Faith should think that he might continue in sin that the grace of God might the more abound and so the mercy of God might be the more glorified As some had objected to the Christians that they did and held though falsly to whom he had answered before Chap. 3. ver 6 7 8. In the sixth Chapter he sheweth how inconsistant it is with him who is justified by faith and had his former sins pardoned by Grace to live in sin and useth many arguments to stir him up to live an holy life But least that any faint-hearted Christian in general or Jew in particular for of him by the answer which he gives in this sixth Chapter and which he prosecutes in the seventh he seems especially to speak should say Yea but for my part I cannot follow Righteousness as you would have us nor can I be but a slave to sin having been so great a follower of unrighteousness and sin having had such dmoinion over me The Apostle tells him Chap. 6. verse 14. that Sin should not have dominion over him as it had had for he was not now under the Law but under the Gospel which afforded him these means to free himself from sin which the Law could not afford him CHAP. VII And this his answer he prosecutes Chap. 7. and shews the Jew that the Jews were freed from the Law which was the strength of Sin 1 Cor. 15 56. and were brought under the Gospel that they might serve God by a new kind of Life which the Gospel worketh in us and that they might not follow that old kind of life which they led while they were under the Law through the Motions of sin which were by the Law But now because some might say that there could be no motions of Sin by the Law and others might say that the Law would be the cause of Sin if there were any motions of Sin by it He sheweth verse the seventh and so forward to the end of the Chapter both that the Law was the occasion of sin to those which were under it and that it was not for all that the true and genuine cause thereof wherefore at the seventh verse the better to shew these things which he speaks of and the condition of the Jews which lived before the Law was given by Moses and the condition of the same people when they were under the Law after it was given He puts one in his own person the person of the Jews both as they lived before the Law and under the Law CHAP. VIII Now after the Apostle hath finished these things he comes again in the eighth Chapter to shew the happiness of them who are justified by faith or who are in Christ Jesus for those are all one whom he also describeth by that That they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit in relation to what he had taught in the whole sixth Chapter concerning the Life of a man which is justified by Faith or which is in Christ Jesus that it ought to be such as is Holy and free from all Vnrighteousnesse And to this holinesse of life doth he use here divers new Arguments to excite them from the first to the seventeenth verse of this Chapter at which verse shewing that we must not onely do the works of Righteousnesse but also suffer if need be for Righteousness sake He doth in the ensuing part of the Chapter use divers arguments to move them to suffer afflictions patiently and endeth this Chapter with the narration of the happinesse of those which he spake of from the fifth Chapter hitherto that is of those which are justified by Faith or which is the same of those which are in Christ Jesus CHAP. IX Now in the ninth Chapter reflecting upon what he said before that a man is justified by Faith and not by the workes of the Law and reflecting upon the happinesse of those which are justified by Faith and considering withall that the Jewes for the most part were such as he spake of Chap. 2. Verse 8. That is such as were contentious against the Gospel and obeyed not or believed not that Word of Truth but obeyed Vnrighteousness against whom indignation and wrath is revealed He manifests the great heaviness and continual sorrow which he had in his heart For those Jews which were his Kinsmen according to the flesh and to whom among many other priviledges the promises of God did belong to think that they resisting that way which God had appointed for obtaining Righteousness or Justification should invent another way of their own and go about to establish that their own way and submit not or yield not to follow that way of Righteousness which God had prescribed And this heaviness and continual sorrow of his heart for them he doth shew that they considering and contemplating his sorrow for them might pity their own selves and embrace the truth that they might be saved at the last But though he manifesteth here the great heaviness and continuall sorrow which he had in heart for those his Kinsmen to wit the Jewes yet he doth not here express the cause of this his sorrow being interrupted with an objection which might arise from what he had said and to which he would answer but deferreth it to the next Chapter and there resumeth and perfecteth what he here broke off though in other terms The Objection which might arise from what he had sad is this He said that among other Priviledges which belonged to the Jewes which were the people of Israel according to the flesh this was one That the promises of God were theirs upon which a Jew might thus object and say That if we Jewes who are the Childrn of Israel according to the flesh were not justified but were under Wrath and Indignation as thou Paul sayest Then would the promises of God be void and of none effect which is to make God false in his word For God promised by his servant Jeremy and many other his servants the Prophets that he would make a new covenant with them and justifie them Jer. 31. ver 31 32 33 34. To this objection Saint Paul answers here verses 6 7 8 9. to this effect True it is that God made a promise to the Israelites that he would justifie them but whereas there are to sorts of Israelites one which are Israelites according to the Flesh which descended from Jacob and Abraham by carnall propagation The other which were Israelites and the Children of Abraham according to the Spirit because they did imitate and follow Abraham in this Faith for they which are of Faith they are the Children of Abraham Gal. 3.7 That promise of Justification doth belong absolutely and immediately not to those which are the Children of Jacob or the Children of Abraham according to the Flesh as Such but to those which believe as Such and so are the Children of Jacob and of Abraham according to the Spirit whether they be Jewes or whether
notwitststanding any Antecedent purpose or decree of his going any way before But yet our Apostle attributes our justification wholly to God who calleth Rom. 9.11 And this he doth to signifie that it is wholly of God to prescribe the way to justification who hath prescribed faith to be the way thereunto that justification may be known to be of his meer grace and mercy and that it is not in man to prescribe the way though man makes an account to obtain justification by works as the Jews did who went about to establish their own way to justification Rom. 10.3 and saught it by works Rom. 9.32 which if they could obtain by works the Way of justification would be in man indeed and justification would be not of grace but of debt Again he may ascribe it wholly to God because God is the principle cause thereof For it is usual when two causes concur to the same effect to ascribe the effect wholly to the principal cause yea and so to ascribe it to the principal cause as to deny it to the cause less principal Thus the Apostle saith I labored more then they all yet not I but the grace of God which is in me 1 Cor. 15.10 And again It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me Rom. 7.17 After this manner I say that justification may be ascribed wholly to God Who calleth though Faith be required thereunto Elected Rom. 8. Is taken for Elected to justification that is for them which are justified The Election Chap. 11. ver 7. Is put for the Elected an abstract for a concrete as Circumcision is put for the circumcised Chap. 3.30 And by the Elected are to be understood such as God according to the order which he observeth or decreed to observe in electing or justifying men in time justified or Elected to justification and they were such as believed Beza in his Notes upon those words Mat. 20.16 Viz. Many are called but few are chosen saith the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The Elect or chosen are taken there for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. For such as answer Gods call when he cals them to eternall Life i. e. For the faithfull or such as believe and so may we take the Election or Elected there Viz. Rom. 11.7 The Election spoken of Rom. chap. 11.28 Is taken for that Election whereby God chose the Jews to be his Church that is to be a peculiar people to himself to serve him and worship him after a religious manner according to that form or prescript of Religion which he should appoint and to be a people whom he would never quite forsake and leave utterly without all means of Salvation and that for their Fathers sake Abraham Isaac and Jacob. This Election God might make of the Jews for their Fathers sake and for their sakes might he not leave them utterly without all means of Salvation For the Oracles of God which none can deny to be a Means to salvation were committed to the Jewes as they were Jews that is as they were the Children of Abraham Isaac and Jacob according to the flesh Rom. 3. ver 1 2. But yet that they or any of them should be Elected to justification or to eternal Glory I dare not say that it was for any other then for Jesus Christ his sake nor dare I attribute any thing flowing from that Election to any other then to him And if our Interpreters render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.2 right when they render it chiefly The greatest or chiefest good which they received as they were Jews that is as they were the Children of Abraham Isaac and Jacob according to the flesh was this That they had the Oracles of God committed to them FAITH The Object of justifying faith is the whole Gospel of God or at least the essentiall part thereof which conteineth the new Covenant which God was pleased to make with sinfull man in Christ Jesus our Lord. For we read Mark 1.15 Repent and believe the Gospell And Rom. 1.16 I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth that is to every one that believeth it And again Rom. 10.16 but they have not all obeyed the Gospel that is they have not all believed the Gospel For Isaiah saith Lord who hath believed our report And it is written Eph. 1.13 Christ in whom ye trusted also after ye heard the word of truth the Gospell of your salvation in whom also after ye believed the said Gospel ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise And Philip. 1.27 Striving together for the faith of the Gospel The Gospel therefore or that essential part thereof to wit the new covenant of God with man is the object of saving or justifying faith Which being so I may say that saving or justifying faith is a full or firm assent of our heart or mind to the Gospel of God or at least to the new Covenant which God was pleased to make with sinful man in Christ Jesus our Lord therein conteined by reason of which we do infallibly set our selves one work one that part of the Covenant which we are to performe according to the ability which God hath given us The new Covenant made by God with man in Christ Jesus consisteth as other Covenants do of two parts One part which God promiseth and covenanteth for himself on his part to perform The other which God requireth us to do and which we must promise and covenant to performe on our part without the performance whereof on our part God is not bound to make good to us what he covenanted and promised to do for us one his part The eye therefore of our Faith must be firmely fixed on both parts of this covenant as well on that part which we our selves are for our part to performe as on that which God is to performe on his part or else our Faith will never avail us to justification But if we look on that part of the Covenant which God hath promised for his part to perform and firmly believe the truth thereof and that our onely happiness consisteth therein And on that part of the Covenant which we for our parts are to performe and firmly believe that by doing our parts we shall attain to that happiness which God for his part promised to bestow upon us and that only by doing so we shall attain to it Surely we shall be justified For this will prove an operative Faith and set us on work according to our power to obtein our only happiness and make us sedulous in the duties of holiness without which no man shall see God Hebrews 12.14 For every one doth naturally desire his own happiness and every one labours for his own blessedness and that so many miss of happiness and come short of blessedness it is not because they desire not to be happy or labour not for it
