For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
3. being ignorant of ] not knowing: the verb refers back to the “knowledge” just before mentioned.
God’s righteousness ] His acceptance of the sinner as righteous, for Christ’s sake. See on Rom 1:17.
going about ] seeking.
to establish ] Same word as Heb 10:9. They sought to make it good enough to stand (in the judgment). On Jewish theories of merit, see Appendix A.
have not submitted themselves ] Lit., and better, did not submit; perhaps with reference to the definite ideal occasion of the first appearance of the Gospel amongst them. The Gr. verb is passive in form, but may bear a middle meaning; and so probably here, as in E. V. For an illustration of this “submission” see 1Pe 1:2, where the election of the Father and the holy influences of the Spirit lead to “ obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Acceptance of the one “hope set before us,” that of the Cross, is an act of submission as well as of trust. Human pride and human reason both, in different ways, have to bow before the Crucified.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For they being ignorant – The ignorance of the Jews was voluntarily, and therefore criminal. The apostle does not affirm that they could not have known what the plan of God was; for he says Rom 10:18-21 that they had full opportunity of knowing. An attentive study of their own Scriptures would have led them to the true knowledge of the Messiah and his righteousness; see Joh 5:39; compare Isa 53:1-12, etc. Yet the fact that they were ignorant, though not an excuse, is introduced here, doubtless, as a mild and mitigating circumstance, that should take off the severity of what he might appear to them to be saying; 1Ti 1:13, But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief; Luk 23:34, Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do; Act 7:60. Involuntary ignorance excuses from guilt; but ignorance produced by our sin or our indolence is no excuse for crime.
Of Gods righteousness – Not of the personal holiness of God, but of Gods plan of justifying people, or of declaring them righteous by faith in his Son; see the note at Rom 1:17. Here Gods plan stands opposed to their efforts to make themselves righteous by their own works.
And seeking to establish … – Endeavoring to confirm or make valid their own righteousness; to render it such as to constitute a ground of justification before God; or to make good their own claims to eternal life by their merits. This stands opposed to the justification by grace, or to Gods plan. And they must ever be opposed. This was the constant effort of the Jews; and in this they supposed they had succeeded. see Pauls experience in Phi 3:4-6; Act 26:5. Instances of their belief on this subject occur in all the gospels, where our Saviour combats their notions of their own righteousness. See particularly their views and evasions exposed in Matt. 23; compare Mat 5:20, etc.; Mat 6:2-5. It was this which mainly opposed the Lord Jesus and his apostles; and it is this confidence in their own righteousness, which still stands in the way of the progress of the gospel among people.
Have not submitted themselves – Confident in their own righteousness. they have nor yielded their hearts to a plan which requires them to come confessing that they have no merit, and to be saved by the merit of another. No obstacle to salvation by grace is so great as the self-righteousness of the sinner.
Righteousness of God – His plan or scheme of justifying people.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. For – being ignorant of God’s righteousness] Not knowing God’s method of saving sinners, which is the only proper and efficient method: and going about to establish their own righteousness – seeking to procure their salvation by means of their own contriving; they have not submitted – they have not bowed to the determinations of the Most High, relative to his mode of saving mankind, viz. through faith in Jesus Christ, as the only available sacrifice for sin – the end to which the law pointed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They being ignorant of Gods righteousness: here he shows more particularly what knowledge the Jews wanted. They knew not the righteousness of God; of which see Rom 1:17, with the notes there. This was abundantly manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, Rom 3:21; and a thing very needful to be known, as being that wherein mans happiness consisted; but they were ignorant of it.
Going about to establish their own righteousness; their personal and inherent righteousness, a home-made righteousness, which is of their own spinning; this they designed to set up in the room of Gods righteousness.
