truly powerful in saving men/ To every one that believeth. Emphasis must be laid upon both members of this clause. The gospel is thus effi- cacious to every one, without distinction between Jew and Gentile ; and to every one that believeth, not who is circumcised, or who obeys the law, or who does this or that, but who believes, i. e. who receives and confides in Jesus Christ in all the characters, and for all the purposes, in which he is presented in the gospel. It will be very clearly seen in the progress of the epistle that Paul attributes no special efficacy to faith itself, considered as an exercise of the mind. As such, it is no more worthy of being the condition of salvation than love, or repentance, or resignation, or any other act of obedience to the law of God. It is as the organ of reception ; as the acquiescence of the soul in the method of salvation proposed in the gospel, that it is the turning point in the des-- tiny of every human being. The grand idea of this epistle, and of the whole Bible (as far as this subject is concerned), is that the ground of our justification, and the source of our sanctification, are not in ourselves ; that neither human merit nor human power can have any of the glory of our salvation. To the merit of Christ we owe our acceptance with God, and to the power of the Holy Ghost our preparation for his presence. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. It would be in direct contradiction to one of the prominent objects of the apostle in writing this epistle, as well as to his explicit declarations, to make this clause teach that the gospel was specially designed or adapted for the Jews, see ch. 3 : 9, 23, 29. 10: 12, &c. The meaning obviously is, 'for the Jew in the first instance, and then for the Greek.' The gospel was to be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, compare Acts 3 : 26 and 13 : 26. Paul often says ' Jews and Greeks'* for ' Jews and Gentiles,' ch. 2 : 9. 3 : 9, &c., because, after the conquests of Alexander, the Greeks were the Gentiles with whom the Jews were most familiar.
(17) For therein the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faiih, &c. The reason why the gospel is so efficacious in the salvation of men, i. e. in securing the pardon of their sins, and the moral renovation of their hearts and lives, is not that it reveals a perfect moral system, or that it teaches the doctrine of a future state of reward and punishment, or that it discloses new views of the divine character. All this is true and efficacious ; but the power of the gospel lies in the fact that it teaches the doctrine of justification by faith, or, in other words, it reveals the right- eousness of God by faith. This expression is one of the most important in the epistle, and is variously explained.
The word rendered righteousness has, in the Scriptures, a very great extent and variety of meaning. It signifies not meTely justice in its strict sense, but general rectitude, including all moral excellence. It is used, therefore, especially in the Old Testament, for almost every specific vir- tue, as truth, benevolence, mercy, &c. Its common and proper meaning is, that which makes a man just, i. e. which fulfils and satisfies all the claims of justice or law. Hence, a just man is one who can stand in judgment.