A Paraphrase on the New Testament, Romans · Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
1. WHat advantage then hath the Jew? and what profit is there of circumciſion? 2. Much every way: chiefly, becauſe that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
1, 2. You will ſay, If this be ſo, what advantage hath the Jew above the Gentile, or what profit doth Circumciſion afford them: I anſwer, Much every way: As firſt, That God committed his Oracles of ſupernatural Revelation principally to them; (and from them it is that others have received them.)
3. For what if ſome did not believe? ſhall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
3. It's true, that the moſt of the preſent Jews do not believe in Chriſt, nor yield to the perſwaſions of the Goſpel. But ſtill Gods Word is ſure and true, and his Fidelity will perform all his Promiſes.
4. God forbid: Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar, as it is written, That thou maiſt be juſtified in thy ſayings, and overcome when thou art judged?
4. Far be it from us to think that God is untruſty, or can lie: All Men are untruſty, and may deceive by lies; but God's Fidelity is his Perfection, which cannot fall. As David ſaith, His Word ſhall be juſtified, and all be ſilenced that dare accuſe him of untruſtineſs or lying.
5. But if our unrighteouſneſs commend the righteouſneſs of God, what ſhall we ſay? Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance? I ſpeak as a man.
5. But if all our Sin do but occaſion the manifeſtation of Gods Righteouſneſs, and ſo his Honour and End is ſecured, is it not unjuſt for God to puniſh and deſtroy Men for unbelief and ſin? I object as a Man.
6. God forbid: for then how ſhall God judge the world?
6. Far be it from us ſo to think: For ſure the Judge of all the World is Righteous, and will righteouſly judge.
7. For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why alſo am I yet judged a ſinner? 8. And not rather (as we be ſlanderouſly reported, and as ſome affirm that we ſay) Let us do evil that good may come: whoſe damnation is juſt.
7, 8. But, ſay they, If my falſhood and ſin do occaſion the glorifying of God and his Truth, why ſhould I be judged a Sinner againſt God, who is glorified by all that I do; and not rather conclude (as ſome falſely ſay we do) that we ſhould never fear ſinning, ſeeing the effect is always good? But juſt is the damnation of ſuch that pretend Gods Glory to embolden them in Sin.
9. What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wiſe: For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under ſin.
9. What ſhall we then conclude from this unbelief and puniſhment of the Jews? Is it, that we who are Chriſtians, Jews and Gentiles, were ſo much better antecedently than the unbelieving part, that God therefore gave us his Grace for our better deſerts? No, in no wiſe: For we have before proved, that Jews and Gentiles are all under the guilt and reign of Sin, till Grace recover them.
10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. 11. There is none that underſtandeth, there is none that ſeeketh after God. 12. They are all gone out of the way: they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doth good, no not one. 13. Their throat is an open ſepulchre; with their tongues they have uſed deceit; the poyſon of aſps is under their lips. 14. Whoſe mouth is full of curſing and bitterneſs. 15. Their feet are ſwift to ſhed blood. 16. Deſtruction and miſery are in their ways. 17. And the way of peace have they not known. 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. David truly deſcribeth the ſtate of Corrupted Nature, and of all Men till Grace reſtrain or change them, in Pſal. 14. and 53, &c. that, There is not one of them that are Righteous Men: They underſtand not practically the matters of True Wiſdom, and chief concerns, but are a blind and ſottiſh Generation; and therefore they ſeek not ſeriouſly to know God, or to pleaſe him, and enjoy his love. They are turned from the way of truth and obedience, and happineſs: They are all but hurtful, or unprofitable in the World, and none of them that ſet themſelves to a Life that may do good to themſelves or others, or to pleaſe God. They are ſo like Satan, who ſeeketh whom he may devour, that their Throat is like an open Sepulchre, greedily gaping to devour the Juſt and Godly; their Tongues ſerve the Father of lies, in ſlandering Gods Truth, and Servants; and their Words are like Adders Poyſon, that tends to do miſchief, and deſtroy the good and innocent. Curſing and falſe deceitful words, are the fruit of their Lips. They are ready to ſhed the Blood of the Godly and Innocent: The way of their Life is Deſtruction and Miſery to the Faithful, and to the Societies where they live, and finally to themſelves. Nature and Cuſtom may teach them to talk for Peace, and Unity, and Love: But they do not, and will not know the true Nature of them, or the way by which they muſt be attained. For they are not governed by the Law and Fear of God, but by their Carnal deceived Wit, and Worldly Intereſt, which God condemneth.
19. Now we know, that what things ſoever the Law ſaith, it ſaith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be ſtopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
19. All this is written in the Jews Law, and therefore is ſpoken to and of the Jews as well as others; for the Law ſpeaketh to none but thoſe that are Subjects, and obliged by it: So that neither Jew nor Gentile can be juſtified as innocent; but all ſuch ſelf-juſtifiers will be confuted, and all the World proved guilty of Sin and Puniſhment before God when he ſhall judge them.
