vv. 1-8
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The Case of Abraham. (a. d. 58.) 1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Here the apostle proves that Abraham was justified not by works, but by faith. Those that of all men contended most vigorously for a share in righteousness by the privileges they enjoyed, and the works they performed, were the Jews, and therefore he appeals to the case of Abraham their father, and puts his own name to the relation, being a Hebrew of the Hebrews: Abraham our father. Now surely his prerogative must needs be as great as theirs who claim it as his seed according to the flesh. Now what has he found? All the world is seeking; but, while the most are wearying themselves for very vanity, none can be truly reckoned to have found, but those who are justified before God; and thus Abraham, like a wise merchant, seeking goodly pearls, found this one pearl of great price. What has he found, kata sarka—as pertaining to the flesh, that is, by circumcision and his external privileges and performances? These the apostle calls flesh, Phil. iii. 3. Now what did he get by these? Was he justified by them? Was it the merit of his works that recommended him to God's acceptance? No, by no means, which he proves by several arguments. I. If he had been justified by works, room would have been left for boasting, which must for ever be excluded. If so, he hath whereof to glory (v. 2), which is not to be allowed. "But," might the Jews say, "was not his name made great (Gen. xii. 2), and then might not he glory?" Yes, but not before God; he might deserve well of men, but he could never merit of God. Paul himself had whereof to glory before men, and we have him sometimes glorying in it, yet with humility; but nothing to glory in before God, 1 Cor. iv. 4; Phil. iii. 8, 9. So Abraham. Observe, He takes it for granted that man must not pretend to glory in any thing before God; no, not Abraham, as great and as good a man as he was; and therefore he fetches an argument from it: it would be absurd for him that glorieth to glory in any but the Lord. II. It is expressly said that Abraham's faith was counted to him for righteousness. What saith the scripture? v. 3. In all controversies in religion this must be our question, What saith the scripture? It is not what this great man, and the other good man, say, but What saith the scripture? Ask counsel at this Abel, and so end the matter, 2 Sam. ii. 18. To the law, and to the testimony (Isa. viii. 20), thither is the last appeal. Now the scripture saith that Abraham believed, and this was counted to him for righteousness (Gen. xv. 6); therefore he had not whereof to glory before God, it being purely of free grace that it was so imputed, and having not in itself any of the formal nature of a righteousness, further than as God himself was graciously pleased so to count it to him. It is mentioned in Genesis, upon occasion of a very signal and remarkable act of faith concerning the promised seed, and is the more observable in that it followed upon a grievous conflict he had had with unbelief; his faith was now a victorious faith, newly returned from the battle. It is not the perfect faith that is required to justification (there may be acceptable faith where there are remainders of unbelief), but the prevailing faith, the faith that has the upper hand of unbelief. III. If he had been justified by faith, the reward would have been of debt, and not of grace, which is not to be imagined. This is his argument (v. 4, 5): Abraham's reward was God himself; so he had told him but just before (Gen. xv. 1), I am thy exceeding great reward. Now, if Abraham had merited this by the perfection of his obedience, it had not been an act of grace in God, but Abraham might have demanded it with as much confidence as ever any labourer in the vineyard demanded the penny he had earned. But this cannot be; it is impossible for man, much more guilty man, to make God a debtor to him, Rom. xi. 35. No, God will have free grace to have all the glory, grace for grace's sake, John i. 16. And therefore to him that worketh not—that can pretend to no such merit, nor show any worth or value in his work, which may answer such a reward, but disclaiming any such pretension casts himself wholly upon the free grace of God in Christ, by a lively, active, obedient faith—to such a one faith is counted for righteousness, is accepted of God as the qualification required in all those that shall be pardoned and saved. Him that justifieth the ungodly, that is, him that was before ungodly. His former ungodliness was no bar to his justification upon his believing: ton asebe—that ungodly one, that is, Abraham, who, before his conversion, it should seem, was carried down the stream of the Chaldean idolatry, Josh. xxiv. 2. No room therefore is left for despair; though God clears not the impenitent guilty, yet through Christ he justifies the ungodly. IV. He further illustrates this by a passage out of the Psalms, where David speaks of the remission of sins, the prime branch of justification, as constituting the happiness and blessedness of a man, pronouncing blessed, not the man who has no sin, or none which deserved death (for then, while man is so sinful, and God so righteous, where would be the blessed man?) but the man to whom the Lord imputeth not sin, who though he cannot plead, Not guilty, pleads the act of indemnity, and his plea is allowed. It is quoted from Ps. xxxii. 