have attained to justification, even the justification which is by faith.

31 But Israel, which followed after a system of justification, hath not attained to a system of justification;

32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as if it were attainable by the works of the law; for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;

and is called justification by faith, because it is received from God through faith; "it is by faith that the Gospel exercises a vital influence, spreading itself over all the powers of the soul, and quickening them into a divine life, and that life and salvation which result from justification by faith, all flow like faith itself from God, gratuitously imparting his Spirit to the minds of men, whereas if life could have been by the law, its original and principle must have been resolved into men themselves, who must have actuated that dead matter without them, and by exercising themselves therein have produced that virtue and energy in it which, of itself, it had not-and, therefore, the righteousness of the law was so defined, that he that did those things should live in them.' We may be as legal as the Jews were, if we converse with the Gospel only as a thing without us, and be as far short of the justification which is of Christ by faith as they were, if we regard it only as an outward covering, and attain not an internal transformation of our minds and souls into conformity with it; the Gospel must come to us not only in word, but in power, and convey the blood of sprinkling into our defiled consciences, to purge them from dead works; our notions of justification must not puff us up into higher conceits of ourselves than God has of us, we must not profanely make the unspotted righteousness of Christ to serve only as a cloak to cover the foul deformity of our vices, and then think ourselves in as good credit with God as we are with ourselvesthink ourselves heaven's favourites as much as we are our own; the merit and obedience of our Saviour gain us favour with God, and powerfully draw down the

33 As it is written, "Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence, and whosoever trusteth in him shall not be ashamed."

CHAP. X.

1 TRULY, brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for Israel is, that they may be saved.

2 For I bear them witness

benign influences of heaven upon us, but we are too apt fondly to imagine a greater change in the esteem which God hath of us than becomes us, and reckon too little of the real and vital emanations of his grace upon us."

Verse 33. The apostle cites two passages from Isaiah (viz., viii. 14, and xxviii. 16), in which God had warned the Jews that their deliverance from destruction, and their future security, depended wholly on their trust in him, their faith and their obedience; and this citation proves that Christ was that Immanuel, that divine refuge of whom the prophet spoke; but the thought of trusting in a crucified Saviour proved a stumbling-block to them, as the prophet foretold; they chose to trust rather in their own fancied merits.

CHAP. X.

St. Paul omits no opportunity of endeavouring to soften the prejudices and to conciliate the good-will of his fellowcountrymen by testifying the ardent desire that he felt for their welfare; and his labours for their conversion bore eloquent testimony to the truth of his words. Here, to qualify in some degree his censure of their enmity to the Gospel, he acknowledges that they were actuated by a zeal for God, but it was an ignorant zeal, such as his own had been before the light from heaven had shone into his soul, to guide him into the way of truth; they had not penetrated to the true import of the Mosaic ritual, whose sacrifices for atonement, and ceremonies for purification were symbols of a better covenant the covenant of grace.

that they have a zeal for God, but a zeal not according to knowledge;

3 For they, not recognizing the method of justification appointed of God, and seeking to set up a justification of their

own-a justification wrought by themselves-have not submitted themselves to the justification appointed of God.

4 For Christ is the end of the law, for the justification of every one that believeth.

Verse 1.-"My prayer to God for Israel" for my nation the children of Israel (chap. ix. 4, 27, 31)—" is that they may be saved" from divine wrath, may be conducted to the true way of salvation, by believing, and confessing the Lord Jesus. See after, verses 9, 10, 13; chap. v. 9, 10.

Verse 3-Is explanatory of verse 2: แ 'they have a zeal for God," but not an enlightened zeal "not according to knowledge," "for not knowing the method of justification appointed of God," not recognising it in the law, as they might and should have done, if they had spiritual discernment to understand the law; for, rightly understood, it would have taught them to trust in the great atonementwould have conducted them to Christ.

