For when, &c. This verse enforces the exhortation just given, by reminding the Christian that once he was emphatically notthe "bond-servant of righteousness."

free from righteousness Lit. free unto righteousness; i.e. with respect to it, both as to its mercy and as to its consequent claim. There is here a deep and solemn irony, (if we may venture the word), which has some parallel in 1 Peter 4:3; q. d., "You had nothing to do with the righteousness of God; you were not justified before Him: therefore His righteousness had, as it were, nothing to do with you; it laid no bondof grateful love upon you."

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising