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things which be not, could quicken and revive the de- A. D. 57. as tho' they were. cayed Bodies of himself and Sarah, though almoft dead with Age; and do Things to us the most unaccountable and feemingly impoffible, with as much Certainty, as if they were already effected.

18. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations: according to that which was fpoken, So fhall thy' feed be.

18. For this was the Excellency of his Faith, That when by the Course of Nature he faw no Poffibility of his having any Children; yet upon the divine Promife he affured himself of a numerous Offspring, for which he was called the Father of all true Believers of all Nations, and promifed a Seed as numerous as the Stars of Heaven.

19. And being not weak in faith, he confidered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadnefs

of Sarahs womb.

20. He ftaggered not at the promife of

19, 20 & 21. The divine Promife, I fay, made by the God of Nature, made him juftly lay afide all Objections arifing from natural Impoffibilities, and pay the utmoft Honour to his Creator, by

a rational and full Confidence in

his infinite Power, and abfolute
Veracity.

God through unbelief, but was ftrong in faith, giving glory
to God.

21. And being fully perfuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

22: And therefore

22. For this admirable Instance it was imputed to him of Faith, as the Ground of all for righteousness. future Obedience to the divine Will, he was accepted of God as a truly righteous and faithful Servant.

23. Now it was not written for his fake alone, that it was imputed to him.

24. But for us alfo, to whom it shall be imputed

23 & 24. Now this Account of the Faith and Reward of this great Man, was not left upon Record merely to celebrate his Name and Character; but the Bleffings of it extend to us and all the

Q4

World,

imputed, if we believe
on him that raifed up
Jefus our Lord from
the dead.

from the Dead.

25. Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our juflification.

World, who are to be pardoned
and juftified by Faith in JESUS
CHRIST, as he was by his
Faith in God who raised up Jefus

25. Even Jefus the Meffiah, who by his Death and Sufferings has obtained Pardon for our Sins, and by his Refurrection has given us a Pledge of our future Resurrection to immortal Life, upon our Faith and Obedience to his Gofpel.

CHAP. V.

The CONTENTS.

Having proved, That Faith in GOD was the Thing that juftified Abraham, and that Faith in Jefus Christ, and embracing his Religion must now, by the fame Reafon, justify every true Chriftian; he proceeds to fhew, That this gracious and merciful Condition of Salvation is offered to the Gentiles as well as Jews. Chrift's Death redeemed all Sinners, therefore all have eternal Life in him. The Analogy between Adam and CHRIST. The Merits of the one must be as extenfive to fave, as the Sin of the other was to condemn. Nay they are intrinfically more available to it. CHRIST therefore is the Redeemer of the Gentiles, or elfe all Analogy is loft between the first and fecond Adam.

A. D. 57. 1.Herefore being juftified by faith, we have peace with God thro' our Lord Jefus Christ.

1.

FRO

ROM what I have faid in the foregoing Chapters, it evidently appears, That Faith in CHRIST, and Obedience to his Religion, is fufficient to obtain Pardon and Reconciliation to God, both to Jew and Gentile, without the Law of Moses.

2. By whom also 2. By this Religion of Chrift, we have acceís by I fay, do all true Believers attain

faith

the

your

faith into this grace the happy Favour of being the A. D. 57. wherein we ftand, People of God. This we stand and rejoice in hope of firmly to; and as you Jewish the glory of God. Zealots are wont to boast selves against the Gentiles, upon Account of your Law; all true Chriftians do with much better Reafon, rejoice and triumph over you, in a full Affurance of eternal Life and Happiness.

3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations alfo, knowing that tribulation worketh patience.

3. And fo lifely and effectual is this Perfuafion in us t, That it makes us bear up under all Hardfhips and Sufferings for the Sake of our Religion, with perfect Joy and Satisfaction: Being inured and wrought up by thofe Sufferings into that most excellent Virtue of Patience.

4. And patience experience, and experience hope.

4. This Patience gives us a continual Senfe and Experience both of our town Sincerity towards God, and of his Power and Protection over us, for whose Cause we fuffer. And this fills us again with the most comfortable Affurance of our future Recompence and Reward.

5. And hope maketh not afhamed, becaufe the love of God is fhed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghoft, which is giv

5. An Affurance that cannot fail us at last, and so will not fuffer our Courage to fail now, being ftill more confirmed and actuated by the Gifts of the Holy Ghoft beftowed upon Gentile as well as Jewish Believers, as a Topick of divine Love, and a Pledge of our future Happiness ||.

en unto us.

