III. (1-8) Continuing the subject, but with a long digression in Romans 3:3 _et seq._ The Apostle asks, What is the real value of these apparent advantages? He is about to answer the question fully, as he does later in Romans 9:4; but after stating the first point, he goes off upon a difficulty rai... [ Continue Reading ]
CHIEFLY. — In the first place; “secondly,” &c., was to follow, but does not, as the Apostle is drawn away to other topics (see above). UNTO THEM WERE COMMITTED. — This is paraphrastic. “Oracle” is the object, and not the subject, of the sentence. “They were entrusted with.” ORACLES. — A good trans... [ Continue Reading ]
For what if.-What (follows) if, &c. Or we may take the first two words by themselves, and throw the next two clauses together. How stands the case? If some rejected the faith, shall their rejection make void or defeat the faithfulness of God? The Apostle considers an objection that might be brought... [ Continue Reading ]
Impossible! Rather let God be seen to be true though all mankind should be proved false, even as the Psalmist looked upon his own sin as serving to enhance the triumph of God’s justice. Speaking of that justice for the moment as if it could be arraigned before the bar of a still higher tribunal, he... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF OUR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. — A new and profound question suggests itself to the mind of the Apostle, and his keen intellect will not let it go: “If the sin (here the unbelief) of man only tends to vindicate (commends or establishes) the righteousness of God, why should that sin be punished?” The me... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEN HOW SHALL GOD JUDGE THE WORLD? — St. Paul considers it a sufficient answer merely to propound this question. He and those to whom he was writing all _assumed_ that there must be a future judgment. The way in which Bishop Butler deals with the argument from necessity is very similar to this... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TRUTH OF GOD. — In the first instance His veracity as involved in His threats and promises, and then those other attributes, especially justice, that are intimately connected with this. “Truth” is leaning towards its moral sense. (See Note on Romans 2:8.) MY LIE. — The Apostle puts his supposed... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOT RATHER. — _And_ (_why should we_)_ not_ (_say_)_, as some persons slanderously affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come._ Some such phrase as “Why should we say” must be supplied; “why” from the previous clause, “say” from that which follows. Or “(Why should we) not (do evil), a... [ Continue Reading ]
ARE WE BETTER THAN THEY? — “Can we claim a preference?” The form of the Greek verb is peculiar. It seems upon the whole best to take it as middle for active, which would be apparently unexampled, but is tenable as a question of language, and seems to be compelled by the context. There is no real opp... [ Continue Reading ]
(9-20) Once more the argument returns to the main track, and at last the Apostle asserts distinctly and categorically what he had already proved indirectly, that the Jew is every whit as bad as the Gentile.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE TOGETHER BECOME UNPROFITABLE. — Here the adjective is used to express a state of moral corruption and depravity. “Together” means “altogether;” “the whole mass of mankind, with one consent, has fallen to ruin.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN SEPULCHRE — _i.e.,_ their speech is at once corrupt and corrupting. It is compared to a “yawning grave” — not merely to a pit into which a man may fall, but to a sort of pestiferous chasm yawning and ravening, as it were, after its prey. THEY HAVE USED DECEIT. — Strictly, _t... [ Continue Reading ]
BITTERNESS. — Malignity; from the notion that venom was contained in the gall. (Comp. Acts 8:23.)... [ Continue Reading ]
The fear of God, which is properly a subjective feeling, is here projected, as it were, and regarded as an external rule of life.... [ Continue Reading ]
In order to bring home this testimony of Scripture more directly to the Jews, and to prevent any subterfuge by which they might attempt to shift the reference from themselves on to the Gentiles, the Apostle calls attention to the fact that the Law — _i.e.,_ the Old Testament, from which he has been... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE. — Rather, _because._ All mankind alike owe the penalty for their sins. _Because_ not even the Law can protect its votaries. It has no power to justify. _All_ it can do is to expose in its true colours the sinfulness of sin. The proposition is thrown into a general form: not by the works... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW. — In these latter days. The Apostle conceives of the history of the world as divided into periods; the period of the Gospel succeeds that of the Law, and to it the Apostle and his readers belong. (Comp. for this conception of the gospel, as manifested at a particular epoch of time, Romans 1... [ Continue Reading ]
