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were past; that is, remiffion of their fins | who lived and died before Chrift came in the leth: See Exod. xxxii. 31. 32. and xxxiv. 6. 7. 2 Chron. vii. 14. Ifa. xliii. 25. Pfal. xxv. 11. li. 12. 14. and xxxii. 1. c. XXVII. Whatever remiffion of fins thefe under the law had, it was not merited by any works of theirs; their do and live being only a fhuting them up in clofe prifon, that they might fly to a Mediator; but by Jefus Chrift, the Lamb flain from the foundation of the world, Rev. xiii. 8. the only Mediator between God and man, 1 Tim. ii. 5. fee Heb. xiii. 8. John viii. 56. 58. (hence he is faid to have been tempted by the Ifraelites, 1 Cor. x. 9. with Exod. xxiii. 20. 21.) who once offered himfelf, Heb. ix. 25. &c. whofe death could have merited before it did exift, as any moral meritorious caufe may do. And tho' Mofes be called a mediator, Gal. iii. 19. 20. yet that was but as a type of Chrift, Deut. xviii. and as a fervant, Heb. iii. 5. who wrote of Chrift, John. v. 46. Hence all their facrifices and ceremonies pointed out Chrift, who was the fubftance of all thofe fhadows, Heb. x. 1. and could not expiate fin, Heb. ix. 9. and x. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. For here the remiffion of fins that are past, was through the propitiation in his blood. See Acts x. 43. and xv. 11. and xxvi. 23. XXVIII. Albeit Chrift the only Mediator was not come, but darkly fhadowed forth by types and figures, as a promifed Meflias, or a Meffias to come, under the law; yet pardon of fias was no otherways had then, but by faith in Christ: for tho' the doctrine of faith was fparingly then held forth, yer faith was then neceffary, and fubftantially the fame with faith under the gospel, both leaning to a Meffiah, the one as to come, the other as come already: for here, Chrift was a propitiation through faith, for the remiffion of fins that are pait. See Heb, xi. 4. 5. 6. 7. Hab. ii. 4. As x. 43. Heb iv. 1. 2.

tuon", y, the foul was to be cut off, whereas an atonement was to be made for fins of ignorance; yet (that being by the law as with its judicial additions) it was the rule of their judicia! polity, by which there was no facrifice appointed that might free them from temporal death; and fo this was but a peculiar appointment of their commonwealth, it being mainly for omiffions or commiffions in their ceremonial performances; for verfe 22d looks clearly back to the preceding verfes, and had no refpect to the fpiritual expiation of fin thereby typified, otherways none guilty of fuch fins fhould ever have been faved) expiation by legal facrifices was not for fome. fins only, others excepted, but for all, Lev.xvi. 21. And fo, though under the law their purgations and facrifices being refted on, could really expiate no fin, as is clear, Acts xiii. 38. 39. Heb. ix. 9. they be ing but fhadows of Chrift, the good thing to come, Heb, x. 1. yet typically they expiate all fin, none excepted: for here, indefinitely, and indifcriminately it is faid, for the remiffion of fins that are past. See Heb.ix. 15.

XXX. Under the old covenant believers were freed not only from temporal death by their typical facrifices, but also from death eternal; their fins being a tranfgreffion of a moral law, requiring obedience upon pain of eternal death; for it was fuch a remiffion as was purchased by the blood of Chrift, and by no lefs; and Chrift died to deliver them from death, even fuch as, through fear of death, were in bondage, Heb. ii. 15. and thus Chrift was a propitiation through faith in his blood, for the remiffion of fins that are past.

XXXI. It was a great argument of God's patience and forbearance, that he paffed by the iniquities of thofe under the law, even when there was no actual fatisfaction made to juftice for their tranfgref fions; therefore it is added, through the forbearance of Gud.

XXIX. Albeit it be faid Numb. xv. 30. XXXII. As God is righteous with an that for iuch fins as were done prefump-univerfal righteouineis, whereby he can

do

122

An Expofition of the Epifle to the Romans.

do no wrong, but is perfect and upright |
in all his ways, which is an abfolute effen-
tial attribute in God; fo is he righteous
with a particular relative righteoufnefs,
whereby he will render to every man what
is his due; which appeareth in his ruling
the world, and appointing a place of tor-
ment for the obftinate, Jude 15. and in
afflicting the wicked even in this world,
Pfal. lxxxix. 14. Ifa. xxvii. 17. fo here he
is faid to be juft.

