Romans 10

Paul was fully aware that his doctrine of the sovereignty of God in the rejection of the Jews and the preaching of salvation to the Gentiles, would greatly oifend his countrymen. He accordingly begins this chapter with an acknowledgment of their sincerity as having a zeal of God, and before prosecuting the subject of God’s sovereignty further, he more particularly adverts to their unbelief, to which in the preceding chapter he had already alluded. This leads him to show the difference between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith. He next insists on the free invitations of the Gospel, which proclaims salvation to all of every nation who believe; and from this takes occasion to point out the necessity of preaching it to the Gentiles. The Gentiles, as he had before proved, were among the children of the promise made to Abraham, and it was only by means of the Gospel that they could be brought to the knowledge of Christ; through which alone the promise could be fulfilled to them. This duty, notwithstanding the objections made to it by the Jews, he therefore urges, and enforces it by referring to the Scriptures, while he answers the objection, that the Gospel had not been generally received. In the last place, he proves, by the testimony of the prophets, that the rejection of Israel, and the ingathering of the Gentiles, had been long before predicted, and concludes the chapter by showing, that the Jews had both heard and rejected the gracious and lonff-continued invitations to reconciliation with God. In the whole of this chapter, Paul treats in a practical way what in the preceding one he had chiefly referred to, the sovereignty of God, to which he afterwards reverts.

We see in this chapter a beautiful example in Paul of the meekness and gentleness of the Lord Jesus Christ, who prayed for his murderers. The Jews considered Paul as one of their greatest enemies. They had persecuted him from city to city, had attempted to kill him, and had succeeded in depriving him of his liberty, yet his affection for them was not diminished. He prayed for them, he accommodated himself to their prejudices as far as his obedience to God permitted, and thus he laboured by all means to save some. He here assures those to whom he writes, of his cordial good-will towards Israel, and of his prayers to God that they might be saved.

V. 1. — Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

Brethren Those here addressed are the brethren in Christ to whom Paul wrote, and not the Jews in general, who were his brethren in the flesh. There is no doubt but by apostrophe he might address the unbelieving Jews, but there is nothing like an apostrophe here, nor is there any need of such a supposition. Whoever was addressed, the sentiment would be equally well understood by the unbelieving Jews who should read or hear the Epistle.

My heart’s desire and prayer to God. — It is of great importance to remove prejudices as far as possible, and to show good-will to those whom we wish to benefit by the publication of divine truth. We see here the love of a Christian to his bitterest enemies. Paul was abused, reviled, and persecuted by his countrymen, yet he not only forgave them, but constantly prayed for their conversion. Unbelievers often accuse Christians, though very falsely, as haters of mankind, because they faithfully declare that there is no salvation but through faith in Christ.

Here we should especially remark, that while the salvation of his countrymen was the desire of Paul’s heart, and while he was endeavouring in every way possible to call their attention to the Gospel, he did not neglect to offer up prayer for them to God. Other means, as we have opportunity, should not be left untried; but this is at all times in our power, and should be persevered in. When we are shut up from access to man, we have always access to God, and with him is the residue of the Spirit. In this duty, we learn from his epistles that Paul was ever much engaged for his brethren in Christ, and here we see that he did not neglect it in behalf of those by whom he was hated and persecuted. He thus obeyed the injunctions, and imitated the example of our blessed Lord. In this verse, too, standing in connexion with what immediately precedes it, we learn that Paul’s faithful annunciation of these doctrines, which by so many are most erroneously considered to be harsh towards men, and to give an unfavourable view of the character of God, so far from being opposed to feelings of the warmest affection for others, is closely and intimately conjoined with them.

We should never cease to pray for, and to use all proper means for the conversion of, those who either oppose the Gospel with violence, or from some preconceived opinion. Secret things belong to God, and none can tell whether or not they are among the number of the elect. No one among the Jews was more opposed to the Gospel than Paul himself had been; and every Christian who knows his own heart, and who recollects the state of his mind before his conversion, should consider the repugnance he felt to the doctrine of grace. We ought not, indeed, to treat those as Christians who do not appear to be such. This would be directly opposed to the dictates of charity, and would tend to lull them into a false security. But assuredly none can have such powerful inducements to exercise patience towards any who reject the Gospel, as they who know who it is that has made them to differ from others, and that by the grace of God they are what they are. These considerations have a direct tendency to make them humble and gentle. Those who are elected shall indeed be finally saved, but this will take place through the means which God has appointed. It is on this ground that Paul says, “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

V. 2. — For I hear them record that they have a zeal of God, hut not according to knowledge.

Paul acknowledged that the Jews had a zeal of God, and so far he approved of them, and was on that account the more interested in their behalf. But their zeal and the sincerity of their attachment to their system was no excuse for their unbelief. The Apostle had sorrow for their condemnation, not hope of their salvation on account of their sincerity and zeal. This is an important lesson to thousands who profess

Christianity. How often it is said that if a man be sincere in his belief, his creed is of no great importance. His salvation, it is supposed, is not endangered by his ignorance or error. How different on this head is the Apostle Paul from those who thus judge. Yet his love to mankind cannot be doubted. His love to his countrymen was quite beyond any thing to which the persons alluded to can pretend. Yet he bewails the Jews, as under condemnation, on account of their ignorance. We see here that men may attend to religion, and be much occupied on the subject, without being acceptable to God; and that sincerity in error is neither a means of salvation nor an excuse for any man. Nothing but the natural alienation of their minds from God prevents those who possess the Scriptures from understanding the way of salvation.

F”. 3. — For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

The ground of the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews, was their ignorance of God’s righteousness. Had they understood this, they would have ceased to go about to establish their own righteousness; but not understanding that righteousness which God has provided in his Son, they rejected the salvation of the Gospel. Mr Stuart translates the word, rendered righteousness throughout this passage, by the word justification, which is warranted by no authority. Dr Macknight, who, like Mr Stuart, denies the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, says, that the righteousness here spoken of is * the right- ’ eousness which God appointed at the fall, as ’ the righteousness of sinners,’ which he explains elsewhere to mean faith; saying, that God ‘hath ’ declared that he will accept and reward it as * righteousness, Dr Campbell, of Aberdeen, as has been formerly noticed, explains the righteousness here spoken of as that ’ purer scheme of ’ morality which was truly of God,’ opposed to the ’ system of morality or righteousness fabri- ’ cated by the Jews.’ In this manner do these writers (see vol. i. 270-4, 2d ed.) make void, though each in a different way, all that is said throughout this Epistle and elsewhere in the Scriptures, on that most important expression, “the righteousness of God,” through the revelation of which the Apostle declares that the Gospel” is the power of God unto Salvation’’ Rom. i. 17.

The righteousness of God. — That perfect fulfilment of the law by Jesus Christ, by which men are saved, is received by faith; and he who does not submit to this righteousness, and humbly receive it, but supposes that he can do something to give him a right to obtain or to merit it, or who attempts to add to it any thing of his own, or to substitute in its place his own obedience, more or less, is equally ignorant of the corruption of his own heart — of the holiness of God — and of the perfection of the obedience which the law requires. In this verse the fatal error is clearly expressed, of those who expect to be saved by any works of their own, even when, like the Pharisee who prayed in the Temple, they ascribe to God all that they suppose to be good in them.

V. 4. — For Christ is the end of the law forrighieousness to every one tJiat believeth.

The Apostle here declares what he means by the righteousness of God, to which the Jews would not submit, namely, the fulfilment of the law by our Lord Jesus Christ. The end of the law. What the end of the law is, Paul shows, Rom. vii. 10, when he says. It was ordained to life, namely, that the man who doeth all that it commands, should live by it. And what is it that, in the present state of human nature, the law cannot do? It cannot justify, and so give life, because it has been broken. What then did God do? He sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh. And why has he done this? The answer is given, Ch. viii. 4, ‘’ that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,”

who are in him. Thus it is, that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. By him is accomplished for all such the whole purpose of the law. Christ redeems his people from its curse, and procures for them the blessing of life which, under the righteous government of God, he confers on all his creatures who are conformed to his holy law. The fallen angels possessed this life while they obeyed it, and Adam, while he continued in his integrity; but this was not the full end of the law, for they apostatized. In them, therefore, the law fell short of attaining its end. But the righteousness imputed to those who believe in Christ is “everlasting righteousness,” Daniel, ix. 24, and therefore to them belongs eternal life. Their life is comprised in his life, and he is “that eternal life;” and “when he who is their life shall appear, they shall appear with him in glory.” Accordingly, Jesus says, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

“I hsLve finished,*’ said our blessed Lord in his intercessory prayer to his Father,” the work which thou gavest me to do;” and on the cross, just before he expired, he said, it is finished. In each of these passages the word rendered finished is the same as that which is here translated end, signifying accomplished, consummated, or perfected. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, vi. 1, the original word is rendered “perfection.” The Apostle there says, “Let us go on to perfection” — to the end or finishing, meaning the consummation or completion of all that the law required, which he shows was found in the sacrifice and work of Jesus Christ. This perfection — this end was not attained by the Levitical Priesthood, for if “perfection were by the Levitical Priesthood, what further need was there that another priest should rise? “Heb. vii. 11. Nor was it attained by the legal dispensation, which “made nothing j9er/^c,” v. 19, brought nothing to its end or consummation. This was found only in Christ, “for by one offering he hath perfected for ever (still the same word in the original, in all these places) them that are sanctified,” Heb. x. 14,

To prove that Christ was the perfection or the end of the law, is the great object of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which furnishes a complete commentary on the passage before us. It opens with declaring Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. To prove and to establish this grand truth, as the foundation of all that the Apostle was afterwards to advance, was essential to his purpose. For by no one in the whole universe, excepting him who is eternal, could the eternal or everlasting righteousness predicted by Daniel, which is the “perfection” or end of the law, have been brought in. It was, then, this important truth that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, which Paul labours in that Epistle to impress on the minds of the Jewish converts, in order to confirm their faith. And it was the ignorance of this same important truth in the great body of the nation, which in the chapter before us he laments.

The unbelieving Jews vainly went about to establish their own righteousness by their obedience to the law, instead of viewing it as a schoolmaster to lead them unto, or until Christ, by whom alone it could be, and was fulfilled, Matth. V. 18. This verifies what the Apostle says, 2 Cor. iii. 13, that “the children of Israel could not look steadfastly to the end’* (the same word as in the verse before us)” of that which is abolished.” Christ, then, as is declared in this verse, is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For the moment that a man believes in him, the end of the law is attained in that man; that is, it is fulfilled in him, and he is in possession of the righteousness which the law requires, and consequently he hath eternal life — John vi. 54, to which the law was ordained, Rom. vii. 10. Christ, then, by his obedience has fulfilled the law of God, in every form in which it has been given to men, that his obedience or righteousness might be imputed as their righteousness to all that believe. “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” 2 Cor. v. 21.* “Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness,” Isaiah, xlv. 24. “He shall be called the Lord our righteousness,” Jer. xxiii. 6. This is the only righteousness in which a man can stand before God, and which shall be acknowledged in the great day. They and they only who by their works proceeding from that faith

* The accuracy with which the Scriptures are written, is very observable in the passage above quoted, 2 Cor. v. 21, and in the verse preceding it. The supplement you, twice repeated in verse 20, is erroneous. Those whom the Apostle was addressing had been reconciled to God, therefore he could not beseech them to be what they were already. Dr Macknight has remarked this, but he has not noticed the change from men, the proper supplement in verse 20, to us and we in the following verse. This change was necessary, for though Paul could declare that Christ had been made sin for him and for those to whom he wrote, he could not afiBrm this of any man till, like the Corinthians, there was evidence of his having received the grace of God given him in Christ Jesus. 1 Cor. i. 4. Dr Macknight, like IVIr Stuart, by his translation, changing sin into sin-offering, takes away the contrast between sin and righteousness, and obscures, as has been remarked in vol. i. of this work, one of the strongest expressions of the vicarious nature of Christ’s suiferings that is to be found in the Bible.

which unites the soul to Christ, and which receives this righteousness, are proved to possess it, shall then be pronounced “righteous,” Matt. XXV. 37, 46. This righteousness is imputed to every one that believeth, and to such only. This makes it clear that Jesus Christ has not fulfilled the law for mankind in general, but for those in particular who should believe in his name, John, xvii. 9, 20. His atonement and intercession are of the same extent, and are presented for the same individuals. “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.” Mr Stuart, in his explanation of this fourth verse, introduces the following quotation from Flatt: — ‘Christ is the reT^og voixov (end of the ’ law) in respect to ^inaiocuvYi (righteousness), he ’ has brought it about, that we should not be ’ judged after the strictness of the law. He has ’ removed the sentence of condemnation, from ’ all those who receive the Gospel.’ To this Mr Stuart adds — ‘Well and truly.’ That the sentence of condemnation is removed from all who receive the Gospel, although in a very different way from what Mr Stuart supposes, is most certain. But no sentiment can be more unscriptural than that we shall not be judged after the strictness of the law. For what saith the Scripture? “He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.” In that day, instead of men not being judged after the strictness of the law, judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, and all those in whom the righteousness of the law has not been fulfilled in all its demands, without wanting one jot or tittle, will be found under its curse; and that awful sentence will be pronounced upon them, “Depart from me, ye cursed.” The judgment, in accordance with every representation of it contained in Scripture, and with the whole plan of salvation, will be conducted in all respects both as to those who shall be saved, and those who shall be condemned, after the strictness of both law and justice. Under the righteous government of God, never was one sin committed which will not be punished either in the person of him who committed it, or in that of the Divine Surety of the new covenant.

V. 5. — For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law. That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

This illustrates what the Apostle had just before said, that Christ, and Christ alone, has fulfilled the demands of the law, and therefore it is vain for any one to seek to obtain life by personal obedience to its commandments. To live by the law, requires that the law be perfectly obeyed. But this to fallen man is impossible. The law knows no mercy; it knows no mitigation, it overlooks not even the smallest breach, or the smallest deficiency. One guilty thought would condemn for ever. Whoever then looks for life by the law, must keep the whole law in thought, word, and deed, and not be chargeable with the smallest transgression.

V. 6. — But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above: )

F. 7. — Or, Who shall descend into the deep 9 (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

V. 8. — But what saith it 9 The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach:

We should rather expect contrast than coincidence between the law given by Moses and the gospel of Christ. Can there be any illustration of the receiving of righteousness by faith, which is here the Apostle’s subject, and the precepts that were given to the Israelites as a shadow of the gospel? Doubtless, with all the difference between the law and the gospel, there must be a point of view in which they are coincident, for in such a view it is that the Apostle makes his quotation. Paul alleges the passage to which he refers, Deut. xxx. 11, 14, as speaking the language of the righteousness of faith. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? This language, as used by Moses, was the language that described the clearness of the manner of giving the knowledge of the divine requirements to the people of Israel. But though this was its original object, yet it had a further reference to the clearness of the manner of revealing the Gospel. For the Apostle explains it, “That is, to bring Christ down frmn above” The language, then, that describes the clearness of the revelation of the precepts of God to Israel, was a figure of the clearness of the revelation of the Gospel.

