---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible"
author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 686 of 927
url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/686/
cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 686. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/686/"
---

# Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

*Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown*

The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation.

## 686. Romans · 3 of 22

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/686/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/686/#p-N

[¶0] not only do the same--which they might do under the pressure of temptation and in the heat of passion.

[¶1] but have pleasure in them that do them--deliberately set their seal to such actions by encouraging and applauding the doing of them in others. This is the climax of our apostle's charges against the heathen; and certainly, if the things are in themselves as black as possible, this settled and unblushing satisfaction at the practice of them, apart from all the blinding effects of present passion, must be regarded as the darkest feature of human depravity.

[¶2] On this section, Note (1) "The wrath of God" against sin has all the dread reality of a "revelation from heaven" sounding in the consciences of men, in the self-inflicted miseries of the wicked, and in the vengeance which God's moral government, sooner or later, takes upon all who outrage it; so this "wrath of God" is not confined to high-handed crimes, or the grosser manifestations of human depravity, but is "revealed" against all violations of divine law of whatever nature--"against all ungodliness" as well as "unrighteousness of men," against all disregard of God in the conduct of life as well as against all deviations from moral rectitude; and therefore, since no child of Adam can plead guiltless either of "ungodliness" or of "unrighteousness," to a greater or less extent, it follows that every human being is involved in the awful sweep of "the wrath of God" ([Ro 1:18]). The apostle places this terrible truth in the forefront of his argument on justification by faith, that upon the basis of universal condemnation he might rear the edifice of a free, world-wide salvation; nor can the Gospel be scripturally preached or embraced, save as the good news of salvation to those that are all equally "lost." (2) We must not magnify the supernatural revelation which God has been pleased to make of Himself, through Abraham's family to the human race, at the expense of that older, and, in itself, lustrous revelation which He has made to the whole family of man through the medium of their own nature and the creation around them. Without the latter, the former would have been impossible, and those who have not been favored with the former will be without excuse, if they are deaf to the voice and blind to the glory of the latter ([Ro 1:19], ). () Wilful resistance of light has a retributive tendency to blunt the moral perceptions and weaken the capacity to apprehend and approve of truth and goodness; and thus is the soul prepared to surrender itself, to an indefinite extent, to error and sin ([Ro 1:21], &c.). (4) Pride of wisdom, as it is a convincing evidence of the want of it, so it makes the attainment of it impossible ([Ro 1:22]; and compare [Mt 11:25]; 1Co 3:18-20). (5) As idolatry, even in its most plausible forms, is the fruit of unworthy views of the Godhead, so its natural effect is to vitiate and debase still further the religious conceptions; nor is there any depth of degradation too low and too revolting for men's ideas of the Godhead to sink to, if only their natural temperament and the circumstances they are placed in be favorable to their unrestrained development ([Ro 1:23], ). The apostle had Greece and Egypt in his eye when he penned this description. But all the paganisms of the East at this day attest its accuracy, from the more elaborate idolatry of India and the simpler and more stupid idolatry of China down to the childish rudiments of nature worship prevalent among the savage tribes. Alas! Christendom itself furnishes a melancholy illustration of this truth; the constant use of material images in the Church of Rome and the materialistic and sensuous character of its entire service (to say nothing of the less offensive but more stupid service of the Greek Church,) debasing the religious ideas of millions of nominal Christians, and lowering the whole character and tone of Christianity as represented within their immense pale. (6) Moral corruption invariably follows religious debasement. The grossness of pagan idolatry is only equalled by the revolting character and frightful extent of the immoralities which it fostered and consecrated ([Ro 1:24], 26, 27). And so strikingly is this to be seen in all its essential features in the East at this day, that (as Hodge says) the missionaries have frequently been accused by the natives of having forged the whole of the latter part of this chapter, as they could not believe that so accurate a description of themselves could have been written eighteen centuries ago. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah furnish a striking illustration of the inseparable connection between religion and morals. Israel corrupted and debased the worship of Jehovah, and the sins with which they were charged were mostly of the grosser kind--intemperance and sensuality: the people of Judah, remaining faithful to the pure worship, were for a long time charged mostly with formality and hypocrisy; and only as they fell into the idolatries of the heathen around them, did they sink into their vices. And may not a like distinction be observed between the two great divisions of Christendom, the Popish and the Protestant? To test this, we must not look to Popery, surrounded with, and more or less influenced by, the presence and power of Protestantism; nor to Protestantism under every sort of disadvantage, internal and external. But look at Romanism where it has unrestrained liberty to develop its true character, and see whether impurity does not there taint society to its core, pervading alike the highest and the lowest classes; and then look at Protestantism where it enjoys the same advantages, and see whether it be not marked by a comparatively high standard of social virtue. (7) To take pleasure in what is sinful and vicious for its own sake, and knowing it to be such, is the last and lowest stage of human recklessness ([Ro 1:32]). But (8) this knowledge can never be wholly extinguished in the breast of men. So long as reason remains to them, there is still a small voice in the worst of men, protesting, in the name of the Power that implanted it, "that they which do such things are worthy of death" ([Ro 1:32]).

