by Jesus Christ, which the gospel reveals; the first is entirely shut against men, and in order to their being saved, there remains only the last. The other thing that he designs to establish is, that justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ respects indifferently all men, both Jews and Gentiles, and that it abolishes the distinction which the law had made between them. To arrive at this he first proves that the Gentiles as well as the Jews are subject to the judgment of God; but that being all sinners and guilty, neither the one nor the other can escape condemnation by their works. He humbles them both. He sets before the Gentiles the blind ignorance and unrighteousness both of themselves and of their philosophers of whom they boasted, and he teaches humility to the Jews by showing that they were chargeable with similar vices. He undermines in both the pride of self-merit, and teaches all to build their hopes on Jesus Christ alone; proving that their salvation can neither emanate from their philosophy nor from their law, but from the grace of Christ Jesus.

In the first chapter, the Apostle commences by directing our attention to the person of the Son of God in his incarnation in time, and his divine nature from eternity, as the great subject of that gospel which he was commissioned to proclaim. After a most striking introduction, every way calculated to arrest the attention, and conciliate the affection of those whom he addressed, he briefly announces the grand truth, which he intends afterwards to establish, that "the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," because in it is revealed "THE Righteousness of GOD." Unless such a righteousness had been provided, all men must have suffered the punishment due to sin, seeing God had denounced his high displeasure against all "ungodliness and unrighteousness." These are the great truths which the Apostle immediately proceeds to unfold. And as they stand connected with every part of that salvation which God has prepared, he is led to exhibit a most animating and consolatory view of the whole plan of mercy, which proclaims "glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.'

The first point which the Apostle establishes is the ruined condition of men, who, being entirely divested of righteousness, are by nature all under sin. The charge of "ungodliness" and of consequent "unrighteousness," he proves first against the Gentiles. They had departed from the worship of God, although in the works of the visible creation they had sufficient notification of his power and Godhead. In their conduct they had violated the law written in their hearts, and had sinned in opposition to what they knew to be right, and to the testimony of their conscience in its favor. All of them, therefore, lay under the sentence of condemnation, which will be pronounced upon the workers of iniquity in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men. In the second chapter, a similar charge of transgression and guilt is established against the Jews, notwithstanding the superior advantage of a written revelation, with which they had been favored.

Having proved, in the first two chapters, by an appeal to undeniable facts, that the Gentiles and the Jews were both guilty before God, in

the third chapter, after obviating some objections regarding the Jews, Paul takes both Jews and Gentiles together, and exhibits a fearful picture, drawn from the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures, of the universal guilt and depravity of all mankind, showing that "there is none righteous, no, not one," and that all are depraved, wicked, and alienated from God. He thus establishes it as an undeniable truth, that every man in his natural state lies under the just condemnation of God, as a rebel against him, in all the three ways in which he has been pleased to reveal himself, whether by the works of creation, the work of the law written on the heart, or by the revelation of grace. From these premises, he then draws the obvious and inevitable conclusion, that by obedience to law no man living shall be justified; that so far from justifying, the law proves every one to be guilty and under condemnation. The way is thus prepared for the grand display of the grace and mercy of God announced in the gospel, by which men are saved consistently with the honor of the law. What the law could not do, not from any deficiency in itself, but owing to the depravity of man, God has fully accomplished. Man has no righteousness of his own which he can plead, but God has provided a righteousness for him. This righteousness, infinitely superior to that which he originally possessed, is provided solely by grace, and received solely by faith. It is placed to the account of the believer for his justification, without the smallest respect either to his previous or subsequent obedience. Yet so far from being contrary to the justice of God, this method of justification, "freely by his grace," strikingly illustrates his justice, and vindicates all his dealings to men. So far from making the law void, it establishes it in all its honor and authority. This way of salvation equally applies to all, both Jews and Gentiles-men of every nation and every character; "there is no difference," for all, without exception, are sinners.

