But he is the Jew indeed, the true child of Abraham, (who shall be accepted by God,) though he be not so by birth, who in the purity of the heart performs those substantial laws required by God of the Jews, and revealed to them more distinctly than ¹² ordinances, δικαιώματα: see note [b] ch. viii. ¹³ the uncircumcision which is of nature, ἡ ἐκ φύσεως ἀκροβυστία. ¹⁴ which art by, or, with, or, in the letter, &c. a transgressor of the law? τὸν διὰ γράμματος καὶ περιτομῆς παραβάτην νόμου; ¹⁵ in the visible part, ἐν τῷ φανερῷ. ¹⁶ in the visible part, in the flesh, ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκί. ¹⁷ in the hidden part, ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ. ¹⁸ from, &c. Caring not how they behave themselves towards other men, honestly or no, whether they injure others or no, unfit for friendships, for leagues, or bargains, who do not well in consort with others, have nothing of trust or kindness or constancy in them, void of all kindness to their nearest friends, Luke xxi. 16, unreconcilable to all against whom they have conceived any malice, men without all bowels of compassion in persecuting of others. [l] without understanding] Ἀσυνέτους, τοὺς ἀσυνειδήτους λέγει ὁ ἀπόστολος, saith Phavorinus, "The apostle means those that have no conscience;" knowledge and conscience, σύνεσις and συνείδησις being all one, and so the want of that is the want of conscience. This, it seems, was the judgment of that learned grammarian of this place, to which, no doubt, he refers by the word ἀπόστολος. Hesychius renders it only ἄφρων, foolish, but so as foolish signifies unreasonable actions, and as ἄνοια, Luke vi. 11, signifies designing malice and mischief against Christ, and as Titus iii. 3. Ἀνόητοι signifies those that were guilty of unreasonable practices. And this according to the use of σύνεσις, which is sometimes the mind, the understanding, Mark xii. 33, with which God is to be loved as well as known; and so the not knowing him thus may be set for the greatest impiety. Of σύνεσις see more in note [e] on 1 Cor. i. [m] covenantbreakers] Ἀσύνθετος, ὁ ἀσύμφωνος, καὶ ταῖς συνθήκαις μὴ ἐμμένων, "not apt to agree with others, one that stands not to pacts, bargains," saith Phavorinus; and so Hesychius, being rightly pointed, ἀσυνθέτους, μὴ ἐμμένοντας ταῖς συνθήκαις, and ἀσυνθετώτατον, ἀπιστότατον, καὶ ἀβεβαιότατον, unfaithful and unconstant. Who having received the faith of Christ, the Christian profession, (taking upon them to be most skilful in mysteries, to know more than any others,) of which it is one acknowledged part, that of such sins as these eternal damnation is the just reward, do yet not only favour themselves in the commission of them, (to which they may have some temptations from the flesh,) but, as if their very understandings were debauched and corrupted, do approve and patronise (see Theophylact) them in others, and think the committing such things so far from crimes in them that they make them parts of their religion, special mysteries and depths of their theology, very pious and commendable in any of their followers. The former two chapters having been chiefly spent on the Gnostics, (those heretics that, leading villainous, heathen lives, pretended zeal to the legal Mosaical observances,) in persuading and fortifying others against their pretences, not to be seduced by them to depart from the church, or to condemn the uncircumcised Gentile Christians for not having the carnal circumcision, the apostle now proceeds to the defence of his doctrine (and withal, of that great apostolical practice, so heavily objected against him by the Jews and Judaizers, of preaching to the Gentiles, departing from the unbelieving obstinate Jews, and of that great disposition of God's providence in Christ, the receiving the Gentiles and rejecting the Jews); and that he may vindicate it, he first proposes some vulgar objections against it: as, first, If this which was said ch. ii. 28, 29. be true, (if God reward the cleanness of the heart and inward purity without any discrimination of birth or regard of circumcision, that is, if the Gentiles remaining uncircumcised may be received into the church,) then it may seem that a Jew hath no advantage or privilege or prerogative above the Gentiles, no benefit of the promises made to Abraham when he was appointed to be circumcised, he and all his seed. But all this is thus answered: That, this notwithstanding, the advantages of the Jews have been in many respects very great; for, [a] chiefly] Πρῶτον here clearly denoteth a form of enumeration, answerable to our imprimis, and signifies that the apostle was about to reckon up all the advantages of the Jew in this place, and accordingly began with one, resolving to have proceeded, had not an objection here diverted his purpose for many chapters together, not permitting him to return from that digression till ch. ix, where again he falls to the same matter, and enumerates the remainder of those privileges, particularly ver. 4, &c. The only privilege which here he begins with is, ὅτι ἐπιστεύθησαν τὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ, their being intrusted with the oracles of God. What is meant by that phrase it will not be amiss to explain in both parts of it; and first, the λόγια, oracles. Beside the four garments used by the priest when he officiated, there were four more proper to the high priest. The first of them was called חשן, pectoral, because it was fastened about the neck, and came down hanging upon the breast, הכשיש כנגד הלב, saith Sol. Jarchi on Exod. xxviii. 4, "it hangs before or near the heart." In the scripture it is called the חשן המשמש, the pectoral of judgment, because by it the high priest received the responses of God in all matters of difficulty, as when they should make war or peace, &c. This is called by Josephus ἐσσήν, Antiq. l. 3. c. 8, the very Hebrew word, the ח being not pronounced; and of it he saith, that in the Greek language it signifieth λόγιον (not rationale, I suppose, but) orationale rather, because the word or oracle of God was revealed thereby. And from this use of the word λόγιον for that pectoral, by which all the responses and oracles of God were received, it comes that the word λόγια in the plural is used to signify those oracles and responses, all the revelations of God's will by this means vouchsafed unto men. (Of the other ways of revelations among the Jews, see note [a] on Acts xxiii.) If it be demanded how these responses or oracles were given and received, the most probable way, (though there be some uncertainty among the Jewish writers in this matter,) and that which is most agreed on, is this: the Hebrew names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve tribes, with this addition, כל אלה שבטי ישראל, all these are the tribes of Israel, were written on the pectoral; and in these words every letter of the alphabet is to be found, out of which all other words may be composed. Then when any response was to be received, the high priest set his face toward the שכינה, the ark, the testimony of God's presence, and he that was concerned in the response set his face toward the high priest; and the letters which were prominent, or which shined in the pectoral, being put together, made the response. And whereas some difficulty is conceived to have been in understanding the order wherein the shining or prominent letters were to be taken, (whereupon some of the rabbins have been fain to say that the high priest heard a voice to direct him in that matter,) I suppose that difficulty will be removed by conceiving [b] judged] Κρίνομαι, δικάζομαι, it signifies "to have a suit in law," saith Hesychius; and agaiu, κρινόμεθα, μαχόμεθα, any civil "controversy or contention." The Hebrew in psalm li. 4, whence it is cited, hath בשפטך, in judicando te, "when thou judgest," literally, but then that word שפט, though it signify judicare, "to judge," signifies often litigare, "to contend," also "to plead or manage a cause for one against another." So Ezek. l. 4, Wilt thou judge them? that is, Wilt thou plead for them? So ver. 7, and oft in these Epistles, 1 Cor. vi. 1, Τολμᾶ κρίνεσθαι, Dares any wage a suit at law, implead another? So in Demaratus Arcadicor. 2. Φόνον κριθεὶς ἀπελύθη τοῦ ἐγκλήματος, "Being impleaded of murder, he was freed from the accusation:" where κριθεὶς must signify, not judged or condemned, for it is added, "he was absolved," but accused or impleaded: and again, it was by his mother that he was κριθεὶς, not by the judge, another evidence that it signifies m Ap. Stob. p. 128. But here it will be objected, If God's way of gracious economy under the gospel (see note [b] ch. i.) may be thus set out, and more illustriously seen by the sins of men, why should God then thus punish the Jews (as the apostles say he will, every where foretelling their approaching destruction) for these sins of theirs, which thus tend to his glory? (I recite the objection of some men;) or if he do, is it not injustice in him to do so? God forbid that we should say any thing on which this may be inferred, for that were to deny him to be God, who, as such, is judge of all the world. (This seems to be here inserted by way of parenthesis, as a note or expression of aversion and detestation of any such blasphemous inference, after which he again proceeds in the proposed objection, ver. 7, repeating it again in other words, which therefore must connect with ver. 5. and cannot be the reason of what is said here in this verse.) [c] lie] As ἀλήθεια, truth, signifies also fidelity or faithfulness, so ψεύσμα, on the contrary, signifying a lie, imports also infidelity or unfaithfulness, and is here set to signify that sin of not making good use of the oracles of God intrusted to the Jews, called their ἀπίστια, unbelief, ver. 3, and ἀδικία, unrighteousness, ver. 5. So ver. 4, Let God be true, and every man a liar: that is, the unfaithfulness of men, in neglecting to do their part, doth no way prejudice, but rather commend the fidelity of God, in allowing them those mercies which they make so ill use of. [d] And not rather] The placing of the words in this verse hath some harshness and consequent obscurity in it. The learned Hugo Grotius is inclinable to believe a transposition of μὴ ὅτι for ὅτι μὴ, and then renders ὅτι, cur, why, thus: And why not, (the rest being read in a parenthesis,) or, Why should we not do evil that good may come? But I suppose the more obvious and simple way ought here to be preferred, and the τί, why, from the former verse to be repeated; or else the sense so to hang, as that the τί, why, there shall have an influence here upon the μὴ, not, and be thus rendered: Καὶ μὴ, And why not, as we are calumniated, &c. or, And why should we not say, as we are calumniated, and as some say that we say. If this latter be it, then λίξομεν, say, is to be understood from the λέγειν following. But if the former, then the whole oration, placed ordinarily in a parenthesis, (καθὼς βλασφημού-μεθα, καὶ καθὼς φασί τινες ἡμᾶς λέγειν, as we are calumniated, and as some say that we say,) is, as it were, the verb to the τί μὴ, why not: thus; And why should not we say what Paul is affirmed to say, (but that is calumny, saith Paul:) and in either way the ὅτι that follows will be taken in the sense that hath been noted of it, Matt. vii. [d] for scilicet or videlicet, "to wit," only as a form to introduce the speech following: thus; Why should we not say, as we are calumniated—to say, to wit, Let us do evil that good may come—And so this will be a perspicuous rendering of the verse. Some further objection there would be against what we have said, if indeed the Jews were much better by having received the law, less sinful, more innocent than the Gentiles; for then it might be said, that when the Gentiles are taken in, who were the greater sinners, and the Jews, who were better than they, cast off, there were some unequal dealing indeed. But the truth is, we Jews were not better or more innocent than they; but as we have before charged the Jews (as they do the Gentiles) with wilful damnable sinning, so it is most true of them, they were in a very foul course of vices when Christ came, and long before, the far greatest part of them, (where the sinfulness of the Gentiles being supposed by them to whom he writes, and not needing to be proved, but only that of the Jews, he insists on the proof of that only: see ver. 19.) This may be confirmed by the several testimonies of scripture, spoken of the Jews in several texts of the Old Testament, all which were too truly applicable to the Jews at the time of Christ's coming: They are universally depraved to all iniquity, Psalm xiv. 1. and liii. 1. They live almost atheistically, Psalm xiv. 2. They are apostatized from all piety, so far from having done God any faithful service, that they do the quite contrary, Psalm xiv. 3, (see note [h] ch. i. and note [a] Luke xvii,) men of putrid noisome conversations; and this so generally, that there is not any considerable number of pious men discernible among them. Their talk or discourse (of which throat, tongue, lips are the principal instruments) is most murderous and malicious, Psalm v. 9, like the poison of asps, incurably mortal, Psalm cxl. 4. [e] Their throat is an open—] These three verses that here follow are evidently taken out of several places of the Psalms and other scriptures, and by the apostle accommodated to his present purpose. And by occasion of their being annexed to three verses taken out of the fourteenth psalm, it hath come to pass that some ancient Latin copies of that psalm have taken them in from hence, and added them to that psalm; and accordingly the translation which is used in the Liturgy hath three verses more to that psalm than the translation in our Bibles doth acknowledge. They curse and deceive, Psalm x. 7, speak contumeliously and falsely against their brethren. [f] bitterness] The Hebrew word מרכּות, signifying deceits, was by the Septuagint mistaken for מְרוּרָת, and so rendered πικρίας, bitterness, and continued here from thence in this citation; as indeed in most citations of Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, (who generally used the Septuagint,) and of Luke also his companion, (see note [e] on Acts viii.) the Hebrew text is not made use of, but the Greek translation retained, even when it differs from the original Hebrew. They are most bloodily disposed, delight, and are ready to do any injury, Isaiah lix. 7, to wrong any innocent person. Their actions are very oppressive and grievous to others, grinding the face of the poor, and afflicting them sadly. But for aught that tends to the good of any, to charity or peaceable-mindedness, they know not what belongs to it, Isaiah lix. 8. They have utterly cast off all care or thought of piety, Psalm xxxvi. 1. Now this we know, that what the books of the Old Testament, the Psalms, and the Prophets, thus say, they say to and of the Jews, and so by complaining so much of their universal defection, and their all manner of wickedness, they conclude them (and not only the Gentiles) to be obnoxious to God's vengeance, and most justly punishable by him, without any thing to say for themselves, as they are considered barely under the law, having so visibly sinned against that, and incurred destruction by the rules of it. To conclude then, there is no justification (see note [b]) to be had for any Jew (that hath been guilty of any sin) by the legal observances, by circumcision and the rest of the Mosaical rites, without remission of sins, through the grace of God in the new covenant. Nor indeed can it be imagined that justification and salvation can be hoped from thence, from whence comes the acknowledgment of our sin and guilt; and such indeed is the law, and such is circumcision particularly, whose nature it is only to oblige us to purity, and to tell us what we should do, and, when we offend, to give us knowledge, and to reproach us of that, and to denounce judgment against us, and appoint sacrifices, (which are only the commemorating of our sins before God, Heb. x. 3, not the expiating of them;) but not to help us to justification, without the mercies of God in the new covenant: (see note [g] Matt. v.) 21, 22. Whereas, on the other side, there is now a sure, clear, new way to bliss, see note [b] ch. i. (to wit, that which was in the world before, and so doth not depend at all upon the Mosaical law, see note [p] Matt. v.) manifested to men by Christ, but mentioned also and obscurely set down in the Old Testament, namely, that way of justifying men by faith in Christ, or by that course which is now prescribed us by Christ, which way shall belong and extend to all, both Jews and Gentiles, (circumcised or uncircumcised, without any discrimination,) who shall believe there is mercy to be had for all true penitents through Christ, and so set themselves to a new life, whatsoever their sins have formerly