Paul says he 'has no confiden<je in the flesh,' and adds, "If any other man thinketh he hath whereof to glory in the flesh, I more." He then enumerates his Hebrew descent, his being a Pharisee, his blameless legal righteousness, as all included in this comprehensive expression. By the term, in this instance, is to be understood all the advantages of Abraham, and all his works, as the context shows. The point of the apostle's question is, ' Has Abraham obtained justification or the favour of God by the flesh?' To this a negative answer is supposed, for which the next verse assigns the reason, 'For if Abraham was justified by works,' &c. The phrase by luorks, therefore, is substituted for through the Jlesh, as being, in this case, perfectly equivalent to it.
(2) For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, hut not before God. The apostle's mode of reasoning is so concise as often to leave some of the steps of his argument to be supplied, which, however, are almost always sufficiently obvious from the context. As just remarked, a negative answer is to be supposed to the question in the first verse. Abraham has not attained the favour of God through the flesh. The force of /or at the beginning of this verse is then obvious, as introducing the reason for this answer. The most simple and satisfactory interpretation of this verse is the following. 'If Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory ; but he hath not whereof to glory before God, and, therefore, he was not justified by works ;' which is the conclusion which Paul intended to establish, and which he immediately confirms by the testimony of the Scriptures. The argument thus far is founded on the assumption, that no man can appear thus confidently before God, and boast of having done all that was required of him. If the doctrine of justification by works involves, as Paul shows it does, this claim to perfect obedience, it must be false. And that Abraham was not thus justified, he proves from the sacred record.
(3) For what saith the scripture ? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. The connexion of this verse with the preceding is this. Paul had just said Abraham had no ground of boasting with God; For what saith the Scripture? Does it refer the ground of Abraham's justification to his works? By no means. It declares he was justified by faith ; which Paul immediately shows is equivalent to saying that he was justified gratuitously. The passage quoted by the apostle is Gen. 15: 6, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him (i. e. imputed to him) for righteousness." This is an important pas- sage, as the phrase " to impute faith for righteousness" occurs repeatedl)'' in Paul's writings. The primary meaning of the word here rendered to count to, or to impute, is to reckon, or number ; 2 Chron. 5:6," Which could not be numbered for multitude ;" Mark 15 : 28, " He was numbered with transgressors ;" see Isa. 53 : 12, &c. &c. 2. It means to esteem, oi regard as something, that is, to number as belonging to a certain class of things ; Gen. 31 : 15, " Are we not counted of him strangers ;" Isa. 40 :