" of Jehovah shall judge the world in righteousness. Thus, too, when the great multitude of those who have washed their robes in tlie hlood of the Lamb shall stand before the throne, the full import of the words of Paul, with which in the 5th chapter of this Epistle he closes the ac- count of the entrance of sin and death, and of righteousness and life, will be made gloriously manifest, " That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so miglit grace reign through righteousness \\\\\o eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." That great truth which Paul has also declar- ed will then be fully verified, that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, because therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Witii carnality then — tiie corruption of his nature — Paul the Apostle was chargeable, and of this, at all times after his conversion, he was fully sensible. Conscious that he had never for one moment attained to the perfection of obedience to the law of God ; and knowing by the teaching of the Spirit of God tliat there was a depth of wickedness in his heart which he never could fathom — for wlio but God can knoxo the heart, which " is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," Jer. xvii., 9 ; — well might he designate himself a "wretched man," and turn with more earnestness than ever to his blessed Lord to be delivered ii-om such a body of death. With what holy indignation would he have spurned from him such perverse glosses as are put upon his words, to explain away their obvious import, by men who profess to believe the doctrines, and to understand the principles which form the basis of all he was commissioned by his divine Master to proclaim to the fidlen children of Adam. He would have warned them not to think of him above that which is written — 1 Cor. iv., 6. And most assuredly they who cannot persuade themselves that the confessions and lamentations in the passage before us, strong as they undoubtedly are, could possi bly be applicable to the Apostle Paul do think of him above what is de- ROMANS VII., 25. 313 dared in every part of the word of ( Jod to be the character of every renewed man wliile he remains in this world. In jMr. Toplady's works it is stated that some of Dr. Doddridge's last words were, " The best prayer 1 ever offered up in my Ufe de- serves damnation." In this sentiment Dr. Doddridge did not in the smallest degree exceed the truth. And with equal truth Mr. Toplady says of himself, " Oil, that ever such a wretch as I should be tempted to think highly of himself! I that am of myself nothing but sin and weakness. In wdiosc flesh naturally dwells no good thing ; I who de- serve damnation for the best work I ever performed." — Vol. iv., 171, and 1-41. These are the matured opinions concerning themselves of men who had been taught by the same Spirit as the Apostle Paul. Every man who knoAvs " the plague of his own heart," whatever may be the view he has taken of this passage, hiows for certain, that even if the Apostle Paul has not given here an account of his own ex- perience at the time when he wrote this Epistle, such loas actually the Aposfle^s experience day by day. He also knows that the man who is not daily constrained to cry out to himself, " 0 wretched man that I am," from a sense of Jiis indwelling corruption and his short-comings, is not a Christian. He has not been convinced of sin by the Spirit of God; he is not one of those, who, like the Apostle Paul, are forced to confess, " We that are in this tabernacle do groan," 2 Cor. v., 2, 4 ; or to say, " We ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves," Rom. viii., 23. The Apostle's exclamation in the passage before us, " 0 wretched man that I am," is no other than this groaning. And every regenerate man, the more he is convinced of sin, which in his natural state never disturbed his thoughts, the more he advances in the course of holiness, and the more nearly he approaches to the image of his Divine master, the more deeply will he groan under the more vivid conception and the stronger abhorrence of the malignity of his indwelling sin. It is easy to see how suitable it was that the author of this Epistle should detail his own experience, and thus describe the iniernal work- ings of his heart, and not merely refer to his external conduct. He speaks of himself, that it might not be supposed that the miserable condition he described did not concern believers ; and to prove that the most holy ought to humble themselves before God, since God would find in them a body of sin and death ; guilty, as in themselves, of eter- nal death. Nothing then could serve more fully to illustrate his doctrine in the preceding part of it, respecting human depravity and guilt, and the universality of the inveterate malady of sin, than to show that it was capable, even in himself, with all the grace of which he was so distinguished a subject, of opposing with such force the princi])les^ of the new life in his soul. In this view, the passage before us per- fectly accords with the Apostle's design in this chapter, in win'ch, for the comfort of believers, he is testifying that, by their marriage with Christ, they are dead to the law, as he had taught in the preceding chapter, that, by union with him in his death and resurrection, they are dead to sin, whicli amounts to the same thing. As, in the conclud- 314 ROMANS VII., 25. ing part of tliat chapter, he liad shown Ijy hjs exhortations to duty, that, by anirniing that they were dead to sin, he did not mean that they were exempt from its commission ; so, in the concluding part of tins chap- ter, lie shows, by detailing his own experience, that he did not mean that, by their being dead to the law, they were exempt from its viola- lion. In one word, while, by both of these expressions, dead to sin, and dead to the law, he intended to teach that their justification was complete, he proves, by what he says in the concluding parts of both chapters, that their sanctification was incomplete. And as, referring to himself personally, he proves the incompleteness of the sanctification of believers, by looking forward to a future period of deliverance, say- ing, who shall deliver me ; so, referring to himself personally in the beginning of the second verse of the next chapter, he proves the com- pleteness o{ \\\c\x justification, by speaking of his deliverance in respect to it as past, saying, " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." The view which the Apostle here gives of his own experience clear- ly demonstrates, that the pain experienced by believers in their internal conflicts is quite compatible with the blessed and consolatory assurance of eternal life. This he also proves, in those passages above quoted, 2 Cor. v., 1. " We knoiv, that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, wc have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this (tabernacle) we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven." And in chapter viii., 23, where he says, " ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit ; even we ourselves groan with- m ourselves." It was, then, to confirm the faith of the disciples, and furnish a living exhibition of their spiritual conflict, that Paul here lays open his own heart, and discloses the working of those two warring principles, which to a greater or less extent contend for the mastery in the bosom of every child of God. Eveiy perversion, then, of this highly important part of the Divine testimony ought to be most strenuously opposed. It is not an insulated passage ; it contains the clear development of a great general principle which belongs to the whole of Divine revelation, and is essential to its truth — a principle of the utmost importance in Christian experience. " Blessed be God," says Mr. Romaine, "for the 7th chapter of the Romans." The wisdom discovered in making the present experience of Paul the object of contemplation ought to awaken in our hearts feelings of the liveliest gratitude. Had we been presented with a spectacle of the internal feelings of one less eminently holy, the effect would have been greatly weakened. But when this Apostle, whose life was spent in laboring for the glor)' of God ; when he, whose blameless conduct was such as to confound his enemies who sought occasion against him ; when he, who finished his course with joy, having fought a good fight, and kept the faith ; when he, whose conscience enabled him to look back with satisfaction on the past, and forward with joy to the future ; when he, who stood ready to receive the crown of righteousness, wIRch ROMANS VIII. 315 by the eye of faith lie beheld laid up for liim in heaven ; when one so favored, so distinguislied, as tlie great Apostle of the Gentiles, is him- self constrained, in turning his eye inward upon the rebellious strivings of his old nature, to cry out, " O wretched man that I am !" — what a wonderful exhibition do we behold of the malignity of that sin, which has so deeply poisoned and corrupted our original nature, that death itself is needful in order to sever its chains and destroy its power in the soul ! This passage, then, is peculiarly fitted to comfort those who are op- pressed with a sense of indwelling sin in tlie midst of their spiritual conflicts, unknown to all except themselves and the Searcher of hearts. There may be some believers who, not having examined it witii suffi- cient care, or being misled by false interpretations, mistake its natural and obvious meaning, and fear to apply the words which it contains to Paul as an Apostle. When these shall have viewed this portion of the Divine Word in its true light, they will bless God for the instruction and consolation it is calculated to afford ; while the whole of the repre- sentation, under this aspect, will appear foolishness to all who are Christians only in name, and who never experienced in themselves that internal conflict which the Apostle here describes. It is a conflict from which not one of the people of God, since the fall of the first man, was ever exempted — a conflict which He alone never experienced who is called " the Son of the Highest," of whom, notwithstanding, it has of late been impiously affirmed, that He also was subjected to it. CHAPTER VIII. This chapter presents a glorious display of the power of divine grace j and of the provision which God has made for the consolation of his people. While the Apostle had proved, in the 6th, that his previous doctrine gave no license to believers to continue in sin, he had still kept in view his main purpose of establishing their free justification. In the 7th he had prosecuted the same object, declaring that by their marriage with Christ they were delivered from the law as a covenant of life or death, while he vindicated its character, use, and authority. In this chapter, he continues the subject of justification, and resumes that of the believer's assurance of his salvation, of which he had spoken in the 5th, establishing it on new grounds; and from the whole train of his argument from the commencement of the Epistle, he now draws the general conclusion, that to them who are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation. While this could not have been accom- plished by the law, he shows that it had been effected by the incarna- tion of the Son of God, by whom the law has been fulfilled for all who are one with him as members of his body. Paul next points 31G ROMANS ^III., 1. out the (lifTei'ence of character between those who, being in their na- tural state under the law and under sin, are carnally-iniiided ; and those who, bein<; renewi-d by grace, in whom the law has been ful- filled, are spiritually-minded. The condition of the I'omier is death, that of the latter life and peace. Of these last he proceeds, thiough the remainder of the chapter, to assert the high privileges and abso- lute security. Those who are sj)iritually-minded have the Spirit of Christ, and pos- sess spiritual life. Although their bodies must return to the dust, they shall be raised up again. They are led by the Spirit ; they are the sons of God, and in his service are delivered from a spirit of bondage. They look to him as their F.-ither ; are heirs of God; and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. To encourage believers to sustain the sulltiings to whieh, while in this world, they are exposed, the most varied and abundant consolations are exhibited. Their salvation is declared to have taken its rise in the eternal councils of God, by whom, through all its steps, it is carried into effect. Their condemnation, then, IS impossible, — for who shall condemn those whom God juslifieth — for whom Christ died and rose, and intercedes? The Apostle concludes by defying the whole universe to separate believers from the love of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. In this manner he follows out, in this chapter, what had been his grand object through all the pre- ceding pait of the Epistle. V. 1.— There is, thcrcfdre, now no coiidomn^ition to them which are in Clirist Jesus, who WiiUc not alter the flesh, but after the Sjiirit. Therefore. — This is an inference from the general strain of the doctrine which the Apostle had been teaching in the preceding part of the Epistle ; — especially, it follows from what he had asserted, in the sixth and seventh chapters, with respect to believers dying with Christ, and consequently being dead to sin and to the law. Now no condcmnaliun. — This implies that there would have been condemnation to those to whom he wrote, had they remained under the law ; but now, since they have died with Christ, and thereby given complete satisfaction to the law, both in its penalty and precept, it is not possible that by it they can be condemned. And to mark the completeness of this exemption, he says, there is now /lo condemnation to tht»Q 3 the reason of which he fully explains in the 2d, 3d, and 4th verses. This noiv, then, distinguishes two conditions of a man, namely, his condition under the law, and his condition under grace, that is, his natural and his supernatural conditions. For by nature we are children of wrath, but now God has rendered us accepted in the be- loved. Being now in Christ we are not under the curse of the law, because he has borne it for us. In the moment in which we believed in him, we were redeemed from its curse; we entered into another covenant in which there is nothing but grace and pardon. That there is now no coiulemnation to them that are in him is according to our Lord's declaration, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, ROMANS VIII., 1. 317 and shall not come into condemnation." It is often remarked that the Apostle does not say that there is in them which are in Christ Jesus neither matter of accusation nor cause of condemnation; and yet this is all included in what he does say. In themselves there is much indeed for both, but here they are viewed exclusively in Jesus Christ. Afterwards, in express terms, he denies that they can be either accused or condemned — which they might be, were there any ground for either All that was condcmnable in them, Avhich was sin, has been condemned in their Surety, as is shown in the 3d verse. To them. — The Apostle, discoursing in the preceding chapter of the remainder of sin in believers, speaks of himself in his own person, in order to show that the highest advances in grace do not exempt from the internal warfare which he there describes. But in this verse he changes the number, and does not say, there is no condemnation to mc, but to tJiem, who are in Christ Jesus. This was proper, lest believers who are often disposed to deprive themselves of those con- solations which the Scriptures present, and prone either to despair, or to presume on account of their own righteousness, should say, that such a declaration was right and suitable in an Apostle, who enjoyed pe- culiar privileges; but it did not follow that they could say of them- selves, " there is for us no condemnation." Paul therefore here changes the expression, and speaks in general terms, to show that he ascribes nothing peculiar to himself, but that he refers to the general condition of believers, in order that each of them might apply to himself the fruit of this consideration. In the seventh chapter he had spoken of himself to prove that the holiest among men have reason to humble themselves before God, and to acknowledge that if God should view them in themselves they would be found to be a body of death, that is to say, guilty of eternal death. But here he does not speak in his own person, in order that we may not doubt that he refers to the condition of believers in general. Again, in the 4th verse, he speaks of the righteousness of the law being fulfilled in lis ; thus showing that the unspeakable blessing of deliverance from condemnation equally belongs to all the people of God. In the 2d verse, for an obvious and impor- tant reason, as we shall presently see, he reverts again to the singular number, and says, hath made me free. This manner of expressing himself ought to be particularly noted ; for we are certain that in the word of God nothing of this kind occurs without a purpose. WliicU are in Christ Jesus. — To be in Christ Jesus is to be one with him as united to him by faith. Those and those only who are thus one with him are the persons to whom there is no condemnation. All who are not in Christ Jesus are under the law and its curse. It is not here said that Christ is with his people, or at their right hand, but that they are in him, in order that they may know that being in him they have nothing to fear ; for what evil can reach those who are one with the Son of God? This union is represented in Scripture by various terras and by many similitudes ; its efficacy and power are shown, when it is said, "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." It is in virtue of this union that the sufferiniis and obedience of Christ 318 ' ROMANS VIII., are imputed to liis people, tlicy being one with him who fulfilled the law, and satisfied the justice of God. Their union with him is the source of that spiritual life In whiLJi thoy are quickened together with Clirist, and from wliich they dfrive their justification, tiieir sanctifica- tion and consolation. " It is impossiljle," Luther remarks, " for a man to be a Christian without having; Christ, and if he has Christ, he has at the same time all that is in Christ. What ^ives peace to the conscience is, that by faith our sins are no more ours, but Christ's, up^on wliom God hath laid them all ; and that on the other hand all Christ's righteousness is ours, to whom God hath t is repeated. On the supposition of that clause being genuine, the Apostle follows here the same method as in the 2d chapter of this Ej)istle, where the 14th verse connects with the first part of the 12th. ■Many by the phrase, " law of the Spirit of life," understand the com- manding influence of tlie Holy Spirit in the 50?7c/?y?c«/?on of the believers to be intended, and by " the law of sin and death," the corrupt principle, or power of sin in them, as in chapter vii., 23 and 25. But these ex- planations do not suit the context. The main proposition contained in the preceding verse is, that to them who are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation. But why is there no condemnation ? Is it because they are sanctified 1 No ; but because, by their union with Christ, they have been freed from the law and its curse, as the Apostle had shown in the preceding chapter, verse 4th. Besides, it is not true that believers are delivered from the law of sin that is in them as respects their sanctifica- tion, which would contradict v^hat Paul had just before said of the Chris- tian's internal warfare with sin, as exhibited in his own experience, to which deliverance he looked forward, but which he had not yet obtained. It is further to be observed, that the above explanations do not accord with the two following verses, which point out the ground of that free- dom from condemnation which is here asserted, being explanatory of the verse before us, declaring that sin has been punished in Christ, and that the righteousness which the law demands has been fulfilled by him in those who belong to him. Law of the Spirit. — Various significations belong to the term law, according" to the connexion in which it stands, and to which it is applied In the conclusion of the preceding chapter, and in the verse before us, where it occurs twice, it is employed in three different senses. In the first of these it is denominated the " law of sin," namely, the strength of corruption acting with the force of a law. In the end of the verse before us, where the term " death " is added to that of sin, it imports the moral law, the transgression of which is sin, and the consequence death, and is employed in tlie same sense in the two following verses. To the law of the Spirit of lite l)elongs a different meaning, signifying the power of the Holy Spirit, by which he unites the soul to Christ, in whose right- eousness, as being thus one with him, it therefore partakes, and is conse- quently justified. This law is the gospel, whereof the Holy Ghost is the author, being the authoritative rule and the instrument by which he acts ROMANS VIII., 2. 321 in the plan of salvation. It is the medium through which he promulgates the divine testimony, and his commands to receive that testimony, and exerts his power to produce this effect ; by which, also, he quickens and enlightens those in whom he dwells, convinces them of their sin and of the righteousness of Christ, and testifies of the Almighty Saviour, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. The gospel may thus be properly denominated the laiu, or power of the Holy Spirit, because, as a law has authority and binds to obedience, so the gospel bears the stamp of Divine authority to which, in all that it reveals, we are bound to " submit," chap, x., 3. It requires the obedience of faith, and, for this end, is to be made known to all nations, chap, i., 5 ; xvi., 26, and when men refuse this submission, it is said that they have not " obeyed the gospel," chap, x., 16. Although, therefore, the gospel is proclaimed as a grace, it is a grace accompanied with authority, which God commands to be received. Accordingly, it is expressly called a " law." Isaiah ii., 3 ; Micah iv., 2. " Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." In the book of Psalms it is again and again called " the law ;" and in Psalm ex., 2, referring to the power exerted by its means, it is said, " The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion," that is, the gospel. " Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies," namely, by thine Almighty power. The gospel, then, is the law of the Spirit by which he rules, and the rod of his strength, or his power, by which he effects our salvation, just as in chap. i., 16, it is denominated " the power of God unto salvation," chap, i., 17. The gospel is itself called " the Spirit," as being ministered by the Holy Spirit, 2 Cor. iii., 8. The gospel is the law of the Spirit of life, the ministration of which, being committed to the Apostles, " giveth life," in opposition to the " letter" or old covenant that killeth, 2 Cor. iii., 6. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth," John vi., 63, as it is said, " I shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live," Ezek. xxxvii., 14. In the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, xv., 45, the Apostle speaks of two sources of life. He says, " The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit." By the living soul is meant the principle of natural life which we derive from Adam by natural generation. The quickening Spirit refers to the heavenly and supernatural life commu- nicated by the Holy Spirit from Jesus Christ. The reason of the com- parison is, that as Adam, receiving a living soul, his body was made alive, in like manner, believers receiving in their souls the Spirit of Christ, receive a new life. It is not meant that the Spirit of Christ is not also the author of natural life. Job xxxiii., 4. Jesus Christ is the life itself, and the source of life to all creatures. But here the life referred to is that life which we receive through the gospel, as the law or power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which the Apostle calls " the life of God," Eph. iv., 18. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. — Jesus Christ is set before us in two aspects, namely, as God, and as Mediator. As God, the Spirit of life resides essentially in him ; but as Mediator, and having in that character satisfied the justice of God by his death, the Spirit of 21 322 ROMANS VIII., 2. life has been ^ivcn to him to hv communicated to all who are one with him. On thi.s account tin- Spirit wa.s not ^\\vn in his lulncss, John vii., 39, till Jesus Christ as Mediator had entered into heaven, to appear in the heavenly sanctuary with his blood, when the Father, solemnly re- ceiving^ his satisfaction, p;ave this testimony of his acceptance in pouring out the abumhmce of the .Sj)irit on his people. Jesus Christ, accoidingly, says, " It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comfortor will not come unto you ; but if I (lepart, I will send him unto you," John xvi., 7. And the Apostle declares that "God hath blessed us v;ith all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," Eph. i., 3. He says, " spiritual blessings," because he speaks of the graces of the Holy Spirit, He says, " in Christ," because it is through the Mediator, and in his communion, that our spiritual life and those graces are be- stowed on us ; he adds, " in heavenly places," because, as anciently the High Priest entered the sanctuary with the blood of the sacrifice, in order that God in accepting that blood might bestow his blessing on the people ; in like manner Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, has entered the heavenly sanctuary, that, being accepted, he should as Mediator, and so receiving the Holy Spirit, be the source of life, even of that spiritual and eternal life to which he arose from the dead, and of all grace to communicate it to his Church. This is what his forerunner John teaches, when he says that " God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him," and is the reason why it is said that he was " full of grace and truth," and that " of his fulness we have all received and grace for grace." The Apostle John, too, speaks of the anointing which believers have received from Jesus Christ ; for, as the oil was poured on the head of the High Priest, and ran down to the skirts of liis garments, in like manner Jesus Christ has been anointed with the Holy Spirit, as he says, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because be hath anointed me ;" and this anointing was to be poured out on all his body, which is the Church. That the Spirit of life, then, is in Jesus Christ not only as God, but also as Mediator, is a ground of the most unspeakable consolation. It might be in him as God, without being connnunicated to men, but as the head of his people it must be diffused through them as his members, who are thus complete in him. Dost thou feel in thyself the sentence of death, listen then to the testimony of the Scriptures concerning him ! "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life ; and this life is in his Son." "lam come that they might have life." "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." " Because I live ye shall live also." " I am that bread of life, he that eateth of this bread shall never die." " I am the resurrection and the life." This life, then, is in Jesus Christ, and is communicated to believers by the Holy Spirit, by whom they are united to Christ, and from whom it is derived to all who through the law of the Spirit of life are in him. It is on this account that, in the passage above quoted, 1 Cor. xv., 45, Jesus Christ, as Me- diator, is said to be made a quickening Spirit. In obtaining this life the believer receives his justification, the opposite of condemnation ROMANS VIII., 2. 