CONTENTS
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit of circumcision? (2) Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (3) For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? (4) God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. having therefore started the question in the first verse, opens at once in the, to give answer. And he begins with setting forth, the vast advantage the had over the notwithstanding the mercies themselves had, by their abuse of them, been much perverted. And while he observes, that their privileges were every way great, he mentions one, which indeed, more or less, comprehended in its bosom every other; namely, in having the Oracles of his holy Word, which so blessedly set forth, in type and shadow, as well as by absolute promise and prophecy, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle is here further prosecuting the Subject respecting the Jews. He proves the full Condemnation of all the World before God by the Deeds of the Law, In the close, he sweetly preacheth Christ.
Romans 3:1-4 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit of circumcision? (2) Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (3) For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? (4) God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? (2) Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (3) For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? (4) God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
We cannot sufficiently admire, the very delightful method, the Apostle was led to adopt, in this Chapter, while prosecuting his subject. He puts a question into the mouth of the Church, which he foresaw would arise in the minds of the people, from what he had said, and as instantly answers it. Concluding, that from the leveling principle he had made, of hewing down at one stroke both Jew and Gentile, as alike unable to justify themselves before God, it would stagger the faith of many, who had before conceived, as the Jews all along had done, high notions of their privileges; he demands, to what good the whole of the dispensation by the Jew had tended? What advantage then (saith he) hath the Jew; or what profit is there of Circumcision? As if he had said, If your statement be correct, that the Jew is as far from salvation by the law, as the Gentile is by nature; to what purpose was it to be born of the natural stock of Abraham, or what use was it for all his children to be circumcised?
The answer to those interesting questions, which the Apostle immediately follows up, in a most ample and satisfactory manner, gives occasion to set forth, in yet stronger features of character, the object he had all along in view, of the utterly lost and helpless estate of every man before God, in anything of his own. And the great drift from the whole is, to prove the absolute need of Christ; and the compleatness in Christ, in a way of a full, free, and finished justification.
Paul having therefore started the question in the first verse, opens at once in the, to give answer. And he begins with setting forth, the vast advantage the had over the notwithstanding the mercies themselves had, by their abuse of them, been much perverted. And while he observes, that their privileges were every way great, he mentions one, which indeed, more or less, comprehended in its bosom every other; namely, in having the Oracles of his holy Word, which so blessedly set forth, in type and shadow, as well as by absolute promise and prophecy, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
having therefore started the question in the first verse, opens at once in the second, to give answer. And he begins with setting forth, the vast advantage the Jew had over the Gentile, notwithstanding the mercies themselves had, by their abuse of them, been much perverted. And while he observes, that their privileges were every way great, he mentions one, which indeed, more or less, comprehended in its bosom every other; namely, in having the Oracles of his holy Word, which so blessedly set forth, in type and shadow, as well as by absolute promise and prophecy, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I beg the Reader to pause in this place. And, I would ask him, whether it doth not strike him, that over and above these things, among the many blessed designs in God the Holy Ghost, when committing the sacred Oracles to the Jewish nation, which contain such abundant proofs and testimonies, of all the leading doctrines of our most holy faith; that this also was a very principal one: namely, to confirm to all the after ages of the Church, the truth as it is in Jesus. Who, that reads the Scriptures of the Old Testament with an enlightened eye, but must see the doctrine of the Holy Three in One, which bear record in Heaven, shining with full lustre in every Book? Who that hears the Prophets, predicting the coming of the Messiah, but must be struck with their witness to the Godhead of Christ? All, with one voice, bearing testimony to one and the same fundamental truth; behold your God will come and save you! then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped!, Isaiah 35:4-5; Luke 4:16-21. And who that reads so much of the out-pouring of the Spirit in the latter day dispensation, upon all flesh; can hesitate to conclude, but that the leading design for which such grace was foretold, was that the minds of the people in the Church of God, might be led to discover, under his Almighty teaching, sweet features of the Person, Godhead, and Ministry, of the Eternal Spirit?, Joel 2:28, with Acts 2:17; 1 Corinthians 12:1 throughout.
The Reader may, if he please, accept the foregoing paragraph as if written within a parenthesis. I could not suppress the thought, which involuntarily arose in my mind, from the view, of the sacred Oracles having been all along deposited with Israel, for this among other purposes. And, I hope it may be found useful. With such as call in question those fundamental truths of our holy faith, I cannot suppose it will be interesting. But the Poor Man's Commentary is designed for a very different class, James 2:5. And, all of a contrary complexion, are invulnerable to conviction, untaught by the Spirit; neither can they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead!, Luke 16:31
The Apostle very properly argues, that the unbelief of Israel, could not do away God's promises, which were not conditional, for those promises depended not upon the merit of man, but the faithfulness of God. And the instance of David is as gracious as it is striking, by way of confirmation. God's promise to David, was an absolute unconditional promise, that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, Psalms 132:11; Acts 2:30. But shall David's sin, in the case of Bathsheba, do away this promise? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar. The Lord must be justified in his sayings. His word must stand. And, if presumptuous men will dare to impeach, either the Lord's word, or his wisdom, in any of his dispensations; he will be found justified and holy in all. Reader! do not overlook by the way the blessedness of this doctrine, as it may be, and as it ought to be, applied, to numberless occasions in life.