"They have not submitted themselves to the justification appointed of God." The Gospel abases the pride of man, presenting a faithful mirror, in which he beholds his own vileness, his helplessness, his misery; thus it excludes all glorying in ourselves, and centres all our hopes of happiness in God's pure mercy and love, to the praise of the glory of his grace; but proud man does not like to acknowledge his own unworthiness and his impotence, nor to owe his happiness entirely to mercy and to grace. "Such, especially," says Smith, was the feeling of the Jews, who gloried in their own sufficiency, and reckoned upon a happiness to be achieved by the merit of their works, more illustrious than that beggarly kind of happiness, as they regarded it, which comes like alms from God's bounty; they affirmed that happiness by way of reward is far greater and more magnificent than that which is received by way of mercy;" therefore they would not submit themselves to the method of justification appointed of God.

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Verse 4, &c.-"For Christ is the end of the law for the justification of every

one that believeth in him." God designed that the law should be a conductor to lead men to Christ (Gal. iii. 24); the sacrifices which it prescribed were but types and shadows of his great atonement; a terrible curse was annexed to disobedience, that men might more keenly feel their need of a Saviour, and more eagerly flee to him for refuge; justification by the law depended on the strict performance of its commandments,—"The man that hath done these things shall live by them," but to do them required a living spirit of holiness in the soul, which the law could not impart; if a law had been given that could have given lifethat could quicken the torpid soul, and endue it with a living energy of holiness -then justification might have been by the law (Ezek. xviii. 5, &c.); but the law has no such power until Christ has it written in the heart by the Holy Spirit; thus whereas Moses was but the minister of a law of rites and shadows, Christ is the dispenser of grace and truth-of life and substance-of God's free and gratuitous bounty. His Gospel, the plan of justification revealed by him, speaks hope and comfort to the sinner; it tells him not to let doubt or despondency arise in his heart, as if it were necessary for his salvation to bring our Lord down again from heaven, or to raise him again from the dead. No; the means of life and salvation have been already brought near to us by Christ and the Holy Spirit, to be in our hearts and in our mouths- -the Gospel proclaimed by Christ and his apostles is that means. In contrasting the two methods of justification, St. Paul applies to the Gospel system what Moses had written (Deut. xxx. 11-14) concerning the commandments of God, that they were not abstruse or hard to be understood, but plainly revealed, and easy to be known. The expressions, "Who shall ascend into heaven ?" "Who shall descend into the deep?" are of a proverbial kind, and are

5 For Moses describeth the justification which is by the law, That the man who hath done these things-who hath perfectly fulfilled the duties which the law enjoins--shall live by them-shall obtain life as the reward of his fulfilment of the law (Lev. xviii. 5).

6 But the justification which is by faith speaketh in this wise, "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven?"

used to express something very difficult (Baruch iii. 29, 30; Job xi. 7, 8). It is as vain for Christians to plead the abstruseness or difficulty of the Gospel, as an excuse for neglecting it, as it would have been for the Jews to plead ignorance of God's law. As the law was brought near to the Jews by Moses, so has the Gospel been brought near to us by Christ and his apostles.

Verse 5.- -"The man who hath done these things shall live by them." Under the Jewish economy, the promised rewards of obedience were, apparently, only temporal, viz., rest in the promised landgreat prosperity-a long and happy life; but the spiritually-minded discerned in these promises a deeper meaning, and were led by them to expect a heavenly inheritance -a happy eternity in the presence of God-and so the Jewish interpreters of the law explained them (Heb. xi. 13-16).

Verse 8.-"What saith it?" i.e., what saith the system of justification by faith? "The word which it saith is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart," i.e., obvious and easily understood, "I mean the doctrine of faith which we preach;" the apostle continues to adopt the words of Moses, and to accommodate them to his own teaching.