been. For Jews as well as Gentiles are found also to be sinners, and so far from meriting God's praise or acceptance; and so, by any way but by the gospel, there is neither justification nor salvation to be had for them. [g] the glory of God] The word δόξα, glory or praise, being here joined with Θεοῦ, of God, signifies not that glory which accrues to God, the glorifying or praising of his name, but that which accrues to man from God, and that may be either in this world or in the next; the And therefore whensoever they are justified, (either one or other,) it is freely by his undeserved favour, (see note [b]), through that great work which Jesus Christ hath wrought for the redemption of man, that is, for the obtaining pardon for their past sins, and working in them reformation for the future: (see note [h]). Which Christ, the Messias of the world, God from the beginning purposed to set forth unto men, as the means to exhibit and reveal to us his covenant of mercy, on condition of our faith, and constant new obedience to him who hath died for us, to make expiation for our sins, and to work reformation in us, hereby demonstrating the great mercifulness of God now under the gospel, in that he forbears to inflict vengeance on sinners, but gives them space to repent, and promises them pardon upon repentance. [h] propitiation] Some difficulty there is in this verse, which must be explained by surveying the several parts of it. The Hebrew כפר signifying two things, to cover and to expiate, (see note [d] on Heb. ix.) the noun כפרת, which is used for the covering of the ark, is indifferently rendered in the Old Testament Ἰλαστήριον, propitiatory, and καταπίεσμα, covering: and indeed very fitly and properly both, because as that place where the cherubim or angels of God's presence were placed was the covering of the ark, so Exod. xxv. 22, God promised that in that place he would talk with Moses, and give responses, and shew himself propitious to the people. Thus (beside the many places in the Old Testament) it is used in the New, Heb. ix. 5, where the cherubim of glory, that is, the pictures of the angels in the manner wherein they were wont to appear, that is, in the resemblance of a bright cloud or glory, are said to overshadow the Ἰλαστήριον, that is, the covering of the ark or propitiatory. And in proportion to this must the word here be rendered, not propitiation, (that is, Ἰλασμός, 1 John ii. 2.) but propitiatory, Christ being now the antitype, (prefigured by that covering of the ark, either, as Theophylact conceives, in that our human nature in Christ πῶμα ἦν θεότητος, "was the covering or veil of his divinity," or because God exhibited and revealed himself in Christ, as the propitiatory was the place where God was wont to exhibit himself peculiarly,) he by whom God spake to us, Heb. i. 1, in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, and on whom the angels descended with that voice, This is my beloved Son, &c. and by whom God gave his responses to the world, shewing himself propitious to them, (which is the meaning of ἐνδεξις δικαιοσύνης, demonstrating of his righteousness or mercy that here follows,) or shewing a way by which he will be propitiated, viz. through faith in his blood, (not by any legal performances,) the condition required on our part to be performed. This condition is here introduced by the word διὰ, (with a genitive case,) through, which is the note of a condition, (as with an accusative it is of a cause,) and it is πίστις ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ, faith in his blood, where the blood being the object of the faith, it must signify in concreto Jesus Christ, who thus shed his blood, (shed it to propitiate and satisfy for our sins, and shed it to redeem us from all iniquity,) in or on whom we are to believe, and that is styled, ver. 22, (in that simpler phrase, yet to the same sense,) πίστις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, the faith of Jesus Christ. Beside this, the blood is also the foundation or motive of the Christian faith, that which persuades us to believe and obey Christ, because what he hath taught us, as the will of God, he hath [i] declare his righteousness] Ἐνδεξις δικαιοσύνης will here best be rendered demonstration of his righteousness; and accordingly, as the method of demonstrating is wont to be by the cause, so here follows διὰ, which, with an accusative case, is a note of a cause, διὰ τὴν πάρεσιν, because of the passing by (not taking notice) of past sins, the sins, whether by Jews or Gentiles, formerly committed, that is, before the revealing and manifesting of God's will unto them by Christ: according to that of Acts xvii. 30, that God ὑπεριδὼν, looking over, not taking notice of, that time of ignorance, doth now command all men every where to repent; and Wisd. xi. 23, παρορᾶς ἀμαρτήματα ἀνθρώπων εἰς μετάνοιαν, thou lookest another way, and beholdest not the sins of men, that they may repent. The ὑπεριδὼν and παρορῶν there is the direct interpretation of God's πάρεσις here, differing from ἄφεσις, pardon, as preterition doth from remission; as passing by, not yet laying to their charge for punishment, doth from absolving, acquitting of them. For though in order to their repentance and change, God doth at the present so pass by their forepast sins, as not to forsake them, or shut up all ways of mercy against them, but reveals Christ to them, with promise of pardon for what is past, if they will now obey him, (this is the meaning of πάρεσις,) yet unless that change be wrought, and for the future approved to him, there is no ἄφεσις, remission or pardon to be expected from him. This πάρεσις