[28] Ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαι σε: we may render this (as in 1 Cor. vi. 1) "_When Thou goest to law_." The Hebrew is, literally, "_When Thou judgest_"; and the Septuagint Greek, used here by St Paul, probably represents this, though by a slight paraphrase. [29] Μὴ ἄδικος; where logically it would rather be οὐκ ἄδικος.--Just above, we explain "God's righteousness" to mean, as commonly in the Epistle, "God's way of acceptance," His reckoning His Righteousness to the sinner. [30] Κἀγώ: he speaks as claiming, on the caviller's principles, equal indulgence for himself. [31] Προεχόμεθα: "_Do we make excuse for ourselves?_" is a rendering for which there are clearer precedents in the use of the verb. But the context seems to us to advocate the above rendering, which is quite possible grammatically. [32] ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη: again the Greek (as in verse 9) gives the thought of _motion to a position under_. The human "aspic" is depicted as _bringing its venom up_ to its mouth, ready there for the stroke of its fangs. [33] _Adieux_, § 1. [34] _Gold Hair, a Legend of Pornic._ CHAPTER IX _THE ONE WAY OF DIVINE ACCEPTANCE_ ROMANS iii. 21-31 So then "there is silence" upon earth, that man may hear the "still, small voice," "the sound of stillness" (1 Kings xix. 12),[35] from the heavens. "The Law" has spoken, with its heart-shaking thunder. It has driven in upon the soul of man, from many sides, that one fact--guilt; the eternity of the claim of righteousness, the absoluteness of the holy Will of God, and, in contrast, the failure of man, of the race, to meet that claim and do that will. It has told man, in effect, that he is "depraved,"[36] that is to say, morally distorted. He is "totally depraved," that is, the distortion has affected his whole being, so that he can supply on his own part no adequate recovering power which shall restore him to harmony with God. And the Law has nothing more to say to him, except that this condition is not only deplorable, but guilty, accountable, condemnable; and that his own conscience is the concurrent witness that it is so. He is a sinner. To be a sinner is before all things to be a transgressor of law. It is other things besides. It is to be morally diseased, and in need of surgery and medicine. It is to be morally unhappy, and an object of compassion. But first of all it is to be morally guilty, and in urgent need of justification, of a reversal of sentence, of satisfactory settlement with the offended--and eternal--Law of God.