Have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God; this notes the pride that accompanied their ignorance, and that is in the hearts of men by nature. They will not go abroad for that which they think they have, or may have, at home. They will not be beholden to another for that which they suppose they have in themselves. They have righteousness enough of their own working; and therefore they reject and withdraw themselves from that which is of Gods appointing.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. For they being ignorant of God’srighteousnessthat is, for the justification of the guilty (seeon Ro 1:17).
and going about“seeking”
to establish their ownrighteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness ofGodThe apostle views the general rejection of Christ by thenation as one act.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness,…. Either of the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel, which is no other than the righteousness of Christ, and which they knew nothing of, the whole Gospel being a sealed book, and wholly hidden from them; or of the righteousness of God required in the law, they imagining that only an external conformity to the commands of the law, was all that was necessary to attain to a justifying righteousness by it, not knowing the spirituality of it, and that it required conformity of heart and nature, as well as life and conversation; or rather of the attribute of God’s righteousness, the strictness of his justice, the purity and holiness of his nature: for though they knew that he was holy, just, and righteous, yet did not think he was so strict as to insist upon every punctilio, and to take notice of every little default and defect in obedience; and especially that he had any regard to the heart and the thoughts of it, and required perfect purity there or that he would accept of nothing less than an absolutely perfect and complete righteousness; nor justify any without full satisfaction to his justice: hence they were
going about to establish their own righteousness; which they would never have done, had they known the righteousness of God, in either of the above senses; the Alexandrian copy, and some others, omit the word “righteousness”, and only read, “their own”, leaving it to be understood, and which is easily done; and so reads the Vulgate Latin version: by “their own righteousness”, as opposed to God’s, is meant the righteousness of works, their obedience to the law, an outward conformity to it, an observance of the rituals of it, and a little negative holiness. This they endeavoured to “establish” or “make to stand” in the sight of God, as their justifying righteousness, which is all one as setting chaff and stubble, briers and thorns, to a consuming fire; as the attempt expresses madness in them, the phrase suggests weakness in their righteousness, which they would fain make to stand, but could not, it being like a spider’s web before the besom, or like a dead carcass, which men would set upon its feet to stand alone, but it cannot; than which nothing can be a greater instance of egregious folly: their “going about” or “seeking” to do this, shows their ignorant zeal, and the toil, the pains, the labour they used to effect it, but all in vain, and to no purpose; as appears by their hearing, reading, fasting, praying, giving alms to the poor, and tithes of all they possessed; all which they were very careful and studious of, and especially to have them done in the sight of men: and so it was that they
have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God; that is, the righteousness of Christ, so called, because approved and accepted of by God, imputed by him to his people, and given them by him as a free gift, and which only justifies in his sight; and because it is wrought by Christ, who is truly and properly God, and revealed and applied by the Spirit of God. This the Jews submitted not to, because they had no true humble sense of themselves as sinners, nor did they care to acknowledge themselves as such; which submission to Christ’s righteousness requires and necessarily involves in it; no man will ever be subject to it, till he is made sensible of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and brought to an humble acknowledgment of it; the Spirit of God first convinces of sin and then of righteousness; and because they had an overweening opinion of their own righteousness, which they trusted to, and depended upon, imagining it to be blameless, and to contain all that the law required, and therefore they stood in no need of any other; and as for the righteousness of Christ they had it in contempt, their carnal minds being enmity to him, were not subject to his righteousness, nor could they, nor can any be, without the powerful efficacious grace of God, making them willing in the day of his power. This phrase denotes the rebellion of their wills, against Christ and his righteousness, they acting as rebellious subjects against their sovereign prince.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Being ignorant of God’s righteousness ( ). A blunt thing to say, but true as Paul has shown in 2:1-3:20. They did not understand the God-kind of righteousness by faith (1:17). They misconceived it (2:4).
They did not subject themselves ( ). Second aorist passive indicative of , common Koine verb, to put oneself under orders, to obey, here the passive in sense of the middle (Jas 4:7) like , I answered.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
God ‘s righteousness. That mentioned in Rom 9:30. Compare Phi 3:9; Rom 1:16, 17; Rom 3:20 – 22.
