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Hitherto the apostle, in seeking to shut up the Jew unto the faith of Christ, has contented himself with an enunciation of the equitable principles on which the final judgment shall proceed, simply affirming, of both rewards and punishments, that they shall be to the Jew first, but also to the Gentile. He now proceeds, in a direct appeal to the Jew, to indicate to him the folly of any hope of escape but in the free grace of God as revealed in the gospel.

I. THE APPEAL IS MADE TO THE JEW AS TO THE PRACTICAL EFFECT OF THE RELIGION OF WHICH HE MADE HIS BOAST UPON HIS OWN CHARACTER AND CONDUCT.

1. Did it make him to become a wiser or better man? If not, of what avail could it be in the day of final account? "For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law," etc. (ver. 25). Circumcision therefore is not itself a saving rite, but the sign and seal of a salvation already secured by faith (Romans 4:10, 11). But, if a man's life proclaims his profession of faith false, then the sign becomes a falsehood, and the seal a delusion and a snare. The sign is not the thing signified; nor does the thing signified of necessity wait upon the sign. The seal is not the treasure sealed; and neither is it produced by the magic influence of the sealing; nor does it of necessity remain so long as the seal remains. Marvellous it is that men should ever have imagined that God could be bound, by this mere external rite, to deliver men from the just punishment of their sins. How different the faith and reasoning of the great Father of the faithful! With him it was not a question of circumcision, but of righteousness (Genesis 18:24, 25).

2. But if an uncircumcised Gentile should practically meet the law's requirement he should be accounted as a circumcised person, and his conduct would condemn that of the unfaithful Jew (vers. 26, etc.). The inward and spiritual character of the religion required both by the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic law had been distinctly insisted upon by all the inspired writers, and the one ever-recurring complaint was that of Stephen, "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye" (Acts 7:51). By the testimony of Moses, and all the prophets, such circumcised ones were really and before God uncircumcised. But could an uncircumcised Gentile remaining uncircumcised, secure a position of grace equal to that which the disobedient Jew forfeited? By consenting to be circumcised he confessedly might. For that express provision had been made. But besides proselytes there were great numbers of Gentiles like the devout centurion (Luke 7:1, etc.), and devout Cornelius, who were truly godly men and accepted of God, and whose circumcision was that of the heart (Acts 10:34). And why should the reference be restricted even to these? Surely there are men, even in purely heathen lands, who turn from sin seeking for redemption. And shall it be said that because they do not possess the light of revelation, and cannot exercise an intelligent personal faith in the Saviour of men, they must therefore be cut off from all interest in His great redeeming work? But if men, under such disadvantages, should become circumcised in heart and accepted of God, their fulfilment of the law would indeed judge those who, with all the advantages of revelation, continued still to be transgressors of the law.

II. OBJECTIONS TO THE CONCLUSIVENESS OF THE ARGUMENT ARE ANSWERED (Romans 3:1, etc.).

1. If a Gentile, by keeping the law, might become, in the estimation of God, a Jew, while the Jew, through disobedience, might be reduced to the position of a sinful Gentile, then what profit could there be in circumcision? The advantage was much every way. First, indeed, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. The question to be solved was not how could a man be assured of perfect immunity from punishment, but how could he be most effectually rescued from the love and the practice of sin? For this Gentilism had no aptitude or power, but rather the contrary; while Judaism had both. In its sacred oracles, the need, the grace, the way, and the sure promise of salvation were made abundantly plain; so that, if the Jew did not secure it, he was without excuse. Then it is demanded —

2. If some of the Jews did not believe those sacred oracles, so as to secure possession of the promised salvation, would their unbelief invalidate the promise of God? Most surely not. For the fact that He had given the promise to believing and holy Israel could not be supposed to bind Him to insure salvation to every descendant of Abraham, whether believing and obedient or not. In respect to that, "Let God be true, and every man a liar." David (Psalm 51:4) would have vindicated God for excluding him from salvation, because of his sin; and he sought the restoration of the joy of that salvation only on the ground of the promise which free grace had made to the penitent. But now —

3. "If our unrighteousness (who, being Jews, fail to manifest the faith and obedience of the covenant people) commend the righteousness of God," establish and make it more conspicuous, what shall we say? "Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance" upon us whose very iniquities have served to promote His glory? "(I speak as a man) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?" If He must needs exempt from punishment all who contribute to His glory, then none can possibly be condemned. For His real glory is that He deals impartially with men according to their true characters, and not according to accidental relationship; and if it were possible for Him to depart from this rule, then the glory would also depart. "For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto His glory, why am I yet to be judged as a sinner?" Clearly because I am a sinner. If otherwise, "why should we not say, as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we do say, Let us do evil that good may come?" To that Jesuitry which carried out to its logical results would justify any crime, the apostle deigns no other reply than that the damnation of its promulgators is just.

III. AS TO ACTUAL MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CHARACTER, THE JEW MUST STAND SINE BY SIDE WITH THE GENTILE, AS A SINNER, AND EXPOSED TO JUST CONDEMNATION (ver. 9, etc.)

(W. Tyson.)

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KJV: Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

WEB: Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God,