Gospel which is preached by the Servants of God is a powerful instrument for the Salvation of such as believe And they which believe do attain to Salvation by the Gospel The Gospel is called the Power of God not because there is any natural or physical power in the words of the Gospel But because God sheweth his power in those that believe the Gospel in saving them that is in delivering them from all evil both of Sin and Punishment and in bringing them at last to everlasting joy and happiness And well may this be called the Power of God for what created power can save us from our sins who hath power enough to deliver us out of the Claws of the Devil to whom we were captive at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 who hath power to keep us safe from him that goeth about a roaring Lion seeking whom he way devour who hath power to free us from the miseries of this mortall body who can raise us up from the dead after death who hath power to change these vile bodies of ours into glorious bodies and this corruptible of ours into incorruptible who hath power to carry us up into heaven there to enjoy bliss for evermore but God who is Omnipotent and able to subdue all things to himself and to do whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven and in Earth The Gospel therefore is called the Power of God Metonymically that is to say because the power of God is so joyned with it as that God will so shew his power in saving them that believe it as that he will bring them to everlasting Salvation They therefore which interpret the power of God to Salvation of a powerful instrument to save men must not take it for a Physical instrument but for a Moral instrument as I may so call it that is for such a thing with which God will so go along with his power as that he will save them which believe the Gospel even because they believe it We know that the Power of God did go along in the Primitive times with the preaching of the Gospel in that God did bear the preachers of it witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy-ghost according to his own will Heb. 2.4 But this is not the power here spoken of but that which we have already mentioned for signs are not for those which believe but for those which believe not 1 Cor. 14.22 but the Power of God in this place is for them which believe Vnto Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. For Salvation or for this end that it may bring men unto Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here a Note of the final cause or of the end The Schools use to distinguish of a double Salvation the one Inchoate the other Consummate Salvation Inchoate consisteth in Remission of sins or Justification c. and may be had in this life In this sence the Apostle saith By Grace ye are saved through faith Ephes 2.8 And again Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Titus 3.5 But Salvation Consummate is only to be had in the life to come and consists in Eternal life Now some understand this place only of Salvation Inchoate not Consummate But it is better to take it for our full and whole Salvation To every one that believeth i e. To every one that believeth the Gospel As a Medicine doth not profit how good soever it be except it be taken down So doth not the Gospel profit though it be the Power of God unto Salvation except it be believed and embraced To the Jew first and also to the Greek i. e. To the Jew first and then to the Greek And also is put here for Then or Afterwards The like manner of speech we read the 2 Cor. 8.5 They first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us i. e. They did first give themselves to the Lord and then to us his Ministers Note that by the Greek is here meant all the Gentiles per Synedochen Species and to is the Greek to be taken so often as he is opposed to the Jew and therefore is the Greek put for all the Gentiles the rather than any other Nation because the Greek tongue was at this time from the time of Alexander the Great most generally used amongst all Nations as also because the Greeks were now of a long time more known to the Jews than any other People were by the Jew therefore and the Greek all the People of the World are here meant There is a Praerogative here given to the Jew above the Gentile which Praerogative consisteth in this that the Gospel was preached and to be preached to the Jew before it was preached or to be preached to the Gentile Acts 13.46 And in that that the Gospel did appertain to the Jew which believed more peculiarly than it did to the Gentile by reason of particular promises thereof made to them But it doth not consist in this that the believing Jew did or should obtain more exuberance of grace or greater salvation than the believing Gentile should Ver. 17. For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed For therein is Justification effectually revealed and thereby performed and wrought That which is here rendred Righteousness is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cometh from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justificare to justifie So that Righteousness may be and is to be taken here for justification and justification signifieth with our Apostle remission of sins or absolution from sins and it is a tearm borrowed from the Law courts and is opposed to condemnation That which is called Righteousness or Justification is also called Redemption Chap. 3.24 Ephes 1.7 c. And it is called Salvation Math. 1.21 c. And both by a metaphor taken from Prisoners or Captives or Slaves which were under hard imprisonment or bondage or slavery and were as men appointed unto death but are delivered and redeemed with a price or saved by might out of that miserable condition and a condition no better than theirs were we in while we were under sin So that the Remission of our sins may be called as Righteousness or justification so Redemtion and Salvation too And note now that Salvation and Righteousness are often put for one and the same thing as Psal 98.2 The Lord hath made known his Salvation his Righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the Heathen and Isaiah 56.1 My Salvation is near to come and my Righteousness to be revealed And Isaih 61.10 He hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation He hath covered me with the robe of Righteousness which I observe that it might seem strange to none that besides the derivation of the Greek word Righteousness should be put or taken for justification or redemption and Salvation from sins The Righteousness of God He calls it the Righteousness of God
For my self I take these words as actully referred to the words going next before them to wit to these Through faith but as Potentially relating to the former words also q. d. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through his blood and to be enjoyed and made ours through faith in that his blood So that by what is expressed in the latter sentence we are to understand what is defective in the former Yea these words By his blood may relate actually both to those words Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation to those By faith See the like chap 9. v. 12. In these words By his blood there is as we said an allusion to the Sacrifices of the Law which were but Types of Christ the substance Yet here and in other places also where there is mention of the blood of Christ by the blood of Christ is to be understood by a Synechdoche whatsoever Christ did or suffered for us from the first time of his taking our Flesh upon him Through faith in his blood Note here that Faith when it is joyned with In as here it is signifieth for the most part Trust and Confidence or Relying upon a thing And here it signifieth Trust or Confidence or Relying upon the blood of Christ And truly he that doth believe the Gospel and the Death of Christ therein recorded as he ought to do cannot but trust and confide in the death or blood of Christ and relye upon it Hence it is that such kind of phrases as these The faith of and Faith from are often confounded in Scripture and taken for one and the same thing To declare his Righteousness The word Righteousness signifieth here both the Fidelity or Truth and the Goodness or Mercy of God as will appear by the following verse where it is repeated And it is frequent for one word thus to carry with it two significations but more of this in the next verse Note that these words To declare his Righteousness depend on those Whom he hath set forth and shew the final cause or end of that That God set forth a Propitiator which was to shew that he was righteous for or by remitting of sins For the remission of sins which are past i. e. For that he remitteth the sins which are past The words in the Original are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where some interpret the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propter that is For others Per By or Through According therefore to the interpretation of the first the words must run thus For the remission of sins which are past and then they are to be referred to those words Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation and there must be a Comma between these and the words which go immediately before them for they signifie a more special end why God did set forth Christ to be a Propitiation He did it for the remission of sins According to the Second interpretation the words must run thus Through the remission of sins which are past and then they are to be referred to the words immediately going before and shew how God was declared to be Righteous He was declared to be Righteous by the remission of sins which are past or In remitting of sins which were past For remission of sins declare God to be Righteous that is to be merciful for it is mercy in God to forgive sins whereas he might punish the sinner with eternal death and remission of sins declare God to be righteous that is True and Faithful because whereas God did say and promise That he would forgive sins by the remission of sins he did shew himself to be as good as his word For the remission of sins that are past i. e. For the remission of sins which were committed in the Time of the Law which is now past He mentioneth only those sins which were committed under the Law not because God gave a Propitiation for remission of those sins only and not for the remission of the sins committed under the Gospel But that he might shew the weakness of the Old Law of which the Jews with whom he hath to do for a great part in this his Epistle did glory And that he might declare that those Expiations or Purgations which appertained to the Law were not true Purgations and Expiations indeed but only shadows of true Purgations and Expiations For it is not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin Heb. 10.4 And as the Apostle doth here so doth he also Heb. 9.15 mention the redemption only of the Transgressions that were under the Old Testament saying And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Tâ—stament that by the means of death for the redemption of the Transgressions which were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance But by the remission of sins that are past and by the redemption of the transgressions which were under the first Testament we must understand in both places all other sins too And that not without reason for if the blood of Christ was able to deliver men from their sins committed before it was shed much more is it able to deliver men from their sins which have been committed since the shedding thereof Yet note that some understand The sins that are past not of the sins commiâ—ted under the Law as so but of the sins committed by a man before his conversion whether under the Law or not And they say that the Apostle mentioneth only the remission of sins committed before a mans conversion to signifie not that sins committed after conversion were unpardonable as Novatus is said by some to hold but that they which were justified had no licence given them to sin by reason of that grace For this is the manner of the Gospel to threaten woe to him that shall sin and yet to â—ffâ—r pardon and mercy upon repentance to him that hath sinned But I embrace the former exposition before this Through the forbearance of God i. e. And which God hath not punished with any dreadful punishment not by reason of that that they did not deserve dreadful punishment nor by reason of that that they were expiated and purged by other means than by the blood of Christ but through his forbearance and long-suffering And therefore did God forbeare to punish the sins of men committed under the Law according to their desert because he had determined to set forth a Propitiation for those their sins in his good time to wit the Time of the Gospel A Propitiation which should reach even to sins committed under the Law In these words therefore there is an Ellipsis and these words contain a prevention of an Objection which a Jew might make For a Jew might say That either they Jews had not committed any such sin as deserved dreadful punishment or that if they had committed such sins they were expiated and purged
