Righteousness keepeth [him that is] upright in the
way
Men of uprightness and integrity, whose hearts are sincere in the
ways of God; the principle of grace and righteousness in them
keeps them in those ways, and will not suffer them to turn aside
into crooked paths; the word of righteousness, the doctrine of
the Gospel, is a means of preserving them from sin, and of
keeping them in the right way; particularly the doctrine of
Christ's righteousness, and justification by it, is a great
antidote against sin, and a powerful motive and incentive to the
performance of good works, and all the duties of religion: it
engages men to observe every command of Christ, to walk in all
his ways; and is a great preservative from false doctrine and
antichristian worship; but wickedness overthroweth the
sinner;
it is the cause of his utter overthrow, of his being punished
with everlasting destruction. It is, in the Hebrew text, "sin"
F2 itself; the sinner is so called,
because he is perfectly wicked, as Jarchi observes; he is nothing
but sin, a mere mass of sin and corruption. Aben Ezra renders it,
"the man of sin"; and it may be well applied to him, who is
emphatically called so, and is likewise the son of perdition;
who, for his wickedness, will be overthrown and destroyed at the
coming of Christ, and with the brightness of it, ( 2
Thessalonians 2:3 2
Thessalonians 2:8 ) .