323 which without this life cannot subsist, and from which it cannot be separated. Law of sin and death. — In the preceding chapter, verses 23 and 25, " The law of sin," which the Apostle says he served with the flesh, signifies, as has been observed, the powerful corrupt principle in the heart, operating with the force of a law. But in the former part of the same chapter, the word " law " is employed to denote the moral law. It is there spoken of as the law of God, which, thou2;h holy, and just, and good, is to fallen man the occasion both of sin and death ; and, accord- ingly, in the point of view in which the Apostle is here regarding it, it is called " the law of sin and death." It may be called the law of sin, since without it sin could not exist ; for " sin is the transgression of the law," 1 John iii., 4; but " where no law is there is no transgression," and " sin is not imputed when there is no law," Rom. v., 13. " The motions of sin are by the law," Rom. vii., 5, and " the strength of sin is the law," 1 Cor. xv., 57. " By the commandment sin becomes exceed- ing sinful," Rom. vii., 13. "The law entered that the offence might abound," Rom. v., 20. As therefore sin could have no existence but by the law, and as the law is the strength of sin, and makes it to abound, the law may, as here, be properly denominated "the law of sin." The holy law may also be called the law of death. It threatens with death in case of disobedience, and on account of transgression adjudges to death. " The commandment," says the Apostle, " which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." It brings the sinner under the penalty of death, " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The law " killeth," and the ministration of the law written and engraved on stones, was death, 2 Cor. iii., 6, 7. By the law " death reigned from Adam to Moses," Rom. v., 14 ; and the wages of sin, which is the transgression of the law, is death. Since, then, the law of God, which, though it commands holiness, gives the knowledge of sin, and the breach of it is death, and since without the law there could neither be sin nor death, it may, without arguing the smallest disrespect, or dispa- ragement to the holy law, be called the laio of sin and death. That it is so denominated in the verse before us appears from the repetition of the term law in the beginning of the following verse, evidently in con- nexion with that in the end of this verse, where the reference is clearly to the moral law, namely, the law which had been spoken of from the 4th to the 13th verse of the foregoing chapter, which the Apostle had there shown, as he asserts in verse 3, could not set free from sin and death. Besides that, by the law of sin and death is here meant the moral law, appears unquestionable, when it is considered that if the same meaning be attached to it as belongs to the phrase " the law of sin," in the con- clusion of the preceding chapter, the Apostle must be held to have con- tradicted himself. For, in that case, he bitterly laments his being under the power of the law of sin, and speaks only of his hope of future deliverance; and here in the same breath, he unqualifiedly asserts his freedom from it. Notwithstanding, then, the similarity of these two expressions, and their juxtaposition, it is impossible, without charging a contradiction on the Apostle, to assert that he attached the same mean- 324 ROMANS vm., 2. iiifjj in both plates to the word law, which in difTerent connexions is capable ol" sif^nifkalions quite distinct. llatk made mc free. — 'I'he reason why there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus is, that being in him they have been made free from the law of sin and deaih, all its requirements having been fultllled by him in tliem, as is affirmed in verse 4. This freedom is likewise declared in 2 Cor. iii., 17, in wiiich passage it is said " wh(;re the Spirit of the I^)rd is, there is liberty." " If the Son there- »■ fore shall make you ivvc, ye siiall be free indeed." Me free. — Here it is to be observed that the Apostle, instead of speak- ing generally of believers, as he does in the 1st and 4th verses, saying " them" and " us," changes, as has been above remarked, the mode of expression, and refers to himself personally — Hath made me free. A very striking contrast is thus pointed out between his declaration in the 24th verse of the preceding chapter, and that contained in the verse before us. There, he is speaking of the power of sin, which operates in believers as long as they are in this world. Here, in reference to con- demnation he is speaking of the gvilt of sin, from which they are perfectly freed the moment they are united to the Saviour. In the former case, therefore, where he speaks respecting sanciification, he refers in verse 24th to his deliverance as future, and exclaims, " who shall deliver me 1" In reference to the latter, in which he is treating of justification, he speaks of his deliverance as already obtained, and affirms he " hatJi made free." The following explanation of the verse before us is given in the West- minster Confession of Faith. " Albeit the Apostle himself (brought in here for example's cause), and all other true believers in Christ, be by nature under the law of sin and death, or under the covenant of works (called the law of sin and death, because it bindeth sin and death upon us, till Christ set us free), yet the law of the Spiiit of Christ Jesus, oi the covenant of grace (so called because it doth enable and quicken a man to a spiritual life through Christ), doth set the Apostle, and all true believers free from the covenant of works, or the law of sin and death ; so that every man may say with him, 'The law of the Spirit of life,' or the covenant of grace, hath made me free from the law of sin and death, or covenant of works." Ed. 1773, p. 434. Every believer should take to himself all the consolation which this verse contains, and with Paul he may with confidence say, The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made 7ne free from the law of sin and death. Many, however, will say, we should be happy indeed if we could, with Paul, adopt this language, but what assurance can we have of being free from condemnation, and of being in Christ Jesus, since the flesh is so strong in us and the Spirit so weak ; since we are still prone to so many sins, and subject to so many defects. Assuredly, if a man is satisfied in sinning and following carnal desires, and is not desirous to turn from these ways, he has no ground to conclude that he is freed from condemnation, for such is not the state of any believer. But if, on the other hand, he groans on account of his sins, crying out with the Apostle, 0 wretched man that I am ; if they displease him, if he have a godly ROMANS VIII., 3. 325 sadness on account of having committed them, ano earnestly prays to God to be delivered from them, he may be assured of his salvation. For the Christian is not one who is without sin and evil inclinations, as is abundantly shown in the preceding chapters, but one who resists and combats against them, and returns to God by repentance. His groans on account of his sins, and his meditating on the word of God, his earnest endeavors to be holy, and to grow in grace, although not with all the success he desires, are proofs of his regeneration. For if ho were dead in his sins, he would not be affected on account of them, nor would he resist them, and whoever resists the flesh by the Spirit of God, will, in the end, obtain the victory, for the Holy Spirit in us is greater in goodness and power, than all that is against us — Satan, and the world, and the flesh. All this should inspire the believer with courage to fight the good fight of faith, and to follow the movements of the blessed Spirit ; and the Lord will say to his soul, " I am thy salvation," Psal. XXXV., 3. " My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness," 2 Cor. xii., 9 ; and he, on the other hand, may say with confidence, " O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art ray Lord," Psal. xvi., 2. V. 3. — For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh : Tliis verse confirms the interpretation that has been given of the pre- ceding, with which it stands connected. It is introduced to explain what is said in the two preceding verses. Both this and the following verse are illustrations of that great truth, that to the believer in Christ there is no condemnation. There are here three principal con- siderations ; namely, the misery of our natural condition ; the mercy of God in the incarnation of his Son ; and the effect of sending him into the world, which is our redemption. Under these three heads the Apostle removes the difficulties that might present themselves from the supposition that on account of some imperfection in the law, it could not justify. In answer to this, it is here snown that the imperfection is not in the law, but in us. The law could justify those who fulfilled it, as it is said, " the man that doeth them shall live in them ;" but the corruption of human nature renders that impossible. And as it might be objected, that the law, which subjects every transgressor to death, is violated by the freedom from it which we obtain by the death of Jesus Christ, the iVpostle shows that the punishment it demands was inflicted upon him. Hence the first proposition, that there is no condemnation to them which are in Ciirist Jesus, is established ; and in the following verse it is added, that the law, which we were required to fulfil, has by him been fulfilled in us. In this view the justice of God, which naturally terrifies man, inspires us with confidence. For if God is just, will he exact double payment and satisfaction? Will he condemn those for whom the Surely has borne the condemnation ? No ; " He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins," for, " the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 826 ROMANS VIII., 3. For what the laic could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, — The l;iw here meant is the same as that spoken of in the end of llie preceding verse, namely, the moral hiw, under which our first parents in the state of innocence were phiced, and which was afterwards pro- midgated by the ministry of Moses. Tiiis law was ordained to life, chap, vii., 10 ; that is, to justify man, if he had remained in innocence ; but by his sinning it condemns him, as the Apostle adds, " I found it to be unto death ;" so that the law, the breach of which constitutes sin, and which on account of this awards death, is now unable to justify, but powerful to condemn. This verse proves that the method which God takes to justify the sinner is entirely consistent with law and justice. First, the Apostle shows the necessity of this method. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. — What is it that the law could not do ? It could not justify. Mr. Fraser, however, says that the reason of this alleged weakness of the law forbids this interpretation. *' That," says he, " is not the reason why the law cannot justify." But surely, it is the very reason why the law cannot justify. Were it not for the weakness of the flesh, or the corruption and sinfulness of man, the law could justify. " But," he continues, " to turn the disability of the law to justify the sinner, upon the corruption of his nature, as the text would do, according to the interpretation I am con- sidering, would imply something by no means consistent with the Apostle's clear doctrine, viz., that after a person had transgressed he might be justified, even by the law, for returning to his duty, and for his subsequent righteousness, if the weakness and poverty of his nature, called the flesh, did not disable him from doing his duty, which, how contrary to Scripture doctrine I need not stay to prove, the thing is so clear." But did this acute and worthy author overlook what our Lord says to the rich young man : " If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments !" In fact, however, the commandments could not be kept unless every commandment that respects man is obeyed. Therefore, the commandment in the garden of Eden is included. Because, being guilty of breaking it, no man can be said to have obeyed God as he ought. The weakness of the flesh includes everything that befell us by the fall. Every man is as accountable for that first sin of Adam as truly as he is for his own personal sins, and, therefore, as long as he is under condemnation for that sin, he cannot be said to keep the commandments. " By the law is the knowledge of sin." It is the test of men being sinners. If it were kept, this would prove that we were not sinners. It entered that the offence might abound, and the Lord applied this test for the young man's conviction. Yet what he said was truth ; if the young man had kept the commandments, he would, as a holy creature, have enjoyed life. He would not have been a sinner. But he was so ignorant as to say he had kept them all. The Lord replied, " one thing thou lackest," and said, " follow me." If he had really kept the commandments he would have had no need of a Saviour ; but he was a sinner, and Christ informed him of the only ROMANS VIII., 3. 327 wav of salvation. Tlie law could not give life lo one by whom it was forfeited. The weakness of the law through the flesh Mr. Stuart explains thus — " because, through the strength of our carnal inclinations and desires, it was unable to regulate our lives, so that we should be perfect or actually free from sin." But as Christ is said to do what the law through this weakness could not do, this interpretation supposes that Christ lias enabled us to regulate our lives so as to be entirely free from sin. Nothing can be more obvious than that the weakness of the law through the flesh is its inability to justify, as it would have done, had not sin entered. The weakness of the law for justification is no dis- paragement to it. It was never designed to save a sinner. How could it be supposed that a creature who had apostatized, and was a rebel against God, could re-establish liimself in the divine favor? Yet such re-establishment, in order to the enjoyment of the favor of God, was necessary. A creature in such circumstances could only be re-estab- lished by God himself, and that by an act of free and sovereign mercy, compatible with his justice and truth, as well as with the essential glory of his character. It was also impossible that mercy could be extended in any other way than that which the gospel reveals. How could the justice of God be satisfied but by an atonement of infinite value to meet the infinite evil of sin ? And how could such an atone- ment be made for man, but by one who was at the same time both God and man — the infinite God, manifest in human nature ? This was the remedy which God provided, therefore it was the best remedy. It was the highest possible remedy, therefore there could be no other. It would be inconsistent with infinite wisdom to employ means greater than are necessary in order to accomplish an end. The law was strong to perform its own office ; that is, to justify all by whom it was perfectly obeyed. Its weakness was through the flesh ; that is, the guilt and corruption of our nature. The weakness is not in the law ; it is in man. God sending his own Son. — God sent his Son to do that which the law could not do. He sent him in consequence of his great love to his people, 1 John iv., 9 ; and as the accomplishment of His divine purpose. Acts iv., 28. The object, then, of Christ's mission was not merely that of a messenger or witness. It was to effect the salvation of guilty sinners in the way of righteousness. He did what the law could not do. The law could justify those only by whom it was observed. But it could not justify or save those who should violate even the least of its commands. But Jesus Christ both justifies and saves the ungodly. His oivn Son. — Christ was God's own Son in the literal sense. It is on this supposition only that the sending of him is a manifestation of infinite love to men. There is no more appearance of any figurative meaning in the use of this appellation, when ascribed to Jesus Christ, than there is when Isaac is called the son of Abraham. He is here emphatically called not only the Son of God, but the Son of himself, or his own son ; his very Son. Whether Christ's Sonship is a relation 328 ROMANS VIII., 3. in Godhead, or a figurative Sonship, has been much disputed. Many will) holil the Godhead of Christ explain llie passages that assert his Sonship as referring to his incarnation. That the phrase Son of God imports llic divine nature of Jesus Christ, there can be no doubt, John v., IH (sec pp. 19-22), and that it relates not merely to his incarna- tion, but to his eternal relation to the Father, appears the obvious testi- mony of Scripture. No reasoning from the import of the relation among men can form a valid objection to tiiis view. Adam is called tiie Son of God because he was created by the im- mediate exercise of Divine power. The angels are called the Sons of God on account of their creation, and 'he greatness of their condition ; believers by the right of their adoption and regeneration ; but none except the Messiah is called llie only begotten of the Father. These words, I have begotten thee, are indeed applied to Jesus Christ, Acts xiii., 33 ; not with respect to his eternal generation, but to his resurrec- tion and establishment in the priesthood ; and import that he was thus made known to be the Son of God, as it is said, Rom. i., 4, that he was declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead. The exaltation of Jesus Christ, whether in his office of Mediator, or in Sovereign glory, is the authoritative declaration of the Father, that he was his Son, his only begotten Son, and this is signified in the second Psalm. There the elevation of Jesus Christ to the sove- reign dominion of the world is spoken of. " I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." It is as to the act of his elevation that this declaration is made. " I will declare the decree ; The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee." Thus, according to the usual style of Scripture, things are said to be done when they are declared or publicly manifested. When it is said, this day have I begotten thee, the eternal dignity of the Saviour, which had been before concealed, was brought to liglit and fully discovered. In the likeness of sinful flesh. — Jesus Christ was sent, not in the hkeness of flesh, but in the flesh. He was sent, however, not in sinful flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh. Nothing can more clearly prove that the Lord Jesus Christ, though he assumed our nature, took it williout taint of sin or corruption. To his perfect holiness the Scrip- tures bear the fullest testimony. " lie knew no sin." " The Prince of this world comclh, and hath nothing in me." He was " holy, harm- less, undefiled, separate from sinners." His absolute freedom from sin was indispensable. As God becoming manifest in the flesh, he could not unite himself to a nature tainted with the smallest impurity. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, and did not spring from Adam by ordinary generation ; and not belonging to his covenant, had no part in his sin. His freedom from sin, original and actual, was necessary, in order that he should be oflcred as " a lamb without ble- mish, and without spot," so that he might be the truth of his types, the legal sacrifices, which it was expressly provided should be free from all blemish ; thus distinctly indicating this transcendent characteristic of him who was to be the one great sacrifice. If the flesh of Jesus Christ was the likeness of sinful flesh, there ROMANS VIII., 3. 329 must be a diffevence between the appearance of sinful flesli and our nature, or flesh in its original state when Adam was created. Christ, then, was not made in the likeness of the flesh of man before sin en- tered the world, but in the likeness of his fallen flesh. Though he had no corruption in his nature, yet he had all the sinless infirmities of our flesh. The person of man in his present state may be greatly different from what it was when Adam came from the hand of his Creator. Our bodies, as they are at present, are called " liie bodies of our humiliation," Phil, iii., 21. Jesus Christ was made in man's present likeness. Tradition speaks of the beauty of his person when on earth. But this is the wisdom of man. The Scriptures nowhere represent Christ in his manhood as distinguished by personal beauty. No observation of this kind, proceeding either from his friends or ene- mies, is recorded in the gospels. And for sin. — The reason of the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ mto the world, of his incarnation and humihation, was the abolition of sin, its destruction both as to its guilt and power. The same expres- sion occurs, 1 Pet. iii., 18, "Christ also hath once suffered ybr sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." It is sin that is the cause of separation from God, and by its removal reconciliation is made and peace restored. Condeinned sin in the jlesh. — Here by the flesh is meant not the body of Jesus Christ only, but his human nature. In this sense the word flesh is used, where it is said, "the word was made flesh," that is to say, was made man, and took our nature composed of body and soul. The nature and the person who suffered must also be distin- guished. Respecting the person, it is Jesus Christ, God and man. As to the nature in which he suffered, it is in the flesh. Of ihe, person we can say that it is God, as the Apostle says that God hath purchased the church with his own blood, and consequently that his suffering was of infinite value, since it is that of an infinite person ; and this is the more evident, since Jesus Christ is mediator in both his natures, and not in his human nature only. For if this were so, his suffering would be finite, since his human nature, in which alone he could suff'cr, by which he off"ered his sacrifice, was in itself only finite ; and if he had been mediator only as to his human nature — which, however, could not be, as he represents both God and man — he could not have been the me- diator of the Old Testament, when he had not taken the human nature. And as it is necessary that, in regard to his person, we should con- sider Jesus Christ suffering, it is also necessary that we consider that it was in the flesh that he suffered ; that is to say, in our nature, which he took and joined personally to the Divine nature. In this way we may admire the wisdom of God, who caused sin to be punished and destroyed in the human nature in which it had been committed. Condemned sin. — Condemnation is here taken for the punishment of sin. God punished sin in Christ's human nature. This is the method that God took to justify sinners. It was God who, by his detcrnnnate counsel and foreknowledge, Acts ii., 23, punished sin by inflicting 330 ROMANS VIII., 3. those sufferings on Christ of which men were only the instruments. Sin liad corrupled the flesh of man, and in tliat very flesh it was con- demned, "^riie guilt and punishment of sin are eminently seen in the death of Christ. Nowhere else is sin so completely judfjed and con- demned. Not even in hell arc its guilt and demerit so fully manifested. What nuist be its demerit, if it could be atoned for by nothing but the death of the Son of (Jod? And what can afford clearer evidence of God's determination to punish sin to the utmost extent of its demerit, than that he thus punished it even when laid on the head of his only begotten Son ? Jn all this we see the Father, assuming the place of Judge against his Son, in order to become the Father of those who were his enemies. The Father condemns the Son of his love, that he may absolve the children of wrath. If we inquire into the cause that moved God to save us by such means, what can we say but that it proceeded from his incomprehensible wisdom, his ineffable goodness, and the un- fathomable depth of his mercies ? For what was there in man that could induce the Creator to act in this manner, since he saw nothing in him, after his rebellion by sm, but what was hateful and offensive ? And what was it but his love that passetii knowledge which induced the only begotten Son of God to take the form of a servant, to humble himself even to the death of the cross, and to submit to be despised and rejected of men ? These are the things into which the Angels desire to look. But besides the love of God, we see the wonderful display of his justice in condemning sin in his Son, rather than allowing it to go un- punished. In this assuredly the work of redemption surpasses that of creation. In creation God had made nothing that was not good, and nothing especially on which he could exercise the rigor of his justice ; but here he punishes our sins to the utmost in Jesus Christ. It may be inquired, if, when God condemned sin in his Son, we are to under- stand this of God the Father, so as to exclude the Son, or if we can say that God the Son also condemned sin in himself. This can un- doubtedly be affirmed ; for in the Father and the Son there is only one will and one regard for justice ; so that, as it was the will of the Father to require satisfaction for sin from the Son, it was also the will of the Son to humble himself, and to condemn sin in himself. We must, however, distinguish between Jesus Christ considered as God and as our Surely or Mediator. As God, he condemns and punishes sin ; as Mediator, he is himself condemned and punished for sin. When sin was condemned or punished in the Son of God, to suppose that he felt nothing more than bodily pain, would be to conclude that he had less confidence in God than many martyrs who have gone to death cheerfully, and without fear. The extremity of the pain he suf- fered, when he said in the garden, " My soul is sorrowful even unto death," was the sentiment of the wrath of God against sin, from which martyrs felt themselves delivered. For the curse of the law is princi- pally spiritual, namely, privation of communion wilh God, and the sense of his wrath. Jesus Christ, therefore, was made a curse for us, ROMANS VIII,, 4. 