1.
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
Verse 1
What advantage, &c. The discussion, for a considerable part of this chapter, appears to take the form of a dialogue--a very common form of discussion, both in ancient and modern times.
2.
Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
Verse 2
The oracles of God; divine communications which were made, in various forms, to the Jewish people.
3.
For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4.
God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Verse 4
Mightest overcome; appear to be in the right.
5.
But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
Verse 5
Commend the righteousness of God; is the means of exalting it, setting it in a clear point of view.-- Who taketh vengeance; who inflicts punishment.
6.
God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
Verse 6
For how shall God judge the world; that is, on the supposition referred to above,--if human sin must not be punished on account of its being the occasion of exalting the righteousness of God.
7.
For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
8.
And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
Verse 8
Whose damnation; whose condemnation, meaning the condemnation of those who are guilty of the slanderous report above referred to.
9.
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
Verse 9
Are we better than they? we, the Jews, better than the Gentiles. The preceding passage, (Romans 3:1-9,) considered as a whole, is very elliptical and obscure. Commentators have made labored attempts to show the logical connection of the several parts with each other, and with the general subject of discussion; but the results are not very satisfactory. The explanations offered do not leave a very clear and distinct impression upon the mind.
10.
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Verse 10
The passage which follows, Romans 3:10-19, is composed of several distinct Psalms 5:9,Psalms 5:10:7,14:Psalms 5:1-3,36:1,140:3; Isaiah 59:7-8, taken from various parts of the Old Testament, principally from the book of Psalms, and applied here by the apostle as descriptive of the moral condition of the Jews. The language is considerably varied from the originals.
11.
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13.
Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14.
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15.
Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16.
Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17.
And the way of peace have they not known:
18.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19.
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Verse 19
To them who are under the law, meaning that the language of the above quotations is to be considered as descriptive of the character of Jews.--And all the world may become guilty before God. There has been much theological dispute in respect to the native character of man; but it seems to have been in great measure a war of words. Among all those who have enjoyed much opportunity for a practical acquaintance with human nature, as it develops itself on the great theatre of life, there is pretty general agreement in respect to the selfishness the duplicity, the falseness, and the absence of all honest regard for the will or law of God which prevail every where in this world of corruption and sin. The great question seems to have been to determine in what phraseology the notorious facts shall be theologically generalized.
20.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Verse 20
By the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified. There has been some discussion, among commentators, whether, by the expression the law, in these chapters, Paul means to designate moral obligation in general, or particular requirements of the Jewish system; for in some cases he appears to use the term in one of these senses and in other cases in the other sense. The explanation seems to be, that hie employed the term in both senses, considering them as, in the view of his readers, one and the same. For, in the mind of a Jew, fidelity to the system of commands, moral and ritual, which were comprehended in the Mosaic code, was, in fact, the measure and sum of all moral obligation. The two ideas which, under the Christian dispensation, have become so distinct, were in those days, and in Jewish minds, identical.--For by the law is the knowledge of sin; that is, the law of God, instead of being a protection and a shield, only reveals more fully the universal delinquency and guilt.
21.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Verse 21
The righteousness of God; the righteousness which God attributes to the believer in his justification through faith.--Is manifested; is revealed or made known in the gospel.--Being witnessed; having been witnessed, that is, predicted.
22.
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Verse 22
For there is no difference; that is, none among the different classes of men, in respect to their need of this justification.
23.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Verse 23
The glory of God; the approbation of God.
24.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Verse 24
By his grace; by his favor.
25.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Verse 25
A propitiation; an expiatory sacrifice.--Faith in his blood. Blood is the symbol of death. The meaning is, faith in his death, as an expiation for sin.--His righteousness; the righteousness with which he invests the believer, in justifying him through faith.
26.
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
27.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
29.
Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
30.
Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
31.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.