upon the wickedness of human nature, or of men in general; at least so he was evidently understood by the apostle, who was, independent of his inspiration, a better judge of the Hebrew scriptures than some who have attempted to correct his reasoning on this particular.

In some good мss., says Bloomfield, all these passages are found together in Psalm xiv. This would strengthen the argument, since that Psalm, as we have seen, expressly, not by implication, describes the moral condition of "the children of men:" but whether found together or scattered, this is clear, that St. Paul intended us to consider these passages just like that of our Lord when he speaks of the evils which proceed out of the heart of man. Certainly Christ intended to show what the evils are of which every man is not only capable, but actually guilty; although an overt act of every kind might not take place in each individual. So here. Some of these evils are chargeable upon every one; and there is none of which, under certain circumstances, man's lapsed nature does not render him capable: St. Paul presents a list of moral offences, some of the mind and heart, others more conspicuous in act; of some of which he tells us, on the authority of the scriptures, every man is guilty; and so he establishes the conclusion which follows. This conclusion is thus solemnly introduced, Now we know that whatsoever the law says,-using the term law in its general sense for the whole scriptures, through which, in fact, the moral law of the Jews was diffused,—it saith, it speaks, to them who are under the law, for their information and instruction. The apostle neither says nor means that it speaks of or CONCERNING them that are under the law, as though the passages quoted related to the Jews only, which would fall short of the apostle's design; but the meaning is, that the law in these general declarations as to the sinfulness

of all men, taught the Jews, to whom this epistle was specially addressed, and through them teaches all, this great and humbling doctrine, but one most necessary to be known, in order that men may be prepared to receive the gospel,-THAT THE WHOLE WORLD, comprising both Jews and Gentiles, 18 GUILTY BEFORE GOD; and this it does in order that every mouth may be stopped, as being consciously guilty, and having no answer or excuse to offer, but might humbly acknowledge that guilt which could neither be denied nor palliated, and from the punishment of which there was but one way of escape. To stop the mouth is to silence or take away all power of defence; and to be guilty, vodikos, is to be liable to legal punishment; and these quotations from their own scriptures, in which Jews as well as Gentiles are included, seeing that they speak of men universally in their fallen state, tended strongly to produce the effect for which St. Paul adduces them,-to silence entirely any delusive attempt to which the Jews resorted to palliate or excuse their sins, as though they were not reckoned to them as such, and to awaken them to a due sense of their great danger, as equally with the Gentiles exposed to the wrath of God. In the earnestness of St. Paul to produce this conviction, we must not only regard him as a theologian endeavouring to clear the way for an important argument, but as a minister pitying the blind delusions of his people, and resorting to various modes of conviction to touch their consciences and to arouse them to a just consideration of their state.

Verse 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law, &c.—If, taking dior in the sense of because, we connect these words with the preceding, they serve to heighten the view there given of the miserable condition of Jews and Gentiles, by showing that the law against which they have sinned can make no provision for their im

punity, and that this its inexorable character cuts them off, therefore, from all hope. This, indeed, in any way that the connexion of the words with the scope of the apostle can be considered, must be the effect of the doctrine so clearly laid down; but doT may probably be more satisfactorily taken as a particle of transition to another, but still, in the general argument of the apostle, a closely allied subject. For, having established the fact that all men are under condemnation, he now proceeds to speak of their possible justification. He first lays down a general and most important axiom, that none can be justified by the deeds of the law; and, therefore, if justification be attained, it must come through some other institution or appointment of God. This negative view is a most important branch of his subject, although he employs but few words to establish it. By the law he means the law of God in its manifestation whether to Jews or Gentiles. This, perhaps, is indicated by the absence of the article, eg epywv voμov, by works of law; but the sense obliges us to this general interpretation; for, as Bishop Middleton observes, "it is his purpose to show, that no man whatever can be justified by the works either of the Jewish law or of any other : πασα σαρξ, like ο κόσμος in the preceding verse, cannot but be understood universally; and what follows, for by the law is the knowledge of sin, is plainly a universal proposition." He had shown that the divine law, or will of God, existed among the Gentiles as well as the Jews; that both had sinned against it; and that, as to both alike, by what he calls works of law, they were excluded from justification; that is, from being declared and treated as righteous persons. For since, in the reason of the thing, the law of God declares and treats no man as righteous but him who perfectly and without intermission obeys all its commands, and both Jews and Gentiles were convicted of sin, all hope founded upon innocence was for ever gone. Hence the Apostle adds, For by law is the knowledge of sin; it manifests every offence, as a straight rule shows every obliquity, or

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as a touch-stone detects fale metal, or as light makes darkness manifest; and the more perfect, therefore, our knowledge of the law is, the more fully must it exclude all hope of a meritorious justification; since the extent, the evil, and the aggravation of our offences are more perfectly set forth by its searching light, the nearer we approach it. And all hope for the future is cut off, as well as for the past, by the same rule. For, although indeed men often fancy that future obedience may avail them, yet, as soon as the true nature of LAW is apprehended, every one will be convinced that his former sins still lie, in their penalty, against him; that to make an act of obedience a compensation for an act of disobedience, would be so irregular and imperfect a system of law, that no perfect moral government could stand upon it; that, in fact, it would be legislating for imperfect and not perfect obedience, and unsettling the obligation of the latter by declaring it unnecessary, and that the universe could be well enough regulated without it. Still further, all sin is the result of moral pravity, arising from the lapsed and fallen condition of man, so that what he calls his future obedience is itself imperfect, insufficient, and therefore sinful, either from defect or some other vitiating principle. Now that shadowy virtue in which men are apt to trust, God's pure and perfect law, which requires truth in the inward parts, supreme love to God, and absolutely perfect obedience, detects, and exposes its true character, so that it convicts us still of sin, notwithstanding all our efforts, and, as far as moral law is concerned, leaves every sinner without hope of being justified; that is, of being treated as a righteous man, and exempted from punishment.

Some have thought that St. Paul includes here also in deeds of law, ceremo nial observances, and excludes them also from the office of justifying. The whole context shows that he speaks of works of moral law, and not of any religious observances, except as they may be prescribed by moral law, such as the worship of God, and the sabbath, which were

appointed for man in innocence. As to sacrificial and propitiatory ceremonies, he does not and could not notice them distinctly. For before Christ, when acceptable to God, they were acts of faith in the promised Christ, and so supposed that very doctrine of justification by faith of which he is about to speak, but on which he has not yet entered; and when not acts of faith in a promised Redeemer, they lost their character as acts of faith, were regarded as morally meritorious, and therefore stood upon the same false ground as all other acts of imperfect moral obedience, by which men often vainly hoped to merit something at the hands of God.

Verse 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law.-Here the apostle, having not only proved all men sinners, but cut off all hope of justification by the law, breaks forth into a full enumeration of that glorious subject, for which he had been preparing the way, and to which he had referred in the introduction of the epistle,-the justification even of the guilty, by God the righteous Governor of the world, and that in a manner consistent with his own most righteous and holy character. This is the subject on which he expatiates as far as verse 26 inclusive.

The whole passage requires the deepest attention. By the righteousness of God, cannot be understood, as in verse 5, the punitive justice of God; because this righteousness is said to be without law, which punitive justice never is, but essentially connected with it. Nor does it here mean the righteousness which God possesses, that is, his rectitude and holiness; for that is not manifested without the law, but has its most illustrious exhibition in it. Nor does righteousness here mean mercy, as some would have it; for in this sense the word never occurs in the New Testament. The import is the same as that of the same phrase in chap. x. 3, where the apostle, speaking of

