It might easily seem, at this point, as if the Apostle's argument had proved too much. He has shown that the mere possession of the law does not exempt the Jew from judgment, but that God requires its fulfilment; he has shown that circumcision in the flesh, seal though it be of the covenant and pled... [ Continue Reading ]
f. τὸ περισσὸν τοῦ Ἰουδαίου is that which the Jew has “over and above” the Gentile. τίς ἡ ὠφέλεια τῆς περιτομῆς; = “What good does his circumcision do him?” πολὺ goes with τὸ περισσόν. κατὰ πάντα τρόπον : however you choose to view the position. πρῶτον μὲν suggests that such an enumeration of Jewish... [ Continue Reading ]
f. τί γάρ; For how? _i.e._, Well then, how stands the case? _Cf._ Philippians 1:18. εἰ ἠπίστησάν τινες = if some _did_ disbelieve. It is not necessary to render this, with reference to ἐπιστεύθησαν in Romans 3:2, “if some proved faithless to their trust”. What is in Paul's mind is that “the oracles... [ Continue Reading ]
f. Here another attempt is made to invalidate the conclusion of chap. 2, that the Jew is to be judged “according to his works,” exactly like the Gentile. If the argument of Romans 3:3 f. is correct, the unbelief of the Jews actually serves to set off the faithfulness of God: it makes it all the more... [ Continue Reading ]
f. These verses are extremely difficult, and are interpreted variously according to the force assigned to the τί ἔτι κἀγὼ of Romans 3:7. Who or what supplies the contrast to this emphatic “I also”? Some commentators, Gifford, for instance, find it in God, and God's interest in the judgment. If my li... [ Continue Reading ]
Τί οὖν; What then? _i.e._, how, then, are we to understand the situation? It is necessary to take these words by themselves, and make προεχόμεθα a separate question: the answer to τί could not be οὐ, but must be οὐδέν. The meaning of προεχόμεθα has been much discussed. The active προέχειν means to e... [ Continue Reading ]
In these verses the Apostle completes his proof of the universality of sin, and of the liability of all men, without exception, to judgment. The τί οὖν of Romans 3:9 brings back the argument from the digression of Romans 3:1-8. In those verses he has shown that the historical prerogative of the Jews... [ Continue Reading ]
The long series of quotations, beginning with this verse, has many points of interest. The καθὼς γέγραπται with which it is introduced, shows that the assertion of indiscriminate sinfulness which the Apostle has just made, corresponds with Scripture testimony. It is as if he had said, I can express... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἔστιν συνίων. For the form (συνίων or συνιῶν), see Winer, p. 97. If we read ὁ συνίων the meaning is, There is no one to understand: if the article (as in the LXX) be omitted, There is no one who has sense.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἠχρεώθησαν is the LXX rendering of נֶאֱלָחוּ, which means “to become sour,” “to turn” (of milk): one and all they have become good for nothing. χρηστότητα usually signifies kindness, and so it is rendered in 2 Corinthians 6:6; Ephesians 2:7; Colossians 3:12; Titus 3:4 (_cf._ Romans 2:4; Romans 11:22... [ Continue Reading ]
τάφος … ἐδολιοῦσαν is an exact quotation of Psalms 5:10 (LXX). The original seems to describe foreign enemies whose false and treacherous language threatened ruin to Israel. For the form ἐδολιοῦσαν, see Winer, p. 91 (f.). The termination is common in the LXX: Wetstein quotes one grammarian who calls... [ Continue Reading ]
Ps. 9:28, LXX, freely quoted: (Psalms 10:7, A.V.). αὐτῶν after στόμα (W. and H., margin) is a Hebrew idiom which the LXX has in this passage, only in the singular: οὗ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ.... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses are rather a free extract from, than a quotation of, Isaiah 59:7-8. They describe the moral corruption of Israel in the age of the prophet. According to Lipsius, σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία refer to the spiritual misery which comes upon the Jews in the path of self-righteousness. But it is... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 3:18; Psalms 35:2, LXX, with αὐτῶν for αὐτοῦ. This verse at once sums up and explains the universal corruption of mankind.... [ Continue Reading ]
