ANALYSIS.

With his usual tenderness the apostle assures his brethren of his soli- citude for their welfare, and of his proper appreciation of their character, vs. 1, 2. The difficulty was, that they would not submit to the plan of salvation proposed in the gospel, and, therefore, they rejected the Saviour. This was the true ground of their excision from the people of God, vs. 3, 4. The method of justification, on which the Jews insisted, was legal, and from its nature must be confined to themselves, or to those who would consent to become Jews. Its terms, when properly under- stood, were perfectly impracticable, v. 5. But the gospel method of sal- vation prescribes no such severe terms, it simply requires cordial faith and open profession, vs. 6 — 10. This, he shows, in the next verse, is the doctrine of the Scriptures, and from it he infers the applicability of this plan to all men, Gentiles as well as Jews.