Mar 16:16, Rom 3:22 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 16. He that believeth . That is, believeth the gospel. Credits it to be true, and acts as if it were true . This is the whole of faith. Man is a sinner, he should act on the belief of this truth, and repent. There is a God. Man should believe it, and fear and love him, and seek his favour. The Lord Jesus died to save him. To have faith in him, is to believe that this is true, and to act accordingly; i.e., to trust him, to rely on him, to love him, to feel that we have no merit, and to cast our all upon him. There is a heaven and a hell. To believe this, is to credit the account, and act as if it were true; to seek the one, and avoid the other. We are to die. To believe this, is to act as if this were so; to be in readiness for it, and to expect it daily and hourly. In one word, faith is feeling and acting as if there were a God, a Saviour, a heaven, a hell; as ff we were sinners, and must die; as if we deserved eternal death, and were in danger of it; and, in view of all, casting our eternal interests on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. To do this, is to be a Christian; not to do it, is to be an infidel. Is baptized . Is initiated into the church by the application of water, as significant that he is a sinner, and needs the purifying influences of the Holy Ghost. It is worthy of remark, that Jesus has made baptism of so much importance, he did not say, indeed, that a man could not be saved without baptism, but he has strongly implied that where this is neglected, knowing it to be a command of the Saviour, it endangers the salvation of the soul. Faith and baptism are the beginnings of a Christian life: the one the beginning of piety in the soul, the other of its manifestation before men, or of a profession of religion. And every man endangers his eternal interest by being ashamed of Christ before men. See . Shall be saved . Saved from sin, ( ,) and from eternal death, ( ,) and raised to eternal life in heaven, . Shall be damned . That is, condemned by God, and cast off from his presence, . It implies that they will be adjudged to be guilty by God in the day of judgment, ; that they will deserve to die for ever, ( ) and that they will be cast out into a place of woe to all eternity, . It may be asked how it can be just in God to condemn men for ever for not believing the gospel. I answer: (1.) God has a right to appoint his own terms of mercy. (2.) Man has no claim on him for heaven (3.) The sinner rejects the terms of salvation knowingly, deliberately, and perseveringly. (4.) He has a special disregard and contempt for the gospel. (5.) His unbelief is produced by the love of sin. (6.) He shows by this that he has no love for God, and his law, and for eternity. (7.) He slights the objects dearest to God, and most like him; and, (8.) he must be miserable. A creature who has no confidence in God, who does not believe that he is true or worthy of his regard, and who never seeks his favour, must be wretched. He rejects God, and he must go into eternity without a Father and without a God. And he has no source of comfort in himself, and must die for ever. There is no being in eternity but God that can make man happy; and without his favour the sinner must be wretched. (c) "he that believeth" (d) "but he"

Mark 16:16

Verse 16. He that believeth. That is, believeth the gospel. Credits it to be true, and acts as if it were true. This is the whole of faith. Man is a sinner, he should act on the belief of this truth, and repent. There is a God. Man should believe it, and fear and love him, and seek his favour. The Lord Jesus died to save him. To have faith in him, is to believe that this is true, and to act accordingly; i.e., to trust him, to rely on him, to love him, to feel that we have no merit, and to cast our all upon him. There is a heaven and a hell. To believe this, is to credit the account, and act as if it were true; to seek the one, and avoid the other. We are to die. To believe this, is to act as if this were so; to be in readiness for it, and to expect it daily and hourly. In one word, faith is feeling and acting as if there were a God, a Saviour, a heaven, a hell; as ff we were sinners, and must die; as if we deserved eternal death, and were in danger of it; and, in view of all, casting our eternal interests on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. To do this, is to be a Christian; not to do it, is to be an infidel.

Is baptized. Is initiated into the church by the application of water, as significant that he is a sinner, and needs the purifying influences of the Holy Ghost. It is worthy of remark, that Jesus has made baptism of so much importance, he did not say, indeed, that a man could not be saved without baptism, but he has strongly implied that where this is neglected, knowing it to be a command of the Saviour, it endangers the salvation of the soul. Faith and baptism are the beginnings of a Christian life: the one the beginning of piety in the soul, the other of its manifestation before men, or of a profession of religion. And every man endangers his eternal interest by being ashamed of Christ before men. See Mk 8:38.