the Jews, opposes "the righteousness of God" to that "righteousness of their own," which they were endeavouring to establish; plainly meaning by the latter, their own method of seeking justification in opposition to that which God had appointed. The righteousness of God, in this verse, then, signifies God's method of constituting men righteous, though in fact they are criminal, and obnoxious to punishment. This is said to be manifested without the law, or, literally, without LAW. For there is but one class of beings whom pure law can declare and treat as righteous, and these are the absolutely sinless; whereas, under the method here said to be manifested, not the SINLESS, but the SINFUL, are declared and treated as righteous persons. This procedure must therefore be wITHOUT LAW, whose sole office it is to justify the innocent and condemn the guilty. It necessarily proceeds from an entirely distinct institution and appointment. But though now manifested, that is, clearly and perfectly brought from under the veil of types, and the symbolical language of prophecy, this method of affording hope to the human race, this grand branch of the divine administration, was not a novelty, but had all along been witnessed by the law and the prophets. The law and the prophets comprehend the whole Old Testament; for, from the beginning, sinful men had been taught to hope for salvation through the great Redeemer promised to our first parents, and to seek it by faith; whilst the grand example of Abraham's gratuitous justification by faith in the promised Christ, of which circumcision was the standing TESTIMONY, and the types of the ceremonial law, and the promises contained in the writings of the prophets, all gave witness to the fact, that a method of justifying guilty men, quite independent of moral law, had been introduced by divine appointment, and acted upon in God's administration from the beginning.

Verses 22, 23. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, &c. -The righteousness of God being said to be by faith to all that believe, further proves that the phrase means something done or appointed by God, which passes over to man, and thus confirms the exposition of it above given, the method by which men are justified, or are accepted as righteous, as revealed in the gospel. This justification is, by faith, δια πιστεως ; δια marking the INSTRUMENTAL cause, FAITH; and the object of this faith is Christ Jesus, the meritorious or procuring cause of this grace and salvation; for there seems no reason for making a distinction between faith of Jesus Christ, and faith in Jesus Christ. In Philippians iii. 9, the apostle also uses the genitive, where he could mean nothing else but faith of which Christ was the object: "the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ," through believing in him. What follows, unto all and upon all, εις παντας και επι παντας, them that believe, has somewhat perplexed interpreters; some drawing various distinctions from the prepositions; others cancelling the latter clause, but without authority; others regarding it as a repetition of the same thought for the sake of emphasis. The meaning seems to be, that this justification by faith, IS OFFERED TO, and comes ACTUALLY into the experience and enjoyment of, all them that believe. For there is no difference, no distinction between Jew or Greek. As all are capable of believing, so all may equally attain the righteousness which is by faith; and as all have sinned, they are involved in a common condemnation, are equally cut off from the hope of justification by law, and are all therefore equally the subjects of that gracious constitution, by which

the forgiveness of sins is bestowed through faith in the appointed Redeemer.

And come short of the glory of God.This has been interpreted of failing of the praise and approbation of God; and, by others, of failing of the glory and blessedness of heaven. But a more probable sense is, that by sin all men have failed to glorify God their Maker, Preserver, and Governor, to which they were bound by the most indisputable obligations, and the most powerful motives.

Verse 24. Being justified freely by his grace, &c.-That adorable display of divine wisdom and love by which those who are guilty are justified, is now more fully opened. 1. They are JUSTIFIED, that is, pardoned; for this appears from the next verse, where the same act is called the remission of sins: yet not simply par doned; for the terms to justify, and justi fication, when applied to a guilty person, import, not the being made morally just, which is indeed a separate though concomitant act of the grace of God, but just or righteous with reference to law and the Lawgiver, that is, placed in the condition of persons who have not broken the law, both with reference to exemption from punishment, and the favour and kindness of God the Gover and Judge. 2. They are justified FREELY, δωρεαν, κατα being understood. This is opposed to MERITORIOUSLY OF DESERVEDLY; it is of FREE GIFT, not of RIGHT; hence it is added, by his grace, not his justice, to which the appeal for justification might have been made with confidence had we been innocent, or could we ourselves have done anything which would have legally cancelled our transgressions. Those who deny the doctrine of atonement argue, that to be justified freely is to be freely forgiven from God's

and