Verse 9.-" Namely, that if thou wilt confess with thy mouth," &c., i.e., "this is what the system of justification by faith says, and what has been brought near to you by the Lord Jesus, and by us his apostles." St. Paul adheres to the order of Moses' words, as quoted in the preceding verse, placing confession with the mouth

(that is, in order to bring down Christ from above;)

7 "Or, who shall descend into the deep?" (that is, in order to bring up Christ again from the dead;)

8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart;" that is, the word of faith which we preach;

9 Namely, "That if thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and wilt be

"To

first; but his statement is, in effect, equivalent to the declaration of our Lord (Mark xvi. 16), "that whosoever believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved," for, in baptism, public confession was made of the faith already seated in the heart. the period of baptism, therefore," says Barrow, "the act of justification may be supposed especially to appertain, when the evangelical covenant was solemnly ratified, and the grace connected with it especially conferred; but the virtue and effect of that first justifying act continue, and we abide in a justified state so long as we do not, by sinking into infidelity, or profaneness of life, and thus violating the vow made by us at baptism, or by others on our behalf, forfeit the benefit of that grace (Heb. x. 23-39)." The faith which justifies us, and pleases God, has its seat in the heart; it is rooted in God's Word, and fostered by his Spirit, and will not fear to confess itself whenever God may be glorified, or the world be benefited thereby; the man who possesses it will endeavour to regulate his life by it, and will value it above his life, and will dare to suffer persecution and to die for it. Two points only of the creed are here mentioned as necessary to salvation: 1st, that we confess Jesus to be the Lord; and 2nd, that God hath raised him from the dead;-by the first we own him for our lawgiver and our guardian-by the second, for our Saviour and Redeemer. Nor is it strange that to the hearty belief and sincere profession of these two articles salvation is annexed, since these two articles involve the truth of all the rest. "The consideration of the resurrection," says Barrow, was so present to the minds of the ancient

lieve in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

10 For with the heart man believeth unto justification, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith,

"Whoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed" (Isaiah xxviii. 16).

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek

-the Gentile — for the same Lord over all is rich in mercy unto all that call upon him.

Christians, that it was their common custom, whenever they met, to salute each other with 'Christ is risen,' that glorious truth importing such great benefit, and producing such excellent fruit. The consideration of our Lord's resurrection must strengthen our faith, and quicken our hope in God, causing us firmly to believe his Word, and confidently to rely on his promises of bestowing on us a happy immortality, if we be followers of him who died for us. Surely he that was so faithful in raising our Lord from the grave, so notably rewarding his obedience and patience, by advancing him to supreme dignity and glory, at his right hand, will not fail also to confer on us, walking in the footsteps of his piety, the promised inheritance of everlasting life and bliss-the never-failing crown of righteousness and glory-surely by this grand experiment, and sensible proof, we are clearly informed, and should be fully persuaded, that nothing can destroy-nothing can harm us-nothing can separate us from our God and our happiness (chap. viii. 35); that no force, no fraud, no malice of men, no spite nor rage of hell can finally prevail against us. What, then, reasonably can be dreadful or discouraging to us?-what should drive us into distrust or despondence ?"

Verse 10-Serves to explain and enforce verse 9. "With the heart man believeth unto justification," i.e., so as to be justified, "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation," i.e., so as to attain salvation. In the days of the apostle, the man who had faith to confess Christ with the mouth, must have been prepared to encounter persecution, and a cruel death, for his sake; there could be no doubt, therefore, that his faith was sincere, and it might well be assumed, that he would obtain the crown of righteousness, reserved for those who persevere unto the end (Matt. x. 16-22, 32; Luke xii. 8; John xii. 42).

Verse 11.-"For whoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed"-shall not be confounded, or disappointed of his hope (see chap. v. 5). The word (аσ) “whoever" is not in the passage cited by the apostle, but was added by him to give prominence and emphasis to that which it was one of the chief purposes of the epistle to establish, namely, that under the Gospel, all men-Gentile and Jew-are on a level with regard to the way of salvation, and their rank in the divine favour; as he proceeds to say in the next verse.