Moses gave the Israelites a law which was to abide with them for their constant instruction. They were not obliged to send a messenger to heaven to learn how they were to serve God, nor to search out wisdom by their own understanding. Nor had they to send over the sea to distant countries, like the heathens, for instruction. God by Moses taught them every thing with respect to his worship and service in the most full, clear, and practical manner. This was a shadow of the clearness of the revelation of the righteousness received by faith, which we are not left to search for by means through which it never can be obtained. Salvation is brought nigh to us, being proclaimed in the Gospel by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The word is in our mouth. We receive the righteousness he has brought, not by any

VOL. II. 2 N efforts of our own in seeking salvation, and labouring to keep the law of God, but by the belief of that word which was published at Jerusalem announcing salvation to the guiltiest of mankind.

The gospel is contained in figure in every part of the law. The very manner of giving the law was a shadow of the gospel, and typified salvation through a great Mediator. And though the New Testament often distinguishes and even contrasts the demands of the law with the voice of mercy speaking in the gospel, yet here the gospel speaks through the law. The reference to what Moses observed with respect to the precepts which he delivered from God to the people of Israel, instead of finding an opposition to the plan of salvation through Christ, finds an illustration that divine wisdom had prepared to shadow it in the mission of the Mediator under the law. Wonderful is the wisdom of God manifested in the harmony of the Old and New Testaments. They who do not understand it, have laboured to show a coincidence merely by accommodation. But the Spirit of God every where explains the language of the Old Testament as in its design appointed by God to be a shadow of the things of Christ’s kingdom.

While the language of the law is, Do and Live, that righteousness which it demands, and which man is unable to perform, is, according to the gospel, gratuitously communicated through faith. This righteousness is in Christ, and he is not at a distance, so that we must scale the heavens, or descend below the earth, — in one word, attempt what is impracticable, to come to him, and derive from him this benefit. He and his righteousness are brought near unto us, as was long before predicted. “Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far ofi”, and my salvation shall not tarry.” — Is. xlvi. 12. All men, till enlightened by the Spirit of God, seek salvation by doing something of which they imagine God will approve. If it is not complete, his mercy, they suppose, will incline him to take it for value; but without something of his own to present to God, man in his natural state never thinks of approaching him. Nothing can be more self-evidently false than that man can merit from God. Yet, notwithstanding the folly of this supposition, it is only the energy of the Spirit through the truth of the Gospel that will convince him of the fallacy. Even the very Gospel of the grace of God is seen through this false medium; and while men exclaim grace, grace, they continue to introduce a species of merit by putting Christ at a distance, and making access to him a matter of time and difficulty. How different is the Gospel as here exhibited by Paul!

We must not attempt to do any thing to merit Christ, however little, or to bring any thing like an equivalent in our hand. The language of Scripture is, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price.” “He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich” — they who are worthy in their own esteem, who bring something of their own — “he hath sent empty away.” “Say not,” observes Archbishop Leighton, “unless I find some measure of sanctification, what right have I to apply him (Christ) as my righteousness? This inverts the order, and prejudges thee of both. Thou must first, without finding, yea, or seeking any thing in thyself, but misery and guiltiness, lay hold on him as thy righteousness; or else thou shalt never find sanctification by any other endeavour or pursuit.”

f. 9. — That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, — The confession of Christ is salvation. But that confession which is salvation, is a confession which implies that the truth confessed with the mouth is known and received in the heart. The belief of the heart is, therefore, joined with the confession of the lips. Neither is genuine without the other, though it may be said that either the one or the other is salvation, because they who believe with the heart will confess with the tongue. If a man says I believe in Christ, yet denies him when put to trial, or confesses him with the lips, yet denies him in his proper character, he neither confesses nor believes Christ. It should always be remembered, that if any one believes something different from the testimony of God, relating to the person and work of the Saviour, he does not believe the Gospel, but something, whatever it may be, which cannot sanctify or save. The Gospel alone is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes it. Hath raised him from the dead. — Why is so much stress laid on the resurrection? Was not the work of Christ in this world finished by his death? Most certainly it was. But his resurrection was the evidence that it was finished; and, therefore, the belief of his resurrection is put for that of the whole of his work.

The emphasis of the second person throughout this verse should be remarked. The Apostle does not speak indefinitely, but he says empha-* tically, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, and shalt believe in thine heart, thou shalt be saved.

He speaks of every one, so that every one may early search himself, for to every one believing and confessing, salvation is promised; thus teaching each one to apply the promise of salvation to himself by faith and confession. Thus the Apostle shows that every believer has as much certain assurance of his salvation as he certainly confesses Christ with his mouth, and as he believes in his heart, that the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead. Our assurance of salvation corresponds with the measure of our faith, and the boldness of our confession of Christ.

V. 1 0. — For with the heart man lelieveth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made utito salvation.

Believeth unto righteousness That is, unto the

receiving of righteousness; namely, the righteousness of Christ. This righteousness is called “the righteousness of faith,” Rom. iv. 13 — not that it is in the faith, but it is so called as being received by faith, as it is said, Rom. iii. 21, “the righteousness which is by faith,” and Phil. iii. 9, “the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Faith, then, is only the appointed medium, or bond of our union with Christ, through which we receive this righteousness, and not the righteousness itself. “Faith,” says the Westminster Confession, “justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not because of those other graces which do always accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it; nor as if the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification; but only as it is an instrument, by which he receive th and applieth Christ’s righteousness.” The expression, “faith is counted to him for righteousness,” Rom. iv. 4, is often supposed to mean, is counted to him instead of righteousness; but, as has been remarked on that text, vol. i., the literal rendering is not for righteousness, but unto righteousness, in conformity with the proper translation as in the verse before us.

The faith of the Gospel is not a speculation, it is not such a knowledge of religion as may be acquired like human science. This may often have the appearance of true faith; but it is not “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Many things connected with the Gospel may be believed by the natural man, and each of the doctrines taken separately may be in some way received by him, as notions of lights and colours are received by the blind. But the Gospel is never understood and believed, except by those who, according to the promise, are “taught of the Lord,” Isaiah, liv. 13; who, therefore, know the Father and him whom he hath sent, which is eternal life. — John, xvii. 3. In the parable of the sower, where only the fourth description of persons are represented as having truly and abidingly received the word, they are characterised as understanding it, and they only bear fruit. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” — 1 Cor. ii. 14. It is impossible that a man can believe that to be the word of God which he regards as foolishness. “No man can say” (understanding and believing what he says) “that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” — 1 Cor. xii. 3. When Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;” “Blessed,” said Jesus, “art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” — Matt. xvi. 17.

