Yea, we establish the law— Meaning, through faith. He did not make void law through faith, but, on the contrary, established law through faith. Now this demonstrates that law, in this chapter, is to be understood neither of the ceremonial law; nor of law in the rigorous sense, with the penalty of death annexed for every transgression; for it is certain, the Apostle through faith established law in neither of these senses. Law therefore, in this chapter, must necessarily be understood in that general sense, in which it may be applied both to Jews and Gentiles; or, as it is simply, a rule of obedience, or the law of the Gospel. See on Romans 3:20. Faith, in the apostolic scheme, is the principle of obedience: Gospel faith works by love, and without works is dead, James 2:17. We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works: they that believe in God, ought to be careful to maintain good works. The Christian lies under the strongest obligations to righteousness and obedience. This the Apostle urges very strenuously in chap. 6: where he shews at large how he establishes law, or obedience through faith. See "Christ the Mediator," p. 90, &c.
Inferences.—The sad use which those persons have heretofore made of the divine favours, by whose hands they have been conveyed down to us (Romans 3:1.), ought by no means to lessen our gratitude towards God. If it were so great an advantage to the Jews, to have received the oracles of God wrapped up in so many obscure clouds, and as it were sealed up (Romans 3:2); how great is the mercy towards Christians, who have received the interpretation, and the effect of the promises contained in them! But at the same time, what awefu1 judgment may not they expect, who fail to make a good use of this extraordinary privilege!—Gratitude and fear ought scarce ever to be separated in reference to this subject; but while we thankfully own the inestimable goodness of God in having favoured us with his sacred oracles, it behoves us to endeavour to improve in the knowledge of them. And, thus instructed, let us be careful to form the most honourable notion of God, as the worthy and universal Judge, who will never fail to do right, without respect of persons.
What a striking reflection does the Apostle suggest in Romans 3:6.!—GOD himself, were he unjust, could not be the Judge of the world; and yet man, who is comparatively nothing but injustice,—vain, erring man, undertakes boldly to judge of every thing. May these views of God and of ourselves produce in us an abhorrence of every evil thing, of every rash judgment, which must necessarily be displeasing to him: nor let us even allow ourselves to be brought under the influence of those fallacious and pernicious maxims, which would persuade us that, "The goodness of the intention sanctifies the badness of the action;" (see Romans 3:8.) or that the pretended benevolence of the end will justify irregularities in the means.
God's judgment and decision is final; and the inspired Apostle's authority is an answer to a thousand subtilties, which might attempt to turn us from the strictest rules of that immutable rectitude, on which it always proceeds.
Who can read the melancholy picture of human nature, Romans 3:10-19 copied by the hand of St. Paul, from the lines first drawn by other inspired writers, without deep humility and lamentation? To such a degree was it sunk, that there was none righteous, no, not one; none disposed to seek after God, or to cultivate his fear:—and from this bitter root, the apostacy of our nature, what detestable fruits may not be expected to proceed!—The throat like an open sepulchre, ready to consume and devour,—the deceitful tongue,—the envenomed lips,—the malicious heart,—the murderous hand! And who can wonder, that such rebels to their heavenly Father should sometimes prove ruffians to their brethren!
Let those devoutly bless God, who have been preserved either from falling into such enormities, or from falling by them. It was his grace that restrained us from sinning against him in so aggravated a manner; it is his providence which his guarded us from those, whose feet are swift to shed blood, and whose paths are strewed with destruction and misery.
Above all, we should remember the view in which these instances of corruption were brought; it was to evince this deplorable but undeniable truth, that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, Romans 3:19. The purpose, therefore, of divine conviction being hereby answered on our hearts, let us humble ourselves before God, as those who stand guilty in his presence, and obnoxious to his judgment.
How should our whole souls rejoice in that glorious display of divine mercy, attempered and harmonized with divine justice, in our redemption by Christ, to which the Apostle bears so noble a testimony! Romans 3:20-21. We are all become guilty before God; so that if he should mark iniquity, no flesh living could be justified before him: what so reasonable, what so indispensably necessary, therefore, as with all reverence to esteem, and with all joy to embrace the righteousness of God, as now attested by the law and the prophets, by Christ and his apostles; and which we have the divine word to assure us, shall be upon all believers, without any difference,—humbling ourselves in the presence of God, as those who have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; and seeking to be justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!