if he did not so Such a man therefore as is justified according to the Law of Works hath good cause of boasting even before God Chapter 4.2 But by the Law of Faith That Law that is that doctrine which teacheth that a man is justified by Faith doth exclude boasting and takes away the cause or ground of boasting from a justified man For it teacheth that he that is justified according to that hath sinned and therefore if he be justified he is justified by Grace that is by the meer favour and mercy of God which cannot stand with boasting It teacheth I say that every man hath sinned and so that every man is under the Curse for cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Deut 27.25 Galat. 3.10 And being now cursed he cannot get out from under that curse without the favour and mercy of God For having broken the Law he cannot be justified by the Law for that implies a Contradiction And therefore if he be justified he must be justified by Faith and so by the meer grace and favour of God with which boasting cannot consist The Apostles scope in this verse is as I said as to repress the vain boasting of the Jews so to take men off from seeking after justification by works or by the works of the Law and to bring them to seek after justification by Faith and his Argument is valid to this purpose upon supposition which yet he hath proved to be a most certain Truth that all have sinned For if all men have sinned which is an undeniable truth and which the doctrine of Faith teacheth then no man can boast before God for whosoever hath sinned hath need of the grace and favour of God And whosoever receives any thing of the grace and favour of God cannot boast 1 Cor. 4.7 Now if thou canst not boast thou seekest in vain to be justified by the works of the Law for no man can be justified by the works of the Law but he which keepeth the Law and hath always kept it in every point And he that keeps it so may boast Therefore being thou canst not boast seek not for justification by the works of the Law which makes them boast which are justified thereby but seek for it by faith For though thou canst not boast and so canst not be justified by the works of the Law yet thou mayest be justified by Faith It is not unlikely but that among the Jews which were blinded by reason of their unbelief Chap. 11. ver 7. There were some who though they were convinced that they could not boast yet did seek for justification by the Law not perceiving how incompatible these two things are Not to boast or not to have matter of boasting and to be justified by the Law But by the Law of Faith Note that whereas the Apostle might have said thus Where is boasting then It is excluded By what By Works Nay but by Faith He saith Where is boasting then It is excluded By what Law of works Nay but by the Law of Faith And this he doth by a Mimesis mentioning and repeating the word Law that he might in a slighting manner imitate the Jews who did crack of the Law and had the Law alwayes in their mouths though they kept it not intimating thereby that if they gloried in the word Law he could say that they which were Justified were justified by a Law too but not by the Law which they cracked of to wit the Law of Works but by a Law differing from that to wit the Law of Faith Ver. 28. We conclude therefore that a man is justified by faith This conclusion the Apostle draws not from the verse immediately going before but from his whole discourse which he hath had from the 17. verse of the first Chapter of this Epistle hitherto and especially from that which he taught and discoursed of Chap. 3. ver 23 24 25 26. A Man i. e. Any or Every man that is justified The word Man is to be taken here indefinitely q. d. We conclude therefore that a man be he Jew or be he Gentile or whatsoever he is that is justified is justified by Faith without the Works of the Law Without the Works of the Law i. e. Though he be without the Works of the Law that is though he be without that that he hath perfectly observed and kept the Law Without the Works of the Law is the same here as Not by the Works of the Law Gal. 2.16 By the Works of the Law are meant Works done exactly according to the Praescript of the Law so that if a man hath at any time transgressed the Law either positively or privatively he cannot be said to have the works of the Law in the Apostles sence here Ver. 29. Is he the God of the Jews only For God to be the God of any one doth sometimes signifie that God is held as a God and worshipped and obeyed as a God of him whose God he is said to be In this sence Jacob said that the Lord should be his God Gen. 28.21 Sometimes again and that most frequently for God to be the God of any one signifieth that God is an Egregious Benefactor of him whose God he is said to be In which sence it is said Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord Psalm 33.12 And in which sence God is said to be the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod 3.6 And in which sence God saith that he would be a God to Abraham and to his Seed after him Gen. 17.7 Now of these two sences the latter is that in which God is said here to be a God of the Jews and not of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also For God is a Benefactor to them both not only in Temporal blessings but in Spiritual blessings also and in such as concern Eternal Salvation The Apostle speaketh by an Interrogative here first to signifie that the thing which he speaks of is so plain as that it cannot be denied Secondly to take up the Jews a little who entertained a base esteem of the Gentiles Is he not of the Gentiles also i e. Is he not the God of the Gentiles also and doth he not wish and do well to them also that they may be saved Yea of the Gentiles also q. d. Yea he is the God of the Gentiles also and wisheth and doth well to them that they may be saved and will be a Benefactor to them in those things which concern their Eternal welfare if they believe As for the Connexion of this verse with what went before It is this The Apostle had said vers 28. That a Man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law where he took the word Man indefinitely for men of any Nation by reason therefore of that word he had a good opportunity given him to speak to
by the Rites and Expiations of the Law otherwise God would have taken vengeance of their sins long before this To this therefore the Apostle answers That it was not because they had not committed such sins nor because their sins were expiated and purged by the Law that God had not punished them in any grievous manner but it was because of his forbearance and long suffering Note that Christ was not a Propitiation for all sins which were past but only for the sins past of such as repented whose sins God punished not so soon as they were committed and for Gods forbearance to them others which repented not did fare the better in that God did forbear them and the sins of them which repented he punished in Christ Ver. 26. To declare I say at this time his Righteousnes The Apostle resumes here what he spoke in the former verse the better to explain himself This word Righteousness is to be taken here both for the Fidelity or Truth and for the Goodness or Mercy of God as I said before For what he meaneth by Declaring the Righteousness of God he expoundeth by those words that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Where to be just signifieth the Fidelity and Truth of God in keeping his word To be the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus sheweth the Goodness and Mercy of God Of that that the word Righteousness is sometimes taken for Fidelity and Truth we have an example verse 5. Of that that the word Righteousness is taken for Goodness and Mercy we have an example 2 Cor. 9.9 It may be that the Apostle saith of God That he granted remission of sins that he might appear just in respect of the Jews because of the promise of God made to their Fathers that he would upon their saith and repentance give them remission of sins And that he saith that he granted remission of sins that he might appear the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus in respect especially of the Gentile who had no such promise made to him by God of his justification as the Jew had yet may rejoyce in that that God hath freely justified him At this time By this time he meaneth here the Time of the Gospel and it is opposed to the time of the Law or the time before Christ signified by or intimated in those words of the former verse to wit sins that are past That he might be just q. d That is to say That he might appear to be just That is that he might appear to be True and Faithful in his word These words That is to say are here to be understood and to be is to be taken for To appear to be as ver 4. And Just is to be taken here for True and Faithfull in word as it is also taken 1 John 1.9 And God is said here to be True and Faithfull because he did say and promise in the Law and in the Prophets that he would give remission of sins unto his People and so justifie them and as he said and promised so he did to as many as believed And the Justifi r of him which believeth in Jesus q. d. And that he might appear to be the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus To justifie is to foâ—gâ—ve sins and to absolve from punishment due unto sins and this is an effect of the great mercy and goodness of God Ver 27. Were is boasting then q. d. Being therefore That all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God and that as many as are justified are justified freely by his Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus c. Where is Boasting i. e. Where is any just cause of Boasting This is a Corollary drawn from what he said from ver 20. hitherto and the Apostle drawes it to repress the vain boasting of the Jews and to make men seek after Justification not by the Law but by Faith And it is spoken after a kind of insulting manner the Apostle insulting thereby as it were over the Jews who were great boasters Where is boasting Note that the Apostle speaks not here of an unlawfull or unjust or causless boasting or of boasting only before Men for so any man might boast and so did the Jews boast But he speaks of a lawfull just and well grounded boasting and a boasting before God such a boasting where nothing is to be imputed to the grace and favour of God but all to a mans own self And that not in the appearance of man only but in the strict eye and view of God Such a boasting as this is the Apostle demonstratively hath proved cannot have place in a justified Man It is excluded q. d. It hath no place at all in a man which is actually justified but is excluded from his justification By what Law The word Law is to be taken here in a more Lax and Generall signification than commonly it is taken For here are two Species of the Law as it is here used mentioned in this place The Law of works and the Law of faith whereof the Law of works is properly and most usually called the Law and is ordinarily opposed to the Gospel and the other is the Gospel as it is opposed to the Law so strictly taken The word Law therefore is to be taken here for Doctrine q. d. But by what doctrine is boasting excluded That which is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Law is that which is usual in the Hebrew Torah and Torah signifieth not onely the Law in speciall but any doctrine in generall as I said before ver 19. from whence the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our English word Law doth often signifie the like as the Hebrew Torah doth in analogy to that Of Works i. e. By the Law of works The word Law is here to be understood from that which went before By the Law of Works is meant that doctrine which teacheth that a Man which is actually Justified is justified by the works of the Law and that he that would be justified must be thereby justified which cannot be except a man hath most exactly kept the whole Law and never failed in any Tittle thereof at any time Nay The Apostle sheweth here that boasting is not excluded by the Law of Works And indeed it implieth a contradiction to say that a justified man or a man that is actually justified according to the Law of Works is excluded from boasting by the Law of Works For he that is justified according to the Law of Works with Reverence be it spoken is not beholding to God for his justification for he hath perfectly observed the Law in every Apex Tittle and Jot of it so that God who is just in his judgement when he is brought before his Tribunal as a Transgressour of the Law must needs justifie him that is must needs acquit him and pronounce him guiltless and God would be unjust