Justifying faith is the belief of the testimony of Christ, and trust in him who is the subject of that testimony. It is believing with the heart. Concerning those who received a good report through faith, it is declared that they saw or understood the promises; they were persuaded of their truth, and they embraced them, taking them home personally, and resting upon them. On the passage before us, Calvin remarks, ‘The seat of faith, it deserves to be observed, ’ is not in the brain, but the heart; not that I ’ wish to enter into any dispute concerning the ‘part of the body which is the seat of faith, ’ but since the word heart generally means a * serious, sincere, ardent affection, I am desirous ’ to show the confidence of faith to be a firm, ’ efficacious, and operative principle in all the ’ emotions and feelings of the soul, not a mere ’ naked notion of the head/

And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation — A man becomes righteous, perfectlyrighteous, through believing God’s record concerning his Son. But the evidence that this faith is genuine is found in the open confession of the Lord with the mouth in every thing in which his will is known. Confession of Christ is as necessary as faith in him; but necessary for a different purpose. Faith is necessary to obtain the gift of righteousness. Confession is necessary to prove that this gift is received. If a man does not confess Christ at the hazard of life, character, property, liberty, and every thing dear to him, he has not the faith of Christ. In saying, then, that confession is made unto salvation, the Apostle does not mean that it is the cause of salvation, or that without it the title to salvation is not complete. When a man believes in his heart, he is justified. But confession of Christ is the effect of faith, and will be evidence of it at the last day. Faith which interests the sinner in the righteousness of Christ, is manifested by the confession of his name in the midst of enemies, or in the face of danger.

V. 11. — For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

For the Scripture saith, — Here Paul shows that the Scriptures of the Prophets taught the same doctrine that he was teaching. This he did not need to do, in order to add authority to his own doctrine, for he was equally inspired with the Prophets; but in order to show that the Jews who denied that the Gentiles were to be fellow heirs with them, were wrong, even on their own principles. TVIiosoever believeth on him. — This language of the Prophet extended mercy to the Gentiles, if they believed. Shall not he ashamed That is, their faith will not be disappointed. Almost all men have some hope with respect to the bar of God. But many have hopes founded on falsehood. There is a vast variety in the opinions of men with respect to the ground of hope; and, besides the common ground, namely, a mixture of mercy and merit, every unbeliever has something peculiar to himself, which he deems an alleviation of guilt, or singularly meritorious. But in the great day all shall be ashamed of their hope, except those who have believed in Christ for salvation. Believers alone shall not be ashamed before him at his coming.

V. 12 For there is no difference betweeji the Jew and the

Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

For there is no difference — So far from the Gentiles being excluded from mercy altogether, there is not, in this respect, the smallest difference between them and the Jews. Is rich, — That is, rich to bestow on both Jews and Gentiles all they need. Calvin is not to be praised in explaining the word rich here, as meaning “kind and beneficent.” This would sanction any abuse of words that the wildest imagination could invent. Nor is there any need of such an expedient. The meaning is quite obvious. Unto all that call upon him — God is able to supply the wants of all that call upon him, and he will supply them. All of them receive out of the fulness of Jesus Christ. Here it is imported that to call on the name of the Lord is to be a believer. Let it then be understood, that to call on the Lord implies to call on him in faith as he is revealed in the Gospel. There must be the knowledge of God as a just God, and a Saviour, before any one can call on him. To call on the Lord in this sense, amounts to the same thing as to believe in Christ for salvation, and it implies that every believer is one who calls on God. If any man professes to be a believer, and does not habitually call on God, he is not what he pretends.

V. 13. — For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

* The context in Joel,’ says Calvin, ’ will * fully satisfy us, that his prediction applies to ’ this passage of Paul.’ But why should we need an)’^ thing to convince us of this, but the authority of the Apostle himself? It is a most pernicious method of interpreting the applications of the Old Testament in the New, to make our perception of their justness the ground of acknowledging the Apostle’s conclusion. It may be proper to show how far or how clearly the words of the prophecy establish the particular reference made by the Apostle. But, whether we can explain the application or not, the interpretation of the Apostle is as infallible as the prophecy itself. If one will undertake to vindicate the justness of the Apostle’s conclusion, another may be inclined to question it, and to allege that the prophecy has not the meaning assigned to it by the Apostle.

Here, as in other places of Scripture, the name of the Lord signifies the Lord himself. By calling on the name of the Lord, all the parts of religious worship which we render to God are intended. It denotes a full and entire communion with God. He who calls on the name of the Lord, profoundly humbles himself before God, recognises his power, adores his majesty, believes his promises, confides in his goodness, hopes in his mercy, honours him as his God, and loves him as his Saviour. It supposes that this invocation is inseparable from all the other parts of religion. To call on the name of the Lord, is to place ourselves under his protection, and to have recourse to him for his aid.

But why does the prophet ascribe deliverance or salvation to calling on the name of the Lord, and not merely say, whoever calls on God shall be heard, shall be protected, shall receive his blessing? The reason is that he was treating of the new covenant, which clearly, without a veil and without a figure, announces salvation, in opposition to the former covenant, which held forth temporal blessings. The Gospel speaks plainly of salvation, that is to say, of eternal happiness which we should expect after death. He uses the term salvation, in order to remind us of the unhappy conditiop in which we were by nature, and to show the difference between our state and that of angels, for the angels live, but are not saved. The life of which Jesus Christ is the fountain, finds us plunged in death, lost in ourselves, children of wrath, and is given us under the title of salvation. No one ever called upon the Lord in the Scripture sense of this phrase, without being saved. It is here as expressly said, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, as it is, “Whoever believeth shall be saved.” It appears that Paul, when here he speaks of calling upon the Lord, refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he had named in the 9th verse. In the same way he addresses the Church at Corinth, “With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In thus calling upon the Lord, a believer walks with God, as Enoch did. It is not only that he prays to God at stated seasons; his life is a life of prayer. He prays to God “every where,” and “always.” He remembers that Jesus hath said. Henceforth I call you not servants; but I have called you friends. He serves God, therefore, in newness of spirit, and goes to him on all occasions as his covenant God, his Father, and his friend, to whom he pours out his heart, makes known all his wants and desires, and consults him on every occasion in matters great and small. From this holy and constant communion he is not at any time or in any circumstances precluded. In Nehemiah we have beautiful and encouraging examples, both of stated prayer, and of ejaculatory prayer in unforeseen circumstances, ch. ii. 4; in short, of a continual appeal to God, ch. xiii. 29. Paul commands us to “pray without ceasing.” To the exercise of this duty, so frequently enforced by the Lord in his last discourse to his disciples, believers have the highest encouragement. “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” We see, in the sequel, the eifect of David’s short prayer, “O Lord, I pray thee turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” Although the Lord shows himself at all times so ready to answer the prayers of his people, yet in the transaction with the Gibeonites, Joshua and the elders of Israel “asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord,” and what was the consequence? We are ready to be astonished at their conduct in this instance, yet how often is similar negligence or unbelief exemplified in the life of every Christian; even after he has received, in innumerable instances, gracious answers to his petitions, so often reproving his little faith when he presented them; and after he has experienced so many distressing proofs of the evil of being left to his own counsels when he has neglected this duty — Joshua ix. 14.

14. — How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

This and the following verse are not the objections of a Jew, as alleged by Dr Macknight. It is all the language of the Apostle in his own character. He had said in the preceding verse, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. From this he urges the necessity of preaching the Gospel to all men; for when it is said that whosoever calls on him shall be saved, it is implied that none shall be saved who do not call upon him. What then is the consequence that should be drawn from this? Is it not that the Gospel should with all speed be published over the whole world? If the Gentiles are to be partakers of divine mercy, it is by seeking it from Jesus Christ, who has died that mercy might be extended to Jew and Gentile. It is not by the Holy Ghost speaking to the heart of the Gentiles, without the instrumentality of the word, that they are to be converted and saved. They must hear the word and call on the Lord. Whoever is saved by Jesus Christ must call upon him.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? — If it be necessary to call on Christ, how can the Gentiles call on him when they do not believe in him? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? This is impossible. In this state were the Gentile nations before the Gospel reached them.