(21-22) Such was the condition of the world up to the coming of Christ. But now, in contrast with the previous state of things, a new system has appeared upon the scene. In this system law is entirely put on one side, though the system itself was anticipated in and is attested by those very writings... [ Continue Reading ]
(21-26) This then introduces the solemn enunciation, repeated more fully from Romans 1:16, of the great subject of the Epistle, the declaration of that new scheme by which, through Christ, God had removed the guilt which the Law (whether Jewish or any other) could not remove.... [ Continue Reading ]
A further definition of the nature of the righteousness so given to the Christian by God; it is a righteousness that has its root in faith, and is coextensive with faith, being present in every believer. BY FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST — _i.e., by faith which has Christ for its object,_ “faith _in_ Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT. — Strictly, _all sinned;_ the Apostle looking back upon an act done in past time under the old legal dispensation, without immediate reference to the present: he then goes on to say that the result of that act (as distinct from the act itself) continues on into the pr... [ Continue Reading ]
BEING JUSTIFIED. — We should more naturally say, “but now _are_ justified.” The construction in the Greek is peculiar, and may be accounted for in one of two ways. Either the phrase “being justified” may be taken as corresponding to “all them that believe” in Romans 3:22, the change of case being an... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH SET FORTH. — Rather, _set forth, publicly exhibited,_ in the single act of the death upon the cross. A PROPITIATION. — The Greek word properly means “that which renders propitious.” Here, “that which renders God propitious.” In some way, which is not explained at all in this passage, and imper... [ Continue Reading ]
The death of Christ had a twofold object or final cause: — (1) It was to be, like the sacrifices of the old covenant, an offering propitiatory to God, and actualised in the believer through faith. (2) It was to demonstrate the righteousness of God by showing that sin would entail punishment, though... [ Continue Reading ]
TO DECLARE. — The second object of the death of Christ was to remove the misconceptions that might be caused by the apparent condoning of sins committed in times anterior to the Christian revelation. A special word is used to indicate that these sins were not wiped away and dismissed altogether, but... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS EXCLUDED. — Strictly, _It was excluded_ — at the moment when the law of faith — _i.e.,_ the gospel — was brought in. BY WHAT LAW? — Properly, _By what kind of law?_ Is this law which gets rid of boasting one which calls for works; or is it one that calls for faith? THE LAW OF FAITH. — Anothe... [ Continue Reading ]
(27-31) A review of the consequences of this process of justification. How does it affect the pretensions of the Jew? It shuts them out by laying stress no longer on works, which were the proper fulfilment of the first law as it stood, but upon faith. Faith is the true medium of justification. And f... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE.... — There is a remarkable division of some of the best authorities in this verse between “therefore” and “for.” The weight of authority seems somewhat in favour of “for,” which also makes the best sense. That boasting is excluded is much rather the consequence than the cause of the princ... [ Continue Reading ]
IS HE NOT ALSO. — Insert “or.” “Or are we to suppose that God _is the God of_ (literally, _belongs to_) the Jews only?” — taking up the point in the last verse, that any man, simply _quâ_ man, and without regard to distinction of race, was capable of justification.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEING IT IS... — With a slight change of reading, _if at least; if, as we are sure is the case._ The argument is strictly logical. If there is to be any distinction between Jew and Gentile, this can only be upon the assumption either that there are more gods than one by whom they will be justified... [ Continue Reading ]
DO WE THEN MAKE VOID THE LAW. — In opposition to many commentators it seems right to take this as an isolated statement to be worked out afterwards (Romans 6:1 _et seq._) more fully. It cannot, without straining, be connected directly with what follows. The Apostle deals with two objections to his t... [ Continue Reading ]