331 as the Aposllc says, Gal. iii., 13, proving it by the declaration, "cursed js every one that hangeth on a tree." For this punishment of the cross was tlie figure and symbol of the spiritual curse of God: As in his body then he suffered this most accursed punishment, so likewise in his soul he suffered those pains that are most insupportable, such as are suffered by those finally condemned. But that was oidy for a short time, the infinity of his person rendering that suffering equivalent to that of an infinity of time. Such, then, was the grief which he expe- rienced jvhen on the cross he cried, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" What forsaking was this, unless that for a time God left him to feel the weight of his indignation against sin ? This feeling is the sovereign evil of the soul, in which consists the griefs of eternal death ; as, on the other hand, the sovereign good of the soul, and that in which the happiness of eternal life consists, is to enjoy gracious com- munion with God. In this verse we see the ground of the Apostle's declaration, that there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, be- cause their sin was punished in him. This is according to numerous other passages in Scripture, as, Isa. liii., 4-6 ; Gal. iii., 13 ; 1 Pet. ii,, 24 ; Rev. v., 9, and as it is said in 1 Tim. ii., 6, " who gave himself a ransom for all." For our sins are debts, of which the payment and the satisfaction for them is their punishment — a payment without which we were held captives under the w^rath and by the justice of God. All this shows that sin was really punished m Jesus Christ ; and it is evi- dent that, according to the justice and truth of God, such a punishment was necessary in order to our redemption. V. 4. — That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That the righteousness of the law might he fulfilled in us. — God not only sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh that he might punish sin in that nature in which it had been committed, but that all which the law demands might by him be fulfilled in those who are united to him ; for which purpose he obeyed its precepts as well as fulfilled its penalty. The original word here translated righteousness, is the same as is ren- dered judgment or sentence, Rom, i,, 32, where, and also in the verse before us, it is, in some of the French versions, and in the Dutch anno- tations, rendered " right." It is properly here the right of the law. The right of the law is twofold, being that which belongs to it at all times, or what only belongs to it in the event of sin. The first is obedi- ence to its precepts ; the second, subjection to its penalty. The first, or what may be called the proper right of the law, corresponds with its proper end, according to which it was ordained unto life to all who obey it. What it demands beyond its proper or first end, is the fulfihnent of its penalty, as cursing all who disobey it. For it is not the first end of the law to curse men, but only what it demands since the entrance of sin. Such is the right of the law. The gospel does not take away this right ; for it docs not make void the law, Rom. iii,, 31, but establishes it. In those, therefore, who are saved by the gospel, they being all siimers, 332 r6man8 VIII., 4. both tho one and the other of the rights of the law are fulfilled in Christ, who is the end or fulfilling of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, Hoin. x., 4. Mis people having sinned, he fulfils its right as to them, in suffering the punishment of sin ; namely the cuisc of the law, to save them from punishment. And to introduce them into life, he accomplishes its proper or original right, according to which, as it is said, " the man that doeth them shall live in them." For if the gospel establishes the law, it must do so as to its first end, and it must also do so as to its end since the entrance of sin, otherwise the law woold, as to those who are saved, rather be abolished than fulfilled by the gospel. In this way Christ has fully satisfied the law, having fulfilled its righteous- ness,— all that conformity to it which is its right in every respect, and under every aspect, and as to every state of those who are its subjects. And as his people are in him, so the law is thus, in all its extent, fulfilled in them, which is the very circumstance in which their justification con- sists. For if they are one body, or one with him, as the Apostle had been showing, his fulfilment of the law is their fulfilment of it. Such being their communion with him that they sit with him in heavenly places, Eph. ii., 6 ; and by the same communion his righteousness is their righteousness. — 2 Cor. v., 21. The end, then, of Christ's mission was, that the right of the law might be fulfilled in his people. Here we see the ground on which believers are saved. It is in a way consistent with the law, a way in which all thai it has a right to demand is fulfilled in them. The mercy, then, which saves sinners, does not interfere with justice. They who are saved by mercy have that very righteousness which the law demands. In Christ they have paid the penalty of their disobedience, and in Christ they have yielded obedience to every precept of the law. This fulfilment of the law cannot signify, as some commentators errone- ously explain it, that obedience which believers are enabled to yield by the Holy Spirit in their regenerate slate ; for it is obvious that this is not the righteousness of the law. The very best of all their actions and thoughts come short of the perfection which the law demands ; besides, its penalty would in this way be unfulfilled. They are indeed sanctified, but their sanctification is far from being commensurate with the claims of the holy law, cither as to its penalty or its precept. Here, then, is solid consolation for the believer in Jesus. For divested as he is of righteousness in himself, he enjoys the blessedness of having the righteousness of God — the righteousness of his Lord and Saviour imputed to him, so that the law which had been broken is fulfilled in him, in all its precepts, and in its full penalty. Hitherto, from the beginning of the 2d verse, the Apostle had been illustrating the truth contained in the first clause of the first verse, namely, that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. He now repeats the last clause of that verse, which he goes on to illustrate to the end of the 8th verse. WJio walk not after (according to) the flesh, but after (according to) the Spirit. — These words characterize those in whom the righteousness ROMANS VIII., 4. 333 of the law is fulfilled, and serve the double purpose of showing that they who are walking according to the principles of the renewed spiritual nature, and according to that covenant of wiiich the Lord Jesus is the Spirit, are one with him, and that none are united to him who are living after the principlt^s of their corrupt nature, and seeking justification anci acceptance with God, by cleaving to the covenant of works. The ex- pression to " walk," is frequently employed in Scripture regarding any particular line of conduct, as when it is said, Acts xxi., 21, "That .hey ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs ;" or it denotes the course of life in which we are proceeding, as in Eph. ii., 2, " Ye walked according to the course of this world." In this way, comparing our life to a journey, in the usual style of Scripture, the Apostle comprehends all our actions under the figure of walking. To walk, then, according to the flesh, is to act agreeably to the principles of corrupt nature. To walk according to the Spirit, means to regulate the conduct according to the influence and dictates of the Holy Spirit who has given us a new nature, serving God in newness of spirit. The terms flesh and spirit have various significations, and are em- ployed in different senses in this chapter. The word flesh is used in a sense either bad or indifferent. Sometimes it means simply human nature, and sometimes corrupt human nature, or man in his natural state without the Holy Spirit, and frequently wicked works. At other times it denotes outward services in adherence to the law for justification, Phil, iii., 4. To the word spirit, various meanings are likewise attached. It imports either the angelic nature, or the soul of man, or the Holy Spirit, or the renewed image of the Son of God in the soul. In both of these last senses it is employed by our Lord, when, declaring the necessity of regeneration, he says, " That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit." Sometimes when opposed to flesh or to letter, it is used as equivalent to the new covenant, — " who also hath made us able minis- ters of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit.^' The expression, walking not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, in the verse before uS; is generally interpreted as referring exclusively to the practice of good or of wicked works. It is supposed that the Apostle is here guarding his doctrine of gratuitous justifica- tion from abuse, by excluding all claim to union with Christ, and to exemption from condemnation where there is not purity of conduct, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. This is undoubtedly a highly important truth which is to be constantly affirmed and insisted on. Holiness of life and conversation is an inseparable concomitant of union with Christ, for to whom he is made righteousness, he is also made sanctification, and they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. Of this the Apostle never loses sight, not indeed in any point of view as the cause of that union, but as its never- failing consequence and concomitant, as he has abundantly proved in the sixth chapter. There are, however, many different paths in the broad way ; that is, many ways of walking after the flesh, all of which lead to destruction. Among these, that of seeking acceptance with God by works of righteousness, either moral or ceremonial, is equally incom- 334 ROMANS vni., 4. patibli' with union to Christ, and freedom from condemnation, as living in the grosser inchilgenee of wieked woiks; and this way of going about to establish their own righteousiuss by those who proless to have received the gospel, and who iiave even a zeal of God, chap x., 2, is probably that by which the greater number of them are deceived. Tliere is the greatest danger lest the fleshly wisdom, under the notion of a zeal for (iod, and of regard I'nr the interests of virtue, should set men on the painful endeavor of working out their salvation, in part at least, by keej)ing the law as a covenant, thus attending to its requirements lor justification, serving in the oldnessof the letter, and not in the newness of Spirit. In this way, multitudes who profess to have received the gospel are walking after the flesh, seeking to satisfy their conscience, and saying peace when there is no peace. While, therefoie, the other ways of walking according to the flesh may all be comprehended under the term, as here employed by the Apostle, for they are all involved in each other, it would appear (espe- cially as in the 5th veise, i/iindnig the things of the flesh, which cer- tainly denotes immoral conduct, is distinguished from icalkitig after the flesh) (hat it is to the above import of the word rather than to immoral conduct that he is referring in this place. In this way Paul himself walked before his conversion, when he thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth ; and it was this same way of walking according to the flesh which he so strenuously opposes in his Epistle to the churches of Galatia. We see, too, how suitable to his purpose it would be in confirming the doctrine be had been teaching, particularly to direct to this point the attention of those to whom he was writing. Paul then appears to be here prose- cuting his main design, which is to prove that believers are to be justified, not by works of righteousness which they have done, of whatever description, but solely by faith in Jesus Christ, in whom their reconciliation with God is complete. It is this grand tiulh which, from the beginning of the Epislle, he had been exhibiting, for the con- viction and establishment in the faith of those whom he addressed. It is, indeed, a truth in which Christians need to be fully instructed, which they are all apt to let slip out of their mind, but by which they are saved, if they keep it in memory. There is nothing which so much retards them in their course as their proneness to walk accord- ing to the flesh, in seeking to establish their own righteousness, and nothing more powerfully tends, when giving way to it in any degree, to bring them into bondage, to lead ihem to serve in the oldness of the letter, and not in new^ness of spirit, and to mar their joy and peace in believing. In the sense here ascribed to it, the word flesh is employed in the beginning of the Epistle. Flesh, in that place, cannot, it is evident, signify immoral conduct, for that Abraham was justified by wicked works could never be supposed. It must there signify works moral or ceremonial, as is proved by the rest of that chapter. In the Epistle to the Galatians, the terms flesh and spirit are likewise used in this acceptation. " Are ye so foolish ? having begun in the ROMANS VIII., 4. 335 spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh ?" Gal. iii., 3. Having betrun your Christian course by receiving the doctrine of the new covenant, namely, justification by the righteousness of Christ, are ye seeking to be made perfect by legal observances, or works of any kind ? In this passage, the word flesh cannot be taken for wicked work,'!, any more than in the fourth chapter of the Romans, just quoted. It mast be understood in the sense of working for life, or self-justifica- tion, in opposition to the way of salvation according to the gospel. The Apostle's main object in the whole of that Epistle, is to reclaim the Galatian churches from the error of mixing ceremonial observances or any works of law with the faith of Christ, and thus walking accord- ■ ing to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. " Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you. whoso- ever of you are justifieil by the law ; ye are fallen from (the doctrine of) grace. For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteous- ness by faith." This reasoning applies to all works of law, of whatever description, as clearly appears by the third chapter of that Epistle. In the same manner, the terms flesh and Spirit are employed, Phil, iii,, 3, " For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Here the word flesh opposed to Spirit, just as in the passage before us, cannot s and revives and fructifies, so that when in tlic earth it is not lost. In hke manner, the bodies of behevers do not perish by death, but derive from the grave what is contrary to its natural character. They are sown in corruption, but they are to rise in incorruption. They are sown in weakness, but they are to rise in power. They are sown in dishon- or, but they are to rise in glory. They are sown natural bodies, but they are to rise spiritual bodies. And as to the soul, death indeed separates it from the body, but transmits it to God. It is evident, then, that such a deatii is not a punishment of sin, or a curse of the law. Its end and use to the regenerate, as to their bodies, is to extirpate and destroy the sin that remains in them ; they must die in order to be purified. The infusion of that moral poison has so corrupted our bodies, that, like the leprous house, they must be taken down and re- newed, to be purified from sin. As the grain is not quickened except to die, in the same way our bodies die and moulder in the dust to be revived and reconstructed in holiness. If it be said, that God without dooming his people to die could have changed them in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as he will do with respect to those who shall survive to the day of his coming, it should be considered that the wisdom of God hath judged it proper that the believer should be subjected to the death of the body. This tends to lead him to hold sin in abhorrence whence death proceeds. He also sees in death the goodness and the severity of God, and by it and his other afflictions he may judge what will be the end of those whom God pun- ishes in his anger. He may observe in it tlie goodness of God to him in depriving it of its sting, and ordering it so tliat he may more fully taste the sweetness of a lasting and inrimortal life. Such discipline, too, tends to humble the believer, by which also his graces, given to him by God, are increased, and the power of the Lord made manifest in his weakness. Finally, believers die, that in their death they may be conformed to Jesus Christ; for if he died, shall they, who are his mem- bers, be exempt from this lot? and if he must in that way enter into his glory, shall they, who are his members, enter by another way ? And this assuredly is a great consolation, that in dying wc follow Jesus Christ, our head, who hath gone before us. The eye of nature, which loves its preservation, regards death with fear, in which it sees its destruction. The eye of the flesh, which is enmity against God, regards it with still greater dread, perceiving in it the summons to stand before the tribunal of God. But the believer, by the eye of faith, discovers in death what dissipates the fears of na- ture, and repels the despair of the flesh. To nature which apprehends its destruction, faith opposes the vv^eakness of death, which cannot pre- vent the resurrection ; and to the condemnation which the flesh appre- hends, opposes that life which it discovers under the mask of death. 350 ROMANS VIII., 10. It sees, that though its appearance be tcirific, yet in Christ it has lost its sting. It is Hkc the plianloin walking on the sea which approached to the terrified disciples, but it was Jesus Christ their Lord and Saviour. If unknown evils that may happen in death be apprehended, the be- liever remembers that the very hairs of his head are all numbered. Jesus who is with him he knows will not abandon him. He will not permit him to be tempted above what he is able to bear, for " precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." The nature, then, of death, is changed to believers by Jesus Christ, so that " the day of their death is better than the day of their birth." Death to them is no more a curse, but a blessing, which puts an end to their sins and troubles, causing them to pass to perfect holiness and happiness, and from being absent from the Lord to carry them into his orescncc in paradise. From being strangers on the earth, it introduces them into their heavenly inheritance. From their wanderings and agi- tations here below, it brings them into the haven of everlasting rest. If the children of Israel, wiicn they arrived at the river Jordan, were dis mayed at the overflowings of its waters, had they not reason to rejoice when they beheld on the other side that fertile land which God had promised them, and into which they were about to enter to enjoy its fruits ? But, above all, had they not cause of encouragement when they saw that the ark of the covenant was in the midst of Jordan ? Death is the passage of Jordan by whicii believers enter the hea- venly Canaan. In order that its waves may not overwhelm them in passing, Jesus Christ arrests them, since he is in his people, and con- sequently with them. This was David's support, " Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me." When the devouring lion roars around his people, ready to destroy them, Jesus himself is still nearer to defend them ; and he commands his angels to encamp about them, who have in charge to bear their spirits to the paradise of Ciod. But the spirit is life. — To the fact that the body is dead, the Apostle here opposes, as a ground of comfort, the consideration that our souls are life. The life here spoken of is the life of God in the soul ; it is the new and eternal life which his Spirit communicates in regeneration. The souls of believers are possessed of this spiritual life, of which the Scriptures inform us when they say that (lod hath " quickened us together with Christ." " Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life." It is life and eternal life already possessed, and the commence- ment of that glorious life which shall be enjoyed in heaven. It is the blessing which the Lord connnands, "even life for evermore." This life, which, being borne down, by so many incumbrances here, is still feeble and but imperfectly enjoyed, shall, in the world to come, flourish in full vigor and without any abatement. It is the life of our Lord and Savi- our, subsisting in him and derived from him. In him his people shall rise, and live, and live for ever. He himself hath said, " I am the re- surrection and the life : he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die." ROMANS VIII., 10. 351 In the verse before us, we have a remarkable example of the accu- racy with which the Scriptures are written. The Apostle does not say that the body is dead, and the Spirit alive or living ; or that the body is death, and the spirit life. Either of these would have formed the natural contrast ; but neither would have conveyed the important sense of this passage, but, on the contrary, a false one. He says the body is dead, and the spirit is life. The body is not death, that is, in a stale of everlasting death. It is only dead, and shall live again. On the other hand, the spirit is not merely said to be alive, which it might be, although under sentence of death, afterwards to be inflicted ; but it is life, in the sense of that declaration of our Lord, " He that hath the Son hath life." The body is dead on account of sin ; that is, the body is not only mortal, but may, in some sense, be said to be already dead, being under sentence of death, and in constant progress towards dissolution. It remains with its infirmities unaltered. There is no difference between the body of the wicked man and the body of the believer. Every one may perceive a difference in their minds. The believer's body is dead because of sin, according to the origi- nal sentence, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." But the spirit is life — possessed of life eternal, in virtue of its union with him who is " the life." Because of righteousness. — Here a great diflSculty is removed ; for it may be said, if our bodies are dead because of sin, how is it that our souls are life, since they are stained with sin, and that it is on account of their sinfulness that our bodies are infected with the same malady ? The Apostle, in answer, brings into view the righteousness of him who is in us, and shows that it is on account of his righteousness that our souls are life. And this necessarily follows ; for if we have such union with our Lord and Saviour, that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones, that we are his members, and if he and we are one, his righteousness must be ours ; for where there is one body, there is one righteousness. On the other hand, through the same union our sins have been transferred to him, as is said by the Prophet Isaiah, " The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all." And the Apostle Peter says, that he " bore our sins m his own body on the tree ;" he bore their punishment. " He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." An exchange, then, of sin and righteousness has taken place. By imputation he has been made sin, and by imputation we also are made righteousness. Jesus Christ, as being the Surety of the new covenant, has appeared before God for us, and consequently his righteousness is ours. In the verse before us we have an undeniable proof of the imputa- tion to us of righteousness, for otherwise it would be a manifest contra- diction to say that we die on account of our sins, and that we have life on account of our righteousness ; for what is sin but the opposite of righteousness ? Whoever, then, dies on account of the sin that is in him, cannot obtain life by his own righteousness. Now, if all men die on account of sin, as the Apostle here teaches, then no man can have life by his own righteousness. 352 ROMANS Vltl., 1 1. V. It. — T?ut if thn Spirit of liitn that raised up Jesus from tho dond dwell in you, he that raised Clirist from tlie dead ahall also (|uicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. The Apostle licre obviates a difficulty which mifrht present itself from what he had said in the preceding verse, of the bodies of believ- ers being dead though their souls have life, lie now assures them that if the Spirit of (jod who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in them, (u)d will also raise up their bodies, though at present mortal. Thus he sets before them, first the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and next their own resurrection, as being his members ; for he deduces their resurrection from his resurrection. Their Head has conquered death and the grave, and with him they shall overcotnc. Their freedom, then, from death, he rests on the same foundation on which he had already shown that their freedom from sin was secured — on Jesus Christ, the Surety of (Jod's gracious covenant. The Apostle elsewhere proves the resurrection of the bodies of believers by comparing Jesus Christ with Adam, saying, " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," 1 Cor. xv., 22. Show- ing that if we do not rise by virtue of Jesus Christ our Lord, Christ would be inferior to Adam. For could the sin and death of Adam have more power to subject those who were in him to death, than the righteousness and resurrection of Jesus Christ to deliver those who are in him from death ? The Apostle also declares that Jesus Christ hav- ing risen from the dead has become the first fruits of them that slept and adds, " every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, after- wards they that are Christ's at his coming." This he does for the pur- pose of showing that as the first fruits of the ground precede the harvest, so the first fruits of the resurrection of Christ will be followed by that great harvest, in which the bodies of believers sown in the earth after having died like grain cast into it, shall be revived and raised up. The life which has been communicated to our soids, will at the glorious resurrection be also comrnunicated to our bodies. All men will then arise, but not in glory, as all will not arise in virtue of the resurrection of our Lord. The wicked shall arise by the power of their judge, to receive in their body the punishment of their sins, and to suffer " the second death ;" but believers in virtue of the resur- rection, and by the Spirit of Jesus Christ as their head. For that Spirit which has been communicated to them from Jesus Christ, as from the head to the members, and who hath made their bodies his temples on earth, will raise them from the dust, and will perfect his work in them. Believers, then, may defy the grave, and glory over death, being assured of this resurrection. From tlie guilt of sin they have been delivered, it being " condemned" in Christ — punished in his death ; from the power of death they are released by his resurrec- tion. On Jesus Christ, then, the sure foundation, is the whole of our salvation built. In him God is well pleased. Through him the Holy Spirit is vouchsafed. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the "All in All." Quicken your mortal bodies. — From this it appears that as to their ROMANS VIII., n. 353 substance the bodies of believers will, in their resurrection, be the same as those that died. " Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see («od," Job xix., 26. " Tiiy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust : for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead," Isa. xxvi. 19. Tlie soul of each man will be reunited to his own body in wiiich he has done good or evil. For as the body is the organ of the soul in this world, so it must participate in the felicity or punislnnent that shall follow, whether the whole man has remained under the law or has been received into the covenant of grace. But as to the qualities of the bodies of believers, these will be different from what they were here, as the Apostle teaches, 1 Cor. XV., 50. For as in this world they have borne the image of the first man, who w^as of the earth, earthy ; so in the resurrection, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, they shall bear the image of the second man, who is heavenly, the bodies of their humiliation being fashioned like unto the glorious body of the Son of God, Phil, iii., 21, — not only in having a perfect beauty, exempt from all maladies, but as being spiritual, adapted to their spiritual and heavenly state. And as when Jesus was transfigured, his face did shine as the sun, and his rai- ment was white as light, so the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, From all this we may judge what will be the condition of the soul, and what its glory conformable to so glorious a body. We see also what is the death of believers, which is only a sleep, since it is to be followed by such a resurrection. In as much as this mystery of the resurrection exceeds our reason, so is it clearly represented to us in Scripture.* By his Spirit that dwelleth in you. — The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who communicates life to those who are habitations of God through him, is here set before believers as a pledge that their bodies shall not remain under the power of death. This indwelling, which renders their resurrection certain, imports his love, his government, the operation of his grace, and his care to adorn and beautify the temple in which he resides ; and the end of it is to confer everlasting hfe, everlasting purity, everlasting communion with himself. It would be derogatory to the majesty and glory of the blessed Spirit to allow those bodies, in which he dwelt as his temple, to lie for ever in ruins in the dust. And God, who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, * Mr. Stuart explains the quickening of our mortal bodies, as signifying — " Will make them active instruments." But we do not see any alteration made in this world on the bodies of believers. They are, indeed, made active instruments, but this is not by any change on their bodies, but in the mind which governs them. Besides, any change that in this respect might be supposed to take place on the members of the body, would take place at tiie renewing of the mind. But the change here spoken of contemplates sometiiing future, which has not yet taken place. Dr. Macknight para- phrases the words thus, " Will make even your dead bodies, your animal passions, to- gether with the members of your mortal bodies alive, that is, subservient to the spi- ritual life." But animal passions, under the figure of dead bodies), must mean the animal passions as they are sinful, and sin is never turned into holiness. The flesh is not subject to the law of God, and never will be. 23 354 ROMANS VIII., 11. will raise up the bodies of liis ]>coplc in virtue of tliat blood, which purchased not only the redeiri{)tion of iheir souls, but also of their bodies, v., 2']. The power and efllracy of the three glorious persons of llie (Jodhead are thus broui^ht into view as securing the complete re-estnbiislinient of the bodies of believers, which, though at present mortal, shall hereafter partake in all the glories and blessedness of eternal life. This concurrence of the power of the Godhead in the plan of re- demption, in which the Father provides for our salvation, the JSon merits it, and the Holy Spirit applies it, is established in a multitude of pas- sages of the Holy Scriptures. In this economy the Father occupies the place of the founder of the Church, the sovereign of the world, the protector and avenger of his laws, and the first director of the work of our salvation. The Son lias become the mediator between God and man, to do everything necessary for our redemption, while the Holy Spirit has assumed the office of the Comfortor and sanclificr of the church. The first preparation for our salvation is found in what the Father has done, namely, in the plan which he has formed, in the election of his people, and his giving them to his Son ; in the appoint- ment of the sacrifice, in the transfer of our sins to him who has sufi'er- ed, and in respect to the satisfaction he has received. The second step is seen in what the Son has merited and effected in coming into the world, by his obedience, his death, and resurrection. The third disco- vers the Holy Spirit making actual application of the whole, uniting us to the Saviour, producing in us faith and sanctification, diffusing in our hearts the sentiment of our peace with God in our justification, causing us to persevere to the end, and raising us up again, as he will do, at the last day. In this divine economy the Son has received his mission from the Father to come into the world. On this account he so often refers his first advent to his being sent by the Father to take on himself the office of the Prophet, the Priest, and the King of his Church. To this inequality of office such passages as the following ought to be re- ferred : — " My Father is greater than I," John xiv., 2b ; and that in ] Cor. XV., 28, where it is said, " Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him ;" thus terminating his mediatorial office in delivering up the kingdom bv an act of humiliation, in the same way as he had entered upon it. For in neither of these texts is any personal inequali- ty spoken of between the Father and Son ; but an inequality of office, according to which the Father is greater than the Son, and the Son in- ferior to the Father. The resurrection of Christ, in the passage before us, is ascribed to the Father and the Holy Spirit ; but in other places this is also ascribed to the Son himself. The Father, and the Holy Spirit, and the Son, then, must be one (iod. It is only those in whom the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead dwells, who shall have their mortal bodies thus quickened, so as to rise again in glor}'. Christ, indeed, will also raise his enemies, but his own people will be made alive, —which is never said of the wicked, — to hve with him in glory for ever. ROMA.NS VIII., 13. 355 V. 12. — Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. This is a consequence drawn from what the Apostle had said with re- ference to the state of enmity against God, and of the death of those who are in the flesh ; and Hkewise from what he had been showing to be the great privilege of believers, as being not in the flesh but in the Spirit ; as having the Spirit of God dwelling in them ; and not only- giving life to tiicir souls, but securing the future quickening and raising of their bodies. From all this he infers their obligation to live a holy life in walking according to the Spirit in the character which he had shown belonged to them. They were not then debtors to the flesh, tiie state in which they had been by nature, which is a state of corruption, guilt, and weakness, to live after the flesh, either to expect life from its best eff'orts, or to obey it in its lusts. The ways of the flesh promise happiness, but misery is their reward. On the contrary, it is implied that they were debtors to God, to whom they were under so great obli- gations as being redeemed from the law of sin and death, to serve and obey him in walking according to the Spirit in that new and divine nature which he has graciously imparted to them, V. 13. — For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. — The reason in the former verse why those to whom the Apostle wrote were not debtors to live after the flesh — under any obligation to obey its dictates — was taken from their obligations to God in respect to their privileges ; here it is taken from the doom of those who thus live. If ye live agreeably to your carnal nature, without Christ and faith in him, and according to the corrupt principles that belong to man in the state in which he is born, ye shall die. Ye shall suffer all the misery that throughout eternity shall be the portion of the wicked, which is called death, as death is the greatest evil in this world. Thus the wrath of God is denounced against all who do not live to God, in obedience to his com- mands, but serve the lusts of the flesh, and do not seek salvation in the way he has appointed, however harmless, and even useful they may be in society. At the same time, this proves that nothing done by the natural man, in his best eff'orts and highest attainments, will lead to God and to life. The Apostle thus repeats what he had affirmed in the sixth verse, that to be carnally minded is death. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body. — The deeds of the body are the works which corrupt nature produces. The believer neither indulges nor walks according to ihem, but mortifies and puts them to death. Those to whom the Apostle wrote had morti- fied the deeds of the body, yet they are here called to a further morti- fication of them, which imports that this is both a gradual work, and to be continued and persevered in while we are in the world. This shows that the sanclification of the believer is progressive. Some have objected to the doctrine of progressive sanclification, and have conceived that to assert it is a great error. They hold that there 356 ROMANS VIII., 13. is no more progress in sanctification than there is in justification, and lliat l)i)th are complete at once on beheving the trulli. Tiiere is just so imich truth in this as serves to make the error |)luusil)le. It is true that there is a sense in which hchevers are perfectly sanctified from the moment they helievc. That sanctification, however, is nut in them- selves ; it is in Christ, as much as their justification. The moment they believe they are justified in Christ, and perfectly righteous ; and the moment they believe, they are sanctified in him, and in him they* are perfectly holy. Viewed in Christ, they are " complete." But there is a personal sanctification, which commences with the new birth on believing the truth, and which is not perfected till death. .Many passages of Scripture import this doctrine. The following prayer of liie Apostle is explicit and decisive : — " And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." 1 Thess. v., 23. The Apostle Peter enjoins on believers to desire the pure milk of the word, that they may grow thereby, and begins his second Epistle by praying that grace miglit be multiplied to those to whom he wrote, and concludes it by enjoining on them to urov) in grace. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Believers obtain sanctification by the Spirit tiirough the truth. Their sanctification, then, must be in proportion as the truth is un- derstood and believed. It is through faith in Christ, Acts xxvi., 18; if so, according to the degree of failh will be the degree of sanctifica- tion. But all Christians are not equal in faith, neither then are they equal in sanctification ; and as a Christian advances in faith, he ad- vances in sanctification. If he may say. Lord increase my faiiii, he may likewise say, Lord increase my sanctification. He receives the Holy Spirit only in a measure. He may and ought therefore to prav for a larger measure of influence and grace, from iiim who gives grace in that measure which pleases him. M'e siiould pray that God would grant unto us, according to the riches of his glory, that we may be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. They who have already put on Christ as their sanctifier, are still exliorled to put him on, chap, xiii., 14 — that is more and more. There are babes in Christ, 1 Cor. iii., I ; there are little children, and young men, and fathers, 1 John ii., 12. Through the Spirit. — It is through the powxr of the Holy Spirit, who testifies of Ciirist and his salvation, and according to the new na- ture which he communicates, that the believer mortifies his sinful pro- pensities. It is not then of himself, of his own power or will, that he is able to do this. " Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God." No man overcomes the corruptions of his heart but by the influence of the Spi- rit of God. Though it is the Spirit of (iod who enables us to mortify the deeds of the body, yet it is also said to be our own act. We do this through the Spirit. The Huly Spirit works in men according to the consiilution that (iod has given them. The same work is, in one point of view, the work of God, and in another the work of man. Ye shall live. — j[lere eternal life is promised to all who, through the ROMANS VIII., 14. 357 Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body. The promise of hfe by the gos- pel is not made to the work, but to tiie wori^er ; and to the worker, not for or on account of his work, but according to his work, for the sake of Ciirist's work. Tlie promise, then, of hfe is not made to the work of mortification, hut to him that mortifies his flesh ; and that not for his mortification, bat because he is in Christ, of which this mortification is the effect and the evidence. That they who mortify the flesh shall live, is quite consistent with the truth, that the gift of God is eternal life, Rom. vi., 23, and in this gift there is no respect to the merit of the receiver. This describes the character of all who shall receive eternal life ; and it is of great importance. It takes away every ground of hope from those who profess to know God, and in works deny him ; for they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the aff'ections and lusts. In all this we are reminded tliat, while we cannot in this life attain to the fulfilling of the law in our own persons, we must seek to be con- formed to that law, and so mortify the old man in our members, other- wise it is a proof that we have no part in the righteousness of Christ. Nor can it be supposed that by him we are absolved from sin in order to obtain a license to continue in sin ourselves. On the contrary, our justification and our sanctification, as is shown in the sixth chapter, are inseparable. Jesus Christ came by water and blood ; not by water only, but by water and blood ; signifying by the hlood the expiation of the guilt of our sins by his death, and by water the virtue of his Spirit for our sanctification in washing our souls from the pollution of sin. In like manner under the law, there were not only sacrifices of animals whose blood was shed, but various washings, to teach us that these two benefits are inseparable in the gospel. Accordingly, when David describes the blessedness of the man whose transgression is for- given, whose sin is covered, unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, he immediately adds, in whose spirit there is no guile. For ought we to wish to receive the remission of sin, and to continue to walk in guile ? Ought we thus to seek to divide Christ, receiving only the ef- ficacy of his blood and not that of his Spirit ; desiring that he should be made to us righteousness and not also sanctification ? We are to seek in him the cause of our justification, and observe in ourselves its proofs and eflfects. We should see that, as we are pilgrims in this world, we have for our guide the Spirit of sanctification. V. 14. — For as many as are led by the Spirit of (Jod, they are the sons of God. Here is a proof of what has just been said : namely, that if, through the Spirit, those whom the Apostle addressed mortified the deeds of the body, they should live ; for all who do so are led by the Spirit. In spiritual things w^e are as little children, who, on account of their weakness, have need to be led by the hand that they may not fall. It is necessary, then, that believers be led by the Spirit of God. The manner in which the Spirit leads them is not by violence against their inclination, but by bending and ciianging their will, in a manner con- 358 ROMANS VIII., 14. sistoni with its nature. When .losus Clirist says, "No man can come lo inc except the Father which liath sent me, draw him," it is not meant that (Jod forces aijainsl tlieir will those wht)m he draws, but it shows us that wc are naturally so iiuiisposed to go to .lesus Christ, that it is necessary that CJod, by iiis Spirit, draw us lo liim, and that by his secret but powerful influence, he changes our resistance into consent. This is what is meant by the Church in the Song of Solomon, when she says, " Draw me, we will run after thee ;" for this shows that she is drawn in s\ich a way that she nms, that is, that her will lacing changed, and her perversity removed, she with alacrity follows the Lord. (Jod gives his people to will and lo do of his good pleasure, making ihein willing in the day of his power, and by his Spirit changes their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. This leading of the Spirit consists, too, in enlightening our understandings, as Jesus Christ says, " When he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth." It consists also in the sanclification of our will and affections ; so that he who is led by the Spirit is transformed by the renewing ol his mind, proving what is ti)at good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. lie has the eyes of his understanding enlightened to know what is the hope of the calling of God, and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. The Apostle shows what the Spirit leads to, when he says that the fruit of the Spirit is " love, joy, peace, long suf- fering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." It must, however, be remarked, that this leading of the Spirit is not such in this world as to exclude all imperfection. For notwithstanding that we are thus led, " in many things we all offend," James lii., 2. We have still within us a principle opposing the Spirit, as it is said, "the flesh luslelh against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would," Gal. v., 17. But he is led by the Spirit, who, though en- ticed by the flesh to walk in a contrary direction, yet resists and con- tends against it, and mortifies the deeds of the body. The Holy Spirit thus leads those in whom he dwells lo the mortifi- cation of sin. He takes of the glory of the person of Jesus, as God manifest in the flesh, and of his office, as the one Mediator between God and man, and discovers it to his people. Convincing them of their sinful condition, and of Christ's righteousness, he leads them to renounce everything of their own, in the hope of acceptance with God. He teaches them as the Spirit of truth, shining upon his own word, striving with them by it externally, and internally by his grace, con- ducting, guiding, and bringing them onwards in the way of duty ; and, as the promised Comforlor, filling them with divine consolation. Thus he leads them to Christ ; to prayer as the Spirit of grace and of sup- plications ; lo holiness ; and lo happiness. This shows us the cause why the children of (iod, notwitlislanding their remaining ignorance and depravity, and the many temptations w^ilh which they are assailed, hold on in the way of the Lord. " Lead me in ihy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation ; on thee do I wait all the day." " Thy Spirit is good, lead me into the land of uprightness." ROMANS VIII., 15, 359 This leading is enjoyed by none but Christians, for " as many as are led by the Spirit, of God, they are the sons of God." The sons of God. — The Scriptures give this character of sons of God differently, according as it is ascribed either by nature or by grace. By nature it belongs to .lesiis Christ alone, and that in respect to his divine nature, so that he is called tlie only begotten Son of God. By grace there are others who are called the sons of God. The grace of the conception by the Holy Spirit, and of the personal union of the divine nature which belongs to Jesus Christ as man, is a particular grace, he having been conceived by the Holy Ghost, and his human nature has been joined to his divine nature, forming one person ; and it is of this grace that the angel speaks in announcing his birth, Luke i., 35. There is also a grace more general, which is that of creation, by which the angels are called the sons of God, and from this grace those of them who sinned have fallen. Finally, there is the grace of redemption, according to which men are called, as in this place, the sons of God. As among men there are two ways of becoming children, the one by birth, the other by adoption, so God hath also appointed that in these two ways his people should become his children. Adoption supplied among men the want of children by birth, and no one could be a son except by one of these titles ; but God has been pleased that we should be his sons by both of them together. Here and in the following verses the Apostle exhibits four proofs of our being the sons of God. The first is our being led by the Spirit of God ; the second is the Spirit of adoption which we receive, crying, Abba, Father, ver. 15; the third is the witness of the Spirit with our spirits, ver. 16; the fourth is our sufferings in the communion of Jesus Christ ; to which is joined the fruit of our sonship, the Apostle saying, that if children we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. By this title of the sons of God, the doubts and servile fears of the Church of Rome are condemned, which teaches that believers should be uncertain respecting their salvation and the love of God, But ought they to doubt of the love of their heavenly Father ? The Scriptures teach them to call God their Father, but according to that apostate church, they ought to be uncertain whether they are the cliildren of God or the children of the devil. This error the Apostle combats in the following verse. The title, then, of sons of God, is full of conso- lation ; for we tims approach to God as our Father, and have access with boldness to his throne of grace. Even in our afflictions we lift up our eyes to him, not as a severe master, but a gracious Father ; and we know that our afflictions are only chastisements and trials from his paternal love, which he employs for our profit, that we may be partak- ers of his holiness. V. IS. — For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. It is of the greatest importance to believers to be assured that they 360 ROMANS VIII., 15. arc indrod llie sons of (Jod. Without a measure of this assurance, they {"aiuiot serve him with \ovi'. in newness of spirit. The Aposlie, therefore, enhiru[es liere on liis precedini^ declaration, lliat as many as are led by the ^Spirit of (iod are the sons of God. In confirmation of this, he reminds those wliom he addresses, that they had not received the sjiirit of bondage again to f(N'ir, but the Spirit of adoption, leading them to call on (Jod as their P^athcr. 'i'hc word spirit occurs twice in this verse. In this chapter, as has already been remarked, it is used in various senses. Sometimes it is taken in Scripture in a bad sense, as when it is said, Isaiah xix., 14, "The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof;" and again, Isaiah xxix., 10, " For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep." In the verse before^us it is taken both in a bad sense, signifying a sinful affection of the mind, namely, the spirit of bondage, and in a good sense, signifying by the Spirit of adoption, the Holy Spirit; as in the parallel passage, (ial. iv., 6, " And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." T/ie spirit of bondage. — All who arc not dead to the law, and know of no way to escape divine wrath but by obeying it, must be under the spirit of bondage ; serving in the oldness of the letter, and not in new- ness of spirit. For so far from fulfilling the demands of the law, they fail in satisfying themselves. A spirit of bondage then must belong to all who are not acquainted with God's method of salvation. The spirit of bondage is the effect of the law, which, manifesting his sinfulness to man, and the fearful wrath of God, makes him trem- ble under the apprehension of its curse. The Apostle, comparing the two covenants, namely, the law from Mount Sinai, and the gospel from Mount Zion, says, that the one from Mount Sinai gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar, but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of all believers ; because, like Isaac, they are the children of the promise. Now, tiiis promise is the promise of grace. For as man has sinned, the law which demands perfect obedience, and pronounces a curse against him who continues not in all things which it commands, must condemn and reduce him to the condition of a slave, who after he transgresses expects nothing l)ul punishment. On this account, when God promulgated his law amidst thunderings and lightnings, the moun- tain trembled, and the people feared and stood afar off. This showed that man could only tremble under the law, as he could not be justified by it ; but that he must have recourse to another covenant, namely the covenant of grace, in which God manifests his mercy and his love, in which he presents to sinners the remission of their sins, and the right- eousness of his well-beloved Son ; for in this covenant he justifies the ungodly, Rom. iv., 5, and imputes to them righteousness without works. He adopts as his own children those who were formerly chil- dren of wrath, and gives the Spirit of adoption to them wiio had before a spirit of bondage and ser\ile fear. Again to fear. — Paul uses the word again to indicate a double oppo- sition, the one of the state of a man before and after his regeneration, ROMANS VIII., 15. 