Verse 12, &c.-"For there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile;" that is, no difference as regards justification, and acceptance with God (chap. iii. 22), "for the same Lord over all is rich in mercy to all that call on him"-to all that worship him, and trust in him (Gen. iv. 26; Isaiah lxiv. 7). To appease the jealousy of his countrymen, and to vindicate his own zeal for the conversion of the Gentiles, the apostle observes that God is the gracious Lord of all alike, an argument which he had employed for a similar purpose (chap. iii. 22, 29, 30), and appeals to the testimony of their own venerated prophets to prove that the calling of the Gentiles had always been designed in the counsels of God; Joel (ii. 32) had announced that all who trusted in the Lord should be saved, and that Lord was Christ; but, especially, Isaiah had repeatedly proclaimed that the Gentiles should be gathered into the Church of God, and nothing but corrupt and culpable prejudice could have blinded the Jews to the import of an announcement so interesting to the world. God willed that Gentiles, as well as Jews, should call on the name of the Lord Jesus; but they could not call on a name which they had never heard; they must, therefore, be made acquainted with it; there was no probability that they would seek salvation, until it should first have sought

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

14 But how shall men call upon 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?

15 And how shall men preach except they be sent with authority to do so? as it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of them that bring

them; God, who willed that they should not perish, must send his messengers to them, as he did the apostles throughout the world.

Verse 15.-"As it is written" (Isaiah lii. 7). The beautiful exclamation of Isaiah, announcing the coming news of deliverance from the Babylonian captivity, was intended to apply also to happier tidings, even the glad tidings of the Gospel; the tidings of deliverance to the Gentiles from ignorance and idolatry; of deliverance to all mankind from the captivity of sin and death. "These three subjects," says Bishop Lowth, are subordinate to one another, and the two latter are shadowed out under the image of the former; they are covered by it as by a veil, which, however, is transparent, and suffers them to appear through it. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the joyful messenger!' is an expression highly poetical, for how welcome is his arrival! how agreeable the tidings which he brings!" (See Appendix.)

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Verse 16. In this verse the apostle anticipates and answers an objection to the statement just made concerning God's purpose of sending the message of salvation to all men-Gentiles as well as Jews. "But," it may be asked, "if it was God's purpose to extend the blessing of salvation to all, how does it happen that all have not obeyed the Gospel?" To which I answer, that this rejection of the divine message by the majority of men was to be expected, for it is virtually foretold by

glad tidings of peace! that bring glad tidings of good things!"

16 But all have not obeyed the Gospel-that was a thing to be expected-for Isaiah saith, "Lord, who hath believed our message ?"

17 Faith, therefore, cometh from hearing the heavenly message, and the message heard cometh by the word the appointment of God.

18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, the preach

the prophet when he complainingly asks, "Lord, who hath believed our message?" It is now as it was in his day—but few, comparatively, have obeyed the call of God's messengers (Isa. liii. i.; Heb. iv. 2; Jer. vii. 25, &c.).

Verse 17.-"Faith, therefore, cometh from hearing the heavenly message." This inference is drawn, not from the preceding verse which is merely parenthetic, and designed to answer an anticipated objection-but from verses 14, 15, "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" Faith cometh by hearing and attending to the word of life, and that word proceeds from divine inspiration, and is propounded to us by the appointment and authority of God. All true knowledge of divine things, and all correct language relating to them, must have its origin in revelation, and be founded on the authority of God; by which authority we are commissioned and qualified to bear his message to the world.

Verse 18.-"Their voice has gone forth into all the earth." The commission of the apostles and ministers of our Lord was like that of the orbs of heaven, to proclaim the glory of God to all mankind. St. Paul applies the words spoken by the psalmist (Psalm xix.), of the luminaries of the firmament, to the manifestations of the light of life, by the discourses of God's authorized ministers. Some maintain that the apostle quotes these words, not by way of accommodation to his argument, but as