and come short) From the past tense, have sinned , flows this present, come short , and by this word the whole peculiar advan- tage [ver. 1] of the Jews, and all the boasting of all flesh, are taken away ; the former is a thing done [past], and the latter is a thing now established ; each of them [jpaprov and vffrspovvrai] denotes deficiency ; they do not attain , ch. ix. 31. — njjs dofys rou 0£ou, of the glory of God) The glory of the living God Himself is signified, which bestows life , ch. vi. 4 ; and to this, access was open to man if he had not sinned ; but, as a sinner, he fell short of this end of his being ; nor does he now attain to it, nor is he able, by any means, to endure that glory which would have [but for sin] shone forth in him, Heb. xii. 20, etc. ; Ps. lxviii. 2. Hence he has become subject to death ; for glory and immor- tality are synonymous terms, and so, also, are death and corrup- tion ; but Paul does not more expressly mention death itself, until after the process of justification, and its going forth even to [its issue in] life , have been consummated ; he then looks at death as it were from behind, ch. v. 12. Therefore, the whole state of sin is most exquisitely pourtrayed thus, in this masterly passage : They come short of or are far from the glory of God ; that is, they have missed [aberrarunt a : erred from] the chief end of man; and in this very fact is implied [included], at the same time, every lesser aberration. But those who are justified recover the hope of that glory, along with most immediately realized glory- ing [viz., in Christ] in the meanwhile (of which [i.e. of boasting] in themselves, they had been deprived, ver. 27), and [recover] the kingdom in life . See, by all means, ch. v. 2, 11, 17, viii. 30, at the end of the verse. Wherefore, the antithetic idea to they have sinned , is explained at ver. 24, and the following verses ; and ch. iv. throughout, on justification ; the antithetic idea to they have come short , is set forth in ch. v., with which, comp. ch. viii. 17, and the following verses.
24. A ixutovfjMvoi, Those who are justified) Suddenly, a more pleasant scene is thus spread before us. — r5j avrov x“P,ri) tyj His own grace , not inherent in us, but as it were inclining of its own accord towards us ; which is evident from the conju- gate verbs ya pi^o/nat and yupirS w. Melancthon, instead of gracef often uses the expression favour and mercy . His own is em- phatic. Comp, the following verse. — aKoXvrpuxtewg) — u'Tro'kvrpuGis,