The life and work of St. Paul

4#4 1EU LIFE AND WORK OF ST. PAtTt.
leading anthropomorphism) as regards God, but from the finite and imperfect
and therefore the Apostle adds that Christ becomes such
standpoint of man ;
to us by means of faith in His blood.
6. The reason for this, the manifestation of God's righteousness, which
might otherwise have been called in question, because of the pretermission of
past sins.
7. The end to be attained, that, in perfect consistency with justice, God
might justify all whose new life had its root in faith.
Boasting then is impossible, since merit is non-existent. By worJcs it is
unattainable ; by the very conception of faith it is excluded. Tliis holds true
alike for Jew and Pagan, and Justification is God's free gift to man as man, 1
because He is One, and the God alike of Jews and Gentiles. To the Jew
faith is the source, to the Gentile the instrument of this justification. 8
But here another objection has to be combated. The Jew might say, " By this
faith of yours you are nullifying the Law" meaning by the Law the whole Mosaic
dispensation, and generally the Old Testament as containing the history of the
covenant people. On the contrary, St. Paul replies, I am establishing it on a firmer
basis; 8 for I am exhibiting it in its true position, manifesting it in its true relations ;
showing it to be the divinely-necessary part of a greater system ; adding to the
depth of its spirituality, rendering possible the cheerful obedience to its requirements
; indicating its divine fulfilment. I am showing that the consciousness of
sin which came by the Law is the indispensable preparation for the reception of
grace. Let us begin at tbe very beginning. Let us go 'back from Moses even to
Abraham. What did he, our father, gain by works? 4 By his works he gained
nothing before God, as St. Paul proves by tbe verse that " He believed God, and it
was imputed to him for righteousness."" That word "imputed" repeated eleven
the sphere of Law. The inward motive the element in which God's essential nature is
revealed, is the grace of God (Horn. iii. 24).
1 Ver. 28, Therefore [but yap, , A] we reckon that a man is justified by faith
without the works of the Law." This is the verse in which Luther interpolated the word
"
"alone" "Vox SOLA tot clamoribus lapidata (Erasm.). Hence the name Solifidian.
It was a legitimate inference, and was already existing in the Nuremberg Bible (1483)
contradiction of oinc IK n-iorew?
and the Genoese (1476), but was an unfortunate apparent
iiovov (James ii. 24). But Luther's famous preface shows sufficiently that he recognised
the necessity of works in the same sense as St. James (see Art. xi., xii.). Luther was
not guilty or the foolish error which identifies faith with mere belief ; and yet, perhaps,
bis mode of dealing with this verse led to his rash remark as to the impossibility of
reconciling the two Apostles (Colloqu. ii. 203).
2
iii. 27 c 30, irepiTOfHjv TTiorccot . . . ojrpojSvcrrtav Sia. rljs iria-reiat Seems to imply
some real difference in the Apostle's view, though Meyer (usually such a purist) here
denies it. Calvin sees a shade
"
of in it This is the
irony grand difference : the Jew is
saved ex fide, the Gentile per fidem 1 Bengel is probably right when he says that it
implies the priority of the Jews, and the acceptance of the Gospel from them by the
Gentiles the Jews as an ;
outgrowth of faith, the Gentiles by the means of the faith,
(see Gal. iii. 2226).
8
iii. 31. See chap. vi. ; viii. 4 ; xiii. 10.
4
iv. 1. If we do not Omit vpr]