the Sea wherein they were wont to drown those which were accounted Malefactours and were persons condemned to die Others by height understand heaven by depth hell And by those again such as were in heaven and in hell q. d. Nor can heaven nor hell that is nor can any in heaven or in hell if they should set themselves against us be able to separate us c. Nor any other Creature i. e. Nor any other thing whatsoever From the Love of God i. e. From the love which God sheweth us Which is in Christ Jesus i. e. Which love he sheweth to or towards us for Christ Jesus our Lords sake The Preposition In is taken here after the Hebrew manner for For the sake of For the Hebrews take this Preposition In for almost any Preposition whatsoever CHAP. IX 1. I Say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy Ghost 1. I have hitherto plainly and undeniably shewed that Justification is not by works but by faith And I have declared the rich blessings and mercies which God bestoweth on them which are Justified by faith wherefore I say the truth in the sight of Christ my conscience also bearing me witness before the holy Ghost who knows my heart and will require it of me If I say false 2. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart 2. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart 3. For I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh 3. For my brethren the Jews who are my kinsmen according to the flesh for I could wish if yet I might lawfully wish it that I were accursed and everlastingly separated from Christ for them 4 Who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises 4. Who are so great priviledges and prerogatives have they above all people the children of Israel which was the friend of God by true lineal descent of blood and to whom pertaineth the Adoption by which they are made Sons of God And the glory which appertaineth to them which are Gods people and the Morall Law which was given by Moses in Tables of Stone And the Judicial Law which was given them for the maintainance of Civil Society among themselves and the Ceremonial Law which taught them the manner of Gods service and worship and all the promises contained in the books of the Old Testament 5. Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Amen 5. Whose are the Fathers those Ancient Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob and of whom Christ was born as he was Man even Christ who is Lord over all and God as well as Man yea God blessed for evemore Amen 6. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect For they are not all Israel which are of Israel 6. But here before I can finish my sentence and speak out my mind which I will do Chap. 10. ver 1 2 3. I must prevent an Objection which here ariseth For whereas my Brethren the Jews know that I exclude them all from Justification which seek not after it by faith They will be ready to tell me that whereas I said that the promises appertain to them I make the promises of God of none effect except I grant them to be justified for among the promises of God there is a promise made to the Israelites which they say they are that he will cleanse them from all their iniquity and pardon all their sins Jer. 31. ver 31 34. Jer. 33.4 Micah 7.18 But for an answer to this though I say that the promises appertain to them and do acknowledge such a promise as they make mention of yet let no man think that I have so spoken as that it may be gathered from my words that the promise of God is of none effect because I will not grant them to be justified for though that promâ—se of God be made to all Israel and so to them upon condition yet if we speak of that promise absolutely All they which are descended from Israel by lineal succession of blood are not that Israel or those sons of Israel to whom that promise of Righteousness or Justification doth absolutely belong 7. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called 7. For neither are they which are of Abraham upon that meer account that they are descended from Abraham by carnal Generation to be accounted that seed and those children of Abraham to whom the Spiritual promise of justification doth absolutely belong For the seed or children of Abraham to whom the promise of the Land of Canaan did appertain were not that seed or those children of Abraham which were in the loins of Ishmael which yet came our of the loins of Abraham but that seed or those chidren of Abraham which were in the loines of Isaac according to that which was said to Abraham by the Angel Gen. 21.12 But in Isaac shall thy seed be to wit that seed of thine which shall inherit the Land of Canaan which I have promised to thee and to thy children 8. That is they which are the children of the flesh these are noâ— the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed 8. That is according to the Mystical meaning of the words for not the literal but the Mystical sence is that which makes for my purpose and that for which I alledge these words they which are the children of Abraham according to the flesh which children were typified in Ishmael these are not the children of Abraham to which God promised that spiritual gift of justification which was typified by the Land of Canaan But those spiritual children which God promised to Abraham in a Mystical sence Genes 17.5 When he said I have made thee a Faâ—her of many Nations that is the faithful or they which are of faith whether they be Jews or whether they be Gentiles by birth and which were typified by Isaac they and they only are to be accounted that seed of Abraham to which the promise of justification doth absolutely belong 9 For this is the word of promise At this time will I come and Sara shall have a son 9. I say which were typified by Isaac for Iâ—aac was a son of promise that is Isaac was born to Abraham by vertue of Gods promise whereby he said by his Angel to him at this time the next year will I come unto thee And then Sara thy wife shall have a son whom thou shalt call Isaac Gen. 18.10 And because Isaac was a son of promise or because he was born of Abraham's body by vertue of Gods promise made to Abraham his Father He was a type of that spiritual seed to
ex vi terminorum or by necessary consequence to shew that the Election of God was not of works or for works because it was said to Rebecca while her two children were in her womb the Elder shall serve the younger his Argument would not have been solide because God might foresee what workes a man would do after his birth even before he was born But it was not the Apostles intent to draw such an argument from hence but onely to use argumentum a typo or Argumentum a signo which consisteth only in the setting out or declaring of Gods intent Viz. That intent which he had in giving that Answer to Rebecca to wit that the Elder shall serve the younger before the children were born whose intent was to signifie or typifie thereby that his purpose concerning election of man to justification was and should so remain to be to elect not for mans work sake but for his own good will and pleasures sake But whereas we said that the Apostle meaneth here by Election Election to justification and whereas where he speaks of Justificati n he saith every where that that is of faith not of works it may be objected that by Election the Apostle cannot mean here Election to justification because he never excludes faith when he speaks of justification but includes it and asserts it rather But here when it is said that the Children being not yet born not having done any good or evil it was said the Elder shall serve the younger Faith is excluded from the El ction here mentioned as well as works For as a child cannot work before he is born the consideration whereof seemeth to be that that made the Apostle to infer here that Election was not of works so can he not believe before he is born Answ I said that the Argument which the Apostle here useth is not Argumentum à natura rei or ex vi terminorum or an argument of necessary consquence when he proves that the purpose of God concerning Election was not of Works because it was said unto Rebecca while the children were yet in her womb before they had done any good or evil the Elder shall serve the Younger But it was only Argumentum à Typo or Argumentum à Signo An Argument from a Type for there are verbal types as well as real or an argument from a sign Now to a Type or Signe there are two things required First the Aptitude of the thing which is to be a Sign or Type to signifie or represent the thing to be typified or signified And secondly the actual application by God of that sign or type to signifie or typifie that thing if either of these be wanting it is not a type or sign and this is plain to reason for were all the things in the world which might have been types or Signs types or signs indeed Surely no and what is the reason Not because all things wanted aptitude to typifie or signifie which were not actual signs or types but because they were not actually applyed thereunto Now this that God said to Rebecca the Elder shall serve the Younger before the Children were yet born and before they had done any good or evil hath indeed an aptitude to signifie the exclusion of Faith from the purpose of God concerning Election as well as of works but yet because they are not actually applyed by God so to do they may not do it but exclude works only and not faith But of him that calleth i. e. But of for and from the mercy and the good pleasure of God who calleth us to the grace of the Gospel that we might believe through the preaching of it and believing it might be justified That to which this call is is the grace of the gospel and the precious promises therein contained This is most frequently taken for the objest of Gods call in our Apostles writings if the circumstance of the place hold not out another object In these words but of him that calleth it is intimated that God had respect to faith in this Election to justification For God doth therefore call men to the grace of the Gospel and the promises therein conteined that they might believe them and believing might be justified Ver. 12. It was said unto her the elder shall serve the Younger These words have a double or twofold relation for they relate to the tenth verse and they relate to the eleventh verse The manner how is this q. d. When Rebecca had conceived by one even by our Father Isaac it was said unto her the Elder shall serve the Younger I say when she had conceived for it was said unto her the Elder shall serve the Younger when she had conceived that is while the children being in her womb were not yet born neither had done any gord or evil And that to signifie that the purpose of God concerning election should stand not of works but of him that calleth It was said unto her Viz. By God Gen. 25.23 The children being not yet born neither having done either good or evil The Elder shall serve the Younger i. e. Esau in his Posterity shall serve Jacob in his This which is here said of the Elder serving the Younger is to be understood of Esau and Jacob but not of Esau and Jacob in their persons but in their posterities For if we consider Jacob in his person Jacob might be said to serve Esau rather than Esau Jacob for he termed himself Esau's servant Gen. 32.18 And he called Esau his Lord Gen. 33. v. 13 14. And he did him homage bowing himself down to the ground many times before him Gen. 33.3 And where the words cited by the Apostle are read Gen 25.23 It is plain that they extend rather to the Nations that should come from Jacob and Esau than that they are tyed up to Esau and Jacob themselves Though therefore Esau in his person served not Jacob in his person yet the posterity of Esau served the Posterity of Jacob in Davids time when the Idumaeans or Edomites which were of the Posterity of Esau were subdued by the Israelites which were the Posterity of Jacob and brought under their Subjection made servants to them 2 Sam. 8.14 Esau and his posterity as they were descended from Isaac according to the Flesh to whom the promise of the Land of Canaan was made as well as to Abraham do signifie or typifie here the children of the flesh as Ishmael did in the Story before And Jacob signifieth or typifieth the spiritual seed or the faithful which were called the Children of Promise ver 8. As did his Father Isaac in the former story And by Esaus servitude is meant or typified the continuing of such as were typified by Esau that is of the children according to the flesh under sin as under a Tyrant as under a Lord without deliverance from either the dominion or Guilt of it And by Jacob's being a Lord and so free is meant
will say that this is no good news to you For if they should be provoked thereby and should regain Gods love ye Gentiles which were received into Gods love by reason of the fall of the Jews should be cast out again if the Jews were again received But fear not this for if the fall and diminution of the Jews was the occasion that the Gentiles were enriched by faith and justification and other spiritual blessings How much more will their recovery and their nation being full be the cause of such blessings 13. For I speak to you Gentiles in as much as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles I magnifie mine office 13. But that you may not believe that the Jews stumbled that they should fall without hope of ever rising again I tell you Gentiles in as much as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles That I do labour abundantly in the ministration of my office by preaching the Gospel to you 14. If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh and might save of them 14. And I do it for this end that if by any means I can I may provoke the Jews which are my kinsmen according to the flesh to emulation that is to imitate the believing Gentiles in their faith that so I might bring some of them to salvation 15. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead 15. And think not that if I should bring some of them to salvation that this would be a means to cast you off again For if the casting away of the Jews was an occasion of that that God reconciled the Gentiles to himself What would Gods receiving the Jews to favour again be but a cause or means of bringing more Gentiles yet to the life of grace which are as yet dead in their sins 16. For if the first fruit be holy the lump is also holy and if the root be holy so are the branches 16. Again being that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob which were the first of the Nation of the Jews were holy it is credible that all their Posterity is holy too so holy as not to be utterly deprived of the means of salvation and holiness For Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were as it were the first fruits and the Nations of the Jews are as it were the lump they were also as it were the Root and Bulk and the Nation of the Jews were as it were the branches of the Olive-tree Now if the first-fruit be holy the lump is also holy and if the Root and Bulk be holy so also are the branches 17. And if some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wilde olive tree wert graffed in amongst them and with them partakâ—st of the root and fatness of the olive tree 17 But now if some of the branches be broken off of this tree and thou O Gentile which wast as a branch or cion of the wild Olive-tree art graffed into this Olive-tree among those branches which yet hold their own and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the Olive-tree that is of all the rich promises which were made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and their seed 18. Boast not against the branches but if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee 18. Boast not against the branches that is boast not against the Jews which are the children of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob But if thou boastest remember this that thou bearest not the Root but the Root thee that is remember this that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and their seed partake not of thy blessings but thou partakest of theirs and this may somewhat allay thy boasting 19. Thou wilt say then the branches were broken off that I might be graffed in 19. But thou wilt say nevertheless in a kind of pride The branches were broken off that I might be graffed in that is the Jews were cast out of the Church of God that thou maist be taken in in their room 20. Well because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith Be not high minded but fear 20. Well be it so because of unbelief they were broken off from the Oâ—â—ve-tree that is for their infidelity they were cast out of the Church and thou because of thy faith art grafted into that ree that is art received as a member into the Church of God and so standest be not therefore high-minded and puffed up against the Jew because of thy high calling for that may make thee lose thy faith by which thou standest but fear least God should cast thee off again that so thou maist hold thy faith the faster 21. For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee 21. Fear I say for if God spared not the Jews which were as it were the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee 22. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off 22. That therefore thou maist not boast against the branches that is against the Jews and that thou maist stand fast in the faith which thou hast embraced behold and look on the one side on the goodness and mercy on the otherside on the severty of God On the Jews which fell and were cast out of the Church of God severity but towards thee whom God recieved in their room goodness and mercy which goodness and mercy thou shalt still partake of if thou continuest in the faith which is also an effect of Gods goodness and mercy otherwise thou also shalt be cast of as the Jews were 23. And they also if they bide not still in unbelief shall be graffed in for God is able to graffe them in again 23. And they also even the Jews themselvs which are cast off if they abide not still in unbelief shall be graffed in again into the sweet Olive tree that is they shall be received again as members into the Church of God For God is able to bring them in again 24. For if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature and went graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree how much more shall these which be the natural branches be graffed into their own olive-tree 24. For if thou wert cut out of the Olive tree which is wilde by nature and wert graffed contrary to nature into the good Olive-tree how much more easily shall these which be the natural branches be graffed in again into their own Olive tree that is if thou which art taken out of on idolatrous people whose Ancestours alwayes served stocks and stons and wast contrary to thy education and to the Religion of thy Predecessours inserted into the Church of God and made a member thereof How much more easily
shall the Jews which were brought up in the knowledge of God and to whom the Oracles of God were committed be admitted again into Gods Church and brought into the number of his Servants in which number they once were heretofore 25. For I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery lest ye should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is happened to Israel untill the fullness of the Gentiles be come in 25. Again I would have you know Brethren this mystery from me lest you should think that you know all things and should be wise in your own conceit and insult over the Jews that blindness and unbelief is befaln part of the Jews untill the full number of the Gentiles which God intends to bring to the faith of Christ be come in and have received the faith 26 And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written There shall come out of Sion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 26. But when the full number is come in then all the people of the Jews shall be saved according to that which is written Esay 59.20 There shall come a deliverer for Sion and shall turn away from the Jewes the children of Jacob that blindness and those punishments which lie upon them by reason of their ungodliness 27. For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away theâ—r sins 27. For this is my covenant with them saith the Lord and this is the promise that I make to them that I will take away their sins 28. As concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake but as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers sakes 28. Brethren if we look upon the Gospel of Christ and consider how the Jews have opposed that and strived against that they are hated of God but by that hatred of God towards them you have received benefit for by Gods hating them you have been admitted into Gods love from which they fell which should make you to pity them but when we look upon the election the election by which God loved and chose them for their fathers sake Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to be a peculiar people to himself and so to regard them as never utterly to forsake them they are yet beloved of God for those their Fathers sake 29. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentence 29. For the gifts and calling of God which he vouchsafed to that people for their fathers sake are such as God will never repent him of 30. For as ye in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief 30. Again as in times past ye have not believed God yet now haue obtained faith by which you stand by occasion of their unbelief 31. Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy 31. Even so have they now not believed that being provoked by your faith they also may come in due time to believe 32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all 32. For God concluded all both Jews and Gentiles at times in unbelief that he might by these means which is strange to humane wisdome to conceive have mercy upon all 33. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out 33. O the depth of the abundant knowledge and wisdom of God how unsearchable are his resolutions and his ways and doings past finding out 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counsellor 34. For who hath known the mind of the Lord Or who hath been a fellow-counsellor with him in his affairs that he should be privy to his resolves 35. Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again 35. Or which is yet more unlikely who hath given counsel to him at any time which were to engage God to recompence him for that his counsel 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen 36. Surely no body for from him as from the first efficient cause do all things proceed Through him as by the preserving or conserving cause are all things upheld and maintained in their being and to him as to the finall cause or end of all things are all things to be referred To him therefore ascribe all glory and praise for ever and ever Amen CHAP. XI Ver. 1. I say then hath God cast away his people c. By reason of those testimonies which the Apostle brought out of Moses and Isaiah from ver 16 of the tenth Chapter hitherto It might be doubted whether God had cast off his People the Jews yea or no so that the Jews should be from that time as great Strangers to God and his Kingdom as the Gentiles were before the comming of Christ whom God suffered to walk in their own wayes Acts 14.16 Yea it might be doubted whether ever God would make known to them the way of salvation And whether he would though they should believe Accept of them to justification any more Wherefore the Apostle raiseth this doubt here and answereth it so soon as he hath raised it Hath God cast off his people i. e. Hath God cast away his ancient people the Jews utterly and so as that he will not shew them the pathes of Righteousness or Justification nor save them from their Sins yea though they should tread in these paths His people To wit Israel That is the Jews God forbid This is a Negative answer to the question propounded See Cap. 3.4 concerning this Phrase or manner of speaking For I also am an Israelite c. i. e. For I also as many others are am a Jew of the Stock of Israel who through the mercy of God have had the way of Salvation made known unto me and walking in the same have obtained through Grace this of the Lord that he hath justified me from my sins and accepted of me If Paul being a Jew and of the Stok of Israel and one of the ancient people of God hath obtained this mercy then is it an argument that God hath not cast off his people utterly For if God had cast off his people utterly then Paul being a member of that people would have been cast off also Of the seed of Abraham i. e. Descended from Abraham according to the Flesh Of the Tribe of Benjamin Benjamin was one of the Sons of Jacob which he had by Rachel Gen. Cap. 35 ver 18. And the Head of a Tribe in Israel as other of the Sons of Jacob were Ver. 2. God hath not cast away his people To wit his people Israel so as to keep from them the means or way of Salvation and so as not to justifie them if they repent and believe that they might perish His
but were offended at him Severity This severity of God consisted in that that he would not spare the unbelieving Jews but presently reject them and cast them off from being of his people or his Church because they would not believe in Christ But toward thee i. e. But towards thee O Gentile because thou believest Goodness This goodness of God towards the believing Gentile consisted in that that God did ingraft him into the Olive-tree that is that God did take him into the number of his people or into his Church by reason of his faith and made him partaker of the Promises and blessings thereof when as he might have reprobated him and left him still in his sins to suffer the punishment thereof with other his Ancestours If thou continue in his goodness i. e. If thou dost that by which thou mayest continue in his goodness that is if thou continue in the faith which is the means of continuing in his goodness The Sence of this place is this q. d. In which goodness of his thou shalt continue if thou dost continue in the faith Goodness in this place is to be taken for faith per Metonymiam Effecti For it is to be taken for that for which God shewed the Gentile that goodness whereby he ingraffed him into the Olive-tree that is whereby he took him into the number of his people or into his Church and that was faith Goodness therefore is taken here for faith per Metonymiam effecti It may be also taken for faith Per Metonymiam causae because faith is the effect of the goodness and mercy of God For God gives those which believe not only to be of the number of his people and branches of the Olive-tree but to believe also Otherwise Supple If thou continuâ—st not in his goodness That is if thou believest not but fallest back into unbelief Thou shalt be cut off i. e. Thou shalt be cut off again from the Olive-tree That is thou shalt be put out of the number of Gods people again by whose goodness and favour thou wert graffed in among them and made a member of the Church Ver. 23. And they also i. e. And the Branches which are cut off also That is and the unbelieving Jews also Shall be graffed in Supple again into their Olive-tree That is shall be received again into the number of Gods people and made members again of his Church For God is able to graffe them in again Supple into their Olive-tree That is God is able to take them again into the number of his people and make them again members of his Church When the Apostle saith for God is able to graffe them in again he adds this to intimate that nothing doth hinder God from graffing those Jews which were cut off into their Olive-tree again but unbelief q. d. For God is able to graff them in a gain that therefore they are not graffed in again it is to be imputed wholly to thir unbelief Ver. 24. For if thou wert cut out of the Olive-tree which is wild by nature He gives a reason here of that which he said verse 23. Viz. For God is able to graff them in again If thou wert cut out of the Olive-tree which is wilde by nature i. e. If thou being a Gentile wert taken out from among the Gentiles which were as a wilde Olive-tree by nature in that God minded them not heretofore nor gave them his Lawes and his Statuts as he did to his own people the Jews but neglected them and suffered them to walk in their own ways and to worship Idols c. And were graffed contrary to nature into a good Olive-tree i. e And wast by the power of God contrary to thy Original being ingraffed into the people of God as it were into a good olive-tree and made one with them and so a member of the Church of God The Apostle continueth his Metaphor of an Olive-tree still Contrary to nature i. e. Contrary to thy original being Or contrary to that inclination which thou hadst by nature and the Education which thou hadst by thy Parents Some interpret Contrary to nature contrary to that which is done in nature That is in natural ingraffing of trees or plants But howsoever the Apostle surely alludes to this though his