### Chapter 2

### Ro 2:1-29. The Jew under Like Condemnation with the Gentile

[¶5] From those without, the apostle now turns to those within the pale of revealed religion, the self-righteous Jews, who looked down upon the uncovenanted heathen as beyond the pale of God's mercies, within which they deemed themselves secure, however inconsistent their life may be. Alas! what multitudes wrap themselves up in like fatal confidence, who occupy the corresponding position in the Christian Church!

[¶6] 4. the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance--that is, is designed and adapted to do so.

[¶7] 5. treasurest up unto thyself wrath against--rather "in."

[¶8] the day of wrath--that is wrath to come on thee in the day of wrath. What an awful idea is here expressed--that the sinner himself is amassing, like hoarded treasure, an ever accumulating stock of divine wrath, to burst upon him in "the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God!" And this is said not of the reckless, but of those who boasted of their purity of faith and life.

[¶9] 7-10. To them who, &c.--The substance of these verses is that the final judgment will turn upon character alone.

[¶10] by patient continuance in well-doing, &c.--Compare [Lu 8:15]: "That on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience"; denoting the enduring and progressive character of the new life.

[¶11] 12. For as many as have sinned--not "as many as have sinned at all," but, "as many as are found in sin" at the judgment of the great day (as the whole context shows).

[¶12] without law--that is, without the advantage of a positive Revelation.

[¶13] shall also perish without law--exempt from the charge of rejecting or disregarding it.

[¶14] and as many as have sinned in the law--within the pale of a positive, written Revelation.

[¶15] shall be judged by the law--tried and condemned by the higher standard of that written Revelation.

[¶16] 13-15. For not the hearers, &c.--As touching the Jews, in whose ears the written law is continually resounding, the condemnation of as many of them as are found sinners at the last involves no difficulty; but even as respects the heathen, who are strangers to the law in its positive and written form--since they show how deeply it is engraven on their moral nature, which witnesses within them for righteousness and against iniquity, accusing or condemning them according as they violate or obey its stern dictates--their condemnation also for all the sin in which they live and die will carry its dreadful echo in their own breasts.

[¶17] 16. In the day, &c.--Here the unfinished statement of [Ro 2:12] is resumed and closed.

[¶18] shall judge the secrets of men--here specially referring to the unfathomed depths of hypocrisy in the self-righteous whom the apostle had to deal with. (See [Ec 12:14]; [1Co 4:5]).

[¶19] according to my gospel--to my teaching as a preacher of the Gospel.

[¶20] 17-24. Behold--"But if" is, beyond doubt, the true reading here. (It differs but in a single letter from the received reading, and the sense is the same).

[¶21] 25-29. For circumcision--that is, One's being within the covenant of which circumcision was the outward sign and seal.

[¶22] verily profiteth, if thou keep the law--if the inward reality correspond to the outward sign.

[¶23] but if, &c.--that is, "Otherwise, thou art no better than the uncircumcised heathen."