XXXIII. Albeit this relative righteouf. nefs of God be often manifefted in his executing his wrath upon the workers of iniquity, and was actually manifefted oftentimes before Chrift came, as in the deftruction of the old world, and of Sodom, Gomorrah, &c. yet none of thefe, nay, all of them, gave not fuch a proof and demonftration of this vindicative juftice, as his giving Chrift to die and fatisfy for finners is: for Chrift was fet forth to be a propitiation, in his blood, to declare his righteeufness.

XXXIV. If we look upon God in refpect of his abfolute power, that is, his power not limited by the demonftration of his own will, he might have paffed by finners, and not have punished them; fo that he punisheth not by any neceffity antecedent to his own free determination, feeing by no natural neceffity he impofed a penal law, there being no natural neceffary connection betwixt his dominion over the creature, and his impofing of penal laws; for he fet forth Chrift as a propi. tiation, that finners may go free; and fo substituted him in their room to fuffer for them, which he could not do, if he punished fin by any natural neceffity, as the fire burneth; and hereby, as by punishing the wicked in his own perfon, he intends the demonftration of the glory of his juftice, which he might, had it fo feemed good in his eyes, never have intended to fhew forth.

XXXV. Whatever God might have done, abfolutely confidered, yet having

Chap. III.

made and impofed a penal law, and decreed to punish the contraveeners of that law, this relative juftice, whereby he will eth to give to every man what is his due according to God's will, requireth that the finner be not freed from punishment withconftant, faithful, and true; for Chrift is out fatisfaction made to justice, feeing he is fet forth to be a propitiation, to declare bis righteoufness, that he might be just, &c.

gofpel there be much of God's love, merXXXVI. Albeit in thefe days of the cy and good-will manifefted, more than efinners with fuch vifible and temporal ver, and God doth not ufually purfue plagues as he did of old; yet finners have kednefs, as if God were all mercy and no no cause to encourage themfelves in wicjuftice now; for even in the gospel days clearly and convincingly held forth than his juftice is as great as ever, and more begoten Son, in whom was never any guile ever, in that he would not fpare his only found, but put him to death while ftandhe, to declare at this time his righteousness. ing in the room of finners: therefore fays

God's juftice in the matter of our redempXXXVII. Tho' we be ready to overlook tion, yet it is ufeful to confider feriously, how juftice as well as mercy kyths in it and how they kifs and embrace each other that the wifdom of God may be the more admired in the falvation of finners, who lay their fhoulders together to help in ou can make juftice and mercy, as it were redemption, and mercy gain the day, ye fo as juftice fhould fuffer no detriment therefore doth he once and again, that i may not be forgoten, fay, that one of Chrift's being a propitiation for fin was to declare his righteousness, and again, declare, I fay, his righteousness.

en

righteous and innocent, free of all iniqu
XXXVIII. Albeit Chrift Jefus was mo
ty, yet it was no act of injustice or crue
ty in God, to bruise him and afflict him f
fins upon him, fecing he willingly ga
Our caufe, and to lay the punishment of o

hi

himself to justice, and laid down his life a random to God, John xv. 15. 17. 18. and voluntarily became our cautioner, and for that caufe took on him a near relation to us, even the relation of a head and hufband, and a near kinfman; but rather an act of justice: therefore it is faid, he was fet forth to be a propitiation, to declare his righteoufnefs, that he might be juft.

XXXIX. Tho' Chrift was fet forth to be a propitiation to fatisfy juftice, and for declaration and manifeftation of the righteoufnefs of God; yet it was not only in refpect of God, otherways it had been no proof of God's rich mercy and goodness towards us, but alfo for our good: and there is no inconfiftency here, but a fweet harmony and agreement; the fatisfaction of justice making way for good to redound toward us, which otherways we could not have been partakers of: for both thefe ends are held forth here, as Chrift was fet forth to be a propitiation, that God might be juft, fo alfo, that he might juftify believers in Chrift.