meaning be as I said Wherefore note that in natural ingraffings of trees or plants the Cions of the good Olive is to be graffed into the wild olive-tree The wild Olive-tree or Cion thereof is not to be graffed into the good Olive-tree as the Cion of the Apple-tree is to be graffed into the Crab-stock not the Cion of the Crab-tree into the Apple-stock But here the Olive tree which is wilde by nature is graffed into a good Olive tree Note Secondly that in ingraffing of trees and Plants the Cion that is ingraffed doth naturally bring forth its own fruit that is the fruit which is naturall to it self not the fruit which is natural to the Stock As the cion of an Apple being graffed into a Crab-stock brings forth the fruit of the Apple not of the Crab. But here the cion of the wild Olive being ingraffed into the good Olive-tree brings forth the fruit not of a wilde Olive but of a good How much more i. e. How much more easily or with how much more ease Shall these which are the natural branches i. e. Shall these which are the Jews Why the Jews are called the natural branches See ver 21. Be graffed into their own Olive tree That is betaken again into the number of the people and Church of God which people and which Church their forefathers were and of which they themselves some of them were also This seems agreeable to reason that the natural branches of a tree which are broken off should be more easily graffed in again into the Tree from which they were broken off and become one with that Then that the branches of a tree of another nature should be ingraffed into a different tree and be one with that For the effect of art is the easier produced where nature helps than where it helps not Yet all things are alike easie to God Ver. 25. For I would not Brethren that ye shâ—uld be ignorant of this mystery i. e. For I would have ye know Brethren this Mystery This Particle For is to be referred to those words of the first verse and I say then hath God cast away his people God forbid To those words of the eleventh verse I say then have they stumbled that they should fall God forbid as another Argument to prove the truth of them Of this Mystery A mystery in generall is a thing kept secret and not to be known but by the revelation of God What this mystery is in particular he declares in the words following viz. That blindness in part is happened to Israel c. Lest ye should be wise in your own conceits i. e. Lest as you are puffed up against
believed God c. The Apostle brings a new argument to prove that God hath not cast away his people the Jews as he speaks Ver. 1. or to prove that those Jews which stumbled have not stumbled that they should fall as he speaks ver 11. And therefore thither must this causal particle For relate As ye i. e. As ye Gentiles In times past By times past he meaneth the times before Christs comming in which God suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14.16 Have not believed God i. e. Have not beleived God to wit when God declared to you by his works that he ought to be worshiped but ye worshiped not him but served other Gods But have obtained mercy i. e. But have now believed through the grace and mercy of God and are brought into the Church of God and justified from your sins by reason of your belief Through their unbelief i e By reason of the unbelief of the Jews God calling you to the faith of the Gospel because the Jews would not believe it Ver. 31. Even so have these i. e. Even so have these to wit the Jews for the greatest part of them Now not believed Now for a time not believed the Gospel but rejected it That through your mercy i. e. That by reason of the mercy which ye have obtained They also may obtain mercy i e. They also may obtain the like mercy The Jews which would not believe for a while but should afterwards believe shall when they believe believe as it is probable through the faith of the Gentiles as being provoked to jealousie or emulation through their saith and the mercies bestowed upon them by reason thereof See ver 11.14 Ver. 32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief Those words would be better rendred thus For God hath concluded all in unbelief Leaving out that demonstrative pronoun them for which there is no word to countenance it in the Greek For God hath concluded all in unbelief i. e. For God hath partly heretofore and partly now concluded all in unbelief both Jews and Gentiles Gentiles heretofore and Jews now He confirms here what he said verse 30.31 And yet this may be a new argument to prove what he said in the beginning of the first or in the beginning of the eleventh verse and be referred thither God hath concluded all in unbelief The word rendred here unbelief is in the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a pertinacy in unbelief whereby a man is as it were imperswasible or not to be perswaded or induced to believe And to be concluded signifies to be shut up as it were in a prison God is said to conclude men in this unbelief and to imprison them as it were in it by a Metaphor because he doth suffer them to be taken and ensnared in it And suffers difficulties to be laid upon them so that they cannot easily free themselves and get out of this unbelief and break as it were the bolts and open the doors which kept them thus shut up But he concludes or shuts up none after this manner but for their sins Hath concluded This word by a Syllepsis signifies both time past and present yea and time continuing and going on to All Supple Both Jews and Gentiles Yet not all absolutely but far the greatest part of all Hyperbole In unbelief To wit as in a prison That he might have mercy upon all i. e. That he might bring all to believe and to the mercies which he shews them which believe When he saith That he might have mercy upon all it is manifest that by this he cannot mean every singular man There is therefore an other Hyperbole in the speech Ver. 33. O the depth of the Riches both of the wosdom and knowledge of God q. d. O how deep and remote from humane sense is the abundance or greatness of the wisdom and knowledge of God! This Admiration or Exclamation of the Apostle is occasioned especially by what he said ver 30 31 32. For what he saith there makes him admire and admiring to break out into words of Admiration of the wisdom and knowledge of God to think that the Gentiles which in times past believed not should now believe through the unbelief of the Jews and that the Jews which now believe not should hereafter be brought to believe through the faith of the Gentiles which seem to be contrary means and that God should in his due times conclude both Jews and Gentiles in unbelief that he might in his due times bring them both to believe which no creature could ever have dreamed of had not God revealed it to them O the depth of the Riches i. e. O how deep lie the Riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God The Riches i. e. The abundance or greatness The Hebrews call all abundance and greatness by the name of Riches as Cap. 2 4. and Cap. 9.23 The Apostle therefore that he might shew the Abundance and greatness of the wisdom and knowledge of God maketh use of the word Riches here O the depth of the riches c. In an heap of Riches the greater and the more the Riches are the more profound and the deeper is the heap therefore say some to shew the abundance of the Riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God the Apostle useth this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or depth here But being that it follows How unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out I conceive that the Apostle useth this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or depth here to signifie the unsearchableness and difficulty or impossibility of finding out Gods judgements and ways and the Apostle alludeth here to Gold and Silver and other Mettals which lie deep in the bowels of the Earth which the deeper they lie the more remote they are from the sight and more difficult to be found or lit upon A Philosopher said of Truth because she was hard to be found that she lay deep in a pit It is not unusual therefore to say of things difficult to be found that they are deep or lie deep to wit in the earth or the like Of the wisdom To wit by which God ordereth and disposeth in his judgement of the things which he makes or hath made And knowledge of God i. e. And the knowledge of God whereby he knoweth how to effect what he judgeth fit in his wisdom to be done As some do put a difference between the wisdom and knowledge of God here by reason of these distributive particles Both and And So others notwithstanding them take them both to signifie one and the same thing by a Synonymia familiar to the Hebrews How unsearchable are his judgements By the judgements of God are here meant the acts and determinations of his understanding whereby he wisely determins and disposeth of things And his ways past finding out By ways may be here meant the means by which God brings to pass what
he hath determined to do Or by ways may be meant his determinations themselves For ways in the Scriptures are oftentimes taken for works and actions in a general but Metaphorical signification Whereas God had a Thousand ways at hand by which he could in a most excellent manner shew mercy to the sons of men and that without the fall or previous sin of any one Yet did it please God to make use of that way by which he foreknew that the Gentiles first and the Jews afterward would fall into unbelief and continue in unbelief many ages which no man could have thought of had not God himself revealed it to him Ver. 34. Who hath known the mind of the Lord i. e. Who hath known the determinations of the Lord what he is minded that is what he is determined to do Before God had revealed his mind and his determination what he is determined to do no man doth or can know what it is But yet God doth oftentimes reveal his mind and his determination to his servants and then they may know it For 1 Cor. 2.16 It is asked Who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him But we have the mind of Christ Saith our Apostle there by way of Answer or prevention of an objection Or who hath been his counsellor The The greek word rendred Counsellor is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth one who is present and privy to the counsells of another and sits with him in counsell as an helper or coadjutor the sence therefore is this q. d Or who sat in counsel with him and helped him therein So that he was privy to his counsels and determinations when he determined what he would do concerning his creatures or any of them The Kings of the Earth have such Counsellors as are acquainted alwayes with their Counsels and are present at their determinations as coadjutors But God adusits not any one to his counsells when be sits as we may say in council and determins of things which he will do This whole verse is taken out of Isaiah Cap. 40. ver 13. according to the Septuagint And is spoken of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 35. Or who hath first given to him Or which is yet more unlikely who hath given counsel to him as the sole or prime Author thereof how he should manage his Affairs First This word First is spoken here in relation to the recompense following And it shall be recompensed to him again i. e. That God should be beholding to him and be bound in gratitude at least to recompense him again for that his counsell It is an absurd thing to think that God should be any way bound to his creature therefore is this added to shew what an absurd consequence would follow upon that antecedent to wit that any should give any thing to God And it is added to perswade that there is no such matter Note that And is put here for That This verse is taken out of Job Job 41. ver 2. according to the vulgar translation of that place And that which is generally spoken there is drawn down to a particular congruous to this place here Ver. 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things q. d. No body hath given counsel to God For of him and through him and to him are all things so that if all things are of God then is counsel of him too Of him and through him and to him are all things i. e. All things are of God as of the Efficient cause for he made all things and through him as the conserving cause for he conserveth all things in their being and to him as the finall cause for all things tend to his glory and were made therefore It had been enough here for the Apostle to say for of him are all things But the mâ—re to shew that none had first given to him he sets out that God is the prime Efficient cause of all things and not onely the prime efficient cause of all things but that he is the conserving cause also conserving every thing in its being and not only so but that he is the final cause too to which all things tend and to whose glory they are ordained To whom be glory for ever i. e. To whom therefore let us for ever ascribe the glory of all things Amen See Cap. 1.25 and Cap. 13. ver 33. CHAP. XII 1 I Beseâ—ch you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service 1. You see by what I have said how many mercies God bestoweth upon them which are justified by faith I beseech you therefore brethren by those mercies of God that ye present your bodies a sacrifice to God not such a sacrifice as those beasts were which were slain and sacr ficed in honor of the True God under the Law but a Living Sacrifice holy and separate from sin and such as with which God may be well pleased that is present unto him your service guided by reason which is sanctified and informed with the will of God 2. And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God 2. And that ye may know what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God which should sanctifie and inform your reason be not conformed in your manners to worldly men who being not acquainted with the things of God follow the honours and pleasures and riches and other vanities of the world but be ye transformed and become in manners and conversation different and unlike to them and that not in your externall actions only but by the renewing of your mind also which is corrupt for as a spunge which is dipt in vinegar if before the vinegar be wrung out of it it be put into wine it will not admit or drink up any of the wine so a mind which is full of the vanities of this world cannot admit or receive in any wholesom admonitions or vertuous instructions untill it be free from those vanities 3. For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly then he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith 3. Wherefore that I may in part shew you how you should present your bodies a pleasing sacrifice to God and that I may shew you in part what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of his by which you should regulate your service I do by vertue of mine Apostle-ship admonish every man among you not to think himself a greater gifted man than he is or that he hath more in himself than he hath but to think modestly of himself so that the thoughts of himself do not exceed the
Apostle having delivered in the former part of this Epistle the Doctrine of Faith cometh here to give precepts of manners And to connect or knit this to his former Subject He infers this as a duty arising from that For when that his Doctrine of faith hath set out and shewen many mercies of God to us He beseecheth the Romans here in consideration of those mercies to shew themselves thankful to God by an holy living and conversation of life I beseech you therefore c. q. d. Being therefore you have received many mercies from God as I have shewed you in the former part of my Epistle I beseech you Brethren by those mercies c. Brethren He calleth the Romans Brethren because they were Christians as he was And Christians because they have the same God for their Father and the same Church for their Mother are called Brethren By the mercies of God i. e. By the mercies which God hath shewed you The Apostle beginneth this part of his Epistle with a vehement obsecration and an earnest obtestation whereby he beseecheth the Romans by those mercies which he had mentioned and commended to them in the former part of his Epistle and which they had received that they would present their bodies a living sacrifice c. By the mercies of God This is a vehement obtestation which is a most effectuall kind of reasoning or manner of perswading Like unto this is that most earnest and passionate prayer in the Letany of our Church viz. By thine Agony and bloody sweat by thy Cross and Passion c Good Lord deliver us which manner of praying Some have prophanely called swearing but you see that the Apostle useth this same manner of speaking and he may be a president for it without exception That you present your bodies a living sacrifice i. e. That ye offer your selves as a living Sacrifice to God Your Bodies i e. Your selves By the Body is here meant not the Body only but the body and soul too that is the whole man by a Synechdoche But he seemeth to say your bodies rather than your selves in some allusion to the Jewish Sacrifices where the bodies of the beasts which were offered for a burnt-offering were consumed or burnt on the Altar to the glory of God A living sacrifice i. e. As a living Holocaust or Burnt-offering as I may so speak The Apostle in this alludes to the Sacrifices of the Jews and among them to the Holocaust or whole burnt-offering where the Beast or Carcase of the beast which was offered or sacrificed was wholly burnt or consumed with fire to the glory of God And this he doth to signifie that we should offer to God our whole selves and all our actions Yet he saith a living sacrifice in opposition to that That those Sacrifices which the Jews offered were slain But this is not required of us that we should slay our selves or be slain by being made a Sacrifice here Then we offer our bodies that is our selves a living Sacrifice to God when we direct all our actions and do all which we do to his glory according to the exposition which the Apostle gives of his meaning in the last words of this verse Holy i e. An holy Sacrifice That is a sacrifice pure and separate from all uncleanness Yea a sacrifice sanctified by the holy Ghost as our Apostle speaks Chap. 15. ver 16. The sacrifices of the Old Law were called holy and were so accounted But if they were called and accounted holy Surely the bodies of Christians may be called and accounted holy much more being that they are purified from sin by the blood of Christ 1 John 1.7 and sanctified by the holy Ghost Rom. 15 16. There is an allusion therefore here to the sacrifices of the Law and their holiness when he bids us offer our bodies an Holy Sacrifice Acceptable unto God i e. Such as is well-pleasing unto God who because he is pure delighteth and is well-pleased with that only which is pure The Burnt sacrifice was said to be an offering of a sweet savour unto the Lord Levit. 1.9 In allusion to this would the Apostle have our sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God And indeed if such sacrifices were as a sweet savour unto God acceptable and well pleasing to him much more may the bodies and actions of Christians be acceptable to him See 2 Cor. 2 15. Phil. 4.18 Which is your reasonable service He interpreteth here what he meant by their bodies He meaneth by that themselves that is their reasonable service By a Synechdochical Metonymie Your reasonable service By the reasonable service here spoken of is meant the service of the spirit or of the soul which is a reasonable soul that is q. d. your spiritual service or the service of your spiritual souls Or by the reasonable service is meant the service of the whole man as it is reasonable or guided by the reasonable soul directed by Gods word He opposeth here this reasonable service or service of the spirit to that bodily service which was used under the old Law and which consisted for the most part in slaying and sacrificing beasts and birds c. or rather he opposeth it to the beasts and birds themselves which were sacrificed which were but brute and unreasonable creatures Ver. 2. And be not conformed to this world q. d. And for this end or for this cause be not conformed to this world Be not conformed to this world i. e. Be not conformed or be not like to the men which love the pleasures and profits and other vanities of this world all which ye have renounced in your Baptism To this world By the world is here meant by a Metonymie the men which live in the world and then by a Synechdoche not any men which live in the world but such as are given to the pleasures and profits and other vanities of the world But be ye transformed i. e. But be ye transformed and become like to those which are of another yea a more heavenly carriage and conversation By the renewing of your mind This he saith because their mind was corrupt And from thence this transformation must begin That ye may prove what is that good and acceptable will of God i. e. That ye may know and approve of that good and acceptable will of God by which ye are to regulate and square your Reasonable service That ye may prove i. e. That ye may know and approve or like of for so may the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word in the Greek signifie By a Metaphor from Goldsmiths which try Gold by their touch-stone and upon trial know it to be true Gold and approve of it for such What is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God i. e. What is that will of God by which we should guide our Reasonable service which is a good will a perfect will and a will acceptable or pleasing to God and
A PARAPHRASE AND COMMENTARY UPON THE EPISTLE OF Saint PAVL TO THE ROMANS By William Day M. A. Vicar of Mapledurham in the County of Oxon and Divinity Reader in his Majesties Free Chappel of Saint George within the Castle of Windsor The secret things belong unto the Lord our God But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our Children for ever Deut. 29.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophylact in Argumento Epist ad Romanos LONDON Printed by S. Griffin for Joshua Kirton and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Kings Arms in Saint Pauls Church-yard 1666. IMPRIMATUR Perlegi Paraphrasin hanc cum Commentariis in Epistolam ad Romanos in quâ nihil reperio doctrinae disciplinaevè Ecclesiae Anglicanae aut bonis moribus contrarium Joh. Hall Rev. in Christo Pat. Domino Episc Lond. à sac Domest Ex Aedibus Londinens Feb. 20. 1664. Ornatissimis Doctissimis Viris Richardo Allestry D.T. Doctissimo sacrae Theologiae in Academia Oxoniensi Professori Regio Collegii â—egalis de Etona Praeposito Dignissimo Jacobo Fleetwood D. T. Et dignissimo Collegii Regalis de Cantabrigia Praeposito Omnibusque Vtriusque Collegii Sociis Hanc suam Paraphrasin unâ cum Commentariis in Epistolam Sancti Pauli ad Romanos Gulielmus DayVtriusque Collegii olim Alumnus Cantabrigiensis etiam Socius nunc autem Vicarius de Mapledurham in Comitat. Oxoniensi Praelector Theologiae in liberâ Capellâ Regiâ Sancti Georgii infra Castrum de Windesora D. D. D. The PREFACE THis Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans is set in order of place before all other his Epistles not because it was before all the other in order of time but because it was written unto the Romans whose City at that time excelled all other Cities in dignity and renown and in preheminence of Rule and Dominion for if we look to the order of time in which they were written both the Epistles of Saint Paul to the Corinthians were written before this to the Romans For Saint Paul in his second Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 8. and 9. Stirreth the Corinthians up to a liberall contribution for the poor Saints at Jerusalem But in his Epistle to the Romans Chap. 15. Ver. 25 26. He telleth the Romans that he was to go to Jerusalem to minister unto the Saints for it had pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia part of which was Corinth to make a certain contribution for the poor Saints which were at Jerusalem This contribution therefore was perfected then when he wrote his Epistle to the Romans which was not made when he wrote to the Corinthians and therefore his Epistles to the Corinthians were in order of time written before his Epistle to the Romans though his Epistle to the Romans hath in order of place the Priority before his Epistles to the Corinthians Saint Paul wrote this Epistle in the Greek tongue though he wrote to the Romans whose language was the Latine Because the principle Subject or Argument of this Epistle was not some occasional matter as the Subject or Argument of other his Epistles was but such a Subject or such an Argument in which there was no Church but was concerned For the principle Subject or Argument of this Epistle conteins in a manner the sum of the Gospel or Doctrine of Christ And therefore though he dedicates it as it were to the Church or Saints which were at Rome because Rome was the head City of all the Gentiles and from thence by the frequency of men of all Nations and Countries resorting thither the truth might be carried and spread abroad among other people yet is it likely that he did intend to communicate it to other Churches also and to send them Copies thereof for their instruction and confirmation And for such a purpose it was more suteable to write in the Greek tongue then in the Latine For the Greek was the tongue which was then most generally known and used which even the Roman women could speak and by which Strangers and Travellers had commerce with and understanding one of another But the Latine tongue though it be now the tongue most generally learned and known yet was it at that time confined within narrow limits and not a generall language which Tully confesseth in his Oration pro Archia Poeta For Graeca saith he leguntur in omnibus fere Gentibus Latina suis finibus exiguis sanè continentur That is The Greek writings are read almost in all Nations but the Latine are contained within their own bounds and those but small ones too But of this See more in Brerewoods Enquiries touching the diversity of Languages Chap. 1. and 3. CHAP. I. As for the Subject of this Epistle it is partly Doctrinal and partly Moral And the Doctrinal part thereof is chiefly concerning Justification which he teacheth to be not by Works of the Law but by the Faith of Christ CHAP. II. and III. He teacheth that Justification is not by the works of the Law for that all had sinned both Jews and Gentiles And this that all had sinned he shews as to the Gentiles Chap. 1. from verse 19. to the end of that Chapter And as to the Jews he sheweth it Chap. 2. and 3. from the first verse of the second Chapter to the one and twentieth of the third And by the way he sheweth also that a Jew is not justified neither as he is a Jew according to the flesh neither as he hath the Law and the knowledge thereof neither as he is circumcised and having shewed both of the Jewes and of the Gentiles that they have all of them sinned he concludes that therefore by the deeds of the Law no flesh shall be justified in the sight of God Chap. 3. ver 20. Then verse 21. He shews That Justification is by the Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe CHAP. IV. Having shewed that none are justified by the works of the Law but by Faith in the fourth Chapter he proves and makes that good which he had said concerning Justification by the example of Abraham and shewes that Abraham who was not unworthily in high esteem among the Jewes was not justified by the Workes of the Law but by Faith CHAP. V. Having thus done in the fifth Chapter he sheweth the blessedness of those which are justified by faith through Christ And at the 12. verse thereof he shews how that original sin entred into the world through Adam and death by sin declaring thereby what Miserie 's both of Sin and Punishment accrued to us by that first man that he might take occasion from thence to magnifie the benefit which we have by Christ by the gratious pardon not onely of that original sin but also of all our actual sins c. So that when sin abounded Grace as he speaks Chap. 5. verse 20. did much more abound CHAP. VI. But now least any one which had been justified by