### Chapter 3

### Ro 3:1-8. Jewish Objections Answered

[¶26] 1-2. What advantage then hath the Jew?--that is, "If the final judgment will turn solely on the state of the heart, and this may be as good in the Gentile without, as in the Jew within, the sacred enclosure of God's covenant, what better are we Jews for all our advantages?"

[¶27] Answer:

[¶28] 3-4. For what if some did not believe?--It is the unbelief of the great body of the nation which the apostle points at; but as it sufficed for his argument to put the supposition thus gently, he uses this word "some" to soften prejudice.

[¶29] shall their unbelief make the faith of God--or, "faithfulness of God."

[¶30] of none effect?--"nullify," "invalidate" it.

[¶31] 5-6. But if, &c.--Another objection: "It would appear, then, that the more faithless we are, so much the more illustrious will the fidelity of God appear; and in that case, for Him to take vengeance on us for our unfaithfulness would be (to speak as men profanely do) unrighteousness in God."

[¶32] Answer:

[¶33] 7-8. For if the truth of God, &c.--A further illustration of the same sentiment: that is, "Such reasoning amounts to this--which indeed we who preach salvation by free grace are slanderously accused of teaching--that the more evil we do, the more glory will redound to God; a damnable principle." (Thus the apostle, instead of refuting this principle, thinks it enough to hold it up to execration, as one that shocks the moral sense).

[¶34] On this brief section, Note (1) Mark the place here assigned to the Scriptures. In answer to the question, "What advantage hath the Jew?" or, "What profit is there of circumcision?" ([Ro 3:1]) those holding Romish views would undoubtedly have laid the stress upon the priesthood, as the glory of the Jewish economy. But in the apostle's esteem, "the oracles of God" were the jewel of the ancient Church ([Ro 3:1], 2). (2) God's eternal purposes and man's free agency, as also the doctrine of salvation by grace and the unchanging obligations of God's law, have ever been subjected to the charge of inconsistency by those who will bow to no truth which their own reason cannot fathom. But amidst all the clouds and darkness which in this present state envelop the divine administration and many of the truths of the Bible, such broad and deep principles as are here laid down, and which shine in their own luster, will be found the sheet-anchor of our faith. "Let God be true, and every man a liar" ([Ro 3:4]); and as many advocates of salvation by grace as say, "Let us do evil that good may come," "their damnation is just" ([Ro 3:8]).

### Ro 3:9-20. That the Jew Is Shut Up under Like Condemnation with the Gentile Is Proved by His Own Scripture

[¶36] 9. are we better than they?--"do we excel them?"

[¶37] No, in no wise--Better off the Jews certainly were, for having the oracles of God to teach them better; but as they were no better, that only aggravated their guilt.

[¶38] 10-12. As it is written, &c.--(Psa 14:1-3; 53:1-3). These statements of the Psalmist were indeed suggested by particular manifestations of human depravity occurring under his own eye; but as this only showed what man, when unrestrained, is in his present condition, they were quite pertinent to the apostle's purpose.

[¶39] 13-18. Their, &c.--From generals, the apostle here comes to particulars, culling from different parts of Scripture passages which speak of depravity as it affects the different members of the body; as if to show more affectingly how "from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness" in us.

[¶40] throat is an open sepulchre--([Psa 5:9]); that is, "What proceeds out of their heart, and finds vent in speech and action through the throat, is like the pestilential breath of an open grave."

[¶41] with their tongues they have used deceit--([Psa 5:9]); that is, "That tongue which is man's glory ([Psa 16:9]; ) is prostituted to the purposes of deception."

[¶42] the poison of asps is under their lips--([Psa 140:3]): that is, "Those lips which should 'drop as an honeycomb,' and 'feed many,' and 'give thanks unto His name' ([So 4:11]; [Pr 10:21]; [He 13:15]), are employed to secrete and to dart deadly poison."

[¶43] 19. Now we know that what ... the law--that is, the Scriptures, considered as a law of duty.

[¶44] saith, it saith to them that are under the law--of course, therefore, to the Jews.