Rom. ii. 17 — 23. Behold, thou art called a Jeiv, and restest in the laiu, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being in- structed out of the law ; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has/ /In- form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teaches t another, teaches t thou not thyself? thou I lint, preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou thai say est a man should not commit adultery, dost thou com- mit adultery ? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege ? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the laic dishonourcst thou God ?
IT is generally acknowledged, that the heart of man is deceitful : but the extent of its deceitfulness is very little known. It is not in things of minor im- portance only that its delusive operations are felt, but in things of everlasting concern, where, it might be supposed, we should be most on our guard against them. It deceives us in things relating to God, who, however we may deceive ourselves, can never be deceived by us : it leads us to substitute a profession of religion for the actual experience of it in our souls; and to rest in a form of godliness, whilst we are wholly inattentive to its power. This species of self- deceit obtained to an awful degree amongst the Jews, with whom St. Paul expostulates on account of it in a way of keen remonstrance. They could not be persuaded that they were in any danger, because they were descended from Abraham ; but St. Paul shews them, that their descent from him would avail them nothing, whilst their conduct was so contrary to their professions ; but that rather their hypocrisy proved them to be as much in need of a Saviour, as the most ignorant of the Gentile world could be.
Such being the general scope of the passage, we will consider more particularly,
I. The remonstrance itself —
Certainly the state of the Jews called for severe reproof —
[They were highly privileged beyond the rest of mankind. They had a revelation from heaven, whereby they were in- structed in the mind and will of Goda, and enabled both to " discern things that differed," and to " approve the things that were more excellent V Moreover, as God's peculiar people, they could call Jehovah their God.
But these privileges they grievously abused. We condemn not their " resting in the law," or their " making their boast of God," provided they had really endeavoured to serve God acceptably, and to yield a willing obedience to his law: but it was the external privilege that they gloried in, and not the spiritual advantages derived from it: they were proud of the distinction, but not desirous of the spiritual benefits connected
a Deut. iv. 8.
b SoKifidfaiQ rci hcubipovra may be translated in either way.