To this mighty Deliverer let us continually look, as the great propitiation of lost man; exercising faith in his Blood, and rejoicing that those, which seemed to our feeble apprehensions the most jarring attributes of the Deity, are now reconciled and glorified;—that mercy and truth have met together, that righteousness and peace have kissed each other. And while we readily acknowledge that all boasting is excluded, let us, in the grateful overflowings of our souls, fall down before that throne whence pardon is dispensed; confessing that this act of grace is our only plea, and abasing ourselves before God for ever, in a sense of the demerit of our sins, and of the abundance of his mercy, Romans 3:25-27. It should at all times be noted that the more faith there is in a soul, the less pride is there. Where is boasting then?—It is excluded.—By what law?—the law of faith. Faith humbles man by making him sensible that without Christ he is nothing but falsehood, sin, and unworthiness; and that it is through the merits and grace of his Saviour, that he begins, continues, or completes any thing which is really good.
Jews and Gentiles are bound to unite in thanksgivings to God, and in love to each other, as having been all involved in the same condemnation,—all partakers of the same compassion. But Christians are especially called upon to remember, that by this rich display of grace, the Almighty intended not to supersede, but to establish the law. See Romans 3:29-31. May we, therefore, make it our serious concern, that not only the actions of our lives, but the sentiments of our hearts, be directed and determined by that law; which is now peculiarly enforced by more powerful motives, than when it appeared from Sinai in all its unallayed terrors: let it be seen at all times, and in all our conduct, that the love of Christ effectually constrains us to glorify his name, and exalt the honours of our incarnate God,—that God, who never shews himself more plainly to be our God, than when he produces sincere love through faith in our hearts.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The Apostle proceeds to answer the objections raised against the doctrine that he had advanced, and to confirm the truth which he had asserted.
1. He answers the objections raised against his positions.
[1.] If the Jews are thus in the same condemnation as the Gentiles, what advantage have they, notwithstanding the peculiar favours shewn them of God, and the divinely instituted rites, particularly circumcision, which he appointed them? The Apostle answers, Much every way: chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. In the law and the prophets they had the most blessed means vouchsafed them to come to the knowledge of the truth, and especially of that Messiah who was the sum and substance of the oracles of God: and it was also their honour to be intrusted with the keeping of these sacred records. Their advantages therefore above the Gentiles were very great and singular. Note; Among our most invaluable blessings we should always reckon our Bibles; for in them we have eternal life revealed to us.
[2.] If it be objected to this, that, though the Jews had the oracles of God, some did not believe; admit it. But what then? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? Shall the promise-keeping God, because of the infidelity of some, fail of fulfilling his promises to Abraham and his faithful spiritual seed, who perseveringly trust upon him according to his word? God forbid! His word must be accomplished, and his promises are sure to every faithful soul. Yea, let God be true, let it be for ever acknowledged that he is so; but let every man, who dares dispute his veracity and truth, know that he must be found a liar. Men are inconstant, deceitful, and vain; no confidence, comparatively speaking, is to be placed in them; but God never can nor will deceive us: as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged; as David acknowledged, Psalms 51:4 for, notwithstanding his foul falls and great unfaithfulness, God would not alter the word which was gone out of his mouth concerning that Messiah who should spring from his loins. And he will for ever stand clear of all imputations which foolish men may cast upon him, and be found faithful, and true, though we presumptuously dare arraign his righteousness, or censure his conduct.
[3.] But some perverse Jew may say, whose character I will personate, speaking as such a man, If our righteousness commend the righteousness of God, and he gain glory by our wickedness and unbelief, both glorifying his justice in our punishment, and his grace in calling the Gentile sinners in our stead, and justifying them through the obedience of his Son unto death, what shall we say? Is not God unrighteous, (μη αδικος ο Θεος,) who taketh vengeance for that unbelief and unrighteousness, which serves as a foil more eminently to display the lustre of his divine perfections, his truth, holiness, and grace? With abhorrence the Apostle rejects the insinuation. God forbid! for then how shall God judge the world? If he were not infinitely righteous in his nature, he would be unfit for this high office: and if he, by his overruling providence, brings good out of evil, and magnifies his grace more eminently where sin has most abounded, sin has not therefore the less evil or malignity, nor has the sinner aught to plead, since he designs nothing less than the divine glory.
[4.] But the same carnal Jew, whom I have personated before, may farther urge, If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; and my unbelief which gives the lie to his promises, and my wickedness which gives the lie to my profession, serve to magnify his veracity, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? and punished for transgressions which serve rather to magnify God than to dishonour him? and may we not rather abandon ourselves to evil, in order that good may come, and God's grace and truth receive greater glory in justifying those who believe on his Son? And such malicious and blasphemous reports are spread by our Jewish enemies, who confidently affirm that this is the doctrine which we as apostles preach, and as Christians believe. But we abhor the suggestion, and declare to such slanderers of us and the truth, and to all who dare thus abuse the holy doctrines of grace, that their damnation is just, and inevitable. Note; (1.) The best of ministers and of men have had the foulest aspersions cast on them, and been charged with holding the most horrid blasphemies. (2.) The injured characters of his ambassadors God will avenge. (3.) They who abuse the doctrines of grace, as arguments for licentiousness, will perish with most aggravated guilt.
2. The Apostle returns, after confuting the Jewish objections, to the main question in debate, Whether Jews, as well as Gentiles, were not all under sin? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for have before proved at large in the two former Chapter s, that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, condemned by the guilt, enslaved by the power, and liable to the eternal wrath which is the wages of sin. And to enforce this truth, the Apostle quotes the Scriptures, which the Jews admitted, as containing the fullest proof of his assertion. God declares, Psalms 14:1-3. That there is none righteous, according to the perfect demands of his holy law, no not one: so corrupted is our nature, that there is none that understandeth; the human mind by nature is darkened, and cannot discover or receive the things which be of the Spirit of God; there is none that seeketh after God, no one good disposition remaining in the natural heart, nor desire after communion with God; but evil, and only evil, and that continually. Hence the Psalmist asserts of all mankind, that they are all gone out of the way, following the bent of their native corruption; they are altogether become unprofitable, bringing forth no fruit to God's glory in that state of nature; there is none that doeth good, no not one. And the foul streams which flow from this polluted fountain are described in other places of the Scripture: their throat is an open sepulchre, voracious and insatiable in the pursuits of their lusts and covetousness; with their tongues they have used deceit, flattering, false, faithless; the poison of asps is under their lips, secretly, artfully, does their tongue drop the malignant venom, to blast the same or destroy the life of their neighbour; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, blaspheming God himself, and shooting out their bitter words of rancour and reviling against the people and the good ways of the Lord; their feet are swift to shed blood, every member of their body is a ready instrument of iniquity; destruction and misery are in their ways, and wherever they go they mark their path with mischief, spreading their wickedness as a plague, pestilential to others, and at last bringing perdition on themselves; and the way of peace have they not known, strangers to whatever would conduce to their own peace and happiness both here and hereafter; disturbing, as far they can, by their malignity and perverseness, the peace of mankind: there is no fear of God before their eyes; destitute of every gracious principle: and as this is the root of all their wickedness, so it is the summit of all their ungodliness,—they leave God far above out of their sight. And such being the spirit of God's description of every man by nature, declared by him who searcheth the heart, and knoweth what is in man, the universal guilt and desperate wickedness of the whole human race, both Jews and Gentiles, cannot but be most evident. While we read the dreadful charge, may we be led to a humbling acknowledgment of the truth, and from the deepest heartfelt conviction be laid in the dust, submitting wholly to the righteousness of God by faith!
2nd, The Apostle proceeds to apply the truths which he had advanced and proved.
1. All the world is become guilty before God, and no flesh can be justified in God's sight by the deeds of the law, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, have come short of righteousness, and therefore of heaven. According to the several dispensations under which they have lived, the law speaketh both to Jews and Gentiles, and condemns them as transgressors. The Gentiles have offended against those precepts of the moral law, which God, though more obscurely, has shewed them; and the Jews, against the clearer revelation, which in the Scriptures they have enjoyed; so that every mouth must be stopped, and guilt evident and confessed appear upon every living soul. For by the law is the knowledge of sin; so far from being able to justify any man, it is a glass which can of itself only shew him his deformity, the straight rule to mark his sad deviations from it. Note; (1.) Man in his fallen nature is become flesh, fallen and corrupted; and therefore it is impossible that, in his present ruined state, he should of himself be just before God. (2.) All flesh must plead guilty at God's bar, and no man can possibly be saved, till he has seen, felt, and owned that he has deserved most justly to be damned.