To establish [] . Or set up, indicating their pride in their endeavor. They would erect a righteousness of their own as a monument to their own glory and not to God ‘s.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness,” (agnoontes gar ten tou theou dikausunen) “For not recognizing (being ignorant of) God’s righteousness, the true righteousness that has its origin in God; that which emanates from God to man by faith, Rom 4:5-8; All men are ignorant of the righteousness of God, except, as they accept his Word concerning their need of His righteousness and His statement of how it may be obtained or received, Eph 4:18; Eph 2:8-9; Rom 4:16.
2) “And going about to establish their own righteousness,” (kai ten idian zetountes stesai) “And seeking to set up or establish their own kind of righteousness” –thru rites and ceremonies of the law and the traditions of the elders. The term “going about” indicates a restless endeavor, an uncertain scrambling and sashing about in search of, to find or secure a state of righteousness in themselves, of their own doings, by legal, ceremonial observances, Luk 18:9-14; as the publican did; Rom 2:17; Rom 3:26.
3) “Have not submitted themselves,” (ouch hupetagesan) “They did not (have not) submitted themselves,” bowed or humbled themselves, their covetous, self-righteous wills, to his divine plan of justification, by believing in Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God is revealed disclosed thru the “gift of faith” to those who receive it from God, and place it in Jesus Christ, Rom 1:17; Rom 10:17; Eph 2:8-9; Joh 1:11-12.
4) “Unto the righteousness of God,” (te dikaiosune thou theou) “To or toward the righteousness of God,” which comes by faith to all who trust or believe in Jesus Christ, – not to all who keep the rites of either the law of Moses or the ordinances of the church of Jesus Christ. Israel did not (by the law) attain to righteousness of God, Php_3:9. But all who believe or trust in Jesus Christ did, have, and do receive the righteousness of God, which grants them eternal life, entrance into heaven, and to fellowship with an holy God and Jesus Christ, 2Co 5:21; 1Co 1:30; Gal 3:6; Rom 4:5-6; Psa 32:1-2; Mat 5:8; Act 15:9. Man’s heart is made pure or righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. He is then and thereafter no longer quarantined from entering heaven, Rev 21:27. For the pure in heart shall “see God”.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, etc. See how they went astray through inconsiderate zeal! for they sought to set up a righteousness of their own; and this foolish confidence proceeded from their ignorance of God’s righteousness. Notice the contrast between the righteousness of God and that of men. We first see, that they are opposed to one another, as things wholly contrary, and cannot stand together. It hence follows, that God’s righteousness is subverted, as soon as men set up their own. And again, as there is a correspondence between the things contrasted, the righteousness of God is no doubt his gift; and in like manner, the righteousness of men is that which they derive from themselves, or believe that they bring before God. Then he who seeks to be justified through himself, submits not to God’s righteousness; for the first step towards obtaining the righteousness of God is to renounce our own righteousness: for why is it, that we seek righteousness from another, except that necessity constrains us?
We have already stated, in another place, how men put on the righteousness of God by faith, that is, when the righteousness of Christ is imputed to them. But Paul grievously dishonors the pride by which hypocrites are inflated, when they cover it with the specious mask of zeal; for he says, that all such, by shaking off as it were the yoke, are adverse to and rebel against the righteousness of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Gods righteousness.See Rom. 1:17; Rom. 3:21.
Their own righteousness.A righteousness founded on their own works.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Being ignorant Or, rather, ignoring actively; just as the following participle going about is active. People often wilfully ignore what they really know; and St. Paul tells us (Rom 10:19, where see comment) that Israel did know. Dr. Chalmers pertinently says that people are not always blamable for not seeing, but are blamable for not looking.
God’s righteousness (See note on Rom 1:17.) The righteousness which God has ready to bestow on man through Christ. It includes in its various degrees and stages pardon, justification, sanctification, and eternal glorification.
Going about Old English phrase for engaging in or trying at a thing. The Greek word here literally signifies seeking, endeavouring.