6. A

* Ver. 2. Wherein we ftand, iv ishxaμer - Wherein we continue firm and Redfaft

Word, Gal. v. 1.

So we rightly translate the

+ Ver. 3 & 4. The Apoftle speaks in the Plural Number, as joining himself with the Gentile-Converts, whose Cause he is ftill pleading in this Chap. See Chap. vii. ix.

Ver. 4. And Patience Experience, or ǹ Siswoμovù Soxs

ur, Patient Suffering gives full PROOF of us.

Ver. 4. See Ephef. i. 13. and iv. 10. Gal. iii. 14.

A. D. 57. 6. For when we were yet without ftrength, in due time Chrift died for the ungodly.

6. A divine Inftance of Love indeed! That, when we Gentiles, of all Mankind, were funk in Ignorance and Irreligion, the Son of God fhould come to fave us alfo

by his Death for our Sins, at the Time foretold by the Prophets.

7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man fome would even † Amais. dare to die.

t'Aya indeed, that makes

8. But God commendeth his love towards us; in that while we were yet

finners Chrift died for

us.

9. Much more then, being now juftified by his blood, we shall be faved from wrath thro' him.

*

7. How rare and hard is it to find a Man that will venture his own Life to fave a Neighbour's, though never fo honeft and good a Perfon? No, it must be a generous Friend † and + Benefactor one free to fuffer Death for him.

8. How furpaffing then must this Love of God in Chrift be, who fo freely died for us, not as good Men, much lefs as Benefactors to him, but as Rebels and Enemies, to reconcile us again to GOD.

9. What a ftrong Argument therefore is this for us to conclude, That the infinite Mercies of fuch a Death must be fufficient to fave and juftify both Gentiles + as well as Jews, without the Mofaical Performances?

10. For if when we were enemies, we reconciled to God

were

10. And certainly if the Death of Christ is then a fufficient Atonement for the Sins of all the World,

* Ver. 7 & 8. My Paraphrafe on these two Verses, is but a very little Addition to the Text, but fufficient to give the Spirit of the Apostle's Argument, which is almoft wholly loft in our Tranflation, and not mended in any other Version I have seen. They make no Distinction between Sixaís and aya, in which the Conclufion in the 8th Verfe wholly lies.

+ Ver. 9. We shall be faved, i. c. Gentiles as well as Jews. For that is the Scope and Connexion of the Apostle's Argument, from the 6th to the 12th Verfe.

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dam muft extend to ftroy all the Analogy

13. For until * the law fin was in the world but fin is not imputed when there is no law.

:

14. Nevertheless, death reigned from A

dam to Mofes, even

over them that had not finned after the fimilitude of Adams

tranf

World, his Refurrection and Af- A. D. 57.
cenfion into Heaven, is enough
to give all his true Difciples of all
Nations, a full Affurance of eter-
nal Life and Happiness.

II. Certainly the Gentile Chrif-
tians may not only hope for it as
well as you, but rejoice and tri-
umph in a full Affurance in that
Lord and Saviour, who has thus
redeemed them.

12. You Jewish Zealots yourfelves allow, That by the Sin of one Man (Adam) the whole World after him bore the Effects of that Sin, by becoming fubject to Death; and by Confequence, the Redemption of Chrift the Second Athe whole World, or elfe you debetween them.

13 & 14. 'Tis not the Breach of the Jewish Law that alone deferved Death, or firft brought it into the World; for all Mankind, from Adam down to Mofes, died by the firft Tranfgreffion, though they had no exprefs Law as he bad, against the Sin committed by him; and fo could not be faid to be formally and properly guil

ty

Ver. 13. axei yaş vous. For both before and after the Law, Sin was in the World. So this Particle axe [answering to the Hebrew TY] fignifies here, and in many other Places; as in like Manner doth as, A&s iii. 21. Till the Time of the Reftitution of all Things. And in 1 Tim. iv. 13. Till I come. And, Acts xxiii. 1. I have lived in all good Confcience until this Day. And, 1 Cor. xv. 25. He must reign till he hath put all Things under bis Feet. And elsewhere. See Noldius's Concord. Heb. Partic. pag. 664.

* Ver. 12. See Ver.

14.

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