in faith. Now we live not before God, except through righteousness: it then follows, that our
righteousness is obtained by faith; and the verb being future, designates the real perpetuity of that
life of which he speaks; as though he had said, — that it would not be momentary, but continue
forever. For even the ungodly swell with the false notion of having life; but when they say, “Peace
and safety,” a sudden destruction comes upon them, (1 Thessalonians 5:3.) It is therefore a shadow,
which endures only for a moment. Faith alone is that which secures the perpetuity of life; and
whence is this, except that it leads us to God, and makes our life to depend on him? For Paul would
not have aptly quoted this testimony had not the meaning of the Prophet been, that we then only
stand, when by faith we recumb on God: and he has not certainly ascribed life to the faith of the
godly, but in as far as they, having renounced the arrogance of the world, resign themselves to the
protection of God alone.^41
He does not indeed professedly handle this subject; and hence he makes no mention of gratuitous
justification: but it is sufficiently evident from the nature of faith, that this testimony is rightly
applied to the present subject. Besides, we necessarily gather from his reasoning, that there is a
mutual connection between faith and the gospel: for as the just is said to live by faith, he concludes
that this life is received by the gospel.
We have now the principal point or the main hinge of the first part of this Epistle, — that we
are justified by faith through the mercy of God alone. We have not this, indeed as yet distinctly
expressed by Paul; but from his own words it will hereafter be made very clear — that the
righteousness, which is grounded on faith, depends entirely on the mercy of God.
Romans 1:18-23
- Revelatur enim ira Dei e cœlo, super
omnem impietatem et injustitiam hominum,
veritatem Dei injuste continentium; - For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness; - Quia quod cognoscitur de Deo
manifestum est in ipsis: Deus enim illis
manifestavit. - Because that which may be known of God
is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto
them. - Si quidem invisibilia ipsius, ex creatione
mundi operibus intellecta, conspiciuntur, æterna - For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being
quoque ejus potentia, et divinitas; ut sint
inexcusabiles.
understood by the things that are made, even his
eternal power and Godhead; so that they are
without excuse:(^41) Here is an instance in which Paul quotes the Old Testament, [Habbakuk 2:4] neither exactly from the Hebrew nor the
Septuagint. The Hebrew is “the just, — by his faith shall he live,” : and the Septuagint, turns “his” into “my,”
μ — “The just shall by my faith live,” — “by my faith,” that is, according to the tenor of the passage, “by faith in
me.” The passage is quoted by him twice besides, in Galatians 3:11, and in Hebrews 10:38, but exactly in the same words,
without the pronoun “his” or “my.” His object in this, as in some similar instances, was to state the general truth contained in
the passage, and not to give a strictly verbal quotation. — Ed.