Hence the great importance of communicating to them the glad tidings of salvation. A?/d how shall they hear without a preacher? The Gospel was not to be immediately declared by the voice of God from heaven, nor by the Holy Ghost speaking without a medium of communication, nor by angels sent from heaven; it was to be carried over the world by men. How, then, according to this divine constitution, could the nations of the earth hear the Gospel without a preacher? It is hardly necessary to refute the opinion of those who hold that the Gospel cannot speak to men savingly in the Scriptures, and that it is never effectual without the living voice of a preacher. This is not the meaning of the Apostle. His doctrine is, that the Gospel must be communicated to the minds of men through the external instrumentality of the word, as well as by the internal agency of the Spirit. Men are not only saved through Christ, but they are saved through the knowledge of Christ, communicated through the Gospel.

y. 15. — Jnd how shall they preach, except theij he sent? as it is written, How beaufijul are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

If the Gentiles could not believe in the Lord without hearing of him, and if they could not hear of him unless he was declared to them, then it follows, from the prophecy above quoted, that

VOL. II. 2 o preachers must be sent to them. Notwithstanding, then, the violent opposition made to it by the Jews, the necessity was manifest for the Apostles, according to their divine commission, to go forth to preach the Gospel to every creature. The accordance of this with the Old Testament Scriptures, Paul had been showing, and he now supports it by further quotation.

As it is written, 8fc» — This prophecy, Is. lii. 7, which may literally respect good news of deliverance to the Jews from temporal judgments, typically refers, as the Apostle’s application of it here shows, to the messengers of mercy sent forth under the Gospel. In the beginning of that chapter, Sion, or Jerusalem, is called to arise from her degraded condition, for the Lord has prepared for her deliverance. Then follow the words here quoted. The tidings to be told here are subjoined. “Thy God reign eth.” That the Gentiles also should partake in the blessings of his reign is immediately intimated. “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Thus, beginning at Jerusalem, those commissioned by the Lord were to preach salvation in his name among all nations. In the conclusion of the chapter, the blessed effects under the reign of the Messiah are declared. “So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him; for that which had not been told them, shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider.” This quotation then made by the Apostle was calculated to produce the strongest conviction of the truth he was establishing, namely, the duty of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles.

V. 16. — But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

It is here admitted by Paul, that though the Gospel was to be preached both to Jews and Gentiles, with the assurance that whosoever believeth shall be saved; yet, as a matter of fact, all who heard did not believe it. This might seem unaccountable; or it might even appear to be an argument against the Gospel, that notwithstanding all the blessings with which it was said to be frauoht to those who should receive it, it was still rejected by many to whom it was preached. But this should not seem strange to any acquainted with prophecy: it is the very testimony of Isaiah. Instead, then, of being an objection to the Gospel, that it was not received by the bulk of those who heard it, it was the very thing that the Scriptures predicted. The prophecy of Isaiah, liii, 1, is applied to this fact, in which a plain intimation is given of the small number who should receive the Gospel when first preached. If, then, the Jews objected to the preaching of the Gospel from this fact, they must object to the prophet Isaiah on the same ground.

F. 17. — So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

According, then, to this complaint of the Prophet, it is evident that faith comes by hearing, which the Apostle is asserting; and this is the consequence that may be deduced from it. The word in the preceding verse, quoted from Isaiah, and rendered “report,” is the same which in this verse is rendered hearing. Faith, then, never comes but by hearing, that is, from the word of God. The Apostles communicated their testimony by the living voice, and by their writings. Both are comprehended in what is called hearing. All this showed the necessity of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, on which Paul had been insisting, according to which there is no such thing as saving faith among heathens who have not heard of Christ. Hearing by the word of God, — This makes the last observation still stronger. This hearing cannot extend to Dr Macknight’s scheme of salvation to the heathens, who supposes that they may have faith without the knowledge of the Gospel; for, consistently with this passage, faith must come not from the revelation of the works of God, but from that of his word.

F. 18. — But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

The Gospel had now been every where preached, Col. i. 23. ‘The Apostle applies to this fact what is said in the 19th Psalm. That Psalm literally refers to the preaching of the great luminaries of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars; but typically it refers to the preaching of the word of God. The Sun of the creation preaches to all nations the existence, the unity, the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God. He speaks in a language all nations may understand. All nations, indeed, have departed from the doctrine thus preached; but this results from disaffection to the doctrine, and not from the obscurity of the language of the preacher. The Apostle tells us that all nations, even the most barbarous, are without excuse in their idolatry. God is revealed in his character as Creator in the works of his hands, and all men should know him as such. The sun carries the intelligence of God’s perfections and existence to every nation under heaven, which are successively informed that there is an almighty, all-wise, and beneficent being, the author of all things. In like manner, the Gospel of Christ preaches to all nations, and informs them of the glorious character of God, as manifested in the incarnation and death of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Dr Macknig’ht supposes the question here asked, “have they not heard?” to be answered by the preaching of the works of creation, according to the words of the Psalm in their literal meaning. This is contrary to the whole train of the Apostle’s reasoning, who is speaking of the preaching of the Gospel. Even Calvin makes the preaching spoken of in that Psalm to refer to the “silent works of God” in ancient times, and not in any sense to the preaching of the Apostles. But it is evident that the Apostle is not referring to the former, but to the present state of the Gentile nations. The words of the Psalmist are thus spiritually, as they always have been literally, fulfilled in the preaching of the silent works of God. The description in the 19th Psalm of the sun in the firmament has, as above noticed, a strict literal and primary meaning, but it is also typical of him who is called the sun of righteousness, who by his word is the spiritual light of the world. Paul, therefore, quotes this description in the last sense, thus taking the spiritual meaning which was ultimately intended. This suits his object, while he drops the literal, although also a just and acknowledged sense. It is not then as setting aside the literal application of such passages, that the ilpostles quote them in their spiritual import, nor in the way of accommodation, as is so often asserted to the great disparagement both of the Apostles and the Scriptures, but as their ultimate and most extensive signification.

F. 1 9 But I say. Did not Israel know? First Moses saith,

I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will ai,ger you.

Did not Israel know, that the Jews were to be cut off as a nation, and the Gentiles called into the divine favour? That this was communicated in their Scriptures is most clear. In the quotation here adduced, Deut. xxxii. 21, this event was foretold by Moses, who commences that prediction in a way that marks the importance of what he was about to say: “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.” In verse 5th, he declares the ingratitude and unbelief of Israel. “They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation.” He continues this complaint to the 20th verse, when he pronounces the decree of God of their rejection. “I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very forward generation, children in whom is no faith.” And then immediately he adds the words from which the verse before us is taken. In these words the calling of the Gentiles is clearly predicted. The Gentiles are marked by these expressions. 1st, “I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.” 2d, Their calling is pointed out by the provocation to jealousy, with which God threatens the Jews, which intimates that he will bestow his love and his covenant on those who were formerly foolish, and will withdraw them from Israel. 3d, This same calling is marked by the comparison drawn between that provocation to jealousy with which he threatens Israel, with that with which the Israelites have provoked him. “They have moved me to jealousy;” that is, as they had given their love and their heart to others besides God, in the same way God would give his love and his heart to others beside them. This prediction, then, could only find its accomplishment in the conversion of the Gentiles by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The word “nation” is here a figurative expression in reference to God’s dealings with Israel. The Gentiles are called as individuals. The righteous nation. Is. xxvi. 2, is composed of believers.

