have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.] "The righteousness of God" is here presented as His divine ordinance for man's salvation, and in its very essence, as God's righteousness, it involves man's self renunciation and submission. For the Middle sense of ὑπετάγησαν compare viii. 7, xiii. 1; Heb. xii. 9; James iv. 7; 1 Pet. ii. 13. Read "For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they submitted not unto the righteousness of God." 4. For Christ is the end of the law] Confirmation of v. 3. The Jews sought to establish their own righteousness by the Law; but this was a fatal error, causing them to reject the righteousness of God: for the Law, regarded as a way of attaining to rightcousness before God, is at an end in Christ, and gives place to the righteousness of faith. Christ is the end of the Law, as "death is the end of life” (τέλος τοῦ βίου θάνατος: Demosth. 1306, 25). This most common and simple meaning of Telos is required by the emphatic contrast between law and faith in the beginning and end of the sentence, and also by the whole context, which describes the righteousness of faith as opposed to the righteousness that is of the law, not as the completion, nor as the aim of the law. In this passage it is not grammatically wrong to render vopov, without the article, "the Law" see Introduction, § 9. But it is better to interpret it as "law" in general, the principle which says "This do, and thou shalt live." In this sense, "law" is abolished in Christ, and the purpose of its abolition is expressed in the words "for righteousness to every one that believeth." For other interpretations, see Note at the end of the Chapter. for righteousness to every one that believeth.] This is the purpose of the abolition of "law" in Christ. If "law" remained in force as the condition of righteousness, then righteousness could not be extended " to every one that believeth," but only to those who were under law and only if they were "doers of law" (ii. 13). 5-10. MOSES BEARS WITNESS TO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 5. the righteousness which is of the law,] Read, the righteousness which is of law, and for the various readings of v. 5 see the note at the end of the chapter. the man which doeth those things] man which doeth them." "The In Lev. xviii. 5 God says, "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them." The Septuagint, from which St. Paul quotes the passage exactly, reads in the former part of the verse "Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments." Thus in the keeping of all " statutes" and "judgments" the Apostle sees a description of "the righteousness which is of law," and in the clause "which if a man do" he finds a condition which cannot be perfectly fulfilled by fallen man, and which therefore condemns one who depends on his own fulfilment of the law for justification before God. That this is St. Paul's meaning is clear from the context in vv. 3, 4, and from the whole tenor of this Epistle (ii. 13, iii. 20, &c.), as well as from the earlier quotation of the same passage in Gal. iii. 12, where the meaning is put beyond doubt by another quotation, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them" (Deut. xxvii. 26). But in assuming that the condition, "if a man do them," is impracticable, St. Paul seems exactly to reverse the natural meaning of the words of Moses. Either those words really mean that God's law given to Israel consisted of statutes and judgments which might be kept and by keeping which they should enter into life: or else they are nothing better than an ironical promise based upon an impossible_condition. The latter thought cannot be for a moment entertained: for it is God Himself who speaks through Moses, repeating the commandment and the promise twice, and confirming them by the most solemn formula of Divine attestation, “I am the LORD." The references to the passage by Ezekiel (xx. 11, 13, 21) and Neheiniah (ix. 3, 29) clearly show that in their view the condition was not impracticable nor the promise unattainable. Did then St. Paul misrepresent or misunderstand the passage? Not St. Paul himself, but those unbelieving Jews, whose error he was exposing. To one who sincerely desired "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God" (Mic. vi. 8), "the law,” taken in its fulness and in its spirit, was undoubtedly a path of righteousness and life. It was a revelation of God Himself and of His holy will, accompanied by a dispensation full of the means of grace, of pardon, and reconciliation for every humble and contrite soul, full also of types and promises leading on to Christ. But the Pharisees, and under their guidance the mass of the people, did not thus regard "the Law:" to them it was "law" and nothing more, a covenant of works as opposed to a covenant of grace, its promise of life depending on the merit of strict and scrupulous obedience. Such a view has only to be pushed to its legitimate conclusion in order to confute itself: and this is what St. Paul does: "If you would attain to righteousness by the law' merely as 'law,' then it must be fulfilled to the very letter. Keep all the statutes, and all the judgments fully and perfectly, and then you shall find life in them.' St. Paul's method is in fact the same as our Lord's: his answer to those who are seeking "the righteousness which is of law" is "This do, and thou shalt live" (Luke x. 28). He reminds them, as it were, that "whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (Ja. ii. 10): he uses the words of the Law as they were used by those who rejected" the righteousness which is of faith:" he means, as in Gal. iii. 21, that there is no law which simply as law can give life, and therefore no such thing as a "right eousness which is of law." 6. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise,] For a similar personification and self-description of Wisdom, see Prov. i. 20, and Heb. xii. 5. Apart from the figure, the meaning is that Moses thus speaks concerning" the righteousness which is of faith." Thus both parts of v. 4 are proved by the testimony of Moses the impossibility of being justified by law in v. 5, and the reality and nearness of the righteousness of faith in vv. 6-8. 14. But where does St. Paul find "the righteousness of faith" in the words of Moses? In Deuteronomy, "the book of Moses, which has been regarded almost as an evangelization of the law" (Jowett). Observe also that in Deut. xxx. 11-14, Moses speaks to those to whom he has previously said in v. 6, “God will circumcise thine heart, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live:" that is to say, Moses is speaking to the truly penitent and faithful Israelites. And as St. Paul found "the righteousness of faith" in Abraham, who believed God, so here he finds its very essence in one who loves God, and turns to Him with all his heart and soul (Deut. xxx. 6–10). Say not in thine heart.] This is found in Deut. viii. 17, and ix. 4, and is substituted by St. Paul for the one word, “to say," in Deut. XXX. 12: It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say (lit. 'to say '], Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?" "To say in the heart" is a Hebrew idiom meaning "to think," especially to think perverse unholy thoughts, which one is ashamed to speak out (Philippi): compare Deut. xv. 9, xviii. 21; Ps. xiv. 1; Matt. xxiv. 48; Rev. xviii. 7. Moses thus vindicates God's commandment as not being beyond man's reach, but already brought near and made plain to him: in Baruch iii. 29, similar language is applied to wisdom. that is, to bring Christ down.] As Moses forbids the Israelite to say, We want some one to bring God's word down nearer to us, "the righteousness of faith" says to us, "Doubt not that Christ has already come down." SO addition in the A. V.: the parenthesis, too, is The words, "from above," are a needless unnecessary, the citations and comments being clearly distinguished without it. 7. Or, Who shall descend into the deep?] Deut. xxx. 13: "Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us," 'c. This is a second figure by is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath which Moses declares that God's command- 8. But what saith it?] As if the negative in v. 6 had been joined with λéye: “the righteousness which is of faith saith not, Who shall ascend, &c.? But what saith it>" The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy beart.] And yet what need is there either of long journeys over the land, or of long voyages, for the sake of investigating and seeking out virtue, the roots of which the Creator has laid not at any great distance, but so near, as the wise Lawgiver of the Jews says, 'They are in thy mouth, and in thy heart, and in thy hands,' intimating by these figurative expressions the words, and actions, and designs of men" (Philo, 'The Virtuous is Free,' c. x.). St. Paul omits the words "and in thy hands” added to the original by the LXX, and the concluding words of Deut. xxx. 14, "that thou mayest do it," which are less suited to his argument. "The Apostle quotes without regard to verbal exactness, apparently because he is dwelling rather on the truth that he is expounding, than on the words in which it is conveyed, not verifying references by a book, but speaking from the fulness of the heart" (Jowett). That is, the word of faith, which we preach.] The word that is very nigh, in the mouth and in the heart, is essentially the same as "the sword which speaks of faith," i.e. the gospel which announces "faith" as the principle of righteousness. "Faith" is not here used in its objective sense (Tns #ioTews) (Gal. i. 23), “the faith," ie. the Christian faith; but the article is required by the mention of "faith" in the context, and cannot be translated. raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. IO For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 1527 thou shalt believe," makes this proof of correspondence more formal, but is not necessary. The correspondence itself lies in the consent of heart and mouth required both by Moses and by the preachers of " the word of faith." the Lord Jesus.] "That Jesus is Lord": the Vatican MS. gives the same sense in a different form, derived probably from the parallel passages, 1 Cor. xii. 3; Phil. ii. II. "In this appellation (Jesus the Lord) lies the sum of faith and salvation" (Bengel). The reference to v. 6, "Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down," shows that Jesus is here called Lord, not simply as the exalted Head of the Church (compare Eph. iv. 9-11), but as the only-begotten Son of God, "the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor. xv. 47). that God bath raised him from the dead.] This answers to v. 7. The Deity of Christ, and His resurrection, are the chief objects of justifying faith (i. 4; iv. 25; 1 Cor. xv. 17, &c.). 