Submitted For faith is the submission of the whole man to God. Paul now shows what is the righteousness of God which the Jew ignored; namely, that righteousness of which Christ was the consummation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rom 10:3. God’s righteousness That is, the method of salvation which is provided for mankind by the mercy and wisdom of God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 10:3 . Confirmatory elucidation of : “for else they would not, unacquainted with the divine righteousness (see on Rom 1:17 ), have insisted on their own righteousness, and striven against the divine.” This is just the actual proof that their zeal for God is wanting in knowledge.
] does not mean any more than at Rom 2:4 , 1Co 14:38 , anything else than not knowing; Reiche, de Wette, Tholuck, Ewald, and several others: misapprehending; Hofmann: overlooking . The guilt of this not-knowing Paul does not further enter into, not so much (comp. Act 3:17 ; Act 17:30 ) from mild forbearance (Rckert and others), but because he had simply nothing else than the to explain.
] , , Theophylact. Comp. Phi 3:9 , and see on Rom 1:17 .
] stabilire, to make valid . Comp. Rom 3:31 ; Heb 10:9 .
] The . is conceived of as a divine ordinance, to which one subjects oneself (through faith). The sense is not that of the passive , as Rom 8:20 , but that of the middle , as in Rom 8:7 , Rom 13:1 , and frequently, expressing the obedience . As to the subject-matter, comp. . . ., Rom 9:32 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Ver. 3. For they being ignorant ] The soul that is without knowledge is not good, and he that (without knowledge) hasteth with his feet, sinneth, Pro 19:2 ; the faster he goeth, the farther he is out.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3. ] For (explanation of .) not recognizing (‘ being ignorant of ’ is liable to the objection, that it may represent to the reader a state of excusable ignorance, whereas they had it before them , and overlooked it) the righteousness of God (not, the way of justification appointed by God, as Stuart, al.: but that only righteousness which avails before God, which becomes ours in justification; see De Wette’s note, quoted on ch. Rom 1:17 ), and seeking to set up their own righteousness (again, not justification , but righteousness : that, namely, described Rom 10:5 ; not that it was ever theirs, but the Apostle speaks subjectively. Notwithstanding the MS. authority against . after , it would seem as if it had been written for emphasis’ sake by the Apostle, and omitted on account of the word occurring thrice in the sentence), they were not subjected (historical: implying , but not itself bearing , a perfect sense. The passage, not in a middle sense, as De Wette and Thol., expresses the result only ; it might be themselves, or it might be some other, that subjected them, but the historical fact was, that they were not subjected ) to the righteousness of God (the . . . being considered as a rule or method , to which it was necessary to conform, but to which they were never subjected as they were to the law of Moses).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 10:3 . This verse goes to the root of the matter, and explains the failure of the Gospel among the Jews. It was due to their ignorance of the righteousness of God. All men need and crave righteousness, and the Jews, in their ignorance of God’s, sought to establish a righteousness of their own. Their own is the key to the situation. Their idea was that they could be good men without becoming God’s debtors, or owing anything at all to Him. Such an idea, of course, shows complete ignorance of the essential relations of God and man, and when acted on fatally perverts life. It did so with the Jews. When the Gospel came, revealing the righteousness of God that for which man must be absolutely indebted to God’s grace, and which he can never boast of as “his own” it cut right across all the habits and prejudices of the Jews, and they did not submit themselves to it. Paul interprets the position of his nation through the recollection of his own experience as a Pharisee no doubt rightly on the whole. For in middle sense see Rom 8:7 , Rom 13:1 , Heb 12:9 , Jas 4:7 , 1Pe 2:13 .
Rom 10:4 . Further proof that the pursuit of a righteousness of one’s own by legal observances is a mistake, the act of men “in ignorance”. : For Christ is law’s end, etc. The sense required a sense which the words very naturally yield is that with Christ in the field law as a means of attaining righteousness has ceased and determined. The moment a man sees Christ and understands what He is and what He has done, he feels that legal religion is a thing of the past: the way to righteousness is not the observance of statutes, no matter though they have been promulgated by God Himself; it is faith, the abandonment of the soul to the redeeming judgment and mercy of God in His Son. The meaning is virtually the same as that of our Lord’s words in Luk 16:16 . without the article is “law” in the widest sense; the Mosaic law is only one of the most important instances which come under this description; and it, with all statutory conceptions of religion, ends when Christ appears. It is quite true to say that Christ consummates or fulfils the law (hence Calvin would prefer complementum or perfectio to finis as a rendering of ); quite true also that He is the goal of the O.T. dispensation, and that it is designed to lead to Him ( cf. Mat 5:17 , Gal 3:24 ); but though both true and Pauline, these ideas are irrelevant here, where Paul is insisting, not on the connection, but on the incompatibility, of law and faith, of one’s own righteousness and the righteousness of God. Besides, in limiting to the Mosaic O.T. law, this interpretation does less than justice to the language, and misses the point of : there is no believer, Gentile or Jew , for whom law, Mosaic or other , retains validity or significance as a way to , after the revelation of the righteousness of God in Christ.
In Rom 10:5 ff. Paul describes more fully, and in O.T. terms, the two ways of attaining law and faith. His aim is to show that they are mutually exclusive, but that the latter is open and accessible to all.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
ignorant. See Rom 1:13.
righteousness. App-191.
going about = seeking.
unto = to.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3.] For (explanation of .) not recognizing (being ignorant of is liable to the objection, that it may represent to the reader a state of excusable ignorance, whereas they had it before them, and overlooked it) the righteousness of God (not, the way of justification appointed by God, as Stuart, al.: but that only righteousness which avails before God, which becomes ours in justification; see De Wettes note, quoted on ch. Rom 1:17), and seeking to set up their own righteousness (again, not justification, but righteousness: that, namely, described Rom 10:5; not that it was ever theirs, but the Apostle speaks subjectively. Notwithstanding the MS. authority against . after , it would seem as if it had been written for emphasis sake by the Apostle, and omitted on account of the word occurring thrice in the sentence), they were not subjected (historical: implying, but not itself bearing, a perfect sense. The passage,-not in a middle sense, as De Wette and Thol.,-expresses the result only; it might be themselves, or it might be some other, that subjected them,-but the historical fact was, that they were not subjected) to the righteousness of God (the . . . being considered as a rule or method, to which it was necessary to conform, but to which they were never subjected as they were to the law of Moses).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 10:3. , seeking) by all means.- , have not been subject) and have not obeyed, () Rom 10:16. , submits itself to the Divine will, , the will of GOD.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 10:3
Rom 10:3
For being ignorant of Gods righteousness,-Righteousness is here used for the plan of making men righteous. The Jews were not ignorant that God was a righteous and holy being, but in the blindness of their hearts they were ignorant of the provisions that God had made for justifying men, or making them righteous through Jesus Christ.
and seeking to establish their own,-[They sought a righteousness of their own, of works, secured by keeping the law and obeying the traditions of men. (Mat 15:3-8; Mar 7:7-8). Their theory they not only sought to make good, but they shut their eyes and ears against every fact having in any measure the effect to prove them wrong. They assumed their theory to be infallible, and, as a consequence, grew impenetrable to argument against it.]
they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.-In depending upon and following their own ways of making men righteous, they had rejected God and been rejected of him. It has always been a popular idea in the world that so a man worshiped according to his convictions of right, his worship would be acceptable to God. But these Jews were exceedingly zealous of God; but in ignorance of Gods way of making men righteous, they were rejected of God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
righteousness
The word “righteousness” here, and in the passages having marginal references to this, means legal, or self-righteousness; the futile effort of man to work out under law a character which God can approve.
(See Scofield “Rev 19:8”).
righteousness Cf. (See Scofield “Rom 3:21”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
God’s righteousness: “God’s method of justification,” says Abp. Newcome: God’s method of saving sinners. Rom 1:17, Rom 3:22, Rom 3:26, Rom 5:19, Rom 9:30, Psa 71:15, Psa 71:16, Psa 71:19, Isa 51:6, Isa 51:8, Isa 56:1, Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6, Dan 9:24, Joh 16:9, Joh 16:10, 2Co 5:21, 2Pe 1:1
to establish: Rom 9:31, Rom 9:32, Isa 57:12, Isa 64:6, Luk 10:29, Luk 16:15, Luk 18:9-12, Gal 5:3, Gal 5:4, Phi 3:9, Rev 3:17, Rev 3:18
submitted: Lev 26:41, Neh 9:33, Job 33:27, Lam 3:22, Dan 9:6-9, Luk 15:17-21
Reciprocal: Gen 3:12 – General Deu 6:25 – General Jdg 17:13 – General 1Sa 15:20 – Yea 2Ch 12:6 – the Lord Ezr 9:15 – thou art righteous Job 9:30 – General Psa 36:2 – For he Psa 40:10 – righteousness Psa 51:14 – righteousness Psa 59:10 – let Psa 69:27 – let them Psa 98:2 – righteousness Isa 43:26 – declare Isa 46:13 – bring Isa 50:11 – all ye Isa 55:2 – do ye Eze 18:25 – way Eze 33:13 – if he Mic 6:6 – Wherewith Mal 3:7 – Wherein Mat 5:20 – exceed Mat 6:33 – his Mat 18:26 – have Mar 2:18 – Why Luk 5:33 – and make Luk 7:29 – justified Luk 13:24 – for Luk 15:29 – Lo Luk 18:21 – General Joh 6:29 – This Joh 16:2 – the time Act 9:6 – what Act 22:3 – was Rom 3:21 – righteousness Rom 4:5 – But to Rom 10:2 – but not Rom 11:7 – Israel 2Co 3:9 – the ministration of righteousness Gal 1:6 – unto Gal 2:21 – righteousness Gal 3:21 – righteousness Gal 4:21 – ye that Gal 5:2 – that Eph 3:18 – what Jam 4:7 – Submit
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0:3
Rom 10:3. God’s righteousness is that performed “through the faith of Christ,” and own righteousness is that “which is of the law” (Php 3:9). Their lack of knowledge mentioned in the preceding verse, is here specified to consist of their being ignorant of God’s righteousness.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 10:3. For they. In Rom 10:3-4, we have the proof from fact, that their religious zeal was not according to knowledge. The thought, however, in contrast with Rom 10:1, as already indicated.
Not knowing, or, more exactly, being ignorant of (as in E. V.), but not knowing preserves the verbal correspondence with knowledge, which exists in the original also, and, moreover, it does not suggest that the ignorance was excusable. But we need not press the phrase so far as to render it mistaking, or, overlooking.
Gods righteousness, as throughout the Epistle, that righteousness which avails before God, which becomes ours in justification (Alford).
Striving to establish their own. Righteousness is probably to be omitted in this clause, although the evidence is nearly evenly balanced. Striving suggests that they would acquire what according to Gods method of salvation was to be bestowed, while establish, or, set up, suggests the pride of their endeavor.
Did not submit themselves, etc. The verb is not passive, but middle; for the former would indicate merely the historical result, while the latter points to their personal guilt, a thought better suited to the context, and bringing out the implied contrast with Rom 10:1.
The righteousness of God; here conceived of as a divine ordinance, to which one submits ones self, through faith (Meyer), as the context plainly indicates.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
That is, the Jews being ignorant of God’s way of justification by faith in Christ discovered in the gospel, and relying upon and trusting to their own works, their obedience to the ceremonial and moral law, to justify and save them, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God; that is, to the way and method which the wisdom of God has discovered for the justification of a sinner by the blood of his Son.
Observe here, 1. That by God’s righteousness, we are to understand that righteousness which Christ has wrought for us, which God bestows upon us, and the gospel reveals unto us; by establishing their own righteousness, is to be understood their resolution and endeavour to depend upon their own works; their obedience to the law for their justification before God, in opposition against and in contradiction to, that way of justification which God has declared; namely, by faith in Christ Jesus, the one and only Mediator.
Observe, 2. That upon the first opening of the gospel, no evangelical doctrine was more disrelished by the Jews than justification by the righteousness of Christ. They were possessed with this principle then, that eternal life was attainable only by the works of the law: and according to the example of the Jews at the beginning, persons ever since, even to this very day, are fond of that way of justification.
The natural man is a proud man, he likes to live upon his own stock, he cannot stoop to a sincere and universal renunciation of his own righteousness, and to depend wholly upon that of another. ‘Tis natural to a man to choose rather to eat a brown crust, or wear a coarse garment, which he can call his own, than to feed upon the richest dainties, or wear the costliest robes, which he must receive as an alms from another.
Lord! how hard is it to subdue this pride of spirit, and to be thoroughly convinced of the absolute necessity of another and a better righteousness than our own to constitute us righteous in the sight of God!
From the whole learn, 1. How dark-sighted the wisest men are by nature in God’s way of justifying and saving sinners: Ignorant of God’s righteousness, that is, of the way which the wisdom of God has discovered for justifying guilty sinners by faith in his son.
This is known only by divine revelation: The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Rom 1:17. It is purely an object of faith, and hangs all upon divine revelation, both as to the righteousness itself, and the manner of imparting it.
Learn, 2. How absurd is the attempt, and how injurious the design, to set up and establish a righteousness of our own, either in opposition to, or in conjunction with, the righteousness of God.
Alas! we fulfil the law only in sincerity, we cannot fulfil it to perfection; and if it be not to perfection, it cannot be to justification.
Therefore to trust to any righteousness of our own for justification before God, which is imperfect and polluted, is both sinful and unsafe. Sinful, because it is confronting the plain declarations of the gospel; and unsafe, because it evacuates Christ: for Christ is of no effect unto us: whosoever are justified by the law, are fallen from grace, Gal 5:4.
Learn, 3. What an hinderance is pride to the salvation of men! it stiffens the will, that it won’t stoop to God’s terms: they will not have justification in God’s way, and they shall not have it in their own. Here it stuck with the Jews; they would not submit to the righteousness of God: and here it sticks with too many at this day.
Learn, 4. Not to count a righteousness of your own needless to be possessed of, because you want of righteousness of another to confide and trust in. We plead the meritorious righteousness of Christ, to answer the demands of the law; but contend for a personal righteousness of our own, to answer the commands of the gospel.
Christ doth indeed ease us of the load of our sins, but not discharge us from the care of our duty. Our being in Christ frees us indeed from condemnation, but then that in-being must be proved by our holy walking; not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, Rom 5:1.
Learn, 5. To submit to the righteousness of God, as ever you would enjoy peace with God. The more holy we are, and the more sanctified we grow, the meaner opinion we shall have of ourselves, and the more need of a Saviour, and of justification by him; and shall bless God for the gospel, in which the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; and shall dread it as hell to be found amongst the number of those who, though they be not ignorant of God’s righteousness, yet will go about to establish their own righteousness, refusing to submit to the righteousness of God.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 3, 4. For they not knowing God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
These verses are meant to explain the terrible misunderstanding which weighed on the mind of Israel, and which now brings about the separation between God and His people. Not understanding that it was from God their righteousness was to come, Israel were led to maintain their legal dispensation at any cost, and to mistake the limit which God had purposed to assign it.
