Romans 3:17

And the way of peace have they not known: AND THE WAY OF PEACE HAVE THEY NOT KNOWN (Isaiah 59:7). These two last clauses are a supplementary statement about men's ways, suggested by what had been said about the "feet," and they express the mischief and misery which men scatter in their path, instead of that peace which, as strangers to it themselves, they cannot diffuse....

17.It follows, _The way of peace they have not known: _they are so habituated to plunders, acts of violence and wrong, to savageness and cruelty, that they know not how to act kindly and courteously....

9-18 Here again is shown that all mankind are under the guilt of sin, as a burden; and under the government and dominion of sin, as enslaved to it, to work wickedness. This is made plain by several passages of Scripture from the Old Testament, which describe the corrupt and depraved state of all men, till grace restrain or change them. Great as our advantages are, these texts describe multitudes who call themselves Christians. Their principles and conduct prove that there is no fear of God before their eyes. And where no fear of God is, no good is to be looked for....

Verse 17. _AND THE WAY OF PEACE HAVE THEY NOT KNOWN_] They neither have peace in themselves, nor do they suffer others to live in quiet: they are brooders and fomenters of discord....

AND THE WAY OF PEACE ... - What tends to promote their own happiness, or that of others, they do not regard. Intent on their plans of evil, they do not know or regard what is suited to promote the welfare of themselves or others. This is the case with all who are selfish, and who seek to gain their own purposes of crime and ambition....

EXPOSITION ROMANS 3:1 (2) _Certain objections with regard to the Jews suggested and met. _In_ _this passage, before proceeding with his argument, the apostle meets certain objections that might be made to what has been so far said. Some difficulty in determining his exact meaning arises from the concise and pregnant form in which the objections are put and answered, and from fresh ones arising out of the answers, which have also to be met. The objections are from the Jewish standpoint, though not put into the mouth of an objecting Jew, but rather suggested as likely ones by St. Paul himself. To the original readers of the Epistle, who were familiar with the tone of Jewish thought, the sequence of the ideas would probably be more obvious than to us. Reserving special consideration of successive clauses for our exposition of each verse, we may,

AND THE WAY OF PEACE HAVE THEY NOT KNOWN. This is a citation front Isaiah 59:8, and expresses the ignorance of mankind, with regard to true peace, and the way unto it: men are naturally ignorant of the way of peace with God; of the first step which God took towards it; of the council and covenant of peace, in which the scheme of it was drawn, and the method fixed; of Christ the peacemaker, and of the way in which he has made it; and of the Gospel, which reveals and publishes it. They are ignorant of the true way of enjoying peace of conscience; they have no true peace of mind, their consciences are often tortured; and though they may have a stupid and secure peace, yet nothing that is true, real, and solid; for they are without the Spirit, whose fruit is peace; and without faith in Christ, by which true peace only is enjoyed; nor are they spiritually minded, which is life and peace; nor...

Romans 3:1. _What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?_ If, after all, both Jew and Gentiles were under sin, what advantage had the Jew by the covenant under which he lived? Or what was the benefit to him of the circumcision which was his distinctive mark? Romans 3:2. _Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God._ The Jews were God's chronicle-keepers. They had to guard the holy Books, «the oracles of God.» They had also to preserve the knowledge of the truth by those divers rites and ceremonies by which God was pleased to reveal himself of old time. Romans 3:3. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbeli

CHAPTER 3:1-20 _ 1. Objections and Their Answers. (Romans 3:1 .)_ 2. The Whole World Under Sin. (Romans 3:9 .) Romans 3:1 A number of objections are next raised and answered. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?” Such would be the natural question of the Jew after reading the argument that the Jew is on the same level with the Gentile. This objection is stated here for the first time. It is important, for the Jews are God's chosen people and as the Apostle states later, to them belongs “the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God and the promises” ...

sums up THE IMPEACHMENT OF MANKIND. Romans 3:9. Paul has beaten down Jewish counter-pleas; he and his fellow-believers (we) might be supposed to have some apology in reserve: What then? do we make any defence? (_mg_.). Not in the least! for we have already charged Jews and Greeks alike with being all under the power of sin. ROMANS 3:10. The universal accusation is restated by a string of OT sentences (p. 805) gathered, with the exception of Romans 3:15 (Isaiah 59:7 f.), from the Psalter, which poignantly depict the sinfulness of mankind. Two things are conspicuous in this sad catena: the world's unrighteousness is traced t