XL. Tho' God be juft and righteous, and in strict juftice might have punished all, according to the rigour of the law, with everlasting deftruction, without any mercy; yet now, out of the depth of his wildom, there is a way found out how poor finners might be delivered from the deferved curfe, and abfolved from the penalty of the law, without any wrong done to juftice; for through Chrift's being a propitiation God is juft, and withal, the juftifier of those who are by faith in Chrift. XLI. Whatever worth and excellence be in the death and merits of Chrift, yet none have ground to claim any benefit thereby, but fuch as are by faith in Chrift; for he will be the juftifier of fuch only as are by faith in Chrift.

VERSE 27. Where is boafting then? It is excluded? By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Ere is another argument whereby the apoftle proveth we are not juftified by works, but by faith, to this purpose: We are only juftified that way by which all ground of boafting and gloriation is taken away from man: But fo it is that all ground of gloriation is taken away by the way of faith, and not by the way of works; Therefore, &c. The first propofition is clear from what he had faid in the preceding verfes, from which he feemeth to infer this by the particle then; as if he had faid, If the Lord had any mind, that man fhould have had any ground of boasting, he would not have fet Chrift forth to have been a propitiation through faith in his blood, that thereby way might be made for his juftifying of finners, fo as his juftice might fuffer no prejudice; but now he has taken this courfe, and therefore the only way of justification is a way that yields no ground of boafting. The next propofition he cleareth here, and propofeth it by interrogations, the more to bear in the conviction of the truth, faying, Where is boafting then? Can any, may any man now boaft of himself, or be proud? No, fays he, it is excluded; it is hot out of doors: By what law? By what doctrine? By that of works? Nay: the way of juftification by works makes a man fwell with pride and conceit of his own power and ability, and puts him out of God's reverence, to fpeak fo: But by the law of faith; that is, by the doctrine of the gofpel, which pointeth out falvation in Christ, and commandeth faith in him, as the only way of juftification: and he makes mention of a law, in imitation of thofe with whom he was now difputing, who would hear of nothing but of a law, as Christ did call faith a work, John vi. 29. The way of juftification by faith makes a man deftitute of all his own righteoufnefs, and puts him to flee out of himself, and lay hoid of the righteoufnefs of another, and fo takes all occafion of boafting and glori ation from him. OBSERV

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OBSERVATIONS.

I. Proud men would fain be at fuch a way of reaching the crown, as may afford them moft ground of boafting, and selfapplauding; and therefore are most backward to fubmit unto the righteousness of God, Rom. x. 3. and therefore the apoftle labours to caft down this, by crying out, Since Chrift is fet forth, &c. Where is boafting?

II. God hath fo contrived and ordered the whole bufinefs of our falvation, as all mouths may be ftoped, and all that glory may glory in the Lord; and therefore whatever way men fall upon, whereby mans mouth is opened in the leaft, it is fartheft off from God's way, which is altogether to lay man's boafting, fo boasting is excluded, no more to get entry.

III. As it is an evidence of great pride and felf conceit in a man to look for juftification or falvation for any thing in himself, or which he can do; fo to expect juftification because of any worth in us is a moft vain course, and a way that God doth not allow of; and that it is fo, may be fufficiently made out from this, that it is a way which puffeth up a man, and makes him fwell fo with pride, as that he cannot contain himself, but boaft and glory of his own worth; for juftification by works doth not exclude boafting, and because it is fo, therefore the apoftle concludeth, that it is not the right way; for this is the force of his argument.

IV. Seeing the way of juftification by faith in Chrift carrieth a man quite out of himself, to look for all in and through another; therefore fuch as have any high thoughts of themselves, are walking in a way of works, and are ftrangers unto the right way of juftification by faith; and whoever are practically acquainted with the way of faith, will have low and humble thoughts of any thing within themfelves; for the law of faith excludes boufting.

VERSE 28. Therefore we conclude, that a man is juftified by faith, without the deeds of the law.

A

Fter this long difpute, the apostle,

before he goes to make ule of other mediums for the farther confirmation of the truth, fets down the conclufion, in thort; Therefore we conclude, from firm and folid reafon, that a man is juftified, abfolved from all accufation, and that judicially, by faith, laying hold on the merits of Chrift, who was fet forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, without the deeds of the law, of whatfoever fort, as being any part of the meritorious caufe of our juftification; or being any condition on which dependeth our be ing put in a juflified state.

OBSERVATIONS.

