f the
critics and believers of all Christendom, from the very times of
the apostles till now, and declare that these passages refer to an
outward deliverance of men by Christ, the removal by him of a
common doom resting on the race in consequence of sin. What Paul
supposed that doom was, and how he thought it was removed, let us
try to see. It is necessary to premise that in Paul's writings the
phrase "the righteousness of God" is often used by metonymy to
mean God's mode of accounting sinners righteous, and is equivalent
to "the Christian method of salvation." "By the deeds of the law
no flesh shall be justified; but the righteousness of God without
the law is manifested, freely justifying them through the
redemption that is in Christ." How evidently in this verse "the
righteousness of God" denotes God's method of justifying the
guilty by a free pardon proclaimed through Christ! The apostle
employs the word "faith" in a kindred technical manner, sometimes
meaning by it "promise," sometimes the whole evangelic apparatus
used to establish faith or prove the realization of the promise.
"What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith
of God without effect?" Evidently by "faith" is intended "promise"
or "purpose." "Is the law against the promises of God? God forbid!
But before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up unto the
faith which should afterwards be revealed." Here "faith" plainly
means the object of faith, the manifested fulfilment of the
promises: it means the gospel. Again, "Whereof he hath offered
faith to all, in that he hath raised him from the dead." "Hath
offered faith" here signifies, unquestionably, as the common
version well expresses it, "hath given assurance," or hath
exemplified the proof. "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to
bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But
after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."
In this instance "faith" certainly means Christianity, in
contradistinction to Judaism, and "justification by faith" is
equivalent to "salvation by the grace of God, shown through the
mission of Christ." It is not so much internal and individual in
its reference as it is public and general. We believe that no man,
sacredly resolved to admit the truth, can study with a purposed
reference to this point all the passages in Paul's epistles where
the word "faith" occurs, without being convinced that for the most
part it is us