20 Bur wilt thou know d O vain man e, that faith without works f is dead ?
4 Either this Queſtion is in order to teachinz, as Joh, 13. 12. Rom. 13. 3. and then the Senſe is, If thou haft a Mind to know, I ſhall inſtrutF thee : Or, it is a Teaching by way of Queſtion, as more emphatical and preſſing ; and then it is, as if- he had laid, know O vain Man. e An Allution to an empty Veflel, which ſounds more than one that 15 full. The carnal Profetfor to whom he ſpeaks, 1s vain, becauſe empty of true Faith, and good Works, though fuil of Noite and Boaſting. . 05j. Doth not the Apoſtle tin againit Chriſt's Command, Matth. 5. 22 ? Anſ. 1. He ſpeaks not of anv particular Man, but to all in general, of ſuch a fort. v7, who boaſted of their Faith, and yetdid not evidence it by their Works, 2, It is not ſpoken in raſh Anger, or by way of Contempt, but by way of Corre&tion and juſt reproof ; ſee the. like ſpoken by Chrift himſelf, Matth. 23.:17, 19. Luke 24. 25. and by Paul, Gat. 3. 1. and 1 Cor. 15. 3s. f A defettive Speech, Faith without Works ; for that Faith which is without Works, or Faith, if it be without Works He doth not ſay, Faith is dead without Wiihs, leſt it ſhould be thought that Works were the cauſe of the Life of Faith ; but Faith without Works is dead, as v. 17, and 26. implying that Works ar- the EffeRts and Signs of the Life of Faith.
21 Was not Abraham our father g juſtified Þ by works when he had offered ; Iſaac his ſon upon the altar &? -
£ Not only the Father of us, as Fews (for to them he wrote) and according to the Fleſh, but as Believers, and according to the Pro- mile; ſo all Believers are called 4brahan;'s Children, Kom. 4. 11; Gal. 3. 7. h Found, or declared fo he juſtihed, not enly before God, but in the Face of the World ; and his Faith (by which he had been juſtified above thirty years before, in the ſight of God) now approved as a true, lively, juititying Faith, by this Proof he gave ot 1t,upon God's trying himin the offering up his Son, Genr.22. 9. 12. Now T know that thou feareſt Grd, &c. Abraham did fear God, and believe him before, and was juſtified before in the f12ht of Ged, but by the working of his Faith in fo eminent an A@ ot Obedicnce, the ſincerity of all his Graces, and fo of his Faith, was manifeſted, and made known, and fo his Faith it ſelf juſtified, as his Perton was before, and he obtained this ample Teſtimony from the Mouti: of God *himſelf. So that 4b-aham's Juſtification here, was not ti: Abſolution of a Sinner, but the ſolemn Approbation of a Believer, not a juſtifying him as ungodly, but commending him for his Ged- lineſs. He was by his Works juſtified as a righteous Perſon, but not made righteous, conſtituted in a juſtified State, by his Works The Defign of the Apoſtie 1s not to ſhew how Sinners are juſtined in God's Court, but only what kind of Faith it is whereby they are juſtified, viz. ſuch a one as purifies the Heart, 4s 15. 9. and looks to Chriſt, not only as made Righteouſneſs, but Sanftincotion to them, 1 Cor. x. 30. and conſequently not only refts on him for Ju- ſtification, but ſtirs them up to yield obedience to him. 3 Viz. In his firm [purpoſe and Reſolution, and w2s about to do it actually, had not God hindred him. It wis no Favlt in 4brabim, that it was not actually done, and theretore it was counted to him, as if it had been really donegſGen. 22.12. Heb. 11. 17. 8 This ſhevis the ſetled purpoſe of Abraham to ſacrifice T/aauc, when he proceeded fo far as to bind him, and lay him upon the Altar ; for tiat argues that he expected and intended nothin but his Death, which £e- nerally wis wont to follow i: Sactthces, when once Jaid upon the Altar
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22 || Seeſt thou * how faith wrought with his works / and by works was faith made pertect 2 ?
{ He doth not ſay, works wrought with his Faith, as he ſhould have ſaid, if he had intended their concurrence in Juſtification ; but Ezith wrought with his Works, 1. e. his Faith was not idle, but effeQu- al in producing good Works, it being the Office and Bufineſs of baith to reſpect Chritt for SanQtification, as well as Righteouſneſs, Acts 26. 18. m Either, 1. Faith by producing good Works 15 1t ſe!t encouraged, heightned, improved ; and ſo not made perfett by any Communication of the Perfe&tion of Works to it, but by being ſtirred up, and cxerciſed as to the internal Strength and Power of it. Or, 2ly, rather, Faith is made Perfe&t by Works declara- tively, in as much as Works evidence and manifeſt the Perfettion and Strength of Faith. Faith is the Cauſe, and Works are the Effects, but the Cauſe 1s not perfeted by the Effet ; only its Perfe&ton 1s demonſtrated by it, as good Fruit doth not makea Tree good, but theiv that 1t 15 ſo. See 2 Cor. 12. 9.
23 And the ſcripture was fulfilled 7, which faith, + Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteouſneſs o ; and he was called the + Friend of ot God P.