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who would therefore seem very unlikely to attain it, have yet attained to righteousness, that is, the righteousness which comes from faith: but Israel, the Jews, who were diligently following after, or, in their own esteem, seeking scrupulously to obey, a law which defines and requires righteousness, and who therefore might be regarded as likely to attain to righteousness, did not reach the law, but fell short of it and of righteousness. And why? Because they sought righteousness not by faith, but by works of the law; for the principle of justification, or of being accounted as righteous, by faith in Christ, was so offensive to them that they would not admit it.

30. Which followed not, etc. The idea of diligently pursuing is contained in the word here rendered followed.The Gentiles who had not, previously, been earnestly seeking righteousness and favor with God, having no written divine law for their guide and not following "the law written in their hearts," 2: 15, who were regarded also by the Jews only with aversion, as siuners and outcasts from God, yet attained to righteousness; that, namely, which is of faith.

31. The law of righteousness; the law which shows what is righteousness, which requires it and promises to reward it. Though the Jews were, at least in their own esteem, earnestly pursuing after compliance with this law, yet they had not attained to the fulfilment of its requisitions. However strenuous any Jews might be in

endeavoring to obey their law, viewed as a directory of man's spirit, they would fail to render it a complete obedience and would still be sinners, needing a different mode of justification than by their own obedience. If the law were viewed in its ceremonial prescriptions, even had the Jews observed these with the utmost exactness, still external obedience cannot recommend a person to Him who requires the heart.

32. Wherefore? Why did they not attain to righteousness? Because they sought it not from faith, but from works of the law, as if they could attain it by obedience to the law. As it were; that is, as if from the law they could obtain righteousness which would avail for their ac

ceptance with God. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone;" more properly, at the stumbling stone; that is, at Christ; for the term, stone of stumbling, had become significant of Christ. Compare 1 Pet. 2: 7, 8. They were offended at Christ, as to his character and claims, and at the cardinal principle in the gospel that men's justification proceeds from faith in Christ.

33. As it is written. See Is. 28: 16. 8: 14. Rock of offence; a rock which would occasion offence and ruin. Whosoever believeth on him, etc. Whosoever confides in it, that is, the stone, or confides in him, that is, Christ, who is thus denominated, shall not suffer the shame of abused and disappointed confidence, shall have no occasion to haste

away (compare Is. 28: 16), to another object of trust, but shall be truly blessed. The apostle quotes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew original; hence the passage slightly differs in its words from the corresponding passage in our version of the Old Testament. He seems, also, to have dropped the figure, which was in the prophet's mind, of a building with a large and firm corner stone, and to have contemplated Christ himself under this appellation. The term, whosoever, also, is of special significance; meaning every one, indiscriminately, whether Gentile or

Jew.

In this closing paragraph of the chapter, vs. 30-33, the cause of the rejection of the Jews has been distinctly presented: they took offence at the cardinal principle of the gospel, namely, that faith in Christ, not obedience to the law of Moses, is the medium of justification in the sight of God. The Jews relied on the law of Moses, and were unwilling to abandon the thought that, through the law, they could acquire a meritorious title to the kingdom of God. Refusing to connect themselves with Christ, the Head of this kingdom, they cut themselves off from its blessings. To their rejection of Christ must the fact be traced, that God rejected them from being his people.

CHAPTER X.

cause of the Jews' rejection, 9: 30-33, still dwells on that part of the subject, after asserting anew his earnest desire for their salvation, and acknowledging their zeal towards God; a zeal, however, founded on mistake. They still persisted in relying on the Mosaic law and consequently on their own religious deeds, though Christ, in establishing the principle that righteousness is to be reckoned to those who believe in him, or that faith in him is the condition of justification, had put an end to the law. The difference between justification through the law and justification through faith is then illustrated, and the thought fully presented that faith in Christ is the medium of salvation for all men, Jews and Gentiles alike; for whosoever relies on the Lord Jesus shall be saved. Vs. 1–13.

By a series of questions and by quotations from the Old Testament, the apostle shows that the Jews had no valid excuse, since they had had all necessary advantages for securing the blessings of the gospel; he also shows that warning had been given them of the hazard, which they were incurring, of being rejected from the divine favor. Vs. 13-21.

1. My heart's desire and prayer, etc. Lest the views which the apostle had presented, and which he was about to affirm with greater fulness, should seem to imply an indifference to the welfare of the Jews, he strongly asserts anew his heart's desire for their

2. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, etc. He could not but cherish earnest desires for their good, when he remembered their zeal towards God, or in respect to God. Their zeal, however, was not according to knowledge; it was not an intelligent zeal, regulated by knowledge of the way which God had appointed for obtaining acceptance with him.