361 the other of the New Testament and the Old. Before regeneration, a man, sensible that he is a sinner, mnst be apprehensive of punisiinient, not having embraced the only remedy provided for the remission of his sins by Jesus Christ. Not that it should be supposed tliat this is the case with all unregenerate men, or at all times, but only when their consciences are awakened, summoning them before the judgment-seat of God. For the greater part of tl em live in profane security, with hardened consciences, and without any apprehension of their ruined state. God, however, often impresses that fear on those whom he pur- poses to lead to the knowledge of his salvation. But when they are born of the Spirit, this servile fear gives place to a filial fear which proceeds from love, as the proper effect of the Spirit of adoption. " Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love : but perfect love casteth out fear ; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." The other opposition which the Apostle marks in saying again, is between the churches of the Old and of the New Testament. Not that the believers under the Old Testament had not the spirit of adop- tion ; for they were sanctified by the Spirit of God, and had fellowship with Jesus Christ the promised Messiah, being justified by faith, as is declared in the 11th chapter of the Hebrews, and called God their Fa- ther. Isa. Ixiii., 16. But the church under the Old Testament, being still in its infancy, did not enjoy the Spirit of adoption in that abun- dance, nor had it so clear a revelation of grace as that of the New. Believers only saw Christ at a distance under shadows and figures, while the law and its curses were strongly exhibited. Thus, in com- parison of the New Testament and its freedom, they were in a mea- sure held under bondage. Gal. iv., 1, 3. The believers at Rome, then, whether originally Jews or Gentiles, had not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. They were not come unto the Mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, or to the law, the work of which is written in the hearts of all men, which speaks nothing of mercy, but they were come to Mount Zion. It was the design of Christ's advent that believers in him might serve God " without fear." — Luke i., 74. Jesus Christ came that through death he might destroy death, and him that had the power of death, lliat is, the Devil, and to deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. — Heb. ii , 14. All the movements excited by the Spirit of bondage are only those of a slave ; selfish and mercenary motives of desire, hope of what will give them happiness, and fear of evil, but no movement of love either of God or holiness, or of hatred of sin. The passage before us, and many others, as that of 2 Tim. i., 7 — - " God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," leaches us that servile fear ought to be banished from the minds of believers. This fear is a fear of distrust, and not that fear to which we arc enjoined in various parts of Scripture, name- ly, a reverential fear of God, impressed by a sense of his majesty, which is the beginning of wisdom, and Avhich his children should at all 3G2 ROMANS VIII., 15. times cherish. Tliis fear is connected with the consolations of the Holy CJliost. "Then had the chiirclies rest ihroiigiiout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and wore edified ; and walking in tiie fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy («liost, were nnihipiied." There is also a salutary fear which ought always to be maintained in the hearts of Christians ; for the assurance of his salvation, which a be- liever ought to cherish, is not a profane assurance which prompts him to disregard the authority of God, but leads to a diligent carefulness to conform to his word, and make use of the means for edification of his appointment. This is what tiic Apostle intends when he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ;" for God designs to banish from our hearts a carnal security, as appears when it is added, " for it is God which workcth in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure," show'ing tiiat it is (iod who produces in his people both the will and the performance. This fear is required from the consideration of our weakness, our propensity to evil, and tiie many spiritual enemies wiiii whom we are surrounded ; and for the purpose of making us careful llial we do not fall ; wiiile we ought not to doubt of the love of our heavenly Father, but considering the infallible promises of our God, and the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should hold fast the assurance of our salvation. The Apostle Peter enjoins on those whom lie addressed as elect unto obedience through the foreknowledge of God, as loving Jesus Christ, and as rejoicing in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory, to pass the time of tiieir sojourning here in fear, be- cause they had been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. This consideration shows how horrible and dangerous is the nature of sin which works in our members. This fear implanted in the hearts of the children of God tends to their preservation in the midst of dangers, as that instinctive fear which exists in all men operates to the preservation of natural life, and is entirely consistent witii the fullest confidence in God, with love, and the joyful hope of eternal glory. If, however, the fear of man, or of any evil from the world, deter believers from doing their duly to God, it arises from the remains of carnal and unmortified fear. But nothing is more unworthy of the gospel, or more contrary to its spirit, whicii, in proportion as it is believed, begets love, and com- municates joy, peace, and consolation, in every situation in which we are placed. But ye fiave received the Spirit of adoption. — The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of adoption, either as the cause by which God makes us his children, or as the earnest and seal of our adoption. Contrary to the spirit of bondage, the Spirit of adoption produces in the heart a sense of reconciliation with God, love to him, a regard to holiness, hatred of sin, and peace of conscience through the knowledge of the love of God in Jesus Christ. It begets a desue to glorify (lod here on earth, and to enjoy the glory of heaven hereafter. Formerly, in their unregenerale stale, those to whom Paul wrote had the spirit of slaves, now ihey had the spirit of sons. Adoption is not a work of grace in us, but an act of God's grace without us. According to the original word, it signifies putting among ROMANS VIII., 15. 363 children. It is taking those who were by nature children of wraih from the family of Satan, to which they oriiijinally belonged, into the family of God. By union with Jesus Christ, being joined with him, we are one boily, and we enter into the communion of his riglitcousness, and of his title as the Son of God, so that as we arc righteous in him, we are also in him as his members tlie sons of God, who, in the moment that the Holy Spirit unites us to Jesus Christ, receives us as his children. All this shows us how great is the benefit which we obtain when we receive the Spirit of adoption and communion with the Son of God. We are thus made children of God, the sons of the Father of lights — a title permanent, and a nature immortal and divine. Our adoption reminds us of our original state as children of wrath and rebellion, and strangers to the covenant of God. It discovers to us the honor to which God has called us, in becoming our Father and making us his children, including so many advantages, rights, and pri- vileges, and at the same time imposing on us so many duties. These may be comprised under four heads. The first regards the privilege and glory of having God for our father, and being his children. The second includes the rights which this adoption confers, as of free access to God, the knowledge of his ways, and the assurance of his protection. The third implies God's love for us, his jealousy for our interest, and his care to defend us. The fourth, all the duties which the title or relation of children engages us to perform towards our Father and our God. The term adoption is borrowed from the ancient custom, especially prevalent among the Romans, of a man who had no children of his own adopting into his family the child of another. The fatiier and the adopted child appeared before the Praetor, when the adopting father said to the child, Wilt thou be my son? and the child answered, I luill. The allusion to this custom reminds believers that they are not the children of God otherwise than by his free and voluntary election ; and that thus they are under far more powerful obligations to serve him than are their own children to obey them, since it is entirely by his love and free good pleasure that they have been elevated to this dignity. We should also remark the difference between the adoption of man and the adoption of God. In choosing a son by adoption, the adopting party has regard to certain real or supposed qualities which appear meritorious or agreeable. But God, in adopting his people, himself produces the qualities in those whom he thus chooses. Man can impart his goods, and give his name to those whom he adopts, but he cannot change their descent, nor transfer them into his own image. But God renders those whom he adopts not only partakers of his name and of his blessings, but of his nature itself, changing and transforming them into his own blessed resemblance. This adoption, then, is accompanied with a real change, and so grea^ a change, that it bears the name of that which is tiie real ground of sonship, and is called regeneration. And these are inseparable There are no sons of God by adoption, but such as are also his sons by regeneration. Tiiere is a new life breathed into them by God. He 364 ROMANS VIM., 15. is iidt only the Father of (heir spirits hy their first infusion into the body enhvt'ninif it hy thetn, hut hy this new infusion of ^racc into their souls which were dead without it; and the .Sj)irit of (jod renewing them, is the Spirit of adoption, hy which ^licy cry, Abba, Failicr. He gives them a supernatural life hy iiis Spirit sent into their hearts, and the Spirit hy that regeneration which he works, ascertains to them that adoption which is in Christ Jesus, and in the persuasion of both they call (ukI their Father. In this manner, after adoption comes our sonship by regeneration, not in the order of time but of nature. For being muted to Christ, God forms in us his image, and this is the second way in which we are made the children of (Jod. Regeneration of this new Ijirlli is not a figurative, but a real change. " If any man be in Christ he is a new creature," or a new creation, 2 Cor. v., 17; for when we are regene- rated, we are created in Christ Jesus, Eph. iii., 10. Nor is it a re- formation of character, but the renewal of the image of God in the soul, which had been totally effaced. They who are born again, are begotten in Christ Jesus through the gospel, being born not of corrupt- ible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of (lod, which hvcth and abideth for ever. Thus tbey are " born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." For this new birth the man can do nothing to prepare himself. Neither after he is re- newed, can he effect anything to insure his perseverance in his new state. The Spirit of God alone both renews and preserves those who are renewed. By this regeneration we obtain qualities which are analogous to the nature of God. He enlightens our understanding, sanctifies our will, purifies our affections, and by the communication of those qualities, which have a relation to his Divine nature, begets us in his image and likeness, which is the new man of which Paul speaks, Eph. iv., 23, 24; Col. iii., 10; and as the Apostle Peter declares, we are made " partakers of the Divine nature." The fall of Adam has not deprived man of his subsistence or of his faculties, but has introduced into his understanding the darkness of ignorance, with malice and evil into liis will, and disorder in his affections, so that before his adojition and re- generation, he is by these vicious quahties the child of Satan, whose image he bears. The opposite of all this is that spiritual regeneration by means of which he is the child of God, consisting in the re-estab- Lshment of the uprightness of his faculties, and the abolition of those vicious qualities which have been introduced by sin. God begets us by his Spirit, and by his word, James i., 18, and on his sons thus formed, he bestows two graces ; the one is their justification, and the other their sanctification. By the first they are invested with the right- eousness of Jesus Christ, which is imputed to them, and this is the principal part of their spiritual and supernatural life, which is laid in Jesus Christ, Col. iii., 3. By the second, tlie Holy Spirit operates in them to quicken and make them walk in newness of life. And as this last grace is not perfect in this world, but still leaves many faults and imperfections, although they are the children of God, there ROMANS VIII., 15. 365 are still in them remains of the old man, and of the ima^e of Satan. In this sense they have more or less the character of children of God as they advance more or less in sanctificalion, and to this advance- ment they are continually urged by the exhortations of the word of God. The adoption of God's people and their regeneration are both declared, John i., 12, 13. Adoption confers the name oil sons, and a title to the inheritance ; regeneration confers the nature of sons, and a meetness for the inheritance. Abba, Father. — The interpretation which is generally given of this expression is, that Paul employs these two words, Syriac and (ircek, the one taken from the language in use among the Jews, the other from that of the Gentiles, to show that there is no longer any distinction between the Jew and the Greek, and that all believers, in every nation, may address God as their Father in their own language. It would rather appear that the Apostle alludes to the fact, that among the Jews, slaves were not allowed to call a free man Abba, which signified a real father. " I cannot help remarking" (says Claude, in his essay on the composi- tion of a sermon) " the ignorance of Messieurs of Port Royal, who have translated this passage, My Father, instead of Abba, Father, under pretence that the Syriac word Abba signifies Father. They did not know that St. Paul alluded to a law among the Jews, which forbade slaves to call a free man Ahha, or a free woman Imma. The Apostle meant that we were no more slaves, but freed by Jesus Christ, and consequently that we might call God Abba, as we may call the Church Imma. In translating the passage, then, the word Abba, although it be a Syriac word, and unknown in our tongue, must always be preserved, for in this term consists the force of the Apostle's reasoning." God is indeed our Father as the author of our being, beyond all visible creatures, as it is said, " We are also his offspring," Acts xvii., 28. But the privilege of this our natural relation, the sin of our nature hath made fruitless to us, till we be restored by grace, and made par- takers of a new sonship. We are indeed the workmanship of God, but it being defaced by sin, our true name, as considered in that state, is " children of wrath." But the sonship that emboldens us to draw near unto God, as our Father, is derived from his only begotten Son. He became the Son of Man, to make us anew the sons of God. Being thus restored, we may indeed look back upon our creation, and remem- ber in prayer that we are his creatures, the workmanship of his hands, and he in that sense our Father. But by reason of our rebellion, this argument is not strong enough alone, but must be supported with this other, as the main ground of our comfort, and that wherein the strength of our confidence lies, that he is our Father in his Son Jesus Christ; that by faith we are introduced iiuo a new sonship, and by virtue of that may call him Father, and move him by that name to help and answer us. " To as manv as received him, he gave power to be- come the sons of God," John i., 12. But adoption holds in Jesus Christ as the head of this fraternity ; therefore he says, " I go to my Father, and yo\ir Father, to my God, and your God." He does not say, to our Father and our God, but severally mine and your''s ; teach- 366 ROMANS VHI., 15. ing us the order of the new covenant, tlwit the sonship of Jesus Christ is not only more eminent in nature, but in order is the sprmg and cause of ours. So then he that puts this word to our mouths, to call God Father, he it is by whom we have this dignity and comforl that we call him so. Whereby we cry. — The Spirit of adoption, which, cnablinr^ those who receive this Spirit to address God as tlicir Father, gives filial dis- positions and filial confidence. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into yovir hearts, crying Abba, Father." — Gal. iv., 6. It is by the Sj)irit of (Jod that wc cry unto him, accord- ing to what is said afterwards, that the Spirit " hclpeth our infirmities; for wc know not what we ^^hould pray for as wc ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be utter- ed." This teaches us that it is not our own disposition that excites us to prayer, but the Spirit of (iod. Accordingly, we are commanded to prav, "always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," Eph. vi., 18, and to build up ''ourselves on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Cihost," Judc, 20. He is called " the Spirit of grace and of sup- plications," Zcch. xii., 10, to leach us that prayer being his work, and not an effort of our own strength, wc are to ask of God his Spirit to enable us to pray. This is the source of our consolation, that since our prayers are effects of his own Spirit within us, they arc pleasing to God. " He that searcheth the heart knowclh what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of adoption, also influences the pray- ers of believers as to their manner and earnestness, for by him they not only say, but cry, Abba, Father. They not only speak, but groan, for they cry not so much with the mouth as with the heart. By the term " we cry," is also intimated the assurance of faith with which we ought to draw near to God. This expression signifies that we address God with earnestness and confidence ; and that, having full reliance on his promises, which he halh confirmed, even with an oath, we should "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find uracc to help in lime of need." We are also commanded to ask in faiili, nothing wavering, for we come before the throne of (iod by his beloved Son. We appear as his members, in virtue of his blood, by which our sins, which would hinder our prayers from being heard, are expiated, so that God has no more remembrance of them. It is on this ground that we pray with assurance, for as we cannot pray to God as our Father, but bv his Son, so we cannot cry Abba, Father, but by him ; and on this account Jesus says, " I am the way, and the truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." Thus, the consideration that we invoke God as our Father forms in believers a holy assurance, for as a Father pilieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Since, then, we call God our Fatiicr, as our Lord teaches us to address iiim, we should do it with the assurance of his love, and of his readiness to hear us. " Thou shalt call me, My Fa- ther ; and shall not turn away from me," Jet. iii., 19. ROMANS VIII., 15. 367 The word Father also indicates the substance of our prayers, for when we can say no more to God than " O God, thou art our Father," we say all, and comprehend in this all that we can ask ; as the church said in its captivity, " Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us." Tlius, in whatever situation the believer finds himself, the crying Abba, Father, contains an appeal sufficient to move the compassion of God. Is he in want ? he says Abba, Father, as if he said, O Lord, thou feedest the ravens, provide for thy son. Is he in danger l it is as if he said, have the same care of me as a father has for his child, and let not thy compassion and thy providence abandon me. Is he on the bed of death ? it is as if he said, since thou art my Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit. All acceptable prayer must proceed from the Spirit of adoption, and the cry of the Spirit of adoption is no other than Abba, Father. The crying, Abba, Father, then, denotes the earnestness and impor- tunity in prayer to God which is the effect of the Spirit of adoption in the hearts of the cliildren of God, as well as that holy familiarity, to the exercise of which, as viewing God sitting on a throne of grace, they are encouraged. They call upon God, as their Father, after the exam- ple of our Lord, who at all times addressed God in this manner during Iiis ministry on earth, with that one memorable exception, when, under the pressure of the sins of his people, and the withdrawing of the light of his countenance, he addressed him not as his Father but his God, Matt, xxvii., 46. After his resurrection, in like manner, he comforted his disciples with this consolatory assurance that he was about to as- cend to his Father and their Father. The different expressions which the Scriptures employ to denote the filial relation of his people to God, are calculated to aid their concep- tions, and to elevate their thoughts to that great and ineffable blessing. One mode of expression serves to supply what is wanting in another. The origin of the spiritual life, and the re-establishment of the image of God in the soul, are expressed by these words — born of God. But that they may not forget the state of their natural alienation from God, and in order to indicate their title to the heavenly inheritance, it is said that they are adopted by God. And lest they should suppose that this adoption is to be attributed to anything meritorious in them, they are informed that God has predestinated them unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace, Eph. i., 5. The passage before us is conclusive against the doctrine of the Church of Rome, which maintains that the believer ought to be always in fear of condemnation, always in doubt of the love of God, and of his salvation. But is not this expressly to contradict the words of the Apostle ? It should be remarked that they cannot plead here the ex- ception that It was a prerogative peculiar to the Apostle, to be assured of his salvation, by a special revelation that had been made to him. For he speaks expressly to believers, " Ye have received the Spirit of adoption," and next he speaks of them with himself, when he says, " whereby we cry, Abba, Father." This assurance of the believer is 3G8 ROMANS VIII., 1'). clojirly taii£;lit ininanyotlior j)Iaccs. Tlic Apostle after sayinsj, Rom. v., 1, " Bciiii: justifu'd by faith we have peace with (iod throuifh our Lord Jesus Christ," ailds, '* liy wliom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of (jod," ex- pressing by ihe word rejoice (literally boast) a full assurance ; for il wouKi be rashness to boast or glory (as the same word is translated in the following verse) in what was not a real certainty. He also de- clares that hope luaketh not ashamed ; and that we even glory in tribu- lations, as assured thai ihey cannot deprive us of the love of God. " We have boldnct^s, too, and access with confidence," by the faith we have in Jesus C'hrist, Eph. iii., 12. "Let us, therefore''' (seeing that we have a great High iViest, that is passed into the heavens), " come boldly unto the throne of grace," Heb. iv., 14-16. And why is the Spirit which is given to believers called the seal and earnest of tiieir inheritance, if it is not to give them this assurance ? Why, also, are the declarations so express that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, and that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life ? The Apostle John says, " These things have I wriuen unto you that believe on the name of the Son of (iod, that ye may know that ye have eternal life," thus showing that he desires that all wiio beheve should know that they have eternal life. The reply of the Roman Catholics, that we cannot know assuredly if we have faith, is altogether vain. Paul proves the contrary, when he says, "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith ; prove your ownsclves ; know ye not your ownselves now that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates ? 2 Cor. xiii., 5. I'his proves that believers may recognize their own faith. Faith combats doubts, as the Apostle James shows, when he says, " Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for lie that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed." And speaking of Abraham, Paul says, " He staggered net at the pro- mise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." Believing, then, his promises, and drawing near in the full assur- ance of faith, giv(,'s glory to (iod. But does faith, then, exclude all uncertainty of salvation, and has the believer no misgivings after he has received the Spirit of adoption ' It is replied, that as faith is more or less perfect, there is more or less uncertainty or doubt connected with it, for doubts are owing to the weakness or to the want of faith. Faith as viewed in itself is one tiling, and anolheras viewed in an imperfect subject. Faith in itself excludes all doubts and misgivings, but because our sanclificatioii is incomplete in this world, and as there is always in us the remains of the old man and of the flesh, which is the source of doubts, faith has always to combat wit«lnii us, and to resist the servile fear of distrust, arising from the re- mains of our corruption. The believer, therefore, need not wonder though he should sometimes find himself agitated and troubled with doubts, on which account he should indeed be humbled but not dis- couraged, for in the end faith will again raise up itself from under the burden of teinplalion, and comfort him. The Spirit of adoption is sometimes as if it was extinguished in us ; but in the end it exerts its ROMANS VIII., 16. 