1, 2, where observe, 1. The nature of forgiveness. It is the remission of a debt or a crime; it is the covering of sin, as a filthy thing, as the nakedness and shame of the soul. God is said to cast sin behind his back, to hide his face from it, which, and the like expressions, imply that the ground of our blessedness is not our innocency, or our not having sinned (a thing is, and is filthy, though covered; justification does not make the sin not to have been, or not to have been sin), but God's not laying it to our charge, as it follows here: it is God's not imputing sin (v. 8), which makes it wholly a gracious act of God, not dealing with us in strict justice as we have deserved, not entering into judgment, not marking iniquities, all which being purely acts of grace, the acceptance and the reward cannot be expected as debts; and therefore Paul infers (v. 6) that it is the imputing of righteousness without works. 2. The blessedness of it: Blessed are they. When it is said, Blessed are the undefiled in the way, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, &c., the design is to show the characters of those that are blessed; but when it is said, Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, the design is to show what that blessedness is, and what the ground and foundation of it. Pardoned people are the only blessed people. The sentiments of the world are, Those are happy that have a clear estate, and are out of debt to man; but the sentence of the word is, Those are happy that have their debts to God discharged. O how much therefore is it our interest to make it sure to ourselves that our sins are pardoned! For this is the foundation of all other benefits. So and so I will do for them; for I will be merciful, Heb. viii. 12.
vv. 9-22
2. Para que fuese padre de todos los creyentes. No es que no hubiera quienes fueran justificados por la fe antes de Abraham; pero de Abraham se observa primero particularmente, y en él comenzó una dispensación mucho más clara y plena del pacto de gracia que cualquiera de las que habían existido antes; y allí se le llama el padre de todos los que creen, porque fue un creyente tan eminente, y tan eminentemente justificado por la fe, como Jabal fue el padre de los pastores y Jubal de los músicos, Gén. iv. 20, 21. El padre de todos los que creen; es decir, un patrón constante de fe, como los padres son ejemplos para sus hijos; y un precedente constante de justificación por la fe, como las libertades, privilegios, honores y propiedades de los padres descienden a sus hijos. Abraham fue el padre de los creyentes, porque a él particularmente se le renovó la carta magna. (1.) El padre de los gentiles creyentes, aunque no estén circuncidados. Zaqueo, un publicano, si cree, es considerado hijo de Abraham, Lucas xix. 9. Siendo Abraham mismo incircunciso cuando fue justificado por la fe, la incircuncisión nunca puede ser un impedimento. Así se anticiparon las dudas y temores de los pobres gentiles y no quedó lugar para cuestionar que la justicia también pudiera serles imputada a ellos, Col. iii. 11; Gál. v. 6. (2.) El padre de los judíos creyentes, no meramente como circuncidados, y de la simiente de Abraham según la carne, sino porque son creyentes, porque no son de la circuncisión solamente (es decir, no solo están circuncidados), sino que andan en los pasos de aquella fe—no solo tienen la señal, sino la cosa significada—no solo son de la familia de Abraham, sino que siguen el ejemplo de la fe de Abraham. Véase aquí quiénes son los hijos genuinos y los sucesores legítimos de quienes fueron los padres de la iglesia: no los que se sientan en sus sillas y llevan sus nombres, sino los que siguen sus pasos; esta es la línea de sucesión, que se mantiene, a pesar de las interrupciones. Parece, entonces, que los que más ruidosa y rápidamente llamaban a Abraham padre eran los que menos derecho tenían a los honores y privilegios de sus hijos. Así, los que más razón tienen para llamar a Cristo Padre, no son los que llevan su nombre al ser cristianos de profesión, sino los que siguen sus pasos. II. Fue antes de la promulgación de la ley, v. 13-16. La observación anterior está dirigida contra aquellos que confinaban la justificación a la circuncisión, esta contra aquellos que la esperaban por la ley; ahora bien, la promesa fue hecha a Abraham mucho antes de la ley. Compárese Gál. iii. 17, 18. Ahora observe, 1. Cuál fue esa promesa—que sería el heredero del mundo, es decir, de la tierra de Canaán, el lugar más selecto del mundo,—o el padre de muchas naciones del mundo, que de él procedieron, además de los israelitas,—o el heredero de los consuelos de la vida presente. Se dice que los mansos heredarán la tierra, y el mundo es suyo. Aunque Abraham poseía tan poco del mundo, sin embargo, era heredero de todo. O, más bien, apunta a Cristo, la simiente aquí mencionada; compárese Gál. iii. 16, A tu simiente, que es Cristo. Ahora bien, Cristo es el heredero del mundo, los confines de la tierra son su posesión, y es en él que Abraham lo fue. Y se refiere a aquella promesa (Gén. xii. 3), En ti serán benditas todas las familias de la tierra.
