LECTURE VII.

ROMANS, ii, 12-29.

"For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another,) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? and shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

VER. 12. Without a written law as the Jews had

-they shall perish without being judged by that law. There will be another law to judge them -and, whosoever perishes, it will not be the consequence of a condemnation brought to bear upon him by a law which he did not know of. They who have sinned in the law, that is in the written law, are they who have sinned under that law-the Jews who will be judged by it. Ver. 13. There is

a term which we may often have to recur to-and which we therefore shall explain at present. Some would have it that justification in the New Testament means the making of a man personally just. Conceive a thief, for example, to undergo such a transformation of character as that he henceforward is honest in all his transactions-this would be making him a just person; or, in the sense which some choose to assign to the word, it would be justifying him. We believe it may be made out, in almost every place where it occurs, that this is not the real meaning of the term-that it should be taken, not in a personal, but in what may be called a forensic signification-or, that to justify, instead of meaning to make just by a process of operation upon the character, means to pronounce or to declare just by the sentence of a judicial court. This is called the forensic sense of the term, because a court of justice was anciently called a forum; and it is evident that, here at least, the word must be understood forensically-for the doers of the law do not need to be made just personally. They are already so; and therefore for them to be justified, is to be declared just by the sentence of him who administers the law. Ver. 15. There

seem here to be two distinct proofs of the Gentiles being a law unto themselves. The first is from the fact of there being a conscience individually at work in each bosom, and deponing either to the merit or the demerit of actions. The second from the fact of their accusing or excusing one another, in the reasonings or disputes which took place between man and man. For what is translated 'thoughts,' may be rendered into dialectic reasonings, or disputes which one man has with another, when a question of right or justice is started between them. It proves them to be in possession of a common rule, or standard of judging, or, in other words, that a law is actually among them. So true is it, even in its application to the Gentiles, that there is a light which lighteth every man who cometh into the world. Ver. 22. To commit sacrilege, or to take to our private use, that which is consecrated to God. This is what might very readily be brought home to a Jewish conscienceit being matter of frequent complaint against the Jews, that they offered what was lame and defective in sacrifice. Ver. 24. This is written for example, in Ezekiel, xxxvi, 20, where it is said that the Heathen in mockery said unto the people of Israel when they were carried away captive"These are the people of the Lord and are gone forth out of his land."

This is all that needs to be advanced in the way of exposition and the following is a paraphrase of this passage.

For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish, not by the condemnation of that law,

which they had not, but of another which they had; and as many as have sinned who were under the dispensation of the written law, shall by that law be judged. For, as to the Jews, they are not the hearers of the law who are reckoned just before God; but they are the doers of the law only who shall be justified. And, as to the Gentiles, they having not the law of Mount Sinai, yet, when by nature they do the things contained in that law, these, though without a written code, have a something in its place which to them has all the authority of a law. For they show that the matter of

the law is written in their hearts-both from their conscience testifying what is right and wrong in their own conduct, and from their reasonings in which they either accuse or vindicate one another. No man shall be judged by a law known only to others and unknown to himself; but all shall be judged by the light which belonged to them, in that day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, and agreeably to the gospel which I now declare unto you. Behold, thou art called a Jew, and hast a confidence in thy law, and makest a boast of thy peculiar relationship with God, and thou knowest His will, and canst both distinguish and approve the things which are more excellent being instructed out of thy law. And, with all this superior advantage, thou lookest upon thyself as a guide of the blind, and as a light of them who are in darkness, and as an instructor of the ignorant, and as a teacher of babes-seeing that thou hast the whole summary of knowledge and truth which is in the law. But it is not he who

heareth, or he who knoweth, but he who doeth that shall be justified; and dost thou who teachest another, teach effectually thyself?—thou who proclaimest that a man should not steal, dost thou steal?-thou who sayest that a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?thou who abhorrest idols, dost thou rob God of His temple offerings?-thou who makest thy boast of the law, through the breaking of the law dost thou dishonour God? For we have it upon record, that through you the name of God has been blasphemed. For your circumcision, and other outward observances which form the great visible distinction between you and the Gentiles-these are profitable if you keep the whole law; but if you break the law, the keeping of its external ordinances will not raise you above the level of those who know them not, and practise them not. But, on the other hand, if these latter do by nature the things which by the light of nature they know to be lawful, and so keep righteousness as far as they are informed of it-though they have not practised the literal and outward ordinances, they shall be dealt with as if they had kept them. And what is more, they will even have such a superiority, as to sit in judgment over you, who, notwithstanding your written law and your ordinances, are in fact transgressors of the law. For he is not a right Jew who is only one outwardly. Neither is that the circumcision that is regarded by God, which is outwardly in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and the genuine circumcision is that of a heart subject to the spirit of the law, and

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