369 force in our hearts, so that we cry, Abba, Father, and say with David, " Make me to have joy and ghidness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice." The hmguagc of the Spirit of adoption is, Lord, thou art my Father, make the light of thy countenance to shine upon me, cause thy peace to reign in my conscience, expel all doubts, scat- ter the clouds wliich prevent me from seeing clearly the light of thy face, and which hinder the sun of righteousness from shining in my heart. '• Siy thou unto my soul, I a.u thy silvalion," Psal. xxxiv., 3. " O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord. Thou art my Lord, Psal. xvi., 2. And God says, Hosea ii., 23, " I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people ; and they shall say, Thou art my God." That is, I will speak within the believer by my Spirit, I will assure him of my grace, and of my love, and he also shall lift up his heart to me, and call me his Father and his God. All this teaches us that the conscience sprinkled with the blood of the Son of God does not accuse or condemn, but consoles and comforts ; for we have by means of the Spirit that is given us the earnest of our final deliverance. Tliis proves how precious the promise of the Spirit sliould be to us, in order that we may not grieve him by giving way to sin. V. 16. — The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. In the preceding verse it is said, Ye have received the Spirit of adop- tion ; here it is added, The Spirit itself — the same Spirit — beareth witness with our spirit that we aie the sons of God. In this verse the Apostle shows that the sons of G )d may be assured of their adoption, because it is witnessed b^' the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit, in the heart of a believer, joins his tesliin')ny with his spirit, in confirmation of this truth, that he is a son of God. It is not merely the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers which atford this testimony, but the Spirit himself, by imparting filial confidence, inspires it in the heart. This is a testimony which is designed for the satisfaction of believers themselves, and cannot be submitted to the scrutiny of others. The witnesses here spoken of are two — our spiiit, and the Spirit of God together with our spirit. We have the testimony of our spirit when we are convinced of our sinfulness, misery, and ruin, and of our utter inability to relieve ourselves from the curse of the broken law, and are at the same time convinced of the righteousness of Christ, and of our dependence upon him for acceptance with God. We have this testi- mony when we possess the consciousness of cordially acquiescing in God's plan of salvation, and of putting our trust in Christ ; and when we are convinced that his blooil is sufficient to cleanse us from all sin, and know that we are willing to rest on it, and when in this way, and in this way alone, we draw near to God with a true heart, sprinkled from an evil conscience in the discernment of the efficacy of his atone- ment, thus having the answer of a good conscience towards God. And we have the above testimony confirmed to us when we experience and observe the eflfects of the renovation of our souls in the work of sancti- 24 370 ROMANS VIII., 16. fic.ition bejTun and carryinf; on in us ; and that not with floslily wisdom, but by the prate of God we have our conversation in the world. In all this the Holy Spirit enables us to ascertain our sonship, from beinjr conscious of and discovering in ourselves the true marks of a renewed state. But to say that this is all that is signified by the Holy Spirit's testimony, would be faHin;jj short of what is affirmed in this text ; for in that case the H()ly Spirit would only help the conscience to be a witness, but could not be said to be a witness himself, even another witness besides the conscience, which the text asserts. What we learn therefore from it, is, that the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit in a distinct and immediate testimony, and also with our spirit in a con- current testimony. This testimony, although it cannot be explained, is nevertheless felt by the believer ; it is felt by him too, in its variations, as soraetirnt s stronger and more palpable, and at other times more feeble and less discernible. As the heart knoweth its own bitterness, in like manner a stranger intermeildles not with the joy communicated by this secret testimony to our spirit. Its reality is indicated in Scripture by such expressions as those of the Father and the Son coming to us, and making their abode with us — Christ viaiiifesting himself to us, and supping with us — his giving us the hidden manna, and the white stone, denoting the communication to us of the knowledge of an acquit- tal from guilt, and a 7iciv name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receivcth it. " The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." " He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself," 1 John v., 10. This witness- ing of the Spirit to the believer's spirit communicating consolation, is never bis first work, but is consequent on his ot^er work of renovation. He first gives faith, and then seals. " After that ye lielieved ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." He also witnesseth with our spirit, graciously shining on his own promises — making them clear, assuring us of their truth, enal)ling our spirit to embrace them and to discover our interest in them. He witnesseth with our spirit in all the blessedness of his gracious fruits, ditiusing through the soul love, and joy, and peace. In the first method of his witnessing with our spirit we are passive ; but in the last method there is a concurrence on our part with his testimony. The testimomy of the Spirit, then, is attended with the testimony of conscience, and is thus a co-witness with our spirit. It may also be observed that where this exists it brings with it a disposition and promptitude for prayer. It is the testimony of the Spirit of Adoption whereby we crj- Abba, Father; it disposes the soul to holiness. The important truth here affirmed, that the Holy Spirit beareth wit- ness with our spirit, docs not seduce believers from the written word, or expose them to delusions mistaken for internal revelations diifering from the revelations of Scripture. This internal revelation must be agreeable to Scripture revelation, and is no revelation of a new article of faith unknown to Scripture. It is the revelation of a truth consonant to the word of God, and made to a believer in that blessed book for his com- fort The Spirit testifies to our sonship by an external revelation in the ROMANS VIII., 17. 371 Scriptures that believers are the sons of God. He concurs with this testimony by illuminating the mind and understanding, and persuading it of the truth of this external revelation. He unites with this testimony by reason of his gracious, sanctifying presence in us, and is therefore called the earnest of our inheritance — and God's seal marking us as his own. V. 17. — And if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. If children, then heirs. — ^The Apostle having proved the adoption of believers, from the confirmation of the double and concurrent testimony of their own spirit and of the Spirit of God, here infers from it the certainty of their possessing the eternal inheritance. The fact of their being heirs, he deduces from their being children. In this world, chil- dren are, in all nations, heirs of their parents' possessions. This is the law of nature. As such it not only illustrates but confirms the fact, that believers are heirs as being children. By the declaration that they are heirs, we are reminded that it is not by purchase, or by any work of their own that they obtain the inheritance to which they are predestinated, Eph. i., 11, and begotten, 1 Pet. i., 3. It is solely in virtue of their sonship. The inheritance, which is a kingdom, was provided for them from the foundation of the world, Matt, xxv., 34, before they existed, and as inheritances were under the law inalienable, so this inheritance is eternal. They are heirs according to the promise, Heb. vi., 17. Heire of the promise. Gal. iii., 29 ; that is, of all the blessings contained in the promise of God, which he confirmed by an oath. Heirs of salva- tion, Heb. i., 14. Heirs of the grace of life, 1 Pet. iii., 7. Heirs ac- cording to the hope of eternal life, Titus iii., 7. Heirs of righteous- ness, Heb. xi., 7. Heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised, James ii., 5. All things are theirs, for they are Christ's, and Christ is God's, 1 Cor. iii., 23. Heirs of God. — Here in one word the Apostle states what is the in- heritance of those who are the children of God. It is God himself. " If a son, then an heir of God through Christ," Gal. iv., 7. This ex- pression, heirs of God, has a manifest relation to the title of son, which is acquired by adoption ; on which account the Apostle here joins them together. This teaches that believers have not only a right to the good things of God ; but that they have this right by their adop- tion, and not by merit. As the birthright of a child confers a title to the property of its father, and so distinguishes such property from what the child may acquire by industry and labor, so also is the case with adop- tion. Here we see the difference between the law and the Gospel. The law treats men as mercenaries, and says. Do, and Live ; the Gospel treats them as children, and says. Live, and Do. God is the portion of his people, and in him who is " the possessor of heaven and earth " they are heirs of all things. " He that overcoraeth shall inherit all things : and I will be his God, and he shall be ray son," Rev. xxi., 7. God is all- sufficient, and this is an all-sufficient inheritance. God is eternal and unchangeable, and therefore it is an eternal inheritance — an inheritance 372 ROMANS VIII., 17. incorruptible, undefilcd, and tliat fadelh not away. They cannot be dis- possessed of it — for the oinnipottMice of (jod secures against all opposi- tion. It is rest'ivcd lor ibt-ni in bcavtri, wliicli is the thront- of Ood, and where lie uianitVsts his glory. It is (jod hiiiistif, then, who is the in- heritance of his cliddrtii. This shows that he communicates himself to them by his grace, his light, his holiness, his life. They possess God as their inheritance in two degiees, namely, in possessing in this lile his grace, and in the life to come his glory. "Thou shall guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee ; and there is none Uj)on earth that 1 desire beside:; thee !" Psal. Ixxiii., 24. And what is the inheritance in glory, il it be not God who is all in all ! Here we have the life of grace — " The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of Ood, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." In the life to come, it is the enjoyment or the vision of God which, in the 17th Psalm, the prophet opposes to the inheritance of the men of this world. " Deliver me, 0 Lord ! from men of the world, which have their poition in this life. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness ; 1 shall be satisfied when I awake with thy liko- ness." Into this iidieritance Moses, that is to say, the law, cannot in- troduce us ; He alone can ilo it who is the great Joshua — Jesus Christ, the mediator of a better covenant. Joint, heirs with Christ. — This, with the expression, heirs of God, shows the glorious nature of the inheritance of the children of God. "What must this honor be when they are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ? Adam was a son of (iod. The Lordship of paradise was given him, but he losi it. Satan and his angels weie also sons of God by creation, and they fell. But the joint heirs of Christ can never fall. They have their inheritance secured by their union with Christ, and hold it by a title which is indefeasible, and a right which never can be revoked. Christ is the heir, as being the Son of God ; all things that the Father hath are his, and as Mediator, he is appointed "heir of all things," and they are joint-heirs with him. The inheritance to be possessed by them is the same in ils nature as that possessed by the man Cfirist Jesus, and the glory that the Father gives to him, he gives to them ; John xvii., 22. 'i'hey paiticipate of the same Spirit with him, for they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his. That same life that he has is conferred on them ; and because he lives, they live also. He is the fountain of their life; Psal. xxxvi., 9. The glory of iheir bodies will be of the same kind with his; Phil, iii., 21. The glory that the Father gave to him, he has given to them ; John xvii., 22. They shall be aflmitted to the same glorious place with him, and shall behold his glory ; John xvii., 24. There must be a conformity between the head and the members, hut as to the degree, he who is the first-born among many brethren must in all things have the pre-eminence. ]f so be that t/e suffer with him. — The Apostle had shown that be- lievers are the adopted children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. He now refers to a possible objection, namely, that notwithstanding this, they are often full of trouble and afllictions in this life, which appears not to be suitable to so near a relationship with God. ROMANS viir., 17, 373 Tliis he obviates by reminding them that they suffer with Christ, and that their sufferings, which result from their bearing them with him, will issue in future glory. The sufferings of Jesus Christ are to be regarded in two points of view. On the one hand, he suffered as the propitiation for the sins of his people. On the other hand, his sufferings are to be viewed as the road conducting him to glory. In the first of these his people have no part ; he alone was the sacrifice offered for their salvation ; he alone made satisfaction to the justice of God ; and he alone meiited the reward for them. But in the second point of view, he is the pattern of their condition ; in this they must follow his steps, and be made conibrmable to him. Suffering, then, is a peculiarity in the earthly lot of all the heirs of heaven ; they are all called to suffer with Christ. The man profess- ing Christ's religion, who meets with no persecution or opposition from the world for Christ's sake, may well doubt the sincerity of his profes- sion. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." All the heirs will come to the enjoyment of their inheritance through tribulation; most of them through much tribulation; but so far from this being an ar ; cxlviii., 3, 10 ; Is. Iv., 12 ; Hab. iii., 16. ROMANS VHI., 19-22. 377 tremble. Neither can it refer to the elect angels, of whom it cannot be said that they shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, for to this they were never subjected. It does not apply to men, all of whom are either the children of (lod or of the wicked one. It cannot refer to the children of (lod, for they are here expressly distinguished from the creation of which the Apostle speaks ; nor can it apply to wicked men, for thcv have no wish for the manifestation of tlie sons of God, whom tliey hate, nor will they ever be delivered from the bond- age of corruption, but cast into the lake of fire. It remains, then, that the creatures destitute of intelligence, animate and inanimate, the hea- vens and the earth, the elements, the plants and animals, are here re- ferred to. The Apostle means to say, that the creation, which, on account of sin, has, by the sentence of God, been subjected to vanity, shall be rescued from the present degradation under which it groans, and that, according to the hope held out to it, is longing to participate with the sons of God in that freedom from vanity into wliich it shall at length be introduced, partaking with them in their future and glorious deliverance from all evil. This indeed cannot mean that the plants and animals, as they at present exist, shall be restored ; but that the condi- tion of those things which shall belong to the new heavens and the new earth, prepared for the sons of God, shall be delivered from the curse, and restored to a perfect state, as when all things that God had created were pronounced by him very good, and when as at the beginning, be- fore sm entered, thev shall be fully adapted to the use of man. As men earnestly desire what is good, and, on the contrary, groan and sigh in their sufferings, the like emotions of joy and sorrow are here ascribed to the inanimate and unintelligent creation. In this way the prophets introduce the earth as groaning, and the animals as crying to God, in sympathy with the condition of man. "The land mourn- eth, for the corn is wasted ; the new wine is dried up ; the oil lan- guisheth, because joy is withered away from the sons of men ! How do the beasts groan ! the beasts of tlie field cry also unto Thee ! " Joel i., 10-20. " How long shall the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of iliem that dwell therein ? " Jer. xii., 4. " The earth mourneth and fadeth away ; the world languishes and fadeth away ; the haughty people of the earth do languish, "The earth also is defiled, even the inhabitants thereof; because they have trans- gressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting cove- nant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth. The new wine mourneth; the wine languisheth !" Isaiah xxiv., 4-7. To the same purpose, Isa. xiii., 13; xxxiii., 9 ; xxxiv., 4. On the other hand, the prophet, Isa. xlix., 13, predicting a better state of thuigs, exclaims, " Sing, O heavens ; and be joyful, 0 earth ; and break forth into sing- ing, 0 mountains ; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted !" And in Ps. xcviii., 4-6, " Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth, make a loud noise, and re.- joice, and sing praises! Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof! Let the floods clap their hands : let the hills be joyful together !" Thus, in the language of Scripture, the sins of men cause the creation 378 ROMANS VIII., 19-22. to mourn ; but the mercy of God withdrawing his rebukes causelh it to rejoice. Vanity. — What is called vaiiily in tiic twentieth verse is in the twciity-Arsi denominated humlduir of torruption. When the crcfiticm was brougiit into existence, (Jod bestowed on il his blessing, and pro- nounced everything that he had made very good. Viewing that admir- able palace which he had provided, he appointed man to reign in it, commanding all creation to be subject to him whom he had made in his own image. But when sin entered, then in a certain sense, it may be said that all things had become evil, and were diverted from their proper end. The creatures by their nature were appointed for the service of the friends of their Creator, but since the entrance of sin tiiey have become subservient to his enemies. Instead of the sun and the heavens being honored to give ligiil lo those who obey God, and the earth lo support the righteous, ihcy now minister to rebels. The sun shines upon the wicked, the earth nourishes those who blaspheme their Maker, while its various productions, instead of being employed for the glory of God, are used as instruments of ambition, of avarice, of in- temperance, of cruelly, of idolatry, and are often employed for the de- struction of his children. All these are subjected lo vanity wiien applied by men for vain purposes. This degradation is a grievance lo the works of (jod, which in themselves have remained in allegiance. They groan under il, but keeping vvilhin iheir proper limits, hold on their course. Had il been the will of the Creator, after liie entrance of sin, the creature might have refused lo serve the vices or even the necessi- ties of man. This is sometimes threatened. In reproving the idolatry of the children of Israel, God speaks as if he intended lo withdraw his creatures from llieir service, in taking them enlirely away. "There- fore will I return and take away my corn in the lime tiiereof, and ray wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness." Hosea ii., 9. And sometimes the creature is represented as reclaiming against the covelousness and wickedness of men. " The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." Hab. ii., 11. The whole creation, then, groanelh together, and is under bondage on account of the sin of man, and has suffered by it immensely. As to the inanimate creation, in many ways it shows its figurative groan- ing, and tlie vanity lo which it has been reduced. " Cursed is the ground fur thy sake, thorns also and thistles shall il bring forth to ihee." Il produces all noxious weeds ; and in many places is enlirely barren. It is subject lo earlli(|uakes, floods, and storms destructive lo human life, and in various respects labors under the curse pronounced upon il. The lower animals have largely shared in the sufferings of man. They are made " lo be taken and destroyed," 2 Peter, 11, 12, and to devour one anolher. They have become subservient to the criminal pleasures of man, and are the victims of his oppressive cruelly. Some partake in the labors lo which he is subjected, and all of ihem terminate their short existence by death, the effect of sin. All that belongs lo the creation is fading and transitory, and death reigns universally. The ROMANS VIII., 19-22. 379 heavens and the earth shall wax old like a garment. The earth once perished by water, and now it is reserved unto fire. " The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved." The cause of this subjection to vanity is not from their original tendencies, or from any fault in the creatures. They have been so subjected, not willingly — not owing to any natural defect, or improper disposition in themselves, but by reason of the sin of man, and in order to his greater punish- ment. The houses of those who were guilty of rebellion were de- stroyed, Ezra vi., 11, Dan. ii., 5, not that there was guilt in the stones or the wood, but in order to inflict the severer punishment on their criminal possessors, and also to testify the greater abhorrence of their crime in thus visiting them in the things that belonged to them. In the same manner, man having been constituted the lord of the creatures, his punishment has been extended to them. This in a very striking manner demonstrates the hatred of God against sin. For as the leprosy not only defiled the man who was infected with it, but also the house he inhabited, in the same way sin, which is the spiritual leprosy of man, has not only defiled our bodies and our souls, but by the just judgment of God, has infected all creation. In whatever way it may be attempted to be accounted for, it is a fact that the world and all around us is in a suffering and degraded condition. This state of things bears the appearance of being inconsistent with the government of God, all-powerful, wise, and good. The proud sceptic is here completely at a stand. He cannot even conjecture why such a state of things should have had place. With Mr. Hume, the language of every reflecting unbeliever must be, " The whole is a rid- dle, an enigma, an inexplicable mystery. Doubt, uncertainty, suspense of judgment, appear the only result of our most accurate scrutiny con- cerning this subject." The Book of God alone dispels the darkness, and unveils the mystery. Here, then, we learn how great is the evil of sin. It has polluted the heavens and the earth, and has subjected the whole to vanity and corruption. Evil and misery prevail, and creation itself is compelled to witness the dishonor done to its Author. It would be derogatory to the glory of God to suppose that his works are now in the same condi- tion in which they were at first formed, or that they will always con- tinue as at present. In the meantime all the creatures are groaning under their degradation, until the moment when God shall remove those obstacles which prevent them from answering their proper ends, and render them incapable of suitably glorifying' him. But the righteous judge who subjected them to vanity in consequence of the disobedience of man, has made provision for their final restoration. The creation, then, is not in that state in which it was originally con- stituted. A fearful change and disorganization even in the frame of the natural world has taken place. The introduction of sin has brought along with it this subjection to vanity and the bondage of corruption, and all that ruin under which nature groans. How miserable is the 380 ROMANS viir., 19-22. condition of ihosc who have their portion in this world. Of them it may be truly said, " Surciv thcv have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." Of those "who mind earthly things," it is written, their " end is destruction." " "^Phe heavens and the earth wliirh are now, liy the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Dflirered. — Some suppose that the word delivered signifies an entire annihilation, and in support of this opinion allege such passages as 2d Pet. iii., 10, Rev. xx., 11. But as the tendency of all things in nature is to their own preservation, how could the creation be represenled as earnestly expecting the manifestation of the sons of God, if that mani- festation were to be accompanied with its final ruin and destruction? Besides, the Apostle promises not merely a future deliverance, but also a glorious future existence. The Scriptures, loo, in various places, predict the continued subsistence of the heavens and the earth, as 2d Pet. iii., 13, Rev. xxi., 1. Respecting the passages quoted above, as importing their annihilation, it ought to be observed, that the destruc- tion of the substance of things differs from a change in their qualities. When metal of a certain shape is subjected to fire, it is destroyed as to its figure, but not as to its substance. Thus the heavens and the earth will pass through the fire, but only that they may be purified and come forth anew, more excellent than before. In Psal. cii., 26, it is said, " They shall perish, but thou shall endure ; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment ; as a venture shall ihou change them, and they siiall be changed.'''' That the Apostle Peter, when he says thai the heavens shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, does not refer to ihe destruction of their substance, but to their purification, is evident from what he immediately adds. " Nevertheless, we, accord- ing to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwclleth righteousness." A little before he had said, "The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished," although its sub- stance remains as at ihe beginning. If, then, the punishment of sin has extended to the creatures, in bringing them under the bondage of corruption, so, according to the passage before us, that grace which reigns above sin, will also be extended to their deliverance. And as the punishment of the sins of men is so much the greater as their effects extend to the creatures, in like manner, so much the greater will be the glory that shall be revealed in them, that the creatures which were formed for their use shall be made to participate with them in the day of the restitution of all things. Through the goodness of God thev shall follow the deliverance and final destination of the chil- dren of God, and not that of his enemies. When God created the world, he " saw everything that he had made. and, behold, it was very good." When man transgressed, God viewed it a second time, and said, " cursed is the ground for thy sake." When the promise that the Deliverer should come into the world to re-estab- lish peace between God and man was given, the effect of this blessed reconciliation was to extend even to the inanimate and unintelligent ROMANS VIII., 23. 381 creation ; and God, it may be said, then viewed Iiis work a third lime, and held out the hope of a glorious restoration. Tiie creature, then, has been subjected to ihe indignity which it now snffers, in hope* that it will one day be delivered from the bondage of corruplion, and partake of the glorious freedom of the children of (lod. This hope was held out in the sentence pronounced on man, for in the doom of our first parents, the divine purpose of provifling a deliverer was revealed. Wc know not the circumstances of ithis change, how it will be effecled, or in what form the creation — those new heavens and that new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, suited for the abode of the sons of God — shall then exist ; but we are sure that it shall be worthy of the divine wisdom, although at present beyond our compre- hension. Manifestation of the sons of God. — Believers arc even now the sons of God, but the world knows them not. — 1 John iii., I. In this respect they are not seen. Their bodies, as well as their spirits, have been purchased by Christ, and they are become his members. Their bodies have, however, no marks of this divine relation, but, like those of other men, are subject to disease, to death, and corruplion. And although they have been regenerated by the Spirit of God, there is still a law in their members warring against the law of their mind. But the period approaches when their souls shall be freed from every remainder of corruplion, and their bodies shall be made like unto the glorious body of the Son of God. Then this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and then shall they shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Fa- ther. It is then that they shall be manifested in their, true character, illustrious as the sons of God, sealed upon thrones, and conspicuous in robes of light and glory. V. 23. — And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, w.iiti.ig for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. In the four preceding verses the Apostle had appealed to the state of nature, which, by a sinking and boautifid figure, is personified and re- presented as groaning under the oppression of sutFering, through the entrance of sin, and looking forward with ardent expectation, as with oulstretched neck, to a iuture and belter dispensation. He now pro- ceeds to call the attention of believers to theii own feelings and expe- rience, meaning to say, that if the iinintelligunt creation is longing for the inanifestation of the sons of (iod, how iimch more earnestly must they themselves long for that glorious event. Chrislians who have received the foreiasijs of evcrhisting felicity, sympathize with the groans of nature. Tliey eajoy indeed even al pre- sent a blessed freedom. They are delivered from llie guili ami domi- nion of sin, the curse of the law, and a serv.i..'. sjiini in tlieir obedience to God. Still, however, they have much to suifer wjiile in the world, * The 20th verse sliould be re id ii a ;>ire:it!iesis, e.\ce_.t the tw'j 1 tst words, wlu'cli should be transferred to tiie 21st verse, .I'ld that substiinleJ I'jv bfcaiise. In hope that the creature itself also shall be dtlivered. 382 ROMANS VIII., 23. but llioy wait for llic redemption of ihcir bodies, and the full manifesta- tion of their cliaractcr as the children of (iod. Their hothcs, us well as their spirits, have been given to Christ. They are equally the fruit of his piirchase, and arc become his members. ]kit it is not till his people shall have arisen from the grave, that thev will enjoy all the privileges consequent on his redemption. IVirJirsI fruits of the Sj)irit. — These are love and joy in the Holy Chosl, peace of conscience and communion with (Jod. They are the graces of the Spirit conferred on believers, called first fruits, because, as the first fruits of the field were oflcred to (lod under the law, so these graces redound to God's glory. And as the first ears of corn were a pledge of an abundant harvest, so these graces are a pledge to believers of their complete felicity, because they are given to them of CJod for the confirmation of their hope. They arc a pledge, because the same love and grace that moved llicir Heavenly Father to impart these beginnings of their salvation, will move him to perfect the good work. 'J'licsc first fruits, then, are the foretastes of heaven, or the ear- nest of the inheritance. This is the most invaluable privilege of the children of God in the present life. It is a joy the world cannot give and cannot take away. The error which would represent these privi- leges as peculiar to the Apostles and the first Christians, and restrict the fruits of the Spirit to miraculous gifts, ought not for one moment to be admitted. The Apostle is speaking of all the children of God to the end of the w^orld, without excepting even the weakest. As the first fruits of the harvest were consecrated to God, so we should be careful not to abuse the gifts of the Spirit of God in us. As the first fruits were to be carried to the house of God, so, as God has communicated to us his grace, we should also go to his house making a public profession of his name. The children of Israel, in offering the first fruits, were commanded to confess their miserable original state, and to recount their experience of the goodness of God, Deut. xxvi., 5. In the same way we should consider the graces of the Holy Spirit in us as the first fruits of the heavenly Canaan which God hath given us, and confess that we were by nature children of wrath, dead in trespass- es and sins, and that the Lord having had compassion on us, has deli- vered us from the servitude of sin, and the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Groan within ourselves. — Not only they — the whole creation or every creature ; but also believers themselves with all their advantages groan. Even they find it ditficult to bear up under the pressure which in their present state weighs them down, while carrying about with them a body of sin and death. Of this groaning the Apostle, as we have seen, chap, vii., 24, presents himself as an example. *' O wretch- ed man that I am ;" and again when he says, " We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." — 2 Cor. v., 4. In the same manner David groaned, when he complained that his iniquities were a burden too heavy for him. Believers groan on account of indwelling sin, of the temptations of Satan and the world, and df the evils that af- flict their bodies and souls. They feel that something is always waul- ROMANS VIII., 23. 383 ing to them in this world. There is nothing but that sovereign good which can only be found in God, fully able to satisfy their desires. Believers groan icithin ihemselves. Their groanings are not such as those of hypocrites, which are only outward ; ihey are from within. They do not always meet the car of man, but they reach the throne of God. " All my desire," says David, " is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee." Psalm xxxviii., 9. These groanings are sighs and prayers to God, which are spoken of in the 26th verse, where we learn their efficient cause, which is not flesh and blood. They are fruits of the Spirit, so that by them believers observe in themselves the spirit of regeneration. Waiting for the adoption. — Believers have already been adopted into the family of God, and arc his children ; but they have not yet been openly declared to be so,* nor made in all respects suitable to this cha- racter. If they are the sons of God, they must be made glorious, both in soul and body ; but till they arrive in heaven, their adoption will not be fully manifested. Adoption may be viewed at three periods. It may be considered in the election of his people, when God decrees their adoption before they are called or united to Jesus Christ ; yet they are even then denominated the children of God. In the eleventh chapter of John, where Caiaphas, prophesying of the death of Jesus, says that he should die not for that nation only, but for all the children of God that were scattered abroad, under the term children of God were comprehended those who had not yet been called. — Acts xviii., 10. In their calling and regeneration they are adopted into God's family, being then united to Christ : but as their bodies do not partake in that regeneration, and are not yet conformed to the glorious body of Jesus Christ, they still wait for the entire accomplishment of their adoption, when, at the resurrection, they shall enter on the full posses- sion of the inheritance. Accordingly, Jesus denominates that blessed resurrection " the regeneration ;" because then not only the souls of believers, but also their bodies, shall bear the heavenly image of the second Adam. Then they shall enter fully into the possession of their inheritance ; for in that day Jesus Christ will say to the elect, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Heaven, into which they will then enter, is an inheritance suitable to the dignity of the sons of God, and for this they are waiting. The children of God wait for the accomplishment of all that their adoption imports. They wait for it as Jacob did : " I have waited for thy salvation, C) Lord !" Gen. xlix., 18. They wait as the believers at Corinth were waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. i., 7 — and as all believers who through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. — Gal. v., 5. " Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ." — Titus ii., 13. And as the Thessalonians, who, having been turned from idols to serve the living and true God, waited for his Son • Among the Romans there was a twofold adoption, the one private, the other public. 381 ROMANS Vlll., 23. fmni heaven, 1 Tlicss. i., 10 ; also as is rcconlod in Heb, i.\., 2H, James v., 7, 8 ; 2 Pet. iii.*, 12. In this manner Paul waileti for liis crown, 2 Tim. iv., bi. It was this waiting for, or expeclalion of dclivirance from the Lord, that encouraged Noah to build the ark; and ^Abraham to leave his country ; and Moses to esteem the rtproach of Christ greater riches than l^ie treasures in Egypt ; and the elders who oblain- cd a good report through faitli, to seek a better, that is, an heavenly couniry. It was the expeclalion of eternal life tliat sustained those who shed their blood for the testimony of Jesus. The redemption of our body. — That there might be no misUike respect- ing the meaning of the adoption in this unusual applicaiion, the Apostle himself sut)joiMS an explanation — even the redemption of our bod), be- cause the body will then be delivered from the grave, as a prisoner when redeemed is delivered from his prison. But why, it may be asked, does the Apostle here employ the term redemption rather than that of resurrection, which is so common in the New Testament ? To this it maybe replied, that the Holy Scrip- tures often make use of this expression to represent a great deliverance, as m Psal. cvii., 2, " Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hatli redeemed from the hand of the enemy !" And, as in Isaiah Ixiii., where those are spoken of who are redecnjcd of the Lord from the hand of the enemy. It is evident that Paul employs this expression, forcibly to designate the greatest of all deliverances, the highest object of our desires, which is to be the subject of our eternal gratitude. When this term is so used, it commonly denotes two things, — the one^ that the deliverance spoken of is effected in a manner glorious and conspicuous, exhibiting the greatest effort of power; the other, that it is a complete deliverance, placing us beyond all danger. On this ground, then. It is evident that no work is better entitled to tlic appellation of redemption than that of the re-establishment of our bodies, which will be an illustrious effect of the infinite power of God. It is the work of the Lord of nature — of Him who liolds in his hands the keys of life and death. His light alone can dispel the darkness of the tomb. It is only his hand that can break its seal and its silence. On this account the Apostle appeals, with an accumulation of terms, to the exceeding greatness of the power of God to usward who believe, according to the working of Ins nnghty f>ower, w^liich he wrought in Christ wjien he raised him from the dead. Eph. ii., 10. This last deliverance will be so perfect, that nothing can be more complete, since " the children of the resurrection" shall be restored not to their first life, but to a state which will be one of surpassing glory nnd never-ending immortality. Death will be swallowed up in victory. Earthly warriors may obtain two sorts of victories over their enemies. One may be called a temporary or partial victory, which causes the enemy to fly ; which deprives liim of part of his force, but does not prevent him from re-establishing himself, returning to the field of bat- tle, and placing the coiicpieror in the hazard of losing what he lias gained. The other may be termed a complete and decisive victory, which so effectually subdues the hostile power, that it can never regain ROMANS VIII., 24. 385 what it has lost. There are also two sorts of resurrections ; one like that ot Lazarus, in wiiich death was overcome but not de- stroyed, since Lazarus died a second time ; the other is, that of be- lievers at llie last day, when death will not only be overcome, but cast out and for ever exterminated. Both of these may be properly called a resurrection ; but to speak with greater force, the second is here called a redemption. Besides, the Aposllc, in employing this term, has reference to the redemption which Jesus Christ has effected at the infinite price of his blood. It is true this price was fully paid on the day of his death, yet two things are certain ; the one is, that our resur- rection will only take place in virtue of the value and imperishable efficacy of that blood, which has acquired for us life and happiness ; the other, that the redemption accomplished on the cross and the resur- rection are not two different works. They are but one work, viewed under different aspects, and at different periods ; the redemption on the cross being our redemption by price, and the resurrection our redemp- tion by power — a perfect and undivided salvation begun and ter- minated. The day, then, of the redemption of our bodies will be the day of the entire accomplishment of our adoption, as then only we shall enter on the complete possession of the children of (xod. In Jesus Christ our redemption was fully accomplished when he said on the cross, " It is finished." In us it is accomplished by different degrees. The first degree is in this life ; the second, at death ; the third, at the resurrec- tion. In this life, the degree of redemption which we obtain is the re- mission of our sins, our sanctification, and freedom from the law and the slavery of sin. At death, our souls are delivered from all sin, and their sanctification is complete ; for the soul at its departure from the body is received into the heavenly sanctuary, into which nothing can enter that defilelh ; and as to the bodv, death prepares it for incorrup- tion and immortality, for that which we sow is not quickened except it die. It must, therefore, return to dust, there to leave its corruption, its weakness, its dishonor. Hence it follows that believers should not fear death, since death obtains for them the second degree of their redemption. But as our bodies remain in the dust till the day of our blessed resurrection, that day is called the day of the redemption of our body, as being the last and highest degree of our redemption. Then the body being reunited to the soul, death will be swallowed up in vic- tory ; for the last enemy tliat shall be destroyed is death, for till then death will reign over our bodies. But then the children of God shall sing that triumphant song, " O death, where is thy sting : O grave, where is thy victory?" "I will ransom thee from the power of the grave, I will redeem thee from death ; O death, I will be thy plagues ; O grave, I will be thy destruction," The elevation of his people to glory on the day of their redemption, will be the last act in the economy of Jesus Christ as Mediator. He will then terminate his reign and the whole work of their salvation. For then he will present the whole church to the Father, saying, *' Behold I and the children whom thou hast given me." Then he will 25 386 ROMANS VIII., 24. deliver up llie kingdom, haviiirf notliiiii? further to do in llie work of rediMn|)ti()n. This will l)c the rcnch'rini; of the accounl hy the Son to the Father of the charge roininuted to him ; and for this reason the Aposlh^ says, "When all things shall be snbdued iinlo him, then shall the Son also himself he snhject unto him that put all things under him, that (Jod may he all in all ;" because, as his economy commenced by an act of submission of the Son to the Father, when in entering into th« world he said, " Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," it will also termi- nate by a similar act, as the Son will then deliver up the kingdom to him from whom he received it. IJelievers arc here said to have received the first fruits of the Spirit, and to be waiting for the redemption of their bodies. In the fourth chapter of the Kpislle to the Ephesians, the Apostle says, " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of re- demption." As this last passage has so much similarity to the one before us, and as they are calculated to throw light on each other, it may be proper, in this })lace, to consider its meaning. The scaling of believers implies, that God has marked them by his Spirit to distinguish them from the rest of mankind. Marking his people in this manner as his peculiar property, imports that he loves them as his own ; that they are his "jewels," or peculiar treasure, Mai. iii., 17. But the Apostle does not say that believers have been merely marked, but that they have been sealed, which implies much more; for although every seal is a mark, every mark is not a seal. Seals are marks which bear the arms of those to whom they belong, and often their image or resemblance, as the seals of princes. Thus the principal effect of the Holy Spirit is to impress on the hearts of his people the image of the Son of God. As the matter to which the seal is applied contributes nothing to the formation of the character it receives, and only yields to the impression made on it, so the heart is not active, but passive, under the application of this divine seal, by which we receive the image of God, the characters of which are traced by the Holy Spirit, and depend for their formation entirely on his efficiency. As seals confirm the covenants or promises to which they are afl^ixed, in the same manner this heavenly signet firmly establishes the declaration of the Divine mercy, and makes it irreversible. It confirms to our faith the mysteries of the gospel, and renders certain to our hope the promises of the covenant. The seal of man, although it alters the form, makes no change on the substance of the matter to which it is applied, and pos- sesses no virtue lo render it proper for receiving the impression. But the seal of God changes the matter on which it is impressed, and al- though naturally hard, renders it impressible, converting a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. The seal of man is speedily withdrawn from the matter it impresses, and the impression gradually becomes faint, till it is at length effaced. But the seal of the Holy Spirit remains m the heart, so that the image it forms can never be obliterated. The Apostle not ojily affirms that we are sealed by tiie Holy Spirit of God, but says that we are sealed unto the day of redemption ; that is, this seal is given us in respect of our blessed resurrection, as the ROMANS VIII,, 23. ' 387 pledge of our complete transformation into the likeness of Christ. This divine seal is that by which the Lord our great Judge will distinguish the righteous from the wicked, raising the one to the resurrection of life, and the other to the resurrection of damnation. It is also the Holy Spirit whicii forms in us the hope of that future redemption, our souls having no good desire whatever of wliich he is not the author. These things are certain ; but it does not appear to be the principal design of the Apostle to enforce them here. It seems rather to be to teach that the Holy Spirit is to us a seal or assured pledge of the reality of our resurrection, or, as is said, " the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." Besides this, the Holy Spirit confirms in our souls everything on which the hope of our resur- rection depends. That hope depends on the belief that Jesus Christ has died for our sins, of which the Holy Spirit bears record in our hearts by giving us the answer of a good conscience. It depends on knowing that Jesus Christ has in dying overcome death, and has glori- ously risen again to restore to us life which we had forfeited. This is a truth which the Holy Spirit certifies to us, since he is the Spirit of Christ given in virtue of his resurrection. It depends on knowing that Jesus Christ is in heaven, reigning at the right hand of the Father, and that all power is given unto him, that he may give eternal life to all his people. The Holy Spirit testifies to us this glory, since his coming is its fruit and effect. " The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified ;" and the Saviour himself says, that he will send the Comforter, " even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father ;" concerning which the Apostle Peter declares, " Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." As if he had said that tliis marvellous effusion of the Holy Spirit is an effect, and consequently an assured proof, of the heavenly glory of Jesus Christ, Since God gives his Holy Spirit to his children to seal them to the day of redemption, it is evident that his care of them must extend to the blessed consummation to which he purposes to con- duct them. He will not withdraw his gracious hand from them, but , will bring them to the possession and enjoyment of his glory. " The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." " Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will per- fect it until the day of Jesus Christ," It may be remarked, that the Apostle says, " unto the day of re- demption," and not simply to the redemption. This expression, the day of redemption, leads us to consider the advantage that grace has over nature, and the future world over that which we now inhabit. "When God created the universe, he made light and darkness, day and night ; and our time consists of their alternate successions. But it will not be so in the second creation, for "there shall be no night there." It will be one perpetual day of life without death, of holiness witiiout sin, and of joy without grief. The day here referred to may be viewed in contrast with two other solemn days, both of which are celebrated m the Scriptures. One is 389 ROMANS VIII., 24, ^ ihc day of Sinai, the olhcr of Pentecost; this is the day of Redemption. In I he economy of the Father, the first was a day of puhhc and extra- ordinary irrandeur, appointed to dis[)lay in the most remarkable ma.iner his ^K)ry, when (»od descended willi awful majesty amidst blackness, and darkness, and tempest. In the economy of the Holy Ghost, the second was the day when, he came as a sound from heaven as of a rushinir itiii>hty wind, when the Apostles were assembled, and under the symbol of cloven ton^^ues of fire, rested upon them. In the eco-*' nomy of the Son, there will also be a day of public magnificence, and that will be the day of judgment, when sealed on the throne of his glory Jesus Christ will come with his mighty angels, to judge the quick and the dead. Then calling his elect from the four winds, with the voice of the Archangel, he will raise them from the dust, and ele- vate them to the glory of his kingdom. The first of these days was the day of the publication of the laiv. The second was the day of the publication of grace ; and the third will be the day of the publication of glory. This will be the day of the complete redemption of the children of (jod, unto which they have been sealed, and of their mani- festation in their proper character. It will be the day when their bodies shall come forth from the grave, made like unto tiie glorious body of the Son of (io(J by the sovereign efficacy of the application of his blood, and bv his infinite power. 'Fhen shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Then they shall inherit the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwellcth righteousness, which they BOW expect according to the promise, for God will make all things new. Then they shall be with Jesus, where he is, and shall behold his glory which (jod hath given him. Let those rejoice who are wailing for the divine Redeemer. Their bodies indeed must be dissolved, and it doth not yet appear what they shall be. But at that great day they shall be raised up incorruptible, they shall be rendered immortal, and shall dwell in heavenly mansions. And that they may not doubt this, Clod has already marked them with his Divine seal. They have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God unto the day of Redemption. V. 24. — For we are aaved by hope ; but hope that is seen is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ? For we are saved by hope. — According to the original, this phrase rnay either be translated hi/ hope, or in hope ; but from the connection it appears that it ought to be translated, as in tlie French versions, in hf)j)c. The word salvation, or saved, signifies all the benefits of our re- demption— namely, remission of sins, sanctification, and glorification. " The Son of man is come to save that which was lost." In this sense Jesus Christ is called the Saviour, because it is by him that we are justi- fied, and sanctified, and glorified. This word has in Scripture sometimes a more limited, and sometimes a more extended meaning. In particular places salvation is spoken of as already possessed, as where it is said, God has " saved us by the wa^ihing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Generally it signifies all the benefits of our redemp- ROMANS VIII,, 24. 389 tion, when fully possessed by our final admission to glory, as when it is said, " he that endureth to the end shall be saved." In this verse it is regarded as enjoyed only in hope ; that is to say, in expectancy, since we have not yet been put in possession of the glory of the kingdom of heaven. In order to distinguish the measure of salvation which believers have in possession, and what they have of it in hope, we must consider its gradations. The first of these is their eternal election, of which the Apostle speaks, Eph. i,, 3, 4, according to which their names were writ- ten in heaven before the creation of the world. The second gradation is their effectual calling, by which God has called them from darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son, so that their souls are already partakers of grace, and their bodies habitations of God through the Spirit, and members of Jesus Christ. Of these gradations of their salvation they are already in possession. But the third gradation, in which sin shall be entirely eradicated from their souls, and their bodies shall be made like to the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ, is as yet enjoyed by them only in hope. The term hope is used in two different senses, the one proper, and the other figurative. Properly it means the mixture of expectation and desire of that to which we look forward ; so that we are kept steadfast to one object, as where it is said, " hope is the anchor of the soul." Figurative- ly, it signifies that which we hope for, as when God is called our hope — " Thou art my hope, O Lord God," Ps. Ixxi., 5 ; or •' Jesus Christ which is our hope," 1 Tim. i., 1 ; and as when it is said, we give thanks to God " for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven," Col. i., 5. The word hope, then, either denotes, as in the verse before us, the grace of hope, in reference to the person hoping, or the object of hope, in refer- ence to the thing hoped for. Hope is so closely allied to faith that sometimes in Scripture it is taken for faith itself. They are, however, distinct, the one from the other. By faith we believe the promises made to us by God ; by hope we expect to receive the good things which God has promised, so that faith hath properly for its object the promise, and hope for its object the thing promised, and the execution of the promise. Faith regards its object as present, but hope regards it as future. Faith precedes hope, and is its foundation. We hope for life eternal, because we believe the promises which God has made respecting it ; and if we believe these pro- mises we must expect their effect. Hope looks to eternal life as that which is future in regard to its remoteness ; but in regard to its certainty faith looks to it as a thing that is present. Hope, says the Apostle, maketh not ashamed, and he declares that we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Thus he ascribes to it the same certainty as to faith, and in the Epistle to the Hebrews, he speaks of the full assurance of hope. Faith and hope are virtues of this life which will have no place in the life that is to come. Now abideth faith, hope, and love. Faith and hope will cease; and in this respect love is the greatest, as love will abide for ever. The objects of the believer's hope are spiritual and heavenly blessings. 