then consists ἐν τῇ ἀνοχῇ Θεοῦ, in God's forbearance or longsuffering, (so the word signifies, ch. ii. 4.) in his not proceeding so swiftly and severely with sinners, as to cut them off, or forsake and leave them helpless and hopeless in their sins, but treating them gently, giving them space to repent and amend, and using all effectual means to win them to it: all one with God's μακροθυμία, slowness to punish, mentioned oft in the case of Pharaoh, and elsewhere. And this being now God's dealing in Christ, is here mentioned as the medium to demonstrate God's righteousness, that is, that evangelical way revealed by Christ, wherein it consists, not in the purchase of pardon and forgiveness absolutely, or for any but those that do sincerely return from their wicked lives, and embrace the faith and obedience of Christ, but to give space and to admonish and call to repentance, and use means on God's part effectual, if they be not obstinately resisted or condemned by us, to bring us to new life. And that is the meaning also of the ἀπολύτρωσις, redemption which is in Christ, ver. 24, To reveal, I say, and make known unto us at this time this way of justifying sinners in the gospel, (by grace, or mercy, and pardon of sin,) whereby God appears to all to be a most gracious and merciful God, and accordingly to accept and reward all those which (though they have formerly sinned, do yet) upon this merciful promise, and tender, and call of Christ's, give themselves up to be ruled by him, to live as he hath commanded in the gospel. [k] just] That the word δίκαιος, just or righteous, signifies a merciful or charitable person, hath been shewed from the Hebrew notation of עֶרְקָה, righteousness, for ἐλημωσύνη, mercy, note [g] on Matt. i. And accordingly it may be observed, that the word seldom in these books, if ever, belongs or is applied to the act of vindicative or punitive justice, but (as there in the case of Joseph, who would not offer his wife to legal punishment, and therefore is called δίκαιος, righteous) for the abating of the rigour of exact law, and bringing in ἐπιείκεια, moderation or equity or mercy instead of it. Accordingly it is here to be resolved, that this phrase being used of God, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν δίκαιον, that God may be righteous, must be understood to denote his mercy and goodness and clemency, in pardoning and forgiving of sins, that being the thing looked on in the many foregoing expressions, our being justified freely by his grace, ver. 24, the propitiatory, ver. 25, God's means of exhibiting or revealing his covenant of mercy, God's righteousness, that is, his merciful dealing with men under this second covenant, vv. 25 and 26, and the remission of sins and forbearance, ver. 25. It is true, indeed, that the satisfaction made and the price paid for our sins by Christ, being the meritorious cause of this remission and justification, may fitly denominate God δίκαιον, just, in that other respect; and it is most certain that God, to give a great example to his hatred to sin, and his wrath against sinners, was pleased to lay on his own Son the iniquities of us all, rather than let sin go utterly unpunished. But the word δίκαιος, righteous, being so commonly taken in that notion of mercifulness, and so seldom in this of vindicative justice, there is no reason to interpret it thus in this place. By this means then all proud reflections on ourselves are perfectly excluded; (a thing which the Mosaical law was made use of to foster in the Jews; they thought themselves thereby discriminated from and dignified above all other men in the world, and that, by being Abraham's seed, and circumcised, and such like external performances, they were secured of the favour of God, whatsoever they did;) but by this evangelical way of God's dealing in Christ, accepting and acquitting all, Gentiles as well as Jews, through grace and mercy, by which their sins are forgiven, and they received into God's favour, (without any respect of personal privileges, of being Abraham's ¹⁶ predetermined, or, proposed, προέθετο. strating of, εἰς ἑνδείον. προγεγονότων ἐμαρτημάτων. Ἰησοῦ. ¹⁷ a propitiatory. ¹⁸ to the demonstrating of, εἰς ἑνδείον. ¹⁹ because of the passing by of past sins, διὰ τὴν πάρκιν τῶν πραγνησίτων ἐμαρτημάτων. ²⁰ righteous. ²¹ that is of the faith of, τὸν ἐκ πίστεως HAMMOND, VOL. II. C [l] conclude] Λόγος signifies ratio or ratiocinium, not only in the notion of the logician, but also of the arithmetician, not only reason or arguing, but also reckoning or counting; and so you shall find it ch. ix. 28, whose art is called thereupon λογιστικὴ, counting or reckoning; whence Phavorinus, λογίζομαι, ψηφίζω τῇ χειρὶ, casting accounts with ψῆφοι, which we therefore call counters, or those by which we cast account. Hence λογίζομαι is to perfect and make up an account, and to conclude or sum up; and so it is here used to conclude, not in the logicians' but arithmeticians' notion of concluding. Of this word λογίζομαι, see note [f] on 1 Cor. xiii. What then do we say? Can it be said or thought that Abraham, who is said in scripture to be righteous, or accepted by God as righteous, obtained that testimony by the merit of his own innocence or performances? (This affirmative interrogation is in effect a negation, and so the meaning is,) This cannot with any reason be affirmed by any. [a] What shall we say then—] The understanding of the apostle's discourse in this chapter depends much on a right understanding of this verse, which contains the question to which the satisfaction is rendered in the following words. And in this verse four things must be observed: 