But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin
By the "Scripture" is meant, either the writing of the law in
particular, the killing letter, or the whole Scripture, or God in
it; and who by and in it has shown, declared, and proved, that
all the individuals of human nature, Jews and Gentiles, and all
that is in them, and done by them, are under the power and
dominion of sin, defiled by it, and involved in the guilt of it;
for it is not (pantav) ,
"all persons", but (panta)
, "all things", belonging to all persons; all the members of
their bodies, and faculties of their souls; all their thoughts,
inclinations, and intentions; all their works and services, even
their best righteousness, which is as filthy rags; all are
declared to be sinful and polluted, and men on account of them to
be guilty before God, and liable to punishment; from whence there
can be no escape by the law of works; for they are like men
concluded, or shut up in a prison, from which there is no
apparent likelihood of deliverance: now the Spirit of God,
discovering to men this their wretched and desperate condition,
under the law and sin, reveals Christ and his righteousness to
them, and enables and encourages them to believe in him, by whom
only they can be justified from all things, they cannot by the
law of Moses, in which they see themselves shut up, as in a
prison:
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to
them
that believe;
by the "promise" is intended, the promise of life and salvation,
and particularly of a justifying righteousness; which is given,
not merited; righteousness is a gift, a gift of grace, a free
gift, and so is eternal life; salvation in all its parts is of
free grace; Christ is a free gift, and so are all things along
with him; yea, faith itself, by which they are received, it is
not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; Christ is the author and
finisher, as well as the object of it; and therefore here called
"the faith of Jesus Christ": and such that have it, to them the
promise, or the things promised, righteousness and life are
given, which the law could not give; not to them that work, but
to them that believe: thus the law is so far from being against
the promises of God, that it is subservient to them; for though
the law has no tendency in itself to bring persons to Christ, and
to believe in him for righteousness, yet this concluding men
under sin, showing them their desperate, and hopeless, and
helpless condition, the Spirit of God takes occasion from hence
to reveal Christ unto them, and to enable them as perishing
creatures to venture on him, and lay hold on the hope set before
them in the Gospel; and so they come to enjoy the grand promise
of it, even life and salvation by Christ.