At this point the first great division of the epistle closes, that which began with chap. Romans 1:18, and has been occupied with asserting the universal prevalence of sin. “We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are in the law,” _i.e._, to the Jews. For the distinction of λέγειν ... [ Continue Reading ]
διότι means “because,” not “therefore,” as in A.V. The rendering “therefore” is perhaps due to the difficulty which the translators had in putting an intelligible meaning into “because”. The sense seems to be: Every mouth must be stopped, and all the world shown to be liable to God's judgment, becau... [ Continue Reading ]
νυνὶ δὲ : but now. All time is divided for Paul into “now” and “then”. _Cf._ Ephesians 2:12 f., τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ … νυνὶ δέ; 2 Corinthians 5:16, ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν : the reception of the Gospel means the coming of a new world. χωρὶς νόμου : legal obedience contributes nothing to evangelic righteousness. It i... [ Continue Reading ]
The universal need of a Gospel has now been demonstrated, and the Apostle proceeds with his exposition of this Gospel itself. It brings what all men need, a righteousness of God (see on Romans 1:17); and it brings it in such a way as to make it accessible to all. Law contributes nothing to it, thoug... [ Continue Reading ]
δικαιοσύνη δὲ θεοῦ. The δὲ is explicative: “a righteousness of God (see on chap. Romans 1:17) [Romans 3:21], and that a righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ”. In the Epistle to the Hebrews Jesus Christ is undoubtedly set forth as a pattern of faith: ἀφορῶντες εἰς τὸν τῆς πίστεως ἀρχηγὸ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἥμαρτον must be rendered in English “have sinned”; see Burton, _Moods and Tenses_, § 54. ὑστεροῦνται expresses the consequence = and so come short of the glory of God. To emphasise the middle, and render “they come short, and _feel_ that they do so,” though suggested by the comparison of Matthew 19:... [ Continue Reading ]
δικαιούμενοι : grammatically, the word is intractable. If we force a connection with what immediately precedes, we may say with Lipsius that just as Paul has proved the universality of grace through the universality of sin, so here, conversely, he proves the universal absence of merit in men by show... [ Continue Reading ]
f. But the question whether the word ἀπολύτρωσις involves of itself a reference to the cost at which the thing is accomplished is after all of minor consequence: that cost is brought out unambiguously in Romans 3:25. The ἀπολύτρωσις is in Christ Jesus, and it is in Him as One whom God set forth in p... [ Continue Reading ]
ποῦ οὖν, where, since this is the case, is boasting? ἐξεκλείσθη : for the use of the tense, _cf._ ἐβλήθη and ἐξηράνθη in John 15:6; it is equivalent to, “is peremptorily, or once for all, shut out”. διὰ ποίου νόμου; By what kind of law? In other words, How is the “law,” the divinely appointed spirit... [ Continue Reading ]
In these verses the positive exposition of the righteousness of God as offered to faith through the redemption in Christ Jesus, is concluded. The Apostle points out two inferences which can be drawn from it, and which go to commend it to religious minds. The first is, that it excludes boasting. A re... [ Continue Reading ]
λογιζόμεθα γάρ : see critical note. In λογιζόμεθα there is no idea of an uncertain conclusion: it rather suggests the confident self-consciousness of the reasoner. ἄνθρωπον is not “any human being,” as if beings of another sort could be justified otherwise: it is like the German “man” or “one”. _Cf.... [ Continue Reading ]
f. ἤ Ἰουδαίων ὁ θεὸς μόνον; The only way to evade the conclusion of Romans 3:28 would be to suppose as is here presented by way of alternative that God is a God of Jews only. But the supposition is impossible: there is only one God, and therefore He must be God of all, of Gentile and Jews alike. Thi... [ Continue Reading ]
νόμον οὖν καταργοῦμεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως; Do we then annul “law” through the faith we have been discussing? Perhaps if Law were written with a capital letter, it would suggest the true meaning. The Apostle speaks as from the consciousness of a Jewish objector: is all that we have ever called Law the wh... [ Continue Reading ]