1st, that the τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν, what say we then? is a form of introducing a question, and though not here, (in the ordinary printed copies,) yet in other places hath a note of interrogation immediately following it, as ch. vi. 1, and vii. 7. This being supposed, the second thing is, that the remainder of the verse is the very question thus introduced, that Abraham, &c., that is, do we say that Abraham found according to the flesh? And this interrogation being not here formally answered, must itself be taken for an answer to itself; and as interrogations are the strongest negations, so will this, and must thus be made up by addition of these or the like words, No certainly he did not. Then for the third difficulty, viz. what is here the meaning of εὑρηκίναι, hath found, that will soon be answered, 1. that to find, agreeably to the Hebrew בְּצֶה, signifies to gain, obtain, acquire, as to find life, Matt. xvi. 25: 2dly, that there must be some substantive understood, somewhat which he may be said to have found, and that is either indefinitely ὁ εὗρ, that which he did find or obtain, or else more distinctly δικαιοσύνην, righteousness or justification, which had before been named favour, approbation with God. So we have εὗρες χάριν, thou hast found favour, Luke i. 30; and it seems to be a proverbial form, and will then be the same with being justified, ver. 2. And so the illative particle for concludes, Do we say he hath found? (or, Certainly he hath not found;) FOR if he were justified, that is, if he had thus found—, which notes finding and being justified to be all one: 3dly, then it must be examined what is meant by κατὰ σάρκα, according to the flesh. And first, it appears to connect with the εὑρηκίναι, for so it lies, εὑρηκίναι κατὰ σάρκα, found according to the flesh, and is not joined with Abraham our father, as in reason it would have been, (and not εὑρηκίναι interposed,) if the meaning of it had been, our father according to the flesh: which being supposed, it will likewise follow that κατὰ σάρκα, according to the flesh, must signify the same with ἐξ ἔργων, by works, ver. 2, in like manner as found and justified import the same. And this again is evident by the laws of reasoning. For this second verse being by the for in the front evidenced to be the proof of what was set down in the first, and this proof being in form of an hypothetical syllogism—thus, If Abraham were by works justified before God, then he hath matter of boasting before God: But Abraham hath not any matter of boasting before God: Therefore he was not justified by works—it must follow necessarily that this conclusion, Abraham was not justified by works, was the same with that which was set down in other words, ver. 1, or, if not of the same latitude and extent with it, was comprehended, as a part, under it: which it cannot be, unless κατὰ σάρκα, according to the flesh, and ἐξ ἔργων, by works, be either of the same force directly, or the latter contained in the former: any greater (though never so small) difference that should be admitted being of necessity to affix four terms to the apostle's syllogism, and so to evacuate all force in his argument. From hence it follows, that the way of discerning what is meant by ἐξ ἔργων, by works, will be the most For if he were so justified by any thing in himself, any innocence or performance of his, he might then be said to have somewhat to glory of, his justifi- And this appears by that way of God's dealing with him which is in the scripture clearly enough set down; and that the very same by which we teach and profess that all men are now dealt with by God; that is, a way that belongs to the Gentiles though sinners, (if they will forsake their heathen ways, and now receive and obey Christ,) as well as to the Jews; viz. that Abraham believed God, followed his call, and believed his promise; and thereupon, though he had formerly been guilty of many sins, and though his obedience being due to God's commands could not challenge any such reward from God, yet did God freely justify him, that is, upon his forsaking his country and the idolatries thereof, and after, upon his depending upon God's promises made to him, (and so walking cheerfully in his duty towards God,) pardon his past sins, receive him into special favour, strike a covenant of rich mercies with him. By this it is clear that it was not his innocence or blamelessness, by which he is said to be just in the sight of God, or any meritorious act that was thus rewarded in him (see note [b] ch. iii.): for if it were, then would it not be said, that God did account or reckon his faith unto him for righteousness, that is, freely out of mere mercy justify him, (as ver. 3. it was, and ver. 5. is again said, these two phrases, "it was reputed to him for righteousness," there, and here, "it is reputed to him according to grace or favour," being directly of the same importance,) but But his way of justification was by believing pardon for sinners upon reformation, and thereupon reforming and giving himself up to do whatsoever God now would have him do; and so it was not any original innocence of his (which might challenge the reward as due), but only God's acceptation of his faith, which was an act of God's mere mercy, and that may be vouchsafed to idolatrous Gentiles upon their repentance as well as to him, and their receiving of the faith, and leaving their former courses of sin on Christ's command, as he did his country upon God's, be accepted to the justification. Agreeable to which is that description of blessedness in David, Psalm xxxii, That he is blessed whom the Lord out of his free grace and pardon of sin accepteth and accounteth as righteous, and not on any merit of their own performances; that is, that blessedness consists in having this evangelical way of justifying sinners (or those who have been sinners, and now repent and return) vouchsafed to any man, not that of never having lived in sin, (for want of which the Jews will not admit the Gentiles to any hope of justification,) but the other, I say, of mercy and forgiveness upon reformation and forsaking their former evil ways, as appears by the words of the Psalm, Blessed are they, not who never sinned at all, that were never in a wicked or wrong course, (as of the Gentiles it is acknowledged that they were,) but who having been ill, have reformed, and found place of repentance and of mercy upon reformation, merely by the forgiveness and pardon of God. Blessed is the man whose sin (though he have been guilty, as it is acknowledged the Gentiles have) is not charged on him by God, but freely pardoned and forgiven unto him upon his reformation. This, then, being the nature of the evangelical course of God's gracious way of dealing with sinners, giving them place for repentance, and upon the sincerity of that, justifying and accepting them, whatso- And of this the account is easy, if we but observe the time when Abraham's justification is spoken of, viz. when those words were said of him, Abraham believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness; for we find that was (Gen. xv. 6.) before he was circumcised, ch. xvii. 24, and therefore it could not be a privilege annexed to circumcision, but is a grace and favour of God, whereof the uncircumcised Gentiles are no less capable than the Jews, who are within the covenant of circumcision: (which is an evidence that receiving of Christ now, and believing and obeying of him, as then Abraham obeyed, will be accepted by God without circumcision.) And being justified after this evangelical manner upon his faith, without and before circumcision, he received the sacrament of circumcision for a seal, on his part, of his performing those commands of God given to him, his walking before him sincerely, Gen. xvii. 1, (upon which the covenant is made to him, and thus sealed, vv. 2. 4. 10,) and on God's part, for a testification of that faith of his, and obsignation of that precedent justification; and so by consequence he is the father in a spiritual sense, that is, an exemplar, or copy (which they that transcribe are called his sons) of every uncircumcised believer, who therefore succeeds him, as a son to a father, in that privilege of being justified before God: And in like manner a spiritual father conveying down mercies and the inheritance to the Jews, that were circumcised, and do now convert to Christ, and so besides circumcision, which they drew from him, do also transcribe his diviner copy, follow his example of faith and obedience, which were remarkable in him before he was circumcised, leave their sins, as he did his country, and believe all God's promises, and adhere to him against all temptations to the contrary. For if that inheritance were made over to them upon observation of the Mosaical law, upon the Jews' being circumcised, &c., then, as faith, or this evangelical way of justifying sinners, is vanished on one side, and what is said of Abraham's being justified by faith is concluded to be false, so the promise itself, which was shewed to be the thing by which Abraham was justified, and to belong to all Abraham's seed, not to the Jews only, ver. 12, is vanished also. 15, 16. This again appears by another argument; for it is evident of the law of Moses, that all which that doth is to bring sin and punishment into the world, as the law of circumcision given to the Jews made it a sin, and punishable in a Jew, if he were not circumcised on the eighth day, but gave him no right of merit, no title to heaven, or to any other reward, in case he did observe that or the like ordinances, were circumcised, &c., (for these were before the command of circumcision made over to Abraham and his seed by the promise of God.) And so for other more substantial duties, the law by commanding them doth but enhance the contrary sin, which if it were not for the commandment could not be so high a degree of crime or contempt of known law, but doth not give a man right to any reward for observing it. From whence it necessarily follows, that it, that is, the promise of reward, ver. 13, justification, &c. must have been made in respect to faith, or to believers, (and not founded upon any merit of any legal performances, on God's giving or our observing that law of circumcision, &c.,) and by that means indeed it becomes an act of promise, and that promise merely of grace, not depending on Judaical performances, and so it belongs to all the seed, (that is, to all (As it is written of him, that he should be the father of more nations than one, nay (as the word many often signifies) of all, that is, of the Gentile believers also,) in like manner as God, in whom he believed, is the Father of the Gentiles as well as Jewish believers, and accordingly justified Abraham without Mosaical obedience, and so will justify Gentile Christians, begetting them by the gospel to a new life; and then upon this change, this reformation, though sinners and Gentiles by birth, yet accounting them children, receiving and embracing them in Christ. And there is nothing strange in all this, when we remember who it is that hath made this promise, even that God who is able to do all things, even to raise the dead to life again, and so to quicken the Gentiles that are dead in