2. To those who, from the conviction which the law brings to their consciences, are driven to despair of acceptance with God on account of any doings and duties of their own, the Gospel reveals the method of divine grace, appointed and provided for the sinner's justification before God. But now, since all hope is fled of obtaining favour with God on the footing of our own obedience, the righteousness of God without the law, which the moral law never discovered, is manifested by Jesus Christ, and by the preaching of the Gospel, being witnessed by all the types and figures of the ceremonial law, and by the prophets, Isaiah 45:24-25.Jeremiah 23:6. Daniel 9:24. So that even during the time that the Mosaical dispensation lasted, the Jews were taught to look for a better righteousness than that which they could obtain by the deeds of the law; even the righteousness of God which is now received by faith in our adored Redeemer Jesus Christ, and judicially made over, and reckoned to the account of every soul which, renouncing every other hope, lays hold on this set before him; and it is unto all and upon all them that believe, whether Jew or Gentile, for there is no difference; they alike need it, as having all sinned and come short of God's glory, and he freely bestows it on them without any regard to the degrees of their guilt. Nor is there the least first-moving cause in any of us to engage God to have respect to us. We lie in one promiscuous mass of corruption, till through grace we repent, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ, who by his obedience unto death paid down the invaluable price of our redemption, which does not at all affect the riches of the grace respecting us, but rather infinitely enhances it: we owe it to God's boundless mercy, that he provided, qualified, and accepted our glorious Surety, and freely gave him up for us all.—Whom God hath set forth, in the fulness of time sending him in the human nature, to be a propitiation, to be the one great propitiatory sacrifice, that, through faith in his blood, the chief of sinners might boldly approach a throne of grace. And hereby, (1.) The best of blessings is secured to us, even the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. The sacrifices under the law were insufficient to take away sin; the faithful therefore under the Old Testament had recourse to this atoning Blood which in the fulness of time should be shed, and in the view thereof God bore with them, pardoned and accepted them. And we are infinitely indebted to this Blood which speaks before the throne, and to the forbearance of God with us in consequence thereof, that we have not through our repeated provocations been cut off long since, as we have deserved, and been cast into hell for our sins. (2.) Hereby the greatest honour redounds to God; for in this his method of dealing with sinners, he shews and demonstrates his own righteousness, both the glory of his justice in the punishment of sin, and the transcendent excellence and perfection of the Redeemer's infinite merit, by means of which, consistent with the divine glory, an honourable provision was made for the pardon of sin, and neither God's truth, justice, nor holiness impeached by the grace extended to the sinner: so that at this time, under the Gospel dispensation, he declares his righteousness, that he may be just, and withal the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Never was God's displeasure against sin more awefully displayed than when he laid upon his Son the iniquities of us all. (3.) Hereby all boasting is excluded from the sons of men; none can say he is accepted before God on account of any works of righteousness done by him, or foreseen in him; all are excluded. By what law? of works? Nay, but by the law of faith; by that gracious evangelical dispensation, wherein the blood of God our Redeemer is proposed as the only meritorious cause of the sinner's acceptance. The conclusion then from the above premises is evident, that a man is and can be justified before God in no other way than by faith only, without the deeds of the law.
3. This privilege of free justification, through a Redeemer's blood, is common to the Gentile as well as the Jew. Is God then, in this new dispensation of his grace in the Gospel of his dear Son, the God of the Jews only? or peculiarly? Is he not of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also. It is a common salvation, and both are alike freely invited to partake of it;—Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith, both Jews and Gentiles standing exactly on the same footing, without respect of persons, or any difference in the way of their acceptance.
4. He concludes with obviating an objection which some might raise, as if he hereby made void the moral law, the eternal rule of righteousness, as useless and insignificant; but he rejects with detestation the suggestion;—God forbid! Yea, so far from making it void, we establish the law. Its true use remains the same as ever, to convince of sin, and to be, not a covenant of life, but a law of obedience; and that faith which shews it manifested in the highest by the perfect obedience of Christ to the death of the cross, as it works by love, is the most powerful principle to engage our hearts to delight in the law of God after the inner man, and to run the way of his commandments, walking in the glorious liberty of the children of God, a liberty not to transgress, but to obey.