---

A man of poetic genius has ever a strong tendency to personifications. He gives life to dead things, thought and feeling to unconscious objects, and makes even dumb matter speak. Hence the apostle here personifies Christianity; he makes her speak to the men who are looking out in the distance for the good which stood in all its plenitude by their side. His description of Christianity here is simple, compendious, and expressive. He calls it the righteousness which is of faith, which means the system which is to make men right by believing in the heart. A heart-belief in the gospel makes men right — right in their spirit, motives, lives, relations. Note here —

I. THE CRY OF THE SOUL, "Say not in thine heart," etc.

1. The spirit of this cry is identical throughout the race. What is it? It is a heart craving for some good in the external, the distant, and the supernatural. This craving explains much of the history of the ages.

2. The objects of this cry are various throughout the race. Whilst all cry for good, all do not cry for the same kind of good. The summum bonum varies with different men. The text implies that the men addressed are seeking the Messianic good, and crying out for Christ. This was the grand wish of the Jewish world. Christ is the desire of nations. If we analyse the cry we shall-find that it includes —

(1) A deep consciousness of want. Man is a needy creature, and the deepest need of man, as a sinner, is a "Christ," some Divinely anointed one who shall make right his soul.

(2) Belief in the existence of a provision. Man's primitive notions of a God, and his experience of the fitness of the world to his physical needs, give him the conviction, that, wherever there is a deep want, there must be somewhere a Divine provision.

(3) A felt necessity of some agency to bring the provision near. Who shall ascend? The good is somewhere, who shall bring it near? What priest? What sage? What measures? What men?

II. THE ANSWER OF THE GOSPEL.

1. The answer discourages this tendency. "Say not in thine heart." Christianity discourages the tendency in man to look for good outside, far off, and in the miraculous; it bids him to look within, enjoy the near and the natural.

2. The answer reveals the provision. "The word is nigh thee," etc. The good, to satisfy the deepest cravings of the human soul, is to be found in that Word which was made flesh and dwelt among us. Christ meets all the exigencies and aspirations of the soul, and He is near to every one who has the revelation. Near —

(1) In the Scriptures. The Scriptures are not far off from thee; not in distant lands, distant libraries, or churches, but in thy house, thy home, etc. They are they that testify of Him.

(2) In thy memory. Thou hast been taught the biography of Christ, etc. Thoughts of Him are constantly coming up to thee, "Nay, it is even in thy heart." Much of thy speech is shaped by sentiments concerning Him. Even in thy "heart." He has often stirred thy emotions. The preaching of Him has often evoked the tenderest sympathies of thy nature.

(D. Thomas, D.D.)

---

---

KJV: For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

WEB: For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, "The one who does them will live by them."