9. be found in him--"be found" at His coming again, living spiritually
"in Him" as the element of my life. Once lost, I have been "found,"
and I hope to be perfectly "found" by Him
(Lu 15:8).
own righteousness . . . of the law--
(Php 3:6;
Ro 10:3, 5).
"Of," that is, from.
righteousness . . . of God by faith--Greek,
"which is from God (resting) upon faith." Paul was
transported from legal bondage into Christian freedom at once, and
without any gradual transition. Hence, the bands of Pharisaism were
loosed instantaneously; and opposition to Pharisaic Judaism took the
place of opposition to the Gospel. Thus God's providence fitly prepared
him for the work of overthrowing all idea of legal justification. "The
righteousness of faith," in Paul's sense, is the righteousness or
perfect holiness of Christ appropriated by faith, as the
objective ground of confidence for the believer, and also as a
new subjective principle of life. Hence it includes the essence
of a new disposition, and may easily pass into the idea of
sanctification, though the two ideas are originally distinct. It is not
any arbitrary act of God, as if he treated as sinless a man persisting
in sin, simply because he believes in Christ; but the objective
on the part of God corresponds to the subjective on the part of
man, namely, faith. The realization of the archetype of holiness
through Christ contains the pledge that this shall be realized in all
who are one with Him by faith, and are become the organs of His Spirit.
Its germ is imparted to them in believing although the fruit of a life
perfectly conformed to the Redeemer, can only be gradually developed in
this life [NEANDER].
JFB.
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