I. There is fuch a privilege vouchfafed upon finners, who have fled in to Chrift by faith, as juftification, whereby they get their iniquities and tranfgreffions pardoned, only becaufe of the propitiation which Chrift made by his bloody facrifice; fo as they are accepted of as righteous, not for any thing in themselves, or done by them, but allenarly for the righteoufnefs of Chrift, imputed to us, and accepted by faith: for this definition of juftification refults from the preceding difpute, where it was fhown, that God juftifieth; and that juftification was not an infufing of righteoufuefs in us, but fuch an act of God whereby he pardoneth our fins, and confequently looks upon us as righteous, and that only for Chrift, who was set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.

II. This juftification being a fundamental bufinefs, it becometh all of us to be clear in it; and however men of corrupt minds think it folly to fay, that we are jullified by the righteoufnels of another imputed to us, and fo in fcorn call it a

putative

putative righteoufnefs, and a thing contrary to all fenfe and reafon; yet we fee it is a truth founded on firm and folid grounds, that man is juftified by the righ-juftification as is common to Paul with the

teoufnefs of another, laid hold on by faith: for the apoftle concludes this truth from folid and undeniable grounds, faying, Now therefore we conclude, &c. And as it is a truth founded on folid grounds, fo it is a real deed, being a deed of God's, founded upon the purchfe of Chrift, which was a real thing, and producing real effects, as peace with God, pardon, and joy in the Holy Ghoft.

III. Howbeit faith be requifite to juftification, (as hath been fhown in the former verfes, and may yet farther appear in this) and in believing we are not mere blocks, but agents acted by grace; yet juftification, being a judicial, forinsical act of God, we doing nothing whereupon we might be accounted juft, but being wholly broken dyvers, and Chrift only paying all, as to us is a paffive thing, and we paffive as to the Lord's pronouncing the fentence from the bench: hence it is always faid, in a paffive fenfe, we are juftified.

IV. Albeit it be true, that a believer, by faith may win to apprehend, and feel. ingly to know, that he is juftified and pardoned in and through Chrift, when he reflects and looks back upon himself; yet this is not all which is had by faith, nor is this fenfe and apprehenfion of pardon and reconciliation, that which is here called justification by faith: before this juftification in the court of confcience, there is a real, perfonal, actual juftification, otherways that juftification in confcience fhould be error; and this is had by faith, and of this the apostle speaketh here: For, ft, he fpeaketh of fuch a juftification whereof God is the author; faying before, It is God that juftifieth: but man is the cause of this juftification in confcience, by taking up, and confidering, and undertanding his eftate. 2dly, He fpeaketh of

fuch a juftification wherein we are paffive; but we are not paffive in this of juftification in confcience. 3dly, He fpeaks of fuch a

weakest and meanest believer; faying, We are juftified: but juftification in confcience hath divers degrees, for fome are more, fome are lefs perfuaded of their juftification. 4thly, He fpeaks of fuch a juftification as is a ftanding, lafting thing, not rifing or falling; even of fuch a juftification whereby believers are put into a safe state, and fo fhall never be loft; but this juftification in confcience rifeth and falleth, and is fometimes quite loft; fo that believers are often in a ftate of damnation, and fo unjuftified, as to their own apprehenfion. 5thly, He fpeaks of fuch a juftification which is had by faith, and fo is enjoyed by every true believer; but justification in the court of confcience, many a believer wanteth many a day, if not all his lifetime. 6thly, IIe fpeaks of fuch a juftification which is had by faith, and fo doth immediately follow faith, if not go alongst with it; but juftification in confcience doth not fo infeparably go along with faith, and immediately follow it. 7thly, He fpeaketh of fuch a juftification, the meritorious caufe whereof is the propitiation through the blood of Chrift; but this is the meritorious caufe of another juftification than that in confcience, even of our real and perfonal juftification. 8thly, He fpeaketh of fuch a juftification as is, in a fpecial manner, by faith, and not by works; but this justification in confcience is by works, as well as by faith: and fo we are juftified by faith.

V. Albeit God did from all eternity decree to juftify his elect, in time, thro faith in Chrift, every tranfient act prefuppofing an imminent act, feeing God doth nothing in time but what he purposed to do from eternity; yet are not his children actually juftified from eternity, juftification not being an imminent act, which is only terminated in the agent, having nothing for its term but himself, but a tran

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