The term , not knowing, is directly related to the preceding expression: not according to knowledge. Under the discipline of the law, the discernment of true righteousness, that which God grants to faith, should have been formed in them. For, on the one hand, the conscientious effort to observe the law would have brought them to feel their weakness (comp. chap. 7); and, on the other, the profound study of the Scriptures would have taught them, by the example of Abraham (Gen 15:5) and by sundry prophetic declarations (Isa 50:8-9; Hab 2:4), that righteousness and strength come from the Lord. But through not using the law in this spirit of sincerity and humility, they proved unfit to understand the final revelation; and their mind, carried in a false direction, stumbled at the divine truth manifested in the appearing of the Messiah (Rom 9:32). Several commentators understand in a very forcible sense: misconceiving. Meyer insists on retaining the natural sense: not knowing. This latter sense may suffice, indeed, provided it be not forgotten that in this case, as in many others, the want of knowing is the result of previous unfaithfulnesses; comp. 1Co 14:38 and Act 17:30.
Though we did not know from the first part of the Epistle the meaning of the term: righteousness of God, it would appear clearly here from the contrasted expression: their own righteousness. The latter is a sentence of justification which man obtains in virtue of the way in which he has fulfilled the law. God gives him nothing; He simply attests and proclaims the fact. The righteousness of God, on the contrary, is the sentence of justification which He confers on faith of His own good will.
In the first proposition the subject in question is the notion of God’s righteousness, which has not succeeded in finding an entrance into their mind; in the second, the word is taken in the concrete sense; the subject is righteousness, as it has been really offered them in Christ., to establish; this word means: to cause to stand erect as a monument raised, not to the glory of God, but to their own.
This proud attempt has issued in an open revolt, in the rejection of Christ and of the righteousness of God offered in Him. The verb , they have not submitted themselves, characterizes the refusal to believe as a disobedience; it is the counterpart of the passages in which faith is called an obedience (Rom 1:5, Rom 6:17). This verb may have the passive or middle sense; here it is evidently the second (Rom 8:7, Rom 13:1).
But this voluntary revolt has cost Israel dear; for this is precisely the cause of their rejection.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For being ignorant of God’s righteousness [Here Paul shows wherein they lacked knowledge. “For they,” says Scott, “not knowing the perfect justice of the divine character, law and government; and the nature of that righteousness which God has provided for the justification of sinners consistently with his own glory”– Rom 3:26], and seeking to establish their own [Refusing to “put on Christ” (Gal 3:27), they clothed themselves with a garment of their own spinning, which they, like all other worms, spun from their own filthy inwards. Or, to suit the figure more nearly to the language of the apostle, refusing to accept Christ as the Rock for life-building, they reared their crumbling structure on their own sandy, unstable nature, and as fast as the wind, rain and flood of temptation undermined their work, they set about rebuilding and re-establishing it, oblivious of the results of that supreme, unavertable, ever-impending storm, the last judgment — Mat 7:24-27], they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. [“Subject” is the keyword here. The best comment on this passage is found at Joh 8:31-36 . Those who admit themselves bondservants of sin find it no hardship to enter the free service of Christ, but those whose pride and self-sufficiency and self-righteousness make them self-worshipers, can bring themselves to submit to no one. By use of the phrase “righteousness of God,” Paul indicts them of rebellion against the Father and his plan of salvation, rather than of rebellion against the person of the Christ, who is the sum and substance of the Father’s plan–the concrete righteousness whereby we are saved.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
3. For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness; but did not submit themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 3
God’s righteousness; the way in which God will really justify the sinner.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
10:3 {2} For they {a} being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to {b} establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
(2) The first entrance into the calling to salvation, is to renounce our own righteousness by faith, which God freely offers us in the Gospel.
(a) The ignorance of the law (which we ought to know) does not excuse anyone before God, especially those that are of his household.
(b) Ignorance always has pride associated with it.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Jews were ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God as a gift (Rom 1:17). They sought to earn righteousness by keeping the Law. Instead they should have humbly received the gift of righteousness that God gives to those who believe on His Son (cf. Php 3:9).
"The Law was designed not to bring about self-righteousness or self-hope, but contrariwise, self-despair." [Note: Newell, p. 389.]