sins, (as he quickened the womb of Sarah, and enabled old Abraham to beget a son,) and give them grace to forsake their former deadness and barrenness, and incapacity of God's favour, viz. their heathen sins, and to deal with those despised heathen as he doth with the Jews themselves, that have received most of his favour, and pretend a peculiar title to it: (see Luke xv. 24.) And this is exemplified to us in that which, we see, befell Abraham, who having no natural grounds of hope, (either in respect of Sarah or himself,) did yet (upon God's promise, Gen. xv.) hope and believe that he should have a son, and so be a stock from whence (that is, literally, from his body) many nations should spring, a most numerous progeny, even as many as the stars of heaven for multitude. (And then why may not the Gentiles upon coming in to the faith of Christ, and reforming their Gentile lives, be as capable of God's promises, made to all true penitents, whatsoever impossibility seem to be in it, in respect of their former sins and desperateness of their condition?) Neither interposed he any question, demur, or doubt, through any suspicious fearful passion in himself, but, without all dispute to the contrary, depended fully on God for the performance; and how difficult soever, yet he looked upon God in his glorious attributes, perfectly able to do whatsoever he promised, and most faithful, and sure never to fail in the performance, collecting nothing else from the difficulty of the matter, but that it was the fitter for an almighty Power, and a God that cannot lie, having promised, to magnify his power in performing it. Having for it all this one hold, on which he depended most confidently, that as God was able, so he would certainly make good and perform what he had freely promised to him. (And then, now that the gospel is by Christ sent to the Gentiles, and mercy offered them upon reformation, why should the wickedness of their former lives (any more than Sarah's barren womb and Abraham's old age) keep God from performing his promise to them, of accepting and justifying penitent Gentiles, whose reformation tends so much to God's glory, though they be not circumcised?) Which steadfast faith of his was a sign of the opinion he had of God's power and fidelity, and was most graciously accepted by God, and rewarded in him with the performance of the promise; and not only so, but also (and over and above it) was reputed to him as an eminent piece of virtue. And so it will be now in the Gentiles, if upon our preaching to them they now believe and repent. 23, 24. For this is recorded of him for our instruction, to teach us how God will reward us if we believe on him, without doubt or dispute, in other things of the like or greater difficulty; such is the raising Christ from the dead, which was wrought by God for us and all mankind, Gentiles as well as Jews, and our belief of it is now absolutely required of us, to fit us to receive and obey him that is thus wonderfully testified to us to be the Messias of the world; and that receiving and obeying of him will now be sufficient to the justifying of us, without the observations of the Mosaical law, as Abraham's faith was to him before he was circumcised. For to this end was both the death and resurrection of Christ designed: he died as our surety, to obtain us release and pardon, to make expiation for our sins past, to deliver us from the punishments due to sin; and rose again from the dead, to open the gates of a celestial life to us, to ensure us of a like glorious resurrection, which could never have been had if Christ had not been raised, 1 Cor. xv. 16, 17. 20. And in order to our receiving this joyful benefit of his resurrection other special advantages there are of his rising; partly, to convince the unbelieving world by that supreme act of power, and so to bring them to the faith that before stood out against it; partly, that he might take us off from the sins of our former lives, bring us to new life, by the example of his rising, and by the mission of the Spirit to us whereby he was raised, and so to help us to actual justification, which is not had by the death of Christ, but upon our coming in to the faith, and performance of the condition required of us—sincere obedience to the commands of Christ. So that as the faith of Abraham, which was here said to be reputed to him for righteousness, was the obeying of God in his commands, of walking before him, &c., the believing God's promise, and without all dubitancy relying on his all-sufficient power to do that most impossible thing in nature, and his veracity and fidelity, that he would certainly do it, having promised it, (which contains under it also by analogy a belief of all other his divine attributes and affirmations and promises, and a practice agreeable to this belief, going on constantly upon those grounds, in despite of all resistances and temptations to the contrary;) so the faith that shall be reputed to our justification, is the believing on God in the same latitude that he did; walking uprightly before him; acknowledging his power, his veracity, and all other his attributes; believing whatsoever he hath affirmed or promised or revealed unto us concerning himself, particularly his receiving of the greatest sinners, the most idolatrous heathens, upon their receiving the faith of Christ, and betaking themselves to a new Christian life; and as an emblem and token and assurance of that, that great fundamental work, the basis of all Christianity, his raising Jesus from the dead, whom by that means he hath set forth to us to be our Lord, to be obeyed in all his commands, delivered to