3. God's righteousness — their own righteousness. These terms designate respectively God's method of treating men as righteous, 1: 17. 3: 21, 22, and the Jews' idea of becoming righteous by their own deeds. Disregarding God's method of accounting men as righteous, acting as if they knew it not, and seeking to establish a righteousness of their own by their own deeds, they have not subjected themselves to God's method.

4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, etc. Their zeal in seeking to establish a righteousness of their own, by a supposed obedience to the law of Moses, is a mistaken zeal; for Christ in establishing the principle that every one, of whatever nation, who believes in him is accepted of God, his faith being set to his account as righteousness, 4: 22-24, has put an end to the law on which the Jews rely. Their seeking to establish their own righteousness was therefore utterly vain, since only by subjecting themselves to God's method could they be saved. This was eminently true of the law, viewed as a ritual system; in which respect the Jews generally relied on it for acceptance with God: through Christ the ritual system was abolished. The law viewed as a code of moral

and religious principles, though, as a directory of feelings and conduct, it must always have force and was not destroyed by Christ, Matt. 5: 17, yet so far as justification in the sight of God is concerned, never had force; for the sinfulness of men always required a different mode of justification, and the apostle finds evidence in the Old Testament that faith was the requisite for men's acceptance with God. Still, accommodating ourselves to human conceptions, we may justly say that, when Christ came, he established a different system, and made it evident that salvation cannot be obtained through the law. Compare 7: 1-5.-The distinction between the moral law and the ritual, as already noted on 3: 20, was of no practical utility to Jews, since, as the whole Mosaic code was binding on them by divine authority, the observance of rites was obedience to God, in their esteem, as much as the compliance with moral duties: if they did what the law enjoined, whether ceremonial or moral, it was doing, they flattered themselves, the will of God, and gave them a claim for reward.

5-10. Having distinctly mentioned two kinds of righteousness, or two methods of being accounted as righteous in the sight of God, one of which is entirely set aside by Christ, the apostle shows the difference between them, in order to place in due prominence faith in Christ as necessary for acceptance with God, and to urge the sentiment that, without regard to the distinction between Jew and Gentile, whosoever believes in him shall be saved. He here avails himself of language used in the Old Testament

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which, either in itself, or by a slight modification as giving it a Christian aspect, teaches and illustrates this point.

5. For Moses describeth. See Lev. 18: 5. The righteousness which is of the law; denominated in the third verse their own righteousness. || The man which doeth these things, etc. The actual performance of what the law enjoins, as to the heart and the conduct, is necessary in order to be saved by the law whoever is thus righteous in view of the law will be saved by it whoever fails of being thus righteous cannot, on the ground of a legal system, be saved. The doing of the law, as to all its requisitions, is necessary for salvation on a legal basis.

6. But the righteousness which is of faith; that which is reckoned to the believer on account of his faith, and named in the third verse God's righteousness. Compare 9: 32.- In this and several following verses, the apostle employs language which Moses had used in addressing the people of Israel, Deut. 30: 11-14, modifying it so as to render it a suitable medium for illustrating the distinctive principle of the gospel. Moses had said, "This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it:" as if he had said, God has placed you in peculiarly favorable circum

stances for doing his will; he has made it clearly known to you; you have no need to send a messenger to heaven to learn it; you have no need to send to remote regions of the earth in order to learn it. What he requires of you he has brought near to you; and all what is needed is, that you have a heart to do his will. The apostle, giving a Christian turn to this language and illustrating by it the requisition of the gospel, says, as it were, Indulge not the thought that God has not made provision for our salvation and has not placed us in favorable circumstances for obtaining acceptance with him; say not, in disbelief of what has actually been done in our behalf, that Christ has not come down from heaven to be our Saviour; he is far away from us; would he but come and show us the way, we would walk in it: who can go up to heaven to bring him down to us? Say not, again, in a spirit of disbelief, Christ has not arisen from the dead: he is far away from us: who can descend to the region of the dead to bring him up to us, that we may obey him? And while the gospel bids you not to indulge in such disbelief, what does it positively say to you? It says, Christ has come down from heaven and has come up from the region of the dead, to be your Lord and Saviour: the word of God is thus brought near to you; it is not afar off: what it requires of you is easily apprehended and is level to your necessities. It is, as Moses said, in your mouth and in your heart; and all you have to do, according to the righteousness of faith, is, with your mouth to avow Jesus to be your Lord and with your heart to confide in him; for, according to the righteousness of faith, or the requisi