vv. 23-25
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The Case of Abraham. (a. d. 58.) 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. In the close of the chapter, he applies all to us; and, having abundantly proved that Abraham was justified by faith, he here concludes that his justification was to be the pattern or sampler of ours: It was not written for his sake alone. It was not intended only for an historical commendation of Abraham, or a relation of something peculiar to him (as some antipædobaptists will needs understand that circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of the faith, v. 11, only to Abraham himself, and no other); no, the scripture did not intend hereby to describe some singular way of justification that belonged to Abraham as his prerogative. The accounts we have of the Old-Testament saints were not intended for histories only, barely to inform and divert us, but for precedents to direct us, for ensamples (1 Cor. x. 11) for our learning, ch. xv. 4. And this particularly concerning Abraham was written for us also, to assure us what that righteousness is which God requireth and accepteth to our salvation,—for us also, that are man and vile, that come so far short of Abraham in privileges and performances, us Gentiles as well as the Jews, for the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles through Christ,—for us on whom the ends of the world are come, as well as for the patriarchs; for the grace of God is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. His application of it is but short. Only we may observe, I. Our common privilege; it shall be imputed to us, that is, righteousness shall. The gospel way of justification is by an imputed righteousness, mellei logizesthai—it shall be imputed; he uses a future verb, to signify the continuation of this mercy in the church, that as it is the same now so it will be while God has a church in the world, and there are any of the children of men to be justified; for there is a fountain opened that is inexhaustible. II. Our common duty, the condition of this privilege, and that is believing. The proper object of this believing is a divine revelation. The revelation to Abraham was concerning a Christ to come; the revelation to us is concerning a Christ already come, which difference in the revelation does not alter the case. Abraham believed the power of God in raising up an Isaac from the dead womb of Sarah; we are to believe the same power exerted in a higher instance, the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The resurrection of Isaac was in a figure (Heb. xi. 19); the resurrection of Christ was real. Now we are to believe on him that raised up Christ; not only believe his power, that he could do it, but depend upon his grace in raising up Christ as our surety; so he explains it, v. 25, where we have a brief account of the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection, which are the two main hinges on which the door of salvation turns. 1. He was delivered for our offences. God the Father delivered him, he delivered up himself as a sacrifice for sin. He died indeed as a malefactor, because he died for sin; but it was not his own sin, but the sins of the people. He died to make atonement for our sins, to expiate our guilt, to satisfy divine justice. 2. He was raised again for our justification, for the perfecting and completing of our justification. By the merit of his death he paid our debt, in his resurrection he took out our acquittance. When he was buried he lay a prisoner in execution for our debt, which as a surety he had undertaken to pay; on the third day an angel was sent to roll away the stone, and so to discharge the prisoner, which was the greatest assurance possible that divine justice was satisfied, the debt paid, or else he would never have released the prisoner: and therefore the apostle puts a special emphasis on Christ's resurrection; it is Christ that died, yea, rather that has risen again, ch. viii. 34. So that upon the whole matter it is very evident that we are not justified by the merit of our own works, but by a fiducial obediential dependence upon Jesus Christ and his righteousness, as the condition on our part of our right to impunity and salvation, which was the truth that Paul in this and the foregoing chapter had been fixing as the great spring and foundation of all our comfort.