V. 20. — But Esaias is very hold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto iJtem that asked not after me.

V. 21. — But to Israel he saith. All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

If Moses predicted, somewhat obscurely, the calling of the Gentiles, Isaiah had foretold it very plainly, and placed it in a light that would be most offensive to the Jews. In this prophecy the bringing in of the Gentiles, and the ready reception which they would give to the Gospel, and at the same time the obstinate unbelief of the Jews, notwithstanding the earnest and constant entreaties of the servants of God, are plainly indicated. Nothing could more clearly describe the conduct of the Jews and the reception that they gave to the message of salvation, than this prophecy of Isaiah. In this and the preceding chapter, the Apostle has fully shown that the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the great body of the Jewish nation had been the purpose of God during the whole of that economy which separated the Jews from the rest of the world, and under which they had enjoyed such distinguished and peculiar privileges.

While in the ninth chapter the sovereignty of God in the rejection of the great body of the Jewish nation is prominently brought into view, in the chapter before us their rejection is shown to have been the immediate effect of their own unbelief. No truth is more manifest in every part of the Old Testament Scriptures than that contained in the declaration just quoted from, Isa. lxv. 2. “All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” What outward means did not God employ to induce the Israelites to love and honour him, and to lead them to submission to his authority! “I have hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth.” — Hosea, vi. 5. “I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, ‘Obey my voice.’” — Jer. xi. 7. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” — Isaiah, v. 3. Here, then, is the stretching forth of the hands of God to that people all the day long; that is, during the whole period of their dispensation, and here the complaint is verified of their continuing, notwithstanding, disobedient and gainsaying. The fault, then, was their own, and the awful sentence that followed, Isaiah, v. 5, 6, was merited and just.

In this we see what is the result, when God employs only outward means to lead men to obedience, and does not accompany them with the influence of his efficacious grace. Without this the Apostle shows in the preceding chapter that the whole nation of Israel, without exception, would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah. Here, then, is the condition to which many in their wisdom would reduce all mankind, if they could establish their unscriptural doctrines in opposition to the divine election and efficacious grace. They are displeased at the idea that all the heathen nations were left to themselves, while so much favour was shown to Israel; yet we see in the case of Israel, in whom so full a display is made of the character of man, what would have been the result as to the other nations of a similar dispensation of outward means. But according to the system of such cavillers at the clear doctrine of the Scriptures, there still remains something good in man which may lead him, without a change of heart, to embrace the glad tidings of salvation. They also affirm that man has power to resist and make void the internal operation of grace.

In support of this last opinion many refer to such texts as that in Genesis, vi. 3, where God says — “My spirit shall not always strive with man;” and to the words of Stephen, when he charges the Jews as stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, who, as their fathers did, always resisted the Holy Ghost, Acts, vii. 51. But the answer is easy when we attend to the different aspects in which the grace of God is presented in Scripture. Besides its existence in the mind of God, it is spoken of either in its manifestation in his word, or in its operation in the heart. In its manifestation it may, and unless accompanied by its internal operation, always will be resisted. To such resistance the above passages refer, and give their attestation; and for the truth of this we can appeal not only to the example of the nation of Israel, but also to what we see passing before us every day. Multitudes, in the enjoyment of the full light of the revelation of grace, continually discover their resistance to its manifestation in the word. But not so with respect to grace, in its internal operation in the heart. This cannot be effectually resisted. On the contrary, so far as it proceeds, it takes away all inclination to resist, creating a new heart, and making those who are the subjects of it willing in the day of God’s power; Psalm, ex. 3. Here, then, there must be an election by God of those who shall thus be favoured, without which not one individual would be saved. If the doctrine of the fall in its proper extent be admitted, the doctrines of election and efficacious grace must be embraced by those who do not believe that all men are to be left to perish.

In this chapter we see how highly God values his law. Though the Jews had a zeal of God, yet they were rejected because they attempted to substitute their own obedience, which fell short of the demands of the law, as a substitute for the perfection it requires. In order that any of the human race might be saved, it was necessary that the Son of God should fulfil the law. He alone is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. On this law of everlasting obligation, under which all mankind were placed, it may be proper to make a few general remarks, as well as on the covenant with Israel, to which there is also reference in this chapter.

God is the Legislator as well as the Creator of the world, and his law is necessarily founded on the relation in which he stands to his creatures. The law is a transcript of his character, proclaiming his holiness, his justice, and his goodness; in one word, his love, for God is love. The sum of it is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself. Thus love is the fulfilling of the law; the end of the commandment is love.

The love demanded from the creature is primarily for God his Creator, the great object of love. The second part of the summary of the law, far from opposing-, coincides with and flows from the first, commanding us to love our neighbour as the creature of God. The love it thus requires of us is measured by that we bear to ourselves; and consequently teaches that self-love is not to be condemned, unless it be excessive or exclusive. It is proper and necessary as a part of the law of our creation, which imposes on us the duty of attending to and providing for our own wants.

This law must necessarily be the law of the whole intelligent creation. According to its holiness, justice, and goodness, nothing more and nothing less can be required of any creature. “The law of the Lord is perfect.” In nothing is it deficient; in nothing does it exceed. It requires perfect obedience, which is essential to the nature of every law; for no law can dispense with the smallest part of the obedience it demands. Any work of supererogation, then, is impossible. No creature in the universe can do more than love God with all his heart and strength.

This law is enforced by sanctions. These are indispensable in order to carry it into execution, and to maintain the dignity of the Lawgiver.

Both the reward of obedience and the punishment of transgression proceed from the character of God. God loves himself and his creatures. He is love for himself above all, being the supreme object of love, and infinitely worthy of being loved. He is also love for his creatures, as appears by the original situation in which all of them were placed. The Angels at their creation were the inhabitants of heaven, where God manifests his glory. When man was created, the world was provided for him, and adapted to his nature; he enjoyed communion with God, and every thing around him was pronounced to be “very good.”

From their happy original situation, a part of the Angels and all mankind have fallen by disobedience. They broke the perfect bond of love, and consequently the unhappiness which proceeds from their rebellion against God can only be attributed to themselves. God, who is infinite in every perfection, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, must necessarily punish sin; for sin is the violation of the law of love. It separates the creature from God, who is the source of happiness; it is rebellion against his just government; and its tendency is to produce universal confusion and misery. The love, therefore, of God for himself and for all that is good; his holiness, which places him in infinite opposition to sin; his regard for the honour of his law; and his justice, which requires the giving to all what is due; demand that sin should be punished.

The evil of violating the law of God may be estimated by the punishment inflicted on the human race on account of one transgression. That one transgression caused the entrance of death, spiritual, temporal, and eternal; but by the goodness of God men were immediately placed under a dispensation of mercy. Human governments, being imperfect, dispense with justice when they extend pardon to a criminal; but this cannot be so with God, who, when he shows mercy, does so consistently with justice. He remains faithful; he cannot deny himself. He proclaims himself to be “a just God, and a Saviour.” In the plan, then, of mercy and salvation, the law is maintained in all its authority, and with all its sanctions. Sin is punished while sinners are saved.

The authority, the majesty, and the sovereignty of God are evidently interested in carrying into eiFect his threatenings and denunciations of punishment. If human laws were not executed it would introduce confusion and disorder into families and states; but if the law of God were left unexecuted, there would be absolute confusion and disorder throughout the universe. The object, therefore, of the law is an object of unspeakable importance; infinitely above that of the laws of men. Its immediate end is the manifestation of the holiness and glory of God.