justification before God better than the Gentiles because of this No in no wise for we have before accused and charged and that justly too both Jews and Gentiles I speak of such as are out of Christ that they are all under the guilt of sin and so subject to damnation 10. As it is written There is none righteous no not one 10. For that all are under the guilt of sin and so subject to damnation Jews as well as Gentiles I shall besides what I have already said to this prove even out of the Scriptures of the Old Testament For it is written Psalm 14. vers 1 2 3. There is none righteous no not one 11. There is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God 11 There is none that understandeth what the will of the Lord is that he may yield obedience thereunto There is none that seeketh after God that he might be instructed by him and do as he would have him 12. They are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that doeth good no not one 12. They are all gone out of the way of Gods commandments which they should walk in they are altogether become unprofitable and not fit for any holy service There is none that doth good no not one 13. Their throat is an open sepulchre with their tongues they have used deceit the poison of Asps is under their lips 13. And Psal 5.9 Their throat is as an open sepulchre out of which not onely soul and filthy words do proceed as filthy and noisome smels proceed out of an open sepulchre wherein dead carkasses have been buried But also as an open Sepulchre is laid open to receive a dead body that it may consume it and bring it to dust So are their throats opened to utter words whereby they may destroy them whom they speak against With their tongues they have used deceit while they speak fair but think foul and would entrap men and bring them into danger and ruine by their flattering speeches Their words are as hurtful as is the poyson of an Aspe to the body that is tainted therewith So that there is as it were the poyson of Asps under their lips poysoning and invenoming their words that they may even kill them of whom or to whom they speak 14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness 14. And Psal 10.7 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood 15. And Isa 59.7 8. They are ready to run upon all occasions to shed innocent blood 16. Destruction and misery are in their ways 16. Which way soever they go they destroy and work misery as a destroying plague 17. And the way of peace have they not known 17. They are Strangers to the way of peace neither can they live peaceably with other men 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes 18. And Psal 36.1 though the fear of God be the only curbe to keep in and refrain us from evil yet there is no fear of God before their eyes 19. Now we know that what things soever the law saith it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God 19. But thou wilt object O thou Jew against these testimonies of Scripture and say that these testimonies appertain not unto thee they concern only the wicked Gentiles But thou art under the Law O thou Jew in that thou art a disciple of whatsoever is delivered in the Old Testament for by the Law here I mean whatsoever doctrine or writing is contained in the Old Testament and we know that whatsoever the law saith it saith to them who are under the Law and therefore these testimonies concern thee So that every mouth is stopped No man whatsoever can glory in his righteousness before God yea which is yet less no man can excuse himself from unrighteousness So that all the men in the world having nothing to say for themselves are become apparently guilty of condemnation before God the Judge of all 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin 20. Therefore by what I have said from the beginning of this Epistle hitherto it appeareth that no man is justified in the sight of God by the deeds which he hath done of the law and yet let no man say that the law is needless for by the law is the knowledge of sin and by that we may know what we should do though we do it not 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifâ—sted being witnessed by the law and the prophets 21. But thou wilt say if by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in the sight of God then is the condition of man most miserable for how can any one be saved Now therefore to raise all drooping Spirits the righteousness or justification of God that is the righteousness or justification of which God is the Author and which will justifie them even before God which attain to it a righteousness or justification attainable without the works of the Moral law is manifested by the Gospel and to vindicate it from all novelty or phansy of man as the Author of it it is witnessed by the Law and the Prophets 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference 22. Even the righteousness of God who is the Author and Approver thereof which righteousness cometh by the Faith of Jesus Christ that is by the faith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto all and onely to all them that believe the Gospel For in the matter of righteousness or justification there is no differenre in the way or means of attaining to it 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God 23. For all have sinned and come short of the praise of that is of being praised of him for doing their duty or for keeping the law and doing the works thereof as exactly as the law requireth 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 24. So that as many as are justified are justified freely by his grace and favour through that righteousness or justification that Christ Jesus hath merited for us 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God 25. Whom God hath given setforth proclaimed by his Ministers to be the Appeasour of his wrath and displeasure and to be enjoyed and made ours as such by the faith which we repose in his death and for this end hath he given him and set him forth to be the Appeasour of his wrath and displeasure that he might
declare his righteousness that is that he might declare his fidelity and his mercy by the remission of those sins which were committed before the Gospel was proclaimed and which went unpunished at that time and went unpunished not for any other reason than because God would forbear to punish them 26. To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which helieveth in Jesus 26. Thus he might declare I say at this time the time of the Gospel his righteousness that is his faithfulness and his mercy his faithfulness that he may appear to all to be just and faithfull in performing his promise of remission of sins to the Jews if they do believe And his mercy that he may appear to all to be the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus though he made no such promise to him as he did to the Jew that is that he may appear to be the justifier of the believing Gentile who may thank God for this his mercy 27. Where is boasting then It is excluded By what law of works Nay but by the law of faith 27. Where is boasting then O thou Jew which so much boastest of thy justification It is excluded by what law or by what doctrine or lesson is it excluded Is it excluded by that Law or Doctrine or Lesson which teacheth that a man may be yea is justified by the works of the law Nay for if a man could be justified by the works of the law he had whereof to glory even before God But it is excluded by the law doctrine or lesson which teacheth that a man is justified by faith for he that is justified by faith hath nothing to boast or to glory of 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law 28. Therefore we conclude out of what we have said from the beginning hitherto that a Man is justified by faith and not by the deeds of the law 29. Is he the God of the Jews only is he not also of the Gentiles yes of the Gentiles also 29. Now after this our discourse let me ask thee O Jew which wilt not suffer the Gentile to have a part with thee in the favour of God Is God the God of the Jews onely is he not the God of the Gentiles also Yes he is the God not of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also 30. Seeing it is one God which shall justifie the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith 30. Seeing that God is one and the same to both for that he justifieth them both by one and the same means the circumcised Jew by faith and the uncircumcised Gentile by faith likewise 31. Do we then make void the law through faith God forbid yea we establish the law 31. Do we now make the law void and of none effect by that which we have said of Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law and confirm it in its right use for though we deny the law to be the means or cause of our justification yet we allow it to be the director of our lives and manners even after our justification and we teach that by faith we have that strength to performe the precepts of the law which the law it self could not give CHAP. III. Ver. 1. What advantage then hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision i. e. What priviledge then hath the Jew by birth above the Gentile or what profit hath he by being circumcised in the foreskin of his flesh The Apostle taught in the former Chapter that a Jew which was only a Jew outwardly could not by being a Jew escape the wrath and judgement of God neither had he the imediate benefit of Justification by being outwardly circumcised whereupon it might be asked what advantage then hath the Jew which is a Jew by birth or what profit is there of outward circumcision which question the Apostle here moveth the better to clear what he had said of the Jew and of circumcision and that he might make way to some other doctrines which he would teach Ver. 2. Much every way Note that these words every way are so to be taken as that they have no other efficacy than to make a strong asseveration or affirmation as if he should say very much Chiefly because unto them were committed the Oracles of God i. e. Chiefly because the Oracles of God were committed to them which were Jews by birth and which were circumciâ—ed By the Oracles of God understand the Word of God written in the Books of the Old Testament but especially the promises therein contained of the Mâ—ssias and of justification and other benefits and blessings which occur by him in which the Jews excelled the Gentiles Of other Priviledges than these that the Jews had we read Rom. 9. v. 4 5. but this the Apostle makes the chiefest These Oracles are said to have been committed to the Jews not as a pledge or thing in trust to the use and benefit only of others but as their own proper goods and as a Treasure to serve them and enrich them So that whatsoever was therein contained appertained to the Jews Promises and all Ver. 3. For what if some did not believe shall their unbelief c Between this and the foregoing verse we must understand an Objection made by a Gentile which had newly received the Gospel of Christ to this effect q. d. Yea but the circumcised Jews have no such Prerogative now For though God committed unto them his Oracles and made the promises which are therein contained of the Messias and of the Redemption which should be by him to them yet now they have deprived themselves of that Prerogative and they have deprived themselves of the benefit which they might have had by those promises because they have not believed them And God because of their unbelief hath utterly cast off all the Jews To this the Apostle here answers q. d. True it is indeed that some of the Jews have not believed but shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect so that he shall no longer keep the promises made unto the Fathers concerning the Jews but cast off that whole People What if some did not believe What if some of the circumcised Jews have not believed the promises of God made to them or to their Fathers concerning the Messias and the Redemption which should come by him contained in the Oracles that is in the Word of God which was committed to them c. The words in the Original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I have rendred But what if some have not believed The Jews were very incredulous and unbelieving at all times and we finde them often taxed for this sin of unbelief as Deut. 1.32 and 9 23. 2 Kings 17.14 Psalm 78.32 Psalm 106.24 and which makes in its mystical sence greatly to this place Isa 53.1 And which is to our