This is one thing; rather, the matter is one' or it is all one. There is no difference, that is, between the case of the righteous and the wicked; all are alike sinful in God's sight, all equally "concluded under sin" (Galatians 3:22), and all consequently obnoxious to punishment at his hands (comp.
Ecclesiastes 9:2). In a certain sense the statement is true, and corresponds with the argument of Romans 1-3.; but no account is taken here of God's gracious forgiveness of sin, much less of the general scheme of redemption, or the compensation for earthly sufferings in an eternity of happiness, on which the hope of the Christian rests.
Therefore I said it; rather, therefore I say, with the Revised Version. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. As far as this world is concerned, it is undoubtedly true that calamities fall alike upon the just and upon the unjust.
Death is the lot of all; trouble, suffering, grief, the lot of all (Job 6:7). Nor can it even be said that the wicked in this world suffer more than the good. Their sufferings are more the natural consequence of their actions, but do not seem to exceed in amount or severity the sufferings of the good.
But this only shows that there must be a future life to redress the apparent injustice of the present one, and set the balance right.