Besides the law of universal and eternal obligation, the observance of other laws was enjoined on the people of Israel, in subserviency to the advent of the Messiah, to prefigure that great event, and in order to keep them separate from the other nations till he should appear. The covenant made with Israel consisted of three parts. The first was the moral law; the second, the ceremonial; and the third, the judicial or political law. The moral law was such as has been already described. The ceremonial law consisted of a body of worship and of services, which God commanded the Israelites to render to him; and to this belonged all the various ordinances, purifications, sacrifices, oblations, observances of days, and celebrations of solemn feasts. The judicial law comprehended all the regulations enjoined for their social and political conduct.

Along with these laws, there was vouchsafed a manifestation of the mercy of God through the Messiah. This comprehended all the promises of grace and salvation, and of the remission of sins, which God gave to the Israelites,

VOL. II. 2 p proclaiming himself to them as the Lord God merciful and gracious, together with all the exhortations to repent, and have recourse to his Fatherly goodness. It likewise included all those prophecies which foretold the Messiah, and required men to believe and place in him their confidence.

Although this manifestation of grace and of mercy did not properly belong to the legal, but to the evangelical covenant, yet as it was connected under the same ministry with the moral, the ceremonial, and the judicial laws, the Scripture includes the whole under the term law; the denomination of the ministry being taken from the part that predominated. The reason why this revelation of the Gospel was joined with the law is obvious. God purposed to save many among the Israelites, and to conduct them, as his elect and true children, to life and salvation. But this could not be effected by the legal covenant alone; for the law made nothing perfect; it was weak through the flesh, and could not justify. It was necessary, then, to connect with it a measure of the dispensation of the Spirit; and without this the state of the Israelites would have been worse than that of the other nations.

The economy of Moses was not, however, to be permanent. The object of the ceremonial law was accomplished, when that came which is called, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, vi. 1, “perfection,” which was the grand consummation of all the typical ordinances by the sacrifice of Christ. From that period its use was superseded, and itself abolished. On the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, where alone the sacrifices could be offered, and on the expulsion of the Jews from their own land, the observance both of the ceremonial and judicial laws became impossible. The whole Mosaic economy, which had been glorious in itself, was done away, and ceased to have any glory by reason of the glory that excelleth.

The moral law, however, could never be superseded. Although it formed a part of the Mosaic economy, to that economy it did not exclusively belong. Under the moral law, as a covenant, man at the beginning had been placed, and under it as broken, and pronouncing its curse, all unbelievers remain as one with the first man. But from this covenant, they who are united to him, by whom it has been fulfilled, are for ever freed. According to the energetic language of the Apostle, in the seventh chapter of this Epistle, they are “dead to the law.” While dead to it, however, as a covenant, either to its blessing or its curse — justification by it or condemnation — it remains their rule of duty.

and must for ever continue in force. And that its authority should continue, while the other parts of that first covenant were done away, as it had existed before that covenant was made, was clearly indicated at its first promulgation from Mount Sinai. On that occasion it was strikingly distinguished from the other parts of the law. These were delivered to Moses, and by him to the people. But the moral law was promulgated by the voice of God, and it is said “he added no more;” and while the other laws were written in a book by Moses, this law of everlasting obligation was written on tables of stone, by the finger of God, and it alone was deposited in the Ark. “There was nothing in th Ark save the two tables of stone.” — 1 Kings, viii. 9. There, as inscribed on these tables, the law was placed under the mercy-seat, which was an eminent type of him by whom it was to be fulfilled. To minister and prepare the way for his appearance was the great object in view, in the calling of Abraham, in the setting apart his descendants as a people from among whom he was to spring, and of the public proclamation of this law which has been transgressed.

In the third chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians, a contrast is drawn between the ministration of Moses, and that of the Apostles, in order to demonstrate the superiority of the latter. The ministration committed to Moses is there denominated the “letter,” and that committed to the Apostles the “spirit” — the one written and engraven on stones, the other on the fleshy tables of the heart. On the ministration of the letter or outward form, in which spiritual blessings were veiled under sensible images and carnal ordinances, a degree of obscurity remained, called the veil on Moses’ face, so that Israel after the flesh, could not steadfastly look to the end, or final object, of that which is to be abolished. They rested in the observance of the ordinances, regarding only the temporal deliverances commemorated, without attending to the spiritual redemption which these prefigured. In the same way, what was external to the senses in the priesthood and the sacrifices, was all that they regarded. Their services were therefore that of the letter, with no discernment of the spirit, apart from which these services were a body without a soul. The nation of Israel, in general, thus verified the declaration that the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to the natural man; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Not aware of the extent of the law which is spiritual, and of the perfect conformity required to all its precepts, and relying on the sacrifices they offered for the pardon of their transgressions, they sought acceptance by their own righteousness. But neither by their obedience could they fulfil the demands of the law, nor could the sacrifices remove their guilt, while by them they could not obtain peace of conscience, or assure themselves of reconciliation with God. The covenant, then, of which Moses was the mediator, gendered to bondage. It was the ministration of “condemnation” and “death,” for “the letter killeth.” The spirit only, which that letter veiled, “giveth life.” — 2 Cor. iii. 6. Paul denominates the ministration committed to him the ministration of righteousness — the righteousness of the Messiah — and his lamentation in the chapter before us is, that Israel being ignorant of this righteousness, went about to establish their own righteousness, not submitting themselves unto the righteousness of God.

The distinction, however, between the letter and the spirit, did not refer exclusively to the nation of Israel. It related formerly, and has done so at every period, to all who, professing to worship God, are still in the flesh. The moral law, as has been observed, had been in force from the beginning, as is declared in this Epistle, chap. v. 13; although more fully promulgated in the covenant with Israel. But as soon as Adam had committed the act of sin by which it was broken, and all men had thus been brought under its condemnation,* in pronouncing sentence on him, a proclamation of mercy was made, and sacrifices were instituted which indicated the spirit equally with those afterwards enjoined on Israel in the ceremonial law. Among the nations, therefore, the true worshippers of God — such as Abel,” who offered his sacrifice in faith, and Enoch, who prophesied of the coming of the Lord, and Noah, who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, with Melchisedec, of whom it is particularly recorded, Heb. vii. 2, that he wasr^ the king of righteousness, and then, or after that, also king of peace ;t and Abraham, who saw the day of Christ, with many more, worshipped God in the spirit. The service of all others who were ignorant of the true intent and end of the sacrifices, and of that righteousness which the Messiah was to bring in, which Noah had preached, 2 Pet. ii. 5, was the service of the letter that “killeth.” From this the

* The malignant nature of sin, and its fatal consequences, are not only manifest in the effect of the first transgression which brought ruin on the whole human race, but likewise in the sin committed at the renewal of the world after the flood. The bitter effects of that sin are experienced to the present day by one of the branches of the descendants of Noah, on whom the curse he pronounced still rests. “Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”

t No man ever enjoyed peace till after he possessed that righteousness.

necessity of preaching the Gospel to the nations, on which the Apostle so much insists in this chapter, is manifest. The heathens have generally retained the form of sacrifice, but having entirely lost sight of the end of that institution, like Israel after the flesh, they know nothing beyond the letter which killeth. Such also is the service of all professed Christians, of whatever name, who go about to establish their own righteousness which is of the law. To all men, of every description, who are labouring under the burden of sin, our Lord by his Gospel, wherever it reaches, proclaims, as formerly to Israel, Come unto me, and I will give you rest; thus extending to them the ministration, not of condemnation, but of righteousness, not of the letter that killeth, but of the spirit that giveth life. He himself is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, 2 Cor.iii. 17. “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” “If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

The glory of God is the grand object of every thing that has taken place in any part of creation. To this the entrance of sin among angels and men is no exception. However dishonourable sin in its own nature is to God, tKere can be no doubt but ultimately it shall be constrained to enhance the glory of the Divine character. It was necessary, in order to show God to be what he is. Had sin never existed, there would have been no opportunity of manifesting the righteous displeasure of God against it, and his justice in punishing it; nor of displaying his wonderful power, in turning to his glory that which, in itself, is a dishonour to him. This is the very reason given by the Apostle for God’s suj0fering the vessels of wrath. “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.”