10. The mention in Deut. of "mouth" and "heart" having been interpreted by St. Paul of confession and faith, he now shows that this interpretation is in accordance with the general principles of the Christian dispensation, in which belief of the heart and confession by the mouth are both required. "Heart" and "mouth," the emphatic words in each sentence, are now placed in their natural order. Sal Justification and salvation are here distinguished as in v. 9, where see note. vation presupposes a continuance of the faith which justifies, and a consequent realisation one: of the effects of faith, of which confession is towards the end. see Barrow on the Creed, Sermon V. Looking back upon the whole passage (vv. 5-10) we may ask, Does St. Paul regard the words of Moses as a prediction of the subsequently revealed? (Fritzsche, p. 389.) nature of the righteousness of faith to be Or does he mean that besides the plain grammatical and historical sense of the words of Moses, there is also an indirect allegorical and typical sense which foreshadows the 9. That if thou shalt confess.] The con- subsequent revelation of the righteousness tents of "the word of faith which we preach" of faith? (Meyer.) Or does the Apostle are here shown to correspond with the teach- merely make a free use of the words ing of Deuteronomy. The rendering, "for if Moses to clothe his own thoughts? Is there of nothing more than a graceful allusion (Bengel), "a holy and beautiful play of God's Spirit upon the word of the Lord?" (Philippi, Van Hengel.) Better than any of these explanations is the view held by Augustine that the words of Moses, understood in their true spiritual sense, describe a righteousness which is essentially the righteousness of faith ('de Nat. et Gratia,' § 83. Moses is in fact describing a religion of the heart: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live" (v. 6). To one who thus turns with heart and soul to the Lord obedience is easy; "the word is very nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart." This, says St. Paul, is in substance "the word of faith, which we preach." St. Paul's explanation is not allegorical but spiritual: "it penetrates through the letter of the O. T. to its spirit” (Olshausen), and that is the spirit of the Gospel. 11-13. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH IS FOR ALL. 11. On the quotation from Isaiah xxviii. 16, see above ix. 33: by repeating it here St. Paul both confirms the preceding description of “the righteousness which is of faith," and passes on to the further thought that this righteousness is free for all. The statement in Isaiah is unlimited, "he that believeth"; and St. Paul by the addition of one word (was) makes it expressly universal, "every one that believeth," and also definite "believeth on him," i. e. on Christ. 12. The universality thus emphatically given to the statement of Isaiah is now justified on the ground that the condition, "be that believeth," makes no distinction between Jew and Greek (compare iii. 22); and the cause of this unlimited bestowal of blessing is traced to the bounty of its Divine Author. The promise in Isaiah of the "precious corner stone" is Messianic, and therefore really universal, God's mercy in Christ embracing all the nations of the earth. for the same Lord over all is rich, c.] Rather, "For the same is Lord of all, being rich unto all that call upon him." That Christ, not God the Father, is here called "Lord of all," is clear from v. 9, as the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. ? Jo 13 For whosoever shall call upon 32. the name of the Lord shall be Acts saved. well as from such passages as ch. xiv. 9, Phil. ii. 11, Acts x. 36. The universality of justification by faith, which is proved in ch. iii. 30, from the truth that "it is one God," the God both of Jews and Gentiles, who shall justify both, is here in like manner shown from the fact that there is one and the same "Lord of all," who is rich unto all "in grace and salvation which no multitude can exhaust" (Bengel): compare 1 Tim. ii. 5. 66 all that call upon him.] In like manner St. Paul designates Christians in 1 Cor. i. 2 as all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours": compare 2 Tim. ii. 22. "That calling on God, whereon salvation depends, is not in words only, but in heart and deed. For what the heart believeth, the mouth confesseth, the hand in deed fulfilleth" (Hugo de S. Vict. quoted by Pusey on Joel, ii. 32). 