890 ROMANS VIII., 24. They arc difTerent from earthly blessings. The men of the world hope for riclii's iiiul the j)erishal)le things oi' this life; the believer hopes lor an iiiheritanee in heaven that fadeth not away. For ihis h()j)e Moses gave uj) the riches and treasures ol Egypt. By this hope David distinguishes hinisell'lroni the ungodly. " Deliver me fioin men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure, they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness," Ps. xvii., 13-15. And contrasting his condition with that of the children of this world, he says, Ps. Ixxiii., 7. " Their eyes stand out with I'atness : they have more than heart could wish;" but as to himself he had been plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning ; yet he adds, " Nevertheless I am continually with thee ; thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. If it should be said by believers, may not we also hope for perishable and temporal blessings, the answer is, that Christian hope is founded on the promises of God, and on them it is rested. The hope which ex- ceeds these promises is carnal and worldly. To know, therefore, what is the object of Christian hope, we must observe what are the promises of God. It is true that Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come ; but respecting this life God's promises are con- ditional, and to be fulfdled only as he sees their accomplishment to be subservient to his glory and our good, while as to the lite that is to come they are absolute. Are we, then, to expect only ease and happiness in this world, to whom it has been declared that " we must, thiough much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God," and to whom the Lord him- self says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me ?" The people of God should there- fore rest their hope on the absolute promises of God, which cannot fail, of blessings that are unperishable, and of a real and permanent felicity. The ibundation and support of Christian hope are firm and ceitain. First, the word and immutable promise of God ; for heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall remain for ever. God has promised heaven as the eternal inheritance of his people ; shall they doubt his fidelity? He has said, "The mountains shall depait, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of ray peace be removed," Isa. liv., 10. He has accompanied his promise with his oath : " willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that l)y two inniiutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie. we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us," Heb. vi., 17. We have, besides, the blood of the Son of God with which his promise has been sealed, and Ids obedience, even unto death, which he has rendered to his Father, for the foundation of this hope. We have also the intercession of our Great High Priest, of whom the Apostle, in establishing the grounds of the assurance of faith and hope, says not only that he is dead, but that he is risen and at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. He declares, ROMANS VIII., 24. 391 too, that our hope enters into heaven where Jesus our forerunner has entered for us. To these foundations of our hope raay be added, that it is said, " Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased posses- sion." The Apostle calls this hope an anchor of the soul, representing the believer, in the temptations and assaults to which he is exposed, under the similitude of a ship tossed by the sea, but which has an anchor fixed in the ground, firm and steadfast, which prevents its being driven away by the waves. This hope is not only necessary in adversity, but also in prosperity, in raising our affections to things above, and disen- gaging them from the world. The good hope through grace tranquil- lizes the soul. " Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul ? and why art thou disquieted within me 1 hope in God for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of ray countenance, and my God," Psal. xliii., 5. This hope consoles us in life and in death. It softens the bitterness of afflic- tion, suppoits the soul in adversity, and in prosperity raises the affections to heavenly objects. It promotes our sanctification, for he who hath this hope of beholding Jesus as he is, purifieth himself even as he is pure, 1 John iii., 3. It assures us that if Jesus died and rose again, that them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Let believers re- nounce their vain hopes of happiness in this world. Here they are strangers and pilgrims, and absent from the Lord. Let them hope for his presence and communion with him in glory. " Now," says the Apostle, " the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Christian hope is a virtue produced by the Holy Spirit, in which, through his power, we should abound, and by which, resting on the pro- mises of God in Jesus Christ, we expect our complete salvation. This hope is a part of our spiritual armor against principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness, with which we have to wrestle. We are commanded to put on " for an helmet the hope of salvation," 1 Thes. In the preceding verse the Apostle had said we wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Here he gives it as a reason of our waiting, that as yet we are saved only in hope. As far as the price of redemption is concerned we are already saved, but in respect to the power by which we shall be put in possession of that for which the price has been paid, namely, our deliverance from the remainder of sin under which we groan, the resurrection of our bodies, and the enjoyment of the eternal inheritance, we are saved only in hope. The hope of all this is present with us, but the enjoyment is future. Hope that is seen is not hope. That is, hope cannot respect anything which we already enjoy. For it is impossible, as the Apostle subjoins, for a man to hope for that which he possesses. Hope and possession are ideas altogether incongruous and contradictory.. Believers, then, are as yet saved only in hope. They have received but the earnest and foretaste of their salvation. They groan under the weight which is borne by them, and their bodies are subject to the sen- tence of temporal death. If they were in the full possession of their 392 ROMANS VIII., 26. salvation, faith would no lonfjer be the convic;tion of things hoped for, a.s thiiiijjs hoped for are not thinf:;s enjoyed. This corresponds with what the Apostle says elsewhere, when he exhorts believers to work out their salvation, and when he remarks that our salvation is nearer than when we fnst believed. When it is said we are saved in hope, as it supposes our felicity to be future, so it imj)lies that all the good we can for the present enjoy of that distant and future felicity is obtained by hoping for it, and, therefore, if we could not hope for it we should lose all the encouragement we, have in the prospect. A' 2.'). — Rut if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Hope produces patience with respect to all the trials, and labors, and difficulties that must be encountered before we obtain its object. Since we hope for what we see not, that is, for what we possess not, there must consequently be a virtue by which being held firm w^e wait for it, and that is patience. For between hope and enjoyment of the thing hoped for a delay intervenes, and there are many temptations within and afflictions from without, by which hope would be turned into despair if it were not supported by patienct;. As long as hope prevails the combat will not be given up. In the 23d verse believers are said to be waiting for the adoption ; here the inducement to their waiting and patiently waiting, is stated ; it is their hope supported by patience. Patiently bearing their present burden and waiting for heaven, implies their ex- pectation that it is reserved for them. They have been begotten again to a lively hope of possessing it by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which is a sure pledge of the redemption of their bodies from the grave. This verse and the preceding teach the importance of hope to believers, and of their obeying the exhortation to give all diligence to the full assurance of hope. The hope of beholding Jesus as he is, and of obtaining " a better resurrei.tion," is calculated to enable them patiently to sustain the sufferings of the present time. This hope is represented as encouraging the Lord himself, " Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame," Heb. xii., 2. Y. 26. — Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Believers have need of patience, that after they have done the will of God, they may receive the promise ; but their patience is not per- fect as it ought to be, and they arc often ready to cast away their confi- dence, although it hath great recompense of reward. For their sup- port, then, in their warfare, which is attended with so much difficulty, the Apostle presents a variety of considerations. He had reminded tiiem in the 17th verse of their communion with Jesus Christ, and that if they suffer with him they shall with him also be glorified. In the 18th verse, he had told them that their sufferings bear no proportion to that glory of which they sliall be made partakers. He had next drawn an argument from the present state of creation, suffering, but wailing for, and expecting its deliverance, and the manifestations of the sons of ROMANS VIII., 26. 393 God ; and, rennnding tliem of the pledges ihey hnd already received of that glorious manifestalion, lie had spoken of its cerlainty, allhoiigh sliU future, and therefore as yet enjoyed only in hope. But as they might still object, how, even admitting the force of these encourage- ments, can we who are so weak in ourselves, and so inferior in power to the enemies we have to encounter, bear up under so many trials ? the Apostle, in the verse before us, points out an additit)nal and internal source of encouragement of the highest consideration, namely, that the Holy Spirit helps their infirmities, and also prays for them, which is sufficient to allay every desponding fear, and to communicate the strongest consolation. At the close of the sacred canon, the church is represented as saying, " Come, Lord Jesus." Being a stranger on earth, and her felicity con- sisting in cominunion with her glorious Lord, she groans on account of his absence, and ardently desires his holy and blessed presence. In the meantime, however, he vouchsafes to his people great consolation to compensate for his absence. He assures them that he has ascended to his Father and their Father, to his God and their God ; that in his Fa- ther's house are many mansions ; that he is gone to prepare a place for them ; and that when he Jias prepared a place, he will return and re- ceive them to himself, that where he is they may be also. They also know the way, he himself being the way and their guide. How en- couraging is this doctrine, and how well calculated for the support of hope and patience in expecting the return of the bridegroom. If he is gone to their common Father, communion in his glory will not long be delayed. If there be many mansions in the house of their heavenly Father, these are prepared to receive not only the elder brother, but all his brethren, for were there only one abode it would be for him alone. If he is gone to prepare a place, and if he is soon to come again to re- ceive them to himself, is it not calculated to fill them with joy in the midst of troubles and afflictions ? Bnt all these consolations would be insufficient unless Jesus had added, that he would not leave them or- phans, but would give them anotlier Comforter to abide with them for ever, even the Spirit of Truth. Without such support they would be overwhelmed by the weight of their afflictions, and overcome by their manifold temptations. But since they have not only an Almighty Surety, but also an Almighty Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, who dwells in them, and abides with them, this is sufficient to confirm their joy, to establish their hope, and to give them the assurance that nothing shall separate them from the love of Christ. Such is the consolation, in addition to all the others, which, in the passage before us, the Apostle presents. Likewise the Spirit, also helpeth our infir/nities. — Likewise, or in like manner, as we are supported by hope, so the Spirit also helps our infirmities. The expression, helpeth our infirmities, is very significant. The Apostle intends to say that the Holy Spirit carries, or bears with us, our afflictions. If it be inquired why this help, which we receive from the Holy Spirit, is distinguished from the support we have from hope and patience, the answer is, that the Holy Spirit supports us, as 394 ROMANS vni., 26. being the efficient principle and first cause ; and hope and patience sup- port us as Ills instruments. On this account tlie Aposilc, after having referred to the two former, speaks of this support of the Spirit. Ana here we find the most abundant consolation in Him who is the promised Comforter, for the all-powerful (Jod himself comes to help our in- firmities. Paul does not say infirmity, but infirmities ; that we may remember how numerous ihev arc, and may humble ourselves before God, renounc- ing our pride and presumption, and imploring his support, lie also says, our infirmities, thus recognizing them as also liis own, and re- minding the strongest of their weakness. The burdens of believers are of two kinds ; the one is sin, the other is suffering. Under both of these they are supported. As to sin, Jesus has charged himself with it, " He bore our sins in his own body on the tree ;" and as to sufferings, they are helped by the Holy Spirit, but only in part, by imparting strength to bear them ; for all Christians must l)car the cross in follow- ing Jesus. But in the kingdom of heaven, where every tear shall be wiped from their eyes, they shall be for ever delivered from all suffering. Christians have at present many infirmities ; they are in themselves altogether weakness, but the Holy Spirit dwells in their hearts, and is their strong consolation. Without him they could not bear their trials, or perform what they are called to endure. But as he dwells in them, he gives them that aid of which they stand in need. Are we weak and our troubles great ? here the Almighty (iod comes to support us. Are we bowed down under the weight of our afflictions ? behold he who is all- powerful bears them with us. The care of shepherds over their flocks, and the care of mothers who carry their infants in their bosoms, are but feeble images of the love of God, and the care he exercises over his people. A mother may forsake her sucking child, but the Lord will not forsake his children. " When my father and my mother for- sake me, then the Lord will take me up." For we knojv not what ive sJioidd pray for as ice ought ; hut the Spi' rit itself ??iaketh intercession for us ivith groanings which cannot be uttered. — There are two things in prayer ; namely, the matter of pray- er, that is, the things we ask for, and the act of prayer by which we address God respecting our desires and necessities. But so great is the infirmity and ignorance of the believer, that he does not even know what he ought to ask. He is not thoroughly acquainted either with his dangers or his wants. He needs not only to be supplied from on hi'di, but also J)ivine guidance to show him what he wants. When he knows not what to ask, the office of the Holy Spirit in the heart is to assist him in praying. Though, in a peculiar sense, Jesus is the be- liever's intercessor in heaven, yet the Holy Spirit intercedes in him on earth, leaching him what to ask, and exciting in him groanings expressive of his wants, though they cannot be uttered ; that is, they cannot be expressed in words. Yet these wants are uttered in groans, and in this manner most emphatically express what is meant, while they indicate the energy of the operation of the Spirit. Here the Apostle goes farther than m tlie former clause of the verse, and shows that the ROMANS VIII,, 26. 395 Spirit helpelh our infirmities, by referring to a part.cular cxannple of this aid. Jn order to prove the extent of our weakness, the importance of the help of tlie Holy Spirit, and the greatness of the assistance he gives, Paul declares that tve know not xohat we should pray for as we ought. Our blindness and natural ignorance are such that we know not how to make a proper choice of the things for which we ought to pray. Sometimes we are ready to ask what is not suitable, as when Moses prayed to be allowed to enter Canaan, although as being a type of Christ, he must die before the people, for whom he was the me- diator, could enter the promised land, and as Paul when he prayed to be delivered from the thorn in his flesh, not understanding that it was proper that he should be thus afflicted, that he might not be exalt- ed above measure. Sometimes, too, we ask even for things that would be hurtful were we to receive them ; of which there are many exam- ples in Scripture, as James iv,, 3. The people of God are often so much oppressed, and experience such anguish of mind, that their agitated spirits, borne down by afflic- tion, can neitiier perfectly conceive nor properly express their com- plaints and requests to God. Shall they then remain without prayer ? No ; the Holy Spirit acts in their hearts, exciting in them sighs and groans. Such appear to have been the groanings of Hezekiah, when he said, " Like a crane or a swallow, so did 1 chatter ; I did mourn as a dove, mine eyes fail with looking upward ; 0 Lord, I am oppressed, undeitake for me." Such also was the experience of David in the se- venty-seventh Psalm, when he says, " I am so troubled that 1 cannot speak." Thus, too, Hannah " spake in her heart ; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard." No words of Peter in his re- pentance are recorded ; his groanings are represented by his weeping bitterly ; and in the same way we read of the woman who was a sin- ner, as only washing the feet of Jesus with her tears, which expressed the inward groanings of her heart. Although these sighings or groanings of the children of God are here ascribed to the Holy Spirit, it is not to be supposed that the Divine Spirit can be subject to such emotions or perturbations of mind ; but it is so represented, because he draws forth these groans from our hearts, and excites them there. Thus it is our hearts that groan, but the ope- ration and emotion is from the Holy Spirit ; for the subject of these, and he who produces them, must not be confounded. In this way the Apostle speaks in the 4tli chapter to the Galatians. " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." And in the loth verse of tbe chapter before us, he shows that it is we who cry " Abba, Father," in order that we may ob- serve that it is not the Spirit who cries, who prays, who groans, but that he causes us to cry, and pray, and groan. Such, then, is the work of tlie Holy Spirit here spoken of in the heart of believers, from which we learn that if there be any force in us to resist evil, and to overcome temptation, it is not of ourselves, but of our (jod. And hence it fol- lows, that if we have borne up under any affliction or temptation, we ought to render thanks to God, seeing that by his power he has sup- 396 ROMANS VIII., 27. ported us, and to pray, as David did, " Uphold me with lliy free Spi- rit." Tlie Holy Spirit often, in a peculiar manner, lielpctli the infirmities of the cliiklren of (Jod in the article of death, enabling them to sustain the pains and weaknesses of their bodies, and supporting their souls by his consolations in that trying hour. The body is then borne down with trouble, but the mind is sustained by the consolations of (iod. The eye of the body is dim, but the eye of faitii is often at that season most unclouded. The outward man pcrisheth, but the inward man is re- newed. Then, when Satan makes his last and greatest effort to sub- vert the soul, and comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him, exciting in the believer a more ardent faith, and consoling him, though unable to express it, with a stronger convic- tion of the Divine love and faithfulness. It is by this means that so many martyrs have triumphantly died, surmounting, by the power of the Spirit within them, the apprehension of the most excruciating bo- dily torture, and rejoicing in the midst of their sufferings. V. "27. — And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. It might be objected, to what purpose are those groanings which we cannot understand ? To this the Apostle very fully replies in this verse ; 1. God knows what these prayers mean, for " he searcheth the hearts" of men of which he hath perfect knowledge. The believer sighs and groans, while, owing to his perplexity and distress, he can- not ullcr a word before God ; nevertheless these sighs and groan- ings are full of meaning. 2. God knoweth what is the " mind of the Spirit," or what he is dictating in the heart, and therefore he must ap- prove of it; for the Father and Sj)irit are one. 3. Because, or rather, " that he maketh intercession." We are not to luidcrstand his inter- cession as the reason why God knows the mind of the Spirit, but as the reason why he will hear and answer the groans winch the Holy Spirit excites. A further reason is, that this intercession is made for the saints ; that is, for the children of God, of whom he hath said, " Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice," Ps. 1., 5. Finally, it is added, that it is "according to God," or to the will of God. Tiiese prayers, then, will be heard, because the Spirit intercedes for those who are the children of G'od, and because he excites no desires but what are agreeable to the will of God. From all this we see how cer- tain it is that these groanings which cannot be uttered must be heard and consequently answered. For "this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hearelh us." The best prayers are not those of human eloquence, but which spring from earnest desires of the heart. This verse is replete with instruction as well as consolation. We are here reminded that the Lord is the searcher of hearts. " Hell and destruction are before the Lord ; how much more then the hearts of the childj-en of men." The reasons of the perfect knowledge that ROMANS VIII., 27. 397 God has of our hearts, arc declared in the 139th Psahn : 1. The infi- nity, the omnipresence, and omniscience of God. 2. He forms the heart and knows his own work. 3. He preserves and maintains the heart in all its operations. 4. He conducts and leads it, and therefore knows and sees it. The prayer of the heart, then, is attended to by God, as well as the prayer of the lips. Yet this does not prove that oral prayer is unnecessary — not even in our secret devotions. This passage teaches us to look to God for an answer to the secret groaninn-s of our heart ; but it does not teach us to neglect communing with God with our lips, when we can express our thoughts. This is abundantly taught in the word of God, both by precept and example. Searcliino the heart is here given as a characteristic peculiar to God. As, then, it is ascribed, in other passages, to our Lord Jesus Christ, he must be God. This passage clearly establishes the personal distinction between the Father and the Holy Spirit. The persons to whom the benefit of this intercession of the 8py;it extends, are said to be saints. This proves that none can pray truly and effectually except the saints. It is only in the saints that the Spirit dwells, and of whose prayers he is the author, and it is they only who are sanctified by him. It is the saints, then, emphatically, and the saints exclusively, for whom the Spirit makes intercession. Such only are accepted of God, and fit subjects for the operation of the Spirit ; but this is not the first work of the Spirit in them. He first sanctifies, and then intercedes. First he puts into us gracious disposi- tions, and then stirs up holy desires ; and the latter supposes the former. In those in vyhom the Spirit is a Spirit of intercession, in them he is a Spirit of regeneration. These are therefore joined together, in Zecha- riah xii., 10, "The Spirit of grace and of supplications." None but saints have an interest in the blood of Christ, as applied unto them, and in his intercession. None are able to pray for themselves, for whom Christ does not likewise pray. "We can only approach God by the Spirit. "We have access by one Spirit to the Father," Eph. ii., 18. We can only pray under the influence of the Holy Spirit with groan- ings which cannot be uttered ; while the wicked may groan without prayer. " They have not cried unto me with tlieir heart, when they howled upon their beds," Hosea vii., 14. The other reason which renders acceptable to God the prayers and sighs excited in the saints by the Holy Spirit, is, that they are accord- ing to the will of God. The Spirit himself being God, these requests must be agrepable to God. Tlie carnal mind, it is said, in verse 7 , is enmity against God ; but the mind (the same word here employed) of the Spirit is agreeable to God. The intercession made by the Holy Spirit is according to the command and the revealed will of God, and in the name and in dependence on Christ the Mediator. The Holy Spirit, then, teaches the saints how to pray, and what to pray for. Wliat he teaches them to ask on earth, is in exact correspondence with that for which Jesus, their great High Priest, is interceding for them in heaven. The intercession of Jesus before the throne, is an echo to tlie prayer taught by the Holy Spirit in their hearts. It is, therefore, no 398 ROMANS VIII., 28. only in p<;rfoct unison willi llie intercession of Christ, ami the inditing of the Holy ^^pirit, but it is iii. exact conformity to the will of (iod. Such, then, is the security to the saints that their prayers, although only e\pr(;sscd in gi'oans, shall be heard by their Father in heaven. "The prayer of the upright is his delight," Prov. xv., 8. "He will fullil llie desire of them that fear him," Ps. cxlv., 19. V 28. — And we know that all lliitiKS work tf)