The Apostle, in the fourth chapter, dwells on the faith through which the righteousness of God is received, and in obviating certain objections, further confirms and illustrates his doctrine, by showing that Abraham himself, the progenitor of the Jews, was justified not by works but by faith, and that in this way he was the father of all believers, the pattern and the type of the justification of both Jews and Gentiles. And in order to complete the view of the great subject of his discussion, Paul considers, in the fifth chapter, two principal effects of justification by Jesus Christ, namely, peace with God, and assurance of salvation, notwithstanding the troubles and afflictions to which believers are exposed. And because Jesus Christ is the author of this divine reconciliation, he compares him with Adam, who was the source of condemnation, concluding with a striking account of the entrance of sin and of righteousness, both of which he had been exhibiting. He next shows the reason, why, between Adam and Jesus Christ, God caused the law of Moses to intervene, by means of which the extent of the evil of sin, and the efficiency of the remedy brought in by righteousness, were both fully exhibited, to the glory of the grace of God. These five chapters disclose a consistent scheme in the Divine conduct, and exhibit à plan of

reconciling sinners to God, that never could have been discovered by the human understanding. It is the perfection of wisdom, yet in all its features it is opposed to the wisdom of this world.

As the doctrine of the justification of sinners, by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, without regard to their works, which manifests, in all their extent, the guilt, the depravity, and the helplessness of man, in order to magnify grace in his pardon, might be charged with leading to licentiousness, Paul does not fail to state this objection, and solidly to refute it. This he does in the sixth and seventh chapters, in which he proves that, so far from setting aside the necessity of obedience to God, the doctrine of justification stands indissolubly connected with the very foundation of holiness and obedience. This foundation is union with the Redeemer, through that faith by which the believer is justified. On the contrary, the law operates by its restraints to stimulate and call into action the corruptions of the human heart, while at the same time it condemns all who are under its dominion. But through their union with Christ, believers are delivered from the law; and being under grace, which produces love, they are enabled to bring forth fruit acceptable to God. The law, however, is in itself holy, and just, and good. As such, it is employed by the Spirit of God to convince his people of sin, to teach them the value of the remedy provided in the gospel, and to lead them to cleave unto the Lord, from a sense of the remaining corruption of their hearts. This corruption, as the Apostle shows, by a striking description of his own experience, will continue to exert its power in believers, so long as they are in the body.

As a general conclusion from all that had gone before, the believer's entire freedom from condemnation through union with his glorious head, and his consequent sanctification, are both asserted in the eighth chapter, neither of which effects could have been accomplished by the law. The opposite results of death to the carnal mind, which actuated man in his natural state; and of life to the spiritual mind, which he receives in his renovation, are clearly pointed out; and as the love of God had been shown in the fifth chapter to be so peculiarly transcendent, from the consideration that Christ died for men, not as friends and worthy objects, but as "without strength," "ungodly," "sinners," "enemies," so here the natural state of those on whom such unspeakable blessings are bestowed is described as "enmity against God." The effects of the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit in those who are regenerated are next disclosed, together with the glorious privileges which it secures. Amidst present sufferings the highest consolations are presented to the children of God, while their original source and final issue are pointed out.

The contemplation of such ineffable blessings as he had just been describing, reminds the Apostle of the mournful state of the generality of his countrymen, who, though distinguished in the highest degree by

The former editions of this Exposition were published in three separate volumes. Of the first volume, including these five chapters, the present is the fifth edition.

their external privileges, still, as he himself had once done, rejected the Messiah. And as the doctrine he had been inculcating seemed to set aside the promises which God had made to the Jewish people; and to take from them the Divine covenant under which they had been placed, Paul states that objection and obviates it in the ninth chapter, showing that on the one hand the promises of spiritual blessings regarded only believers, who are the real Israelites, the true seed of Abraham, and on the other, that faith itself being an effect of grace, God bestows it according to his sovereign will, so that the difference between believers and unbelievers is a consequence of his free election, of which the sole cause is his good pleasure, which he exercises, both in regard to the Jews and the Gentiles. Nothing, then, had frustrated the purpose of God; and his word had taken effect so far as he had appointed. The doctrine of God's sovereignty is here fully discussed, and that very objection which is daily made, "why doth he yet find fault?" is stated, and for ever put down. Instead of national election, the great subject in this chapter is national rejection; and the personal election of a small remnant, without which the whole nation of Israel would have been destroyed; so devoid of reason is the objection usually made to the doctrine of election, that it is a cruel doctrine. In the end of the ninth chapter, the Apostle is led to the consideration of the fatal error of the great body of the Jews who sought justification by works and not by faith. Mistaking the intent and the end of their law, they stumbled at this doctrine, which is the common stumbling-stone to unregenerate

men.