Shall be saved. Saved from sin, (Mt 1:21,) and from eternal death, (Jn 5:24; 3:36,) and raised to eternal life in heaven, Jn 5:28,29; 17:2,24.

Shall be damned. That is, condemned by God, and cast off from his presence, 2Thes 1:6-9. It implies that they will be adjudged to be guilty by God in the day of judgment, Rom 2:12,16, Mt 25:41; that they will deserve to die for ever, (Rom 2:6,8) and that they will be cast out into a place of woe to all eternity, Mt 25:46. It may be asked how it can be just in God to condemn men for ever for not believing the gospel. I answer:

(1.) God has a right to appoint his own terms of mercy.

(2.) Man has no claim on him for heaven

(3.) The sinner rejects the terms of salvation knowingly, deliberately, and perseveringly.

(4.) He has a special disregard and contempt for the gospel.

(5.) His unbelief is produced by the love of sin.

(6.) He shows by this that he has no love for God, and his law, and for eternity.

(7.) He slights the objects dearest to God, and most like him; and,

(8.) he must be miserable. A creature who has no confidence in God, who does not believe that he is true or worthy of his regard, and who never seeks his favour, must be wretched. He rejects God, and he must go into eternity without a Father and without a God. And he has no source of comfort in himself, and must die for ever. There is no being in eternity but God that can make man happy; and without his favour the sinner must be wretched.

Romans 3:22

Verse 22. Even the righteousness of God. The apostle, having stated that the design of the gospel was to reveal a new plan of becoming just in the sight of God, proceeds here more fully to explain it. The explanation which he offers makes it plain that the phrase so often used by him, "righteousness of God," does not refer to an attribute of God, but to his plan of making men righteous. Here he says that it is by faith in Jesus Christ; but surely an attribute of God is not produced by faith in Jesus Christ. It means God's mode of regarding men as righteous through their belief in Jesus Christ.

By faith of Jesus Christ. That is, by faith in Jesus Christ. Thus the expression, Mk 11:22, "Have the faith of God," (margin,) means, have faith in God. So Acts 3:16, the "faith of his name," (Greek,) means, faith in his name. So Gal 2:20, the "faith of the Son of God" means, faith in the Son of God. This cannot mean that faith is the meritorious cause of salvation, but that it is the instrument or means by which we become justified. It is the state of mind, or condition of the heart, to which God has been pleased to promise justification. (On the nature of faith, Mk 16:16.) God has promised that they who believe in Christ shah be pardoned and saved. This is his plan in distinction from the plan of those who seek to be justified by works.

Unto all and upon all. It is evident that these expressions are designed to be emphatic, but why both are used is not very apparent. Many have supposed that there was no essential difference in the meaning. If there be a difference, it is probably this: the first expression, "unto all"--ειςπαντας--may denote that this plan of justification has come (Luther) unto all men, to Jews and Gentiles; i.e. that it has been provided for them and offered to them without distinction. The plan was ample for all, was fitted for all, was equally necessary for all, and was offered to all. The second phrase, "upon all"--επιπαντας--may be designed to guard against the supposition that all therefore would be benefited by it, or be saved by the mere face that the announcement had come to all. The apostle adds, therefore, that the benefits of this plan must actually come upon all, or must be applied to all, if they would be justified. They could not be justified merely by the fact that the plan was provided, and that the knowledge of it had come to all, but by their actually coming under this plan, and availing themselves of it. Perhaps there is reference in the last expression, "upon all," to a robe, or garment, that is placed upon one to hide his nakedness, or sin. Comp. Isa 64:6, also Php 3:9.

For there is no difference. That is, there is no difference in regard to the matter under discussion. The apostle does not mean to say that there is no difference in regard to the talents, dispositions, education, and property of men; but there is no distinction in regard to the way in which they must be justified. All must be saved, if saved at all, in the same mode, whether Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, rich or poor, learned or ignorant. None can be saved by works; and all are therefore dependent on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.

(a) "faith of Jesus Christ" Rom 5:1