The Works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that
have pleasure therein
.—PSALM 111:2
Even as David also describeth the Blessedness of the Man unto
whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works
.—ROMANS 4:6
This Epistle is written on purpose to state, explain, and
vindicate, the doctrine of a sinner's justification before God, by the imputed
righteousness of Jesus Christ. In order to which, the Apostle takes up his two
first chapters, and part of the third, in proving, that both Jews and Gentiles
are under sin, that they have by sinning broke the law of God, and so are become
liable to its curses and condemnation, and therefore cannot be justified in the
sight of God, by their obedience to it; and then strongly and justly concludes,
that a man is justified by faith, in the imputed righteousness of Christ,
without the deeds of the law. This doctrine he confirms in the beginning of this
chapter, by instances of two of the greatest men, for religion and godliness,
that ever were in the Jewish nation. The one is Abraham, who was the
friend of God, and the father of the faithful, and yet he was not
justified before God by his works; for what saith the Scripture? Abraham
believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness, in verse 3.
The other is David, a man after God's own heart, raised up by the Lord
to fulfill all his will. Who yet was so far from trusting to, or depending upon
his own righteousness, for justification, that he wholly places the happiness of
men, and so unquestionably his own, in a righteousness imputed to him by God,
without works, as in the words I have read unto you. In speaking to which, I
shall,
READ MORE...I. Inquire what that righteousness is, which God imputes to his people for justification.II. What is meant by an imputation of it.III. The manner in which it is imputed to them without works.IV. The blessedness of those persons, who have it thus imputed to them.
