DISC. ITI.] LAW AND THE GOSPEL. áQÌ The man that doth them shall live in them. James h-10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, andyet offend in one'pbint, he is guilty of all. . The Jewish law given at Sinai is the particular law here meant in the first part of the verse : The law which was given four hundred years after the promise ; even the whole lacy of Moses, given to the Jewish nation.'. Quest. 2. What is this promise ? Answ. The promise to Abraham, that all the nations should'be blessed in hire : that he and his seed should be heirs of an inheritance, and that Good should be their God. It is, in short, the gospel of salvation contained in the promise given to Abraham. See Gal. iii. 8. The scriptureforeseeing that God wouldjustify the hea- then- through faith, preached before the gospel. unto Abraham, saying, in thy seed shall all nations be blessed. And it is called the promise, to distinguish it frdm the law of Sinai, and indeed from all proper laws: for as I shall shew, the gospel does not save us in the way of a law ; 'and 'therefore is not a proper law. Quest. 3.. What is meant by the law's giving life. Ans. The word is )01r01116-ezi, which more naturally sig- nifies quickening, or bringinga dead thing into life, by putting a spirit or life into it, or by making it active., in a vital manner : And so it might seem to imply giving new spiritual life to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. But the whole context- rather constrains us to construe it, the giving a title to eternal life and happiness to men in ajudicial or legal manner. This no lawof God can do, as the apostle here asserts. Quest. 4. What is meant by righteousness? Answ. A justifying righteousness, or, a sentence of justification, a rectitude in the court of God, a freedom from punishment, and a right to life, which is the natural andproper effect of perfect obedience to any law of God given to men. But this blessing, may be given also an-. other way, viz. by the free grace of God, without any such obedience or righteousness of our own working.. Quest. 5. What are we to understand by the scrip- ture concluding all under sin ? Answ. It signifies that the scripture,. or the word of God, declares that all mankind are sinners, there is none righteous, no not one; Rom. iii. 10. And, as sinners,} M4
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