In the tenth chapter Paul resumes the same subject, and by new proofs, drawn from the Old Testament, shows that the righteousness of God which the Jews, going about to establish their own righteousness for their justification, rejected, is received solely by faith in Jesus Christ, and that the gospel regards the Gentiles as well as the Jews; and if rejected by the Jews it is not surprising, since this had been predicted by the prophets. The Jews thus excluded themselves from salvation, not discerning the true character of the Messiah of Israel as the end of the law, and the author of righteousness, to every believer. And yet when they reflected on the declaration of Moses, that to obtain life by the law, the perfect obedience which it demands must in every case be yielded, they might have been convinced that on this ground they could not be justified; on the contrary, by the law they were universally condemned. The Apostle also exhibits the freeness of salvation through the Redeemer, and the certainty that all who accept it shall be saved. And since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, the necessity of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles is inferred and asserted. The result corresponded with the prediction. The righteousness which is by faith was received by the Gentiles, although they had not been inquiring for it; while the Jews, who followed after the law of righteousness, had not attained to righteousness.

The mercies of God, as illustrated by the revelation of the righteousness which is received by faith, was the grand subject which had occupied Paul, in the preceding part of this Epistle. He had

announced at the beginning that he was "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; because it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth-to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." This great truth he had undertaken to demonstrate, and he had done so with all the authority and force of inspiration, by exhibiting, on the one hand, the state and character of man; and on the other, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

In the prosecution of this subject, the Apostle had shown that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; and by arguments the most irresistible, and evidence that could not be gainsaid, he had brought in both Jews and Gentiles as guilty and condemned sinners, justly obnoxious to the vengeånce of heaven. Had the Almighty been pleased to abandon the apostate race of Adam, as he did the angels, to perish in their sins, none could have impeached his justice, or arraigned the rigor of the Divine procedure. But in the unsearchable riches of the mercies of God, he was pleased to bring near a righteousness by which his violated law should be magnified, and a multitude whom no man can number rescued from destruction, This righteousness is revealed in the gospel-a righteousness worthy of the source from which it flows-a righteousness which shall for ever abase the pride of the creature, and bring glory to God in the highest. The mercies of God are thus dispensed in such a way as to cut off all ground for boasting on the part of those who are justified. They are, on the contrary, calculated to exalt the divine sovereignty, and to humble those in the dust who are saved before him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, and without giving any account of his matters, either justifies or condemns the guilty according to his supreme pleasure.

In the eleventh chapter, the Apostle finishes his argument, and in a manner concludes his subject. He here resumes the doctrine of the personal election of a remnant of Israel, of which he had spoken in the ninth chapter, and affirms, in the most express terms, that it is wholly of grace, which consequently excludes as its cause every idea of work, or of merit, on the part of man. He shows that the unbelief of the Jews has not been universal, God having still reserved some of them by his gratuitous election, while as a nation he has allowed them to fall, and that this fall has been appointed in the wise providence of God to open the way for the calling of the Gentiles. But in order that the Gentiles may not triumph over that outcast nation, Paul predicts that God will one day raise it up again, and recall the whole of it to communion with himself. He vindicates God's dealings both towards Jews and Gentiles, showing that since all were guilty and justly condemned, God was acting on a plan by which both in the choice and partial rejection, as well as in the final restoration of the Jews, the Divine glory would be manifested, while in the result, the sovereign mercies of Jehovah would shine forth conspicuous in all his dealings toward the children of men. A most consolatory view is, accordingly given of the present tendency and final issue of the dispensations of God in bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles, and in the general sal