Romans 3

1. What advantage then hath the Jew? Having shown (ep. ver. 9) that the Jews, as well as the Gentiles, are guilty, the apostle now meets the objection that this truth robs the Jew of all his superiority. The two questions here put have substantially the same meaning; and form together the first of a series of interrogations in which a Jewish inquirer is represented as stating difficulties in the way of the apostle’s conclusion (see vers. 3, 5, 7, 9).

2 chiefly. Rather, “first of all” (R.V.). Paul does not here specify the other advantages of the Jews, some of which are enumerated in ix. 4, 5.

oracles. See Acts vii. 38, and note; 1 Pet. iv. 11.

3 shall their unbelief, etc. The second question, Shall the admitted unfaithfulness of some to the covenant make God’s faithful promise without effect? Nay, God is true, though all else be false.

4. God forbid. Lit., “Let it not be”: and so in other places. The full sentence is found in 1 Kings xxi. 3.

as it is written, etc. The Septuagint version of Psa. ii. 4 is here followed; and its difference from the Hebrew does not affect the object of the quotation. “When Thou art judged” means, “When men take account of Thy dealings.”

5 if our unrighteousness, etc. The third question. To “commend” is to “give proof of,” or “establish.” “The righteousness of God,” or “justice of God.”

6 how shall God judge the world? The answer to the objection. To act upon the principle of the objector would make all moral estimates impossible.

7 why yet am I also judged, etc.? The fourth question of the supposed objector, a variation of the preceding. “If the truth of God has been more abundantly established by my unfaithfulness, why further am I, individually, also to be condemned and punished as a sinner?”

8. And not [rather], etc. This interrogation is best taken as the apostle’s answer to the objector’s plea, bringing it to an absurdity. If you claim to be exempt from punishment because your sin is overruled for God’s glory, you may as well at once adopt the profoundly immoral maxim, “Let us do evil that good may come”: a sentiment slanderously attributed to Christians.

whose damnation (condemnation) is just. Those who draw such an inference from the gospel of God’s grace are to be utterly repudiated and condemned.

9 are we better than they? etc. A fifth question. Lit., “Are we before them?” The R.V. reads the question, “Are we in worse case than they?” The American Revisers (so also Moffatt and Weymouth) render the question, “Are we better than they?” In either case, the apostle’s answer is applicable. No worse, no better: for all alike are guilty before God.

12 unprofitable. The Greek means “useless,” “good for nothing.”

18. There is no fear of God before their eyes. This last quotation indicates the source of the universal wickedness above described: ep. Psa. exi. 10.

19 the law. The “law” here includes both the whole written word (see John x. 34, and note), as cited in vers. 10-18, and also the law written on the conscience (ii. 14, 15). Every man is “under the law” in one or both of these forms.

21 now the (a) righteousness of God, etc. “Now” that Christ is come, “a righteousness of God apart from the law is fully manifested.”

22 the righteousness of God [which is] by faith, etc. See notes on i. 17.

unto all, etc. Intended or designed for all who believe. The best authorities omit, “and upon all.”

23 come short, etc. The word come is in the present tense. The meaning of the phrase probably is, all men fail to secure God’s approbation—the praise and honour which He bestows: as in John v. 44; xii. 43.

24 freely. “Gratuitously”: by no merit of their own, but by that wonderful “grace” which

“ransomed” them by the “blood” of Jesus, the “propitiatory offering” now “set forth” as the great object “of faith.”

redemption. “Redemption” means deliverance by the payment of a ransom, and is applied in Scripture to deliverance from sin in its guilt, power, and consequences: see Luke xxi. 28; Heb. ix. 15; xi. 35.

25 propitiation. The Greek word occurs in the New Testament only here and in Heb. ix. 5. “Mercy-seat,” is its general meaning in the LXX, as Exod. xxv. 17-22. It is really an adjective: “propitiatory,” and takes its meaning from the unexpressed noun that it qualifies—either “cover” (of the ark) in the Old Testament, or in the present passage, “sacrifice,” the blood of which was sprinkled on the mercy-seat, in order to make atonement for sin: see Lev. xvi. 14-16.

through faith. This confirms the interpretation, “sacrifice”; effectual only through the faith of him who appropriates it.

for the remission of sins, etc. Rather (as R.V.), “because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God” (the original word differing from that meaning remission). The sacrifice of Christ manifests God’s judicial righteousness, which might seem to have been obscured by His forbearance in overlooking the sins of former ages. In this and other passages it should be remembered that throughout the New Testament, the words “just,” and “righteous,” “justify,” “justification,” and “righteousness,” are all forms of the same Greek word.

27 boasting. Rather, “the boasting,” or “glorying” (R.V.), i.e., of the Jew; see ver. 29; ii. 17-20. Of course, if this boasting is excluded, so is all other; and especially that founded upon external Christian privileges.

By what law? The “law” here is the declared rule or requirement of the Divine government. “Faith,” i.e., the trustful acceptance of free justification (vers. 24, 25), is required, instead of works, i.e., the endeavouring to merit God’s favour by our own doings, as the means of obtaining salvation; and thus the glorying of the Jew is set aside.

28 conclude. Or, “reckon” (R.V.). This conclusion is the counterpart of that in ver. 20, reviving the hope which had there been destroyed.

without, etc. Or, as R.V. marg., “apart from works of law.”

30 [it is] one God, which shall justify, etc. The R.V. brings out the argument more clearly: “if so be that God is one, and He shall justify,” etc. As there is but one God, so there is but one way of justification for all men; for the ancient Hebrew saints (ch. iv.) were really justified “out of faith,” a righteousness grounded in faith; whilst for other believers, “the faith is the means by which the benefit is secured.”

etc.), a gift of grace (16); and therefore their fulfilment was to be obtained, not by works of law, but by faith; as indeed is shown by the fact that in the very first step towards their fulfilment (the having an heir) faith in an unusual degree was required (17-22).