20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there ſhall no fleſh be juſtified in his ſight, for by the law is the knowledge of ſin.
20. By all this therefore it is clear, that ſeeing all that are under Moſes's Law are Sinners againſt the Law, and none are innocent, no Fleſh ſhall be juſtified in Gods ſight by that Law: For as they are Sinners, ſo it is the Law which notifieth their Sin, and condemneth them for it.
21. But now the righteouſneſs of God, without the law, is manifeſted, being witneſſed by the law and the prophets. 22. Even the righteouſneſs of God, which is by the faith of Jeſus Chriſt, unto all, and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.
21. But there is another way of Righteouſneſs ordained of God for our Juſtification, and the Glory of his Grace and Juſtice, without the keeping of Moſes's Law, or being juſtified by it. 22. Even the Righteouſneſs preſcribed by God, and given by his Grace, which is by the way of Faith in Chriſt, even our believing truſt in him, and adhering to him; and this is preſcribed and given to, and found in all true Believers, without difference.
23. For all have ſinned, and come ſhort of the glory of God. 24. Being juſtified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jeſus Chriſt.
23, 24. For all Men are Sinners, and therefore have come ſhort of obtaining the Glory which God had appointed to the Innocent that never brake his Law; and cannot be ſaved or juſtified by the Law which they have broken; but muſt be juſtified by his free Grace, forgiving their ſin, and giving and accepting their ſincere Faith and Repentance, through the Redemption of loſt Sinners, which Jeſus Chriſt hath wrought for them and in them.
25. Whom God hath ſet forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteouſneſs, for the remiſſion of ſins that are paſt, through the forbearance of God. 26. To declare, I ſay, at this time his righteouſneſs, that he might be juſt, and the juſtifier of him which believeth in Jeſus.
25, 26. Whom God hath by his unſearchable Counſel, Decree, and Ordination, ſet forth to be the great Reconciler and Propitiation, by the way and means of Faith in his blood, as a Propitiatory Sacrifice, and the Seal of his Truth and Love; and this was (as well as by juſtifying the Innocent) to demonſtrate that he is a Holy, Juſt, and Merciful God, and no friend to ſin, but a lo…er of Holineſs and Truth, in Pardoning to ſuch Believers all their paſt Sins, to which his forbearance and reprieve was a preparation. I ſay, to declare that he is (as merciful, ſo) Juſt, while he will have ſo precious a Sacrifice for Sin, and by Pardon and Grace doth make, and judge the Faithful Righteous, which is it which is now fully declared by our preaching the Goſpel.
27. Where is boaſting then? It is excluded: By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
27. Grace therefore muſt have the Glory of our Juſtification: For who can boaſt that he hath it by Innocency? becauſe he deſerved not death by Sin? No, this is utterly ſhut out: By what Law? Is it by the Law of Moſes, or any Law which juſtifieth Men becauſe they ſinned not againſt it, nor deſerved death? No: but by another Law, even the Law of Faith, which Grace hath brought us under, which pardoneth and ſaveth true Penitent Believers.
28. Therefore we conclude, that a man is juſtified by faith, without the deeds of the law.
28. Therefore againſt the Jews and all ſelf juſticiaries, we conclude, that the Law of Moſes, (much leſs the firſt Law of pure Innocency) is ſo far from being neceſſary to the Gentiles for Juſtification and Salvation, that no Man, Jew or Gentile, is otherwiſe juſtified by God, but by his free Grace given through Jeſus Chriſt, to all true Believers, who accept it as a free gift.
29. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not alſo of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles alſo.
29. And how abſurd is it to think that God is a God, that is, a merciful Governour, to no more in the World, than that little ſorry People of the Jews? Doth not his actual Mercies, and his Government, obliging all the World to the uſe of ſome means for Recovery, Pardon and Salvation, confute this, and ſhew that he is the God and Merciful Governour alſo of the Gentiles?
30. Seeing it is one God which ſhall juſtifie the circumciſion by faith, and uncircumciſion through faith.
30. It is the ſame God who will juſtifie Circumciſed Believers, and uncircumciſed Believers, by one and the ſame way: Even by the way of Grace and Faith.
31. Do we then make void the law by ſaith? God forbid: Yea, we eſtabliſh the law.
31. Can the Jew then ſay that we diſhonour, and make void their Law, as if God had given it in vain, and they had not been bound to keep it: Far be this from us; yea, by the Doctrine of Chriſtianity, we ſet the Law in its proper place, (as conſequent and ſubordinate to the Promiſe and Law of Grace that went before it, and as preparatory to the fuller edition of the Law of Grace whch cometh after it. And ſo we aſſign it its due Office and Honour, and End, that God may have the Glory of making it; though the Jews miſunderſtand it.)