13. To "call upon the Lord" means to worship Him, and therefore, among other things included in true worship, to confess Him with the mouth, as in vv. 9, 10, and the expression thus prepares the way for the Scriptural proof of the statement that "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." This proof is quoted exactly in the words of the LXX from the great prophecy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Joel ii. 32, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered (saved)." The words "all flesh" (Joel ii. 28) show that Gentiles are included in the prophecy. See note on the passage. This is one of the strongest passages in favour of addressing prayer to Christ. It is admitted that to "call upon the name of the Lord" means in the original passage to pray to Jehovah as God. It is also admitted that the "Lord of all" in v. 12 is Christ: and that St. Paul refers the word "Lord," which in the original points to God, justly to Christ, whose name is now the very specific object of the Christian calling on the Lord. With these admissions there is little real significance left in Meyer's fine-drawn distinction between "worshipping absolutely, as it takes place only in respect of the Father as the One absolute God," and "worship according to that relativity in the consciousness of the worshipper, which is conditioned by the 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 ? relation of Christ to the Father, whose Son of like nature, whose image, partner of the Throne, Mediator and Advocate on the part of men, He is." 14-21. THE GOSPEL PREACHED ΤΟ ALL REJECTED BY ISRAEL. This passage brings another proof that the fault of Israel's exclusion lies in themselves. From the nature of the salvation just described, it follows that the Gospel must be preached to all without distinction. But this very freedom of the offer of salvation to every believer, was a stumbling-block to the unbelieving Jews, as the Apostle's experience had often proved (Acts xiii. 45-47, xviii. 6, xxviii. 28). St. Paul, as usual, closely connects this new topic with the preceding context: commenting, as it were, upon the words of Joel, "Every one whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord," he argues first that "the name of the Lord" to be invoked must be believed, and thereto must be heard, and thereto proclaimed, and thereto preachers must be sent, according to Isaiah lii. 7 (vv. 14, 15). The Gospel being thus preached, if "not all," to wit, not Israel, have obeyed it (v. 16), they have neither the excuse of not having heard (v. 18), nor of not having known that the invitation was to be preached to all nations, but the fault lies in their own perversity (vv. 19–21). 14. How then] Each question in the chain is an argument, the conclusion of which is tacitly assumed, and forms the ground of the next question, e.g. "How can they call upon the Lord unless they believe on Him? They cannot therefore they must first believe. How can they believe, if they have not heard? they cannot:" and so on. of whom they have not heard.] Rather, "Whom they have not heard:" in Ephes. iv. 21, on the contrary, we ought to read, "if ye have beard of Him." Here, as in Eph. ii. 17, the Lord is heard speaking through His messengers, as is shown in the next question. 15. except they be sent?] By whom? By the same Lord (v. 13) whose name they proclaim. In N. T. the Father "sends "the Son, and the Son "sends" His Apostles: their mission includes all ministry derived from them. Compare Luke ix. 2, x. 1, 3; John iv. 38, xvii. 18; Acts xxvi. 17; 1 Cor. i. 17. St. Paul argues back from effect to cause, through the series of Prayer, Faith, Hearing, Preaching, Sending: thus the last link in his argument must be the first in the realisation, from which the rest follow: this one, therefore, he confirms by the prophetic announcement in Isa. lii. 7, of the going forth of the Gospel messengers: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation." The prophecy rings with a joy like that which the Apostle himself felt in contemplating the spread of the Gospel throughout the world. 66 St. Paul quotes the passage freely and briefly, omitting what belongs simply to the poetic colouring upon the mountains," turns the collective singular, "him that bringeth good tidings," into the plural, and omits the words “ that publisheth salvation.” Nah. 1. IS that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good!] Rather, That bring of good. The repetition of the same word in glad tidings of peace, that bring glad tidings the Hebrew, and in the Greek, ought to be preserved in the English translation. See the note at the end of the chapter, and the notes on Isaiah, and compare Nahum i. 15. In the foreshortened perspective of prophecy the return from the captivity in Babylon, to which the passage of Isaiah primarily refers, seems to be coincident with the coming of Messiah, which it symbolises and prepares. The progress of time had shown St. Paul the distinction between the partial or typical and the complete fulfilment which he here rightly affirms. "How beautiful are the feet" means simply, "how welcome is the coming." 16. But they have not all obeyed the Gospel.] Rather, "But they did not all obey the glad tidings." The messengers were sent, "Isaiah in spirit saw their glad steps" (Bengel); God's part was done But, notwithstanding this, they did not all hearken to and obey (2 Thess. i. 8) the Gospel message. The message was addressed to all, but the Jews as a nation (for St. Paul is here speaking of them nationally, not individually) did not |