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He was not justified by works before God, and therefore, he has no ground of boasting before God ; but both [hold good of him] ac- cording to the flesh.
3. Tap, for) This word is to be referred to but not. — v\ ypoapii, the Scripture ) The word Scripture is elegantly used. Moses does not speak in this passage, comp. ch. x. 5. — k/'mutfj d'e * Afipotu/j,, x.r.X.), Gen. xv. 6, lxx., %ai kv'iGTivaw ” A (3pa,'A, x.r.X. be- lieved in the promise of a numerous seed, and especially of the seed Christ, the seed of the woman, in whom all the promises are yea and amen, and on whose account a numerous seed had been desired. — IXoy/<r^) Xoyifyffdai, to number, to estimate, to consider, to reckon, signifies here the act of a gracious will. It is repeated in this passage with great effect : sXoyi<r6ri, the passive, as Xoy/'fyrui, ver. 4, 5, is reckoned . Heb. ; He reckoned it to him, namely, the fact [of his believing] or his faith ; for this is to be supplied from the verb immediately preceding, believed. — sis) So ch. ii. 26 [counted for] ; Acts xix. 27, notes.
4. As) but [now]. Paul takes what is contrary [the case of him
that worketh ] out of the way, so as to enable him, in the follow- ing verse, to draw his conclusion regarding the man who does not trust to works, and to evince that Abraham was not such a one as he describes, by the words him that worketh. — ipyafy/Avu, to him that worketh) if there were, indeed, any such [which there is not]. We must take both expressions, him that worketh and him that worketh not, in a reduplicative sense : to work , and wages, are conjugates in the Heb. [ The man that worketh,
in this passage, applies to him who, by his works, performs (makes good) all that the law requires. — V. g.]. — finrdbg, reward), the an- tithesis to faith. — (xpeiXrjfjja, a debt, by virtue of a contract between the parties. Merit in its strictest sense so called, and debt, are correlatives.
5. Tov a<fz(3r], the ungodly) This points out the excellence of faith, which hath established it so as that the ungodly are justi- fied, ch. v. 6. Compare and consider the end of ver. 17 of this chapter. Translate rov acefiri, him who is ungodly. Justification belongs to individuals. This word is a most conclusive proof that Paul is speaking, even most especially, of the moral law, by the works of which no one can be justified. — xara rfr xpokciv rqg yfipnog rou &sdv, according to the purpose of the grace of God) A
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