Matthew Henry

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?

“He had said that the universal guilt and corruption of mankind gave occasion to the manifestation of God's righteousness in Jesus Christ.”

Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?

“The argument is much the same with that of Abraham ( Gen. xviii. 25 ): Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? If he were not infinitely just and righteous, he would be unfit to be the judge of all the earth.”

However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?

“Daring sinners take occasion to boast in mischief, because the goodness of God endures continually, Ps. lii. Let us do evil that good may come is oftener in the heart than in the mouth of sinners, so justifying themselves in their wicked ways.”

There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

“Religion and righteousness have so much reason on their side that if people had but any understanding they would be better and do better. But they do not understand. Sinners are fools. [3.]”

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

“Those that have forsaken God soon grow good for nothing, useless burdens of the earth. Those that are in a state of sin are the most unprofitable creatures under the sun; for it follows, [5.]”

“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“This is mentioned as one of the great sins of the tongue, Jam. iii. But those that thus love cursing shall have enough of it, Ps. cix.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery lie in their wake, and the way of peace they have not known.”

“Besides the destruction and misery that are at the end of their ways (death is the end of these things), destruction and misery are in their ways; their sin is its own punishment: a man needs no more to make him miserable than to be…”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable…

“When all the world was corrupt, God had his eye upon one righteous Noah. Even those who through grace are justified and sanctified were none of them righteous by nature. No righteousness is born with us.”

Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

“9 , Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Observe, (1.) No flesh shall be justified, no man, no corrupted man ( Gen. vi.”

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.

“Justification may be obtained without the keeping of Moses's law: and this is called the righteousness of God, righteousness of his ordaining, and providing, and accepting,--righteousness which he confers upon us; as the Christian armour is called the armour of God, Eph. vi.”

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

“Come short of justification, or acceptance with God, which is glory begun--come short of the holiness or sanctification which is the glorious image of God upon man, and have overthrown all hopes and expectations of being glorified with God in heaven by any righteousness of…”

He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

“He declares his righteousness, First, In the propitiation itself. Never was there such a demonstration of the justice and holiness of God as there was in the death of Christ.”

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.

“If we were saved by our own works, we might put the crown upon our own heads. But the law of faith, that is, the way of justification by faith, doth for ever exclude boasting; for faith is a depending, self-emptying, self-denying grace, and casts…”

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

“It was by their obedience to the moral law that the Pharisees looked for justification, Luke xviii. Now there are two things from which the apostle here argues: the guiltiness of man, to prove that we cannot be justified by the works of the law…”

Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

“This would by no means agree with the idea we have of the divine goodness, for his tender mercies are over all his works; therefore it is one God of grace that justifies the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith, that is, both…”

Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.

“Abraham was pardoned and accepted in uncircumcision, a circumstance which, as it might silence the fears of the poor uncircumcised Gentiles, so it might lower the pride and conceitedness of the Jews, who gloried in their circumcision, as if they had the monopoly of all…”

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

“The gospel way of justification is by an imputed righteousness, mellei logizesthai -- it shall be imputed; he uses a future verb, to signify the continuation of this mercy in the church, that as it is the same now so it will be while God…”

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

“After Abraham's justification by faith had continued several years only a grant by parole, for the confirmation of Abraham's faith God was pleased to appoint a sealing ordinance, and Abraham received it; though it was a bloody ordinance, yet he submitted to it, and even…”

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

“Or, rather, it points at Christ, the seed here mentioned; compare Gal. iii. 16 , To thy seed, which is Christ.”

Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.

“He said indeed, Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old? But that was the language of his admiration and his desire to be further satisfied, not of his doubting and distrust; his faith passed by that consideration, and thought…”

Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

“Unbelief is at the bottom of all our staggerings at God's promises. It is not the promise that fails, but our faith that fails when we stagger.”

This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

“This shows why faith is chosen to be the prime condition of our justification, because it is a grace that of all others gives glory to God. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;”

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

“But this is through our Lord Jesus Christ --through him as the great peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man, that blessed Day's-man that has laid his hand upon us both. Adam, in innocency, had peace with God immediately; there needed no such mediator.”

through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

“Those, and those only, that have access by faith into the grace of God now may hope for the glory of God hereafter.”

through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

“This is a further privilege, not only peace, but grace, that is, this favour. It is a state of grace, God's loving-kindness to us and our conformity to God; he that hath God's love and God's likeness is in a state of grace.”