That God not only permitted, but willed the entrance of sin among men, is clear from the very creation of the world, and its adaptation to illustrate the work of redemption. From the 19th Psalm, there can be no doubt that the Sun in the firmament was, from his first dawn, a glorious type of the Sun of Righteousness; and in his manner of enlightening the earth, a figure of Him who is the light of the world, as well as of the course and progress of the Gospel. The resting from the work of creation, and the first Sabbath, were calculated to shadow the rest of the Lord Jesus from the more important work of redemption, and the glorious and everlasting rest which remaineth for the people of God. The very formation of Adam and Eve, and the relation of marriage, most evidently were regulated with reference to the future relation of Christ and his church, Eph. v. 32. Redemption, then, was in the view of God in the very creation of man. From all eternity it was purposed by Him “who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by (means of) the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eph. iii. 9. Grace was given to his people in Christ Jesus, and eternal life was promised by God that cannot lie, before the world began. 2 Tim. i. 9; Titus, i. 2.

It is not possible that God would have purposed the entrance of sin, had he not been able to turn it to his glory. No man would act in the way in which many consider God in this matter to have acted. Could any man foresee that what he was about to do would turn to his dishonour and injury, and would he not avoid it? And shall God will and foresee that sin should enter, and shall he permit its entrance, if it is ultimately to prove dishonourable to his character? To suppose that there were innumerable plans of creation present to the mind of the Creator, that each of them had advantages and disadvantages, and that God chose that which upon the whole was best, is nothing- but disguised atheism. This supposes that the Creator is neither all-wise nor all-powerful.

The universal apostasy of the nations of the earth from the worship of God, and the present apostasy of the Jews, are things apparently dishonourable to God, and which man with God’s power would not have permitted. But both are according to the counsel of God, and will redound to his glory. We cannot understand how this can be so. It is to us a depth unfathomable. The Apostle wonders at it, but does not pretend to explain it. His language in closing this subject is a recognition that the ways of Jehovah are beyond the grasp of the human intellect. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” What a contrast does this afford to the vain and presumptuous speculations of many interpreters of Scripture! Many receive the testimony of God only as far as they can satisfactorily account for all the reasons and grounds of his conduct. How unbecoming in such a creature as man! Shall man, who is but of yesterday and knows nothing, pretend to fathom the counsels of the Omniscient?

In what prominence and strength of expression is the sovereignty of God exhibited in the ninth chapter of this Epistle! Is the Apostle ashamed of this view of God? Does he cover it with a veil in treating of the rejection of the Jews? No, in the strongest terms that could be selected, he represents, both there and in the eleventh chapter, the glory of God as the principal object in all things that exist, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” The wisdom of this world finds the chief end of the existence of all created beings to be the benevolent design of communicating happiness. But the Apostle gives another view of the subject. He declares the glory of God to be the end of creation. Let Christians, then, not be ashamed of this display of the divine character. Let them rather be ashamed of modifying their views of God, by the systems of human science. Let them return to the strong and Scriptural statements of the Reformers on the subject, and as little children believe God’s account of himself.

The attentive reader of the preceding part of this Epistle, who is willing to submit to receive in all things the true and obvious meaning of Scripture, cannot fail to perceive that all the doctrines which are there brought before us give the whole glory of every thing to God. Jehovah is seen to be glorified in his judgments as well as in his grace, in his wrath as well as in his mercy, in those who are lost as well as in those who are saved. However disagreeable this may be to the natural mind of man, it is truly reasonable. Can there be a higher end than the glory of the divine character? And can man, who is a fallen and lost creature, share with his oifended sovereign in the glory of his recovery? Such a thought is as incongruous as it is palpably unscriptural. If there be hope for h e guilty, if there be recovery to any from the ruins of the fall, it is the voice of reason properly exercised, as well as of the divine word, that it must come from God himself.

How astonishing, then, is it that men should be so averse to the doctrines of the Scripture which hold forth this view. So oflfensive are they to the mind of man that every effort of ingenuity has been employed by those who understand not the Gospel to eject them from the Scriptures, and many even of the people of God themselves labour to modify and bring them to a nearer conformity to the wisdom of the world, or, at least, to make them less offensive to human prejudices. This wisdom is foolishness, and is highly dishonourable to God, as well as pernicious to themselves. When God has brought salvation nigh as entirely his gift, and has exhibited Christ as a Saviour, through faith, to the Chief of Sinners, how injurious is it to the honour of his truth, and to the interests of sinners, to put the salvation of the Gospel at a distance, and as it were in defiance of the Apostle to send men to heaven to bring Christ down from above, or to the deep to bring him up from the grave! What folly appears in that wisdom that sees greater security for the believer’s final happiness in making him the author of his own destiny, than in resting the security of his salvation on the power and love of his Almighty Saviour! How vain is that wisdom which considers the performance of good works to be better secured by resting them on the resolutions and faithfulness of the believer himself, than on the fact of his oneness with Christ in his death and resurrection.

All who acknowledge regeneration by the Spirit of God virtually concede the things which they are unwilling to confess in plain and direct statement. If men are by nature dead in sin, surely their new life is not in any sense produced by themselves. If their change from sin to holiness be a new birth, how contradictory to suppose that they have any share in this great change. Yet how many will acknowledge that every thing good in us is of God, who will yet labour to show that still there is some remaining moral ability in man to turn himself to God. Is not this to sacrifice to their own wisdom? Will they proudly refuse submission to the declarations of God’s word till they are able to fathom the depths of the divine counsels?

Many Christians, who admit the truth of all those doctrines which are most offensive to the world, act on the principle, that it is wise to conceal their views on these points, or at least to keep them as much as possible in the background. They think in this way to be more useful to the world. But is it wisdom, is it duty, is it consistent with our allegiance to Christ, to keep in abeyance doctrines which so much glorify God, and are so prominently held forth in the Scriptures? Christians should recollect, that although the avoiding of certain offensive doctrines may lessen the prejudice of the world against the professors of Christianity, yet that to turn a sinner to God is, in all cases, the work of God himself. How can we then expect a blessing on our efforts, if we seek to conceal what he exhibits in a blaze of light? Better, much better in all things, to exhibit the truths of the Divine word just as that word itself exhibits them, and leave the success of our efforts to him who alone can make them effectual. We cannot by all we can do bring one soul to Christ. We cannot make one sinner alive by the Gospel, more than we can raise the dead out of their graves. Let us then renounce our own wisdom, and our own plans, and let us teach Divine truth as it is taught in the Scriptures.

All religions, but that of the Bible, divide the glory of recovering men to happiness between God and the sinner. All false views of the Gospel do the same. The Bible alone makes the salvation of guilty men terminate in the glory of God as its chief end. This doctrine is peculiar to riofht views of the Christian religion. Can there, then, be a more convincing evidence that the Bible is from God? If such a feature is peculiar to the Christian religion, yet offensive to most of them that bear the Christian name, it is the most demonstrative evidence that this revelation is not from man. How solid, then, are the foundations of the Christian religion, when the very things in it that are most offensive to the world afford the most satisfactory evidence that it is from God!