But when the righteous turneth away from his
righteousness,
&c.] This is to be understood, not of a truly righteous man;
for no man can be so denominated from his own righteousness; but
from the righteousness and obedience of Christ; and such a man
cannot turn from his righteousness; for that is the righteousness
of God, and can never be lost; and is an everlasting one, and
will always endure; and with which eternal life is inseparably
connected: but this is to be interpreted of one that is reckoned
so from his own righteousness, what he himself has done, and not
from another, from the righteousness of Christ, which he has
wrought out; he is one that is righteous in his own esteem, and
in the account of others; who is outwardly righteous before men;
who trusts in himself that he is righteous, and trusts to his own
righteousness; see ( Ezekiel
33:13 ) ; whose righteousness is not an evangelical one, but
either a ceremonial righteousness, or at most a mere moral one,
consisting of some negative holiness, and a few moral
performances, as appears from ( Ezekiel
18:5-9 ) ; and from such a righteousness as this a man may
turn, commit iniquity, sin and die; see ( 2 Peter 2:20
2 Peter
2:21 ) ; and is no proof or instance of the apostasy of real
saints, true believers, or truly righteous men; besides, this man
is represented as a transgressor, or "prevaricator", as the word
signifies; a hypocrite, a man destitute of the truth of grace,
and of true righteousness: and committeth
iniquity;
makes a trade of sinning; goes into a vicious course of life, and
continues in it; which a truly gracious man, one that is born
again, and has true faith in Christ's righteousness, by which he
is justified, can never do, ( 1 John 3:8 1 John 3:9 ) ;
[and] doeth according to all the abominations that the
wicked [man]
doeth;
such as theft, murder, adultery, idolatry, oppression of the
poor, and giving upon usury, ( Ezekiel
18:10-13 ) ; shall he live?
in his own land, in peace and prosperity, enjoying all manner of
good things? he shall not; much less shall he live an eternal
life, so living and dying: all his righteousness that he
hath done shall not be mentioned:
or, "all his righteousnesses" F11; all the good works which he
has done will never come into any account, or be of any avail; as
they merited nothing, they will meet with no reward; they will
not preserve him from present calamity, which his now sinful life
exposes him to, nor secure him from eternal ruin; these may be
mentioned and pleaded by himself, but to no purpose; God will not
mention them, nor take any notice of them, nor the Judge at the
great day of account, ( Matthew 7:22
Matthew
7:23 ) ; in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and
in his sin that he hath
sinned, in them shall he die;
or, for his hypocrisy, "prevarication" {l}, and vicious course of
life he now lives in, a death of affliction shall come upon him;
great calamities and distresses in this world; and, if grace
prevent not, eternal death in the other; if he dies in his
trespasses and sins, he will die the second death.
F11 (wytwqdu lk) "omnes justitiae ejus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius.
F12 (wlemb) "propter prvevaricationem ipsius, [vel] suam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus.