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NOTES 
 
 ON 
 
 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL, THE APOSTLE, 
 
 TO 
 
 THE EOIANS, 
 
 A NEW TRANSLATION 
 
 By WILLIAM KELLY. 
 
 LONDON: 
 G. MORPvISII, 24, WARWICK LANE, 
 
 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 
 
 1875. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 He who wi'ites a book does in that very act profess, 
 unless he be a thoughtless man, that he has somewhat 
 of profit to offer the reader. To some this might seem 
 unlikely, when ever so slight a survey is taken of the 
 many works Avi'itten on the Epistle to the Eomans. 
 Nevertheless, such is the v^realth of the mine, on the 
 one hand, such the faithfulness of God's Spirit, on the 
 other, that I doubt if any servant of Christ has ever 
 seriously sought into that great communication of God 
 through the apostle Paul v/ithout results of value for 
 others. By this brief exposition I too trust in the 
 Lord to help souls in the understanding of that which 
 shall never perish, so that they may v/alk more freely 
 and firmly in His ways. Enough one knows, how- 
 ever little it may be, to be assured how much remains 
 to be gathered by those who may yet labour in faith 
 till the Lord comes. 
 
 October 1, 1873. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, 
 
 A NEW TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT ACCORDING TO 
 ANCIENT AUTHORITY. 
 
 I. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, a called 
 apostle, set apart unto God's gospel, "which he had 
 before promised through his prophets in holy scriptures, 
 3 concerning his Son, that was born of David's seed 
 according to flesh, ^that was marked out Son of God 
 in power according to [the] Spirit of holiness by resur- 
 rection of [the] dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ^ through 
 whom we received grace and apostleship unto obedi- 
 ence of faith among all the Gentiles* in behalf of his 
 name; ^among whom are ye also, called of Jesus 
 Christ, "to all that are in Rome beloved of God, called 
 saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father 
 and Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 s First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for 
 you all, that your faith is proclaimed in the whole world. 
 5 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in 
 the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention 
 of you, always at my prayers ^obeseeching, if by any 
 means now at least I shall be prospered by the will of 
 God to come to you. ^^ For I long to see you, that I 
 may impart to you some spiritual gift in order to your 
 being established; '-that is, to be comforted together 
 among you through the faith which is in one another, 
 both yours and mine. 
 
 ^3 But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, 
 that I often proposed to come to you and was hindered 
 ontil the present, that I might have some fruit among 
 
 * Or, nations. 
 
VI ROMANS. 
 
 yoii too, even as also among the other Gentiles, i* Both 
 to Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and unintelligent, 
 I am debtor; ^^so on my part there is readiness to 
 preach the gospel to you also that [are] in Rome; '^for 
 I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is God's power 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth, both to Jew 
 first and to Greek. ^7 For God's righteousness in it is 
 revealed by faith unto faith, even as it is written, ' But 
 the righteous shall live by faith.' 
 
 18 For there is revealed God's wrath from heaven upon 
 all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men that hold 
 the truth in unrighteousness. ^9 Because what may be 
 known of God is manifest among them, for God made 
 [it] manifest to them. ^''For the invisible things of 
 him from [the] world's creation are perceived, being- 
 understood by the works, both his eternal power and 
 Godhead, that they might be inexcusable. ^^ Because, 
 having known God, they glorified him not as God nor 
 were thankful, but became vain in their thoughts, and 
 their heart void of understanding was darkened. ~^ Pro- 
 fessing to be wise, they became fools, ^^and changed 
 the glory of the incorruptible God for a likeness of an 
 image of corruptible man, and of winged and fonr- 
 footed and creeping [creatures]. -^ Wherefore God gave 
 them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness 
 so that their bodies were dishonoured among them; 
 ^^ which exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and 
 served and reverenced the creature rather than* the Creator 
 who is blessed for ever,* Amen. ^^ On this account God 
 gave them up to vile passions; for both their females 
 exchanged the natural use into the unnatural, ^'^and 
 likewise the males also, leaving the natural use of the 
 female, were inflamed in their lust toward one another, 
 males with males working out unseemliness, and receiv- 
 ing in themselves the recompense of their error which 
 was meet. ^And even as they disapproved to have 
 
 ♦ Literally " beyond," and "unto tbe ages." 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. Vll 
 
 God in acknowledgment,* God gave them up unto a 
 reprobate mind to do improper things; ^^ being filled 
 T?ith all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetonsness, 
 malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, ill-will; 
 whisperers, ^''slanderers, God-hated, insolent, haughty, 
 boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 
 ^^ void of understanding, faithless, without natural affec- 
 tion, pitiless; ^^ which, knowing right well the righteous 
 award of God that they who do such things are worthy 
 of death, not only practise them but also have a fellow- 
 pleasure in those that do [them]. 
 
 II. Wherefore thou art inexcusable, man, every 
 one that judgest: for wherein thoujudgest the other, 
 thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest 
 the same things. ^ g^t we know that the judgment of 
 God is according to truth upon those that do such 
 things. 3And dost thou reckon this, man that 
 judgest those that do such things and practisest them, 
 that thou shalt escape the judgment of God ? * Or de- 
 spisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance 
 and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of 
 God leadeth thee to repentance ? ^ But according to thy 
 hardness and unrepentant heart thou treasurest to thy- 
 self wrath in [the] day of wrath and revelation of God's 
 righteous judgment, ^ who shall render to each ac- 
 cording to his works : 7 to those that with patience in 
 good work seek for glory and honour and incorruption, 
 eternal life; ^but to those that are contentious and dis- 
 obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, wrath and 
 indignation, 9 tribulation and anguish on every soul of 
 man that worketh out evil, both of Jew first and of 
 Greek; '^but glory and honour and peace to every one 
 that worketh good, both to Jew first and to Greek; iifor 
 there is no regard of person with God. i- For as many 
 as without law have sinned without law also shall perish ; 
 and as many as have sinned in law shall be judged by 
 
 * Or, 4n [their] knowledge.* 
 
VUl ROMANS. 
 
 law IS (for not the hearers of law [are] just with God, 
 but the doers of law shall be justified. ^* For when 
 Gentiles which have no law practise by nature the 
 things of the law, these having no law are a law to 
 themselves ; ^^ which evince the work of the law written 
 in their hearts, their conscience also joining its testi- 
 mony and their thoughts also one with another accusing 
 or also excusing) ^^in [the] day when God shall judge 
 the secrets of men according to my gospel by Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 ^7 But if thou art named a Jew, and restest on law, 
 and boastest in God, i^and knowest the will, and provest 
 the things that differ,* being instructed out of the law, 
 19 and hast confidence that thou thyself art a guide of 
 blind, a light of those in darkness, ^^ an instructor of 
 foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge 
 and of the truth in the law: ^Hhou then that teachest 
 another, dost thou not teach thyself? thou that preachest 
 not to steal, dost thou steal? -^thou that sayest not to 
 commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery ? thou that 
 abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege ? ^^ Thou who 
 boastest in law, through the transgression of the law 
 dost thou dishonour God ? ^* For the name of God 
 on your account is blasphemed among the Gentiles, 
 even as it is written. ^^ Por circumcision indeed pro- 
 fiteth if thou do law; but if thou be a transgressor 
 of law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision. 
 '^ If then the uncircumcision keep the requirements of 
 the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for 
 circumcision,^" and the natural uncircumcision, fulfilling 
 the law, judge thee that in the way of letter and cir- 
 cumcision transgressest law? ^For he that is out- 
 wardly a Jew is not [one], nor [is] that which is out- 
 ward in flesh circumcision, ^9 but he that [is so] hiddenly 
 [is] a Jew, and circumcision of heart in spirit, not in 
 
 * It might mean the consequence of this process, " approvest the 
 
 tilings that are excellent." 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. IX 
 
 letter, the praise of whom [is] not of men but of 
 God. 
 
 III. What then [is] the superiority of the Jew, 
 or what the profit of circumcision ? - Much in every- 
 way ; for, first, because they were entrusted with the 
 oracles of God. * For what if some believed not ? shall 
 their unbelief make void the faith* of God ? * Let it 
 not be, but let God be true and every man false, even 
 as it is written, ' That thou mightest be justified in thy 
 words, and overcome when thou art judged.' ^Bat if 
 our unrighteousness commend God's righteousness, what 
 shall we say ? [Is] God unrighteous who inflicteth 
 wrath ? I speak according to man. ^ Let it not be : 
 since how shall God judge the world? 7 For if the 
 truth of God abounded in my lie to his glory, why any 
 longer am I too judged as a sinner? 8au(j i^^t^ even 
 as we are slanderously reported, and even as some give 
 out that we say, ' Let us do evil that good things may 
 come?' whose judgment is just. 
 
 9 What then ? are we better ? Not at all ; for we 
 have before charged both Jews and Greeks with being 
 all under sin, ^^ even as it is written, ' There is none 
 righteous, not one; ^i there is not the [man] that under- 
 standeth ; there is not the [man] that seeketh out 
 God. 1- All went out of the way, together they became 
 unprofitable; there is none that practiseth kindness, 
 there is not so much as one.' ^^ *^ji open grave [is] 
 their throat; with their tongues they used deceit; venom 
 of asps [is] under their lips; i* whose mouth is full of 
 cursing and bitterness; i^g^vift [are] their feet to shed 
 blood; i^ruin and misery [are] in their ways; ^''and 
 no way of peace they knew, is There is no fear of 
 God before their eyes.' ^QNow we know that w^hat 
 ever things the law saith, it speaketh to those that 
 [are] in the law, that every mouth may be stopped, 
 and all the world be under judgment with God. 
 
 * That is, His faithfulness or good faith. 
 
X BOJTANS. 
 
 ^ Wherefore by works of law no flesh shall be justified 
 before him, for by law [is] knowledge of sin. 
 
 ^' But now apart from law God's righteousness is 
 manifested, being witnessed by the law and the pro- 
 phets, ^even God's righteousness through faith in 
 Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all that believe. For 
 there is no difference; ^^for all sinned, and come short 
 of the glory of God, ^* being justified gratuitously by 
 his grace through the redemption that [is] in Christ 
 Jesus, -5^}iom God set forth as a propitiatory* through 
 faith in his blood, for a declaration of his righteous- 
 ness on account of the praeter-mission of the sins that 
 had been before, in the forbearance of God, ^^ ^ith a view 
 to the declaration of his righteousness in the present 
 time, in order to his being just and justifying him that 
 [is] of faith in Jesus. ^' Where then [is] boasting?- 
 It was excluded. Through what law ? Of works ? No, 
 but through [the] law of faith. ^^We reckon then 
 that a man is justified by faith apart from works of 
 law. 29 Is he, pray, the God of Jews only ? [Is he] not 
 also of Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles also; sogjnce God 
 [is] one who shall justify [the] circumcision by faith 
 and uncircumcision throughf faith ? 3i Dq we then 
 make void law throughf faith? Let it not be: nay, 
 we establish law. 
 
 IV. What then shall we say that Abraham our 
 fore-father according to flesh hath found? ^For if 
 Abraham was justified by works, he hath matter 
 whereof to boast, but not before God. ^ Por what doth 
 the scripture say? * And Abraham believed God, and it 
 was reckoned to him for righteousness.' * jnj^qw to him 
 that worketh the reward is not reckoned according to 
 grace, but according to debt; ^but to him that work- 
 eth not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, 
 his faith is reckoned for righteousness. ^ Just as David 
 
 • That is, a mercy-seat, as in Hebrews ix. 5. 
 t The article follows, meaning the faith actually exercised by 
 any. 
 
A KEW TRANSLATION. XI 
 
 also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom 
 
 God reckoneth righteousness apart from works. "* ' Bless- 
 ed they whose iniquities have been forgiven, and whose 
 sins have been covered; ^ blessed [the] man to whom 
 the Lord will in no way reckon sin.' 
 
 9 This blessedness then [cometh it] upon the circum- 
 cision or also upon the uncircumcision ? For we say 
 that to Abraham faith was reckoned for righteous- 
 ness. 10 How then was it reckoned ? When he was in 
 circumcision or in uncircumcision ? Not in circumcision 
 but in uncircumcision. "And he received [the] sign of 
 circumcision as seal of the righteousness of the faith 
 that [he had] in uncircumcision, in order to his 
 being father of all that believe in a state of uncircum- 
 cision, that righteousness might be reckoned to them 
 also, ^and father of circumcision not only to those 
 circumcised but also to those that walk in the steps 
 of the faith of our father Abraham while in uncircum- 
 cision. 
 
 ^^ For not by law was [the] promise to Abraham or to 
 his seed, that he should be heir of the world, but by 
 righteousness of faith. ^^ For if those that are of law 
 [be] heirs, faith is made vain and the promise is an- 
 nulled. ^^For the law wcrketh out wrath; but where 
 no law is, [there is] no transgression. ^^ On this ac- 
 count [it is] of faith that [it might be] according to 
 grace, in order to the promise being sure to all the 
 seed, not only to that which [is] of the law, but also to 
 that which [is] of Abraham's faith, who is father of us 
 all "(even as it is written, * A father of many nations* 
 I have made thee') before God whom he believed, that 
 quickeneth the dead and calleth the things that be not 
 as being ; ^^ who against hope believed in hope, in order 
 to his becoming father of many nations-j- according to 
 that which was spoken, ' So shall be thy seed.' ^^ And 
 
 • Or " Gentiles," as iQvuu is elsewhere translated, 
 t Or " Gentiles." 
 
Xll ROMANS. 
 
 not being weak in faith, he considered [not] his own 
 body now dead, being about a hundred years old, and 
 the deadening of Sarah's womb, ^^yet as to the pro- 
 mise of God wavered not through unbelief, but was 
 strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, -^ and fully 
 persuaded that what he hath promised he is also able 
 to perform. ^ Wherefore also it was reckoned to him 
 for righteousness. ^^Now it was not written on his 
 account alone that it w^as reckoned to him, --^but on our 
 account also, to whom it shall be reckoned, to us that 
 believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord out of [the] 
 dead, who was given up on account of our offences and 
 was raised on account of our justification.* 
 
 V. Having then, been justified by faith, we havef 
 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ^through 
 whom also we have had the access into this grace wherein 
 we stand, and boast in hope of the glory of God. ^ And 
 not only [so], but we also boast in tribulations, knowing 
 that tribulation worketh out endurance; *and endur- 
 ance proof, and proof hope : ^ and hope maketh not 
 ashamed, because the love of God is poured out in our 
 hearts by the Holy Spirit that was given to us. ^ For 
 Christ, while we were yet weak, died in due time for 
 ungodly [men]. 7 Por hardly in behalf of a righteous 
 [man] will one die: for in behalf of the good [man] 
 perhaps one even dareth to die ; ^ but God commendeth his 
 own love towards us, because, while we were yet sin- 
 ners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having 
 been now justified by his blood, we shall be saved by 
 
 * The form of the word here and in chapter v. 18 means the act 
 of justification, not the thing done or its ground. 
 
 t Very excellent and ancient MSS. read excc/xeu, Mhich however 
 to my mind suits not the context, for this is doctrine, not exhortation. 
 It is well known that the best copies often faultily interchange « with 
 0, as I presume they did here. Under such circumstances internal 
 evidence is entitled to great weight. Thus in 1 Corinthians xv. 49 
 the authorities (save B. and very few others) read (popeacofieu, which, 
 I am bold to say, no sober Christian of intelligence can accept as in 
 keeping with the context or even sound doctrine. 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. Xlll 
 
 him from wrath, 'oFor if while enemies we were re- 
 conciled to God by the death of his Son, much more 
 having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 
 ^ And not only so, but boasting also in God by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom now we have received 
 the reconciliation. 
 
 ^^ On this account as by one man sin entered into the 
 world, and by sin death, and thus death passed unto 
 all men, for that all sinned: ^^ (for until law sin was in 
 [the] world, but no sin is put to account when there is 
 no law; "but death reigned from Adam till Moses 
 even over those that had not sinned in the likeness of 
 Adam's transgression, who is a figure of the coming 
 [one]. ^^ But [shall] not, as the offence, so also* [be] 
 the free gift? for if by the offence of the one the many 
 died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the 
 grace of the one man Jesus Christ abound unto the 
 many. ^^And [shall] not, as by one having sinned, 
 [be] the gift? For the judgment [was] of one unto 
 condemnation, but the free gift [was] of many offen- 
 ces unto justification. ^'^ For if by the offence of the 
 one death reigned by the one, much more they that 
 receive the abundance of the grace and of the gift of 
 righteousness shall reign in life by the one Jesus Christ:) 
 ^® So then as by one offence [it was] toward all men 
 for condemnation, so also by one accomplished righteous- 
 ness-j- toward all men for justification of life. ^^For as 
 by the disobedience of the one man the many were con- 
 stituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one 
 the many shall be constituted righteous. ^'^ But law 
 came in by the way, in order that the offence might 
 
 * Probably Mr. Darby (who first, as far as I know, adopted the 
 interrogative form) was not aware that this idea was suggested by 
 the famous Bentley, as appears from the papers in the library of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, lately edited by Mr. A. A. Ellis, 
 page 28. 
 
 t It is the same word, 5i/caia>/io, as is translated "justification" 
 in verse 16. See also Romans 1. 32; ii. 26 ; viiu 4. 
 
XIV BOMANS. 
 
 abound; but where sin abounded, grace over-abounded , 
 that, as sin reigned in death, so also grace might 
 reign through righteousness unto life eternal by Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. 
 
 VI. What then shall we say ? Are we to continue 
 in sin that grace may abound ? ^ Let it not be. We which 
 died to sin, how shall we live any longer in it ? ^ What, 
 know ye not that as many of us as were baptized unto 
 Christ Jesus were baptized unto his death? * We were 
 buried therefore with him by baptism unto death, that 
 as Christ was raised out of [the] dead by the glory of the 
 Father, so also we should walk in newness of life. ^For 
 if we are become identified with the likeness of his death, 
 so also of his resurrection shall we be, ^ knowing this, 
 that our old man was crucified with [him], that the 
 body of sin might be disannulled, that we should no 
 longer serve sin. 7 For he that died hath been justified 
 from sin. sjvTqw if we died with Christ, we believe that 
 we shall also live with him, ^knowing that Christ risen 
 out of [the] dead dieth no more: death hath no more 
 dominion over him. ^°For in that he died, to sin he 
 died once for all; but in that he liveth, he liveth to 
 God. ^^ So also do ye reckon yourselves dead to sin 
 but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ^^Let not sin there- 
 fore reign in your mortal body to obey [it in"; its 
 lusts, ^^ nor be yielding your members as instruments 
 of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God 
 as alive out of [the] dead, and your members as instru- 
 ments of righteousness to God. " For sin shall not 
 have dominion over you, for ye are not under law but 
 under grace. 
 
 ^^ What then ? Are we to sin, because we are not 
 under law but under grace ? Let it not be. ^^ Know ye 
 not that to whom ye are yielding yourselves as bond- 
 servants for obedience, ye are bondservants to him 
 whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedi- 
 ence unto righteousness ? ^^ But thanks to God that 
 ye were bondservants of sin, but ye obeyed from the 
 
A KEW TRANSLATION. XV 
 
 lieart the form of teaching unto which ye were delivered ; 
 ^^ and having been freed from sin ye became bondservants 
 to righteousness. ^^I speak humanly on account of 
 the weakness of your flesh ; for as ye yielded your mem- 
 bers in bondage to uncleanness and to lawlessness unto 
 lawlessness, so now yield your members in bondage to 
 righteousness unto holiness. ^ For when ye were bond- 
 servants of sin, ye were free in respect to righteousness. 
 ^^ What fruit then had you at that time ? [Things] of 
 which ye are now ashamed, for the end of those things 
 [is] death. -'-^ But now freed from sin, and made bond- 
 servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and 
 the end life eternal. ^ For the wages of sin [is] death, 
 but the free gift of God life eternal in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord- 
 
 Vll. What, are ye ignorant, brethren, for I speak to 
 [such as] know law, that the law hath dominion over the 
 man as long time as he liveth ? ^ For the married wo- 
 man is bound to the living husband by law; but if the 
 husband die, she is quit from the law of her husband. 
 ^ So then, while the husband liveth, she shall be 
 called an adulteress, if she belong to another man ; but 
 if the husband die, she is free from the law, so as not 
 to be an adulteress by belonging to another man. * So 
 that, my brethren, ye also have been made dead to the 
 law through the body of Christ, that ye should belong to 
 another, him that was raised out of [the] dead, in order 
 that we might bear fruit to God. ^ For when we were 
 in the flesh, the passions of sins that [were] by the law 
 wrought in our members bringing forth fruit to death; 
 ^ but now have we got quittance from the law, having 
 died in what we were held so as for us to serve in new- 
 ness of spirit and not in oldness of letter. 
 
 7 What then shall we say ? [Is] the law sin ? Let 
 it not be. Nay, I had not known sin unless by law; 
 for* lust also I had not been conscious of, unless the 
 
 • The article is in the Greek, implying what was actually there. 
 
XVI ROMANS. 
 
 law had said, * Thou shalt not lust.' s ;But sin having 
 taken occasion by the commandment wrought in me 
 every lust ; for apart from law sin is dead. 9 But I was 
 alive apart from law once ; but, the commandment 
 having come, sin revived and I died, ^° and the com- 
 mandment that [was] unto life, this was found to me 
 unto death. ^^For sin having taken a point of attack by 
 the commandment deceived me and by it slew [me]. ^^ So 
 that the law is holy, and the commandment holy and 
 just and good. ^^ Did then the good become death to 
 me? Let it not be; but sin, that it might appear sin, 
 Avorking out death to me by the good, that sin might 
 become excessively sinful by the commandment. ^*For 
 we know that the law is spiritual ; but I am carnal, sold 
 under sin. ^^For what I work out I own not; for I do 
 not what I will, but what I hate, this I practise. ^^But 
 if what I will not, this I practise, I consent to the law 
 that [it is] right. "But now no longer am I working it 
 out, but sin that dwelleth in me. ^^For I know that 
 in me, that is in my flesh, no good dwelleth; for to will 
 is present with me, but to work out the right ^^[is] not; 
 for I practise not good which I will, but evil which I 
 will not, this I do. 2° But if what I will not, this I prac- 
 tise, no longer am I working it out, but sin that dwelleth 
 in me. ^^I find then the law, for me wishing to practise 
 the right, that the evil is present with me. ^^ For I delight 
 in the law of God according to the inner man, ^^but I 
 see a different law in my members warring against the 
 law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of 
 sin that is in my members. ^* Wretched man that I 
 [am] ! who shall deliver me out of this body of death ? 
 '^^1 thank God* through Jesus Christ our Lord. So 
 then I myself with the mind am serving God's law, but 
 with the flesh sin's law. 
 
 VIIL There is therefore now no condemnation to 
 
 * The Vatican and other ancient authorities give " thanks to 
 God," but the Sinai, Alex., and the mass of other MSS., support 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. XVU 
 
 those in Christ Jesus. ^ For the law of the Spirit of 
 life in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the law of sin 
 and death. ^ For what the law could not do, in that it 
 was weak through the flesh, God, having sent his own 
 Son in likeness of flesh of sin and for sin, condemned 
 sin in the flesh, "* that the requirement of the law might 
 be fulfilled in us that walk not according to flesh but 
 according to Spirit. ^ Por those that are according to 
 flesh mind the things of the flesh, but those according to 
 Spirit the things of the Spirit. ^ For the mind of the 
 flesh [is] death, and the mind of the Spirit [is] life 
 and peace ; 7 because the mind of the flesh [is] enmity 
 against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, 
 for indeed it cannot; ^but those that are in flesh 
 cannot please God. 9 Ye however are not in flesh 
 but in Spirit, if so be God's Spirit dwell in you. 
 But if anyone has not Christ's Spirit, he is not of him. 
 ^^But if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead on 
 account of sin, and the Spirit life on account of right- 
 eousness. " But if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus 
 out of [the] dead dwell in you, he that raised Christ out 
 of [the] dead shall quicken your mortal bodies also on 
 account of his Spirit that dwelleth in you. ^^ So 
 then, brethren, debtors we are not to the flesh to live 
 according to flesh; ^^for if ye live according to flesh, 
 ye are about to die ; but if by [the] Spirit ye mortify 
 the deeds of the body, ye shall live. ^* For as many as 
 are being led by God's Spirit, these are God's sons. 
 15 For ye received not a spirit of bondage again unto 
 fear, but ye received a Spirit of adoption, whereby we 
 cry Abba Father. ^^ The Spirit itself jointly testifieth 
 with our Spirit that we are God's children ; ^7 and, if 
 children, heirs also; heirs of God and joint-heirs with 
 Christ ; if at least we suffer together, that we may also 
 together be glorified. 
 
 ^^For I reckon that the sufferings of the present 
 time [are] not worthy of comparison with the glory 
 about to be revealed in regard to us. ^9 For the 
 b 
 
XVlll ROMANS. 
 
 earnest expectation of the creation awaiteth the 
 revelation of the sons of God. -^For to vanity the 
 creation was subjected, not willingly but on account of 
 him that subjected [it], in hope ^^that the creation 
 itself too shall be freed from the bondage of corruption 
 into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 
 "^ For we know that all the creation groaneth together 
 and travaileth together until now; ^^and not only [so], 
 but ourselves too, having the first-fruits of the Spirit, 
 even we ourselves within ourselves are groaning, await- 
 ing [the] adoption, the redemption of our body. 24^01- 
 by hope were we saved ; but hope seen is no hope ; for 
 what one seeth, why also doth he hope for [it] ? 
 '^5 But if we hope for what we do not see, in patience 
 we await. ^^ And likewise too the Spirit joineth help 
 to our weakness ; for what we should pray for as we 
 ought we know not, but the Spirit itself pleadeth for 
 «s with unutterable groanings ; ^^and he that searcheth 
 the hearts knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, 
 because according to God it pleadeth in behalf of saints. 
 ^^ But we do know that all things work together for good 
 to those that love God, to those that are called accord- 
 ing to purpose. ^9 For whom he foreknew, he also pre- 
 determined [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, 
 that he should be first-born among many brethren. 
 ^'^ But whom he predetermined, them also he called, and 
 whom he called, them also he justified, and whom he 
 justified, them also he glorified. 
 
 ^^What then shall we say to these things? If 
 God [be] for us, who against us ? ^^ He at least 
 that spared not his own Son but gave him up for 
 us all, how shall he not also with him freely grant 
 lis all things ? ^^ Who shall bring a charge against 
 God's elect ? [It is] God that justifieth : s* who is he 
 that condemneth ? [It is] Christ that died, yea rather 
 risen too, who is also at [the] right hand of God, who 
 also pleadeth for us : ^ who shall separate us from the 
 love of Christ ? Tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. XIX 
 
 or famme, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ^^ac- 
 cording as it is written, ' For thy sake are we being put 
 to death all the day long, we have been reckoned as 
 sheep of slaughter.' ^7 But in all these things we more 
 than overcome by him that loved us. ^^ For I am per- 
 suaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor prin- 
 cipalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
 powers, ^5 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
 shall be able to separate us from the love of God that 
 [is] in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 IX. Truth I say in Christ, I lie not, my conscience 
 bearing witness with me in [the] Holy Spirit, ^ that I 
 have great grief and unceasing pain in my heart, ^ for I 
 could wish, I myself, to be a curse from Christ, for 
 my brethren, my kinsmen according to flesh, * which 
 are Israelites, whose [is] the adoption and the glory 
 and the covenants and the lawgiving and the service 
 and the promises; ^ whose are the fathers, and of 
 whom [is] the Christ as far as according to flesh, who 
 is over all God blessed for ever. Amen. ^ Not however 
 that the word of God hath failed ; for not all those that 
 are of Israel [are] Israel ; 7 nor because they are Abraham's 
 seed, [are] they all children, but ' In Isaac shall a seed 
 be called to thee.' ^ That is, not the children of the 
 flesh, these [are] children of God, but the children of 
 the promise are reckoned for seed; 9 for this word 
 is of promise, * According to this time I will come, and 
 Sarah shall have a son.' i'' And not only [so], but also 
 Eebecca having conceived by one, Isaac our father, ^^ for 
 [the children] being not yet born, nor having done any- 
 thing good or bad, that the purpose of God according 
 to election might remain, not of works but of him that 
 calleth, ^^ it was said to her, * The greater shall serve the 
 lesser,' ^^ according as it is written, * Jacob I loved, 
 but Esau I hated.' 
 
 ^* What then shall we say ? Is there unrighteousness 
 with God ? Let it not be. ^^ For to Moses he saith, 
 * I will have mercy on whomsoeyer I have mercy and 
 
XX ROMANS. 
 
 will pity whomsoever I pity.' ^^So then [it is] not 
 of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of 
 God that hath mercy. "For the scripture saith to 
 Pharaoh, ' For this very thing I raised thee up, so 
 that I might display in thee my power, and that my 
 name might be declared in all the earth.' ^^ So then 
 on whom he willeth he hath mercy and whom he 
 willeth he hardeneth. 
 
 ^^ Thou wilt say to me then, Why then doth he yet 
 find fault ? for his purpose who resisteth ? ^° Nay 
 rather, man, who art thou that answerest against 
 God ? Shall the thing moulded say to him that mould- 
 ed, Why madest thou me thus ? -^ Or hath the potter 
 no authority over the clay out of the same lump to 
 make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour ? 
 ^ And if God, willing to display his wrath and to 
 make known his power, endured in much long- 
 suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, ^and 
 that he might make known the riches of his glory 
 upon vessels of mercy which he before prepared for 
 glory — ^^us whom he also called not only out of 
 Jews, but also out of Gentiles, -'" as also in Hosea 
 he saith, ' I will call that which [is] not-my-people^ 
 My people, and the not-beloved. Beloved ;' ^^ and ' It 
 shall be in the place where it was said to them, Ye are 
 not my people, there shall they be called sons of 
 [the] living God.' -'^ But Esaias crieth concerning Is- 
 rael, ' Were the number of the sons of Israel as the sand 
 of the sea, the remnant shall be saved, -^for he is com- 
 pleting and cutting short the matter in righteousness, 
 because a matter cut short will [the] Lord make on the 
 earth.' ^^ And according as Esaias said before, ' Unless, 
 [the] Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we had become 
 as Sodom and been made like as Gomorrha.' 
 
 "^ What then shall we say ? That Gentiles which fol- 
 lowed not after righteousness obtained righteousness,, 
 even [the] righteousness that is by faith; ^^ but Israel 
 following after a law of righteousness attained not 
 
A NEW TRAKSLATIOX. XXI 
 
 unto a law of righteousness. ^Why? Because not 
 by faith but as by works [of law], for they stumbled 
 at the stone of stumbling, ^^even as it is written, ' Be- 
 hold I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and rock of 
 offence; and he that believeth on him shall not be 
 ashamed.' 
 
 X. Brethren, the delight of my heart and my sup- 
 plication to God, on their behalf [is] for salvation. 
 ^ For I bear witness to them that they have zeal for 
 God but not according to knowledge. ^ For, being 
 ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to 
 establish their own [righteousness], they have not sub- 
 mitted to the righteousness of God. * For Christ [is 
 the] end of law for righteousness to every one that 
 believeth. 
 
 5 For Moses describeth the righteousness that [is] 
 by the law, that the man who hath done those things 
 shall live by them. ^ But the righteousness that [is] 
 by faith thus speaketh, ' Say not in thine heart, Who 
 shall go up into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down; 
 7 or, ' Who shall go down into the deep?' that is, to bring 
 tip Christ from [the] dead:' ^but what saith it? ' The 
 word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart;' that 
 is, the word of faith which we preach : 9 that, if thou 
 shalt confess with thy mouth [the] Lord Jesus and 
 believe in thine heart that God raised him out of [the] 
 dead, thou shalt be saved. ^° For with the heart belief 
 is unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is 
 unto salvation. ^ For the scripture saith, Every ' one 
 that believeth on him shall not be ashamed ;' ^^ For there 
 is no difference of Jew and Greek, for the same Lord of 
 all [is] rich toward all that call upon him. ^^For 
 everyone whosoever shall call on the name of [the] Lord 
 shall be saved. " How then shall they call on him, in 
 whom they have not believed ? and how believe in him 
 of whom they heard not? and how hear without a 
 preacher ? ^^ and how preach unless they have been sent ? 
 According as it is written, * How beautiful the feet of 
 
XXIT ROMANS. 
 
 out of Sion the Deliverer ; he shall turn away ungod- 
 linesses from Jacob. ^^ And this [is] for them the cove- 
 nant on my part, when I shall have taken away their 
 sins.' ^®As to the gospel, [they are] enemies on your 
 account, but as to the election beloved on account of 
 the fathers ; ^^for indefeasible* are [the] gifts and the call- 
 ing of God. ^° For as ye once were disobedient to God but 
 now have been shewn mercy through their disobedience, 
 ®^so also these have now disobeyed your mercy, that 
 they also may have mercy shewn to themselves. ^^ For 
 God hath shut all together into disobedience that to all 
 he might shew mercy. 
 
 ^0 depth of God's riches and wisdom and know- 
 ledge ! how unsearchable his judgments and untrace- 
 able his ways ! ^^For who knew [the] Lord's mind ? or 
 who became his counsellor ! ^^or who first gave him 
 and it shall be repaid him? ^^For of him and through 
 him and unto him [are] all things : to him [be] the glory 
 for ever. Amen. 
 
 XII. I exhort you then, brethren, by the mercies of 
 God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac- 
 ceptable to God, your intelligent service ; ^ and not to 
 fashion-j- yourselves to this age but to be transformed by 
 the renewing of the mind that ye may prove what [is] 
 the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. ^ For 
 through the grace of God that is given to me, I say to 
 every one that is among you not to be high-minded 
 above what he ought to be minded, but to be minded to 
 sobermindedness as God to each hath dealt a measure 
 of faith. ^ For just as in one body we have many 
 members, but the members have not all the same func- 
 tion, ^ so we, the many, are one body in Christ, but 
 individually members of one another. ^But having 
 gifts different according to the grace that is given to 
 Ufi, whether prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to 
 
 • Or " irrevocable," not subject to change of mind, 
 t An excellent reading of most ancient MSS is " and do not 
 fashion," &c. 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. XXV 
 
 the proportion of faith; ^or service, [let us be occu- 
 pied] in service ; or he that teacheth, in teaching ; ^ or 
 he that exhorteth, in exhortation; he that bestoweth, 
 with simplicity;* he that presideth, with diligence; he 
 that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. ^Let love 
 [be] unfeigned, abhorring evil, cleaving to good; ^°in 
 "brotherly love affectionate to one another; in honour 
 anticipating one another; "in diligence not slothful, 
 in spirit fervent, serving the Lord; ^^in hope rejoicing; 
 in tribulation enduring, in prayer persevering; ^^com- 
 municating to the wants of the saints, pursuing hos- 
 pitality. 1^ Bless those that persecute you ; bless and 
 curse not. ^° Rejoice with those that rejoice, and weep 
 with those that weep. ^^ Be of the same mind one to- 
 ward another, not minding high things, but consorting 
 withf the lowly. Be not wise in your own eyes: " re- 
 pay to none evil for evil ; providing things right in the 
 sight of all men ; ^®if possible, on your part be at peace 
 with all men; ^^ avenge not yourselves, beloved, but 
 give place to wrath ; for it is written, ' To me [belongeth] 
 vengeance, I will requite, saith the Lord. ^° Nay,J ' if 
 thine enemy should be hungry, feed him; if he should 
 thirst, give him drink; for, this doing, thou wilt heap 
 coals of fire on his head.' ^^ Be not overcome by evil, 
 but overcome evil with good. 
 
 XIIL Let every soul be subject to authorities above 
 [it]. For there is no authority unless from God; and 
 those that are have been ordained by God. ^ So that he 
 that setteth himself against the authority withstandeth 
 the ordinance of God ; and those that withstand shall re- 
 ceive judgment for themselves. ^For the rulers are 
 
 » This in effect is " liberality." 
 
 t Such is the true force of (xvvairaySfJLevoi, and "condescending 
 to" would be rather an evil the apostle guards us against by bid- 
 ding us associate with the lowly. The latter is of Christ, the for- 
 mer of the world. 
 
 1 The most ancient text seems to be aWa iav ir. as in « A B P 
 and some good cursives and versions ; a few also drop the dAA 
 <which Griesbach thought probable and Mr. Green follows). 
 
XXVI ROMANS. 
 
 no terror for the good work but for the evil. And dost 
 thou wish not to be afraid of the authority ? Practise 
 good and thou shalt have praise for it ; ^ for it is God's ser- 
 vant to thee for good. But if thou practise evil, be 
 afraid; for not in vain doth it wear the sword; for 
 God's servant it is, an avenger for wrath to him that 
 doeth evil. ^ Wherefore [there is] a necessity to be sub- 
 ject not only on account of wrath but also on account 
 of conscience. ^ For on this account ye pay tribute also ; 
 for they are God's officers, ever attending unto this 
 very thing. ' Render to all their dues, tribute to whom 
 tribute, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, 
 honour to whom honour. ^ To none owe anything un- 
 less to love one another; for he that loveth the other 
 hath fulfilled lavsr. ^ For ' Thou shalt not commit 
 adultery,' ' Thou shalt not kill,' ' Thou shalt not steal,' 
 * Thou shalt not lust,' and if [there be] any other com- 
 mandment, in this word it is summed up, in ' Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself.' ^° Love worketh no ill to 
 one's neighbour ; love therefore is law's fulness.* " And 
 this, knowing the time, that [it is] already time that we 
 should awake from sleep ; for now [is] our salvation 
 nearer than when we believed. ^^ The night is far 
 spent, and the day is near: let us therefore put off the 
 deeds of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 
 ^^ As in daylight, let us walk becomingly, not in revels 
 and drunkenness, not in chambering and indecency, not 
 in strife and envy ; ^* but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and take no forethought of the flesh with a view to 
 lusts. 
 
 XIV. But him that is weak in the faith receive not 
 unto decisions! of reasonings. ^ One person hath faith to 
 eat all things, but he that is weak eateth herbs. ^ Let not 
 him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not 
 him that eateth not judge him that eateth; for God 
 hath received him. ^Who art thou that judgest 
 
 * Or, "fulfilment." t Or, » doubts," doubtful points. 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. XXVll 
 
 another's servant? To his own master be standeth 
 or falleth ; and stand he shall, for his master is able to 
 make him stand. ^ One [person] judgeth day more than 
 day, another judgeth every day [alike]. Let each be 
 fully assured in his own mind. ^ He that regardeth 
 the day doth regard to [the] Lord, and he that regardeth 
 not the day to [the] Lord doth not regard ; and he that 
 eateth eateth to [the] Lord, for he giveth thanks to God, 
 and he that eateth not to [the] Lord eateth not and giveth 
 thanks to God. ' For none of us liveth to himself and 
 none dieth to himself ; ^ for both if we should live, ta 
 the Lord we live, and if we die, to the Lord we die; 
 therefore both if we should live and if we should die, 
 we are the Lord's. ^ For unto this [end] Christ died 
 and lived, that he might be Lord both of dead and 
 living. ^° But thou, why judgest thou thy brother ? or 
 thou too, why despisest thou thy brother ? for we shall 
 all stand before the judgment-seat of God. " For it is 
 written, ' I live, saith [the] Lord, that to me shall bow 
 every knee, and every tongue shall confess to God.' 
 ^^ So then each of us shall give account concerning him- 
 self to God. ^^Let us then no longer judge one 
 another, but judge ye this rather, not to set an occasion 
 of stumbling or offence for one's brother. 
 
 ^^ I know and am persuaded in [the] Lord Jesus that 
 nothing [is] unclean by itself; unless to him that reckon- 
 eth anything to be unclean, to him [it is] unclean. 
 ^ For if on account of meat thy brother is grieved, thou 
 art no longer walking in love. Do not with thy meat 
 destroy him for whom Christ died. ^^ Let not then 
 your good be ill spoken of ; " for the kingdom of God 
 is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and 
 peace and joy in [the] Holy Ghost; ^^for he that in 
 this serveth Christ [is] acceptable to God and approved 
 by men. ^^ So then let us pursue the things of peace and 
 the things of edifying one another. ^"Do not for 
 the sake of meat pull down the work of God. All things 
 are clean ; but [it is] evil to the man that eateth while 
 
XXVlll ROMANS. 
 
 stumbling. ^[It is] right not to eat flesh nor drink 
 wine nor anything in which thy brother stumbleth [or 
 is offended or is weak]. ^ Hast thou faith ? to thyself 
 have [it] before God. Happy [is] he that judgeth 
 not himself in what he approveth ; ^^ but he that 
 doubteth is condemned if he eat, because [it is] not 
 of faith ; but everything which [is] not of faith is sin. 
 
 XV. But we, the strong, ought to bear the infirmi- 
 ties of the weak and not to please ourselves. ^ Let each 
 of us please his neighbour unto good for edification. 
 * For even Christ pleased not himself, but even as it 
 is written, 'The reproaches of those that are reproaching 
 thee fell on me.' ^ For as many things as were written 
 before were written for our instruction, that through 
 endurance and through comfort of the scriptures we 
 might have hope. ^ Now the God of patience and 
 of comfort give you to be likeminded one with another 
 according to Christ Jesus, ^that with one accord, 
 with one mouth, ye may glorify the God and Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. ' Wherefore receive ye one 
 another according as Christalso received you unto 
 God's glory. 
 
 ^ For I say that Christ became a minister of [the] 
 circumcision for God's truth to confirm the promises 
 of the fathers ; ^ and that the Gentiles should glorify 
 God for mercy, even as it is written, ' On this account 
 I will confess to thee among [the] Gentiles, and to thy 
 name will I sing.' i° And again he saith, * Rejoice, 
 Gentiles, with his people ;' " and, again, * Praise the 
 Lord, all ye Gentiles, and give him praise, all ye 
 people.' ^^ And again Esaias saith, * There shall be the 
 root of Jesse, and he that standeth up to rule Gentiles : on 
 him shall Gentiles hope.' ^^Now may the God of hope 
 fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may 
 abound in hope by the power of [the] Holy Ghost. 
 "But I am persuaded, my brethren, even I myself about 
 you, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all 
 knowledge, able also to admonish one another. ^^ But 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. XXIX 
 
 I have written to you, brethren, more boldly in measure, 
 as reminding you on account of the grace that was given 
 to me by God, ^^ in order to my being a minister of Jesus 
 Christ unto the Gentiles, as a sacred rite ministering the 
 gospel of God that the offering of the Gentiles might be 
 acceptable, sanctified by [the] Holy Ghost. "I have 
 therefore my boasting in Christ Jesus in things re- 
 lative to God. ^^ For I will not dare to speak of any- 
 thing of what Christ has wrought not by me for [the] 
 obedience of [the] Gentiles by word and deed, ^^in [the] 
 power of signs and wonders, in [the] power of [the Holy] 
 Spirit ; so that, from Jerusalem and in a circle as far as- 
 Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ, 
 ^ yet so making it a point of honour to preach, not where 
 Christ was named, that I might not build upon 
 another's foundation: -^ but even as it is written, * They 
 to whom it was not told concerning him shall see, and 
 they who have not heard shall understand.' ^ Where- 
 fore also I have been these many times hindered from 
 coming to you ; ^^ but now, having no longer place 
 in these regions, and having a longing to come to you 
 for many years past, ^^ whenever I go into Spain [I will 
 come to you, for] * I hope while passing through to see 
 you, and by you to be sent forward thither, if first I be 
 in measure filled with you. ^ But now I go unto Je- 
 rusalem, ministering to the saints; ^for Macedonia, 
 and Achaia were pleased to make a certain contribution 
 for the poor of the saints that [are] at Jerusalem. ^' For- 
 they were pleased, and they are their debtors ; for if in. 
 their spiritual things the Gentiles had a share, they 
 ought also in things carnal to minister to them. ^ Hav- 
 ing finished this therefore and sealed to them this fruit,. 
 I shall set off by you into Spain. ^^ And I know that, 
 on coming to you, I shall come in [the] fulness of [the] 
 blessing of Christ. ^°Now I beseech you, brethren, 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, 
 
 * The bracketed words are not in the most ancient copies. 
 
XXX ROMANS. 
 
 to strive with me in prayer for me to God, ^^ that I 
 may be delivered from the disobedient in Judea, and 
 my ministry that [is] for Jerusalem may be acceptable to 
 the saints; ^^that in joy coming to you by God's 
 will I may be refreshed with you. ^ And the God of 
 peace [be] with you all. Amen. 
 
 XVI. But I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, 
 being a deaconess of the assembly that [is] in Cenchrea ; 
 ^ that ye may welcome her in [the] Lord worthily of the 
 saints, and assist her in whatever business she may need 
 you ; for she herself too hath been a helper of many and 
 of myself. ^ Salute Prisca and Aquila, my work-fellows 
 in Christ Jesus ^ (which* for my life staked their own 
 neck; to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the 
 assemblies of the Gentiles), ^ and the assembly at their 
 house. Salute Epaenetus my beloved, who is a first- 
 fruit of Asia for Christ. '^ Salute Maria which* laboured 
 much for us. "^ Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kins- 
 men, and my fellow prisoners, which* are noted among 
 the apostles, who also before me were in Christ. ^ Sa- 
 lute Amplias my beloved in [the] Lord. ^ Salute Ur- 
 banus our work-fellow in Christ, and Stachys my be- 
 loved. ^^ Salute Apelles, the approved in Christ. 
 Salute those of the [household] of Aristobulus. 
 ^ Salute Herodion my kinsman. Salute those of the 
 [household] of Narcissus that are in [the] Lord. ^^ Sa- 
 lute Tryphena and Tryphosa that labour in [the] Lord. 
 Salute Persis the beloved which* laboured much in [the] 
 Lord. ^^ Salute Rufus the chosen in [the] Lord, and his 
 mother and mine. " Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Her- 
 mes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brethren that [are] with 
 them. ^^ Salute Philologus and Julias, Nereus and his 
 sister, and Olympas, and all the saints. ^^ Salute one 
 another with a holy kiss. All the assemblies of Christ 
 salute you. 
 
 "But I beseech you, brethren, to consider those that 
 
 * I have thus throughout rendered the various forms of Hans, 
 ■distinct from gy, as denoting character and not fact only. 
 
A NEW TRANSLATION. XXXI 
 
 make divisions and occasions of stumblingblocks con- 
 trary to the doctrine which ye have learnt, and turn 
 away from them. ^^For such as they serve not our 
 Lord [Jesus] Christ, but their own belly, and by kind 
 speaking and fairness of speech deceive the hearts of the 
 harmless. ^^ For your obedience hath reached unto all. 
 Over you then I rejoice, but I wish you to be wise in 
 regard to good and simple in regard to evil. ^^ And 
 the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet 
 shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with 
 you. ^^ There salute you Timothy my work-fellow, and 
 Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen. ^ I 
 Tertius, that wrote the epistle, salute you in [the] Lord. 
 ^ Gaius, the host of me and of the whole assembly, sa- 
 luteth you. Erastus, the steward of the city, saluteth you, 
 and Quartus the brother. ^The grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen. 
 
 ^^ Now to him that is able to establish you according 
 to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, ac- 
 ■cording to [the] revelation of [the] mystery kept secret 
 in everlasting times, ^^ but now manifested and by pro- 
 phetic scriptures, according to the eternal God's com- 
 mand, made known for obedience of faith unto all the 
 Gentiles, -^ to God only wise, by Jesus Christ, to whom 
 [be] the glory for ever. Amen. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Epistle to the Romans, though not the highest in 
 its character of truth, more comprehensively than any- 
 other sets forth God's glad tidings, and this with a 
 method and depth which attest not merely the style of 
 Paul but the wisdom of the Holy Spirit who inspired 
 the great apostle of the Gentiles. His Son (for so the 
 apostle preached Him from the first, Acts ix. 20) is the 
 object of faith, come of David's seed according to fleshy 
 marked out Son of God in power according to the Spirit 
 of holiness by resurrection of the dead. Thus the con- 
 nection with the Old Testament is maintained, while 
 the way is open for a new order of things through 
 resurrection wherein guilt was removed, sin judged, and 
 life manifested victorious over the enemy in his last 
 stronghold of death, yea, with a title superior to God's 
 eternal judgment. 
 
 Then, after presenting himself suitably, as apostle 
 by call to those called at Rome, he testifies his thanks 
 for their faith, and his great desire to see them, what- 
 ever the hindrances till then, for their mutual refresh- 
 ment. He desired fruit there as elsewhere, being- 
 debtor to all. He was not ashamed of the gospel (or 
 glad tidings) : it is God's power to salvation to every 
 believer, because divine righteousness is revealed in it 
 by faith to faith, as the prophet declared in a dark day 
 for Israel. Thus, if the Son is the object of faith, the 
 believer has part in God's righteousness.* Man had no 
 
 * Had a Jew unswervingly obeyed the law, it liad been human 
 righteousness and himself accepted accordingly. But in the cross 
 of Christ we see not merely the Father glorified in obedience, but 
 God glorified as to sin, so that He is righteous now in setting Christ 
 at His own right hand and justifying us accordingly by and in Hinu 
 This is divine rightecusnesy. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXIU 
 
 righteousness for God, who reveals His to man; and 
 hence it is a question of believing. For His wrath is 
 revealed from heaven against all impiety, and unright- 
 eousness of men holding the truth in unrighteousness: 
 the one embracing every shade of heathenism or un- 
 godliness, the other especially Jews or, as we can now 
 add, Christendom. How deep the need, how grave the 
 danger, of sinful man. 
 
 To the end of chapter i. the Gentiles are convicted of 
 their impiety in a brief but appalling sketch, confirmed 
 too truly by all that remains of antiquity, utterly de- 
 praved not only by their lusts and passions but yet 
 more by their idolatry whiich sanctioned, yea, provoked 
 and even consecrated their worst evils. It will be 
 observed therefore that the apostle does not trace the 
 ruin to the beginning of the world but only since the 
 flood when men inexcusably slighted the testimony of 
 creation, and, knowing God, glorified Him not as God, 
 but professing to be wise became fools, and setting up 
 idols were given up by the one true God above them, 
 whom they would not serve, to become slaves of every 
 vileness below them. 
 
 The opening of chapter ii. looks at the moralists, at 
 men, Gentiles or Jews, who speculated on good but were 
 a prey like others to the wickedness they condemned, 
 despising the riches of God's goodness as they forgot 
 His judgment, with whom is no respect of persons, those 
 who sin without law perishing also without it, and those 
 who sin in it to be judged by it in the day when God 
 judges the secrets of men, according to the apostle's 
 gospel, by Jesus Christ. Here he names the "Jew 
 first" and the " Greek" in judgment, as before in the 
 administration of the gospel. For judgment takes ac- 
 count of all things, and hence of superior advantages, 
 each giving account according to his light and receiv- 
 ing according to his deeds. For salvation is according 
 to grace, reward or judgment according to works. Thus 
 both tests are applied, what they fell from, and what 
 
XXXIV EOMANS. 
 
 God will bring in at Christ's coming and kingdom. 
 And as wrath revealed from heaven stood in contrast 
 on God's side with earthly judgments in providence, 
 so here on man's side does the judgment of the secrets 
 of the heart. 
 
 The Jews are then distinctively and expressly brought 
 forward, who with better light were no better morally, 
 for the name of God was blasphemed on their account. 
 So far is circumcision from availing them against 
 their base inconsistencies that it becomes contrariwise 
 uncircumcision, even as uncircumcision keeping the 
 requirements of the law should be reckoned for circum- 
 cision, judging such as wdth letter and uncircumcision 
 transgressed law. Sin is shewn to be the great leveller, 
 as righteousness does not fail to exalt. A transgress- 
 ing Jew w\as as bad as, indeed worse than, a Gentile; a 
 Gentile who wrought righteousness no less acceptable 
 than a Jew. God will have moral reality; and this, 
 wherever found, alone secures His praise. 
 
 This raised the question, in chapter iii., of the 
 superiority of the Jew, or of the profit of circumcision. 
 The apostle allows it in every way, and first in being 
 entrusted with the oracles of God, But man's un- 
 faithfulness in no way hinders the certainty or. the 
 justice of God's judging the world. Nor do outward 
 '^jrivileges in any wise suppose or secure a better con- 
 trition, though aggravating responsibility. And the 
 fact that what the law or Old Testament says, it speaks 
 to those under it (that is, to the Jews), totally convicts 
 them ; for it declares in the plainest terms that there is 
 none righteous, none that understandeth, none that 
 doeth good, all gone out of the way, and no fear of 
 God before their eyes. Thus, as the beginning of the 
 argument proved the Gentiles ruined, so does the end 
 the Jews : the result is, every mouth stopped and all the 
 "world under judgment to God. What is His sentence? 
 Is there no mercy? There is His righteousness by 
 Christ Jesus, righteousness which justifies the believer. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXV 
 
 Doubtless by works of law no flesh sLall be justified, 
 for by law is knowledge of sin, the very reverse of sins 
 forgiven, or of righteousness. 
 
 Law therefore cannot help Israel, still less a Gentile. 
 What is the resource then ? The apostle returns to the 
 thesis which preceded his reasoning, and, with so much 
 the more evidence of its urgent necessity, affirms that 
 now apart from law God's righteousness is manifested. 
 A truly wonderful statement, in which we have the re- 
 lation of the gospel to the Old Testament, its universal 
 direction, and its application in fact as being contingent 
 m faith, while it meets all on the ground of sheer ruin 
 and so of pure grace. It proclaims the work of the Lord 
 which answers to the mercy-seat with the atoning blood 
 of Jehovah's lot sprinkled on and before it, thus a 
 righteous ground laying both to justify the forbearance 
 of God in dealing with the saints of old or their sins 
 in past times, and to display now that God is just, 
 while He justifies him that believes in Jesus. By 
 faith boasting is thus excluded, and God is shewn 
 to be the God who justifies both Jew and Gentile 
 while law itself is established instead of being made 
 void. 
 
 There is nothing to hinder our understanding 
 ^iKcuoavvrj Qeov in its usual sense of an attribute or 
 quality of God, because it is also ^LKaioovvrj e/c Trtareivs, 
 for indeed it is revealed in the gospel for us to believe, 
 and therefore we could profit by it on no other principle. 
 It is of course x^/'^^ vojuov " apart from law" (Rom. iii. 
 21), which, if obeyed, would have been man's, not God's, 
 righteousness. The Sivped or free giving of righteous- 
 ness (Rom. v. 17) is perfectly consistent with this: 
 God's grace was the source of this gift; it was no 
 question of one's work or fitness as under law. So 
 Romans x. 3, Philippians iii. 9, are both thoroughly 
 in harmony with the fact that the apostle speaks of 
 divine righteousness, or God's consistency with Himself 
 in justifying the believer through the redemption that 
 
XXXVl ROMANS. 
 
 is in Christ. Undoubtedly it is a righteousness of 
 which He is the author (as Phil. iii. 9 teaches), and 
 which He approves ; but it is below the mark merely to 
 say this. For if man be imagined to have obeyed the 
 law, it would have been a righteousness available before 
 God ; and man would have lived instead of dying. But 
 this would have been neither eternal life in the Son, nor 
 God's righteousness but man's. Hence the definition of 
 Luther, Calvin, Beza, Reiche, De Wette, &c., is un- 
 satisfactory, as Luther's version, which is a paraphrase 
 expressive of it, is erroneous. A righteousness which 
 God might give or approve need not be His own, which 
 the apostle over and over declares it to be. Of course, 
 it is not divine justice abstractly (which is perhaps the 
 unconscious difficulty of most who approach the sub- 
 ject), but God just in virtue of the Saviour's work. 
 How does He estimate it, how act on it, for the 
 believer ? The infusion of divine righteousness has no 
 just sense or appears to confound justification with life; 
 whilst the idea that it means mercy is a poor evasion 
 which weakens the grand truth that not His love only 
 but His justice justifies the believer in Jesus. 
 
 The remarkable fact may here be noticed that con- 
 fessedly the majority of commentators, who shrink from 
 the plain meaning of the phrase in Romans i. 17, 
 and even in chapter iii. 21, 22, confess that in verses 
 25, 26, it does signify, not God's mercy, nor His method 
 of justification or act of justifying (which in Greek is 
 expressed by diicaiwai^), nor that righteousness which 
 is acceptable to God, but His justice. Here <,ihis is 
 allowed to be the proper meaning of the terms, and 
 what the context demands. Not merely did justice 
 seem compromised by praetermission of past sins, and 
 therefore require vindication, but the work of Christ 
 had so glorified God in the judgment of sin that it was 
 only just for God to remit sins, yea, to justify him that 
 is of faith in Christ Jesus. And so, it cannot be 
 denied, the apostle but explains what he means by 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXVll 
 
 ^iKaioavvrj Qeov, when he adds that God set forth Christ 
 a propitiatory, or mercy-seat, that He might be just 
 and justify the believer. If then it be so, that d. 0. 
 can only mean God's righteousness where it is fully 
 expounded (as in vers. 25, 26), how unreasonable to 
 give the same phrase a different force in the same con- 
 text ! (Vers. 21, 22, just before.) If this be owned, 
 with what consistency can one question its meaning in 
 chapter i. 17 ? Even chapter iii. 5 makes this apparent, 
 for there beyond controversy the phrase means the con- 
 sistency of God with His character (that is, His 
 righteousness) in judging the world which rejects 
 Christ, as the other passages shew His righteousness 
 in justifying those who believe in His name. Compare 
 also Matthew vi. 33, James i. 20. Elsewhere (save 
 in 2 Cor. v. 21, which stands alone in using the abstract 
 for concrete, but otherwise strengthens the same truth) 
 the terms in the Epistles of St. Paul signify God's 
 justice in justifying those who, resting by faith on 
 Jesus and His blood, are accepted in all the value of 
 His acceptance before God. 
 
 Chapter iv. confirms the principle of faith for justi- 
 fication by the example of Abraham, backed up by David's 
 testimony in Psalm xxxii. ; and this before the law or 
 even circumcision. Thus, if the Jews contended for 
 the inheritance by law or ordinances, they must shut 
 him out who had it by promise, and therefore by faith: 
 if they were his children really, they must receive all 
 from God on a ground that ensures the promise to all 
 the seed, Gentile no less than Jewish; and the rather, as 
 in his case and Sarah's they were as good as dead, and 
 their accomplishing of the promise out of the question, 
 that God alone might be looked to as able to quicken 
 the dead ; just as we, Christians, believe, not here simply 
 on Jesus, but on Him that raised from among the dead 
 Jesus our Lord, who was delivered for our offences, and 
 raised for our justification. 
 
 The consequences of being thus justified by faith arie 
 
XXXVIU ROMANS. 
 
 Gtated in the first half of chapter v.: peace with God, 
 His actual grace or favour, and the hope of His glory in 
 ■which we boast; nor in this only, but in tribulations 
 because of their effect experimentally; yea, finally, 
 boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through 
 whom now we have received the reconciliation. 
 
 But the work of Christ goes much farther than re- 
 mission of sins or the display of divine love to us in 
 view of guilt, however important it is that we begin 
 with this. Pardon refers to our sins which must other- 
 wise be dealt with in the day of judgment; but there 
 rises also the question of our nature or actual state, not 
 merely of our bad works but of the sin that produced 
 them. Here it is not personal guilt, nor Jews and 
 Gentiles convicted as before, but the race with its head, 
 and the sin which came in by that one man, though 
 each also has his own sins. This clearly brings us up 
 to Adam, though (thank God) also in presence of 
 Christ, the law which came in meanwhile and by-the- 
 by only shaping sins into offences and causing them to 
 abound. Now, if a single man righteously involved all 
 his family in sin and death, who can dispute the right- 
 eous title of God that the grace of another man, 
 Christ, should abound to His family for eternal life ? 
 Such is the argument from chapter v. 12. 
 
 If grace be so rich in every way and for ever, should 
 •we continue in sin that grace may abound? It is a 
 denial in effect of Christianity: so we learn in chapter 
 vi. We that died to sin, how shall we longer live in it? 
 We were buried with Christ by baptism unto death 
 that we should walk in newness of life. Our old man 
 was crucified together that the body of sin miglit be 
 annulled, that we should no longer serve sin. For he 
 that died is justified from sin. Thus we are to reckon 
 ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 
 Sin shall not have dominion, for we are not under law 
 but under grace. Shall we sin then because we are 
 thus ? Certainly not. We were slaves of sin, but now, 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 
 
 freed from it, we have become slaves of righteousness 
 and of God, have our fruit unto holiness, and the end, 
 worthy of His grace, eternal life. 
 
 Chapter vii. handles the question of freedom from the 
 law, as it was already shewn that grace strengthens 
 against sin, instead of making it a light or open matter. 
 The married woman is bound by law to her husband as 
 long as he is alive : death severs this bond. So are we 
 made dead to the law by the body of Christ that we 
 should belong to another who has been raised from 
 among the dead in order that we might bear fruit to 
 God. We were in the flesh, but now are cleared from 
 the law, being dead to that wherein we were held, so that 
 we should serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness 
 of letter. Observe however that it is not by abrogation 
 of the law but by our death to it, that grace acts. 
 
 Not that the law is^ sin, but sin, getting an oc- 
 casion or point of attack by the commandment, 
 works every lust, deceives, slays, and also becomes ex- 
 ceeding sinful. But though renewed, the person finds 
 himself without strength, discerns evil in his nature as 
 distinct from himself, delights in the law of God yet 
 sees another law in his members bringing him into 
 captivity, and so learns in conscious wretchedness the 
 value of Christ for deliverance no less than pardon, 
 though this in no way alters the two natures. 
 
 Chapter viii. closes the discussion with the fullest 
 statement of the results of Christ's work in death and 
 resurrection for the Christian. Three divisions present 
 themselves: first, the deliverance pursued even to the 
 raising of the mortal body, the Spirit being regarded as 
 characterizing that life and state ; secondly, the relations 
 of the Holy Ghost to the Christian as acting in, with, 
 and on him in power and person; and, thirdly, God 
 for us in the face of every trying experience and all 
 hostility from the creature, fully and triumphantly 
 securing us. 
 
 First, what a status for those in Christ ! The necessary 
 
Xl ROMANS. 
 
 action of their new nature, the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus, bespeaks their deliverance from the law of sin and 
 death ; as again God has already condemned in the cross 
 sin in the flesh, not merely in its outbreak, that the 
 righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who 
 walk not according to the flesh but according to the 
 Spirit. For there are persons characterized by each in 
 life and character, the mind of the one death, of the 
 other life and peace; and this, because the mind of the 
 flesh is enmity against God, and they that are in it 
 cannot please Him, while Christians are not in it, 
 but in Spirit, and so, Christ being in them, they hold 
 the body as dead on account of sin, as the Spirit is life on 
 account of righteousness. But even their mortal bodies will 
 be raised on account of His Spirit that dwells in them. 
 Secondly, the Spirit is a Spirit of sonship and an earnest 
 of the glory that is coming, and we meanwhile groan 
 by the Spirit, and God thus finds the mind of the 
 Spirit, not selfishness, in us, while He makes all work 
 for good. Thirdly, along with God's purpose of con- 
 forming us to the image of His Son in glory, we have 
 divine power assuring us so that, come what will, 
 nothing shall separate from His love which is in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord. 
 
 Chapter ix.-xi. follow the doctrine, and have for their 
 object to conciliate the special promises to Israel with 
 the indiscriminate grace to sinners as such without ex- 
 ception in the gospel. 
 
 In chapter ix. the apostle shews that not he but the 
 Jews could be more justly censured for making light of 
 the peculiar privileges of Israel ; as in truth he loved 
 them quite as fervently as Moses. It was a question of 
 God's call in Isaac. Nay, more, we see fleshly right still 
 more manifestly excluded by the blessing of Jacob in 
 disparagement of Esau, and this before the birth of the 
 twins. It is a question thus of sovereign grace. Did 
 they then complain of God's unrighteousness ? It was 
 all for Israel, that sovereignty of God: else what had 
 
INTRODUCTION. xll 
 
 become of them ruined before the golden calf at Sinai, 
 had not God said, " I will have mercy on whom I will 
 have mercy ?" On the other hand Pharaoh is the witness 
 of His hardening and judgments. Does man yet find 
 fault because God acts as Hewnll? This is met by 
 asserting God's title to judge man, and rebuking man's 
 pretension to judge God. He has power; but how does 
 He use it ? With the utmost long-suffering toward the 
 vessels of wrath, and in the richest mercy to its vessels, 
 the latter being in themselves no better than the former. 
 Thus mercy calls Gentiles who had no privileges and 
 Jews who had lost all. Hosea and Isaiah, more than 
 once, confirm all, shewing not only Gentiles called but 
 Israel stumbling at the stumbling-stone laid in Zion, 
 while faith only would not be ashamed. 
 
 In chapter x. the apostle expresses his heart's desire on 
 their behalf for salvation. But their zeal was not accord- 
 ing to knowledge. They were ignorant of, and did not 
 submit to, God's righteousness, seeking to establish their 
 own. For Christ ends law (and all such efforts are legal) 
 for righteousness to every one that believes. They speak 
 incompatibly, that which is of law, and what is of faith; 
 but God's righteousness is that of faith, Christ is the 
 ground of it, and salvation the result, which therefore 
 is as open to the Gentile as to the Jew who believed. 
 Hence a testimony was sent out by God; and if 
 few Jews received it, none the less did it go out unto 
 all the earth; and here testimonies thicken from law 
 and prophets to shew God found by Gentiles, and Israel 
 disobedient and gainsaying. 
 
 Chapter xi. proves that the rejection of Israel is 
 neither complete nor final, corroborated by the olive 
 tree which lets us see the cutting off that awaits un- 
 faithful Christendom no less surely than what befell the 
 Jew, but that the Redeemer would yet come out of Zion 
 turning away ungodlinesses from Jacob, and so all 
 Israel be saved, coming in at length as an object of mercy 
 no less than a Gentile. This drew out the transport? 
 
Xlii ROMANS. 
 
 of tbe apostle as he thongbt of the depth of the riches 
 of God's wisdom and knowledge. 
 
 From chapter xii. we enter on practical exhortations 
 formally. The apostle beseeches the saints by the 
 compassions of God to present their bodies a living sa- 
 crifice, without conformity to this world, but trans- 
 formed by the renewing of their mind, to cultivate a 
 sober, not a high, mind, as God dealt to each. For we 
 being many are one body in Christ, and members one 
 of another, with gifts differing which each should 
 occupy himself in. More general calls follow, grace 
 here too reigning through righteousness in the walk 
 and spirit, widening toward men at large which draws 
 out the caution against avenging ourselves: rather 
 should we, as God does, overcome evil with good. 
 
 Chapter xiii. exhibits the relation of the saints to 
 outward government in the world; subjection to what 
 is thus set up of God, whatever it be, in the world, so 
 that to oppose the authority is to resist His ordinance, 
 on account not only of wrath but of conscience also; 
 and on this account paying tribute and to all their dues, 
 owing no man anything but love, the fulfilment of the law. 
 And this too, urged the more by the nearness of the 
 day, in the light of which we should walk, remembering 
 that the night is far spent, and not gratifying flesh 
 which loves the dark. 
 
 Then in chapter xiv. follows the duty of brotherly for- 
 bearance, rendered at Rome in those days the more 
 incumbent because of so many Jews and Gentiles meet- 
 ing together there as Christians. The weak, as they 
 are called, who were burdened with scruples, were not 
 to judge the strong, who knew their liberty; neither were 
 the strong to despise the weak. Conscience must be 
 respeet^d; Christ is Lord of dead and living: and to 
 God every one of us must give account. Rather let one 
 judge to put no stumblingblock in a brother's way, nor 
 thus for meat destroy him for whom Christ died. Peace 
 and edification should be sought, but also a good con- 
 
INTRODUCTION. xliil 
 
 science, for whatever is not of faith is sin. The begin- 
 ning of chapter xv. concludes this question with Him 
 who pleased not Himself but bore the reproaches men 
 cast on God, thus entitling the Christian to all the 
 comfort of the scriptures which speak of Christ, and 
 strengthening us to receive one another, as Christ did, to 
 God's glory. 
 
 Next we have, from verse 8, a statement of God's 
 ways in the gospel justified by the Old Testament, and 
 of his own ministry among us Gentiles, as a reason for 
 thus exhorting them, though giving them credit for 
 goodness and knowledge and ability to admonish one 
 another. From Jerusalem and in a circle round to II- 
 lyricum he had fully preached the gospel, and so aim- 
 ing, not where Christ was named, but where they had 
 not heard of Him ; and now that his work was done in 
 the East, his old and strong desire to visit the West, 
 after a deacon's service for the poor of the saints in 
 Jerusalem (for nothing comes amiss to love), revives the 
 hope to see the Roman saints on his way to Spain. But 
 God had plans of His own; and if Paul was not saved 
 from unbelieving brethren after the flesh in Judea, it 
 was but to give him more the fellowship of Christ's 
 sufferings who was delivered to the Gentiles by the Jews. 
 
 Chapter xvi. finishes with commendation of a sister 
 Phoebe, servant of the assembly at Cenchreae, salutations 
 minute and varied in the appreciation of all that was 
 lovely and of good report, and warnings against those 
 who make divisions and stumblingblocks contrary to 
 the doctrine they had learnt. To turn away from such 
 men eaten up with self-importance is the best answer 
 to their kind speaking and fairness of speech. Here as 
 elsewhere we should be wise to what is good and simple 
 to evil. The God of peace will see to all that is above us, 
 bruising Satan under our feet shortly. How much do 
 we not need the grace of our Lord with us now ! 
 
 The apostle's amanuensis, Tertius, adds his salutation, 
 as do a few others. The Epistle closes with a doxology 
 
xHv ROMANS. 
 
 \Tonclerfully suited to all we have had before us, yet 
 intimating truth (not here developed) in harmony with 
 which was his preaching. In the Epistles to the 
 Ephesians and Colossians is this hidden mystery fully 
 set out, the Epistles to the Corinthians acting as a link 
 of transition, but each in due place and season, and all 
 important for the saint and for the church. To the 
 only wise God through Jesus Christ be glory for ever. 
 Amen. 
 
NOTES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 It was ordered in the wisdom of God that no apostle 
 should plant the gospel in the imperial city. Rome 
 cannot boast truthfully of a church apostolic in its 
 origin, like Jerusalem, Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus, and 
 many more less considerable. We know that on the 
 day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost was first given, 
 there were Roman Jews, sojourning in Jerusalem, 
 who heard the gospel there. (Acts ii. ; compare also 
 Rom. xvi. 7.) These may have carried the glad 
 tidings westward, if not before, at least when the per- 
 secution that arose on the case of Stephen scattered all 
 save the apostles. We are sure that some who were 
 then dispersed went to Phenice and Cyprus as well as 
 to Antioch, and that at this last place they preached 
 to Greeks and not to Jews only. 
 
 But whatever the particular means used to make 
 known Christ there, it is certain that till Paul wrote 
 and aftervYards came to Rome, no apostle had visited 
 that city. Yet an evidently considerable number of 
 saints were there; and, in my judgment, the epistle itself 
 affords clear and full indi cation that they consisted of 
 persons from among Jews us vveli as Gentiles. 
 a 
 
2 ROMANS. 
 
 Tliese were among the circnmstances which drew ont 
 an epistle from tlie great apostle which yields to no 
 other in importance. Hence have we here so compre- 
 hensive a treatise, and withal so fundamental; not on 
 Church relationship, but man's state as a sinner,*and 
 then his justification by the work and death and resur- 
 rection of Christ; that is, the privileges of individual 
 saints through redemption, as well as the total ruin of 
 man and his need of this mighty intervention of God 
 in the gospel. Had the apostle laid the foundation of 
 the work at Rome, had he gone there, as he had ardently 
 wished, to impart some spiritual gift, we could scarcely 
 have had such a development as we now possess. For 
 in either case he would naturally have taught them face 
 to face what is now embodied for ever in the epistle. 
 Before ho could pay themavisitand establish them orally, 
 their state called out this remarkable fulness of truth 
 from the rudiments of truth upwards. Their mingled 
 composition of Jews and Gentiles required the question 
 of the law to be solved as to both justification and 
 walk, as well as the reconciliation of the actual display 
 of indiscriminate grace in the gospel with the special 
 promises to Israel. It demanded a full explanation of 
 human responsibility, whether in Jew or in Greek. 
 For the same reason too it was needed, here especially, 
 to set forth chiefly in exhortation the general walk of 
 the Christians in relation to each other and to the 
 powers that be (at that time heathen), with the 
 peremptory claims of holiness on the one hand, and on 
 the other the true nature and limits of brotherly for- 
 bearance in things indifferent. 
 
 The salutation or address of the apostle is unusually 
 full. " Paul, a bondman of Jesus Christ, a called 
 apostle, separated unto God's gospel, which he promised 
 before by his prophets in holy scripture, concerning his 
 Son, that came of David's seed as to flesh, that was 
 marked out God's Son in power as to spirit of holiness 
 by resurrection of [the] dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 
 
CHAPTER I. 3 
 
 by whom we received grace and apostleslilp, for obedi- 
 ence of faith among all the nations, in behalf of his 
 name; among whom are ye also, called of Jesus Christ: 
 to all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints, 
 grace to you and peace from God our Father and [the] 
 Lord Jesus Christ." (Ver. 1—7.) 
 
 " Bondman of Jesus Christ" is the boast of one who 
 knew the true holy liberty of grace as perhaps no other 
 heart was taught and enjoyed so well. This was a 
 general designation and should be true, is true, of each 
 Christian. But Paul next speaks of himself as a 
 " called apostle." Apostleship was not successional 
 like a Jewish priest, nor elect of the assembly like the 
 seven who cared for tables at Jerusalem: still less 
 was it a question of self-assumption He was an 
 apostle by calling as the saints were called. (Yer. 7.) 
 No doubt, from his mother's womb Saul of Tarsus had 
 been separated, as he was afterwards called by God's 
 grace. But here it appears to me that the separation 
 was more distinctly " for God's gospel," and therefore 
 may refer rather to Acts xiii. 2. God's glad tidings is 
 a precious truth, the direct and explicit contradiction of 
 man's natural thought of Him who gives to all liberally 
 and upbraids not. Doubtless this can only be in and 
 through Christ; still it is God who loves, gives, sends: 
 it is His gospel. What a blessed starting-point for the 
 apostle ! What an exhaustless fountain-head ! 
 
 But if the fulness of spontaneous and active love in 
 God toward man be a truth ever new by reason of the 
 constant prevalence of human thoughts even in the 
 saints, it was no new thing to God. (Yer. 2.) It was 
 late in the world's history when this gospel went forth; 
 but He had promised it before through His prophets in 
 holy writ — through the prophets who ever appear of 
 old when all on man's part was hopeless. So one of 
 the earliest that wrote prophecies said, " O Israel, thou 
 hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help. I will 
 be thy king ; where is any other that may save thee ?" 
 
4: ROMANS. 
 
 So another, the last of them, wrote, " I am Jehovah, I 
 change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not con- 
 sumed." Had the Jews, had the priests even, despised 
 His name? " From the rising of the sun even unto the 
 going down of the same, my name shall be great among 
 the Gentiles." Such is a sample of what He proclaimed 
 beforehand through His prophets. Space would fail to 
 cite even a small portion. What went before as far as this 
 verse notices was God's promise (for the law is not yet 
 touched on) ; His gospel is not promise but accomplish- 
 ment. Before Christ and His work, it could not be 
 more than promised. Now^ whatever be the promises, 
 in Him is the Yea and in Him the Amen. 
 
 How can these things be ? What can account either 
 for such precious promises, or for the still more precious 
 accomplishment on which God's gospel is founded and 
 goes forth to man ? The answer is clear, worthy, and 
 amply sufficient. All turns on the Son of God : His 
 glad tidings are concerning Him. (Ver. 3.) His person 
 comes before us here in two ways: first, as born of 
 the seed of David according to the flesh which He had 
 condescended to ; secondly, as defined or declared Son 
 of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by 
 resurrection. These two views of our Lord are respec- 
 tively in relation to what we have just seen, — the 
 promises and the gospel. The true Beloved, the Son 
 of David, came, object and fulfiller and fulfilment of 
 every promise of God; but man, and especially the 
 people who had the promises, received Him not, but 
 cast Him out even to death, the death of the cross. 
 God, infinitely glorified therein, raised Him up who had 
 already raised dead persons, and will raise all. " For 
 as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth, 
 even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." Thus in 
 every way resurrection marks Him out as Son of God 
 in power, pre-eminently so when He rose in His own 
 person after being crucified in weakness, and this ac- . 
 cording to the Spirit of holiness which characterized 
 
CHAPTER I. 5 
 
 Him all the days of His flesh. Thus, as the coming 
 of Christ was the presentation of the promise, God's 
 gospel supposes not only the divine glory of His person 
 but the mighty power of His resurrection which demon- 
 strates the value and efficacy of His death, (Ver. 4.) 
 In life sin and Satan touched Him not, who ever walked 
 in the Spirit and according to the word of God; on 
 the cross, made sin for us, He annulled him who had 
 the power of death, though resurrection alone ade- 
 quately determines His power and glorious person. 
 
 Jesus consequently, risen from the dead in power, acts 
 as Lord and Christ, " our Lord," " by whom we have 
 received grace and apostleship." (Ver. 5.) It is He who 
 sends from on high. As once on earth. Lord of the har- 
 vest. He sent forth first the twelve and afterwards otlier 
 seventy also ; so ascended He gave gifts to men. Nor 
 was it only that the apostolic call was itself a mark of 
 grace. In Paul's case the grace that arrested and 
 quickened him to God was at one and the same time 
 with the choice of him as a witness to all men of what 
 he had seen and heard. Such a call could not, so to 
 speak, but be of deeper character and larger sphere 
 than that of others who had been appointed of the Lord 
 while here below. Hence it was " for obedience of faith" 
 (not exactly that which faith leads and strengthens to, 
 but faith -obedience, the heart bowing to the divine mes- 
 sage of His grace) " in all the nations" as the scene of 
 testimony. Taken out from among the people and the 
 nations, to these last the Lord sent him, as we are told 
 in Acts xxvi. Again, we are here told, it was " for" or 
 " on behalf of the name of Christ." 
 
 Such was his passport: what was theirs? " Among 
 whom are ye also, called of Jesus Christ." They were 
 among the nations, and his commission was toward all 
 the nations. Was he a called apostle ? So were they 
 saints, not by birth nor by ordinance, but by the 
 call of Jesus Christ who had called him as apostle. 
 (Ver. 6.) 
 
6 ROMANS. 
 
 This entitled Paul then to address " all that are in 
 Rome, beloved of God, called saints;" this made it his 
 heart's joy, as it was the Holy Ghost's inspiring him, 
 to wish them " grace and peace from God our Father 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ." (Ver. 7.) These privileges 
 they had tasted already through the faith of Christ; 
 but the apostle owns himself their debtor and proceeds 
 to put to their account that which would enrich them 
 exceedingly. May we too enjoy increasingly Him who 
 is their source through the One who alone can make 
 Him known ! 
 
 Take any part of the Old Testament and compare it 
 with these opening words. How evident and immense 
 the difference, aim, character, and scope! One may 
 well wonder this never occurred to those who would 
 assimilate the testimony of God and state of man be- 
 fore and after the coming of Christ. What is there, 
 for instance, like it in the five books of Moses, or the 
 historical books that follow? In vain do you search 
 the Psalms and other poetical books for a parallel. Not 
 even the prophets describe or predict such a state of 
 things. Glorious things are spoken for Israel; mercy 
 from God which will not fail to reach and bless the 
 poor Gentiles ; deliverance and joy for the long- 
 travailing earth and lower creation in general : — all 
 this and more we have abundantly from the prophets 
 and even in the Psalms. But there is nothing resem- 
 bling the tone even of the Apostle's salutation and 
 preface to the Roman saints, any more than what meets 
 us in the rest of the epistles of the New Testament. A 
 new thing was before God here below, answering to a 
 new thing, the greatest of all, in heaven — His own Son, 
 as man who was risen and gone on high after having 
 expiated our sins on the cross. From this, as the cen- 
 tral object, the Holy Ghost works, sent down to make 
 God known in Christ come and gone, and to give be- 
 lievers a part in the infinite work Christ has efiected 
 for them. This revealed object conforms the hearts 
 
CHAPTER 1. 7 
 
 that know it, though not all equally, yet all in measure 
 after its own nature. Such is Christianity. 
 
 Here, as everywhere in the epistles, illustrations, 
 examples, and proofs abound ; not that there was not 
 faith before, not that the Spirit did not at all times 
 work suitably to God's character and dealins^s. Hence 
 there never was a day of difficulty or darkness of old 
 which did not give occasion for some worthy display 
 of God's wisdom and goodness, and this through, as 
 well as to, those that knew Him in His grace. But 
 these displays were of course according to the task He 
 had then in hand, whether before the flood or after it, 
 whether in the time of simple promise or after the law 
 was given, whether amidst the sorrows of the captivity 
 or when the Messiah was presented to the responsibility 
 of the returned remnant in the land. Certainly for 
 saints now as of old there are objective truths, there 
 are traits of inward experience and of outward practice, 
 which always abide in substance. But this identity in 
 much that is of no small moment only makes the fact 
 the more striking that there are differences of incalcu- 
 lable importance, not merely for us but as connected 
 with God's glory. Who could conceive before redemp- 
 tion such feelings, thoughts, language as we have here 
 before us? Who that has the smallest spiritual per- 
 ception could think of Enoch or Noah, Isaac or Jacob, 
 Moses or Joshua, David or Solomon, Isaiah or Jere- 
 miah, yea even Peter or John in the days of our 
 Lord's mmistry, uttering such words as these to saints 
 at Rome, many of them Gentiles? " First, I thank 
 my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your 
 faith is proclaimed in the whole world. For God 
 is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel 
 of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, 
 always at the time of my prayers entreating, if by any 
 means now at length I shall be prospered by the will 
 of God to come to you: for I long to fee you that I 
 may impart to you some spiritual gift in order to your 
 
8 ROMANS. 
 
 being established ; that is, to be comforted mutually in 
 you by the faith in each other, both yours and mine." 
 (Ver. 8—12.) 
 
 Entirely independent of fleshly tie or national con- 
 nection or a school of opinion or any other relationship 
 of time, it was a bond which, resting on the unseen and 
 eternal, knit the heart of him who wrote to souls for 
 the most part never seen before. An affection ardent 
 and sustained continually bore them on his heart before 
 God and delighted in the good report of their faith an- 
 nounced in the whole world, as it then might easily be 
 from that seat of central authority which made its will 
 and mind felt to and beyond the extremities of its vast 
 empire. Hence his longing to see them for no selfish 
 interest but for their spiritual blessing through the 
 faith which produces and reproduces joy now in the 
 midst of rejection, and blessing that will never fade or 
 be forgotten. Such w^ere among the effects of God's 
 gospel now realized in and expressed by him who, 
 without that blessed knowledge of Christ, had been the 
 fiercest zealot of the straitest sect of the Pharisees, per- 
 secuting to prison and death all that dared even of his 
 own nation to call on the name of Jesus of Nazareth; 
 now the untiring herald of divine grace, in that same 
 Jesus dead and risen, as unlimited as the sin and misery 
 of man ; the warm sympathizer with God-given faith 
 in all who bore that despised name. He himself was 
 emphatically a man of faith — faith working by love 
 which sought not theirs but them, not this world's ease 
 or honour but God's will and glory in the good of souls, 
 everlastingly indeed but now also, not as if it were a 
 doubtful essay but a willing blessing from the God 
 whose grace he knew for himself and could count on 
 for all His children. 
 
 Fervour of affection too was natural, so to speak, to 
 one thus living with God, " my God," while in this 
 world, joy (not in iniquity, as wretched flesh delights 
 in what is of and like itself, but) in what was of God 
 
CHARTER I. 9 
 
 " through Jesus Christ," though only known by report 
 everywhere. " First, I thank my God through Jesus 
 Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed in the 
 whole world." He could appeal to God for the best of 
 all evidences of his thankfulness to Him for it, and 
 love to them. " For God is my witness, whom I serve 
 in my spirit in the gospel of his Son." His mention 
 of them was incessant, always beseeching on occasion 
 of his prayers, that, if God so pleased, he might some- 
 how be permitted now at least to visit them. What 
 evident and godly sincerity ! What motives wrought 
 of the Spirit in one who owned himself the chief of 
 sinners, and less than the least of all saints ! 
 
 Mark the change of expression here in passing. It 
 is the gospel of God's Son now, not simply of God, 
 however beautiful this was in its place. (Ver. 1.) But 
 now the apostle is not thinking of the source which 
 characterized the glad tidings, but of the manner and 
 means in which His grace wrought to deliver the lost. 
 It was therefore the gospel of His Son as well as His 
 own. Here, too, the apostle names his own serving 
 God " in my spirit;" i.e., not with mere outward works 
 or a bare sense of imperious duty, but with inwardly 
 active and intelligent devotedness in the glad tidings 
 of God's Son. 
 
 One of this world's sages has dared to impute to the 
 holy apostle pious craft and holy flattery ; but this was, 
 no doubt, a judgment founded on his own spirit and his 
 incapacity of appreciating the delicate feelings which 
 grace renders easy and habitual. Not so: though the 
 apostle had his commission from the Lord to the Gen- 
 tiles as such, he would exercise it according to Christ. 
 It is the tact of tender love toward those who were 
 saints of God in such a place, not the manoeuvring of 
 a skilful party-leader, which we see here, when he tells 
 them of his strong desire to see them — that he might 
 impart some spiritual gitt in order to their establish- 
 ment; that is, as he explains, to be mutually comforted 
 
10 ROMANS. 
 
 among them by each other's faith, both theirs and his. 
 Yet the will of God governed his steps, whatever 
 might be his affectionate longing after their good. 
 
 Nor was it a new thing, this desire to see them. 
 " Now I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that 
 I often proposed to come to you (and was hindered 
 hitherto), that I might have some fruit among you 
 also, even as among the other Gentiles. Both to 
 Greeks and Barbarians, both to wise and to unintelli- 
 gent, I am debtor; so, as far as concerns me, I am ready 
 to preach the gospel to you also that [are] in Rome." 
 (Ver. 13 — 15.) Whatever might be the special pre- 
 occupation which hindered the apostle's execution of 
 what was in his heart, God manifestly did not mean 
 the great western city, the capital of the world, to 
 have an early visit of one in Paul's position. If he 
 owned the debt of love to all nations and conditions, 
 certainly Rome could not but have attractions, espe- 
 cially as some already called out from the world were 
 there. On his part, then, there was no reluctance but 
 all readiness to go to Rome. 
 
 Let none imagine that the grandeur of that great city 
 kept him back through awe of it or shame of Christ. 
 " For I am not ashamed of the gospel : for it is the 
 power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, 
 both to Jew first and to Greek." (Ver. 16.) All else 
 was but man, or appealed to man. The gospel was 
 God's power for saving, not a mere rule to condemn. 
 Consequently it went out to every one that believes, 
 Jew or Greek, though to Jew first who had the law 
 and the promises too. Such was the order even for 
 the great apostle of the uncircumcision, at least while 
 the first tabernacle subsisted. 
 
 " For God's righteousness is revealed in it by faith 
 unto faith, even as it is written, But the just shall live 
 by faith." (Ver. 17.) 
 
 This verse is so important in itself, of so large a bear- 
 ing on the epistle as well as the doctrine of the gospel 
 
CHAPTER I. 11 
 
 elsewhere, and withal so perplexed by the conflicting 
 thoughts even of true believers, not to speak of theo- 
 logians of all schools, that it demands and will surely 
 repay our careful consideration in dependence on 
 our God. 
 
 The first thing to be remarked is that hiKaioavvri does 
 not mean justification, but here at least, as in most pas- 
 sages where this phrase occurs, righteousness, and this 
 justifying. It is therefore kept distinct by the apostle 
 from dtKui'ivais (chap. iv. 25; v. 18), which expresses 
 the act of justifying, or the effect — ^justification ; as 
 hKalwfia sets forth accomplished righteousness in justi- 
 fication or in judgment, righteous requirement whether 
 morally or as an ordinance or decree. (Luke i. 6; 
 Rom. i. 32; ii. 26; v. 16, 18; viii. 4; Heb. ix. 1, 10; 
 Rev. XV. 4; xix. 8.) Thus SiKaioavvrj retains its regular 
 signification of habit or quality of righteousness. 
 
 Next, observe that it is Qeov, God's righteousness, 
 not man's — divine righteousness revealed in the gospel, 
 not human righteousness required in the law. There 
 is no question here either of infusion or of imputation. 
 As for infusion,* it is wholly wrong ; as to imputation, 
 it is a precious truth insisted on in chapter iv., where 
 the apostle draws from the case of Abraham that the 
 believer's faith is reckoned for (or as) righteousness. 
 For God in His grace can afford to justify the ungodly 
 soul who believes on Him — can and does reckon 
 righteousness to him apart from works, according to 
 Psalm xxxii. 
 
 • This is the Romish or Tridentine doctrine, which, though it 
 uses the phrase " righteousness of God," means thereby inherent 
 righteousness wrought by the Spirit of God in the heart of man, 
 expressly " non qua ipse Justus est, sed qua nos justos facit, qua 
 videlicet ab eo donati renovamur spiritu mentis nostrae, et non 
 modo reputamur sed vere justi nominantur et sumus," &c. Thus 
 Justification, being confounded with practical holiness, is really set 
 aside. (Can. et Deer. Cone. Trid. Sessio VI., capp. vii, xvi.) 
 Bellarmine is very explicit to the same eflfect. (De Controv. Tom. IV, 
 de justif. ii. passim.) 
 
12 ROMANS. 
 
 Here, however, the apostle does not enter on an ex- 
 position of the ground on which God could consistently 
 with His character justify a sinful man. But as he 
 had declared he was not ashamed of the gospel because 
 it is God's power for salvation to every believer Jew or 
 Greek, so he now explains that it has this saving 
 character because God's righteousness is revealed in 
 it " by faith," and consequently " to faith." 
 
 In Titus ii. the apostle looks at the source of the 
 gospel. It is the grace of God. Lost man needs that 
 saving grace which is only in God and has now ap- 
 peared free and full in Christ Jesus and His redemp- 
 tion. But here in Romans i. the stress is on His 
 righteousness, not on His mercy, though indeed it is 
 the richest mercy, but it is much more. In the gospel 
 is His righteousness revealed. The awakened sinner 
 does repent, does detest his sins, judges himself as 
 wholly and nothing but evil in God's sight, and so 
 humbly, thankfully casts himself on Christ. But in 
 the gospel is revealed not the victory of the soul striv- 
 ing against sin, but God's righteous consistency with 
 Himself in revealing to the believer a salvation entirely 
 outside himself and therefore e'/c 7rcaT6(v<i, by or of faith, 
 out of that principle and no other. Sovereign grace 
 alone could have thought of it, or given it thus freely 
 to him who deserved nothing less ; but the conscience 
 of the sinner touched of the Spirit could not have peace 
 whilst a charge of guilt remained. The righteousness 
 of God, without the gospel, would and must have made 
 a short work of the guilty — must have judged them at 
 once and for ever. But the gospel is God's power for sal- 
 vation because in it is His righteousness revealed in the 
 way of faith. Were it by works of law man must win 
 and merit life, but it is wholly in contrast with such a 
 scheme, and man, being guilty and so lost on any such 
 ground, disappears, save as the object of God's salvation 
 which now triumphs in the blessed fact that it is His 
 righteousness also. Hence it is of faith that it might 
 
CHAPTER I. 13 
 
 be according to grace, and so open to any and every be- 
 liever; for, as we are told elsewhere (Gal. iii.), " the law 
 is not of faith ;" and it works wrath. ( Rom. iv.) Clearly, 
 then, there is great precision, as ever in the language 
 of Hcripture. Human righteousness is expressly ex- 
 cluded, as it would be indeed inconsistent with the 
 entire context, which supposes man to be lost, if it 
 were only because the gospel is God's power for salva- 
 tion: and which immediately after (ver. 18 et seqq.) 
 proceeds to demonstrate the universality and complete- 
 ness of man's ruin. The gospel is the revelation of 
 divine righteousness.* It is God who justifies, and He 
 is just in justifying, him who believes. 
 
 It is of immense moment to see this great truth. It 
 is not merely a righteousness which God provides and 
 gives, or which avails with Him,-j- though both be quite 
 true. The meaning is, what the words say — " God's 
 righteousness" — without for the present going farther. 
 Who doubts the force of God's power just before, or 
 God's wrath just after ? Why should men stumble at 
 the similar phrase between ? Romans iii. 21 — 26 is 
 explicit enough to help to a definite judgment. 
 
 One reason of the difficulty is that some never seem 
 to think of righteousness apart from imputation; and 
 as we cannot speak of imputing God's righteousness, so 
 they, in their own mind, change the expression of 
 Scripture and prefer to express their thought as the 
 " imputed righteousness of Christ," which again leaves 
 room for other consequences. Now as a principle we 
 must hold to the superiority of Scripture and the forms 
 which the inspiring wisdom of God has given to His 
 own truth. That Christ was absolutely and perfectly 
 righteous every Christian believes; that imputation has 
 
 * The peculiarly anarthrous form of the proposition must strike 
 any careful reader. This is owing to the fact that the apostle is 
 describing the character of the gospel, not explaining as yet how 
 God can so act (as he does in Romans iii. 24 — 26, and elsewhere). 
 
 f AiKaioavuri Qeov == neither rj e/c 0. 8. nor 5. irapu 0. 
 
14 ROMANS. 
 
 a most weighty place in the matter of our justification 
 is to my mind both undeniably certain and essential to the 
 gospel. Nevertheless, the truth remains that, where 
 God's righteousness occurs in Scripture, imputation is 
 not employed. Nor do 1 believe it could be; because as 
 God's righteousness could not be inherent, so on the other 
 hand imputing God's righteousness has no meaning.* 
 Here it is His righteousness revealed in the gospel. 
 Chapter iii. shews how this can be righteously. Being 
 not merely deficient but guilty sinners, we cannot be 
 justified without the blood of Christ dying in atone- 
 ment for our sins. Hence, therefore, entirely apart 
 from law, divine righteousness is by faith of Him who 
 thus wrought redemption, and God is just and justifies 
 him who is of faith in Jesus. But God was so glorified 
 
 * It may be well to add that some, having the sense that there 
 is and must be practical reality in those who stand in true relation- 
 ship with God. have from time to time clouded this subject and 
 slipped to either side of the truth ; and I refer to this the rather 
 because there exists much want of scriptural intelligence, as well as 
 ignorance even of facts easy enough to ascertain Thus in and 
 even before 1550 there broke out a serious feud among the 
 Lutherans, which, though not confined to the point of divine 
 righteousness, nevertheless had this for one of the most serious 
 questions in dispute. Andrew Osiander (Professor of theology at 
 Konigsberg, a man of mystical turn of mind and fond of bold and 
 novel speculation) taught that it is only through the eternal and 
 essential righteousness which resides in Christ as God or in His 
 divine nature united to the human, that man obtains righteousness. 
 Of tills divine righteousness he partakes by faith. Thereby Christ 
 dwells in man, and with Christ divine righteousness : in virtue of 
 which righteousness, present in the regenerate, God regards them, 
 though sinners, as righteous in the name of that righteousness. 
 (See J. L. Moshemli Institt. H E. Sffic. xvi. Sect. iii. pars ii. 
 § 35.) This naturally and justly aroused the opposition of Me- 
 lancthon: but Osiander's death did not end the mischief, — for 
 Stancar (Professor of Hebrew^ in the same place, and of turbulence 
 equal to his colleague) fell into an opposite extreme and almost as 
 dangerous. For if Osiander excluded the manhood of Christ, his 
 antagonist excluded the divine nature from redemption. Evidently, 
 however, Osiander's doctrine is substantially that of the mystics, 
 and confounds life, or the new nature, with the believer's justifica- 
 
CHAPTER I. 15 
 
 in tlie cross of Christ, that He raised Him up and 
 seated Him in glory at His own right hand — not only 
 forgave us, but seated us in Christ in heavenly places. 
 This is God's righteousness, which is revealed to faith. 
 Nothing less is righteously due to Christ because of 
 His redemption work. It is the contrast of law-work 
 in all respects. God is righteous in treating not Christ 
 only but the believer in Him according to the worth of 
 redemption in His own eyes. By virtue of His work 
 God accounts us righteous who believe; we are made 
 the righteousness of God in Him. 
 
 At Sinai, in the law, man's righteousness was claimed 
 but found wanting. In the gospel God's righteousness 
 is revealed, complete and perfect. Promised before, it 
 was only revealed when all was accomplished which is 
 
 tion. There is not the smallest resemblance between it, and that 
 which has been expounded in the text. It is God's righteous- 
 ness inherent or infused in the believer's heart, not revealed 
 in the gospel. In fact, there was the activity of a mind which 
 saw that the believer partakes of the divine nature but con- 
 founded this with the wholly distinct truth that he is accounted 
 righteous according to the acceptance of Christ Himself 
 before God. In short, Osiander abused regeneration to deny 
 justification or imputation of righteousness, and confounded union 
 with Christ, as many do now, with both. This ma}' be seen in 
 Calvin's Institutes, Book III., chapter xi., § 11. The following 
 extract may be useful in shewing how far those who have talked 
 of Osiander have either understood his doctrine or are free from 
 the snare into which he fell. " Ridet eos (Jsiander qui justi- 
 ficari decent e^,se verbum forense : quia oporteat nos re ipsa 
 esse justos: nihil etiam magis respuit quam nos justificari gra- 
 tuita imputatione. Agedum si nos Deus non justificat absol- 
 vendo et ignoscendo, quid sibi vult illud Pauli ? Erat Deus, &c., 
 2 Cor. V. 20, 21. Primum obtineo justos censeri qui Deo recon- 
 ciliantur; modus inseritur quod Deus ignoscendo justificet : sicuti 
 alio loco justificatio accusationi opponitur; quae antithesis clare 
 demonstrat sumptam esse loquendi formam a forensi usu.'' I pur- 
 posely quote Calvin's reproof of the Lutheran for his mockery of 
 imputation under the plea that we must be in reality just, which is 
 indeed to deride a capital truth of the gospel. No Christian doubts, 
 on the other hand, the value or necessit}' of practical righteousness 
 apart from justification. (See Phil. i. 9 — 11.) 
 
16 ROMANS. 
 
 its ground. Being revealed, it is a question of faith, 
 not of desert nor victory, nor power within, but con- 
 trariwise of looking out of self to God's righteousness 
 in Christ. 
 
 As divine righteousness is revealed by faith (e/c 
 TTiarew^), SO is it unto or for faith (ets Triativ) : the one 
 excluding works of law as the way or principle on 
 which it is revealed; the other including faith wherever 
 it may be, and whatever the measure. It is singular 
 that the Authorized Version should give " from faith" 
 here and " by faith" for the same phrase in the same 
 verse. The former appears to me objectionable in this 
 connection; because it insinuates the idea of growth 
 from one degree of faith to another, as some ancients 
 and moderns have avowed. On the other hand, to 
 take e/c TT. (by faith) with h. 9. (God's righteousness) is 
 due perhaps to the difficulty some have found in assign- 
 ing to each phrase its own definite value. 
 
 Again, the reader must beware of the notion which 
 some found on the present tense of the verb aTroKoKvTneraij 
 as if it warrants the idea of a gradually more complete 
 realization of the state of justification.* I do not 
 doubt that faith grows and so apprehension and enjoy- 
 ment of our blessing in Christ, but the thing revealed 
 in the gospel to faith is complete: divine righteousness 
 repudiates any other thought, whatever may be the 
 measure in which the heart apprehends it. 
 
 Not even a Jew could deny that the prophet Habak- 
 kuk (ii. 4) affirms the same principle; and the slight 
 difference from both the Hebrew and the Septuagint 
 bears witness, it seems to me, that these words are cited 
 for so much and no more: " even as it is written, The 
 just shall live by faith." 
 
 The apostle next proceeds to shew what it was that 
 
 • Calvin may illustrate the danger of this ; for he draws from 
 it, that as our faith makes progress and advances in this knowledge, 
 80 the righteousness of God increases in us at the same time. What 
 can be looser than such language ? 
 
CHAPTER !• 17 
 
 made the gospel so necessary to man and so suitable to 
 God. The gospel is God's power to salvation, and so 
 a revelation of His righteousness, eV Tr/o-rews eh irlaTw, 
 When man evidently had, or was convicted of having, 
 no righteousness for God, He revealed His own in the 
 gospel, which was consequently open for faith wherever 
 it existed, being by faith, and not by works of law, to 
 which the Jew laid claim. To this truth also the pro- 
 phet Habakkuk gave his emphatic testimony. 
 
 That God should thus deal with man was absolutely 
 needful if man were to find salvation. " For God's 
 wrath is revealed from heaven upon all impiety and 
 unrighteousness of men that hold the truth in un- 
 righteousness." 
 
 The fathers and the children of Israel were not with- 
 out experience of divine wrath on earth. They had 
 seen it consume the cities of the plain of Sodom. They 
 had knowm His wondrous chastisements in the field of 
 Zoan till the waters of the Red Sea, rebuked for their 
 sakes, covered their proud enemies, so that not one was 
 left. They had felt its edge when the Lord created a 
 new thing, and the earth opened her mouth and swal- 
 lowed up quickly Korah, Dathan, and Abiram with 
 their company. Man, the race, had already proved it 
 indeed in the flood which took them all away, save 
 those secured in the ark. But these and other kindred 
 acts of judgment of old were providential and earthly. 
 There was as yet no revelation of God's wrath from 
 heaven. These divine actings were visible in their 
 efiects if not arresting men before the eyes of their 
 fellows on earth. 
 
 Now^ concurrently with the glad tidings, not exactly 
 therein, divine wrath is revealed from heaven (ver. 18). 
 This is in no way executed yet, but it is being re- 
 vealed ; and man, being sinful, is seen to be utterly, 
 manifestly, unfit for God's presence. God Himself is 
 no longer hidden. He has been manifested in flesh: 
 " the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the 
 o 
 
18 ROMANS. 
 
 Father, he has declared him." His nature thus dis- 
 closed is absolutely intolerant of sin, as it must be also 
 of sinners, but for His righteousness revealed in the 
 gospel, which justifies the believer by the faith of 
 Christ. Still the same Christ, whose atonement is the 
 groundwork of the gospel, makes known God as He is, 
 and nowhere more proved to be at war for ever with 
 evil than in the cross, where Jesus who knew no sin, 
 yet made sin for us, tasted not death only but the 
 divine abandonment, that our sins might be dealt with 
 according to the unsparing judgment of God. Hence, 
 along with the gospel, there is revealed His wrath 
 from heaven, which goes far beyond any conceivable 
 temporal strokes of His hand on earth ; for these 
 (though of course a testimony to, and as far as they 
 went in harmony with, this nature) were but a part of 
 His governmental dealings, not the full expression of 
 His nature as when we come to the expiation of Christ. 
 Hence this divine wrath revealed from heaven has 
 for its object every kind of godlessness {iraaav aaefieiav) 
 and especially men's unrighteousness that hold the 
 truth in unrighteousness. It is no longer a particular 
 nation under a law which judged acts of transgression, 
 though it gave the knowledge of a sinful root under- 
 neath, while the rest of the nations were comparatively 
 overlooked. " Hear this word that the Lord hath 
 spoken against you, children of Israel, against the 
 whole family which I brought up from the land of 
 Egypt, saying. You only have I known of all the 
 families of the earth : therefore I will punish you for 
 all your iniquities." (Amos iii. 1, 2.) The veil is rent ; 
 and God shining out, as it were, discerns and judges all 
 everywhere inconsistent with Himself. At the same 
 time He sends in the gospel a free and full remission 
 of sins to every believer. Thus, while every form of 
 Gentile evil is morally judged as contrary to God's 
 nature, the Jew, if unrighteous, is implied from the 
 outset to be in a yet more awful condition. " Salva- 
 
CHAPTER I. 19 
 
 tion is of the Jews." They had the promises, and the 
 law, and in part at least the truth. But the language 
 is so comprehensive as to he quite as applicable, if not 
 more so, to the professing Christian now with his en- 
 larged light, grace, and the truth more fully revealed 
 in Christ. Increase of privileges, if abused, is but 
 increase of condemnation. And what more just, the 
 enemies of God themselves being judges and the cause 
 their own? Thus it seems to me that Tracau ("all") 
 extends to the second part of the description as well as 
 to the first, and embraces every sort of unrighteousness 
 where men hold the truth in unrighteousness, no less 
 than every kind of impiety. Such men might not be 
 strictly impious ; they possess the truth ; but along with 
 this, being unrighteous, they cause the truth and name 
 of God to be thereby blasphemed. 
 
 Some find a difficulty in the last clause, and, assum- 
 ing that KcnexovTwv, if here taken in the sense of 
 " holding," must have it only in the lowest degree, 
 they contend for the meaning of " holding back '^ or 
 restraint as in 2 Thessalonians ii. 6, 7, which they 
 persuade themselves is suitable to our context. My 
 conviction is that Ka-rexoo retains here its usual em- 
 phasis of possession or holding fast, where moral things 
 are in question, and that this is necessary to the solemn 
 lesson here conveyed. For the apostle is speaking of 
 God's wrath as against not merely all impiety in 
 general but specifically men's unrighteousness who 
 ever so stubbornly keep the truth in unrighteousness. 
 God is not mocked. His Spirit is the Holy Spirit as 
 well as the Spirit of truth. He must have the truth 
 held in righteousness; for otherwise it is not Christ, 
 the Second Man, but only the first man in another 
 shape, and in a shape pre-eminently hateful to Himself. 
 How many feel keenly, dispute hotly, and in other 
 days have contended in deadly warfare for the truth 
 they held, whose works denied God, being abominable, 
 disobedient, and to every good work reprobate ! The 
 
20 ROMANS. 
 
 Jews were a standing witness of this perilous religion 
 then: Christendom, Popery, Protestantism, the truest 
 dogmatic teaching you please, is not a whit safer now, 
 where the professor does not pursue holiness, without 
 which no man shall see the Lord. 
 
 Nothing can be simpler and more certain than this 
 truth, once it is stated and understood. But the value 
 of it is apparent from the fact that the Fathers so- 
 called, almost if not quite unanimously, overlooked 
 and denied it. Their system, even that of pious and 
 able men like Augustine, was that the wicked, though 
 lost, would derive some considerable assuagement du- 
 ring their everlasting punishment because of their 
 baptism. Most fatal and offensive error ! The very 
 reverse is true. " That servant w^hich knew his lord's 
 will and prepared not himself, neither did according to 
 his will, shall be beaten with many stripes ; but he that 
 knew it not, and did commit thingsworthy of stripes, shall 
 be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much 
 is given, of him shall be much required ; and to whom men 
 have committed much, of him they will ask the more." 
 
 Again, this verse is not, as some suppose, limited as 
 a preface to the proof of Gentile depravity ; it is rather 
 the thesis in brief, which is opened out in the rest of 
 chapters i., ii., iii., down to verse 21, which resumes the 
 treatment of God's righteousness, and begins the de- 
 tails of that which we had in chapter i. 17. I under- 
 stand, therefore, that verse 18 gives first the general 
 description of human ungodliness in every phase, and 
 then the unrighteousness which was at that time most 
 conspicuous in the Jews who combined with practical 
 injustice a tenacious hold or possession of the truth: 
 the former demonstrated to the end of Romans i. ; the 
 latter (after the transition of chap. ii. 1-16) pursued 
 from chapter ii. 17 to chapter iii. 20. Had this two- 
 fold aspect been apprehended in the verse before us, the 
 rendering of the Authorized Version would not have- 
 been deserted for " restraining the truth by unrighteous- 
 
CHAPTER Z. 21 
 
 ness," which is a sense framed to meet the condition of 
 the heathen who were supposed here to be alone in the 
 apostle's view. The same misconception wrought mis- 
 chief in lowering the character both of the revelation of 
 God's wrath from heaven, and of the truth in order to 
 meet paganism. Admit the universal scope of the 
 moral description with a specific reference to those 
 who held the truth in unrighteousness, and the sense 
 which results is as easy as it is all-important, the fitting 
 introduction to the entire episode that follows till the 
 apostle takes up his proper theme, God's righteous- 
 ness revealed in the gospel. 
 
 The apostle next proceeds to set forth the proofs of 
 the guilt of men, because of which the wrath of God 
 awaits them. And first he takes up impiety, or the 
 evil which characterized the vast majority of the 
 world, as later on he addresses himself to that subtler 
 iniquity which consisted in holding the truth along with 
 practical unrighteousness, then found among Jews as 
 now in Christendom. This division of the subject, it 
 will be seen, is not only closer to the language of the 
 context but it preserves us from the mistake of such as 
 attribute a knowledge of " the truth" to the heathen as 
 such. In fact verse 19 begins with the earlier of the 
 two classes of evil we have seen distinguished in verse 
 18, and the subject is pursued to the end of the chapter. 
 It is distinctively the Gentile portion, and presents the 
 moral ground which necessitated and justified the un- 
 sparing judgment of God. 
 
 Two reasons are assigned why His wrath is thus 
 revealed upon all impiety. The first (ver. 1 9, 20) is 
 their inexcusable neglect of the testimony of creation 
 to His eternal power and divinity; the second (ver. 21), 
 their abandonment of the traditional knowledge of God 
 they had as late as the day of (not Adam, but even) 
 IToah. Thus man was unfaithful to knowledge he 
 possessed and to evidence around him. 
 
 " Because what is to be known of God is manifest 
 
22 ROMANS. 
 
 among them, for God hath manifested it to them. For 
 the invisible things of him from the world's creation 
 are perceived, being understood by his work, both his 
 eternal power and divinity, so that they should be inex- 
 cusable." The general force is plain. A few ex- 
 pressions may call for more detailed explanation. To 
 r^vwGTov means here, I think, not the knowledge 
 (7) r^vwai^) or what was known of God, but, as the 
 English Version, " that which may be known" of Him. 
 It is the knowable rather than the known. The 
 evidence was ample and distinct, but their eyes were 
 dull. Next, I see no sufficient ground to take the 
 phrase eV avTo?^ in an emphatic sense, but in one more 
 general. Had self-knowledge been appealed to, as 
 many conceive, it appears to me that the proper word 
 for subjective knowledge must have been employed, and, 
 further, the reflexive pronoun. It was expressly an 
 objective character of knowledge which lay open in the 
 midst ; and this is confirmed by the added intimation — 
 " for God manifested it to them," not the action of con- 
 science, which finds its more appropriate place in chapter 
 ii. where moral perception and conduct is discussed. 
 
 But how did God manifest to men what may be 
 known to Him? This is answered in verse 20. For 
 His invisible things, not all of course, but His eternal 
 power and divinity, since the creation of the world, are 
 perceived, being mentally apprehended by His works. 
 The things He made were before all eyes, and, as we 
 know, did not fail to produce convictions far above the 
 ordinary strain of human thought prostrated by 
 superstition and bewildered by philosophy : so much so 
 that even the famous positivist of ancient times could 
 not write his treatise on the world without affirming 
 that " God, though He is invisible to every mortal 
 being, is seen from the works themselves." 
 
 The phrase, utto KJiaews Koafiov^ " from the world's 
 creation," can signify the foundation or source of the 
 suggestion as easily and surely as the earliest starting 
 
CHAPTER I. 23 
 
 point of time ; but the latter seems to me preferable 
 here, because the things made by God are immediately 
 afterwards named as furnishing the groundwork for 
 the mind to infer their Maker by. 
 
 Again, it is notorious that Oeiorrj^ (from ^eto?, 
 divine), here translated " Godhead" in the Authorized 
 Version, has a wholly different force from OeoTrj^ (from 
 Ge69, God) in Colossians ii. 9. In the latter case it 
 would quite fall short of the apostle's object to pre- 
 dicate divinity of the person of Christ : all the fulness 
 of the Deity, or Godhead in the strictest sense, he says, 
 dwells in Him bodily. In the former case, there is 
 no such distinct personality supposed, but the more 
 general sense that man may gather of a nature not 
 creaturely but creatorial as evidenced in His works, the 
 fruit of His power. It is a real, though the lowest, kind 
 of testimony. 
 
 The next ground is not the knowable but the 
 positively known. " Because, having known God, they 
 glorified him not as God, nor were thankful, but 
 became vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent 
 heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they 
 became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible 
 God into* a likeness of an imagef of corruptible man 
 
 * Or, " for." 
 
 f 'Ofioiwixa and eUcav are not the same and are both needed to 
 complete the apostle's thought. The one means a thing made like, 
 or likeness ; the other, a representative or image, whether externally 
 resembling or not. This explains why the forms of 'ofxoios are 
 never used of the Son in relation to the Father ; for He, who was 
 God in the beginning before creation and yet with God, could not 
 be said to be merely like God. But when incarnate He could be, 
 and is said to be, the image of the invisible God. On the other 
 hand, it was no derogation but the highest distinction for God to 
 say of the first Adam that He would make hira " in our image, after 
 our likeness ;" i.e., representing Him here below, and withal sinless 
 morally like as He was. The tracing of the application both in 
 Genesis and in the New Testament is deeply interesting and will 
 prove how little the Fathers or modern books based on their ideas 
 have caught the truth conveyed. They exalt the first man as 
 
24 ROMAICS. 
 
 and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles." (Ver. 21-23.) 
 A traditional knowledge of God is in question ; and as 
 the former regarded man with evidence from the begin- 
 ning calculated and adequate to indicate a divine First 
 Cause, so the objective knowledge of God here spoken 
 of was the portion of man even after the flood : indeed 
 not till after that mighty event do we hear of idolatry. 
 But man was unequal to the task of preserving the 
 holy deposit; and this, because of his moral state. 
 "When they did know God, they neither glorified Him 
 as such, nor were they thankful. This left room for 
 vain reasonings, which again darkened the heart 
 instead of leading it into light. It was ' the self- 
 sufficiency, and so the folly, of the creature. For light 
 is only seen in God's light, and man must sink into 
 darkness when not morally elevated by looking up to 
 One above him. The humbling proof appeared too 
 soon ; and philosophy but sealed the evil to which super- 
 stitious fear led the way. An unacknowledged Supreme 
 was rapidly forgotten, and the glory of the incorruptible 
 God exchanged for a likeness of an image of corru.pt- 
 ible man, yea, into objects ever lowering till creation's 
 lords, now the victims of this debasing delusion, worship 
 the most loathsome reptile which eats the dust. 
 
 How admirably these few words refute the theory 
 of progress in which the would-be wise have indulged 
 in ancient and in modern times: a theory as contrary to 
 their own vaunted reason as to fact. For what a Being 
 could He be who would leave His intelligent and 
 morally responsible creature, man, to grope his cheerless 
 miserable way from the horrors of nature worship, and 
 the darkness of polytheism, to juster notions of Himself 
 and His attributes ! Where is the wisdom, where the 
 
 unduly as they lovier the glory of the Second ; and this through 
 the influence of Platonism. Fallen as he is, man is still God's 
 image : to curse him is to curse one that was made after His like- 
 ness. In the resurrection the saint will be like Christ and conformed 
 to His image as the Firstborn among many brethren. 
 
CHAPTER L 25 
 
 love, where tlie justice of such a scheme ? The error 
 consists in reasoning from progress in material things, 
 or even from the intellectual domain, to moral condition : 
 progress in those Scripture admits since the fall which 
 means the very reverse in this. No: man departed 
 more and more from God till the flood; after it he 
 gave up the knowledge of God for the worship of the 
 creature. The race fell into ever increasing error and 
 evil, till a partial revelation by Moses and the complete 
 manifestation of God in Christ judged morally the 
 heathen world, proving its declension, not progress, its 
 insensibility to right reason, and its departure from true 
 traditions into the degradation of idolatry. 
 
 The consequence of idolatry is invariably under the 
 moral judgment of God utter uncleanness among its 
 votaries ; and this in all its varieties but perhaps most 
 conspicuously, as a divine retribution, among those who 
 set up the human form, — " corruptible man," — though 
 it was certainly not wanting where they worshipped 
 that which was beneath man, birds, quadrupeds, and 
 reptiles, alone or combined. 
 
 " Wherefore also God gave them up in the lusts of 
 their hearts unto uncleanness to dishonour their bodies 
 among them [-selves], who changed the truth of God 
 for falsehood and venerated and served the creature 
 more than the Creator who is blessed for ever. Amen." 
 (Ver. 24, 25.) If the soul abandons the truth of God, 
 all is wrong, whatever appearances may say for the 
 present. This was the great falsehood. Not to be in 
 dependence and obedience is to be false to the relation- 
 ship of a creature. Yet is there a step still farther 
 down in evil, — the giving to the creature the honour 
 that belongs to God only. It is exactly, and in this 
 order, what Satan did, who was a liar from the begin- 
 ning, and abode not in the truth, for there was no truth 
 in him. Fallen man does his own will and is simply 
 thus the slave of Satan. It may be in lusts, or in a 
 religion of his own imagination, the one evidently de- 
 
26 ROMANS. 
 
 grading him, the other promising to elevate. But in 
 truth it is Satan's, not God's promise, and is the full 
 absolute lie which seals him up in all moral degrada- 
 tion not only for mind but for the body also. Such 
 was heathenism, from which Judaism was powerless to 
 deliver man, though a witness against his state. For 
 God as yet dwelt behind a veil, and if at times He dis- 
 closed His way without a veil, it was but angelically, 
 which is only a healing testimony to the sin- sick and 
 not the quickening power needed by man, by all dead 
 in trespasses and sin. (Comp. John v.) God revealed 
 in Christ, and this in eternal life as well as redemption, 
 alone meets the case. Such is Christianity as now 
 brought home and enjoyed in the power of the Holy 
 Ghost, who accordingly puts more abundant honour 
 on our uncomely parts and for the first time developes 
 the vast importance of the body in God's service. 
 See Romans vi., xii. ; 1 Corinthians vi., xv. ; 2 Corin- 
 thians v., &c. 
 
 " On this account God gave them up unto passions 
 of dishonour ; for both their females changed the 
 natural use into the contrary of nature, and likewise 
 also the males, leaving the natural use of the female, 
 burned in their desire toward one another ; males with 
 males working out unseemliness, and fully receiving in 
 themselves the recompense of their error which was 
 due." (Ver. 26, 27.) In this graphic but most grave 
 sketch of the humiliating picture which the classics fill 
 Tip in so different a tone (for " the unjust knoweth no 
 shame"), the weaker vessel comes first, as indeed the 
 shamelessness was there most apparent and human 
 depravity proved most complete and hopeless. The 
 apostle does not deign to characterize them (though the 
 greatest and highest, sages of earth, monarchs, con- 
 querors, poets, philosophers, and what not) as men and 
 women, but as " females" and " males," characterized 
 by ways below the brute, given up of God, and even 
 now enduring the meet reward of their deeds. 
 
CHAPTER I. 27 
 
 *'And even as they approved not to have God in 
 knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, 
 to do things unbecoming ; being filled with all un- 
 righteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of 
 envy, murder, strife, guile, ill-disposition; whisperers, 
 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boasters, in- 
 ventors of mischiefs, disobedient to parents, without 
 understanding, perfidious, without natural affection,, 
 unmerciful; who, well knowing the righteous decree 
 of God that those who do such things are worthy of 
 death, not only do them but also take complacency in 
 those who do them." (Ver. 28—32.) What pit of 
 immorality can be lower than this last ? 
 
 The word acoKt/u^o^ is here as elsewhere translated 
 *' reprobate," as this well suits the phrase and contrasts 
 their not approving to retain God in their knowledge 
 with His giving them over to a " disapproved" mind. 
 But it may rightly bear an active sense, and would 
 then mean an " undiscerning" inind, as the sentence 
 on thir presumption in rejecting God after pretending 
 to test and try the matter. It will be observed that 
 in verse 29 I have omitted on good external authority 
 TTopveia (" fornication"), as the internal appears to me 
 to turn the scale against it. As for the resemblance 
 to TTovrjpiq, it might act either in giving room to its 
 insertion by mistake, or to its omission. But I think 
 that the first class consists of personal evil ; the second 
 of that which is relative ; as the third brings out, not 
 roots of moral pravity, abstractedly viewed, whether 
 personal or relative, but developed wicked characters^ 
 and this in an order neither unsystematic nor difficult 
 to discern. 'AairovBov^ is deficient in authority, being 
 omitted in the best and most ancient manuscripts. 
 " Implacable" is therefore left out of verse 31. It 
 was probably introduced here because of its connectioa 
 with uajopr^oi in 2 Timothy iii. 3. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 The proof of human depravity and need is not yet 
 complete. There is another character of evil contrasted 
 yet connected with the description in the last verse of 
 chapter 1. and most offensive in the sight of God. Men 
 judge others and yet do the same things, and thus con- 
 demn themselves. How can this in any way arrest or 
 •even mitigate the sentence of God ? It was and is 
 common among speculative men, moralists, and the 
 like. In truth it is no small aggravation. To say 
 " we see" exposes us, who none the less practise in- 
 iquity, to hear from the just Judge of all, that " our 
 sin remaineth." For the face of the Lord is against 
 them that do evil, and the judging in others what they 
 themselves live in justifies their own righteous doom. 
 Say what they please, God's sentence is according to 
 truth upon those that do such things. He will. He 
 must, have reality, and conscience knows it. Instead 
 of open sympathy with others who sin, they may judge 
 it as wrong; but if they do the same, how can such 
 moral trifling, or those guilty of it, stand before God ? 
 
 " Wherefore thou art inexcusable, man, every one 
 that judgest; for wherein thou judgest the other, thou 
 condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the 
 same things. But we know that the judgment of God 
 is according to truth upon those that do such things. 
 And dost thou reckon this, O man, that judgest those 
 that do such things, and doest them, that thou shalt 
 escape the judgment of God ? Or despisest thou the 
 riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffer- 
 ing, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth 
 thee to repentance ?" (Ver. 1 — 4.) The truth is that 
 philosophy knows not God, and so easily forgets His 
 judgment, as it never can conceive His love. It is 
 
CHAPTER II. 29 
 
 self-satisfied and has man for its object, not God. 
 Hence His lavish goodness and His patience are de- 
 spised, and His end in all is a lesson never learnt. 
 
 Repentance is the work of God in the soul on the 
 moral side. It is inseparable from the new nature, and 
 flows from the energy of the Spirit as faith in Jesus 
 does; in no way the preparation for faith, but its ac- 
 companiment and fruit. Nevertheless, by this I do not 
 mean faith exercised as to the infinite work of Christ. 
 There may be as yet but a looking to Him longingly 
 and hopefully; and, along with this expectation of good 
 from Him according to God's word, that word turns 
 the eye of conscience inwardly, and the man now con- 
 verted judges himself as well as his ways before God. 
 This deepens also, instead of diminishing, as the soul 
 grows in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ. There was always repentance 
 as truly as faith wrought in souls ; and though this 
 may have assumed a legal shape under law, repentance 
 is not in anywise done with now, but is wrought all 
 the more profoundly under the gospel. Different 
 schools of doctrine have drawn a wrong inference, one 
 from Romans ii. 4, the other from 2 Corinthians vii. 10. 
 On the one side it is thought that the perception of 
 God's goodness is repentance ; on the other side that it 
 is godly sorrow for sin. Scripture says nothing of the 
 sort in either case, and intimates that, while repentance 
 always supposes a change of mind, it goes much far- 
 ther, and is a matter of conscience in the light of God, 
 and not a purely intellectual process. As the goodness 
 of God leads to repentance, so sorrow according to Him 
 works repentance. There is such a thing as sorrowing 
 unto repentance, as there is repentance unto salvation. 
 It is thus a far deeper dealing with the soul than many 
 suppose. Self is judged without reserve, and the will 
 goes wholly with the new man. Sorrow according to God 
 may still have a struggle: when one repents truly, the 
 evil is disliked inwardly, and one has got free from it. 
 
ISO ROMANS. 
 
 *' Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I 
 was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, 
 yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach 
 of my youth." (Jer. xxxi. 19.) 
 
 Moralizing without conscience has a peculiarly 
 hardening effect, and the long-suffering goodness of 
 God is then misused to slight His leading. God is not 
 mocked ; it is only thou, man, who thus deceivest 
 thyself. " But according to thy hardness and impenitent 
 heart thou treasurest to thyself wrath in the day of 
 w^rath and revelation of God's righteous judgment." 
 (Ver. 5.) Such is the solemn sanction which accom- 
 panies the gospel : not national, earthly, and provi- 
 dential judgments, but divine wrath, wrath already 
 revealed from heaven, to take its awful course in its 
 day when the day of grace is over. The law inflicted 
 its temporal chastisements; with the gospel goes the 
 revelation of " how much sorer punishment," even 
 eternal ; and this most of all when the gospel is refused 
 or abused. For there is a righteous judgment of 
 God, " who shall render to each according to his work: 
 to those that in patience of good work seek for glory, 
 honour, and incorruptibility, eternal life; but to those 
 that are contentious and disobey the truth and obey 
 unrighteousness, indignation and wrath." (Ver. 6 — 8.) 
 The appraisal and the rendering are individual; and, as 
 we shall see farther on, the secrets of the heart appear. 
 
 It is important to note that eternal life is viewed not 
 only as a present possession for the believer in Christ, 
 but as the future issue of a devoted pathway for His 
 name. The Gospel of John developes the former; the 
 other three shew us the latter ; as our apostle elsewhere 
 in this epistle (chap. vi. 22, 23) gives us both brought 
 together in the same context. But now, says he of 
 Christians, " being made free from sin and become 
 servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and 
 the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is 
 •death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 
 
CHAPTER II. 31 
 
 Christ our Lord." On the other hand, the wages of 
 sin, though death, are not death only, but after it the 
 judgment, as Hebrews ix. states in accordance with 
 what we have here. 
 
 In the next verse the apostle for the first time points 
 directly at the Jew, no less than the Gentile, as ob- 
 noxious to divine judgment. We have seen with what 
 consideration he approaches this subject, which, once 
 cleared, is to hold so prominent a place in the epistle. 
 In chapter i. he had begun with the bright side, and 
 affirmed the gospel to be God's power unto salvation to 
 every one that believes, both to Jew first and to 
 Greek. Now, in chapter ii., when handling, not the 
 gospel that saves the lost, but the immutable principles 
 of God's righteous government, he brings out the alter- 
 native — "tribulation and anguish on every soul of 
 man that worketh evil, both of Jew first and of Greek ; 
 but glory, and honour, and peace to every one that 
 worketh good, both to Jew first and to Greek; for 
 there is no regard of person with God." (Ver. 9 — 11.) 
 Such are His ways. Time, place, people can make no 
 radical difference with Him, save that possession of 
 privileges brings with it a prior responsibility, and this 
 ■with evident justice. If the man who enjoys religious 
 light works out evil notwithstanding, is he less guilty 
 than his less favoured fellow-sinner ? If he heeds the 
 warning and testimony of God, working out that which 
 is good, God wdll not withhold " glory, honour, and 
 peace ;" and neither last nor least stands the Jew thus 
 found in His sight, though, as Peter truly declared on 
 a great occasion, God is no respecter of persons; but 
 in every nation he that fears Him and works righteous- 
 ness is acceptable to Him. How this is made good in 
 souls every believer knows. It is the fruit of His own 
 grace ; for it is not in man to direct his steps, nor is 
 good in him or to be got from him, save when faith 
 enables him to do His good pleasure: without faith it 
 is impossible to please Him. Nor is it for a moment 
 
32 ROMANS. 
 
 to be allowed that Romans ii. can clash either with 
 Romans i. or with Romans iii. Without such grace 
 of God and faith of man there is no good about him : on 
 the contrary, he needs God's power to save him. But 
 God is here laying down His own inflexibly just ways 
 as dealing morally with man. The believer, no doubt, 
 is the only one who works good, the only possessor 
 therefore of glory, honour, and peace; and while the 
 Jew (as long as he had a place of relationship with 
 God, and even till judgment manifestly closed it) had 
 the precedence, the Gentile is not overlooked, but comes 
 up in gracious remembrance before God, as we see in 
 Cornelius and his house. 
 
 But, next, the apostle goes farther, and formally lays 
 down that, while in every instance God will judge 
 righteously, superiority of privilege entails deeper obli- 
 gations and corresponding strictness in judgment: " for 
 as many as without law have sinned, shall also perish 
 without law; and as many as have sinned under law 
 shall be judged by law (for not the hearers of law. are 
 just with God, but the doers of law shall be justified. 
 For whenever Gentiles, which have no law, do by 
 nature the things of the law, these having no law are 
 a law to themselves ; who evince the work of the law 
 written in their hearts, their consciences also joining 
 its testimony, and their thoughts one with another 
 accusing or else excusing) in the day when God shall 
 judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel by 
 Jesus Christ." (Ver. 12 — 16.) Thus there can be no 
 prescriptive title of exemption to the Jew in the day 
 of judgment, as he fondly hoped. The very standing 
 as God's witness in the earth, which that people had 
 enjoyed in contrast with the Gentiles, bears with it 
 their liability to a closer scrutiny when God deals, not 
 in external inflictions on the nations, but with the 
 heart and its ways in His sight, however hidden from 
 man. Could even the Jew question the equity of this 
 procedure ? He must assuredly abandon his own fatal 
 
CHAPTER II. S3 
 
 presumption — that the righteous God would close His 
 eyes to the wickedness of His own ancient people: if 
 he still maintained, as he ought, the special advantage 
 of Israel, he could not deny their augmented responsi- 
 bility compared with the Gentile. 
 
 In other ways also these passages are of great weight 
 and value. Men are apt to reason on this as on other 
 subjects after an abstract sort. From one true God 
 who gave His law, as He had made and shall judge all 
 men, many assume that all alike are under that law, 
 and shall be judged by it, and that no other method is 
 possible without sullying God's truth, righteousness, 
 authority, and honour. But he who is subject to the 
 word of God, and stands intelligently by faith in His 
 favour, knows that the dogmatism of a Pharisee is no 
 better than the scepticism of a Sadducee, that neither 
 knows the scripture, and that, as the latter denies the 
 power, so the former sets aside His grace and also His 
 righteousness. For the apostle elaborately shews as an 
 incontestable truth here and elsewhere that there were 
 men without law, as certainly as others under law. 
 Who they were is equally clear and sure: Gentiles had 
 not law, Jews had; and this was a main element of the 
 different ground on which they should be tried. In 
 vain would they weaken what the apostle says in 
 verse 12 by that which he adds in verses 14, 15, that 
 Gentiles, having no law, whenever they do the duties 
 of the law, are a law to themselves, spite of having no 
 law. It would be better to seek to understand the 
 latter verses which need a little attention and leilection, 
 rather than to overthrow what is so plain and pos^itive in 
 both; for in these passages, as everywhere, the doctrine 
 is that Gentiles were without law, in contradistinction 
 from Jews who were under law. (Compare Rom. iii. 19, 
 1 Cor. ix. 20, 21.) In Romans i., where Gentile re- 
 sponsibility and guilt are treated, it is not a question 
 of law, but of the testimony of creation and of the 
 traditional knowledge of God they at first possessed. 
 
 D 
 
34 ROMANS. 
 
 Here, in chapter ii., the Jewish boast of the law is 
 turned to a serious purpose, as it is the basis of the 
 apostle's proof that they cannot escape from being 
 judged of God by the higher and fuller standard of 
 His law. 
 
 It is argued by some who would neutralize these 
 differences, that Gentiles are said to have the law 
 written in their hearts. Why not look into what the 
 apostle actually says and means, instead of twisting a 
 few words into a contradiction of his express doctrine? 
 It would be strange indeed, and say but little for Chris- 
 tianity, if heathens possessed as such that which the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews (chap. x. 15, 16) affirms to be 
 one of the grand and distinctive blessings of the New 
 Covenant. This kind of theology teaches that the 
 heathen have already the law written in their hearts. 
 But the apostle does not stultify himself, as this would 
 imply, — does not predicate of the heathen that im- 
 mense mercy of God which the New Covenant holds 
 out to faith based on redemption in Christ. What 
 he really teaches is that whenever (for indeed it 
 was scanty and rare) Gentiles do by nature the 
 things of the law, they evince the law's work 
 written in their hearts. He says not that the law, 
 as these uninstructed men assume, but that its work, 
 was written therein. For instance, let a heathen 
 gather somehow the duty of honouring his parents: 
 this, though he may have never heard of the law, is a 
 law to him. So far the work of the law (not the law 
 itself) is said to be written in his heart. His con- 
 science thenceforth accuses or excuses him according to 
 his conduct; and God in judgment will take all fully 
 into account by and by. But this in no way interferes 
 with the opening principle that some sin without being 
 under law and so perish, as others more guiltily sin 
 under law, and so shall be judged; for the question in 
 judgment is not privilege but fidelity according to what 
 we know or may know. Not the law-hearers are just 
 
CHAPTER II. 35 
 
 with God but the law-doers shall be justified. This is 
 invariably true ; as scripture declares, faith accepts and 
 judgment will display. 
 
 Accordingly we have the character of judgment de- 
 clared in verse 16 conformablj'- to what the apostle calls 
 his gospel. Providential scourges, earthly chastening, 
 or destruction, are true dealings of God and so revealed, 
 not only in the Jewish scriptures, but in the prophecies 
 of the New Testament also. But the judgment of the 
 secrets of men is a different and far deeper truth: and 
 this finds its suited revelation in the gospel as Paul 
 presented it, where man is judged fully, both outwardly 
 and inwardly, in presence of the saving grace of God 
 and the heavenly glory of Christ the risen man, who is 
 the life and the righteousness of the believer. This is 
 Paul's gospel, and God's judgment of man (yea, of his 
 ' heart's secrets by Jesus Christ in the great day 
 that hastens) is according to that gospel. (Comp. 
 Rom. i. 17, 18.) 
 
 The apostle now advances another step in his appeal to 
 conscience. He addresses himself next to the Jew, not 
 classing him with the Gentile alone. Did the Jew 
 value himself on his singular place among men, on his 
 possession of a divine revelation, on the true God as 
 his God, on the knowledge of His will, on his own 
 consequent ability to try the things that differ and 
 hence decide for the more excellent ? did he assume a 
 conscious superiority to his Gentile neighbours, through 
 confidence in himself as thus standing on a vantage 
 ground which gave him to look down on the wisest 
 of other nations as but blind, and in the dark, and 
 foolish, and babes, being destitute of that embodiment 
 of knowledge and truth which the law afforded 
 himself ? Be it so, but if all this were so, how 
 was it with the Jew in fact ? The greater the 
 privilege, the less excusable if he was faithless to 
 the light he had and as bad as the heathen he 
 despised. 
 
86 ROMANS. 
 
 " But if* thon art named a Jew, and restest on law, 
 and boastest in God, and knowest his will, and provest 
 the things that differ, being instructed out of the law, 
 and hast confidence that thou thyself art a guide of 
 blind, a light of those in darkness, an instructor of 
 fools, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge 
 and of truth in the law : thou then that teachest another 
 dost thou not teach thyself? thou that preachest not to 
 steal, dost thou steal ? thou that sayest not to commit 
 adultery, dost thou commit adultery ? thou that abhor- 
 rest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou who 
 boastest in the law, through transgression of the law 
 dost thou dishonour God ? For the name of God' on 
 your account is blasphemed among the Gentiles even 
 as it is written." (Ver. 17 — 24.) 
 
 Thus severely, but severely because it was with the 
 irresistible force of truth, does the apostle turn to the 
 utter shame of the Jew the very ground on which he 
 had entrenched himself in pride and vain glory. If 
 there was conscience, he must own himself more guilty 
 than the Gentile; if there was none, his insensibility 
 would not make his sin and folly less manifest to all 
 who fear God and estimate man aright. On his own 
 shewing his boasted knowledge of the law brought no 
 saving power along with it for himself, whatever fuel 
 it might supply for his arrogant abuse of it in con- 
 tempt of others. Who, then, more signally dishonoured 
 God? Was it not written even more strongly still in 
 their own prophets? What said Isaiah (chap. lii. 5)? 
 and what Ezekiel (chap, xxxvi. 20 — 23)? No doubt 
 their foreign lords made them to howl ; but was it not 
 true that Israel profaned Jehovah's holy name among 
 the heathen whither they went ? 
 
 The issue of the reasoning is given in the concluding 
 
 * " But if (et Se) is unquestionably the right reading, not ISe 
 ("behold") as in the Received Text and Authorized Version, which 
 seems to have been a correction to ease the sense, if not a mere 
 blunder in copying. 
 
CHAPTER II. 37 
 
 verses. A religious form cannot cover the contradiction 
 morally of its own spirit? and on the other hand, 
 where the spirit is truly found, God will approve of this 
 spite of the absence (it may be unavoidably) of the 
 form. He will and must have reality in that which 
 concerns men in relation to Himself. '' For circum- 
 cision indeed profiteth, if thou keep the law; but if 
 thou be a transgressor of law, thy circumcision is 
 become uncircumcision. If then the uncircumcision 
 keeps the requirements of the law, shall not his uncir- 
 cumcision be reckoned for circumcision; and the natural 
 uncircumcision, fulfilling the law, judge thee that in 
 the way of letter and circumcision transgressest law ? 
 For he that is outwardly a Jew is not [one], nor is 
 that which is outward in tlesh circumcision, but he that 
 is hiddenly a Jew, and circumcision of heart in spirit, 
 not in letter, the praise of whom [is] not of men but 
 of God." As the principle is clear, so are the persons 
 who alone are acceptable with God. External circum- 
 stances cannot over-ride His character and ways and 
 judgment. The apostle does not here enunciate the 
 fundamental truth of either Christianity or the Church 
 in which dispensational diffeftnces vanish away in the 
 light of a Christ dead and risen in whom there is 
 neither Jew nor Greek. But it is of deep interest to 
 observe how the profoundly just dealing of God which 
 he is asserting, and which could not but commend 
 itself to the conscience even of him whom it most 
 condemns, fits in with that mighty development of 
 truth, the revelation of the mystery, which it was 
 Paul's province above all others to make known to us. 
 As on the one hand the mere outward Jew is nothing 
 nor the rite abstracted from its meaning; so on the 
 other hand that only has praise with God which is hid- 
 den and heart work, not in letter but in spirit. Such 
 an one, he strikingly adds (in allusion it would seem to 
 the name of Judah and of a Jew) even if his brethren 
 curse, or men hate, shall have his praise of God. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The apostle's statement at the end of chapter ii. had 
 laid down with irresistible force for the conscience that 
 God will have reality rather than form. Let the Jew 
 then beware. This gives occasion to objections which 
 are met in the earlier part of chapter iii. 1 — 8. 
 
 " What therefore [is] the superiority of the Jew, or 
 •what the profit of circumcision?'' To this or at least 
 the former of these questions the apostle replies, " Much 
 in every way ; for, first, because they were entrusted with 
 the oracles of God." In its proper place he enumerates 
 the various high distinctions of Israel; but here he 
 singles out, as foremost, that which had been their 
 constant, and most precious privilege, the possession of 
 God's written word; and the rather too as this was 
 most suited to demonstrate their moral delinquency. 
 For what use had they made of it? Where was the 
 fruit of so great a favour ? 
 
 Here again there is an»anticipation of any argument 
 founded, however unreasonably, on Jewish refractoriness 
 which knew that the glory of God can never fail. 
 " For what if some believed not? shall their unbelief 
 make void the faith of God ? Let it not be, but let 
 God be true and every man false, even as it is written, 
 That thou mightest be justified in thy words, and over- 
 come when thou art judged." God holds fast infallibly 
 to His truth, and men fail in faithfulness because of 
 want of faith, which is insensible to sin, trusts self and 
 has no confidence in God. That there is any, the 
 smallest, faihire on God's part he indignantly repudiates, 
 and insists that He at least be vindicated to man's 
 shame and conf»^ssion of his own evil; even as David 
 found his only resource in acknowledging his sin to 
 God, clearing Him at all cost to himself. Indeed this 
 
CHAPTER III. 39 
 
 is the secret of blessing for the sinner ; and the willing- 
 ness to own his ruined estate God operates in the heart 
 by the revelation of His own grace. Our sins justify 
 His words. 
 
 Of this the objector would again take advantage by 
 contending that God could not then consistently punish 
 us. Hence the apostle cuts off such misuse of the truth 
 by what follows. " But if our unrighteousness commend 
 God's righteousness, what shall we say ? Is God un- 
 righteous who inflicteth wrath ? I speak according to 
 man. Let it not be: since how shall God judge the 
 world ?" This last was an axiom with the Jew, who 
 was willing enough to allow justice in dealing with the 
 earth at large (as, e.g., Abraham had entrenched him- 
 self on it in favour of exempting Lot from the destruc- 
 tion then impending over the cities of the plain). Im- 
 possible that there can be unrighteousness in God. 
 But this very consideration was fatal to the fond 
 delusion of self-security to which an unrighteous Jew 
 yielded. God brings Himself glory even in face of 
 man's iniquity ; but iniquity is none the less, nor the 
 less surely to be judged of God for all that. Hence 
 he allows the objection to betray its own heinousness 
 and leaves it when thus self-exposed without an answer, 
 as necessarily condemned even by the most ordinary 
 natural conscience. " For if the truth of God abounded 
 in my lie to his glory, why any longer am I too judged 
 as a sinner ? and not, even as we are slanderously 
 reported, and even as some give out that we say, ' Let 
 us do evil that good may come?' — whose judgment is 
 just." Such reasoning resembled what was falsely put 
 into the mouth of the Christian, and proved too truly 
 of the Jewish adversary that, in seeking to escape the 
 conviction of his own hopeless exposure to God's judg- 
 ment, he was obliged, as with the stiffest legalist is so 
 often the case, to slip into principles of very gross 
 antinomianism. It must ahvays be thus, where men, 
 cloaking their sins, hope for mercy from God ; and the 
 
40 ROMANS. 
 
 more inconsistently, as they ignore His grace and 
 confess that He is the judge of all. 
 
 Next, from verse 9 the general argument is re- 
 sumed, all the stronger for the interruption which 
 rebuked the vain struggles and detailed cavils of the 
 Jew. "What therefore? are we better? Not at all; 
 for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles to be 
 all under sin, even as it is written. There is none 
 righteous, not one; there is not the [man] that under- 
 standeth; there is not the [nation] that seeketh God. 
 All went out of the way, thus then they became un- 
 profitable; there is none that doeth kindness, there is 
 not so much as one. Their throat [is] an open grave; 
 with their tongues they used deceit; venom of asps [is] 
 under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and 
 bitterness; swift [are] their feet to shed blood; ruin and 
 misery [are] in their ways, and no way of peace they 
 knew. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now 
 we know that whatever things the law saith, it speaketh 
 to those that are in the law, that every mouth may be 
 stopped, and all the world come under judgment with 
 God; because by works of law no flesh shall be justified 
 before him, for by law is knowledge of sin." (Ver. 9 — 
 20.) The Jew then is no better. The Gentiles were 
 utterly degraded and guilty, as we saw in chapter i. ; the 
 Jews had brought shame on the Lord in proportion to 
 their exceeding privileges. To clench this last point 
 the apostle cites from the Psalms and prophets, 
 especially Psalm liii. and Isaiah lix. Righteousness, 
 intelligence, and even desire after God were not to be 
 found, but all gone aside, and useless morally. Nay, 
 every whit of them was corrupt or violent, — throats, 
 tongues, lips, feet, eyes. And this, as is remarked, 
 was God's estimate, not of men merely but of the Jew, 
 and addresses itself to those under itself as no Jew 
 would deny. 
 
 The overwhelming conclusion, then, is that every 
 mouth is closed and the whole world comes in guilty 
 
CHAPTER III. 41 
 
 before God. The Jew never doubted the wickedness of 
 the idolatrous Greeks, Romans, or other Gentiles. This 
 to hira was patent and unquestionable. But the flat- 
 tering and most mistaken inference of immunity he drew 
 from his own position, as having God's law and ordi- 
 nances. No, reasons the apostle, this demonstrates 
 your guilt to be even greater than the heathen's, if you 
 are no less immoral than they; and that such is the 
 fact certainly flows from the revealed sentence of the 
 law on the people who have that law. 
 
 Thus all stand inexcusable in their guilt before God; 
 and this, because law-works cannot justify — still less 
 of course the works that man's mind suggests, or that 
 the will of others may extort. If any works could 
 justify anybody, those of God's law must be the surest 
 benefit to the Jew. But the truth is that no flesh 
 shall be justified from any such source in His sight; 
 for contrariwise law never produces holiness, but is only 
 the means of arriving at a full knowledge of sin. 
 
 There is another point I would notice as to the two 
 chief portions which the apostle quotes from the Old 
 Testament. The psalm and the prophecy already 
 referred to terminate respectively — the former, with an 
 earnest wish that the turning-point for Israel were 
 come out of Zion, their captivity giving place to the 
 long-looked-for joy and deliverance — the latter, with 
 the declaration that the Redeemer shall come to Zion, 
 and the covenant of blessing be theirs for ever. That 
 is, both texts in their original connection close their 
 sad account of Israel's sin with the yearning after, and 
 the distinct prediction of, the kingdom of God restored 
 to Israel with all accompanying blessedness and glory. 
 But in the New Testament they are followed by the in- 
 discriminate grace of God to every sinner that believes 
 in Christ. In the former it is redemption by power; in 
 the latter it is redemption by blood, which is come in 
 meanwhile, before the Redeemer appears in power and 
 glory, as He will soon. 
 
42 ROMANS. 
 
 Hitherto it has been for the most part negative state- 
 ment or argument. The proof is complete that the 
 Jew has righteousness for God no more than the Gen- 
 tile, whom no Jew could doubt to be hopelessly mined 
 in sin, as indeed the state of the heathen, before the 
 gospel testimony went forth, was to the last degree 
 deplorable. But it had been shewn from their own 
 Psalms and Prophets that Israel was wholly evil in 
 the sight of God ; and to demonstrate this the Apostle 
 needs nothing but the admitted postulate that, whatever 
 things the law says, it speaks to those that are under 
 the law; i. e., the Jews. Thus, both being demonstrated 
 to be mere sinners (the Jew^s who had most pretension 
 by the most sweeping and express testimonies of their 
 owm boasted divine oracles), every mouth was stopped, 
 and all the world obnoxious to God's judgment. Law 
 made its possessors no better, could not justify, but 
 only give full knowledge of sin — sorrowful result for 
 the sinner! 
 
 Then, what law could not do, God does by His good 
 news. " But now without law God's righteousness is 
 manifested, being testified by the law and the prophets, 
 even God's righteousness through faith of Jesus Christ 
 unto all, and upon all that believe." What fulness of 
 truth, and what a compressed and precise expression of 
 it ! Man's righteousness was nowhere among the Gen- 
 tiles. It had been asked for by the law among the Jews; 
 but the law received no answer save of guilt. Those 
 among them whose conscience was upright acknow- 
 ledged that all their righteousnesses were as filthy rags, 
 and that their iniquities, like the wind, had taken them 
 away — that for their sins and for the iniquities of 
 their fathers, the Jews had become a reproach to all 
 that were about them. In the very writings which 
 confessed their ruin the prophets spoke of Jehovah 
 bringing near His righteousness. " My righteousness 
 is near; my salvation is gone forth." "My salvation 
 shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be 
 
CHAPTER III. 43 
 
 abolislied." " My righteousness shall be for ever, and 
 my salvation from generation to generation." " My 
 salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be 
 revealed." (Isaiah xlvi., Ivi. ; Daniel ix. 16,24.) So, 
 in the types of the law, the entire sacrificial system sets 
 forth a righteousness of God outside man, yet most 
 truly for him, which meets its only adequate significance 
 in the mighty work and death of Jesus. But the law 
 and the prophets were only witnesses, testifying that 
 this divine righteousness was not come, but coming; the 
 shadows of a substance not yet present, the prediction 
 of what was to be, and then near to come. Now it is 
 come and manifested. It is quite independent of law, 
 on the wholly different principle of grace, though the 
 law as well as the prophets bore an anticipative wit- 
 ness to it. Law (not in its types, but in its proper 
 character) appeals to the individual's own obedience, 
 knows nothing of a substitute. Grace always supposes 
 the intervention of God Himself in His Son, who in 
 the cross establishes the right of God to bless him that 
 believes in Jesus. It is not simply His prerogative of 
 mercy; it is His righteousness. For the blood of the 
 only acceptabLe victim is shed, the sacrifice is offered, 
 the judgment of the sins has fallen on Him, He has 
 accepted it all. This then is the new sort of righteous- 
 ness; not man's, which, if it existed, must be according 
 to the law; not the sinner's, of course (for he, being a 
 sinner, has none which can avail), but God's, according to 
 the types of the law and the declarations of the prophets, 
 now no longer hidden or even promised, but manifested. 
 He who believes God's testimony in the gospel to Jesus 
 Christ His Son, confesses his sins and trusts God, not 
 himself; he sees and owns what God can righteously 
 do for him through the cross, and thus shares in 
 His righteousness. 
 
 The manuscripts differ as to the text here. Some of 
 the most ancient (the Sinai, Vatican, Alexandrian, and 
 Rescript of Paris, beside some juniors, versions, and 
 
'44 ROMANS. 
 
 fathers) omit icai iw) iravja^ (" and upon all"). But I 
 agree with the judgment of those who retain the re- 
 ceived text in this, and I have little doubt that the 
 words were omitted through the eye or ear resting on 
 one Travja^ SO as to overlook the other. Possibly indeed 
 one scribe or more may have designedly left out the 
 clause, fancying it to be a mistake from not appre- 
 hending the scope, and conceiving, like some commen- 
 tators (e.g.. Dean Alford), that there is no real difiference 
 of meaning in the prepositions. But this is incorrect. 
 There is no difference of words in scripture without a 
 different sense, though sometimes the shade is so fine 
 as to be more easily felt than expressed. Here the 
 distinct force of the clause is plain and important. The 
 former {eU 7ravra<i) marks the direction of God's 
 righteousness. It is not, like the law, restricted to a 
 single nation; it addresses itself " unto all" men with- 
 out exception ; but the benefit depends on faith in 
 Jesus Christ, and hence it only reaches and takes effect 
 " upon all that believe." This distinction is of great 
 practical value; but it turns mainly on the difference 
 of the prepositions. Divine righteousness w^as in prin- 
 ciple applicable to all, but in fact applied only to all 
 believers. 
 
 It was no question of right in man, but in God, and 
 this through Christ's redemption. " For there is no 
 difference; for all sinned, and do come short of the 
 glory of God." When man was innocent, he simply 
 enjoyed the creature gifts around in thankfulness to 
 Him who had set him in the midst of all and over all 
 which God had pronounced " very good." But when he 
 sinned, God appeared and could have no test to try him 
 by short of His glory, which drives out sinful man from 
 before His face. Hence the necessity for divine grace 
 if he is to be justified. This accordingly is the im- 
 mediate topic of discourse: "being justified [i.e. all 
 who are being justified] gratuitously by his grace 
 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom 
 
CHAPTER III. 45 
 
 God set forth as a propitiatory through faith in his 
 blood, for a declaration of his righteousness on account 
 of the praeter-mission of the sins that had been before 
 in the forbearance of God, with a view to the declara- 
 tion of his righteousness in the present time, in order 
 to his being just and justifying him that is of faith 
 in Jesus." 
 
 Thus the utter sin of man makes it an absolute 
 necessity that, if he is to be justified at all, he must be 
 justified gratuitously by God's grace. The question of 
 desert or previous fitness is excluded. This suits the 
 grace and majesty of God quite as much as the abject 
 need of man. His grace moreover does no dishonour 
 to His holy and righteous character, but the very 
 reverse; and all through the redemption that is in Christ 
 Jesus. What is the ransom He purposed and has 
 found? Christ a propitiatory through faith in His 
 blood whom He set forth for a declaration of His 
 righteousness. For God passed over the sins of 
 believers in Old Testament times, looking forward to 
 Christ's blood to vindicate Him, and forbearing all the 
 while. But now it is not a matter of forbearance. The 
 debt is cancelled, the blood is shed. His righteousness is 
 no longer in prospect, but brought in and manifested, 
 and God is proved to be just in justifying him that 
 believes in Jesus. (Ver. 26.) 
 
 This therefore exalts God and His Son, but leaves no 
 room for the boasting of those who trust in themselves 
 that they are righteous. " Where then [is] boasting ? 
 It was excluded. By what law ? Of works ? No, but 
 by [the] law of faith. For we reckon that a man is 
 justified by faith without works of law. Is he the God 
 of Jews only? [Is he] not also of Gentiles? Yea of 
 Gentiles also; since God is one who shall justify [the] 
 circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through their 
 faith ? Do we then make void law through faith ? Far 
 be it: but we establish law." (Ver. 27-31.) The prin- 
 ciple of faith shuts the door against glorying in one's 
 
46 ROMANS. 
 
 own works, because it means justification by faith apart 
 from works of law. But the moment it is allowed that 
 this is God's sanctioned way, He is certainly not God 
 of Jews more than of Gentiles, but is one and the same 
 to both, who will justify circumcised persons not by 
 law as they expect, but by faith, and if uncircumcised 
 have faith, through it He will justify them also. 
 
 Is this destruction of law as a principle? The very op- 
 posite. Law never had such a sanction as in the gospel 
 proposed to faith, whether one looks at the sinner 
 totally condemned under it or at Christ made a curse on 
 the cross. On the other hand, those who would treat 
 Christians as under the law for their rule do enfeeble its 
 authority, because these are taught to hope for salvation 
 at the same time that they fail to meet its require- 
 ments. This is not to establish law, but to make it 
 void. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The previous reasoning, and especially the statement 
 of the apostle towards the close of chapter iii., had 
 made justification to depend evidently and exclusively 
 on the expiatory work of Jesus. God was thereby 
 just and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus. 
 And this, as he had further shewn, at once opens the 
 door of grace to Gentiles as well as Jews, while it 
 establishes law instead of annulling its authority (as 
 the salvation of sinners on any other principle must). 
 
 This naturally raised the question of the saints in 
 Old Testament times, before Jesus and the gospel which, 
 since His advent, is preached to every creature. How 
 
CHAPTER IV. 47 
 
 does the doctrine agree with God's ways in their case ? 
 Accordingly the apostle takes two instances which 
 would naturally occur to a Jewish objector: one the 
 depositary of promise from God, as regards the chosen 
 people; the other the true type of royalty over them 
 according to God — Abraham and David, but especially 
 Abraham. Both, we shall see, confirm the great argument 
 instead of presenting the smallest difficulty to be removed. 
 
 " What therefore shall we say that Abraham, our 
 [fore-jfather according to the flesh, hath found ?* For 
 if Abraham was justified by works, he hath matter of 
 boast, but not before God. For what saith the scrip- 
 ture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned 
 to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh 
 the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but 
 according to debt; but to him that worketh not, but 
 believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith 
 is reckoned for righteousness." (Ver. 1 — 5.) 
 
 What, then, is the true inference from the history of 
 Abraham ? If justified by works, certainly the credit 
 would be his ; but this is never found before God. And 
 with this the scripture accords ; for it speaks not of his 
 goodness before his call or acceptance, but expressly of 
 his faith in God's word as that which he exercised, and 
 which was accounted as righteousness. (Gen. xv. 6.) 
 No Jew who bowed to the divine authority of the 
 Pentateuch could dispute this. Wa.s it, then, consis- 
 tent or at issue with the gospel ? If a man work, the 
 reward is not viewed as a gratuity, but as the wages 
 due to him ; but if, instead of working, he believes on 
 Him that justifies the migodlij, what a magnificent proof 
 and conclusion that his faith is reckoned for righteous- 
 
 * The manuscripts differ widely in this place. The Vatican is 
 not alone in omitting euprjKevai ("hath found"), which would yield 
 a very easy sense. Most of the copies place evp-rjKevai before Karh 
 adpKa, but the best have it after ipovfj.ev. UponaTopa is the read- 
 ing of but few, but perhaps enough ; as irarepo is the usual form 
 and might easily have slipt in. 
 
48 ROMANS. 
 
 ness ! This is free grace, and the very reverse of a 
 debt according to law ; and such was the principle of 
 God's dealings with their great forefather according to 
 the inspired account of Moses. 
 
 Take again the testimony of David. Does he fall 
 in with the gospel or contradict the legislator ? The 
 sweet psalmist of Israel confirms them, for he pronounces 
 those blessed whom the law could only curse. " Just 
 as David also speaketh of the blessedness of the man 
 to whom God reckoneth righteousness without works. 
 Blessed [they] whose iniquities were forgiven, and 
 whose sins are covered ; blessed a man whose sin the 
 Lord will in no way reckon." (Ver. 6 — 8.) Unques- 
 tionably this is justification not by good, but in spite of 
 evil works. It is God's grace blessing, not His law 
 cursing, where there was no righteousness, but only 
 lawlessness and sin ; yet the Lord reckons no sin what- 
 ever, but righteousness without works. No doubt, man 
 is supposed to be altogether evil and without excuse; 
 but this is the revelation of the God of all grace as He 
 loves to be known by sinful man. He justifies those 
 who need it most — the ungodly. " This blessedness, 
 therefore, [is it] upon the circumcision or also upon 
 the uncircumcision ? for we say that to Abraham faith 
 was reckoned for righteousness. Hosv then was it 
 reckoned ? When he was in circumcision or in uncir- 
 cumcision ? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 
 And he received [the] sign of circumcision, a seal of 
 the faith that [he had] in uncircumcision, in order to 
 his being the father of all that believe while uncircnm- 
 cised, in order that righteousness might be reckoned to 
 them also ; and father of circumcision, not only to those 
 circumcised, but also to those that walk in the steps of 
 the faith of our father Abraham while uncircumcised." 
 (Ver. 9—12.) 
 
 We have seen, then, faith counted as righteousness 
 to Abraham, corroborated by the testimony of David 
 to the blessedness of those whose bad works were re- 
 
CHAPTER IV. 49 
 
 mitted and to whom the Lord reckoned no sin. But 
 a new question arises for the Jewish mind — Were not 
 those blessed in the enjoyment of circumcision ? Is it 
 not limited to persons within that pale? Again the 
 apostle brings in Abraham. Could any Jew slight him 
 or hesitate as to the conditions of his blessing ? How, 
 therefore, in his case was faith reckoned to him ? after 
 or before he was circumcised ? Beyond doubt, when he 
 was uncircumcised, as their own inspired record made 
 plain and sure. Circumcision was but a sign he re- 
 ceived considerably later, as sealing the faith he had 
 while in an uncircumcised state. Thus is Abraham 
 more than any other fitted to be father of all that 
 believe while uncircumcised, that righteousness might 
 be reckoned to them ; and father of circumcision (not 
 of the circumcised, or Jews, as some perversely under- 
 stand, but), of true separation to God, whether for the 
 circumcised or for those also that walk in the steps of 
 the faith of our father Abraham whilst uncircumcised. 
 
 The Jew, therefore, could not cite Abraham without 
 being compelled by the scriptural history to allow that 
 this precedent illustrates the grace of God in justifying 
 the heathen more forcibly, if possible, than in its applica- 
 tion to his own circumcised and lineal seed. God, if He 
 pleased, could have justified Abraham after bringing 
 him under the rite of circumcision; but He saw fit to 
 do the very reverse. Not only was faith reckoned as 
 righteousness to Abraham, but it was also beyond cavil 
 whilst he was still uncircumcised; and circumcision was 
 in no way a means of the gra'.e that justifies, but a 
 seal of the righteousness that w;is reckoned to him long 
 before that sign was instituted by God. 
 
 Justification, then, is not of works: else man might 
 boast of himself, instead of God being glorified. It is 
 really according to grace, and not debt; and God re- 
 serves His prerogative of justifying the ungodly. Thus 
 God and man have their due place; und ns Abraham 
 illustrated the principle, so Pavid speaks of the pro- 
 
50 ROMANS. 
 
 nouncing a blessing after this sort in Psalm xxxii. 
 Nothing but imputing righteousness without works 
 could avail for the justifying of a sinner. Nor this 
 only ; for the very man, with whom circumcision began 
 as the command of God, was expressly justified by faith 
 before he was circumcised. So manifestly did God 
 order all in His wisdom and goodness that circum- - 
 cision should be but a seal of the rightt-ousness of faith 
 which Abraham had while yet uncircumcised. Thus 
 the Gentiles or the uncircumcised were especially pro- 
 vided for in the unquestionable facts recorded in the 
 first book of the Pentateuch, as no Jew could deny. 
 Abraham was father of all lielievers in a state like bis 
 own, and father of circumcision (i.e., separation to 
 God, couched under that act which set forth mortifica- 
 tion of the flesh) not only to the circumcised, but also 
 to those that walk in the footsteps of the faith the an- 
 cestor of Israel had before circumcision. Believers 
 from among the Gentiles were thus as truly circumcised 
 in the highest sense as Jewish ones. 
 
 " For not by law was the promise to Abraham or to 
 his seed, that he should be heir of [the] world, but by 
 righteousness of faith. For if those of law [be] heirs, 
 faith is made vain and the promise is annulled." (Ver. 
 13, 14.) 
 
 The apostle now reasons from the necessary principle 
 of God's promise. This excludes law and supposes 
 faith-righteousness. For evidently law supposes the 
 obedience of man as the condition of receiving the boon 
 which is in question. It was not so in God's dealings 
 with Abraham or his seed. There was not a word 
 about His law when God gave promise to Abraham in 
 Genesis xii., and to his seed in Genesis xxii. The 
 promise implies God's fulfilment of it; the law claimed 
 man's obedience of its demands. They are thus, while 
 each is admirable for its own end, absolutely diflferent 
 and mutually exclusive. The promised inheritance is 
 not by law, but by another sort of righteousness. It 
 
CHAPTER IV. 51 
 
 was annexed to faith ; and this is so true, that if those 
 who stand on law are heirs, no room is left for faith 
 and the promise comes thus to nought. " For the law 
 worketh out wrath; but where no law is, there is no 
 transgression." (Ver. 15.) The application is as clear 
 as it is momentous, and this positively as well as nega- 
 tively. The thing law generally, and in particular the law 
 of God given by Moses, provokes by its very excellence 
 the hostile self-will of man, and so detects his enmity 
 and works out wrath in result. On the other hand, 
 where there is no law, there is no transgression. It is 
 no question of sin here, but of violating positive pre- 
 scription, which latter of course could not be till the 
 lawgiver uttered the enactments definitely. Then as 
 law existed, it could be transgressed. But it was not 
 yet promulgated in the time of Abraham, who had 
 that wholly different thing — the promise. 
 
 The conclusion is, that as law would have defeated 
 the promise of God and brought wrath on man, instead 
 of the inheritance, " on this account [it is] of faith, 
 that [it might be] according to grace in order to the 
 promise being sure to all the seed, not only to that 
 which is of law, but also to that which is of Abraham's 
 faith, who is father of us all (even as it is written, A 
 father of many nations I have made thee), before God 
 whom he believed, that quickeneth the dead and callttli 
 the things that are not as if they are; who against hope 
 believed in hope, in order to his becoming father of 
 many nations according to that which was spoken. So 
 shall be thy seed." (Ver. 16—18.) As faith is op- 
 posed to works, so is grace to law ; while the grace of 
 God who gave the promise makes the sole and withal 
 the large door of faith to open for Gentiles no less than 
 Jews. Had law been the principle, Israel who boasted 
 of possessing the law, though blind to their breaches of 
 it and to their own enhanced exposure to wrath, could 
 alone have made an effort, however vainly. But grace 
 goes out to the Gentile no less than to the Jew who 
 
52 ROMANS. 
 
 could hardly limit Abraham's paternity of " many 
 nations" to his own people. 
 
 Here too another point of great value is noticed. 
 The God whom Abraham believed quickens the dead 
 and calls things that have no being as though they had. 
 This was rendered evident not only by the fact that 
 Sarah bore no child to Abraham, but by their great 
 age when the promise was given. They were as good 
 as dead, and a child of theirs had no existence. But 
 what of all this to God ? Long before the time God 
 spoke, Abraham against hope believed in hope. What 
 a pattern of faith ! On the human side all was hope- 
 less ; on God's part there was simply His word. But 
 Abraham believed, hoped, and was not ashamed. God 
 could not fail to make good what He said: " So shall 
 be thy seed." 
 
 We are thus gradually advancing to the great principle 
 of resurrection, which, while, it bears mainly on life, 
 as we shall see in chapters v. — viii., plays also a most 
 momentous part in justification. For this too the case 
 of Abraham is employed : " And, not being weak in 
 faith, he considered [ not] his own body now dead, being 
 about a hundred years old, and the deadening of Sarah's 
 womb, yet as to the promise of God wavered not 
 through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving 
 glory to God, and fully assured that what he hath 
 promised he is able also to perform." (Ver. 19-21.) The 
 promise of God was beyond hope, and contrary to it, if 
 he reasoned from himself and Sarah; but yet he believed 
 in hope, because God had declared he should have pos- 
 terity numerous as the stars and the sand. Faith 
 reasons from God and His word, not from self or cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 In verse 19 there occurs a remarkable difference of 
 reading; and yet, strange to say, though that which 
 results is as opposite as can be, in either way the sense 
 is good. For both appear to suit and carry on the 
 argument, though of course one alone is the true and 
 
CHAPTER IV. 53 
 
 intended comment of the Spirit on tlie state of Abra- 
 ham. There is excellent and perhaps adequate autho- 
 rity of every kind* (manuscripts, versions, and ancient 
 citations) for dropping the negative particle, which is 
 therefore marked as doubtful in the version just before 
 the reader's eye. If ov be an interpolation, the 
 meaning would be that Abraham, instead of slighting 
 the obstacles, took full account of them all (Gen. xvii. 
 17), yet as regards the promise of God had no hesitation 
 through unbelief, but on the contrary was inwardly 
 strengthened in faith. If the ordinary reading be 
 right, the meaning is that, far from being weak in faith, 
 he paid no heed to the facts before his eyes whether in 
 himself or in his wife, nor staggered at the promise of 
 God through unbelief, but found strength in faith, 
 giving glory to Him and satisfied that He was able 
 also to perform the promise. 
 
 " Wherefore also it was reckoned to him for rijfhte- 
 ousness. Now it was not written on his account alone 
 that it was reckoned to him, but on our account also, to 
 whom it shall be reckoned — [us] that believe on him 
 that raised Jesus our Lord out of [the] dead, who was 
 delivered forf our offences and was raised for-j- our 
 justification." (Ver. 22—25.) 
 
 Thus as faith was reckoned for righteousness to the 
 father of the faithful, so is it to the believer now. But 
 
 * The Sinai, Vatican, Alexandrian, and Rescript of Paris (C), 
 with a few cursives, some of the oldest and best copies of the 
 Vulgate, the Syriac (not the later or Philox.), the Coptic, the 
 Erpenian Arabic, and some Greek and Latin fathers did not read 
 oi). Lachmann accordingly leaves it out, and Griesbach counted 
 it a probable omission. Tischendorf too omitted it in his first 
 edition, but replaced it in the second and those subsequent. Meyer 
 adheres to the common text. 
 
 t Aid with the accus. means "for," "on account of," either 
 retrospectively or prospectively, according to the requirement of the 
 context (as here we have instances of each). The active force of 
 St/caioxrts forbids " because of," as does Romans v. 1, which makes 
 faith necessary to justification. I have therefore preferred "for" 
 as admitting of a similar latitude in English. 
 
64 ROMANfl. 
 
 the apostle takes care to point ont the difference as 
 well as the analogy. The faith not of Abraham only 
 but of all the Old Testament saints was exercised on 
 promise. They all in a large sense waited for the 
 accomplishment of what God held out, sure that He 
 could not lie, and was able also to perform. But in the 
 great ulterior object of their hope they were expecting 
 One who was only promised and not yet come. 
 
 It is not so with the Christian; for though he, like 
 the elders, obtains a good report by faith, and has his 
 faith reckoned for righteousness, yet the personal object 
 of hope is come, and has wrought the infinite work of 
 redemption. This is an incalculable change, and fraught 
 with mighty consequences. It is not of course that 
 much does not remain to be effected when Christ comes 
 again (changing the saints then alive, raising the dead 
 believers, judging the quick and finally the dead who 
 had no part in the first resurrection, and closing all in 
 the eternal state) ; but as to the foundation of all this 
 and more, as to that work which alone could glorify 
 God and justify sinful man, it is already done so per- 
 fectly that it admits of not a hairbreadth from God or 
 man to render it more complete or efficacious. Such is 
 the gospel of the grace of God ; it is not promise, but 
 accomplishment; and so absolutely, we may boldly say, 
 that, if not now done in the cross, in the death and 
 resurrection of Him who hung there, it never can be 
 done — not even by Him. Christ being risen from the 
 dead, dieth no more: death hath no more dominion over 
 Him. Without His death in atonement, nothing was 
 done which could adequately vindicate God about sin. 
 In His death, God is glorified perfectly and for ever. He 
 has put away sin by His sacrifice. By His one offering 
 for our sins, they are gone for the believer. This is 
 no question of hope, but of faith in the efficacy of His 
 redemption, which we already possess through His 
 blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Hence we are 
 viewed in scripture as receiving the end of our faith, 
 
CHAPTER IV. 55 
 
 namely, the salvation of our souls, though we have to 
 wait for the change of our bodies into His glorious like- 
 ness at His coming for us. Besides, there are gracious 
 promises of care in both natural and spiritual necessities 
 along the path here below. Bwt the great fact remains 
 for faith, that the atoning work is done. 
 
 Let it be remarked, further, that here it is not a 
 question of the Saviour's blood as in chapter iii., but of 
 God thnt raised Jesus our Lord from among the dead. 
 The truth insisted on is not His grace who suffered all 
 for our sins. It is the mighty intervention of God on 
 our behalf in triumphant power, raising out of the 
 dead Him who gave Himself to bear our judgment; or 
 rather as it is here written, who was delivered on 
 account of our offences and was raised to secure our 
 justification. Thus, in Romans iii. 26 the point is faith 
 in Jesus; here, it is on Him that raised up Jesus. Such 
 is the God whom we know. The fathers knew Him as 
 He was pleased to reveal at that time and link Him- 
 self with them. The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and 
 of Jacob was the giver of promises assuredly to be ac- 
 complished in His time. But our God, while the same 
 blessed and blessing Almighty, is (as we can say) far 
 more than this. The Only-begotten who is in the 
 bosom of the Father — He had declared Him — He who 
 was full of grace and truth. Nor this only; for Jesus, 
 conqueror of Satan in life, went down for us into 
 death, was delivered for our offences, and therein 
 so glorified God that His righteousness could not 
 but bring Him up from the dead. The sins that were 
 laid on Him, where are they? Gone for ever: blotted 
 out by His precious blood. Could God leave Him in 
 death who had thus afresh retrieved His glory and 
 bound up with it the means of our eternal blessing ? 
 Impossible. He raised Jesus therefore from the dead 
 and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be 
 in God. 
 
 As God, then, is thus made known to the believer 
 
5G ROMANS. 
 
 now, so it will be noticed that all is here closed in 
 justifying us. In the same verse of chapter iii., which 
 has been already compared, we read that He might be 
 "just and the justifier" of him that believeth in Jesus. 
 For as we look on the blood of Jesus shed in expiation 
 God has necessarily a judicial character. Sins must be 
 judged according to all the holiness of a nature to 
 which they are infinitely abhorrent. Here therefore 
 God is declared to be just and the justifier of the 
 believer. But in the end of chapter iv. we see that it 
 is no longer a question of righteous satisfaction, as this 
 had been completely settled in the blood of Jesus. Not 
 so with justification. This derives an immensely 
 increased value from the resurrection of Jesus which 
 gloriously displayed in the Deliverer's person the victory 
 that was won for us. He was delivered for our offences 
 and was raised for our justifying. It is our Ked Sea, 
 and not merely our Passover 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The weighty theme of justification has been now fully 
 treated, on the side both of Christ's blood shed in ex- 
 piation and of His resurrection as carried through 
 death in the power of God; that is to say, both nega- 
 tively and positively, bearing all the consequences of our 
 sins and manitesting the new estate in which He stands 
 before God. 
 
 In the former half ot our chapter the apostle draws 
 out the consequences of justification. From verse 12 
 he enters on a new part of his subject which runs down 
 
CHAPTER V. 57 
 
 to the end of cliapter viii. and is practically an appen- 
 dix to what goes before. 
 
 " Having therefore been justified by faith, we have* 
 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 through whom we have also had access by faith into 
 this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of 
 the glory of God." 
 
 Peace with God we have as the first notable result 
 of justification. Our previous state was enmity and 
 war with God. But now that He has justified us by 
 faith of Christ, we can look back at all the past, so 
 humiliating to our souls, and yet we have peace wHth 
 God. 
 
 It is a mistake to confound this with the ordinary 
 apostolic salutation, which det-ires grace to the saints 
 and " peace from God." These we need continually, and 
 feel so much the more to be needed because we have 
 peace with God. Again, " the peace of God," of which 
 the apostle speaks in Philippians iv., is quite distinct; 
 
 * This is an instance of a reading which differs from that 
 given in the great majority of first-class authorities (the Sinai, 
 Alexandrian, Vatican, Kesciipt of Paris, Clermont uncials, many- 
 excellent cursives, ancient versions, and fathers), yet, as it appears 
 to me, most in keeping with the requirements of the context. 
 For exoofx^v (" let us have") brings in an exhortation which agrees 
 neither with what goes before nor with what follows, as the 
 christian reader can judge for himself. The fact is that nothing is 
 easier than to account for the various reading, for t'le interchange 
 of the short with the long vowel or a diphthouL' that corresponds to 
 it is most familiar to all acquainted with the critical history of the 
 text. Thus inadvertence may have introduced the long a> instead 
 of the short o. Besides, the subjunctive suits man's mind, when 
 conscious of wants Godward (and such is the state of most), 
 rather than the indicative which expresses the blessing possessed 
 already. Just so we see in 1 Corinthians xv., as another has re- 
 marked, where the Vatican stands alone of the Uncials iu 
 supijorting some modern copies against the mass of ancient MSS., 
 which favour an unquestionable error. ^, A, C, D, E, F, G, J, K, 
 with the great majority of cursives, the Italic, Vulgate, Coptic, 
 Gothic, Sclavonic, and many ancient ecclesiastical writers read 
 <t>opeaci}fi€v, the subjunctive (instead of the indicative as in the 
 common and correct text). 
 
58 ROMANS. 
 
 for it too is the want of the Christian in his daily cir- 
 cumstances. While he is enjoying peace with God as 
 to his state, spite of the deep sense he may have of past 
 guilt, he may not have the peace of God guarding his 
 heart and his thoughts by Christ Jesus. He may be 
 tried greatly and distracted, because anxious about this 
 or that; if in one thing and another he fail by prayer 
 and supplication with thanksgiving to make known 
 his requests to God, he will assuredly fail to enjoy the 
 guardian power of His peace. This therefore differs 
 indisputably from that primary blessedness, the fruit of 
 justification, which the apostle treats as the common 
 portion of believers in his Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 The next effect it is as important as sweet to 
 take into account. Through our Lord Jesus Christ 
 we have also, as a permanent blessing given already to 
 us, the title of access into this favour wherein we stand. 
 If the former was in view of all we had done in past 
 hostility to God, this contemplates our actual place and 
 the feeling which reigns where we stand. Blessed be 
 God ! it is grace that reigns there. Not a breath is 
 there, save of favour toward us who deserved alas ! to 
 be cast out and contemned for our unworthy ways, even 
 since we have been brought to God. We do not stand 
 under law: this were to fall from grace, the sure pre- 
 cursor of falling into sin, as well as the denial of the 
 Saviour and of His precious redemption, and of our 
 own blessing. The access we have had through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ is into the grace, the true grace of 
 God, and there alone we stand ; anywhere else we must 
 ?all ifrom everything good and into all evil. 
 
 "But there is a third result which must not be passed 
 by. The greater the boon, whether you look at the 
 past with its dark sin or at the present with the settled 
 sunshine of God's favour, so much the less can one bear 
 to think of such blessedness coming to nought; and to 
 nought it must all come, did the rich effects of justifi- 
 cation depend on ourselves. But they do not. They 
 
CHAPTER V. 59 
 
 come to us faithwise, and they rest on Christ through 
 whom alone they are our portion. They are not tem- 
 poral like Adam's tenure of Eden, or Israel's possession 
 of Canaan. They are secured through Him who died 
 for our sins and is raised out of the dead. Can He 
 lose the blessings He has thus won ? No more can we 
 for whom He won them. Hence we can exultingly 
 look on the future. Not more certainly do we stand in 
 present grace than *' boast in hope of the glory of God." 
 Less than this does not suit our God to hold out before 
 us. He will have us to be with and as Christ in His 
 own glory. With us who believe He deals as to past, 
 present, and future, according to what our Lord Jesus 
 deserves and His eternal redemption. If the righteous- 
 ness be God's righteousness, not man's, if divine righte- 
 ousness be the starting-point, no wonder that the grace 
 of God is the ground in which we stand, and that the 
 glory of God is the sole adequate hope, whether we 
 consider the person or the work of the Saviour. May 
 we boast of it and Him ! 
 
 The soul that believes has been thus shewn us enjoying 
 the results of justification absolute and complete. Admi- 
 rable as a groundwork, nevertheless it is not everything. 
 God would bless the believer according to what is in 
 His heart, yet with full consideration of passing circum- 
 stances. And this last is what the apostle can speak 
 of, now that the course is clear from the starting-point 
 to the goal of God's glory, the hope of which makes 
 the heart exult. 
 
 Nevertheless we are in the place of trial still, we are 
 in the wilderness, though sheltered by the blood of the 
 Lamb and redeemed from Egypt and its prince. In- 
 deed properly here above all are we put to the proof; 
 here, where no resources appear, God calls us to depend 
 on and confide in Himself; here especially the enemy 
 seeks to make us murmur in unbelief both as to the 
 journey and as to the hope at the end of it. Egypt is 
 the house of bondage; the wilderness is the scene of 
 
60 ROMANS. 
 
 temptation ; the land calls for conflict with the powers 
 of darkness. The first two verses suppose us outside 
 Egypt, and looking onward with joyful anticipation to 
 the mountain of Jehovah's inheritance, the place He 
 has made for Himself to dwell in. 
 
 Meanwhile there is nothing but desert around. Do 
 we boast in hope notwithstanding ? Assuredly, " and 
 not only [so], but we boast in tribulations also." This 
 flesh can never do; it may affect stoical insensibility: 
 but faith, while it increases our feeling, alone gives us 
 to triumph. 
 
 Here, however, there is a process to which we need 
 to take heed. In hoping for the glory of God, our 
 boast is direct. It is not so with our tribulations. We 
 should and do boast in them, but it is not immediate. 
 It is the fruit of intelligent apprehension of God's 
 gracious aim in these afflictions. Hence the apostle 
 proceeds to set out how we are brought thus to traverse 
 the judgment of nature. We boast in tribulations, 
 says he; "knowing that tribulation worketh endurance; 
 and endurance, experience ; and experience, hope ; and 
 hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is 
 shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that was 
 given to us." 
 
 Such is the shining pathway of the Christian even 
 here, because Christ is before the heart: otherwise, 
 tribulation works out the impatience of the first man, 
 not endurance through the Second. Then endurance 
 sustained in faith works out experience (i.e., the proof 
 of what is tested and stands) ; as this again, from what 
 God is shewn to be in gracious present care, strengthens 
 hope; and this does not put to shame by failure and 
 disappointment; because the Holy Ghost sheds abroad 
 in our hearts the love of God, who loved us when there 
 was nothing lovable in us, as we are shewn after self is 
 thus detected and judged, the world seen in its true 
 colours, and God more than ever proved, and prized, 
 a .d trusted. 
 
CHAPTKR V. 61 
 
 This verse is remarkable as the first which speaks 
 either of the Spirit ^iven to us, or of the love of God 
 which is thereby shed forth in us. We have His 
 righteousness fully displayed and applied before there 
 is any allusion to either. That God is wise in this, it 
 is almost needless to remark. It is well that the soul 
 should be shut up to that which is absolutely perfect 
 outside ourselves on God's part and in virtue, not of 
 the Spirit's work in us, but of Christ's for us. And so 
 it IS. Then in the path of subsequent christian ex- 
 perience, he can touch on and in due time unfold the 
 love of God shed abroad in us, and the Holy Ghost 
 given to us. We can then bear it safely. Had it 
 been brought in before this, the heart would have 
 readily turned to its own workings and affections from 
 Christ and God's righteousness revealed in the gospel. 
 
 It may have been noticed that, though the apostle had 
 carefully proved the ruin of man and the righteousness 
 of God in which the believer has part, it is not so with 
 His love. Of this he first speaks here as a thing not 
 demonstrated but known and enjoyed. He assumes it 
 from the common consciousness of Christians. It is 
 shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given 
 to us. 
 
 Next we have God's love not thus subjectively 
 viewed, but its display pointed out and grounded on 
 the great objective fact of the death of Christ for us 
 and outside us. " For while we were yet without 
 strength, in due time Christ died for [the] ungodly." 
 (Ver. 6.) How admirable the wisdom of God, and how 
 wholesome ! For even the believer convinced of his 
 ungodliness is slow to appreciate his powerlessness. It 
 was good to know that as man all was lost, and he had 
 to do either with God's wrath in unhelief, or with His 
 righteousness by faith. There is then the love of God 
 in us, yea, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
 Ghost; but the foundation of it is in Christ's death, 
 when we had as little strength as we were far from 
 
62 ROMANS. 
 
 godliness. This was just the opportunity for grace; 
 and for such Christ died. 
 
 It is not after this sort that the creature — that man 
 
 — loves. " For scarcely for a just [man] will one die." 
 
 Righteousness, as such, one esteems and values ; but it 
 
 ] does not draw out love so that one would die for a 
 
 I merely righteous person. Not that man's heart is not 
 
 \ capable of strong affections ; " for one might for the 
 
 good* [man] even dare to die." (Ver. 7.) None among 
 
 the sons of Adam could surpass such love as this. 
 
 " But God coramendeth his own love toward us, 
 in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for 
 us." (Ver. 8.) This is characteristically divine and 
 sovereign. We were powerless, unjust, evil, nothing 
 but sinners, on the one hand ; and God, on the other, 
 had no motive for His love other than itself. It is em- 
 phatically His own love. As another apostle puts it, 
 God so loved the world that He gave His only- 
 begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life. Only God can 
 love thus. Man, the saint even, must have a motive 
 without; God has none. He, and He only, is love. 
 The spring is withm, and He needs no object without 
 to call it forth. Those whom His grace makes objects 
 of His love are wholly and absolutely unlovable as to 
 themselves, yet He loves them spite of all they are. 
 While they were yet sinners, Christ died for them — the 
 fullest proof of their sin and of God's love. Nothing 
 less could avail; nothing more blessed could be done 
 even by Him ; nothing different would suit Himself. 
 Thus He commends His own love. What a resting- 
 place for both heart and conscience ! He forgets no- 
 thing,* judges all, yet loves us with a love that is perfect 
 and altogether peculiar. 
 
 * The article is here inserted, not before SiKatov but before 
 ayaOov. One would hardly die for any just person simply as such; 
 but it might be for some known good man, whose exceileace had 
 powerfully acted on the heart of another. 
 
CHAPTER V. 63 
 
 How admirable are the ways of God in Christianity ! 
 There is nothing which opens so vast a field for acti- 
 vity, either in love or in mind ; for the truth revealed 
 is the revelation in Christ of Him who is infinite. Yet 
 withal is it the most simple adaptation to the wants of 
 every heart awakened to its real state in relation to 
 God and indeed also to man. Thus the display of His 
 love in the death of Christ conies down to the child, 
 while it wholly transcends the highest soarings of poor 
 but proud philosophy. There is the most profound truth, 
 but it is embodied in facts which speak to every heart 
 and conscience when the will has been dealt with by the 
 Holy Spirit. While we were yet sinners Christ died for 
 us; and in this God commends His own love toward us. 
 
 We have now to note the reasoning of the apostle, not 
 indeed to prove the love of God; but, beginning with it 
 as known through the Holy Ghost given to us, he 
 draws conclusions after a truly divine sort. Thus the 
 consciousness of the Christian has its just and full 
 place, and so has the proof of divine love. However 
 shed abroad in the heart, its demonstration rests on 
 the gift of Christ and His death for us, wholly without 
 us. This presents the love of God toward us absolutely 
 free from mixture with anything in us or of us. Hence, 
 as there was nothing to draw it out and fix it on us, 
 the result is no less sure. The reasoning is not at all 
 from divine counsels about us or promises made to us, 
 but from what God is; and He is love — love proved 
 in Christ's dying for us, while we were yet sinners. 
 " Much more therefore, having been now justified by* 
 his blood, we shall be saved through him from wrath." 
 Most sound and conclusive ! 
 
 * The preposition 4v here and in the next verse I have translated 
 " by." It is a far more intimate relation (= " in virtue of," " in 
 the power of") than is expressed by Sid, which, with the geni- 
 tive as in each of these verses, signifies a means or instrument 
 C' through"), as sometimes also in a certain condition (" with") — 
 a sense which it occasionally bears in the accusative also. Compare 
 Galatians iv. 13 with Romans IL 27. 
 
64 ROMANS. 
 
 But lie proceeds in the next place to develope 
 and apply it yet more definitely. " For if, being 
 enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death 
 of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we 
 shall be saved by his life." Neither the weakness nor 
 the positive enmity of man hindered that love but fur- 
 nished the deepest occasion for its display. Certainly 
 there is nothing that can frustrate its results now. We 
 were but sinners then; we have been justified in virtue 
 of Christ's blood now. We were foes of God, but have 
 now been reconciled to Him through the death of His 
 Son — infinitely precious in His sight, infinitely effica- 
 cious in its effects for us. Impossible that such love 
 could fail for those whom it placed in a relationship so 
 excellent. Assuredly the blood, the death, of Christ 
 has done great things for us : now that He is risen 
 again for our justifying, is all to prove abortive ? It 
 could not be. The wrath of God awaits the unbelieving 
 soul, yea, abides on him that submits not to the Son. 
 But we have received Him, believing on His name; we 
 have been justified in the power of His blood; and we. 
 shall be saved through Him from that wrath. 
 
 How could it be otherwise? For us even now there 
 is reconciliation. On the ground of the blood of Christ 
 God has reconciled us to Himself. Not only are we 
 no longer alienated, but He has brought us back and 
 put us before Him according to His own grace, not 
 reinstated merely (as if it were a replacing us in 
 Adamic blessing), but acior ling to His own nature and 
 purpose by redemption. It is the due and normal place 
 before God who would bless us in view of Christ and 
 the results of His work for us on the cross. God re- 
 conciles ; man, the believer, is reconciled, and this 
 through the death of His Son. There was His own 
 love without limit, in Christ ; nevertheless, even that 
 love alone could not have sufficed to meet the case. No 
 love in se could have saved us who were enemies from 
 His just wrath. The death of Christ puts everything 
 
CHAPTER V. 65 
 
 in its due place, and conciliates all. Neither wrath on 
 God's part nor enmity on ours is ignored. Christ 
 shed His blood, and died; the believer is justified and 
 reconciled, and God's love, which so wrought in Christ 
 and for us, will yet have the results of His gracious 
 purpose in perfection. If He justified us when evil and 
 rebellious by the death of Christ, much more (now that 
 we stand in a new and holy relationship where all is 
 made good lor us by and with God) shall we be saved 
 by His life. 
 
 Yet there is another boast we have as believers, in 
 virtue of Christ's death and resurrection; and it is 
 infinite, though entered on already. It is not now 
 simply in hope of the glory of God; nor is it in our 
 tribulations, looking on to the end of the Lord in them 
 and the consequent profit meanwhile. This had drawn 
 out a most blessed unfolding of what God is. His 
 love is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy 
 Ghost given to us. He commends His own love to us 
 in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
 There are consequences drawn ; but they are not drawn 
 from counsels about us, but from what He is, and has 
 done for us when we were in our sins. There was no 
 motive but in Himself; the objects of His love were the 
 merest sinners. Hence we exult in much more than 
 His ways with us, or the glorious hoped for result; 
 " and not only [so], but also [we are] boasting in God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now 
 received the reconciliation." 
 
 Truly this is the climax: we exult in God! Higher 
 we cannot go. In this we do boast through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. He has given us the most excellent 
 gifts, but, better than all. Himself. For this, as for all 
 the rest, we are indebted to Jesus; and we may even 
 say, boldly yet most truly, that only through Jesus could 
 God be what He is as the highest spring, ground, and 
 object, of our boasting. " Now is the Son of man 
 glorified, and God is gloriHeJ in him. If God be 
 
 V 
 
BQ ROMANS. 
 
 glorified in him," said the Saviour, " God will glorify 
 him in himself and will straightway glorify him." 
 " And not only so, bnt we glory in God through our 
 Lord Jesus." Blessed fruit above, yea and even below! 
 
 Through Him also now we received the reconcili- 
 ation; for so the apostle wrote, not the propitiation, 
 but the " reconciliation." Without that mighty work 
 of Christ on the cross we could not indeed, being 
 sinners, be reconciled to God; but this is the theme 
 here — the complete making good of our case with God 
 with whom we had been at war, and from whom we 
 were wholly estranged by our sins. In Romans iii. 25, 
 we were shewn how God justified us freely by His 
 grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 
 •whom He set forth a propitiatory (or mercy-seat) 
 through laith in His blood. Thus He could be pro- 
 pitious spite of our sins which were fully met by the 
 blood of Jesus. But the first half of cha[)ter v. brings 
 in His love and consequently the reconciliation, which 
 we have now received through Christ, impossible with- 
 out His atoning death, but going much farther in itself. 
 
 The chapters that follow can scarcely be thought to 
 carry the soul into a deeper blessedness. Privileges 
 are there very fully developed, security is more elabo- 
 rately affirmed of the Christian in the face of adverse 
 circumstances and enemies, in chapter viii. above all; 
 but I know not that any joy even there rises up to the 
 boasting in God we find here. It is at once the occa- 
 sion for the heart both of the most profound repose 
 and of the utmost spiritual activity. Worship is its 
 expression. The outflow^ of the joy of the redeemed 
 in the rest of God is thus anticipated. We begin the 
 new song that will never end; and as it is here and 
 now through our Lord Jesus, is it not so much the 
 sweeter to our God ? Thus the deepest inward poison 
 that Satan insinuated into man at the fall is not merely 
 counteracted but triumphed over to the praise of God. 
 He thus accjuires His due place ; but it is such a place of 
 
CHAPTER V. 67 
 
 trustful deliglit as never could have been for the creature 
 save as the result of Himself known as He is now by 
 redemption — the God who has reconciled us to Him- 
 self by Jesus Christ. 
 
 From this verse to the end of chapter viii., we have 
 not so much a distinct portion of the Epistle as a 
 needed and most weighty appendix to that which pre- 
 cedes. Hitherto the great truth of the remission of 
 the believer's sins has been fully set forth, closing with 
 the blessed privileges which belong to the justified 
 man, but still in tliat connection — the expiatory efficacy 
 of the blood of Jesus, and this displayed in His resur- 
 rection. Precious as it all is, it is not every thing the 
 believer wants. He may be miserable in the discovery 
 of what he finds within himself; and if he know not 
 the truth that applies to his difficulties on this score, 
 he is in danger of yielding to hardness on one side, or 
 of bearing a burdened spirit of bondage on the other. 
 How many saints have never learnt the extent of their 
 deliverance, and go mourning from day to day under 
 •efforts which they would be the first to confess unavail- 
 ing against their inward corruption ! How many 
 settle down callously balancing their faith in the for- 
 giveness of their sins by the blood of Christ as a set-off 
 against a plague which they suppose must needs be, 
 and of course with no more power over it than those 
 who are honestly but in vain struggling to get better. 
 Neither the one nor the other understands the value to 
 them of the sentence already executed on the old man 
 in the cross, nor their own new place before God in 
 Christ risen from the dead. This it is the Spirit's 
 object to unfold in what follows. 
 
 " On this account, as by one man sin entered into 
 the world, and by sin death, and so death passed unto 
 all men for that all sinned." (Ver. 12.) 
 
68 ROMANS. 
 
 There is no need to reduce the apostle's language to 
 a formal regularity. The utterance of the Spirit's 
 mind, through a heart and understanding which felt its 
 value as none ever did, clothed itself in a form more 
 akin to that which was enunciated than man's rhetoric 
 ever conceived. A hroken sentence, with a long in- 
 terruption following before the answer was given, suits 
 the subject here, no less than the most parenthetic 
 chapter in the scripture falls in with the task the 
 apostle had in hand in Ephesians iii. This coincidence 
 of the remarkable form with the great facts and doc- 
 trines under discussion cannot be questioned even by 
 those who see nothing beyond the fortuitous even in 
 the Bible. Verses 13 — 17 form a digression that ends 
 in meeting objections and helping on the argument; 
 and then verse 18 resumes the matter of verse 12 under 
 a more compact shape and furnishes the consequent ol 
 what was there introduced but left unfinished. 
 
 Nor does there seem to be any great difficulty in 
 apprehending the propriety and bearing of particular 
 phrases in this verse. The opening words have given 
 rise to much needless and unintelligent questioning. 
 The connection is as evident as it is important. God'^ 
 love being the source, and Christ — the death and resur- 
 rection of Christ especially — the channel of redemption 
 with such wondrous results to the believer, " on this 
 account" {8ia tovto) we are free to approach another 
 side of this mighty and fruitful theme — the two heads 
 with their respective families and the two natures of 
 the believer, derived from Adam and Christ, with the 
 relation of the Holy Ghost to us. In the same verse 
 the last words have also been much debated. Un- 
 doubtedly the new subject is sin, the fallen estate of 
 man, marked and closed by death ; but there is no right 
 reason to exclude from this and other expressions of the 
 section the actual sinning of mankind. 'E0' w does not 
 mean "in whom;" nor is there warrant, while trans- 
 lating these words correctly, to add to the sentence that 
 
CHAPTER V. 69 
 
 all died in the person of Adam. The point beyond all 
 prominent is the way in which one man may affect 
 the world. However preoccupied the Jew might be by 
 the individual dealing of the law with each soul under 
 it, it was impossible even for him to deny that such is 
 the plain fact standing in the written word at the begin- 
 ning of the world's sad moral history. Undoubtedly 
 by one man, sin, the thing sin, entered; and this at 
 once broke up the ground on which all was then 
 ordered. As it was rebellion against God, so was it 
 fatal to man. Thereby death, the enemy so dreaded of 
 man, entered. 
 
 Thus the change most solemnly affecting the world 
 came in long before the Jew existed or consequently 
 before their boasted law was given. The Jew must 
 look somewhere more largely, and accurately too, 
 into the scriptures. He must not flatter his national 
 vanity or religious pride with the delusion that all hinges 
 either on Israel or on their law. Adam was before 
 them both and affects all mankind (the Jews not ex- 
 cepted). True, the momentous history that shews us 
 how sin and death entered is humbling indeed; but 
 anything will the heart turn into a vaunt. At any 
 rate, that incalculably grave event was outside the Jew 
 in itself, and in consequences went far beyond them. 
 It was not outside man, but contrariwise " by one man ;" 
 yet its effect, death, permeated the world. 
 
 But the apostle takes care to add to this one man's 
 Bin those of all others — " and so death passed unto 
 all men, for that all sinned." Thus the last clause is 
 expressly to guard against the exclusion of the sins of 
 men generally. We must therefore beware of enfeebling 
 either side of the case. In the very scripture which 
 opens the discussion of the universal bearing of Adam's 
 sin on the human race (for it is no question here of 
 Israel in particular) the connection of men's own sins 
 with their death is carefully added. No one doubts 
 that infants and idiots die, and this through Adam's 
 
70 ROMANS. 
 
 sin ; but the Spirit does not exclude the consequence 
 where personal guilt can apply. The position of ruin 
 to which the fall consigned the race is not severed 
 from the evil workings of the nature now fallen in all 
 men. Adam's sin is the cause but not the sole account 
 and whole case of the bitter lot of man. 
 
 Now if one man, according to God's word and con- 
 sistently with His character and ways, could plunge 
 the world in death by sin, was it inconsistent with the 
 true God by one man to bring in justification of life 
 which addresses itself to all men? This the apostle 
 proceeds to shew elaborately and with divine precision 
 in the verses that follow, which I will not further 
 anticipate. 
 
 The parenthesis now begins. The apostle meets a 
 possible objection, and certainly proves that the exis- 
 tence of sin is independent of law. " For until [the] 
 law sin was in [the] world ; but sin is not put to 
 account when there is no law." Thus the Jew could 
 not even make the miserable boast (for what will not 
 man boast of?) that the law preceded sin. The very 
 object of law is to prove the sin of men. Alas ! it is 
 not confined to Israel; it is universal. " Sin was in 
 the world," where the law was not. When it was 
 given by Moses, it put sin to account; but sin was 
 already there, and far more widely than the sphere 
 which law contemplated when it came. Law could 
 work no remedy for sinners; it could only register — 
 not get rid of — sin. Law gave sin the character of 
 offence ; sin, where law spoke, became the transgression 
 of a positive and known commandment. " Where no 
 law is, there is no transgression." It is a pernicious 
 mistake to understand that the apostle denies sin to be 
 where no law exists. Sin is not the transgression of 
 the law, though transgression assuredly is sin. But 
 sin is a wider and deeper thing. The Authorized 
 Version notwithstanding, 1 John iii. 4 teaches really 
 otherwise — that sin is lawlessness, and not necessarily 
 
CHAPTER V. 71 
 
 the violation of law. Thus both apostles are restored 
 to harmony, instead of either clashing mischievously or 
 tempting an expositor to a still more mischievous 
 paring down of the truth to save appearances. Never is 
 this needed with scripture. As being the word of God, 
 we must eschew and resent all such manipulations of 
 its language. It is only our ignorance which finds 
 difficulties ; it is ill-will which sets one passage in 
 antagonism to another. If John could have meant us 
 to gather that sin and transgression of law are the 
 same thing, nothing could save the statement from 
 opposition to our text. 
 
 This is yet more apparent from the support the 
 Apostle Paul adds in verse 14 to what was laid down in 
 verse 13: " But death reigned from Adam to Moses even 
 over those that sinned not in the likeness of Adam's 
 transgression, who is a figure of him that was coming." 
 The two points are named when a positive command- 
 ment was imposed by God. Adam had a law; by Moses 
 the law was made known. Between them there was no 
 dealing with men by either the one or the other; yet 
 men sinned as scripture abundantly shews. Hence 
 death leigiied, for it is the wages (not of transgression 
 only but; of sin. It reigned in the case of Adam and 
 Eve; it reigned from Moses' day; but not at either 
 epoch only, but between them, when there was no law. 
 Death reigned over all those that sinned; for sin they 
 did, even though it was not in the likeness of our first 
 parents' transgression. Their antediluvian posterity, as 
 well as those who followed the flood down to the gift 
 of law from Sinai, could not sin as their father in 
 Eden or the children of Israel after they heard the ten 
 words. But they sinned, they did their own will, they 
 were corrupt and violent, as they afterwards added 
 idolatry to their evil ways. Accordingly deafh reigned 
 even over them ; for they were sinners, though not trans- 
 gressors, like Adam at first and Israel afterwards. 
 
 It is interesting to note that the apostle refers here 
 
72 ROMANS. 
 
 to Hosea vi. 7: " But the7, like men, transgressed the 
 covenant: there have they dealt treacherously acrainst 
 me." The margin gives the true sense, which is lost 
 in the vagueness of '' men" in the text. " They, like 
 Adam, have transgressed the covenant." Israel had the 
 law, as Adam a law ; and both transgressed the bond 
 by which they were held. But all between Adam and 
 Moses were on a dififerent footing. They were not a 
 whit less truly sinners, but they had no law or laws 
 proposed to them by God which they broke. So the 
 nations in contrast with Israel are ever styled " sinners 
 of the Gentiles." Having sinned without law, they 
 perished without law; while the Jews who had the law 
 s-inned in the law and were thus transgressors, which 
 the Gentiles who had not the law could not be. But 
 the Jews were not sinners only but transgressors. 
 Hence it is written, " Hear this word that the Lord 
 hath spoken against you, children of Israel, against 
 the whole family which I brought up from the land of 
 Egypt, saying. You only have I known of all the 
 families of the earth : thereiore I will punish you for 
 all your iniquities." The law put sin to their account. 
 Not so with the Gentiles: God winked at these times 
 of ignorance. 
 
 Nothing, however, is said of Gentiles in our verses, 
 for we are here led up to times before the Jews were 
 called, or the Gentiles consequently could be left aside. 
 We see the sons of Adam down to the promulgation of 
 God's law at Sinai. If on the one hand there was no 
 law to charge sin to the account of the guilty, there 
 was on the other hand the reign of death, and this over 
 sinners, if not transgressors, even over those that had 
 not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. 
 Men at large were guilty and died accordingly. We 
 are here then in presence, not of the law and its special 
 aims and its peculiar sphere, but of sin flowing down 
 from its first source, Adam, through all the streams 
 which descended thence. If law was not there to set 
 
CHAPTER V. 73 
 
 sin to account, as it does precisely and in detail, their 
 death was the witness that they were all sinners, whose 
 dread wages were d a]y paid. Thus Adam, as we shall see 
 more fully soon, is a figure of the coming One, of Christ 
 (i.e., of a federal head who was to follow the first).* 
 
 Having spoken of Adam as typical of Christ, the 
 apostle at once proceeds to guard and clear the state- 
 ment. The point of comparison is the bearing of a 
 head on his family. He that believed the scripture 
 (and every Jew was tenacious of the Pentateuch) must 
 own that Adam's fall brought a condition of sin and a 
 sentence of death on his descendants. Such was the 
 sorrowful beginning of the Old Testament, such the 
 key to the history of the race ever since. It was in 
 vain then to make all a question of law. Not so: 
 granted that what the law says it speaks to those under 
 the law. The fact was plain that the fundamental 
 book of the law shews a far deeper, wider, earlier prin- 
 ciple, yea, so early that it embraces all the children of 
 Adam from the first. Could any Jew deny the scrip- 
 ture, the facts, or the moral ground ? It was certain 
 then, and must be conceded by him who believes the 
 first book of Moses that Adam's fall involved in uni- 
 versal ruin those who sprang from him; for he, while 
 innocent, had no son ! His family headship was only 
 after he sinned. 
 
 Now if it were a righteous dealing, as no Jew would 
 dispute, so to involve a whole race in the consequences 
 of what one man, their father, did amiss, Israel of all 
 men should be the last to question the principle and 
 the wondrous grace of God in the headship of the 
 Lord Jesus. What Adam was to his descendants in 
 evil and its consequences, Christ is in good to all who 
 are His by faith. Thus the first man is a figure of 
 the Second. 
 
 •* I am surprised Mr. Green should understand rod fieWovros 
 "v;/ me iuture;" for the context points unequivocally to a person, 
 and to one person only, Christ, not to time coming merely. 
 
74 ROMANS. 
 
 " But not as [is] the offence, so also the free gift; 
 for if by the offence of the one the many died, much 
 more the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the 
 one man Jesus Christ abounded unto the many." (Ver. 
 15.) Thus the apostle quahfies the analogy. The dif- 
 ference is an immense advantage on the side of good. 
 How could it be otherwise with such a source of good- 
 ness as God, and with such a channel and ground and 
 object as the man Christ Jesus ? To punish, smite, 
 destroy, was a grief, so to speak, to God ; to bless is 
 His delight, and now to the full, since Christ has made 
 it righteous by the removal of all hindrances. The 
 superior dignity of Christ and the exhaustless fountain 
 of God's grace of which He was the expression secure 
 the vast preponderance for the free gift, as against the 
 offence. 
 
 Nor is it a difference of measure only but of kind. 
 " And not as by one having sinned [is] the gift; for the 
 judgment [was] from one unto condemnation, but the 
 free gift from many ofiences unto justification," (Ver. 16.) 
 The people or parties affected were before us inverse 15; 
 the things which indicate it are prominent here. In 
 the former contrast " the many" were respectively made 
 to depend on " the one,'' though " much more" for 
 those in relation to Christ. In the contrast before us 
 one act on the part of the head that sinned sentenced 
 into condemnation; whereas the free gift, spite of many- 
 offences, was for a state of accomplished righteousness. 
 
 And this he confirms by the overflowing results in the 
 next verse 17: " For if by the offence of the one death 
 reigned by the one, much more they that receive the 
 abundance of the grace and the gift of righteousness 
 shall reign in life by the one, Jesus Christ." Thus the 
 result is triumphant, and this not only for men dead 
 by sin, but also lor those that had the aggravation of 
 offences under law. Believers being Christ's, let them 
 Lave been what ihey may, Gentile no less than Jewish, 
 receive abundance of grace and of the free gift of 
 
CHAPTER V. 75 
 
 righteousness, and shall reign in life by the one Jesus 
 Christ. It is not merely that life is to reign, in con- 
 trast with death, l»ut they shall reign in life through 
 Christ. Calvin thinks these two equivalent; what is 
 said is really far more blessed. For faith the contrast 
 of grace with the first man always exceeds. If the 
 balance is not so exact in rhetoric, the believer may 
 enjoy so much the more the precious affluence of the 
 word and the Spirit now, as he will the crowning blessed- 
 ness in glory by and by. 
 
 It is evidently an argument drawn from the righteous 
 governmental ways of God to His grace. If, looking at 
 Adam, the head of nature, it was worthy of Him not to 
 limit the consequences of sin to him who fell, surely it 
 was much more worthy to extend the effects of grace 
 according to His own nature and the glory of Christ 
 from Him who rose to all who derived their life from 
 such a source ! and this whether we consider the ob- 
 jects (ver. 15), the circumstances (ver. 16), or the 
 results. (Ver. 17.) 
 
 The argument is now resumed from verse 12, but 
 strengthened by the parenthetical instrnction of verses 
 13 — 17. This both enforced the analogy between 
 Adam and Christ for evil and good over those who 
 pertain to them respectively, and also pointed out the 
 enormous preponderance of good over evil in Christ, 
 as is but due to the glory of His person and the grace 
 of His work. If the one by a single offence involved 
 all that were his in death, the other brings blessing to 
 His family spite of countless offences. 
 
 *' So then as by one offence [the bearing was] unto all 
 men unto condemnation, so also by one accomplished 
 righteousness unto all men unto justifying of life. For 
 as by the disobedience of the one man the many were 
 constituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one 
 the many shall be constituted rigliteous." (Ver. 18, 19.J 
 
 There is no reasonable doubt that the marginal 
 correction of our English Bible ("by one offence") 
 
76 ROMANS. 
 
 should be adopted, in preference to the text — "by one 
 man's ofifence," however weighty and from various sides 
 the names which have espoused the latter. The Sinai 
 Manuscript actually inserts avOpwTrov here, as we find 
 in some minuscules also. But this is an unquestionable 
 error. The point of the verse, as it appears to me, was 
 to present the direction respectively, apart from the 
 actual issues, whether on Adam's part or on Christ's. 
 Hence the strikingly elliptic, as well as the broadly 
 characteristic, form of verse 18. There is no need (as 
 in the Authorized Version) to bring in Kfjifia or y^apiaixa. 
 from the parenthesis. If we understand e^ieve-ro* [it 
 was], this suffices, though we may conform the phrase 
 more to English ears by saying " the bearing was." 
 But it is more to maintain the idea of direction here by 
 giving eh the force of '* unto," " for," or " towards" 
 rather than " upon," which is more suited to convey the 
 notion of the definitive effect or result. This, we shall 
 see, it is the object of the following verse 19 to supply, 
 and in contradistinction from verse 18. And, as has 
 been observed by another, this is confirmed by chapter 
 iii. 22 where we have two classes distinguished — eU 
 
 7ravTa<s, Kal eirl Travra^ rov9 TricnevovTa^ (easily merged into 
 
 one Bl ojULoioreXevTov or the double occurrence of Trai/ras, 
 whereas it is hardly possible to conceive one clause 
 enlarged into two). Here the distinctive force of eh 
 and erri is plain : the former gives the bearing of God's 
 righteousness by faith of Jesus Christ " unto all" (and so 
 the gospel is preached to every creature) ; the latter gives 
 the result (and, as we know the gospel has its blessed 
 effect " upon all those that believe," and upon them only). 
 The meaning, then, I conceive to be that " as 
 through one offence" all men were threatened with con- 
 demnation ; so through one accomplished righteousness 
 all had the door opened unto a justifying (not by blood 
 alone, but) of life in Christ risen from the dead. But 
 
 (as 
 
 It appears to me, because of contextual reasons, that Avefiri 
 Meyer, Winer, &c.) is rather strong. 
 
CHAPTER V. 77 
 
 therein we see only the native tendency, on one side of 
 Adam's act, and#on the other of Christ's, without 
 taking into account the modification of God's effectual 
 grace or of man's persistent unbelief. 
 
 Accordingly, verse 19 is requisite to complete this 
 part of the sulDJect. " For as by one man's disobedience 
 the many were constituted sinners, so by the obedience 
 of the one shall the many be constituted righteous." 
 It is the final result which is here contemplated; and 
 as this is certainly and necessarily limited to the house- 
 hold of faith, it would have been false to have said 
 7r«j/Ta9 " all" in the last clause. For it is not a question 
 in any of these verses of merely raising the dead just 
 and unjust, as many divines in old and modern times 
 have unintelligently imagined. For the vast majority 
 of mankind, dying in unbelief, must rise for a resurrec- 
 tion of judgment, which is as far removed as it is 
 possible for facts and words to make it from justifica- 
 tion or justifying of life. 
 
 First the scope and then the result of Adam's 
 position and of Christ's are here set before us and ex- 
 plained by the Holy Spirit. As it is certain from 
 scripture that not all men but only such as are Christ's 
 have life, eternal life, and are justified by faith, so in 
 this verse, devoted to the presentation of the result, it 
 was not possible to adopt a larger term common to the 
 two heads (the disobedient and the obedient) than " the 
 many" or " the mass" (oi ttoWoi) identified with each. 
 In point of fact the Adam party, according to nature 
 and for some time, embraces the whole human race; 
 and therefore in this way " the many" in the first clause 
 of verse 19 may be said to answer to " all men" in verse 
 18. Bat this I must be forgiven for considering a 
 superficial method of solving the question, and 
 altogether unwarrantable as applied to both classes. 
 The second ol ttoWoi is unequivocally and exclusively 
 " the children" given to Christ and in no possible sense 
 humanity as actually saved and recovered. They are 
 
78 ROMANS. 
 
 not identical with the "all men" of the verse hefore; 
 for there it was but the gracious asj^ct of the work of 
 Christ, and therefore not (as some say) all men who 
 receive and embrace its truth, but universal. Here it 
 is the positive effect, and so restricted to those who 
 believe (i.e., those who live through Christ, as the pre- 
 ceding 01 TToXXoi derive their being from fallen Adam). 
 There is no " total" in this verse, but " the [known] 
 many" in relation to " the one" definite person who 
 represented each his own company. It is not the same 
 total in the two verses, nor is there any total expressed 
 in the latter of them. As the ruin of Adam went to 
 destroy all the race, so the work of Christ goes out for 
 the blessing of all. As in fact the Adam mass were 
 constituted sinners through his disobedience, so by 
 Christ's obedience His own are constituted righteous. 
 Here all is explicit result, and not character; and hence 
 the article is used in Greek as pointedly as the preced- 
 ing verse exhibited the anarthrous construction: in both 
 cases with the utmost accuracy, and with a perfection 
 altogether admirable, with which no writings of man 
 can compare. Where the apostle speaks of " all men," 
 the aim is to shew the tendency whether from the first 
 man or from the Second; where he speaks of "the 
 many," the definitive effect is set before us. 
 
 Thus Calvinism and Armiuianism are both at fault; 
 and the truth conveyed is larger than the one and moro 
 definite than the other, refusing the fetters of human 
 system, and yet exhibiting a precise as well as an in- 
 finite character, being the revealed truth of God. 
 
 Thus the doctrine of headship, and of a race or family 
 depending on the head for evil or good, has been dis- 
 tinctly laid down ; and Adam and Christ stand confronted 
 as those respectively under whom all ultimately must 
 be classed. This necessarily brought in a wholly 
 different principle from the law which is necessarily 
 individual in its character, and claims from each under 
 itself what he must do if he pretends to stand for bim- 
 
CHAPTER V. 79 
 
 self before God. But the apostle does not dose this 
 part of the subject without a notice of the relative place 
 of the law. Since he introduced the theme of sin, as 
 distinguished from sins, in connection with the two 
 heads, he had only alluded to the law negatively to 
 shew that sin is a dee[)er question than law, and, so 
 far fi-om depending on it, existed before it : only it is 
 not put to account when no law exists. 
 
 Now we are told what was the true object of law. 
 The Jew, and all Judaizers, at once assume that it 
 could be for nothing else than righteousness. Alas ! 
 the blindness of man at his best estate where human 
 thoughts prevail, and not the understanding of the 
 revealed mind of God. But he is fallen; and fallen 
 man thinks as higlily of himself as meanly of Christ. 
 Nothing but this can account for the perverse ingenuity 
 with which, even in spite of the blessed light of the 
 gospel, the truth as to this is eluded and opposed. 
 What can be plainer than the inspired statement? 
 " But law came in that the offence might abound." 
 One can see how it is that men dislike a sentence 
 which annihilates their moral ground ; but it is an 
 astonishing proof of the deleterious effects of theology 
 that christian men can uphold their false systems of 
 thought against such words of inspiration. 
 
 Every word is uttered with the greatest accuracy. 
 Thus the apostle speaks of the legal state of things, 
 and hence employs the word vo/no^, " law," here as 
 in verse 13 without the article. It is clearly the 
 Mosaic law that is in question ; yet if it be. Middle- 
 ton allows that the rejection of the article is not here 
 authorized by any of the canons (i.e., of his own 
 treatise). And this is true. The case is one which 
 demonstrates the defectiveness of his theory. Even in 
 verse 13 the preposition has nothing to do with the true 
 solution ; and his notion though still followed by very 
 many scholars, that the use or non-use of the article is 
 a license after prepositions, is a total fallacy. It may 
 
80 ROMANS. 
 
 call for more nicety of observation to account for cases 
 with certain prepositions, but nothing more. The 
 regular usage, with or without prepositions, is to pre- 
 sent a phrase in the anarthrous form wherever a 
 characteristic state is meant rather than a fact or an 
 abstraction. So here it was the state of things when 
 God gave His law through Moses to Israel which enters 
 the discussion; and, hence, i^o'ytios (not o v.) was the cor- 
 rect form. Again, the reasoning of Macknight is of 
 no force; for it is not the point whether the Mosaic law 
 was ushered into the world with pomp and notoriety, 
 or privily. Not the historical fact, but the resulting 
 state is here meant. Further, there is no need to 
 take 7rapeiayj\6ev as necessarily implying an entrance 
 by stealth or privily. The true idea appears to be 
 that the legal state came in by the by. Neither 
 w^as it the original mould, in which man was made, 
 nor is it the final condition to which he is destined. 
 It came in not directly, but ancillarily, for a special 
 though subordinate purpose, between the entrance of 
 sin and the coming of the Saviour. Hence law in the 
 abstract is uncalled for, even if the phrase would admit 
 of it. But this is carefully excluded, quite as much as 
 giving prominence to the objective historical fact, which 
 also would be out of place. 
 
 But law, the legal state, came in by the way in order 
 that the offence might abound. The sense is not that 
 sin might abound: God is in no way or degree its 
 author. Sin, as had been already shewn, was in the 
 world, quite independently of law and before it was 
 given by Moses. But law came in, that the offence 
 might abound; that, sin being already there, its evil 
 might be made manifest aud horrible by taking the 
 shape of open contempt of God's known authority. 
 This was worthy of God and wholesome for man. And 
 such was the object and issue of the legal state. Sin, 
 I repeat, was not created by it; but it was provoked by 
 the restraint put on its gratification : the very pre- 
 
CHAPTER V. 81 
 
 sence of God's revealed claim on man's conscience made 
 the offence to abound. The evil of man was there and at 
 work; and the expression and authoritative demand of 
 his duty only drew out unmistakably what was at work. 
 Self will only the more chafes, the more it is subjected 
 to an authority which opposes its every desire. But this 
 is the truth of man's moral state; and it is good, as far 
 as it goes, that he should know the truth about himself. 
 
 There is no reason therefore to escape from the plain 
 and certain meaning of these inspired words. Chry- 
 sostom was wrong in this, and has misled thousands. 
 He denied that the apostle spoke of intention or aim, 
 but only of result, and fell into the error of saying 
 that the law was given, not that the offence might 
 abound, but to diminish and take it away. This was 
 to contradict the apostle, not to expound him. 
 
 So, again, Macknight asks if one can imagine that 
 no offence abounded in the world which could be pun- 
 ished with death till the law of Moses was promul- 
 gated ? and that grace did not superabound till the 
 offence against the law abounded ? He therefore argues 
 for " the law of Nature,'^ which silently entered the 
 moment Adam and Eve were reprieved. What can be 
 more distressing than this confusion ? 
 
 It must be evident to him who believes the word of 
 God, and understands His dealings ever so little, that 
 between the fall and the promulgation of the law at 
 Sinai was precisely the time when men were left to 
 prove what flesh is without the restraint of law ; that 
 afterward Israel became the proof that a legal state did 
 not in itself mend matters, but caused the offence to 
 abound. So the apostle instructs us in this chapter, the 
 truth of which is otherwise apparent in the facts of the 
 Old Testament and the condition of Israel. 
 
 " But where sin abounded, grace far exceeded ; that, 
 as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign 
 through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ 
 our Lord." 
 
82 ROMANS. 
 
 Here too it is impossible to conceive language more 
 apposite or precise. The apostle does not say, it Avill 
 be noticed, where "the offence" abounded; for this 
 would limit the sphere to the area of the legal state. 
 All that whefein a Jew boasted was the causing the 
 offence to abound. What a withering of pride without 
 an exaggeration or an effort! But grace went out in its 
 triumph far beyond the narrow bounds of law; it went 
 out into the world where sinful man lay. not to Israel 
 only. " Where sin abounded, grace far exceeded." 
 And grace too had its characteristic purpose, or God 
 rather by it. What was this ? " That as sin reigned 
 in death, so also grace might reign through righieous- 
 ness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Here 
 if anywhere is an aim and result which do honour even 
 to God and His Son. In presence of such a gospel we 
 are not ashamed, but boast. To vaunt of law is to vaunt 
 of what condemns and kills, for it makes the offence to 
 abound. In grace w^e may and ought to exult. God 
 delights in it. It came, as did truth, by Christ Jesus 
 who is full of both. And specially may we boast, that 
 grace reigned. Had law reigned, what must have been 
 our just doom ! But grace reigns (not without but) 
 through righteousness; for the work of redemption is 
 done, and God justifies in consequence according to His 
 sense of its worth. Thus it is not more -urely a fountain 
 of grace than a righteous ground and channel. And 
 hence the issue is according to God; it is eternal life, 
 and this through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is risen 
 from the dead, and gives life more abundantly. All is 
 thus as secure as it is perfect. God is glorified as He 
 should be; and this, as it ought to be, through the only 
 One, even Jesus, who has retrieved all and turned by His 
 death and resurrection even sin itself into an occasion 
 of such a glorifying of God, and such a blessing of the 
 believer, as could never else have been. These are the 
 ways, and this the victory, grace through our Lord 
 of Jesus. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 That grace should so triumphantly rise above sin, even 
 where sin abounded most, leads to the various obje*^- 
 tions of unbelief and the answers of the Holy Spirit for 
 our furtherance and joy of faith, Grace in no way 
 slights sin. From first to last Christianity and evil 
 are proved to be incompatible. 
 
 " What then shall we say ? Let us continue in sin 
 that grace may abound ? Let it not be. We who 
 died to sin, how shall we still live in it ? Are ye 
 ignorant that as many of us as were baptized unto 
 Christ Jesus were baptized unto his death ? There- 
 fore we were buried with him by baptism unto death, 
 that, as Christ was raised from among [the] dead by 
 th^ glory of the Father, so we also should walk in new- 
 ness of life." (Ver. 1—4.) 
 
 Is this then the deduction from the gospel of God ? 
 May we continue in sin, in order that His grace may 
 be the more richly displayed ? Away with such a 
 thought. But here the apostle deals with the wic'^ed 
 inference or imputation, not from its intrinsic heinous- 
 ness, nor from its reflection on the character of God, as 
 in chapter iii. 8, but from its flat contradiction of Chris- 
 tianity in its first principles. It is not again a motive 
 drawn from the sense we have of our Saviour's love; 
 it is not here a question how can we so wound His 
 heart or grieve the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 The apostle replies from the starting-point of each 
 confessor of Christ. Not merely did He die for oor 
 sins, laying us under an infinite obligation, but we died 
 to sin:* how then shall we longer live in it? This 
 
 * The notion of Macknight and Rosenmiiller, that death hy sin is 
 intended, misses all the force of the passage, and is clean contrary 
 to the argument in the context, which is founded on our be)D« 
 baptized unto the death of CkrUt. 
 
84 ROMANS. 
 
 is the meaning of our baptism. Are yon ignorant of 
 so plain a truth ? It is not some special quality of 
 blessing that is the privilege of a few Christians only ; 
 it is the common property of all the baptized. As 
 many of us as were baptized unto Christ Jesus were 
 baptized unto His death. 
 
 Thus is laid down clearly and beyond question the 
 fundamental truth that not more surely did Christ die 
 for us, than we died to sin in His death. Our baptism 
 sets forth this as well as that. The conclusion is in- 
 evitable: " We were buried then with him by baptism 
 unto death, that, as Christ was raised from among the 
 dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should 
 walk in newness of life." 
 
 Let us weigh the immense importance of this truth 
 stated with the simplicity and the force characteristic 
 of a divine revelation. 
 
 Evangelicalism (whether in national or dissenting 
 bodies) takes its stand (at least it used to do so) on the 
 truth of Christ dying for our sins. This is most true, and 
 a capital truth; without which there is no bringing of 
 the soul to God, no divine judgment of our iniquities, 
 no possible sense of pardon. But it is very far from 
 being the truth even of the Saviour's death, to speak of no 
 more now. Hence evangelicalism, as such, having no 
 real apprehension of our death in Christ, never under- 
 stands the force and place of baptism, is habitually 
 infirm as to christian walk, and is apt to take the com- 
 fort of forgiveness by the blood of Christ so as to mix 
 with the world and enjoy the life that now is, often 
 helping on the delusion of ameliorating man and im- 
 proving Christendom. 
 
 Mysticism on the other hand, whether Catholic or 
 Protestant, dissatisfied with the worldly ease and self- 
 complacency of the evangelicals, is ever pining after a 
 deeper reality, but seeks it within. Hence the con- 
 tinual effort of the pietist school is to die to self and so 
 to enjoy God, unless perhaps with the few who flatter 
 
CHAPTER VI. 85 
 
 tliemselves that they have arrived at such a state of 
 perfection as they can rest in. But for the mass, and 
 I suppose indeed all whose conscience retains its acti- 
 vity, they never go beyond godly desires and inward 
 strainings after holiness. They cannot dwell con- 
 sciously in God's love to them as a settled fact known 
 in Christ, producing self-forgetfulness in presence of 
 His own perfect grace which made Christ to be sin for 
 us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in 
 Him. The system tends even in its fairest samples to 
 turn the eye inwardly in a search after a love which 
 may aspire to resemble as closely as possible the love of 
 God, and so satisfy itself with the hope of a life ever 
 higher and higher. Hence pious sentimentalism, which 
 is little more than imagination at work in religion, 
 reigns in the heart, not grace through righteousness. 
 
 Thus the ground the apostle here insists on is ignored 
 by evangelicals and mystics ; and indeed in Christendom 
 at large it is excluded by its legalism and ordinances as 
 decidedly as by rationalism. They are all, in every 
 part, judged by the simple elementary truth couched 
 under and expressed in baptism, that the Christian is 
 dead to sin. To teach that we ought to die to sin is 
 well meant, but it is not the truth, and therefore can but 
 deeply injure the soul in its real wants. The true view 
 is, no doubt, the reverse of death in sin ; it is death to sin. 
 Grace gives us this blessed portion — gives it now in 
 this world from the commencement of our career — gives 
 it once for all as the one baptism recognizes. Hence 
 the Christian is false to the primary truth he confesses 
 who should live still in sin. In his baptism he owns 
 he died in Christ. He is bound to walk accordingly — 
 as one already and always dead to sin. 
 
 Is there then no mortification ? no practical carrying 
 out of death with Christ? Unquestionably. It is the 
 constant duty of the Christian; but then, mark well 
 the difference : — christian practice consists, not in our 
 dying to sin, but in our putting to death our members 
 
815 ROMANS. 
 
 which are on the earth, even the various lusts of the old 
 man. In his baptism the believer openly renounces all 
 hope of himself or the first man ; nor does he, like a Jew, 
 merely hope for a Messiah to be born and reign on the 
 throne of David. In baptism he confesses His death, 
 and his own death therein — not only his sin but its 
 end in the death of Christ. If we had not another 
 life, who could thus give up his own life as dead ? Yet 
 what is attested in baptism is not life but death — our 
 death to sin in Christ's death— .which we could not do 
 save as living through Hira. 
 
 Thus it is as different from Jewish ground as from 
 that of the Gentiles who know not God, some of whose 
 sages in West as well as East have tried to die to sin. 
 The distinctive christian ground is that, as baptized 
 unto Christ's death, we died to sin from the commence- 
 ment of our career. " We were buried then with him in 
 baptism unto death, that, even as Christ was raised from 
 among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also 
 should walk in newness of life." It is a poor interpre- 
 tation to take the Father's glory as equivalent to His 
 almightiness or power. Every motive which animates 
 Him morally, every way and end whereby He is set 
 forth in His perfections, all that goes forth in excellence 
 and delight, not toward the creature only but His Son, 
 was exercised in raising up the Lord Jesus. After 
 such a standard are we too called to walk in newness 
 of life. It is no longer a question of original creation, 
 still less of fallen Adam, but of Christ, who is the life 
 of which by grace we live ; and He is risen. May we 
 walk accordingly ! 
 
 The apostle carries out the comparison of our blessing 
 after the pattern of Christ to actual resurrection. 
 " For if we have become united in nature with the 
 likeness of his death, we shall be also [with that] of 
 his resurrection, knowing this that our old man was 
 crucified with him, that the body of sin might be an- 
 nulled, that we should no longer serve sin. For he 
 that died has been justified from sin." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 87 
 
 Eesnrrection, as far as we are coTicerned, is a matter 
 of hope. We have pnrt with Christ in His death; we 
 shall have in resurrection also for our bodies. Mean^yhile, 
 we, as alive through Him risen, have all the benefit of 
 His death as a power delivering from sin. Our old 
 man we know to be crucified with Him. Without this 
 the root of evil had not been dealt with, nor consequently 
 had we against self that weapon of divine temper which 
 a God of resurrection puts in our hands. Nor is it a 
 feeling — a consciousness — of death which might only 
 minister to self-satisfaction. It is a fact objectively 
 known, though only within the ken of faith : knowing 
 {<^{ii'icaK0PT6<i) this, &c. Thus only as a practical means 
 can the body of sin come to nought, that we should no 
 more be slaves to it. Here the point of need is liberty 
 from sin to do the holy will of God for those who were 
 only slaves of sin. There is no other way, though 
 when we take this the path of faith, there is much to 
 help us along the road. If I have died, it is evident 
 that there is no longer a question of sinning. A dead 
 man cannot sin more; and the Christian is given to 
 know himself dead in Christ's death that he may hence- 
 forth enjoy this quittance from the power of sin. How 
 can one dead be charged with going on in sin? For he 
 that died (aTroOdviov, the completed act) has been jus- 
 tified {BediKaiwTai, the subsisting eS'ect of the past 
 action) from sin. It is a deliverance worthy of God 
 both in His wisdom and in His holiness; and as it is 
 of grace, so it is by faith. 
 
 Hence verse 8 repeats the conclusion as to the future 
 which follows from the death and resurrection of Christ. 
 " Now if we died with Christ, we believe we shall also 
 live with him." Our condition when actually risen is 
 once more anticipated and rehearsed. " Knowing that 
 Christ being raised from among [the] dead dieth no 
 more: death hath no more dominion over him." It is 
 interesting to note the difference here. We only know 
 because we are taught it, as a truth outside us, that 
 
88 ROMANS. 
 
 our old man has been crucified with Christ. It is not 
 really, what so many would like to make it, a matter of 
 subjective experience; for this would flatter the flesh 
 in its pious frames and aspirations, instead of honouring 
 the grace of God in the death of Christ. On the other 
 hand we have the inward conscious knowledge (eldore^) 
 that Christ, being risen, dies no more: death has no 
 more dominion over Him. It is not a mere outward 
 fact of knowledge : we feel from our soul that so it is 
 and must be. Sin never had dominion over Him, but 
 death had, that God might be glorified, sin judged, 
 Satan's power abolished, and we delivered. 
 
 " For in that he died, he died to sin once; but in 
 that he liveth, he liveth to God." Life has now the 
 victory, so much the more strikingly and conspicuously 
 because that death seemed to gain it at first. Thus as 
 sin never had the least advantage, so death has lost its 
 claim through His bowing to it and thus securing our 
 freedom who have part in His death. If sin's wages are 
 death, what a gain to us His death has been who, per- 
 sonally without sin, was made sin by God for us, as 
 truly as we became the righteousness of God in Him. 
 
 Not of course that on the cross He was not as holy 
 as in all that preceded it; but He gave Himself to be 
 judicially treated according to all that was imputed to 
 Him, and for which in grace He became responsible. 
 In nothing did He spare Himself; in nothing did God, 
 who forsook Him thus identified with our sin and all 
 its consequences under divine judgment, that we might 
 come out free. By dying all was ended ; and we, 
 having our part with Him, have done with sin. " So 
 also do ye reckon yourselves dead to sin, but alive to 
 God in Christ Jesus." We are entitled so to leckon 
 ourselves ; we ought to do so ; we wrong the death and 
 resurrection of Christ if we do not account ourselves 
 thus dead to sin and alive to God in Him — a great and 
 wondrous boon to those who delight to have an end of 
 sin, a real if but a small part of Christianity, yet even 
 
CHAPTER VI. 89 
 
 this, I may say, ignored in Christendom, its force mis- 
 understood, its joy untasted. 
 
 It is to be observed that verse 11 carries the subject 
 beyond the reasoning of verse 8, where our living with 
 Christ is shewn to be a just and sure consequence for 
 the believer: if we died with Christ, we believe that we 
 shall also live with Him. It is future. But now we 
 have a weighty present result founded on what inter- 
 venes, especially verse 10. Christ died to sin once and 
 lives to God ; and He is the life as well as the resur- 
 rection. As thus alive to God, all closed as to sin in 
 His death, we live of His life, and are thus also to 
 reckon ourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God, not 
 here with Him, but through or in virtue of (eV) Him. 
 This epistle never, in its doctrinal province, goes so far 
 as union with Him, though it does employ the truth of 
 the body to enforce the right use of spiritual gifts on 
 Christians. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we are 
 shewn to be quickened together with Christ and raised 
 up together with Him. Here however we are alive to 
 God in Him. 
 
 " Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body 
 that ye should obey its lusts." * (Ver. 12.) The truth 
 is then, not that sin is dead, but that we are entitled by- 
 Christ's death and resurrection to regard ourselves in 
 the account of faith as dead to sin and alive to God in 
 Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign. It is per- 
 sonitied here as elsewhere sometimes, seeking the upper 
 hand in our mortal body so as to subject us to its lusts. 
 But through Christ it has no claim over us. As He 
 lives to God who died to sin once for all, so also we are 
 to reckon ourselves done witli the dominion of sin and 
 
 * Beza notices the critical reading as that of the old interpreter 
 (the Vulgate) and of Augustine, and as also so found in one Greek. 
 This may serve to shew how much more fully and accurately 
 the authorities are now known ; for it is so read in the Sinai, 
 Vatican, Alexandrian, and Rescript of Paris (C) ; in six cursives ; 
 in the Coptic, Sahidic, Syriac. ^Ethiopic, Armenian, &c., besides 
 the Latin, not to speak of many fathers Greek and Latin. 
 
90 ROMANS. 
 
 not to obey its lusts. As dead to sin we owe it no 
 allegiance whatever. 
 
 Nor is this all. The apostle pushes the matter 
 farther. " Neither yield your members instruments of 
 unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God as 
 alive from out of dead [men], and your members instru- 
 ments of righteousness to God." (Ver. 13.) The first 
 occurrence of "yield" means, in the form of the word, 
 the habit of yielding; the second, by its form, implies 
 the surrender already made. It is not a gradual im- 
 provement of the nature or the will as men speak, but 
 the giving up of ourselves in a single and complete act 
 to God as alive from among the dead, and our members 
 as instruments of righteousness to God. 
 
 This is the new place of positive blessing given to 
 us, counting ourselves thus by faith. Such is the 
 present practical consequence, as we have seen also 
 what is future for us. " For sin shall not have do- 
 minion over you" — not sin as a personified ruler now, 
 but no sin in any shape or measure; "for ye are not 
 under law* but under grace." (Ver. 14.) This closes 
 the foregoing discussion and prepares for a new step 
 taken in the argument following. 
 
 What a blessed comfort thus far and how uncom- 
 
 * The commentators torture themselves to reconcile these words 
 with their own views, which they condemn ; but even Calvin and 
 Beza own that it is a question of law, moral law (not the law of 
 our members, nor of ceremonies, still less national or political law^ 
 ' Quare non est dubium, quin hie aliquam ab ipsa Domini Lege 
 manumissionem indicare voluerit," says the former (in loco). That 
 is, the context decides for him beyond doubt that the apostle meant 
 here to indicate some freedom from the very law of the Lord. But 
 his explanation is altogether imperfect and unsound, falHng in with 
 and helping on mere natural thoughts, and thus contributing to 
 bring about the low state of practice which prevails even among 
 the godly portion of the Reformed. " Therefore, lest broken in 
 mind by a consciousness of their infirmity they should despond, he 
 seasonably comes to their help, by interposing a consolation derived 
 from the consideration that their works are not now tested by the 
 severe criterion of the law, but God, remitting their impurity, ac- 
 cepts them kindly and benignantly .... Therefore not to be under 
 
CHAPTER VI. 91 
 
 promisingly laid down in the very portion that refutes 
 the flesh's misuse of God's mercy and of the Christian's 
 liberty ! " Ye are not under law but under grace." 
 
 It is painful to see how those who profess to believe 
 the gospel, valuing both Christ and His work, elude 
 the force of His word, and essay to foist on the Chris- 
 tian subjection to law, which the Spirit is here flatly 
 negativing. The law is the strength of sin; for by its 
 restraint and interdict it can but provoke the flesh. It 
 never gives power of holiness any more than life: grace, 
 not law, quickens, saves, and strengthens. If believers 
 could be under law, sin must have dominion over them. 
 
 It is in vain to say that the apostle is here treating 
 of our being accounted righteous in Christ. Not so: 
 he is discussing the walk of the Christian in answer to 
 the cavil that trrace tends to sanction lax ways. It is 
 a question therefore of a rule of life, of its principle and 
 spring. The objectors then as now had fallen into the 
 error of supposing that the law, though unable to give 
 the remission of sins, is the rule of righteousness for 
 the Christian. Justification from sin, not from sins, is 
 the point in hand, and as the blood of Christ washes 
 away the sins of the believer in the sight of God, so he 
 is cleansed from sin; not simply by Christ's dying for 
 
 law means that we are no longer exposed to the law as re- 
 quiring perfect righteousness, with death pronounced on all who 
 have in any part deviated from it." The notion is that, being 
 under grace, we are freed from the rigorous exactions of law. Thus 
 grace becomes a sort of mitigated law, which is just what flesh would 
 desire — a law that prescribes but has no power to condemn. That 
 this must of itself lead to laxity, and is therefore really Antino- 
 mian in principle, seems evident and certain. It is an unwarrantable 
 mixture of law and grace, which destroys the true character and 
 scope of both. The truth is that Christ redeemed such believers as 
 were under law from the curse ; but He has in no way taken away 
 its curse from law. Our blessing is of faith that it might be by 
 grace ; but the law, as scripture says, is not of faith. As we were 
 justified by faith, so by it we walk, for we are not under law but 
 under grace. He who abstains from murder simply because the 
 law forbids it is a wicked man, and not a believer. 
 
92 ROMANS. 
 
 him, but by his dying with Christ. For he that died 
 is justified from sin. The nature is in question, and 
 consequently the walk of the believer ; and the remedy 
 here, as everywhere, is in Christ; but it is in death 
 with Him of which baptism is the sign. 
 
 Nor can there be a less holy doctrine than the notion 
 so prevalent among the Puritans as well as others still 
 less intelligent and with less godly desire, that the 
 death of Christ has taken away the condemnatory 
 power of the law for faith, but left the Christian under 
 it as a directory of his ways. A law which can no 
 longer condemn departure from itself or those guilty 
 of it is nugatory. It is of the essence of law not only 
 to prescribe duty but to condemn any and every infrac- 
 tion of its requirements. Hence our apostle teaches 
 elsewhere, " as many as are of the works of the law" 
 (i.e., as many people as are on the ground or principle 
 of works of law, not merely as many as have broken 
 the law) " are under the curse." 
 
 It is false doctrine, then, and really Antinomian in 
 its basis, that the law has lost its sting or condemnatory 
 power for those under it. Such is not the boon of re- 
 demption. The law is not dead. It retains all its force 
 against the wicked, as the apostle shews. It is not an 
 evil thing but excellent, when used lawfully ; but it is 
 unlawfully imposed on the righteous and holy. The 
 Christian, even if he had been a Jew, is not under law 
 but under grace; and this not by the death of law, 
 which cannot be and ought not to be, but by his own 
 death with Christ. As a dead man can sin no more, 
 so the law does not apply to one viewed as dead. Such 
 is God's way of considering the Christian, not only 
 atoned for but dead with Christ; and faith considers 
 him who possesses it as God does. Thus the law re- 
 mains inviolable; and the deliverance of the Christian 
 consists, not in the weakening or even mitigation of the 
 law, but in the change of place which grace gives. The 
 believer died with Christ, and is thus justified from 
 
CHAPTER VI. 93 
 
 sin and freed from law. Nebuchadnezzar's furnace 
 did not burn the less, though tlie three Hebrews were 
 preserved unscathed. The curse fell on Christ crucified ; 
 the believer is in Christ risen. " There is therefore no 
 condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." 
 
 Verse 15 puts a new question. It is no longer, as in 
 verse 1, " Shall we continue in sin that grace may ex- 
 ceed?" This is the primary objection to grace for 
 Christians just delivered from the ruin of the first man. 
 Moral relaxation is dreaded, if where sin abounded, 
 grace still more exceeded. It was met by counter 
 questions which prove that grace does not merely help 
 by motive against sin, but delivers the believer from it 
 by that most decisive and ultimate weapon, even death. 
 How shall we that died to sin live any longer in it? 
 Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized unto 
 Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death? Therefore 
 we were buried with Him by baptism unto death .... 
 He that died is justified from sin. Likewise reckon ye 
 also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive 
 unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not 
 sin therefore reign. Such is the apostle's argument in 
 answer to the first question. 
 
 " What then? are we to sin because we are not under 
 law but under grace? Let it not be." (Ver. 15.) Thus 
 his second question is not answered by our death with 
 Christ. That we cannot live longer in sin is conclusively 
 set aside by the fact that we died to sin with Christ and 
 therefore are not to abide in it. All this sinful first 
 Adam life is closed to us, both for the future in resur- 
 rection and for the present in the part we have with 
 Christ for our souls. Christ dead and risen is the 
 pattern for faith ; His death is the principle of present 
 deliverance from the reign of sin. But do we not need 
 a mighty spring to move, and cheer, and strengthen us 
 along the way of the Lord? Unquestionably we do; 
 and this is none other than grace. Nothing else could 
 keep the believer from yielding his members as imple- 
 
94 ROMANS. 
 
 ments of unrighteousness to sin, nothing else could 
 enable him to act consistently with that surrender of 
 himself, once for all, to God and of his members as 
 implements of righteousness to God, which is charac- 
 teristic of the Christian. And we are under grace, the 
 power for holiness, as the Jew was under law, the 
 strength of the sin he was so slow to feel and confess. 
 And therefore sin, which for the present has absolutely 
 governed the chosen nation, shall not lord it over the 
 Christian. May we then sin because we are not under 
 law that condemns, but under God's free unmerited 
 favour that imputes no sin, but justifies and saves? 
 Far be it from us. Is it thus we would or could use 
 our liberty ? What could be more base? If I am by 
 Christ thus freed, for what, for whom, shall I use my 
 freedom? " Know ye not that to what ye yield your- 
 selves bondmen to obey, ye are bondmen to what ye 
 obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto 
 righteousness?"* (Ver. 16.) 
 
 This again is another characteristic of Christianity. 
 Christ makes the soul, once the slave of sin, to be free, 
 and calls it to stand fast in His liberty, never again to 
 be held in a yoke of bondage. For there is no middle 
 ground or other alternative. But grace uses this 
 liberty to be so much the more His bondman, free from 
 sin to serve the Lord Christ. It was precisely what He 
 did here below, evermore the true and perfect servant. 
 Into this love always leads. With Him we have com- 
 munion in this, and in order to express its absoluteness 
 we, however free from our old slavery, are said to be 
 bondmen of Jesus, His will and work, or, as suits the 
 
 * Think of Calvin's temerity in saying that the apostle "im- 
 proprie locutus est," and this for so petty and technical a reason as 
 this : " nam si partes partibus reddere voluisset dicendum erat : 
 sive justitiae in vitam." The apostle does (in ver. 19) guard his use 
 of the figure of bondage ; but here all is perfectly accurate — far 
 more so than the correspondency suggested. " Kighteousness unto 
 life" might be gravely misunderstood and seems in every way a 
 questionable statement. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 95 
 
 argument here, " of obedience unto righteousness." 
 The Christian's righteousness is never doing things 
 because they are right, which is pride, independence, or 
 deification of self, but because they are God's will for 
 Ds. We must obey in order to practical righteousness. 
 How complete the change from all we were ! " But 
 thanks to God that ye were bondmen of sin, but ye 
 obeyed from [the] heart [the] form of teaching into 
 which ye were delivered." (Ver. 17.) 
 
 Man does not suffice for himself; for he is but a 
 creature and therefore necessarily dependent on God. 
 If he seeks to be his own master, if he affects inde- 
 pendence, he only falls the more thoroughly under 
 Satan; and, instead of obeying God, he becomes the 
 slave of sin. From this servitude redemption delivers 
 the believer, but only to bind him heartily (and so much 
 the more because under grace, not law) to do as the 
 christian form of teaching instructs us ; for obedience is 
 always according to, and measured by, the relationship 
 in which we stand. Legal obedience, if practicable, is 
 not that which grace produces, which is in unison with 
 the truth in Christ — that mould, as it were, into which 
 the believer is cast. 
 
 Such then is the character and effect of christian 
 deliverance and the vital connection which we shall see 
 more fully afterwards between redemption by Christ 
 and life in Him. " Being made free from sin ye be- 
 came enslaved to righteousness." (Ver. 18.) Two 
 masters no man can serve. Freed from sin, we are now 
 indissolubly bound to righteousness. Grace is the only 
 power for righteousness. The law defined and demanded 
 that measure and form of righteousness which God 
 could not but exact from man in the flesh. But grace, 
 under which the Christian is, makes good in his prac- 
 tice what we have been taujjht since Christ is revealed. 
 Thus the very fact that God does not impute iniquity 
 to the believer encourages and fortifies him in willing 
 , Belf-surrender to the Lord, instead of simply provoking 
 
96 ROMANS. 
 
 sin and condemning the sinner as law did and could do 
 nothing else. Under grace we are free, but withal 
 servants. Freed from sin, we become bondmen to 
 righteousness. Such is the effect of our hearty obe- 
 dience of the gospel. 
 
 As the first question of our chapter, then, is met by 
 the great fact of God's judgment of the old man and 
 deliverance of the Christian by the death and resurrec- 
 tion of Christ, as he confesses his own death with Christ 
 (witnessed in baptism from the starting-point of Chris- 
 tianity), so the second is an appeal to his motives as set 
 free according to the liberty of grace. Is he going to 
 use it for sinning? No! as the power of sin is the law 
 (1 Cor. XV.), grace is the power of holiness and makes 
 him who is under it a more devoted bondman of righte- 
 ousness to the God who imputes no sin, than the law 
 even asked, but never obtained, with all its rewards 
 and penalties: why this is will appear fully and defi- 
 nitely in chapter vii., where the special question of man 
 under law, even though converted and indeed only as 
 converted, is brought to issue. 
 
 For having spoken of the Christian as enslaved to 
 righteousness, the apostle hastens to excuse his lan- 
 guage. He had shewn the impossibility of a middle 
 place, maintaining the absoluteness of the surrender to 
 God, which is made good in the heart and ways of the 
 believer; he had characterized the new relation as one 
 of bondage to righteousness. This required explana- 
 tion ; for in truth it is real, and the only real, liberty 
 of heart; yet is the bond none the less firm and 
 thorough. " I speak after a human sort on account of 
 the weakness of your flesh; for as ye yielded your 
 members in bondage to uncleanness and to lawlessness 
 unto lawlessness, so now yield your members to righte- 
 ousness unto holiness." (Ver. 19.) Their former estate 
 manifested its corruption and wilfulness increasingly. 
 Evil ripens and waxes worse and worse. Willing service 
 issues not only in a just appreciation of our relative 
 
CHAPTER VI. 97 
 
 place to God and man, but in an ever deepening sense 
 of separation to God. To this the saints are exhorted. 
 The life is exercised and progress is looked for. Righ- 
 teousness is here the practical maintenance of our re- 
 sponsibility according to the relation in which we now 
 stand to God (our mere creature-place as of the first 
 Adam being closed by death). Holiness is the intrinsic 
 delight of the new life in good and its abhorrence of 
 evil, according to God as revealed in Christ. 
 
 " For when ye were bondmen of sin, ye were free to 
 righteousness. What fruit had ye then at that time ? 
 [Things] of which ye are now ashamed. For the end 
 of those things [is] death," (Ver. 20, 21.) There seems 
 to be a grave but cutting irony in this allusion to their 
 old condition, when the only freedom they knew was in 
 respect to righteousness. They were slaves of sin and 
 had nothing to do with righteousness. And what was 
 the result ? Nothing to boast of certainly : how much to 
 fill these representatives with shame ! And what is the 
 end of those things ? Death. 
 
 Here then we stand on the ground of motives which 
 test the heart. It is no longer, as at the beginning of 
 the chapter, a great fact which is true of the Christian 
 because he has a part with Christ in His death, and so 
 is dead to sin and lives to God. It is an appeal to his 
 appreciation of the grace of God which has freed him 
 from his slavery to sin. To what account and use then 
 is he going to turn his freedom ? What was the fruit 
 of his old life when he was free enough in relation to 
 righteousness ? Nothing, as far as he was concerned, 
 but a source of present shame, save death the end. 
 
 How admirable is the wisdom of the inspired word ! 
 The sense of grace thus corrects the otherwise inevit- 
 able effect of the light of God, cast on the past and the 
 present and the future: for if it were possible that a 
 soul should be awakened to a just sense of its sinfulness 
 and then left with earnest desires to serve God, to a 
 new life, battling with its old evil, how occupied with 
 
 H 
 
98 ROMANS. 
 
 self must be the whole of its exporienco ! Alas ! so it 
 is too deeply as well as extensively amon^: real children 
 of God, who imperfectly know the blessed consequences 
 for them of the work of Christ. They are not redeemed 
 to be put nnder law, but contrariwise under grace. 
 Saved by grace, they stand in grace. And this is the 
 strongest motive to the renewed mind, the most fatal 
 snare to the hypocritical professor, the ready oiijection 
 of the natural mind, which sees the latter without being 
 able to estimate the former. 
 
 " But now freed from sin, and made bondmen to 
 God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end 
 life eternal." Observe the relation of grace. It is not 
 slaves to the law, but bondservice to God. Man in flesh 
 was tried by the ten words; but they were too weighty 
 for his weakness, and only riveted a chain of judgment 
 on his guilt. But now, emancipated by the death and 
 resurrection of Christ, received by faith, having the life 
 of Him risen from the dead as well as redemption — the 
 forgiveness of sins, we are freed from sin and enslaved 
 to God. Hence follows not a mere test by certain com- 
 mands, but subjection to Himself who speaks to us by 
 all His w^ord. Every part of scripture has His autho- 
 rity to our souls: only we must learn by the Spirit its 
 just application; and this, holding fast our association 
 with Christ, no longer as in the first Adam. It is clear 
 that this both gives a more intimate relation to God, 
 and opens a boundless sphere in which our obedience is 
 to be exercised. 
 
 Nor is it only subjection to God, which takes the 
 place of the Jewish position under law; but, thus 
 walking, we have our " fruit unto holiness, and the end 
 life eternal." Such is the pathway here, and such its 
 crown in glory by and by. There is growth in the 
 value of good and its issue in the attracted separation 
 of the heart from evil to God ; and the end is suited to 
 the way, though surely according to the personal dig- 
 nity of Christ, and that which alone meets the character 
 and counsels of God. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 99 
 
 *' For the wages of sin [is] death ; but the free gift 
 of God life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord." This, is a 
 summary of the general truth ; it is the result on man's 
 side and on God's. He does not limit it to trans- 
 gression, though of course its wages are no less: he 
 takes man, the Gentile sinner, as well as the Jewish 
 transgressor. Both were sinners; and the wages of sin 
 is death. But the blessing is quite as rich and free: 
 eternal life is the need of the Jew no less than of the 
 Gentile : it is GocTs free gift, and thus equally open 
 to either or both. Let it be carefully noted that the 
 Holy Spirit, by the structure of the phrase, carefully 
 avoids intimating that the wages of sin are limited to 
 death ; for in truth judgment remains, and is appointed 
 to man no less than death. Together they are the full 
 wages of sin. Nor would it be safe to affirm that even 
 eternal life exhausts the free gift of God; for, as we 
 shall find in chapter viii., no less than in many scrip- 
 tures more. He gives the Holy Ghost to be the portion 
 of the believer, not to speali of the relation of son and 
 the accompanying inheritance. Boundless indeed is 
 His grace to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 The apostle had already laid down that sin should not 
 have dominion over the Christian, because he is not 
 under law but under grace. He now unfolds the relations 
 of the believer, even had he been a Jew, to the law ; 
 and this he does with admirable wisdom which the mass 
 of his best expositors that it has been my lot to see, 
 not to speak of others, have failed to appreciate 
 
 " Or are ye ignorant, brethren, for I speak to [men] 
 knowing law, that the law has dominion over the man 
 
100 ROMANS. 
 
 as long time as he lives? For the married woman ig 
 bound to the living husband by law; but if the husband 
 die, she is discharged from the law of the husband." 
 (Ver. 1, 2.) Thus death is the grand principle, as 
 with sin, so with law. It is indeed a confessed and 
 universal axiom. It was fitting to take up the woman 
 rather than the man, because he is treating of our 
 responsibility to do the will of the Lord ; and it is 
 emphatically the woman's place to obey her husband. 
 But this, as he demonstrates, is quite independent of 
 the law, which simply deals with man alive in the 
 flesh. Now his thesis in the preceding chapter was 
 the death of the Christian with Christ, which is no 
 less true and forcible wben applied to the law as to 
 sin. During the husband's life the wife is bound ; 
 if he have died, she is quit. Death severs the 
 bond. " Therefore then, while the husband liveth, she 
 shall be called an adulteress, if she belong to another 
 man. But if the husband die, she is free from the law 
 so as not to be an adulteress by belonging to another 
 man." (Ver. 3.) It is difficult to conceive a blow more 
 destructive to the common notion of putting the Chris- 
 tian under the law as his rule of life. Two husbands 
 are intolerable. Not only is the law not the actual 
 husband, but the apostle will not hear of Christ and 
 the law. It must be Christ alone. To admit of any 
 other association is to be false to Him. If the law had 
 been the old husband, such is no longer the relation- 
 ship of the Christian. Death having come in, the for- 
 mer obligation terminates, and there is freedom to belong 
 to another without fear of adultery, even to Christ ex- 
 clusively. Compare for our practice Phil. iii. 13, 14. 
 
 " So that, my brethren, ye also have been put to death 
 to the law by the body of Christ that ye should belong 
 to another — him that was raised out of [the] dead, in 
 order that we might bear fruit to God." (Ver. 5.) Far 
 from its being the aim of God to maintain the rule of 
 the law, the express design and efifect of grace is to 
 
CHAPTER VII. 101 
 
 bring the Christian (even if a Jew formerly) out of the 
 old relationship into an absolutely new one founded on 
 the death of Christ, that he should henceforth belong 
 exclusively to Him risen from among the dead, and this 
 in order to glorify God by fruits acceptable to Him. 
 
 It will be observed, however, that the apostle carefully 
 abstains from the least insinuation that the law is dead. 
 Not so does God deliver. The law lives to curse and 
 kill all within its sphere. But we by death with Christ 
 pass out of its power to touch us; and having a new 
 husband, even Christ risen, we dare not allow any other 
 spiritual rule : else we are guilty of what is most 
 grievous in His eyes and an utter breach of our new 
 relationship. And this alone secures fruitfulness God- 
 ward. Subjection to Christ fulfils the law without 
 thinking of any one or thing but Him. You cannot 
 serve, you ought not to serve, two masters, 
 
 " For when we were in the flesh, the passions of 
 sins that [were] by the law wrought in our members to 
 the bearing fruit to death; but now have we got dis- 
 charge from the law, having died in what we were held, 
 so as for us to serve in newness of spirit and not in old- 
 ness of letter." (Ver. 6.) 
 
 Thus evidently the flesh and the law (as we may add 
 the world) are correlative; and the Christian belongs to 
 neither, but to Christ, and to Him risen from the dead. 
 We are no longer in the flesh ; we were there, and to 
 this state the law applied: it is made not for the 
 righteous, but the unrighteous. The Christian is dead 
 to law, not it to anybody. Not only does the law work 
 death and condemnation to the unbeliever, but the 
 Christian who meddles with it as a rule for his path 
 will prove it, if taught of God, to be a rule, not of life, 
 but of death. As Christ is our life, so is He our pattern 
 and power through the Holy Ghost, who forms us 
 according to the word which reveals Him to our souls. 
 
 It is scarcely needful to point out how false is the 
 doctrine of the common text and translation, which the 
 
102 ROMANS. 
 
 margin corrects. If true, Antiromianism would follow, 
 than which nothing is more false and evil. Death to 
 law as well as to sin is the fruit of Christ's death and 
 resurrection, and the privilege of the Christian. The 
 law lives to condemn every living soul who pretends to 
 a righteousness of his own. 
 
 The passage on w^hich we now enter has been the 
 occasion of as extraordinary discord in thought and 
 comment as any other in the epistle, and I cannot but 
 think with small fruit as to intelligence of God's mind 
 revealed in it. The source of the difficulty is the 
 ordinary one — ignorance of the Christian's position or 
 standing, and consequently of his relation to the law. 
 Had the six preceding verses of chapter vii. been 
 understood, there would have been no such obscurity 
 and no room for such divergence among those who have 
 discussed it. But death with Christ to sin and law is 
 an unknown region, and the loss to souls from ignorance 
 of it is incalculable 
 
 The point, which divides the mass of those who have 
 [written and preached on it, as well as of multitudes of 
 those influenced by them, is the question whether the 
 experience described is that of a natural man or of a 
 Christian. It is assumed on both sides that one or 
 I other it must be. But the assumption is an error, and 
 the failure of both lies exactly here. It is impossible 
 rightly to understand the passage if applied either to a 
 natural man or to a Christian. There may be, there is, 
 a transitional state constantly found in souls when they 
 are~bor n again ,~bu t not yet in conscious deliverance; 
 and this is the precise state here in question. Paul may 
 have passed as most do through this experience more or 
 less during the three days, when without sight he 
 neither ate nor drank. He was converted then, no 
 longer therefore a natural man, but not yet filled with 
 the Holy Ghost. Certainly he personates the case and 
 reasons it out fully from verse 7 to the end of the 
 chapter. It is the case of onejjuickened, but not yet 
 
CHAPTER VII. 103 
 
 subTmUiTi.^to-tlie righteousness of God. Hence, being 
 jealous for God bnt ignorant of the fall place in which 
 redemption sets the believer, such a soul places itself 
 under law; and the operation of the law is therefore 
 exhibited to us. There is an awakened conscience, but 
 no power. If the new nature w^ere not there, such 
 experience could not be: if the Holy Ghost were there, 
 power would follow, as we see in chapter viii. where we 
 have the proper normal state of the Christian. The 
 state described, however, is in no case I believe final, but 
 transitional, though bad and legal teaching may keep 
 a soul in it till grace acts fully, it may be, on a death- 
 bed, or what is equivalent. 
 
 "What then shall we say? [Is] the law sin? Let 
 it not be. But I should not have known sin unless by 
 law; for lust also I had not known unless the law had 
 said, Thou shalt not lust. But sin, having taken 
 occasion by the commandment, wrought out in me every 
 [manner of] lust; for apart from law sin [is] dead. 
 But I was alive apart from law once; but the command- 
 ment having come, sin revived, and 1 died; and the 
 commandment that [was] unto life was even found for 
 me unto death. For sin, having taken occasion by the 
 commandment, deoeived, and by it slew me. So that the 
 law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, just, and 
 good. Did then the good become death to me ? Let 
 it not be; but sin, that it might appear sin, working 
 out death to me by the good, that sin might become 
 excessively sinful by the commandment." (Ver. 7 — 13.) 
 
 Thus the apostle takes pains to relieve the law of all 
 censure. Far from this, it was the excellency of the 
 law which was so fatal to the sinner. It knows no 
 mercy ; it cannot mitigate its terms or its punishment. 
 By the law is the full knowledge of sin, said the apostle 
 in chapter iii. So here, whether objectively or in 
 inward consciousness, law is the means of its discovery, 
 not from any defect in law but from the sinfulness of 
 bin, which is here persunitied as the foe that is seizing 
 
104 ROMANS. 
 
 a point for attacking man. But here the apostle is 
 occupied with the proof not of guilty acts but of an 
 alien rebellious nature, and hence singles out the last 
 commandment, the prohibition of covetousness or lust, 
 as the most adapted to convict of sin, not merely of 
 sins. And how true this is ! Who does not know tlie 
 irritation produced by a restraint on the will? So all 
 manner of lust is excited, for apart from law sin is 
 dead: let the commandment have come, and all is over. 
 It never did, it cannot, improve the flesh, but contrari- 
 wise provokes it by the curb applied. What is really 
 wanted is a new nature and a transforming object; but 
 law neither communicates the one nor reveals the other: 
 grace does both through Christ our Lord. The fault is 
 solely in the first man, the deliverance is exclusively in 
 the Second. Law sets forth what man ought to be, but 
 condemns him necessarily for the sin it makes active 
 and manifest, without the smallest power to save from 
 it any more than to strengthen against it. On the 
 contrary, says the apostle, " I was alive apart from law 
 once, but, the commandment having come, sin revived 
 and I died." Thus what pointed to life only proved 
 an instrument of death. But if the living man die, 
 law cannot quicken the dead. It is the Son's to 
 cjuicken whom He will, even as the Father does. But 
 here again the apostle is careful to lay all blame on 
 sin, which, having taken occasion by the command- 
 ment, slew by it the deceived man. Thus the law is 
 vindicated, the nature it in vain appeals to is alone in 
 fault; for the commandment is holy, just, and good. 
 Did then the good become death to me? asks the apostle. 
 Not so; it is sin here again he treats as the true cul- 
 prit, " sin that it might appear sin, working out death 
 to me by the good, that sin might become excessively 
 sinful by the commandment." Could the Jew, how- 
 ever prejudiced against grace, however prepossessed in 
 favour of law, complain with justice? Is it not the 
 evident truth? 
 
CHAPTER VII. 105 
 
 The apostle turns now to a discussion o ithe working 
 of the law, and the discovery which the renewed man 
 makes of no good thing in him, that is, in his flesh. 
 It is one set free reflecting on his state when under law. 
 "For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am 
 carnal,* sold under sin." (Ver. 14.) Thus it is opened 
 by the technical expression of christian knowledge, and 
 this inwardly. But the soul is shut up to a sense of its 
 own overwhelming evil. Only observe it is the bitter 
 sense of bondage to sin, and not the love of sin. Still, 
 though it is one born again, there is no strength what- 
 ever. " For what I work out I know (or, own) not, for 
 not what I wish I do, but what I hate this I am doing. 
 But if what I do not wish this I am doing, I agree to 
 the law that [it is] good ; but now [it is] no longer I 
 that work it out, but the sin that dwelleth in me." 
 (Ver. 15 — 17.) It is no small anguish for the soul to 
 feel, who had thought that to be forgiven was all, and 
 that after this nothing but light and joy remained. And 
 now to find oneself weighed down by a constant inward 
 dead weight of evil, to prove experimentally that one 
 is a slave to sin, effort only making it manifest, is a 
 distress as grave as it is unexpected. He learns, how- 
 ever, that it is not himself that loves sin, for he really 
 hates it. Sin is there, and it is not himself now, as 
 he learns even in this painful experience. But what a / 
 wretched state ! what slavery I ^ 
 
 It is evident that the state described is not that of \ 
 
 » The best authorities (^^, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, &c.) read 
 adpKivoi, not aapKiKhs as in the received text. The difference is 
 that the former is a confession of being mere flesh physically. So 
 it is in 2 Cor. iii, 3; Heb. vii. 16, and probably in 1 Cor. iii. 1 
 (but not in verses 3, 4, where the other form is clearly right). In 
 Rom. XV. 27; 1 Cor. ix. 11; 2 Cor. i. 12; x. 4; 1 Peter ii. 11, it 
 is aapKiK6s. in most of which the physical idea of flesh would be 
 out of place. In our text the difference is of some importance as 
 corroborating the scope of the passage that the will was not 
 •engaged. Were this meant to be expressed, aapKiKhs would be the 
 more proper term. 
 
106 ROMANS. 
 
 I deliverance; it is not therefore the normal state of the 
 I Christian, but one of transition. The reader will be 
 perhaps as pleased as I with the substance of the 
 following note, which I did not expect from Doddridge. 
 " The apostle here, by a very dexterous turn, changes 
 the person and speaks as of himself. This he elsewhere 
 does (Kom. iii. 6; 1 Cor. x. 30; chap. iv. 6) when he 
 is only personating another character. And the charac- 
 ter here assumed is that of a man, first ignorant of the 
 law, then under it, and sincerely desiring to please God, 
 but finding to his sorrow the weakness of the motives 
 it suggested, and the sad discouragement under which 
 it left him ; and last of all with transport discovering 
 the gospel, and gaining pardon and strength, peace and 
 joy by it. But to suppose he speaks all these things 
 of himself or the confirmed Christian — that he really 
 was when he wrote this epistle — is not only foreign but 
 contrary to the whole scope of his discourse, as well as 
 to what is expresf^ly asserted, chap. viii. 2." 
 
 It is a question of power coming in, not of will; for 
 he is supposed to will the contrary, but alas! does what 
 he wills not. Thus the moral character of both natures 
 is made plain. The flesh never goes along with the 
 moral judgment and desire of the renewed man while 
 under law. But it is well to observe that there is 
 another discussion in verses 18 — 20 leading to the same 
 result and closing similarly, only with greater emphasis 
 personally in its course. " For I know that in me, 
 that is, in my flesh, no good dwelleth; for to will is 
 present with me, but to work out the good [is] not; for 
 I am not doing good which I wish ; but evil which I 
 wish not, this I do. But if what I wish not, this / am 
 d'ing, [it is] no longer / that work it out, but the sin 
 that dwelleth in me." (Ver. 18—20.) 
 
 It is a renewed " I," but obliged to feel that it is 
 powerless. The hated evil continually gains the day, and 
 the good that is acknowledged and valued slips through 
 undone — a dreadful lesson, yet the truth of our nature, 
 
CHAPTER VII. 107 
 
 wholesome and needful to learn. Grace turns it to ex- 
 cellent account, and ere long, if there be simplicity and 
 subjection of heart through the Holy Ghost to Christ. 
 
 In all the previous process it is striking to see how 
 totally eclipsed is every object and power of faith. It 
 is throughout self, though not self indulged and grati- 
 fied, but self proving to itself intense cause of misery 
 and disappointment. Christ in the end becomes all the 
 more welcome; and the deliverance is of grace, not activity 
 of self, through Him. After this activity in the 
 energy of the Spirit can safely follow: before it, if 
 possible, it would only veil the knowledge of self from 
 us, and so far hide the truth and foster both self-love 
 and self-righteousness. 
 
 It will be observed too, how admirably the apostle, 
 while asserting fully the new place which grace gives 
 by our having part with Christ in His death, guards 
 the law ft-om all impeachment. Let the Jew be ever 
 so sensitive, God's honour is safe; and it was not Paul 
 who forgot or wounded it, whatever the adversaries of 
 the gospel averred. As the law was not sin, so it was 
 not death. The entire fault lay in man's sin, not in 
 God's law. The converted feel this and cleave to the 
 law, let it be ever so peremptory and painful. But it 
 never does nor can deliver; on the contrary, it demon- 
 strates the abject, thorough, hopeless bondage to sin in 
 •which our nature is held — the more felt, the more the 
 sanctity of the law is owned. Under law, therefore, the 
 renewed soul finds peace impossible. Impossible in 
 this state to do anything but condemn oneself. This 
 is true and good as far as it goes, but it is not the 
 christian state, though it is the condition in which 
 Christians must find themselves till they know deliver- 
 ance from their state of sin, and not the forgiveness of 
 their sins alone. 
 
 We see progress before full sense of emancipation 
 comes. It is in the second discussion, not the first, 
 that the soul is represented as saying " in me, that is, 
 
108 ROMANS. 
 
 in my flesh, no good dwelleth." The distinction of 
 the new nature from the old becomes more apparent, 
 though power is still wanting. The next verses shew 
 us how the misery is brought to a crisis, but through 
 grace to a close. 
 
 Verses 21 — 23 furnish the conclusion from the dis- 
 cussion we have seen doubly pursued. " I find then 
 the law for me wishing to do the right thing that evil 
 is present with me. For I delight in the law of God 
 according to the inner man, but I see a different law in 
 my members, warring against the law of my mind 
 and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my 
 members." Guilt is not the matter in hand, but power, 
 or rather the total absence of it ; so that, with the best 
 possible dispositions and desires, all ends in captivity to 
 sin, though it is now hated. It is not the soul in the 
 death and darkness of nature, but renewed. God is 
 loved, evil abhorred ; but the soul finds itself powerless 
 either to give efft^ct to the one or to avoid the other. 
 There is progress notwithstanding, sad as the experience 
 is still, and slow as the soul itself may be, to realize or 
 allow it. Hence, he now speaks of the opposition he 
 finds in his members, the law of sin that is there. There 
 is a growing sense of distinctness, as well as of internal 
 conflict. This does not give peace any more than power — 
 far from it. As far as feeling goes, never was he more 
 intensely miserable. 
 
 But the deepening of the darkness precedes the light 
 of day. New light dawns when all seemed most forlorn. 
 *' Wretched man I! who shall deliver me out of this 
 body of death?" This expression of distress, not 
 •without hope, yet bordering on despair, is the direct 
 road to the Deliverer. The mistake was looking to 
 himself, the humiliating process was the discovery of 
 his own powerlessness for good however loved, against 
 his own evil however honestly detested. All turns on 
 the question of a Deliverer outside self. All expecta- 
 tion of victory over self by himself is proved to be 
 
CHAPTER VII. 109 
 
 the sheerest vanity of vanities. Another becomes the 
 true and sole resource. Who that other is remains not 
 for a moment an object of hesitation to the believer. 
 The inquiry has only to be raised in order to re- 
 ceive the most decided and triumphant answer. " I 
 thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Jesus is 
 not alone the one ground of pardon through His blood- 
 shedding; He is equally the Deliverer from the wither- 
 ing sense of death which the believer experiences when 
 honestly seeking to subdue his own will and work out 
 the good he delights in and eschew the ill he hates. 
 Broken to nothingness by the continual proof of his 
 own failure, spite of prayer, watching, and efforts of 
 every conceivable kind, he abandons himself as hopelessly 
 wretched, looks out of himself inquiringly, and answers 
 at once the demand of his soul with a song of thanks- 
 giving for Jesus. 
 
 The Spirit of God, however, takes care at once to 
 guard the soul, now humble and filled with praise, from 
 the illusion that the flesh is changed for the better. 
 Not so: the two natures retain each its own character. 
 " Therefore then I myself with the mind serve God's 
 law, but with the flesh sin's law." (Ver. 25.) We shall 
 see more of the deliverance itself, and its consequences, 
 in the following chapter. Meanwhile we learn here 
 that, if the flesh acts at all, it can only be to sin. Such 
 is its law. Deliverance does not alter the bent of man's 
 nature, which is the same in all, in the Christian as in 
 the unbeliever. Only the former, not the latter, has a 
 new nature, deliverance in and through Christ, and the 
 Holy Spirit as the power of enjoying his privileges and 
 of walking accordingly, as we shall soon learn. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 We have seen in chapter vii., first, the doctrine in the 
 opening verses; then the discussion of the manner in 
 which the law works in the soul that is born again but 
 that does not realize the deliverance with which he 
 began, not only conflict under law but the discovery of 
 the two natures, and besides of one's own powerless- 
 ness though renewed — an experience which closes 
 however not in the utter wretchedness which is its 
 immediate result but in looking completely out of self 
 to God's deliverance in and through Christ, though the 
 two natures abide none the less for all that, each with 
 its own unchanged characteristics. 
 
 The beginning of chapter viii. is in some respects 
 (as indeed in a larger sense is the entire chapter) a 
 summary and conclusion in relation to the previous 
 reasoning. Still the argument and the revelation of the 
 truth are also pushed on, though there is allusion to the 
 points already cleared in the discussion from chapter v. 
 12 to the close of chapter vii. Nothing can well be 
 conceived more striking than the grandly explicit, and 
 distinct, and comprehensive affirmation of verse 1. 
 " There is therefore now no condemnation to those in 
 Christ Jesus." It is the broad truth laid down with 
 all clearness for all who are set in this new place of 
 acceptance. — " in Christ Jesus." For such he could not 
 say more, he would not say less, as to the question 
 before us; and what he says is said absolutely and 
 peremptorily. There is purposely no loophole for 
 modifying or enfeebling the deliverance. 
 
 Therefore I cannot at all agree with those who admit 
 that the clause in the received text and ordinary trans- 
 lation is (i.e., thus the latter half in the Authorized 
 
CHAPTER VTII. Ill 
 
 Version)* immaterial. Believing it to be spurious on 
 the best and ample authority, I am of opinion that it 
 is of great importance to the force of the passage that 
 the gloss added should be rejected. These words are 
 of the greatest value in verse 4 ; they are an incubus, a 
 dead weight, in verse 1. Here they would necessarily 
 tend to act as a qualifying clause and throw the soul on 
 an examination of walk as the means of certifying that 
 one is in Christ Jesus. Now the duty of self-judgment 
 as to my heart and ways is freely admitted ; but it is 
 not the way to ascertain that I am in Christ. If I 
 did gather from my walk and spirit the assurance of 
 such a standing for my soul, it would be in the highest 
 degree self-righteous and presumptuous. The man 
 ■whose assurance was founded on the good estimate he 
 had formed of his own inward and outward ways would 
 be an object not enviable but of the deepest pity. The 
 true place of self-judgment for the Christian according 
 to scripture is, while holding fast that by grace we are 
 in Christ and hence possessors of the highest privileges, 
 that we should detect our shortcomings and their causes 
 in order to humble ourselves for practical inconsis- 
 tencies of any kind measured by that exalted standard. 
 If introduced here, it would dislocate all truth, impair 
 all grace, and eventually destroy all the springs of 
 power in walk. 
 
 The passage then in its true form denies all con- 
 demnation for those in Christ Jesus. It is not sins 
 proved nor sins remitted in God's righteousness through 
 the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; nor is it even 
 the love of God shewn so much the more because the 
 object of it is a sinner ungodly and without strength. 
 
 * The great uncials ^, B, C, D, F, G, with some good cursives 
 and ancient versions omit, while A, D (corr.), &c., omit the last 
 part. The English Version even so is incorrect; for, if genuine, 
 the meaning -would be " those in Christ Jesus who walk," or 
 " those who in Christ Jesus walk," &c. (not " them which are in 
 Christ Jesus who walk.") 
 
112 ROMANS. 
 
 All this is in view of the sinner as snch, though sup- 
 posed to believe in Jesus. But here the old man is seen 
 to be crucified, and the believer dead with Christ and 
 alive to God in virtue of Him risen from the dead. In 
 a word, they are viewed as being in an altogether new 
 place, in Christ Jesus; where condemnation is not, and 
 cannot be. It is not a question of degree but an ab- 
 solute fact, true of all real Christians. They are one 
 as much as another in Christ Jesus and outside con- 
 demnation. To say that in proportion as he is im- 
 bued with the Spirit of Christ he is free from condem- 
 nation is to miss the truth here revealed, however 
 momentous it surely is for the Christian to be thus 
 imbued. But here I repeat it is a question of the place 
 grace gives them in Christ and not of their measure of 
 making it good in feeling and ways. " In Christ" 
 rightly understood precludes all question of degree or 
 doubt quoad hoc. Bring in the walk, and therein at 
 once we find abundant grounds, I will not say for 
 doubt (which is always unjustifiable and profitless), but 
 f<;r sorrow and humiliation, and the more so because we 
 are " in Christ Jesus." 
 
 We have seen the precious principle of no condemna- 
 tion to those that are in Christ Jesus re-asserted with 
 yet greater strength and absoluteness than when first 
 introduced in the latter half of chapter v. Not only 
 are such not condemned, but there is no condemnation 
 for them. They are in Christ, and there no possible 
 condemnation can reach. Undoubtedly they are justi- 
 fied ; but what is said goes farther than justification by 
 blood. Justifying of life is supposed ; but there is 
 more, as we shall see presently. " For the law of the 
 Spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed me from the law of 
 Bin and death." 
 
 Questions have been raised here as to "the law," used 
 at the beginning and at the end of this sentence. 
 There is no real difificulty nor ground for doubt. The 
 apostle has already given us to see his use of the term 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 113 
 
 for a given principle acting uniformly, as when he 
 speaks of '* law of faith" (chap. iii. 27) in contrast 
 with " law of works;" and later still "law in my mem- 
 bers," or " of sin," there conlradistinguished from the 
 " law of my mind." 
 
 The meaning then is the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus acting constantly to a given end. Undoubtedly 
 this is only since the gospel was preached, but it does 
 not therefore mean the gospel. Nor does the apostle 
 say life only, but " the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." 
 In the distressing conflict under law, described in the 
 latter portion of chapter vii., there was life: else there 
 would have been insensibility to sin ; but not the power 
 of the Spirit working in and with it: else there would 
 have been liberty, and not the bondage that there was 
 then. 
 
 John XX. 22 may illustrate the expression. The 
 Spirit is not apart from quickening the soul; but here 
 was more. It was life more abundantly, life in resur- 
 rection. Jesus risen breathed on the disciples, already 
 quickened, and said *' Receive ye the Holy Ghost." It 
 was not mere conversion; still less was it the appoint- 
 ment to an office or the conferring of a gift (xapKr/aa). 
 It was life according to the position of Jesus now risen 
 from the dead and no longer under law, and with this 
 the Spirit is distinctly associated. The fruit of this 
 we see in the disciples thenceforward. It is not that 
 they might not make mistakes in thought, or word, or 
 deed ; but we see after this a liberty, joy, and intelli- 
 gence unknown before. 
 
 So here " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus freed me from the law of sin and death." For 
 the last time in this discussion the " me" is spoken of. 
 If the distress was personal, so is the deliverance; if 
 he had reasoned out the case of one bound under law, 
 transferred in its application to himself, so to himself 
 he transferred the application of the freedom enjoyed. 
 Sin and death were no longer a governing principle, and 
 I 
 
114 ROMANS. 
 
 this by the very fact of the life in Christ which he had 
 by the Spirit. It is not, as Theodore of Mopsuestia 
 (in loc. p. 67, ed. Fritzsche) thinks, and many since, 
 that he is anticipating the resurrection or future state, 
 but the actual condition of the Christian. The freedom 
 was his by the Holy Ghost when he left off seeking 
 victory over indwelling evil by efforts under law, was 
 willing to yield himself up as powerless for the good 
 he desired, and submitted to the righteousness of God. 
 Then the Spirit working in the life given proved Him- 
 self to be not of weakness any more than of fear; but 
 of power and of love and of a sound mind. 
 
 Thus it is plain that the resurrertion of Christ, which 
 is the fountain of the life as we have it in Him, is the 
 link between our justification and the practical holiness 
 which God lo(jks fur and secures in the Christian. It 
 is erroneous to treat this verse, or even the first, as a 
 mere summary of justification. Calvin is nearer the 
 mark than such as Haldane and Hodge who so limit it. 
 Nevertheless, as I do not think the leader of Geneva 
 warranted to speak as he does of the apostle's 
 language, so it appears to nie that he betrays his own 
 defective acquaintance with the gospel in the same 
 sentence. " By the law of the Spirit he improperly 
 designates the Spirit of God, who sprinkles our souls 
 with the blood of Christ, not only to cleanse us from 
 the stain of sin as regards guilt, but to sanctify us to 
 true purity."* The mistake is exclusively in the com- 
 mentator, who did not comprehend the profound and 
 accurately expressed wisdom of the apostle. To have 
 confessed his own ignorance, when he found himself 
 out of his depth, w^ould have been more modest, rather 
 than to have adopted language hard to reconcile with 
 a becoming sense of God's word. Does He call things 
 
 * "Legem spiritus improprie vocat Dei Spiritum, qui animas 
 nostras Christi sanguine aspergit, noa tantum ut a peccati labe 
 emundet quoad reatum ; sed in veram puritatem sanctificet." — lu 
 loc. cit. ed. Tholuck. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 115 
 
 improperly? Thus far Calvin's temerity, the more 
 glaring because of the ignorance betrayed in what fol- 
 lows. For we have here to do, not with the blood of 
 Christ sprinkling souls, but with the Spirit acting with 
 the fixity of a law in the life which is ours in Christ — ■ 
 a life which is in resurrection power and hence has freed 
 us from the power of sin and death: otherwise sin and 
 death must have governed. It is no question of pardon 
 here but freedom from the constant operation of sin and 
 its wages. Our very life, now that the Spirit is given, 
 declares and proves us freed. 
 
 " The law of sin and death" does not mean the law 
 of God, as some of the divines strangely said through 
 making "the law of the Spirit" to be the gospel; it 
 simply means the uniform principle of the flesh in moral 
 character and in result. Power is in the Spirit who 
 has shewn us our place in Christ and set us free as alive 
 to God in Him. Thus the common place of no con- 
 demnation to those that are in Christ is shewn to be 
 inseparable from a new life in the power of the Spirit 
 in Christ risen, which freed us from sin and death as a 
 law; and this is made intensely personal. "The law 
 of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed me from the 
 law of sin and death." The next two verses will ex- 
 plain how God in His grace has effected this, without 
 enfeebling, yea, maintaining in no other way so well, 
 His holy condemnation of evil — of our evil. 
 
 Evidently, then, the resurrection, the death and resur- 
 rection of Jesus, is the basis of all this doctrine. It 
 was viewed as the seal of redemption at the close of 
 chapter iv. For He was delivered up for our ofiPences 
 and raised for our justification. But there is much 
 more in His resurrection. It is a spring of life, and 
 this too in the manifestation of victory over all the 
 consequences of sin and death. Such is the power of 
 Christ's resurrection even now for the believer as far as 
 concerns the soul. And herein lies the real and mighty 
 link between justification and practical holiness. Not 
 
116 EOMANS. 
 
 only has the Christian been justified by blood, but he 
 has justifying of life in Christ; yea, the life of Him 
 risen from the dead when all charge and judgment have 
 had their course, sin been put away, and God glorified. 
 Where this truth is not seen, a godly soul may well 
 have fears, if not anxieties, as to the issue, and must 
 naturally insist on the guards due to the grace of God 
 in redemption ; where it is simply and fully seen, there 
 must be — there ought to be — confidence in the heart 
 purified by faith. Not that there is not here below 
 the need of habitual self-judgment ; but, along with 
 this, one is entitled, in looking to Christ dead and risen, 
 to be as sure of the character of His life as of the 
 efficacy of His blood. In both the believer finds his 
 blessedness. But some, it must be spoken to their 
 shame, are ignorant of the true character of God and of 
 deliverance in and by Christ the Lord. Emancipation 
 from the law of sin and death is the effect, as the 
 apostle declares, of the law of the Spirit of life in the 
 Saviour. The moral ground of this on God's part is 
 shewn in verse 3, the practical result on our part in 
 verse 4. 
 
 The same uncertainty which obscures the force of verses 
 1, 2, prevails as to verses 3, 4. Some regard the ques- 
 tion hantlled as exclusively justification; others as no 
 less exclusively the extirpation of the dominion of sin. 
 It appears to me certain, that, while the fcinh]ect is sin 
 rather than sins, the apostle is summing up, i;nd hence 
 not confining himself to a single point, and that each 
 of the contending parties has missed not only truth 
 held by their opponents, but much which both have 
 failed to see. Imperfect views of redemption occasion, 
 if they are not the same thing as, these defects. The 
 new place of the believer is feebly seen on either side. 
 With this the chapter opens, not Christ in the believer 
 (though this is also true, and will be shewn shortly in 
 the chapter), but the believer in Christ, aiau hence "no 
 condemnation" proclaimed. Next, it is shewn that the 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 117 
 
 very life given, being in the power of the Spirit, the 
 life of Christ risen, is the witness of our deliverance. 
 Neither sin nor death remains a law to us, as we see in 
 the state described in the preceding chapter vii. But 
 there is more. The powerlessness of the law is con- 
 fronted with the efficacy of redemption, and this to the 
 moral end of the believer's practical obedience. Such 
 is the outline and connection of the four verses, as will 
 appear more in detail presently. 
 
 " For what the law could not do, in that* it was 
 weak through the flesh ,-{• God having sent his own Son 
 in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, condemned sin 
 in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the law 
 
 * The expression if cp seems to be used with a certain variety of 
 application. It is either want of knowledge or strength of system 
 which alone can account for the effort of some moderns to restrict 
 it to the sense " wherein." Nevertheless it never, that I am aware 
 of, passes the bounds of correct usage, so as to be used, as Grotius 
 says, for e^' ^, which expresses the condition or occasion under 
 which a thing is done or occurs ; while iv (S is the time, sphere, 
 state, or power in question. Alford is singularly vacillating ; for 
 whilst on our text he says " because" (not ' wherein,' as in chapter 
 ii. 1, but ' in thaf) and refers in his margin to Hebrews ii. 18 ; on 
 the latter text he says, 'in that which,' and remarks. " The ordi- 
 nary rendering is to take eV ^ as equivalent to ^forasmuch as,' ' in 
 that,' English Version, and to justify it by the Hebrew ^T/^^^* 
 
 But it is doubtful whether eV ^ has ever this meaning absolutely. (!) 
 It seems only to approach to it through ' quatenus' 'in as far as,' 
 •which is an extension of its strict meaning, '■in that particular in 
 which," ^ wherein.' (^l !) And this slightly extended meaning is pre- 
 ferable in all the places usually cited to justify the other: e.g., 
 Rom. viii. 3 ; chap. vi. 17." It is a little strong to send us to a 
 reference and then to nullify the meaning first, and add there a 
 new reference (Heb. vi. 17), where he contradicts himself again 
 and substantially confirms his first statement, for he there says, 
 *'in which behalf," nearly equivalent to "wherefore," which he 
 expressly prefers to " in which." 
 
 f I reject the notion that Sia rrjs (rapKhs means " in having to 
 act through the flesh," or ^'■through the medium of the flesh." No 
 doubt the construction is decisive against "on account of the flesh ;" 
 but Sici with a genitive often means in a given state, though oftener 
 still " by means of." 
 
118 ROMANS. 
 
 might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to flesh 
 but according to Spirit." (Ver. 3, 4.) 
 
 There is no need to supply anything, as the first 
 clause, grammatically, is in apposition with what fol- 
 lows; doctrinally, in contradistinction. It was not 
 within the power of the law to meet the case; for 
 though law spiritually applied might detect sin, the 
 characteristic sin of fallen human nature, it must con- 
 demn the person too in whom the sin was found. It 
 was therefore wholly unavailing for the purposes of 
 grace; it could curse, it could sentence, it could not 
 save. It was essentially therefore for sinful man a 
 ministry of condemnation and of death. " The flesh," 
 or natural condition of the race, was a state that ad- 
 mitted of no alternative. God would and did take the 
 matter in hand, not by Moses through whom the law 
 was given, but by the mission of His own Son. " Grace 
 and truth came — was — through Jesus Christ." Then, 
 and by Him only, was this seen in the world. " The 
 Word was made flesh." God sent Him in likeness of 
 flesh of sin, in real flesh and blood; not like a man, 
 but in truth a man; in likeness not of flesh, but of 
 flesh of sin. Such was the flesh of His mother, and of 
 her was He born as truly as any son of any mother; 
 but without an earthly father as to His birth. What 
 was begotten in Mary was of the Holy Ghost. Where- 
 fore also the Holy Thing that was in due season born 
 was called the Son of God — for this reason of His 
 supernatural and holy generation; though for higher 
 reasons also of divine and eternal glory, of which not 
 Luke but John is the appointed herald. 
 
 God sent Him then in likeness of flesh of sin, not in 
 sinful flesh, but in its likeness; and in Him, the Son, 
 the Father was glorified in a world departed from God, 
 of which Satan was the prince; tried as never man was 
 tried, and found perfect in each and all, in word and 
 djed, in thought and feeling, inwardly, outwardly, every 
 way, perfect; as God the Father had never before found 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 119 
 
 in anyone or anything. Yet blessed and refreshing as 
 is such a sight in such a world, and in such a nature, 
 fraught with infinite results for the divine glory, all 
 had come to nought for the deliverance of any from sin's 
 guilt or power, if God had done no more. Christ had 
 glorified the Father as a holy, obedient, dependent man, 
 who never did, never sought His own will, but God's. 
 But man was wilful, wretched, guilty, lost. God 
 sent His own Son therefore, not alone as the exhibition 
 of human perfection, and divine grace and truth withal, 
 but also " for sin," Trepl ajLiapjia's. It is the very reverse 
 of an indefinite statement, being the well-known tech- 
 nical expression for sin-offering (as in Heb. x., and the 
 LXX.), and therefore distinctly pointing to the death, 
 as the previous clause to the life, of Christ. 
 
 Thus was solved the otherwise insoluble problem: 
 God had done it in and by His own Son to His own 
 glory, and thus holily and righteously for sinful man. 
 Impossible without the death of the Son of God. But 
 now in Him, a sacrifice for sin (not more acceptable in 
 His life than a sin-bearer in death, when consequently 
 God must and did forsake even Him), God executed 
 sentence of condemnation, not on sinnens but on sin, sin 
 in the flesh, and this expiatorily; for He made Jesus, 
 who knew no sin, sin for us, that we might become 
 God's righteousness in Hiin. There is therefore now 
 no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. 
 Not only has the Christian a new life in Christ risen by 
 the Spirit, of which the law is liberation and liberty; 
 but God laid the moral ground for such grace as this, 
 in the utter condemnation of sin in the flesh, by His 
 manifestation to take away our sins, in whom is no sin. 
 
 Thus was vindicated the free gift of God to us, eter- 
 nal life, the righteous groundwork on which even now 
 we possess in Christ that risen life with which no sin 
 ever mingles, though we have still the old and evil 
 nature of our own to mortify day by day. 
 
 And if the Son of man was glorified, and God glori- 
 
120 ROMANS. 
 
 fied in Him thus, was there no present moral result in 
 those whose new life He was in the infinite grace of our 
 God ? This could not be ; and the apostle adds in the next 
 words the answer. God so wrought in Christ, in order 
 that the requirement (the righteous claim, to ciKaiw/Lut) 
 of the law might be fulfilled in us that walk not accord- 
 ing to flesh, but according to Spirit. This, I cordially 
 grant, applies not to justification, as so many of the 
 divines erroneously teach. It is the practical conse- 
 quence of justification, or rather of the infinite work of 
 the Saviour, in those who receive Him ; but this is no 
 reason why we should overlook, with many other di- 
 vines, the equally sure and yet more solemnly important 
 basis for our holy walk in His atonement. 
 
 Another remark it is well to add on verse 4 : — how 
 admirably it falls in with chapter vi. 14! It is only 
 when the Holy Ghost works in a soul quickened with 
 the life of Christ risen from the dead, by virtue of re- 
 demption through His blood, that power follows against 
 sin. When practically under law, i.e., labouring to cor- 
 rect and improve the flesh, as too many saints are (like 
 the case described in the latter half of chap, vii.), there 
 is no power; and, spite of a renewed mind, there is 
 constant failure and grief of heart in consequence. 
 Christ, not the law, Christ in grace and truth, Christ 
 dead and risen, is the sole power of holiness by the 
 working of the Holy Spirit in us ; and the heart an- 
 swers in love to God and mnn, so that what the law 
 required of those under itself, but in vain, is really ful- 
 filled in those who are not under law but under grace. 
 
 The apostle proceeds to contrast more at length those 
 who walk according to flesh with those who are in 
 Christ. He shews that in both cases there is a nature 
 with its own objects. It is not a question here of some 
 faithful and others failing; "for those who are accord- 
 ing to flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those 
 according to Spirit, the tilings of the Spirit." Each 
 class has its own sphere, which engages its mind and 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 121 
 
 feelings. Manner or measure is not before ns ; but 
 flesh and Spirit, or rather those characterized by them, 
 go out after their respective natures and love or hate 
 accordingly. Duty has its place, and is invariably 
 claimed and regulated by the relationship in which 
 people stand; but here another topic is under discus- 
 sion, not so much relative position and its responsibili- 
 ties as the new principle and power of the Christian 
 compared with all other men. He is characterized, not 
 by flesh (i.e., human nature fallen, estranged from God, 
 and as we shall see, enmity against Him) but the 
 Spirit, and this identifying itself with the very being 
 and state of the Christian, just as we see in the case of 
 demoniacs that they were bound up with their evil 
 possession, so that the man and the unclean spirit could 
 only be severed by God's power. Further on we have 
 the Holy Spirit treated as an indwelling person, who 
 acts in and with the believer; but here it is a charac- 
 teristic state predicated of the Christian, contrasted with 
 that of all other men out of which he is brought by 
 faith in Christ. For all were alike in the same state, 
 " in flesh," as born of Adam ; but those according to the 
 Spirit mind the things of the Spirit, things which eye 
 hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered the 
 heart of man to consider, things which God hath pre- 
 pared for those that love Him. 
 
 Here it may be profitable to observe that the Spirit 
 is not once brought before us in the first great division 
 of our Epistle (chap. i. — v. 11) till redemption, the 
 remission of sins, was fully established, cleared and done 
 with. It is only in the conclusion (Rom. v. 1 — 11) 
 which winds up this part of the apostle's argument that 
 he introduces (ver. 5) the earliest mention of the Holy 
 Ghost. "And hope maketh not ashamed, because the 
 love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
 Ghost which is given unto us." In the appendix of 
 doctrine on the divine deliverance, not from sins, but 
 
122 E0MAN8. 
 
 from sin, tlie method of procedure is exactly similar: 
 the Holy Spirit only reappears in chapter viii. which is 
 the conclusion to this most momentous addition Only 
 here, as connected more with practical state and walk, we 
 meet with a rich development and great variety of ap- 
 plication, instead of the passing though sweet allusion 
 of chapter v. 
 
 Nor will the thoughtful Christian find it hard to 
 discern the wisdom of God in both. For even in the 
 face of this remarkable omission of the Spirit in the 
 discussion of man's unrighteousness, and then of God's 
 righteousness in the gospel by faith of Christ, man is 
 prone enough to drag in what God has left out; and 
 believers continually doom themselves to a lack of peace 
 with God by an inquisitive search in themselves after 
 the effects of the Spirit which might satisfy them of 
 their renewal and acceptance. Now it is not denied 
 for a moment that none but the Spirit quickens by the 
 word, revealing Christ to the soul ; yet this truth, ac- 
 knowledged on all sides, makes the absence of reference 
 to the Holy Ghost given so much the more notable. 
 
 Till redemption is known, God w^ould direct the eye to 
 Christ: He alone who died for the sinner is entitled to 
 give him comfort in respect and in spite of his sins. 
 His blood alone cleanses from all sin. It may be, it is, 
 wholesome to look within as well as without, and to 
 learn more and more what a sinner I am; but God 
 will have me to look outside myself to Christ exclu- 
 sively for pardon. To look within for righteousness by 
 the Spirit enabling me is illusive, nay ruinous. I must 
 be content with, and rejoice in, the blessedness David 
 describes of the man to whom God imputes righteous- 
 ness without works. Like Abraham, I need not be 
 discouraged by my own weakness, or the inability 6i 
 all around to help; I ought like him to give glory to 
 God; for it was not written for his sake alone that it 
 was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall 
 be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 123 
 
 onr Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our 
 offences and was raised again for our justification. 
 And therefore being justified by faith we have peace 
 with God through onr Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 After all this it is that God speaks to us of the 
 gift of the Spirit, and the love that is shed abroad in 
 our hearts by Him. We can bear this truth then, as 
 then only indeed we are sealed by the Spirit. For 
 though the Spirit can and does quicken one dead in 
 trespasses and sins, He never seals a soul in such a 
 state; He seals only where there is life and cleansing 
 by the shed blood of the Saviour. Christ no doubt 
 had the Holy Ghost descending and abiding on Him 
 apart from blood; but He was the Holy One of God 
 and came to redeem others, not to be redeemed. But 
 none other was or could be sealed save as a consequence 
 of His redemption. Hence we see in the Acts and 
 the Epistles of the Apostles that the Holy Spirit was 
 given in His name, even the quickened not being thus 
 sealed till they submitted themselves (which was not 
 always an immediate sequence) to the righteousness 
 of God. 
 
 Bat here the allusion is brief. There is no dwelling 
 on the internal operations of the Spirit till we come to 
 chapter viii. The reason seems manifest. It would 
 not be meat in due season till the mighty result of 
 Christ's death and resurrection was applied to our 
 nature, to our conscious and intelligent deliverance (by 
 faith of His work) from the sense and power of sin, 
 as well as from guilt by our sins against God. Chris- 
 tendom afibrds solemn lessons, not only in the past but 
 in the present, of the dangers those run who take a 
 different route. For what is the necessary result of 
 mixing up an inward search after the fruits and wit- 
 ness of the Spirit with the anxieties of the soul 
 anxious, and it may be quickened ? It can be none 
 other than either to buoy him up with a joy founded 
 on feelings more or less self-righteous, or to plunge him, 
 
124 ROMANS. 
 
 if conscientious, into the depths of distress, endeavouring 
 to extract a miserable comfort from the very fact that 
 he is so harassed with a sense of sin while he clings 
 to the barest hope that he may be a child of God. 
 
 When the apostle has set forth fully the work of 
 redemption, when we know, as believers in Christ, not 
 merely the sins effaced by His precious blood, but sin 
 in the flesh condemned — both morally in Him who was 
 absolutely free from it, yet withal in grace to us bearing 
 its consequences judicially as a sacrifice for it that 
 there might be no condemnation to those that are in 
 Him — when this is learnt solidly by divine teaching, 
 we are in a position to profit by the fullest instructions 
 in the ways of God by His Spirit in respect of us. 
 Here accordingly there is neither silence nor stint. 
 
 But it cannot be too rigidly insisted on that God's 
 condemnation of sin was on the cross in the sacrifice 
 of Christ for it. Those who deny that the soul's 
 deliverance can be till we actually die, are no less in 
 error than others who affirm that it means the new and 
 sanctifying power of the Spirit by Christ. Both have 
 to be taught a great truth which they have overlooked. 
 Undoubtedly there is more before us than justification 
 from our sins. It is a question of how to be rid of 
 the burden of sin, indwelling sin; and till we lay- 
 hold of the revealed answer in Christ, the Spirit con- 
 victs of sin, instead of delivering from it. The answer 
 is that God condemned sin in Him who was sent in the 
 likeness of flesh of sin; but as a sacrifice for sin. There- 
 fore to faith sin is as completely annulled as our sins — 
 both righteously, but in grace, both by Him who for both 
 suffered at God's hand that we might be delivered and 
 know our deliverance now by the faith of Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. We must not confound the effect of this 
 in victory over sin with the act of God who thus 
 condemned sin in the flesh. Christ's own personal 
 overthrow of Satan and manifestation of uniform and 
 spotless holiness here below would have but riveted 
 
CHAPTEK VIII. 125 
 
 condemnation on us more hopelessly, had He not also 
 suffered for iis on the cross. His sinlessness is incon- 
 testable; but it is ignorance and false doctrine to say 
 that the condemnation of sin in the flesh is owing to 
 it, not to His sacrifice for sin. Multitudes of divines 
 may crowd the valley of indecision, and so say or write; 
 but it is in vain. May their error perish, but not 
 themselves ! The sacrifice of Christ is the ground of 
 our emancipation by the Spirit of life from the law of 
 sin and death, as it is in order to a holy walk. The 
 law, holy as it is, could effect neither; it claimed but 
 never received righteousness, as it condemned the sinner 
 without ever reaching sin in the flesh. This God 'did 
 in Christ's sacrifice for sin, with its infinite blessing 
 for us in both standing and walk. The law dealt with 
 the old nature, the flesh, exposing its sinful character, 
 but weak through it. The Spirit strengthens the new 
 nature ; and thus the believer, feeding on the word, 
 walks accordingly, loving God and his neighbour. 
 
 Then follows the explanation why those who are in 
 Christ walk according to the Spirit. If they were after 
 flesh, the mind and affection would be on the things of 
 the flesh. Source, character, and conduct go together. 
 Flesh is never sublimated into spirit; nor does spirit 
 sink or change to flesh ; for, as the Lord said, *' that 
 which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is 
 born of the Spirit is spirit." Even Adam unfallen was 
 not spirit. Hence there was no question of resurrection 
 or of heaven till all of original state was lost by sin. 
 The Last Adam brings in the " better thing." Flesh 
 cannot rise above itself, though it may fall into the 
 depths of Satan. Even in its best estate we may 
 perhaps say. " Whosoever driuketh of this water shall 
 thirst ai^ain ; but whosoever drinketh of the water that 
 /[Christ] shall give him shall never thirst: but the 
 water that I shall give him sliall be in him a well of 
 water, springing up into everlasting life." 
 
 And as the essential character thus differs, as well as 
 
126 ROMANS. 
 
 the range and objects of flesh and Spirit, so also the 
 issues. " For the mind of the flesh [is] death, but the 
 mind of the Spirit life and peace." (Ver. 6.) The 
 flesh has not one pulse of life Godvvard, however active 
 in its pursuits and pleasures here. On the other hand, 
 the mind of the Spirit, its exercise of thought and 
 feeling, is life and peace. It was so in Christ; and so it 
 is in the Christian. How a sinner is to find either life 
 from God or peace with God is not the subject-matter 
 in hand, but the moral bent and result of flesh and 
 Spirit. Flesh satisfies itself, or at least its desires are 
 set on things seen and felt apart from God or His word ; 
 the iSpirit cannot rest short of the love and the glory 
 of Christ. And as this only is the life of the Spirit, so 
 it is peace of heart. In every sense God has called us 
 in peace; whereas, there is no peace, saith my God, to 
 the wicked. How could it be otherwise with fallen 
 humanity? " Because the mind of the flesh [is] enmity 
 against God; for to the law of God it is not subject;" 
 nor need one wonder, " for it is not possible. But they 
 then that are in flesh cannot please God." (Ver. 7, 8.) 
 
 Awful conclusion for man as he is ! Would that he 
 laid it to heart as the truth, the sentence pronounced 
 by the Judge of all the earth ! No fruit for God grows 
 on that tree for ever. There is and must be for the be- 
 liever a new life in order to fruit-bearing. Not the 
 things that are seen, the things of the flesh, but the 
 revelation of the unseen, the word of God Himself, seen 
 by faith in Christ, nourishes this life; for without faith, 
 thie same apostle tells ns in another epistle, it is im- 
 possible to please God. Now the flesh never trusts 
 God ; its mind is enmity against Him. The law brings 
 in His authority and interdicts to the flesh its own way, 
 which is everything to it. Hence its independence proves 
 to be enmity against God ; for in virtue of seeking its 
 own will it neither does nor can subject itself to His 
 law. Obedience is essentially incompatible with the 
 self-will, the avoiila^ of the flesh, which would cease to 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 127 
 
 be itself if it obeyed God. Hence the application of the 
 principle to the unrenewed. " And they that are in 
 flesh cannot please God," whose complacency is in the 
 man that ever sought and did God's will, not His own, 
 and thus ever practised the things agreeable to His 
 Father. 
 
 To be in flesh then is hopeless ruin, its mind being 
 at variance with God, and in utter insubjection to His 
 law; and this is the sad condition of all the sons of 
 fallen Adam. It is not however the standing of the 
 Christian. As in the beginning of our chapter he is 
 said to be in Christ and consequently outside every 
 possible condemnation, so here it is said, " but ye are 
 not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God's Spirit dwell 
 in you." 
 
 Thus the indwelling of the Holy Ghost is the wit- 
 ness and proof that we are " in Spirit," and conse- 
 quently not in flesh. But it would be a mistake to- 
 conclude that this condition was not reached and sup- 
 posed in the preceding chapters. Indeed chapter vii. 5 
 unquestionably implies the contrary — " for when ive 
 were in the flesh," &c. ; consequently we are not in the 
 flesh now as Christians. So in chapter vi., the saints 
 were bondmen of sin but now freed from it, bound 
 therefore to reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to 
 God in Christ Jesus, under grace and not under law. 
 This cannot be without life and the Spirit. The man 
 who is alive of that new life takes the place of death 
 at the word of the Lord, and attests the end of the old 
 man in his own person. But in chapter viii., for rea- 
 sons already given, the apostle is free to develop the 
 relation of the Spirit to the Christian, and His various 
 operations in and with the soul as far as would be 
 suitable to the epistle in hand. We are in Spirit, if at 
 all events God's Spirit dwell in us. Now that it is 
 evident that man is equally weak and ungodly, now 
 that he has learnt that the way of God is not by vic- 
 tory over sin, but (owning his total powerlessness to 
 
128 EOMANS. 
 
 recover or do well) by the work of Christ and death 
 with Him, he can safely hear of the ways of the Spirit. 
 He will not now seek by efforts to get free, for he has 
 surrendered to the solemn and humbling fact of what 
 he is as well as confessed his misdoings. God is wise 
 and good in this as in all else: for if He strengthened 
 the converted soul in its desire to gain the victory over 
 indwelling evil by the work of the Spirit, it would 
 make the work of Christ incomparably less prized and 
 the soul satisfied with itself under pretence of trusting 
 in the Spirit. 
 
 In truth scripture knows no such thing as trusting 
 in the working of the Spirit in us as distinguished from 
 trusting in ourselves or in our works. For what the 
 Spirit enables us as God's children to do is ever counted 
 as onr own, and will be remembered and rewarded ac- 
 cordingly when God proves Himself not unrighteous to 
 forget our work and the love shewn to His name. 
 
 Deliverance is by death — the death of Christ, with 
 whom we died. But we are alive to God in Him, and 
 the Spirit dwells in us. We can then without pre- 
 sumption say that we are not in flesh. We are not 
 viewed as mere men, characterized by the first Adam 
 state and responsibilities; as it had been already shewn 
 that we are not under law, like Israel, but under grace. 
 Not, I must add, that we are not responsible, but that our 
 responsibility is of a new character, founded on the new 
 relationship which grace has given us when delivered 
 from our old state of ruined men. " Ye are not in flesh." 
 Nothing short of this is the due language of the 
 Christian. It is the most general expression for nature, 
 for man as he is; and, as Christians, such is not our 
 condition. We are " in Spirit," not merely under the 
 dominion of our own renewed mind; but that which 
 was first set before us as being " in Christ" is here said 
 to be "in Spirit," a condition formed by the action of the 
 Holy Ghost who is glorifying Christ according to the 
 will and mission of the Father. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 129 
 
 Let us bear in mind that it is more than being born 
 of the Spirit, which in fact embraces all saints, and is 
 not more true of the Christian than of the Old Testa- 
 ment or of the millennial saint. But to be " in Spirit" 
 goes farther, and is proved by the indwelling of the 
 Holy Spirit after Jesus died, rose, and went on high. 
 " But ye are not in flesh but in Spirit, if at all events 
 God's Spirit dwell in you." Christ risen is a life-giving 
 Spirit, as we see in John xx. ; exalted. He sends down 
 the Holy Spirit as power. (Acts ii.) If one really be- 
 lieves in Christ — i.e., the gospel, he receives the Spirit 
 and so can be said to be " in Spirit." This is the sole 
 recognized condition, though there may be a state short 
 of it for a season. The case described or personated by 
 the apostle in the central and latter part of chapter vii. 
 is that of one born of the Spii-it, but not yet " in 
 Spirit," which is the proper christian state. 
 
 Observe that it is no question here of measure, or 
 of moral disposition, but of new facts in the realm of 
 grace. Certainly he of whom they are true is intended 
 to realize their truth and to walk accordingly. Still it 
 is important to see that God reveals to the Christian, 
 not as a special privilege of a favoured soul here and 
 there, but as a broad certain characteristic of those now 
 called according to His purpose, that they are not in 
 flesh but in Spirit. There is no mingling of the two 
 states. We were in the one; we are now in the other. 
 It is not a state, again, after our death physically, but 
 after Christ's death, at least when it can also be said 
 that we died with Him. It is therefore true of the 
 Christian now in this world, absolutely true from the 
 beginning of his career on earth as a Christian till its 
 close. I speak of course of the true believer only. 
 
 Is there no partial state recognized here ? No fluc- 
 tuating, no uncertainty, no mixing up of the old Adam 
 state and Christ ? Not in the slightest degree. " Ye 
 are not in flesh but in Spirit." Is the Christian 
 then without the flesh? Clearly not; but the true 
 
 K 
 
130 ROMANS. 
 
 state and statement of the case is, not that he is in 
 flesh, but tliat flesh is in him. The old nature is there, 
 and ready to break out into sin if there be not self- 
 judgment, watchfuhiess against the enemy, and looking 
 to Christ. The flesh is beyond doubt in the believer: 
 only he is no longer in flesh, but in that new estate of 
 which Christ is the display and the Holy Spirit is the 
 power and character. The flesh is an evil thing, always 
 to be hated and in nothing allowed. The Christian 
 however is entitled to know that he is not in flesh, but 
 that he is clean contrary to it as to his condition — in 
 Spirit, always supposing that God's Spirit dwells in 
 him. Anything anomalous or intermediate is not here 
 taken into account. The apostle contrasts this pre- 
 vious natural state with the full christian position, not 
 strictly speaking, with the new birth. Thus the Spirit's 
 dwelling in the believer is used as the then public tes- 
 timony on God's part. This must be modified in the 
 present confusion of doctrine, as well as the absence of 
 manifestations in power. Yet the great substantial 
 truth abides unchanged. 
 
 " But if any one hath not Christ's Spirit, he is not 
 his." This parenthetical statement is to be weighed 
 without deducing, as is often done, what it was clearly 
 not intended to convey. Thus some would draw from it 
 that the Old Testament saints must have had Christ's 
 Spirit in the sense here discussed, as others again would 
 deny a condition of soul in which one may be quickened, 
 as in the latter part of Romans, without being sealed, 
 examples of which are so frequent in the Acts of the 
 Apostles. But the fact is that the apostle is now treat- 
 ing of one who is no Christian at all save in outward 
 name, like Simon Magus, in contrast with those who 
 have Christ's Spirit. And this seems to be confirmed by 
 the use of avrov lather than avTuj. Where the soul 
 submits to divine righteousness in Christ, the Father 
 seals with the Spirit. Here I suppose He is designated 
 " Christ's," not as if it were another Spirit than God's, 
 
CHAPTER VITI. 131 
 
 bnt as having displayed Himself there above all in the 
 perfection of a life consecrated to God from first to 
 last. Grace gives the Spirit to all that believe on 
 Him now, not necessarily when the soul is first ploughed 
 up, but assuredly on receiving the word of truth, the 
 gospel of salvation. So sure is it, that if one has not 
 His Spirit, one is not of Him. 
 
 It is evident that the apostle is here closing the answer 
 to the question in the latter verses of chapter vii. : " O 
 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from 
 this body of death ? " In the answer there are three parts. 
 The first is, that as Christians we start with a position 
 of deliverance in Christ (chap. viii. I) and the possession 
 of a life of liberty (ver. 2), in both its parts founded 
 on and justified by the cross of Christ (ver. 3). There 
 could be, and there ought to be, no deliverance, unless 
 sin were righteously atoned for and blotted out before 
 God. Ought a single sinner to be set free, if God's 
 glory were enfeebled by it ? But it is not so. On the 
 contrary never was such glory brought to God as by 
 the cross of the Lord Jesus ; never such a display of 
 righteousness as well as of love as in the cross; and 
 more than this, there never can be such a display again. 
 The one spot and hour and act and person that stands 
 out from the whole of this world's history from eternity 
 and to eternity, distinct from all that ever was or ever 
 will be, is the cross of the Lord Jesus ; and yet it was 
 in consequence of this very cross that God could deal 
 in such tender mercy before it came ; and it is in conse- 
 quence of it that God will never rest in His love till 
 all sin is completely gone, all evil judged, and all His 
 mercy has had its full result in the accomplishment of 
 His purposes. No wonder therefore that the cross of 
 the Lord Jesus has brought in a signal change even 
 now. It would not have been worthy of God had He 
 not given by it a present deliverance to him that believes 
 in Christ. 
 
 This deliverance then consists of these two parts: 
 
132 ROMANS. 
 
 that Christ died for our sins according to the scripttires, 
 and that we are placed in and as Christ before God. 
 For Christ was not an individual solely, who simply 
 came and did a great work for others, but apart from 
 bearing our sins He is a public man in an infinitely better 
 sense than any other could be. The queen, for instance, 
 is a public person. As sovereign she gives expression 
 to whatever is the law of the land ; her sign-manual is 
 supreme authority. Properly speaking there is no 
 statute law without her. 1 use this merely as an illus- 
 tration. But the Lord Jesus is a public person in an 
 infinitely higher yet closer and nearer way, because no 
 subject could be said to be in the sovereign as the 
 Christian is in Christ. She may represent the people 
 that she governs, but there could be nothing more in- 
 timate in their relation to her. The wonderful truth of 
 redemption shews that the Lord Jesus is a public person 
 so far as to give us a place in Himself above, and not 
 only in identifying Himself with our guilt before God 
 which He did once for all on the cross. In another 
 sense He died for every man. Nothing can be more 
 certain than that both are true, that He died for those 
 that believe, and that He died for every man — with this 
 difi'erence, that the believer alone can say that He bore 
 our sins in His own body on the tree. But it is the 
 guilt of the natural man that, Christ having died for 
 all, he nevertheless rejects Him. Yes, the deepest aggra- 
 vation of unbelief is that, though Christ came for 
 every creature, none would have Him. Not a living 
 soul would have had Him unless by the special grace of 
 God that opens a believer's eyes and inclines his heart 
 to receive Him. This God does for the elect, though 
 all be responsible. 
 
 But the Lord Jesus is more than a Saviour who died 
 for us and our guilt. He is now the great pattern of 
 One who, having been under the most intolerable judg- 
 ment of sin, rose from the dead perfectly delivered and in 
 the fullest sunshine of divine delight and peace and joy 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 133 
 
 to stew ns where the Christian is and how God looks 
 upon him. Is not his place in Christ Jesus, risen from 
 the dead ? Is he not entitled to look up and say, There 
 is where I am? I am not denying that here we are 
 still walking in this poor wretched world ; but God's 
 word warrants us as Christians to receive what He has 
 done in Christ and to say that we are thus in Him. As 
 a man, I look back at Adam and see his sin, the power 
 of his natural affections carrying him away. When 
 he fell, did he remain the noble creature he was before 
 he fell? Alas! he was deceitful, yet insolent, willing 
 to throw the blame upon his wife or upon God in order 
 to excuse himself. So every sinful man is apt to be 
 not only bold against God but a coward with a bad 
 conscience. And this is what we are in our natural 
 state, some shewing more of the insolence, others of 
 the cowardice. There is not a bold man that is not 
 sometimes a coward, and alasl there is no man so timid 
 that he is not sometimes insolent. How complete the 
 moral havoc before God and man ! 
 
 God then has brought in this perfect deliverance now, 
 but only for the soul in its standing in the first place. 
 He that has received Christ has this wonderful boon, 
 not only his sins forgiven, but his sin so judged that 
 God can and does put him in Christ, and as Christ be- 
 fore Himself. He is entitled to repeat the language of 
 faith and say, I am in Christ Jesus, and there is there- 
 fore no condemnation. How can there be condemnation 
 for Christ? It is Christ that settles and determines 
 the place that grace has given me as a believer. Con- 
 sequently I may humbly say, as the word of God for 
 my soul, There is no condemnation. 
 
 But there is more than this. He will not allow it 
 to be merely vague, lest it might appear intangible 
 general blessing, but as pointed and personal as can 
 be. " For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus." It is not merely the death of Christ Jesus. 
 His death in itself never gives full christian liberty. 
 
134 ROMANS. 
 
 It met my guilt, but I want more than this; I want a 
 power of life that has won the victory. And this is 
 what I have through grace. " The law of the Spirit of 
 life in Christ Jesus freed me from the law of sin and 
 death." No wonder therefore that people, when not 
 aware of this, are always occupied with a miserable toil 
 under the law, rather hoping than knowing their sins 
 forgiven. But the blood of Jesus, His mighty work, in 
 death, simply meets their guilt and puts away the ini- 
 quities of the old man. Do you not also need the power 
 of a new and risen life? This is what follows. " The law 
 of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed me from the 
 law of sin and death." Such is the second part of the 
 deliverance. First, there is no condemnation in Christ; 
 next, this power of life in Christ is mine; and both 
 these things are vindicated by the cross of Christ which 
 he mentions in the following verse. " For what the 
 law could not do, in that it was weak through the 
 flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of 
 sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." 
 The practical consequence follows: "That the righte- 
 ousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk 
 not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 
 
 Is there then no flesh ? There is the old evil nature 
 in the believer; but he is not in flesh, he is in Christ. 
 You cannot be in sin and in Christ at the same time; 
 you cannot be in Adam and in Christ together. You 
 were in Adam as man, but are in Christ as a Christian. 
 Hence the apostle goes so far as to declare that the 
 Christian is not in flesh at all. Does this mean that 
 we are perfect and nothing else? Not in the least. It 
 does suppose that you are made perfect in Christ, but 
 it admits the humiliating fact that flesh is in us: other- 
 wise we should never do wrong at all, there would be no 
 self, no vanity or pride in us. But if we are not in 
 flesh, as has been often said, flesh is in us as a matter of 
 fact. " Ye are not in flesh" is God's estimate of the 
 deliverance already given us in Christ Jesus. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 135 
 
 Verse 10 does not speak about our hemg in Christ, 
 but rather the converse, which is sometimes forgotten 
 hv the children of God. Not only am I in Christ, but 
 Christ is in me as a believer. The effect of knowing 
 that I am in Christ is that there is no condemnation : not 
 merely am I not condemned in this or that, but all con- 
 demnation is absolutely annulled. There could not be 
 anything of the sort for the Christian. God must 
 condemn His own Son if He condemned those that are 
 in Him; and every Christian is in Him. I grant you 
 that people may make a bad use of this, but those who 
 go on thus are not to be regarded as Christians at all, 
 as indeed they never were. They were professors and 
 nothing but professors; light-hearted men that would 
 treat the Lord Jesus as they would one of their fellows, 
 and the grace and truth of God as a common thing, 
 making God the servant of their own lusts. Now He 
 can be a Saviour from all evil, but never a servant to 
 the will and passions of men. But w'hat He loves is 
 grace, where a poor sinner, miserable because of his sins, 
 and hearing the announcement of His gift of Christ, 
 comes to Him to be saved. Could God with Christ in 
 His presence say No? Contrariwise, the measure of His 
 salvation is that, first of all, as to our standing, we are 
 put in Christ risen from the dead, who is his life in the 
 power of the Spirit. Next, there is the active working 
 of the Spirit of God in the believer. This is what is 
 spoken of here: " If Christ be in you, the body [is] 
 dead because of sin, but the Spirit life, because of 
 righteousness." If I allow the body its own will, there 
 is nothing but sin produced. How am I to get power 
 against its dragging me into sin ? Hold it for dead : 
 this is the prescription. " If Christ be in you" — he 
 is not speaking of unbelievers, but simply about Chris- 
 tians. To them the word is, If Christ be in you. Re- 
 member, this is what you are to do: count the body 
 as a dead thing; do not pamper it, never yield to it. 
 If there be the allowance of the active will therein, it is 
 
136 ROMANS. 
 
 rot merely the body, it becomes then simply " flesh." 
 Where rein is given to the will, irrespective of course 
 of God's, the body is but the instrument of sin, 
 not of righteousness. Thus the way for the Christian 
 to get power against the sin that is in him is to count 
 the body dead. Is he that is dead to allow such and 
 such an evil thing to work ? When you cease to hold it 
 for dead, there is sin; but if you do, the Spirit works in 
 moral power. " The Spirit [is] life, because of righte- 
 ousness." 
 
 It is only so far as you do not yield to your own 
 will that sin is practically null and void, and the 
 Spirit of God acts freely. The apostle is looking at 
 the actual working of the Spirit of God in us. It is 
 not life simply viewed as ours, but as in exercise, a 
 matter of experience day by day. What is between 
 these two points (i.e., the soul's deliverance as in verses 
 1, 2, and the resurrection of our bodies)? " If Christ 
 be in you, the body [is] dead because of sin, but the 
 Spirit life because of righteousness." Righteousness 
 is not found simply by seeing that I am in Christ. 
 This alone will not do. A man who merely talks about 
 being in Christ and makes this his Christianity will 
 turn out very bad indeed. He is merely making 
 Christ a means for getting off eternal condemnation and 
 present responsibility, but this will not do. As sure as 
 you have got Christ and you are in Christ, Christ is in 
 you ; and if Christ is in you, take care you do not 
 allow self to work. Where the body is not treated as 
 dead but as alive, and is allowed to have its way, sin 
 must be the result. If you treat it as dead, its career is 
 cut short, its course is closed, and the Spirit of God deigns 
 to become the sole spring of what you are seeking. 
 
 And let no one suppose that this is bondage. It 
 is christian liberty. To do a thing because you must 
 do it is never christian liberty. A slave thus works 
 because he must; and we also, when in a low state, 
 are apt to make a law of everything. When the 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 137 
 
 affections are not flowing, we are only kept from what 
 is openly evil, because there is a servile dread of doing 
 vi'hat our consciences know is contrary to God. Whea 
 this is the case, I am forgetting my ground of duty. 
 What is it? Even now Christ is in me. If Christ 
 be in me here, I am responsible to do His will. How 
 is this to be done? I have got my body: if I allow 
 it to have its own will and way, it will land me in sin. 
 Treat it as dead ; and let the one spring of what you 
 desire be that which pleases the Holy Spirit. " The 
 Spirit [is] life because of righteousness." There is no 
 practical righteousness produced in the Christian, ex- 
 cept by the power of the Spirit of God. If the body is 
 allowed loose rein in what we desire, it is only sin. The 
 Spirit, on the contrary, is life in the practical sense, and 
 this is the only way of righteousness for our walk. 
 
 But then there is a third point of the deliverance, 
 and this is, that, " if the Spirit of Him that raised up 
 Jesus from the dead dwell in you" (which we have 
 been shewn now to be the case, not only dwelling in us 
 but also life because of righteousness), " he that raised 
 up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
 bodies by [or rather because of] his Spirit that dwelleth 
 in you." This is a rich and precious word. As sure 
 as you now have the Spirit of God dwelling in you — 
 the Spirit that raised up the humbled man Jesus, He 
 that raised up the glorious One, who was made Lord 
 and Christ, will raise up your mortal bodies. We have 
 to mark the contrast of His personal name " Jesus" as 
 compared wnth what follows. " He that raised up 
 Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
 bodies" and this "because of his Spirit that dwelleth in 
 you." Deliverance is then complete. 
 
 I grant you there is no power intrinsically, there is 
 mortality, working in our bodies; but "he that raised 
 up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
 bodies, because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you." 
 W^hat a sure hope and full portion is that of the Chris- 
 
138 ROMANS. 
 
 tian ! For thus I am delivered in my soul ; I am called 
 to give my testimony practically by the Holy Ghost 
 that I am delivered, instead of being a man under law 
 or in the flesh ; and, again, I shall be raised. Even this 
 mortal body shall be quickened — not a new body 
 created and given me, but this mortal body shall be 
 changed. This is no mere fresh creation but the most 
 glorious proof of God's love and grace towards us. 
 The mortal body shall be raised because' of His Spirit 
 that dwelleth in us. The Holy One who now dwells 
 in us will never let go His claim to the mortal body 
 in which He now dwells. He dwells in us, because of 
 the risen life of Christ that is in the redeemed. If 
 redemption had not been accomplished, and the life 
 of Christ had not been given to us, He could not dwell 
 in us; but where these are. He as it were says, There 
 I must be. The Holy Ghost cannot be separated from 
 Christ in the believer. He acts as one who loves to be 
 there to the glory of Christ; and thus He strengthens us, 
 the active mighty spring of good and the watchful guard 
 against evil. "The Spirit [is] life because of righteous- 
 ness." But as sure as this is the case, " if the Spirit 
 of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in 
 you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also 
 quicken your mortal bodies because of his Spirit that 
 dwelleth in you." 
 
 The practical conclusion of the apostle follows. " So, 
 then, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live 
 according to flesh. For if ye live according to flesh, 
 ye are about to die; but if by [the] Spirit ye put to 
 death the deeds of the body, ye shall live." (Ver. 12, 13.) 
 The deliverance of the Christian gives him the fullest 
 title against the flesh ; and he has the power of the 
 Spirit that he should live according to Christ, not ac- 
 cording to flesh. The structure of the phraseology is 
 peculiar, but I believe admirably wise. The sentence 
 looks unfinished and sounds as if another member were 
 wanting to complete it. But God is always right ; and 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 139 
 
 no addition is needful or even admissible: if anything 
 were added, it would but detract from the force of the 
 truth as now stated. " We are debtors not to the 
 flesh to live according to flesh." Used to the schools 
 and forms of man, one waits for some such statement 
 to be added as that we are debtors to the Spirit or 
 to Christ the Lord. This the inspired writer avoids 
 saying. He knows the tendency to legalism, and would 
 cut off excuse first. He would maintain us in liberty, 
 the full liberty with which Christ set us free. But 
 there is no enfeebling of responsibility. On the one 
 hand, " If ye live according to flesh, ye are about to 
 die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of 
 the body, ye shall live" on the other hand. The former 
 is a natural and necessary consequence; the latter is a 
 gracious and assuring pledge from God. 
 
 " For as many as are led by God's Spirit, they are 
 sons of God." (Ver. 14.) Here we begin to hear of 
 our relationship in contrast with the place of servants 
 or slaves, which Israel had under law. It also paves the 
 way for the introduction of the Spirit as the personal 
 agent, instead of being viewed simply as characterizing 
 our new nature and status in contrast with flesh. But 
 it is not correct to say that vio9 Qeov differs from 
 reKvov G. in implying the higher and more mature and 
 conscious member of God's family. The true distinc- 
 tion is that the former is the less intimate of the two 
 and does not necessarily suppose a proper birth -tie. It 
 need not go beyond public position by adoption, with- 
 out being really born into the family, but in full contra- 
 distinction in every case to the place of a slave. 
 Hence John, who treats of life, nev^r speaks of us as 
 " sons ;" for the word is wrongly rendered so in John i. 
 12 and in chapter iii. 1, 2, of his first epistle. It should 
 be " children," as being truly born of God. Nor is 
 this at all enfeebled by the fact on the other side that 
 Jesus is never called tbkvov but vl6<i. It would be 
 derogatory to, and a denial of, His eternal glory to 
 
140 ROMANS. 
 
 speak of Him as God's reKvov (child). But He is Son 
 (I'io?) in more senses than one. He is Son of God as 
 born in time and viewed on earth in His predicted 
 association with Israel as their Messiah and king. 
 (Psalm ii.) He is determined as Son of God in power 
 by resurrection from the dead. (Rom. i.) And what is 
 more important than all, and the basis of all, He is 
 Son of God, only-begotten Son in the Father's bosom, 
 entirely apart from the time of His manifestation or 
 the results of His work of redemption. Son of the 
 Father in His own nature and personal relationship in 
 that eternal subsistence which is essential to the God- 
 head and characteristic of it. For this last we have 
 chiefly to consult the Gospel and Epistles of John. 
 Nothing therefore can be more correct than the language 
 of all the inspired writers ; nothing more feeble than its 
 appreciation by theological writers even with the facts 
 and words before their eyes. But the source of their 
 failure is quite intelligible: a sense of Christ's glory as 
 inadequate as of the derived privileges of the Christian. 
 Thus we have seen the weighty and momentous fact 
 that the Holy Spirit in distinct personal action asso- 
 ciates Himself with the Christian. It is not only that 
 He produces a new spiritual being and estate into which 
 those who are Christ's are now brought: this we have 
 had largely, but there is more insisted on here. " For 
 as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons 
 of God." Not merely must one be born of water and 
 the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God (John iii. 5) ; 
 not merely did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit, as 
 Spirit of life more abundantly, when the risen Jesus 
 breathed on them (John xx. 22); but now the Holy 
 Ghost, personally present, guided these richly favoured 
 saints in the conscious dignity of God's sons. There 
 is liberty where He is, not law; yet the moral result 
 which law demanded grace produced; for if they in 
 dependence look to the Lord Jesus, and to their God 
 and Father, He on His part is no spirit of weakness 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 141 
 
 or of cowardice, but of power and of love and of a 
 sound mind, and by Him are they thus led. 
 
 *' For ye received not a spirit of bondage again to 
 [or for] fear ; but ye received a spirit of sonship, 
 whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Ver. 15.) Gentiles 
 though they were (for there is no allusion here as in 
 chapter vii. to such as know the law), they were not 
 brought into the spiritual condition of the saints in 
 Old Testament times, especially indeed of those under 
 law, who through fear of death were subject to bondage 
 during the whole of their life. Out of this the Jewish 
 saints were brought by the gospel, which equally met 
 the Gentile who had never experienced the legal dis- 
 cipline, but had lain here and there, seemingly over- 
 looked in their wild course of lawlessness and idolatry. 
 The one as much as the other received a spirit of 
 adoption or sonship, as indeed it is said elsewhere: 
 " because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his 
 Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The Holy 
 Ghost could not but act in unison with the Son who 
 had revealed the Father, and would give the sense of 
 no relationship short of sons. The slaves had morally 
 closed their history, not only by persistent rebellion, 
 but by war to the death of the Son of God. From a 
 lost world grace was saving, and placing those who 
 believed in the Lord Jesus in the position of sons; and 
 the Holy Ghost personally deigned to lead them, beside 
 imparting a nature conformable to God and distinct 
 from man though made good in man. It is in con- 
 trast then not merely with Gentile license and boldness, 
 but with Jewish bondage and fear ; and the Spirit gives 
 us to cry, Abba, Father. So cried Jesus in Geth- 
 semane, not on the cross. If we cry thus, it is the ex- 
 pression of dependence on and confidence in our Father, 
 not of a suffering such as His, where His utter aban- 
 donment draws forth the still deeper and essentially 
 distinct " My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
 saken me ?" 
 
142 ROMANS. 
 
 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, 
 that we are children of God: and if children, heirs 
 also; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if 
 indeed we suffer with [him] that we may also be 
 glorified with [him]." (Ver. 16, 17.) 
 
 Thus the Holy Spirit takes part in all. Does He 
 content Himself only with imparting a new and divine 
 nature? By no means. He has His appropriate in- 
 ternal witness; He Himself bears it with our spirit 
 that we are of the very family of God, as indeed we are 
 born of God. But now it is not alone the fact but the 
 conscious joy of it. Christianity is not objective only, 
 but just as remarkable for the gift by grace of inner 
 power and comfort; the Son reveals the Father, and 
 gives the Spirit. It is not merely the gospel believed, 
 but a real inward witnessing of the Spirit with ours 
 that we are God's children. There is far more no doubt ; 
 but this there is, and it is of consequence to recognize 
 it. Some may have substituted it for the testimony to 
 Christ and redemption; but we must avoid the error of 
 denying it. He would not be absent from the joy of 
 the saint. Have we not this consciousness of being 
 God's children? Whence have we it? Is it a process 
 of reasoning from the gospel? God forbid. Let us 
 call realities by their right names. It is the Spirit 
 itself witnessing with our spirit that we are children 
 of God. How Calvinists or Arminians misuse it may 
 be of importance in each case; but this is the truth of 
 God, realized in every simple-minded Christian, whether 
 opposing parties hear or forbear. 
 
 Here the reasoning, it will be remarked, is not to 
 our being God's children, but from it. The Spirit it- 
 self bears witness with our spirit that we are children 
 of God: the inference is, that if children, we are also 
 heirs. Wondrous to say, we are " heirs of God ;" more 
 wonderful still, "joint-heirs with Christ." Israel were 
 the lot of Jehovah's inheritance. Not such is our 
 place; we are heirs of what God possesses; and this is 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 143 
 
 both asserted in all its fulness as well as accounted for 
 in our added title — ''joint-heirs with Christ." We are 
 to share all things with Him, for as all things are His 
 by right of creation and redemption, so are they ours 
 by His grace who has placed in the utmost possible 
 nearness to Himself. There is indeed the condition of 
 suffering with Him in order that we may be glorified 
 together; but this He makes good in all that are His. 
 It is not suffering for Him ; for all Christians do not. 
 But all suffer with Him, who have the divine nature, 
 even Himself as their life, in an evil world, which con- 
 stantly wounds and tries those who have that nature. 
 It will not be so in the millennial age; when, as the 
 state of things will preclude suffering, so there will be 
 no specific glorification with Him as the hope of such 
 sufferers. Special trials and rewards will be no more, 
 though there will still remain the reigning in life by 
 one, Jesus Christ our Lord, for ever, But the reign 
 with Him for a thousand years will be past, as also 
 concurrently the place of suffering with Him. 
 
 Thus our association with Christ brings us into the 
 new place which He has entered by death and resurrec- 
 tion, and into the relationship of sons. Yea, the Spirit 
 itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children 
 of God, and if children, heirs — heirs of God, and joint- 
 heirs with Christ, the Heir of all things. But this 
 supposes moral conformity with Him in this world, 
 before we are conformed to His image in glory as in 
 verses 29, 30, if we are suffering together that we may 
 be also glorified together. This suffering flows from 
 possessing life in Him whilst passing through a scene 
 where all is opposed to Him; and the indwelling of the 
 Spirit, instead of hindering this holy sorrow, is rather 
 the spring of energy both in keen apprehension and 
 deep feeling of every way in which Christ is dis- 
 honoured, and in meek endurance of all by which we 
 may be tried according to the will of God. Hence, if 
 this place of suffering in the world as it now is be a neces- 
 
144 ROMANS. 
 
 sary consequence of divine life surrounded by all that is 
 working out its way of misery, estrangement, and re- 
 bellion against Him, it is an immense privilege to suffer 
 with Christ, cheered along the road by the prospect of 
 sharing His glory. 
 
 " For I reckon that the sufferings of this present 
 season [are] of no account in comparison with the 
 coming glory to be revealed in regard to us."* No 
 Christian doubts that the apostle estimates according to 
 divine truth ; and certainly if none had by God's 
 sovereign will and power of the Spirit such a vivid 
 foresight of the coming glory, none of those that fol- 
 lowed Christ ever tasted as He of sorrows by the way. 
 And this is made known to us that we may rest and 
 rejoice in the reckoning. The divine excellency will 
 then shine forth unhindered, and we shall have the 
 fellowship of His delight everywhere. 
 
 Far as the distance may seem between creation in 
 general and those whom grace has now taken out of 
 its ruin and associated in so intimate and complete a 
 way with Christ as the Christian knows it, there is a 
 link of the most direct and momentous sort. " For the 
 earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the 
 revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was 
 made suhject to vanity, not willingly, but on account 
 of him who made [it] subject, in hope thatf even the 
 creation itself shall be freed from the bondage of cor- 
 ruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of 
 God." Here, as it is a passage of very great interest 
 and value, so ignorance of the truth conveyed has em- 
 barassed most of those who have sought to expound it, 
 whether orally or in formal commentaries. There is no 
 
 * The phraseology seems to me choice and precise. It is not 
 7jfx7v, which after aTTOKaXv(pdrivai would be ambiguous and is already 
 appropriated to the sense of receiving spiritual communication. It 
 is not 4p Tii^v, which makes or tends to make the glory concen- 
 trated and terminated in us. Ets r^xas leaves room for ua to b* 
 reached by the glory but takes it in universally. 
 
 f Or, "in hope: because," 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 145 
 
 real difficulty where the main drift of the apostle is 
 caught. The perplexity, as is usually the case, is 
 brought in with notions extraneous to his reasoning. 
 Let us then consider briefly the truth conveyed, and 
 that which has made it obscure to the mass of readers. 
 
 Both the present sufferings and the future glory in 
 the apostle's mind touch on the creation, which he here 
 personifies. It is represented first of all as on the stretch 
 of outlook, waiting for the revelation of the sons of 
 God. Externally His sons do not differ in bodily ap- 
 pearance, power, or glory from the rest of mankind; 
 they may be weak, they may suffer, as also they fall 
 asleep or die while the Lord tarries on high. But after 
 the resurrection or change, at His coming, they are to be 
 manifested in glory with Christ when He is thus mani- 
 fested also. Creation too awaits tliis blissful moment. 
 Its deliverance from its actual misery hinges on them 
 and their revelation. 
 
 Nor is there any ground of surprise at such a con- 
 nection with men ; for creation was made subject to 
 vanity, not of course by its own will, but on his account 
 who made it subject. Man was set by God as the 
 head of the lower creation. When he fell, creation 
 shared his ruin. When the sons of God are revealed at 
 the appearing of Christ, there will be a proof that it 
 was made dependent on them, and that the hope of 
 emancipation is not in vain. If it was righteous that 
 by the fall of its head creation should be subjected to 
 vanity, how consistent and worthy of God that the 
 redemption of His children and heirs should be followed 
 by its glorious retrievement ! 
 
 To explain this of the Gentile world, as is done by 
 Whitby and others, is poor indeed ; as also Doddridge's 
 notion that it is merely the whole unevangelized world 
 looking out eagerly for such a remedy and relief as the 
 gospel brings, by which humanity would be secured 
 from vanity and corruption, and inferior creatures from 
 tyranny and abuse. 
 
146 ROMANS. 
 
 The apostle however is not speaking of the preva- 
 lency of the gospel of grace, but of the incoming and 
 display of glory, and hence of the divine power which 
 will free the creation, ruined by man, according to His 
 own counsels. When the heirs are glorified around the 
 great Firstborn and appear with Him in glory, then 
 and thus is the inheritance to emerge from the thraldom 
 under which it has long groaned, " the times of resti- 
 tution of all things, which God hath spoken by the 
 mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." 
 Compare Isa. xi., xii., xxv., xxxii., xxxv. — li., Ix. — Ixv.; 
 Jer. xxxi. — xxxiii. ; Ezek. xxxvi. — xlviii. ; Dan. ii. 44, 
 45; vii. 14, 27; xii.; Hosea i. 11; ii.; iii. 5; Joel iii.; 
 Amosix.; Obad. 17, '^1; Jonah (typically); Micahiv.,v., 
 vii.; Nahum i. 15; Hab. iii; Zeph. iii.; Hag. ii. G*— 9, 
 21 — 23; Zech. ii. 4 — 13, vi., viii. — xiv. ; Mai. iii., iv. 
 It is the regeneration of which our Lord spoke when 
 His rights shall be made good in the full and duly 
 ordered blessing of Israel on earth. (Matt, xix.) It is 
 the administration of the fulness of times when God's 
 will is to gather up together all things in Christ, the 
 things which are in the heavens and the things which 
 are on the earth, even in Him in whom we also have 
 obtained an inheritance. (Eph. i. 10, 11.) For the 
 reconciliation is to take in all things, not merely the 
 saints who are now reconciled. (Col. i.) This will be 
 the rest of God (Heb. iv.); and then will be manifested 
 the wide and various circles of blessedness and glory, 
 fruit of pure grace, to which we are come before they 
 come in fact for the earth (Heb. xii.), the world- 
 kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, who shall 
 reign unto the ages of the ages (Rev. xi.), as is set 
 forth in a crowd of other scriptures. 
 
 The creation was not made (as it now is) in decay, 
 degradation, suffering, death. That God originally 
 designed that it should be in such confusion and misery 
 would be hard to digest; but the scriptures teach the con- 
 trary, as it shews that, whilst subjected to its present 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 147 
 
 disorder on account of man's guilt and ruin, it longs 
 not in vain for deliverance, but awaits in hope His 
 revelation in glory. The very struggle of everything 
 for life and against sickness witnesses that it is fallen 
 to rise. Thus not only is the riddle of what now is 
 solved by God's account of the past, but His word casts 
 its own bright light on the future ; for, though subjected to 
 vanity, it was "in hope that even the creation itself shall 
 be freed from the bondage of corruption into the liberty 
 of the glory of the children of Gocl." It is only by faith 
 that any enter into the liberty of grace ; and this is the 
 portion even now of God's children under the gospel. 
 Creation cannot of necessity know such liberty, being 
 unintelligent even where it is animate ; but even itself 
 shall exchange the slavery of corruption by which it is 
 now held down for the liberty of glory when the 
 children of God are glorified. Thus all will be vindi- 
 cated on God's part, and all in due order. There can be 
 no communion between us and creation in grace; there 
 will be in glory when the power of God deals with all 
 creation in honour of Christ's death, whose blood has 
 bought not the treasure only but the field, the world 
 which contained it, yea, all things. 
 
 " For we know that the whole creation groaneth 
 together and travaileth in pain together until now ; and 
 not only [so], but ourselves, having the firstfruits of 
 the Spirit, even we ourselves groan in ourselves, waiting 
 for adoption, the redemption of our body. For by hope 
 were we saved; but a hope seen is not hope; for what a 
 man seeth, why doth he also hope for? But if we hope 
 for what we see not, we await with patience." (Ver. 
 22 — 25.) Here is the most decisive evidence, were 
 more wanted, of the distinction between the creation* 
 
 * Theodoret (in loc. ed. Sirmondi, torn, iii.) seems to err on the 
 side of comprehending too much ; for he includes not only the 
 material universe, heaven, earth, sea, air, sun, moon, all the visible, 
 but the invisible besides, angels, archangel(s?), powers, authorities, 
 principalities. It is true that he is not consistent; for, in commenting 
 on verse 20, he is obliged to restrain the subjection to vanity to all 
 
148 ROMANS. 
 
 on the one hand and the Christian on the other. And 
 observe that the contrast is drawn most sharply and ex- 
 clusively; for "all the creation" is distinguished from 
 *' ourselves." Again, the mistake of embracing impeni- 
 tent souls -within " the creation" here intended is no 
 less plain ; for it is certain that, as their will is engaged, 
 contrary to what is said of the subjection of the creation 
 to vanity, so their earnest expectation awaits anything 
 rather than the revelation of the sons of God, and they 
 will be cast into hell instead of being delivered from 
 the bondage of corruption into the liberty of glory. 
 
 As Christians then we are not deceived by appearances 
 and the mind and will of man who would fain hide the 
 testimony to his own guilt and ruin in the wretched- 
 ness of creation dragged down by his fault. For we 
 know that it is all in groans and throes till now: 
 neither Christ's coming in grace and humiliation, nor 
 the gospel preached in the power of the Spirit sent 
 down from heaven set this aside, but called believers 
 to glory above it, and to virtue in spite of it. Yet the 
 groaning of creation was not only unintelligent but 
 selfish, though in no way a matter of indifference to 
 God, whatever it may be to dreamy or hard philosophy. 
 And ourselves too, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, 
 even we ourselves groan in ourselves, awaiting as son- 
 ship the redemption of our bodies. For the body of 
 the believer has not yet experienced the power of Christ, 
 and thus we have our link with the groaning creation. 
 And the Spirit gives us so much the more to groan 
 because we have access by faith into this favour in 
 
 the visible creation by the decree of the Creator; yet in verse 22 he 
 extends it even to the invisible on the rather far-fetched plea that, if 
 angels rejoice over a repentant sinner, they must needs be saddened 
 at the sight of our delinquencies. The same writer, I may add, is 
 quite wrong, like others since his day, in fancying that by the first 
 fruits of the Spirit, the apostle implies the gift to us of manifold 
 more of the Spirit in the age to come. The reader will notice how 
 commonly current errors are due to the fathers, or perhaps indepen- 
 dently to the same corrupt root of unbelief which slights the teach- 
 ing of the scriptures. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 149 
 
 which we stand and we exult in hope of the glory of 
 God. Our groaning therefore is not unintelligent, nor 
 is it simply because of our personal suffering; but in 
 fellowship with Christ, in horror of abounding evil, 
 in love of good despised, in yearning after man and in 
 desire for God's truth and majesty. The Spirit, though 
 of power and love and discreetness, makes us so much 
 the more long for the day, when we shall be changed 
 and manifestly sons of God as sons of the resurrection. 
 It is not the sorrow of ignorant unbelieving uncertainty, 
 but of the inward mind and heart over what is far from 
 God and unlike Him, because of knowing what He is in 
 Christ and in full confidence that we shall be like Him 
 in that day. For we have only salvation by hope, not 
 yet seen or in present possession ; we hope for it com- 
 plete according to Christ risen, and with patience await. 
 It is well worth while. 
 
 We have seen the function of the Spirit in bearing 
 witness with our spirit that we are children of God, as 
 we saw previously the new condition which He forms in 
 contrast with the flesh, and in which we now find our- 
 selves by grace — in Spirit if so be that the Spirit of 
 God dwells in us. Then we had the apostle contrasting 
 the creation as it now groans with the liberty of glory 
 when the sons of God, the heirs, are manifested in 
 glory at the appearing of Christ; and along with this, 
 the groaning of the saints, w^hose bodies are not yet 
 delivered, no longer because of selfish feelings but in 
 the interests and sympathies of divine love. 
 
 Now we are told of the relation of the indwelling 
 Spirit to this state of weakness and suffering. 
 
 " And likewise the Spirit also joineth help to our 
 weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for 
 as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedeth* with 
 
 * The received text inserts here vir\p ^fiwu contrary to the best 
 authorities. It seems to me implied, and needless to say, if not 
 rather narrowing the thought. In the following verse we have 
 iirkp ayiwv expressed in its due place. 
 
150 ROMANS. 
 
 unutterable groanings, and he that searcheth the hearts 
 knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he 
 intercedeth for saints according to God." 
 
 Thus the blessed Spirit of God will not be severed from 
 our weakness, now that He deigns to take His abode in 
 us because of Christ's redemption. Even he who could 
 work signs and miracles did not differ from his brethren 
 by exemption from infirmity. Bather was Paul, the 
 greatest of apostles, more than any other sensible of it. 
 Caught up to the third heaven (whether in the body or 
 out of it, he could not tell), he gloried of such an one, 
 not of himself save in his weaknesses. And when he 
 prayed to the Lord for the removal of the thorn for the 
 flesh given to him, what was the answer? Not its de- 
 parture ; but " my grace sufficeth for thee; for my power 
 is made perfect in weakness." " Most gladly therefore," 
 says he, " will I rather glory in my weaknesses that the 
 power of Christ may rest upon me." 
 
 It was not otherwise with the perfect pattern of all 
 excellency in man here below. " Jesus wept." He was 
 deeply pained, sighing sorely in His Spirit. He knew 
 what to say and what to do, conscious that the Father 
 always heard Him. But we do not know what we 
 should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself pleads 
 for us with groanings unutterable. It is not now 
 simply Christ with us but the Spirit in us, conde- 
 scending to give our groanings a character entirely above 
 the mere feelings of human sorrow. We feel the evil 
 of the misery; we do not know what to ask; but at 
 least we groan. Wondrous grace ! the Spirit associates 
 Himself with our groaning ; and the searcher of the 
 hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Instead 
 of slighting the ignorance which cannot ask a suitable 
 means of relief. He interprets us by His mind who 
 dwells in us, and who intercedes for saints (for of them 
 only is it a question) according to God. It is not merely 
 " according to his will," as in the Authorized Version, 
 but according to Himself. The inference of Macedo- 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 151 
 
 nius from the passage is the working of the spirit of 
 man wholly ignorant of God's mind which he altogether 
 missed ; nay, it is worse than this, it betrays the 
 beguiling power of the serpent, for it evinces that 
 enmity to God and man which not only loses all the 
 comfort of the truth but turns the word to the dis- 
 honour of the Holy Spirit. For the unhappy man 
 concluded from the text that the Spirit must be inferior 
 to God and a creature, because He prays to God for us. 
 He knew not grace, he appreciated not the moral glory 
 of God which stoops to serve, as love must do, if it 
 save sinners in an evil world. Man can understand 
 power in God ; but love, especially love active 
 spite of evil, humbling itself, and sympathizing, he 
 overlooks and denies even to the denial of God Himself 
 in those of whom it is predicated. The believer knows 
 it as his deepest joy, and never adores with so full a 
 sense of what God is as when he sees the Father de- 
 clared in the Son, and knows that even his groans come 
 up before God clothed with a divine character because 
 of the Holy Ghost who is in us by the grace of our 
 God. Just as evil spirits identified the miserable man 
 who was thus possessed with their demoniacal charac- 
 ter, and an individual was called Legion because 
 many demons were entered into him; so the Spirit of 
 God not less but more in divine goodness and power 
 identifies us with Himself spite of our weakness and 
 our ignorance, not for a moment lowering His own 
 dignity but meeting us in love as only God could, and 
 as even God would only in virtue of redemption. 
 
 These verses are a transitional link from the work of 
 the Spirit in us to the bold challenge in the conclusion 
 of the chapter (ver. 31 — 39), grounded on the assurance 
 that God is for us against all adversaries and spite of 
 every weakness. That they may be rightly viewed 
 thus is apparent. First, there is a distinct allusion, in 
 the opening words, to the previous clause, which traced 
 the value and comfort of the Spirit in helping our in- 
 
152 ROMANS. 
 
 firmity. For He, when we know not what to pray for 
 as we ought, Himself intercedes for us with unutterable 
 groanings, yet according to God. Secondly, on the 
 other hand, they are in bearing still more intimately a 
 groundwork for what follows; for they set forth in a 
 striking and connected manner the purpose of God as 
 far as it is consistent with our epistle to treat of it. 
 
 We do not know what we should pray for as we 
 ought; " but we do know that to those that love God all 
 things work together for good, to those that are called 
 according to purpose. Because those whom he fore- 
 knew he also predestined [to be] conformed to the 
 image of his Son, that he should be the firstborn among 
 many brethren. But whom he predestined, those he 
 also called; and whom he called, those he also justified; 
 but whom he justified, those he also glorified." (Ver. 
 28 — 30.) The chain is thus complete from His own 
 purpose in eternity to their glorification for eternity. 
 It is the activity, extent, and scope of the grace of 
 God for its objects apart from all circumstances, and, 
 as we shall see later, in spite of them, let them be what 
 they may, because they are but creature causes or 
 effects, whilst God is for us and supreme above all, not 
 a mere causa causata, but the one causa causans. 
 
 Even Paul, in 2 Corinthians xii., did not know what 
 to pray for as he ought ; but the Lord was faithful and 
 made the sufficiency of His grace known — an answer 
 far better than the prayer. And yet not Paul only, but 
 even we know that all things work together for good— 
 not merely shall, but do now, and this for others as 
 well as ourselves, for those that love God. Otherwise 
 sorrows irritate. Here they are twice blessed, blessed 
 to those exercised by them, blessed to other children of 
 God; in short, to those that love Him and to those 
 that are called according to purpose, for this is here 
 carefully stated, lest the love of God on our part might 
 enfeeble the thought of grace on His. Hence purpose 
 and calling according to it are put forward. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 15£ 
 
 It is important to observe that the apostle does not 
 speak of a passive or naked foreknowledge (ver. 29) 
 as if God only saw beforehand what some would be, 
 and do, or believe. His foreknowledge is of persons, 
 not of their state or conduct ; it is not what^ but 
 " whom" He foreknew. 
 
 Further, tliose whom He foreknew, all of them and 
 no others, He also fore-ordained to be conformed to the 
 image of His Son. It is plain and well to note that 
 we have the end bound up with the beginning; for the 
 conformity here spoken of is not of that sort which ia 
 now produced in the soul practically by the Spirit 
 through the word. The latter is most true, and often 
 insisted on elsewhere, as in John xiii., xv. ; Rom. xii., 
 xiii. ; 1 Cor. v., vi. ; 2 Cor. iii. 18, vii. 1, Gal. v. 16, 25 j 
 Eph. ii. 10, iv., v., &c. 1 John iii. 2, 3, combines both: 
 " We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be 
 like him; for we shall see him as he is." This is the 
 conformity to the image of His Son of which the apostle 
 here speaks ; whereas the moral work in the heart of 
 the believer is spoken of in the following verse : " And 
 every man that hath this hope in him (i.e., founded on 
 Christ) purifieth himself even as he (Christ) is pure." 
 There is and can be no less a standard for the 
 Christian, whatever may have been the rule by which 
 the Jew was tried. The purifying goes on now within 
 us, but answers rather to the central teaching of our chap- 
 ter; the likeness to Christ in glory, which will be seen 
 in us when Christ is manifested, is the conformity to 
 His image which is here assured to us. 
 
 It seems harsh, however, with Augustine and others 
 to drag in sins here among the " all things;" for though 
 no doubt grace can turn everything to account, scripture 
 is the more careful to guard against the least real ap- 
 pearance of dealing lightly with that which is morally 
 offensive to God. 
 
 Thus God fore-ordained the objects of His fore- 
 knowledge to conformity with the image of His Son in 
 
154 ROMANS. 
 
 resurrection glory. Then they will be as He, according 
 to divine counsels, in the predestined condition of man, 
 the first-born among many brethren. The corn of wheat 
 which died, but sprang up again, will have borne mucll 
 fruit, Himself alike the pattern and the power; for 
 nothing short of this meets the purpose according to 
 which we have been called. The saints shall be mani- 
 festly then sons of God being sons of the resurrection, 
 when He will transform the body of humiliation into 
 conformity to His body of glory. For if God delights 
 in His own Son as the risen man, such and nothing 
 less is the destiny to which He has ordained us before- 
 hand. Nevertheless, whatever the communion, rightly 
 will our Lord have His due place in that bright family 
 —the chief or " Firstborn among many brethren." 
 
 Verse 30 pursues the matter, connecting the ways of 
 God in time with what is before and out of time. 
 " But whom he predestinated, those he also called." 
 It is not only the call of grace in a general way, but 
 made effectual to such as He foreknew and foreordained. 
 J* And whom he called, those he also justified." Justi- 
 fication, like the call, is in time, and even subsequent 
 to the call by the gospel. The Calvinists greatly err 
 who teach that Christ rose because we were justified, 
 a notion as subversive of sound doctrine as of holiness, 
 and quite opposed to the scriptures which bind it up 
 with faith.* But this is not the only danger here. 
 
 For on the other side the Arminians are in error who 
 apply avfifi6pg)ov9 77J9 elicovo's TOO vlov avrov (conformed to 
 the image of His Son) to holiness, as verse 30 abundantly 
 confirms. For while foreknowledge, predestination, 
 
 * It is mere ignorance, and a superficial mind, to infer that 
 Bid must mean the same thing in the two clauses of Romans iv. 
 25 any more than " for" by which our translators render it. In 
 the first it means "because of," in the second, "for the sake of;" 
 or " on account of" in both cases, but with a force decidedly 
 different, as chapter t. 1 ought to prove to any fair mind. We 
 cannot be justified apart from faith, but on that principle and by 
 that only. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 155 
 
 calling, and justification are set out in regular order, 
 the series is suddenly closed by the words " but whom 
 he justified, those he also glorified," without one word 
 about that spiritual conformity which we all confess to 
 be a necessary condition in the salvation of a soul. 
 
 Was this omission an oversight of man, or divine 
 intention ? The latter only, I am persuaded ; and with 
 a wisdom by no means hard to discern. We are here 
 in presence of the apostle's unfolding of God's purpose 
 in its application to us and our security in the face of 
 all difficulties and dangers. Now it is clear that the 
 inner work would draw off to questions of our state. 
 However important this may be, it were out of place 
 here, besides the fact that it had been already insisted 
 on with care and fulness after the opening verses of this 
 chapter. In its own place the Holy Spirit had pressed 
 it strongly and with solemn warning for any and every 
 soul bearing the Lord's name. But here God would 
 give the believer the unmingled comfort of what He is 
 for us; and this excludes what He does within us, 
 wholesome and indispensable though it may be. 
 
 It will be observed too that {iho^aaev) " glorified" is 
 an aorist, no less than the other verbs in verse 30. This 
 is due to a similar reason. All is looked at from God's 
 side and purpose, not as if the call, justification, and 
 glorification were already accomplished facts, but be- 
 cause the Spirit is emphatically asserting the whole 
 from first to last, as assured in His eyes and by His 
 word who does these things, known from eternity in 
 His own everlasting now. 
 
 We now enter on the distinct portion which closes 
 this division of the epistle, where the apostle interro- 
 gates and, I may say, challenges all adversaries in 
 presence of the rich and varied provisions of redemption. 
 
 " What then shall we say to these things ? If God 
 [is] for us, who [shall be] against us ? He who spared 
 not his own Son but gave him up for us all, how shall he 
 not also with him freely give us all things?" (Ver.31, 32.) 
 
156 ROMANS. 
 
 It is no longer that we are in Christ and Christ in 
 us, nor is it the witness and work of the Spirit in us 
 whether in joy or sorrow; but the deduction from all 
 that God is for us, not only superior to all that would 
 hurt us, but leading to the bold question. Who dare be 
 against us ? All is measured by God's gift of His own 
 Son, not spared but delivered up for us all ; a plain and 
 irrefragable answer to every doubt both of the reality 
 of His love and of its extent; and this for the entire 
 family of God. There was one object above all dear 
 and precious to God, His own Son ; and it was His 
 own Son whom for us He spared in no way, but for us 
 all surrendered Him to all that is dreadful in our eyes, 
 to His heart infinitely worse — who knew His Father's 
 love and felt evil as none but He could. That God 
 should in His grace secure all things to us after such a 
 gift is what we cannot but feel to be easily understood 
 and suitable to His love, if not even necessarily due to 
 the glory of Christ. Nothing can be lacking by the 
 way : in the end we shall share all things with Him 
 who is the Heir of all things. He made all, has recon- 
 ciled all and will take all under His glorious sway; 
 but we shall reign with Him. He is head over all 
 to the Church which is His body, says our apostle 
 elsewhere. Here he does not pursue the counsels of 
 God but affirms the principle of grace in righteousness 
 as applied to our individual relationship. It was no 
 sudden thought but a settled design which went right 
 through to glory with Christ, after the full trial and 
 demonstration of the uniform and complete failure of 
 the first man. It is now a question of the Second man 
 and of those that are His ; and thus it is as plain as it 
 is sure that God is for them ; and if so, who is against 
 them ? Our sins have been remitted, sin in the flesh 
 condemned, ourselves believing in Jesus and His blood, 
 yea dead with Him and alive in Him to God: who 
 then is against us? God has proved Himself for us 
 where we had most ground for dread, and dread of 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 157 
 
 Him above all ; for against Him had we sinned. But 
 in nothing has He shewn His grace so deep and con- 
 spicuous as in our hopelessly evil state; in nothing so 
 exhibited the worth and efficacy of the redemption 
 through His Son. We are entitled then in faith to 
 ask: " If God [is] for us, who [shall be] against us?" 
 "VVe are entitled to count that He who spared not His 
 own Son will along with Him lavish on us everything 
 good for us now, everything glorious by and by. 
 
 If His Son is the measureless measure of His love 
 to us, " who shall bring a charge against God's elect?" 
 In this epistle the Spirit glories in connecting the ob- 
 jects He is handling with God. Not only is the righte- 
 ousness, the grace, the glory, God's, but so also is 
 the gospel at the very commencement, and so here are 
 the elect. The enemy had better beware of meddling 
 with God's elect. What did Satan make of it when it 
 was only Joshua the type of One greater, only about Jeru- 
 salem that he dared to resist ? Did not Jehovah then 
 take up the matter for the encouragement of the guilty 
 whom He meant to save in sovereign mercy? Did 
 He not declare that He had chosen Jerusalem, a brand 
 plucked out of the fire ? Not more distant but nearer 
 is His relationship with us ; not darker but far more 
 clear the revelation of His grace to us since the death 
 and resurrection of His own Son. Just as God inter- 
 posed for the high priest in Zechariah iii., so here (says 
 the apostle), " [It is] God that justitieth: who [is] he 
 that condemneth ?" This I think is the true way of 
 arranging as well as punctuating the clauses. The 
 Authorized Version impairs the link between the end of 
 verse 33 and the beginning of verse 34, as also between 
 the rest of verse 34 and verse 35; while others seem to 
 me to injure the force by putting a note of interrogation 
 at the end of verses 33 and 34. 
 
 Remark here that God is represented as the Justifier. 
 It is not only that we have been justified by faith, 
 justified before God, but He justifies. How does He 
 
158 ROMANS. 
 
 justify? Is it not with that absolute perfection in which 
 He carries on His work and His ways ? Is it less per- 
 fect where He justifies those He destines to he conformed 
 to the image of His Son in virtue of His infinite work 
 on the cross ? 
 
 But if there be an analogy with one prophet, there 
 ■■\ is a clear allusion to another. Isaiah 1. introduces 
 *< God's elect Servant, substituted for Israel who had 
 >i rejected Him, and shews that He was not more cer- 
 ^1 tainly the obedient and suffering One than the Jehovah 
 ^ji God of Israel who made heaven and earth. Hence 
 whatever the indignities He endured, the issue is sure, 
 and all through He reckons on the fullest vindication. 
 He in the midst of His shame, though thinking it not 
 robbery to be on equality with God, can say " the Lord 
 Jehovah will help me; therefore shall I not be con- 
 founded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I 
 know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that 
 justifieth me; who will contend with me ? let us stand 
 together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to 
 me. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is be 
 that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a 
 garment; the moth shall eat them up." (Isaiah 1. 7-9.) 
 
 What Christ says in the prophecy the apostle 
 does not hesitate to apply to the Christian. How 
 blessed is this identification! It is the more striking 
 too because immediately follow words descriptive neither 
 , of Himself nor of the Christian who now enjoys His 
 righteous vindication along with Him, but of the godly 
 remnant who have to walk in darkness, though trust- 
 . ing in the name of Jehovah while they obey the voice 
 of His servant (ver. 10), and of the godless mass who 
 with increasing unbelief turn to every refuge of lies to 
 end all in sorrow, shame, and judgment. (Ver. 11.) 
 This brings out very definitely the peculiar blessedness 
 of the Christian through known redemption, and the 
 indwelling of the Spirit who glorifies Christ in their 
 behalf as cannot be with even the righteous remnant. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 159 
 
 It was needful to point out our distinctive position 
 before a psalm is quoted (ver. 36) where we are viewed 
 in circumstances analogous to theirs. For both are 
 true: we have much that is common to all saints till 
 Christ conies; but we and they have respectively what 
 is characteristic and peculiar. Compare Psalm xliv. 22. 
 
 " [It is] God that justifieth : who [is] he that con- y 
 demneth ? [It is] Christ that died, but rather was 
 raised, who is also at [the] right hand of God, who 
 also intercedeth for us: who shall separate us from the 
 love of Christ ? tribulation, or distress, or persecution, 
 or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword ? even as 
 it is written, ' For thy sake we are being put to death 
 all the day; we were reckoned sheep for slaughter.' 
 Nay but in all these things we more than conquer 
 through him that loved us." (Ver. 32 — 37.) 
 
 Here not only have we Christ presented in the full 
 extent of His work from His death on the cross through 
 resurrection to His presence and activity of intercession 
 for us at God's right hand, as the ground for the chal- 
 lenge, Who shall sever us from the love of Christ ? but 
 the difficulties and perils and sufferings for us along 
 the road are mustered and arrayed in all their strength 
 in order to prove its fidelity and unfathomable depth. 
 Certainly, if we now, as the godly of old and ere long 
 in the latter day, taste somewhat the bitterness of the 
 way and the obstacles the enemy puts before us, Christ 
 drank that cup and more to the dregs. Not only did 
 He drink what was and could be His alone; but which 
 of our afflictions was He a stranger to? Deeper by 
 far, and felt according to the competency of His 
 person to estimate and suffer, they became only the 
 demonstration of His perfect love to us. Himself all 
 the while the faithful witness. Christ who is risen and 
 on high has been in them all, having gone down incom- 
 parably lower than the lowest of us. None of these 
 then shall separate us from the love of Christ. 
 
 Thus God has proved Himself for us, first, in the 
 
160 ROMANS. 
 
 gift of His own Son and of all things with Him; 
 secondly, in justifying us Himself according to His 
 value for Christ and His work; thirdly, in the love of 
 Christ who has borne witness of its strength here below 
 in all possible trials that could separate us from any 
 other as surely as He is exercising it for us before God 
 in virtue of redemption. " In all these things we 
 more than conquer through him that loved us." 
 
 " For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, 
 nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor 
 things to come, nor powers,* nor height nor depth, nor 
 any other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
 the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 (Ver. 38, 39.) Here we have still deeper difficulties, 
 not the visible, but the invisible, the spiritual; but 
 after all (sum them all up as the apostle does in his 
 climax), they are but the creature, and they are arrayed 
 at their strongest in order to be blotted out as nothing 
 in presence of the all-vanquishing love of God which 
 is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 For here, as the suited winding up, let it be re- 
 marked that it is the love of God, rather than of Christ 
 as in verse 35. Each is exactly in place; the love of 
 Christ as evident in suffering to the utmost for us here, 
 and animated with the self-same love in His interces- 
 sion in heaven for us who suffer still where He suffered ; 
 the love of God none the less real if less in sight, His 
 immense and unchanging love whose grace planned all, 
 gave all, forgave all, justified all, sustains all, and will 
 bring all to that fulness of love and joy and glory which 
 can satisfy such a God and the redemption of such a 
 Saviour. If " the love of Christ" is our boast for its 
 
 * This is the true place of Swojucis according to ample autho- 
 rity of the highest order. The oldest Greek MSS. which give the 
 place of " powers" as in the common text are two uncials of the 
 ninth century, but they are supported by several very ancient 
 versions which were (probably through inadvertence) swayed by 
 Ephesians i. 21, iii. 10, vi. 12 ; and Colossians ii. 15. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 161 
 
 tender fidelity in fathoming all depths and pleading our 
 cause above all heights, the immutable strength of 
 "the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," 
 before all and through all and to all eternity, imparts 
 the fullest rest and confidence to our hearts. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The apostle now enters on a new section of the epistle 
 in chapters ix. — xi., the main object of which is to 
 reconcile the indiscriminate call of Gentiles and Jews 
 with the special promises made to Israel. In this task 
 he overthrows the fleshly pretensions of those who 
 rested on nothing but a line of natural descent from 
 Abraham; he proves that special promise has from the 
 first been the principle of God; he points to sovereign 
 mercy as the only hope for a people such as even Israel 
 had shewn themselves to be; he annihilates the poor 
 and selfish and proud reasoning which arraigns the 
 rights and righteousness of God, when the fact is that 
 man is utterly unrighteous before Him ; he demonstrates 
 that according to the Jewish prophets Israel would be 
 rejected, Gentiles called, and only a remnant of the 
 ancient people saved; he shews that their rejection was 
 owing to their failure in meeting the law of righteous- 
 ness which they had deliberately chosen instead of the 
 righteousness which grace gives by faith, while the 
 Gentiles received it gladly, Christ being the grand test 
 for both ; he insists that this did not hinder his love and 
 prayer for Israel that they might be saved, but salva- 
 tion could only be by accepting Christ the end of the 
 law for righteousness to the believer according to the 
 secret of grace intimated in Deuteronomy xxx., sup- 
 
 M 
 
162 ROMANS. 
 
 ported and carried out by Isaiah xxviii. 16 and Joelii. 32, 
 which last opens the door of faith to more than Israel, 
 even to those who, if they had not the law, might 
 hear the glad tidings of good things (Isaiah lii.), which 
 God sends out. He points out that the very unbelief 
 of this on the part of the Jews fulfils Isaiah liii. ; that 
 the Psalms (xix.) attest the wide-spread universal 
 message of God, and that, while the law warned them 
 of God's provoking them to jealousy by a no-people, 
 the prophet (Isaiah Ixv.) is bolder still and explicitly 
 announces God found by those who sought Him not 
 (Gentiles), while Israel are condemned as a disobedient 
 and gainsaying people. But the apostle would not 
 close the subject without the most distinct statement, 
 as well as proof from the prophets themselves, that God 
 had not finally cast off His people Israel: first, there is 
 always a remnant according to the election of grace, of 
 which the apostle himself was witness; secondly, their 
 fall was expressly to provoke Israel to jealousy, and 
 therefore not to reject them even for a time; and, 
 thirdly, on the ruin of the Gentile by unbelief and 
 slight of God's goodness as of Israel before, all 
 Israel shall be saved according to the written word of 
 God (Isaiah lix.), all His ways of mercy and wisdom 
 causing the apostle to burst forth into thanksgiving 
 and adoration. Snch is the general outline and argu- 
 ment, which maintains responsibility on the one side 
 and the promises of God on the other, and reconciles 
 the indiscriminate ways of God in the gospel now with 
 the accomplishment of a special glory for Israel as well 
 as the general blessing of Gentiles or the nations in the 
 age to come on earth. Heavenly grace is not in ques- 
 tion here. Hence it is the olive tree, not the one new 
 man, of which we read. 
 
 The apostle then begins this most instructive episode, 
 in which he explains the ways of God, with the solemn 
 assurance of his fervent affection, and hence his distress 
 
CHAPTER IX. 163 
 
 for Israel in their present low estate and exposure to 
 judgment. 
 
 "Truth I say in Christ; I lie not, my conscience 
 bearing witness with me in [the] Holy Spirit, that I 
 have great grief and unceasiDg pain in my heart, for I 
 was wishing* — I myself — to be a curse from Christ, 
 for my brethren, my kinsmen according to flesh." 
 (Ver. 1 — 3.) It is plain that he alludes there to the 
 love Moses had proved so well, as God records it in 
 the law; and he intimates that he loved them not a 
 whit less. It was a wish that had passed through his 
 soul. He does not refer to the days of his Pharisaism; 
 for great as his zeal was, his love as a Christian and 
 an apostle was far deeper as well as wholly unselfish. 
 In his old unenlightened condition there was no ques- 
 tion of such a feeling for them; as he had no right 
 sense of their peril any more than of his own. On 
 the other hand he does not lay it down as the deli- 
 berate wish of his present mind ; but as a passionate 
 self-sacrificing desire which had been in his heart, im- 
 possible no doubt, but evincing the strength of his 
 burning love for Israel, as well as his sense of their 
 extreme peril and utter ruin.f Hence he dwells on his 
 ties of relationship with them. 
 
 This leads him to speak of their privileges. Those 
 who hate others lose no opportunity of detracting from 
 
 * There is no doubt that the imperfect will bear the idiomatic 
 sense given in the Authorized Version : " I could wish." (Comp. 
 Acts XXV. 22 ; Gal. iv. 20.) The question is, whether the apostle 
 does not go farther here and affirm that he bad actually so wished, 
 not soberly, but still as a fact, not that he did or could so wish as 
 a fixed principle. So the Vulgate's " optabam," supported by the 
 other ancient versions apparently, spite of the Latin of the 
 Polyjrlott. Erasmus gives " optarem," and in the same sense E. 
 Schmid, Schott, Naebe. &c. 
 
 t Jesus alone could have this as His distinctive suffering and 
 boast in love. It was to endure all and be made a curse and sin, 
 and this not only for His brethren according to flesh but for His 
 worst enemies. And in this, at cost of all, He lets us know what 
 God is in love to us, but in His righteousness withal. 
 
164 EOMANS. 
 
 them and denying at any rate favours that seem pecu- 
 liarly theirs from God. Love makes the most of what is 
 possessed by its object. Judged by such a test, there 
 could be no doubt of the love of the apostle who sets 
 out the marks of God's goodness to Israel as none else 
 had ever done before, not even Gamaliel, least of all 
 his Sadducean enemies. Who could produce from tra- 
 dition, yea, from the living oracles themselves such a 
 bright roll as Paul here unfolds before those who igno- 
 rantly taxed him with making light of the blessings 
 God had vouchsafed to his kinsmen according to flesh? 
 " who are Israelites, whose [is] the adoption and 
 the glory and the covenants and the lawgiving and 
 the service and the promises ; whose [are] the fathers, 
 and of whom [is] Christ as to flesh, that is over all 
 God blessed unto the ages. Amen." (Ver. 4, 5.) 
 
 Thus he gives them the divinely conferred name of 
 victory with God and man, which they derived from 
 their father Jacob; then he alludes to the name Je- 
 hovah deigned to call them by in His summons to 
 Pharaoh — " my son, my first-born." Next he directs 
 attention to the shechinah or glory-cloud which led out 
 the people from Egypt through the wilderness into 
 Canaan. After this he speaks of those solemn cove- 
 nants which God made first with the fathers, but 
 assuredly at least including that which He will make 
 in the latter day with the sons. Then he names 
 the lawgiving, before which all the boasts of ancient 
 or modern times are but the merest smoke compared 
 with the blaze of Sinai or the marvellous condescen- 
 sion which deigned from the tabernacle to treat of their 
 least as well as greatest matters. The religious services 
 or ordinances of worship next follow; for they justly 
 claim to be the only ritual with its priesthood which 
 God ever instituted for a people on earth. This 
 however would have been short indeed without " the 
 promises;" as these naturally are followed by "the 
 fathers," and all is crowned by the Messiah. And 
 
CHAPTER IX. 165 
 
 here beyond doubt the apostle does not hide His glory. 
 Let the Jews say all they might of Him whom 
 they expected, they can never rise above what Paul 
 delights to tell of Messiah. Alas ! they would fain 
 lower Him to the measure of their own desires; and, 
 worse still, modern unbelief in Christendom answers 
 to the old darkness of Judaism. The apostle however 
 does not more surely lay down His descent from the 
 fathers as to flesh, than His proper Godhead in His 
 other and divine nature, " He that is" (says he) " above 
 all God blessed for ever. Amen." A more illustrious 
 testimony there cannot be. But Satan for a w^hile had 
 blinded the eyes of Israel, so that they forsake their 
 own mercies and deny a truth which, did they but see 
 it, they would recognize as both their brightest jewel 
 and the solid ground of all their hoped for blessing. 
 
 Very needless difficulty has been raised about the 
 terms b &v ivl Traprwv 0609. The Noetian heretics of old 
 drew from this and other scriptures that God the 
 Father suffered. Others in opposing so flagrant an 
 error were too anxious to restrict b ewl iravTwv to the 
 Father, especially as He is unquestionably so qualified 
 in Ephesians iv. 6. But there is no real difficulty; and 
 it is only ignorance or heterodoxy which finds any ; for 
 scripture is plain in attributing not merely Oeiorrfja but 
 OeoTTjja to Christ. He is God, as is the Father, and 
 also the Holy Ghost. They are each and all styled 
 Jehovah, the name incommunicable to the creature, let 
 it be ever so exalted. The Son did not deem it a mat- 
 ter of plunder to be on equality with God. He emptied 
 Himself in taking a servant's shape; whereas even the 
 archangel is at best but a servant and never can be 
 other: it is Michael's blessedness and part to be serving 
 God. Not so the Son: He humbled Himself to take 
 the place of a servant, being in His own proper nature 
 and dignity infinitely above it. He learned obedience 
 by the things w^hich He suffered ; He had only known 
 what it was to command ; but, taking that position in 
 
166 ROMANS. 
 
 communion with the love and counsels of the Father, 
 He was therein the perfect pattern of all lowly obe- 
 dience. How base to take advantage of His grace to 
 despise His glory ! — to be so occupied with the humilia- 
 tion to which He stooped to glorify God the Father, 
 and shew us both God and man in His own person 
 and ways, and above all to accomplish redemption — to 
 be so filled, I may say, with the circumstances of shame 
 into which He went down in love as to forget who He is 
 in Himself that for us descended so low ! No ; He that 
 was the perfect man was very God, equally with the 
 Father and the Holy Ghost. All things were made 
 not only hy Him but for Him. 
 
 But is not this true of the Father? Assuredly: yet 
 this in no way impeaches the title of the Son. Scrip- 
 ture is plain as to both. God as such in the true and 
 full sense is and must be supreme. This attaches to 
 the persons in the Godhead. Differences there may be 
 and are ; but not in this. To deny supremacy of the Son 
 or of the Spirit is to fall into the Arian heresy or the 
 Macedonian. No doubt, as in Ephesians iv. 5, Christ is 
 contradistinguished as " one Lord" from the Father; and 
 so similarly in 1 Corinthians viii. 6. This however, far 
 from derogating from His intrinsic divine glory, only 
 shews us another glory which He receives as the exalted 
 man who is made Lord and Christ. He, and He dis- 
 tinctively, has the official place of lordship, though of 
 course as a term of dignity it belongs alike to Father, 
 Son, and Spirit; and so any one can see who will take 
 the trouble of comparing the scriptures. 
 
 There is no discrepancy in the authorities here that 
 affects the sense, as in 1 Timothy iii. 16. Manuscripts 
 and versions proclaim the truth with an unwavering 
 voice: Christ is over all, God blessed for ever. The 
 notion that Geo? is wanting in the citation of the early 
 ecclesiastical writers is a mistake. They all read as we 
 do, unless we conceive that Chrysostom omitted o be- 
 fore wv, as the Augian and Boernerian MSS. did to be- 
 
CHAPTER IX. 167 
 
 fore /cara adfjica, which was probahly mere inadvertence. 
 What the Pseudo-Ignatius (ep. Tars.) or the Constit. 
 Apostol.* may say is of no moment. As to Athanasius, 
 not only is it not true that he ever wrote Trepl 8e rod 
 
 etvai eTTi 7rav7ivv Qeov too aravpwGevra (po^ovfiai (" I fear 
 
 to say that the crucified One is God over all"), but it 
 was not even the Pseudo- Athanasius who is so repre- 
 sented, but the Pseudo- Arius in answering the citation 
 of this passage. Wetstein therefore was wrong here and 
 betrayed his Arian animus. (See Athanasii 0pp. i. 125 
 B, ed. Col. 1686.) Erasmus is equally wrong in think- 
 ing that Cyprian and Hilary left out " Deus;" for it is 
 only omitted by careless editors, and is found in all 
 good copies. As to Origen, his wildness was such as 
 to weaken the weight of his assertions ; but what he 
 does say, in answer to Celsus' charge that the Christians 
 made Christ God the Father or greater still, is that, 
 while some might be hasty enough to aver -rhv ^ujjrjpa 
 
 Tov /Lie<yi(nov eVt Tracri GeoV" dW outi fye 7j/iie79 iolovtov ol 
 TreiOofievoi avrto Xe^oi/Tf, k.t.\. Now I do not admit that 
 Origen (contra Cels. vii. 14) was justified in quoting 
 the last clause of John xiv. 28 (which he misquotes) 
 where it was a question of the Son's Deity, while 
 the text speaks of His place of earthly subjection. 
 But even he does not go so far as to deny supreme God- 
 head to the Son ; he does deny, as all taught of God 
 must, the monstrous folly that the Son has power over 
 God the Father. The doubtful opinion of Eusebius may 
 indeed be cited, who did restrict, it would seem, toi/ kirl 
 TrdpTivu 0eoV to the Father ;■{• but it is well known that 
 
 * Even these spurious pieces seem to be only opposing the Patri- 
 passian or Sabellian notion (i. e., that the God and Father suffered), 
 and affirming that He who did suffer was Jesus, not His God and 
 Father who is over all. 
 
 f I am pained, but bound, to protest once more against such 
 words as are allowed to continue from edition to edition in Dean 
 Alford's work (in loco). " That our Lord (says he) is not in the 
 strict exclusive sense, 6 iir\ iravrwv 0eJs, every Christian will ad- 
 mit, that title being reserved for the Father." Every clause is a 
 
168 ROMANS. 
 
 he was feeble as to the great truth of Christ's Godhead 
 if not an Arian. But these seem really all who have 
 been exaggerated into " multi patres qui Christum rov 
 ivri TTCLvriDv Qeov appellari posse negant" (Griesbach in 
 loco), save indeed that by manifest fallacy it is as- 
 sumed that to call the Father so is to deny it of the 
 Son. But this is only the mistake handed down 
 through Wetstein to the critic of Jena. The fact is 
 that the fathers as a whole applied our text to the 
 Lord Jesus without a suspicion of its incompatibility 
 with Ephesians iv. 6. They are both equally true, as 
 the Father and the Son are equally God. I grant that 
 they speculated dangerously sometimes; and of their 
 crude assertions controversy and heresy have availed 
 themselves : the latter to cover its aberration from re- 
 vealed truth ; the former to make councils or the Pope 
 the only securer of the truth, as against the earlier 
 fathers and (what is worse) holy scripture. But from 
 Irenseus to Theophylact among Greeks, and from 
 Tertullian to the middle ages among the Latins, it 
 could be easily shewn that the passage was accepted as 
 we have it now in the Authorized Version and in the 
 ordinary orthodox sense. Cyril of Alexandria is most 
 
 grievous blunder. Our Lord is in the strictest sense what He is 
 said not to be, for 6 wv eVt tt. Q. is even stronger than 6 eVi tt. Q. 
 Nor is it true that the Father is such in the " exclusive" sense, as 
 he says ; nor is it reserved for Him in a sense stricter than for the 
 Son. He allows that Christ is eVl TrdvTwv Qeos. Yet this, though 
 true, is not what the apostle teaches, but a proposition about Christ 
 still more stringent than his expositor essays to deny. I trust and 
 am willing to believe that the Dean of Canterbury wished neither 
 to lower our Lord nor to adhere to a most objectionable statement; 
 and therefore would one beg the correction on so grave a matter 
 of words which neither faith nor yet logic can justify. To reason 
 from human order to the divine nature and relations is ground 
 as unsafe as it is false. No doubt in the creature, being essentially 
 limited, the highest place for one excludes another. But it is the 
 direct road to the worst gulf of error so to think of the Godhead, 
 as to which we have only to believe what is revealed from on high. 
 This may be hard to the natural mind ; but it is unambiguous, and 
 too clear for faith to deny or explain away. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 169 
 
 express in contradicting from this text the Emperor 
 Julian who was rash enough to say that Paul did not 
 speak of Jesus as God. Nor is there a single name of 
 sound reputation opposed to this. 
 
 The ingenuity of criticism however, having neither 
 \ various readings nor ancient versions to invoke, is not 
 I content with misrepresenting the testimony of the 
 ; early christian writers and has strained itself in the most 
 violent efforts to effect a diversion by the help of points ; 
 as it is well known that they are wanting in the most 
 ancient copies. The Complutensian editors punctuate 
 fairly. Erasmus, not in his earlier editions but later, 
 suggested a period after adpica, as had been done before 
 by the writers of two MSS. of the eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries usually numbered 5 and 47 in the conventional 
 list of Pauline copies. Lachmann and Tischendorf acted 
 on this; and Vater clenched the rent quite as effec- 
 tually by putting the cut-off clause or clauses within 
 marks of parenthesis ended by a note of admiration. 
 Now not only is this severance, however managed, in 
 opposition to the mass of punctuated manuscripts, all 
 ancient versions and citations, but, what is of more 
 weight still, it is contrary to the invariable idiom em- 
 ployed to express such a blessing (or on the contrary a 
 curse). The regular formula is to open the sentence 
 with evXor/Tjros! or some kindred word.* Here therefore 
 to bear regularly the desired punctuation the words 
 should have run: — EvXorfrjrh^ 6 eiri ir. 6., the wv in this 
 case being worse than useless. The only apparent ex- 
 ception produced is from the Septuagint of Psalm Ixvii, 
 (Ixviii.) 19, Kvpio<i 6 0eo9 evXo'^Tjro^. But judging by 
 the old Latin quoted in Holmes' and Parsons' note, 
 "Dominus Deus benedictus est," it is no exception, 
 because it is an assertion about God, not an ejaculatory 
 blessing. The latter follows immediately; and then 
 the usual order appears. The former clause may 
 
 * Even Socinus was clear-sighted enough to see this and honest 
 enough to acknowledge it. 
 
170 ROMANS. 
 
 indeed be an interpolation; as tLere is no Hebrew 
 text to found it on. 
 
 Further, the incongruity of such a doxology here, 
 remembering the apostle's grief just expressed and the 
 relation of the Jews to the Messiah, is also a decisive 
 disproof; and, lastly, it would utterly mar the beautiful 
 antithesis so characteristic of the apostle, even in the 
 opening of this very epistle, in which he contrasts the 
 human line of the Messiah with His divine dignity. 
 
 Another mode of punctuating, also suggested by 
 Erasmus (who perhaps did not know that a Viennese 
 MS. 71 of the twelfth century, represents it), and adopted 
 by Locke, places the stop after TravTwv with a shorter 
 clause taken as the blessing, and is even more objec- 
 tionable, as it is pressed by the additional difficulty 
 that we ought in that case to have the article with 
 
 6e6<i. It should stand EvXa'^/rfTO^ 6 Oeo^ eU T. ai. cifn'jp. 
 
 But after all it would not effect what is desired, for it 
 would connect 6 wv eirl Trav-rivv with the Christ ; and it 
 is impossible to have a stricter predication of supre- 
 macy. It is not merely, as Hippolytus and others 
 thought, that the Father delivered all things to the 
 Son, an important but different truth. Here we have 
 what He is\ and He is over all, being essentially divine. 
 Conjectural emendation of the text is another device 
 of unbelievers to defraud the Lord of His glory; but 
 this may be dismissed into its native obscurity. Even 
 the Grotian expedient of dropping 6e6^ is contrary to 
 all authority of MSS., and would be useless if conceded ; 
 for o wv ewl TravTwv is the strongest affirmation in itself 
 of divine supremacy. Quite as futile was the effort to 
 lower the sense of Oeo^ by reference to 2 Thess. ii. 4, 
 and to translate the clause here, " who is as God," &c. 
 For, first, the supposed analogy is cast out of that verse 
 on the best authority ; and secondly, it would tell, if 
 genuine, in the opposite way ; for certainly the man of 
 sin will not claim to be God in an inferior sense. The 
 absence of the article is a sign that character is meant 
 
CHAPTER IX. 171 
 
 to be conveyed, and has nothing to do with inferiority. 
 Compare Romans i. 21. 
 
 On the whole then the reader may rest assured of 
 both the text and the sense of this most impressive tes- 
 timony to Christ, the importance of which may be in 
 some measure inferred from the evident desire of so 
 many since the Reformation, Catholics and Protestants, 
 without reckoning Arians or Unitarians, who have 
 done what they could to neutralize its force. Thanks 
 be to God who vouchsafes the truth to be in us and 
 to abide with us for ever. 
 
 Two things then the apostle had asserted with the 
 utmost strength in the preceding verses of the chapter 
 — his burning love for his brethren after the flesh and 
 consequent grief at their low estate and danger; and 
 his sense of their privileges far fuller and stronger than 
 their own, demonstrated above all in his estimate of 
 their Messiah's glory whom they depreciated and had* 
 even rejected to their own ruin. This last however is 
 not openly said but unmistakably implied; for the 
 apostle treats their difficulties with the utmost delicacy, 
 caring for their souls with a love truly divine. Whether 
 the expression of his grief then or of that glory of 
 Christ which they refused in unbelief raised the question, 
 which the free grace preached to the Gentiles indiscrimi- 
 nately with the Jews of itself put in the most direct 
 form, whether such a proclamation of grace to every 
 Boul, Jew or Greek, be compatible with the special 
 promises to Abraham and to his seed ? The Israelite 
 instinctively resented the gospel as annulling his dis- 
 tinctive place of favour, and viewed the apostle's deep 
 concern for their salvation through faith in Jesus as an 
 impeachment of God's pledges to their nation as vouch- 
 safed to their fathers. How could this plighted troth 
 be sure, if the Messiah had come and been rejected by 
 them ? if the door was now as open to the Gentile as 
 the Jew ? Where the value of the promises in either 
 case? Did not the apostle's teaching clash with the 
 
172 ROMANS. 
 
 trustworthiness of the divine word to Israel ? This is 
 fully met now. 
 
 " Not however as though* the word of God hath 
 failed; for not all those that [are] of Israel [are] Israel; 
 nor because they are Abraham's seed, [are] they all 
 children, but, In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee.f 
 That is, [it is] ly^t the children of the flesh that [are] 
 children of God, but the children of the promise are 
 reckoned for seed ; for this word [is] of promise. Accord- 
 ing to this season^ I will come, and Sarah shall have 
 a son. And not only [so], but Rebecca also, having 
 conceived by one,§ Isaac our father (for not yet having 
 been born, nor having done anything good or bad, in 
 order that the purpose of God according to election 
 should abide, not of works but of him that calleth), it 
 was said to her. The elder shall serve the younger, ac- 
 cording as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I 
 hated." (Ver. 6—13.) 
 
 The reasoning is as conclusive as it is concise and 
 clear, founded on proofs from Old Testament facts and 
 words which a Jew certainly could not gainsay. Did 
 he reason from the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob? From this very history the apostle refutes 
 their unbelieving abuse of all. The word of God there- 
 fore retains all its force. Man only, the Jew specially, 
 is proved to be faulty. Their objection assumed that 
 God was bound to bless the entire race in natural de- 
 scent from Abraham. But this would open the pro- 
 mises to the Ishmaelites. Not so, cries the Jew: the 
 
 * The version of Beza, E. Schmid, &c. (which Bucer adopted 
 before them, and Macknight since), " It is not possible," errs, not 
 so much in requiring re as Calvin remarked (for it may dispense 
 ■with this particle) as in the absence of the infinitive after it. Be- 
 sides, even were it grammatically admissible, the other sense is better, 
 
 t Or, thy seed. 
 
 J Or, time. 
 
 § There is no insuperable difficulty, I think, in e| hSs. There 
 was in this case a single mother, also one father. Its object is 
 to give emphasis to both, in contradistinction to the former case. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 173 
 
 promise is only in the line of Isaac. Then, might the 
 apostle rejoin, the natural descent is an unsound prin- 
 ciple ; for this embraces the Arabs sprung from Abraham 
 after the flesh no less than the Jews. They themselves 
 therefore to exclude the Ishmaelites must fall back on 
 the promise tied to the line of Isaac. Promise there- 
 fore, not flesh, decides. How the answer of the apostle 
 exemplifies the truth of the Jew and circumcision that 
 God praises, stated already in the end of chapter ii., 
 needs no proof. Hence it is equally said of Israel and 
 of Abraham's seed. It is universally true. Fleshly 
 descent alone insures no inward blessing. The Israelite 
 indeed in whom is no guile is mOre than one of Jacob's 
 posterity : all of Israel are not Israel, nor are Abraham's 
 seed all children. Compare John viii. 37, 39. God 
 must be left free ; and He is pleased to call Isaac, not 
 Ishmael after the same sort. The call flows from grace 
 and is inseparable, in the restrictive personal sense here 
 intended, from choice. Far from disputing it, the Jew 
 could not hear the case without falling under its irresis- 
 tible force ; for he wished not to take in the sons of 
 Ishmael and must therefore agree to the necessity of 
 God's call, not mere natural line, in order to constitute 
 an adequately valid claim. And this is made more 
 telling by the striking circumstance that Isaac was born 
 in an exclusively natural way like Ishmael bat accord- 
 ing to a distinct word of promise on God's part. 
 
 The apostle follows up the argument by a still closer 
 instance ; for Ishmael was born of a slave, a concubine, 
 Isaac of the wife. But what of Rebecca ? She was 
 in no sense a bondmaid, but bore to Isaac twin sons. 
 No case can be conceived therefore more in point. Yet 
 without the children being yet born or having done 
 anything good or ill which could determine between 
 them, God revealed His purpose respecting the younger 
 or lesser of the two, so that election might thus stand 
 fixed and indisputable where His authority is owned. 
 
 Hence the apostle contrasts the call of God with 
 
174: ROMANS 
 
 works, rather than our faith, so as to cut off the poor 
 semi-Pelagianism of such as Chrysostom of old or 
 Tholuck of late, which would make election governed 
 by the foreseen superiority of one to the other. 
 Language cannot more precisely contradict this, the 
 natural thought (not of natural men only but) of 
 reasoning or imaginative saints. Esau had done no ill 
 to disqualify him, Jacob no good to qualify him; but, 
 before either of the twins was born, God in the exer- 
 cise of His sovereign will chose that the greater should 
 do service to the lesser. Such was His purpose. Their 
 works had nothing to do with the matter and are ex- 
 cluded, so as to rest all on the caller, God Himself. 
 
 On the other hand, there is no ground favourable to 
 that absolute reprobation which Calvin deduces from 
 this place.* Not a syllable is hinted as to hating the 
 unborn Esau in Genesis xxv. Man hastily infers 
 reprobation of the one from the choice of the other. 
 This is unfounded. Out of two who have no claim 
 to choose one to a superior place is to exercise will; 
 but to shew favour in one case is not therein to 
 condemn the other. They were in themselves both 
 born in sin, as they no doubt grew up in sins. This 
 is to be obnoxious to condemnation, which turns on 
 man's sins, not on God's purpose. It is not Jehovah's 
 word to Rebecca, but by Malachi which speaks of 
 hating Esau. It was at the very close of the Old 
 Testament, after Esau had displayed his unrelenting 
 enmity to Israel. The love to Jacob thus w^s free ; the 
 hatred had moral grounds in Esau. 
 
 The assertion of divine sovereignty, though a neces- 
 sary truth which springs out of the very nature of 
 God, is repulsive to the natural mind. Yet no other 
 
 • " Tamen ut discamus in nudo et simplici Dei beneplacito 
 acquiescere, abhoc quoque intuitu nos tantisper Paulus subducit, 
 donee banc doctriuam stabilicrit, Deum in suo arbitrio satis justara 
 eligendi et reprobandi habere causam." Job. Calvini in omnes 
 Pauli Ap. Epp. i. 121, Halis Sax. 1831. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 175 
 
 thought consists with right, when the subject is duly 
 weighed ; and every scheme which man substitutes is 
 unworthy of God and unbecoming to man. The doc- 
 trine which denies God His majesty is self- convicted of 
 falsehood ; equally so that which would represent Him 
 as indifferent either to sin or misery. He is light; and 
 light is incompatible with the allowance of the dark- 
 ness which reigns in the heart and ways of man. He 
 is love; and Jove is invariably free and holy. Doubt- 
 less He is almighty and He will judge the sin which 
 despises or rebels against Him as well as the offences 
 which the worlds seeks to deal with. And what is the 
 universal state of mankind, which this Epistle had care- 
 fully proved not of the Gentile only, but yet more 
 of the Jew who boasted of the living oracles which 
 condemned his iniquity and transgression ? It had 
 stopped every mouth and brought in the whole world 
 guilty before God. 
 
 When a sinner is awakened by the Holy Spirit to 
 his own guilt and state before God, he owns this frankly, 
 and justifies God in condemning himself, though crying 
 for mercy which to his adoring wonder he finds already 
 proclaimed to him in the gospel. 
 
 But man as such, ignorant of himself and of the true 
 God, disputes the fact of his own utter and inexcusable 
 evil and looks not to God, but rather writhes under His 
 word and cavils at His ways. This, as it is the feeling 
 of natural men in general, so particularly found expres- 
 sion in the probable objection which a Jew might feel. 
 This the apostle confronts. " What then shall we 
 say ? [Is there] unrighteousness with God ? Far be 
 it. For to Moses he saith, I will shew mercy on 
 whomsoever I shew mercy, and will compassionate 
 whomsoever I compassionate." (Ver. 14, 15.) That is, 
 it is mere mercy and compassion on God's part where- 
 ver shewn, not only without desert but in full view of 
 the most grievous and destructive demerits. No one 
 who feels his own real wrongs against God ever raises 
 
176 ROMANS. 
 
 a question of rigliteoiisness witli Him. Confounded 
 at the sight of his guilty insubjection and disobedience 
 and in short ungodliness, he is struck dumb before the 
 concurrent and continual proof of the astonishing good- 
 ness and patience of God, were it only in dealing with 
 Israel. So to the Jew (and of course for the profit of 
 ourselves and all the world) the apostle alleges the 
 solemn and most gracious words of Jehovah to His 
 servant in Exodus xxxiii. So apt a testimony, among 
 almost countless passages applicable in principle, there 
 is not in the Bible. 
 
 Consider the circumstances, and the conclusiveness 
 of his answer will be apparent, though at first sight it 
 might seem singular to meet such a question with such 
 a citation. And can anything be more characteristic 
 of divine revelation than this ? Haste pronounces that 
 irrelevant and unreasonable which, when fairly and 
 fully searched, proves alone right and true, alone suited 
 to meet man as he is, alone consistent with the charac- 
 ter and glory of God. 
 
 The national history was scarce begun before all was 
 morally ended by their idolatrous apostasy from Jehovah 
 at the foot of Sinai, where the people with Aaron at 
 their head danced naked before the golden calf. Un- 
 righteousness with God ! There was assuredly the 
 grossest unrighteousness in Israel; and what could 
 righteousness with God do but call aloud for their 
 irrevocable condemnation? On that ground the ob- 
 jecting Jew, like the unbelieving Gentile, only shuts 
 himself up to sure and unsparing judgment; for there 
 can be no doubt of man's guilt, and justice on God's 
 side has but to pronounce and execute the sentence of 
 perdition. 
 
 Is God then bound to this and nothing else ? He 
 must be, on the blindly suicidal principle of man self- 
 righteous yet unrighteous, who in his hurry to blame 
 God forgets that it would be to his own helpless ruin. 
 But God, though He can justly answer a fool according 
 
CHAPTER IX. 177 
 
 to his folly, may not in His grace. He has resources 
 in Himself on which to fall back. 
 
 So in the passage before us the people disowned 
 that Jehovah had delivered them from the house of 
 bondage in their cry, "As for this Moses, the man 
 that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot 
 not what is become of him." (Exod. xxxii. 1.) Thereon 
 Jehovah not only plagued the people for their idolatry 
 (ver. 35), but told Moses to go up thence, " thou and 
 the people which thou hast brought up out of the 
 land of Egypt into the land which I sware," &c. 
 Forthwith Moses pitches the tabernacle without the 
 camp, so that every one who sought Jehovah might go 
 out there. But he does more ; he there intercedes for 
 the people, insists that they are Jehovah's people, and 
 would turn the assurance of going with himself into one 
 of going with him and them. " For wherein shall it be 
 known here that I and thy people have found grace in 
 thy sight ? Is it not in that thou goest with us ? So 
 shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the 
 people that are upon the face of the earth." Then, 
 when Moses beseeches Him to manifest His glory to 
 him. He says " I will make all my goodness pass before 
 thee, and I will proclaim the name of Jehovah upon 
 thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, 
 and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." 
 
 Thus the bearing of the declaration is as evident as 
 it is appropriate and unanswerable. For a people in 
 such a case to harbour the thought of unrighteousness 
 with God is a monstrous forgetfulness not only of their 
 actual state in relation to Him but of their only hope 
 in His sovereign mercy. Once before they took the 
 ground of righteousness in accepting the law; but 
 before the tables of stone were brought down, they had 
 forfeited every thing by their infraction oi the most 
 fundamental precept of the law. Hence hope there conld 
 not be, unless in His compassion. They Had shewn 
 out what they were, and the sooner becauiie ot their 
 H 
 
178 ROMANS. 
 
 self-confidence. Now it remained to learn what God 
 is; and this is His word even in presence of the foul 
 dishonour they had done Him: " I will shew mercy on 
 whomsoever I shew mercy, and I will compassionate 
 whomsoever I compassionate." 
 
 Things were no better in the apostle's day. For the 
 people had meanwhile so gone on in idolatrous rebellion 
 that God at length swept them away, first Israel by 
 the Assyrian, then Judah by the Babylonian. And now 
 the returned remnant were under Roman bondage, and 
 had been guilty of rejecting their Messiah, as well as of 
 quarrelling with God's grace to the Gentiles. It is 
 plain then that man is apt to be most self-righteous 
 when he has least reason for it. " Not this man but 
 Barabbas" cried they all. " We have no king but 
 C^sar" answered the chief priests. Their moral degra- 
 dation was complete; their faith was null and void. 
 Ill would it have become such a people at such a time 
 to ask " Is there unrighteousness with God?" It is 
 just there, however, that the human spirit is most 
 ready to dispute with God. 
 
 But. the word is exceedingly broad and deep: where 
 does it put any man? where the sinner? We Christians 
 should surely know that only grace saved or could save 
 US, as it called us with an holy calling, not according to 
 oor works but according to His own purpose and grace 
 which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world 
 began. When a soul is truly broken down and judges 
 itself with integrity and a spiritually enlightened con- 
 science, how sweet is the feeling that there is righteousness 
 nowhere fully, truly, and intrinsically but with God, con- 
 fessing its own manifold and utter unrighteousness, and 
 welcoming His own expression of sovereign mercy ! 
 It is only hard self-righteousness which holds out and 
 disputes. Faith bow^s before the God of mercy and 
 blesses Him. If only low and bad enough in my own 
 eyes, I shall be but too thankful for the mercy that was 
 sovereign enough to come down and find out me ; if I 
 
CHAPTER IX. 179 
 
 can rest on the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, 
 for such a sinner as myself, shall I pare down or narrow 
 the indiscriminate riches of His grace to any other ? 
 *' So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that 
 runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." There may 
 be an allusion to the frustration of Isaac's notorious 
 wish, and of Esau's efforts to gain through the chase, 
 and of Jacob faulty enough to lose all by his trickery 
 but for sovereign mercy which secured to him the pro- 
 mise. It is certainly the conclusion of grace against 
 man's vain conifidence in his own will and exertion. 
 
 But the greater the grace, the greater the sin of re- 
 sisting God in it. Hence the other side needs to be 
 presented. For the God who shews mercy is the judge 
 of all, and will prove what it is to set at nought all that 
 He is. So Pharaoh did of old ; and what was the con- 
 sequence ? " For the scripture saith to Pharaoh, Even 
 for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I 
 might shew my power in thee, and that my name might 
 be declared throujohout all the earth." (Ver. 17.) 
 
 The king of Egypt was a thoroughly selfish, cruel, 
 and profane man when God first sent him a message by 
 Moses and Aaron. The effect of the summons on such 
 a spirit was to bring out his blasphemy against Jehovah 
 and more savage oppression of Israel. And as sign and 
 his miracle told on his conscience, but evil desires and 
 counsels prevailed, Pharaoh became incomparably worse 
 till the obduracy of the king shocked his servants, and 
 even after the concession was wrung out, false hopes of 
 vengeance on Israel lured him and them to find a grave 
 within the opened waters of the Red Sea. God thus 
 made a most striking example of Pharaoh, not a mere 
 exposure of his malice, but of His own power on that 
 background, so that His name might be thus told 
 abroad in all the earth. Never does God make a man 
 bad; but the bad man Pharaoh, made yet worse by 
 his resistance of the most striking divine appeals. He 
 made manifest, raised up as he was from among men to 
 
180 ROMANS. 
 
 such a height, that his downfall might tell on con- 
 sciences far and wide throughout the world. Hard at 
 first, God sealed him up at length in a judicial harden- 
 ing. Such He warned the Jews by Isaiah should be the 
 case with their impenitent hearts, and so He executed 
 it when they rejected Christ (John xii.) and the Holy- 
 Ghost's appeal in the gospel. (Acts xxviii. 25 — 28.) 
 *' So then to whom he will he sheweth mercy, and 
 whom he will he hardeneth." In both cases the un- 
 righteousness is solely with man, who is, as far as he is 
 concerned, irremediably evil and ruined ; before God acts 
 either in grace or in judijment for the display of His 
 own great name to the wide, rich, and endless blessing 
 of all who heed His word. He is always holy but always 
 free. On the other hand fallen man is always evil 
 and deserves condemnation. God freely acts in grace 
 here, freely acts in judgment there, that any soul may 
 beware of provoking His indignation and learning what 
 He is in his own destruction, and that the guiltiest of 
 sinners may know that no man is too far gone to be 
 beyond reach of His mercy. I speak of man as such, 
 pot of such as have believed through grace. 
 
 These verses present a fresh objection, and the apostle's 
 answer worthy of all attention not only in itself but as 
 an inspired specimen of the best method of meeting a 
 cavil, first with a moral remonstrance and then more 
 directly. 
 
 " Thou wilt say then to me. Why then doth he yet 
 find fault ? For who withstandeth his purpose ? Nay 
 but thou, man, who art thou that answerest again to 
 God ?" (Vers. 19, 20.) 
 
 The objection seems founded on the absoluteness 
 with which the mercy of God as well as His hardening 
 had been asserted by the apostle just before. The un- 
 broken will of man avails itself of this to resolve all 
 question of good and evil into the divine purpose. But 
 this is a mere human deduction which loses sight of 
 the moral glory of God as well as the responsibility of 
 
CHAPTER IX. 181 
 
 the creature. It ofifends therefore against first prin- 
 ciples, and would destroy all truth, holiness, and 
 righteous judgment. 
 
 Undoubtedly the purpose of God does stand, and 
 there is no creature which does not in the end subserve 
 His will : yet Satan, little as he intends it, only clenches 
 it most when he seems most to succeed by his lies and 
 destructive power in thwarting and persecuting those 
 who are precious in the Lord's eyes. Take the cross 
 itself as the plainest and most unanswerable example. 
 But should this enfeeble our moral judgment of creature 
 "wickedness ? Does it deny the fact that Satan and man 
 are responsible for all they do against Him, or that 
 both must be punished for it ? Hence Peter taxes the 
 men of Israel with the guilt of crucifying the Messiah : 
 " Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and 
 foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by hands of 
 lawless men have crucified and slain." How different 
 is the holy and perfect word of God ! Everything is 
 in its place, not one side only but both. God has His 
 determinate counsel and foreknowledge. The Jews 
 played their evil part, the Gentiles theirs. They to- 
 gether, however at variance in thoughts and feelings, 
 manifested their characters and their guilt; but in the 
 very same fact they fulfilled the prophets and gave 
 occasion to the display of the holiest judgment of God 
 and the accomplishment of the work of His grace. 
 
 Hence the ground of reasoning is wholly fallacious. 
 The probation of man discovered his evil state, the 
 fruit of his first departure from God who was dis- 
 honoured by him when all was very good, and whose 
 every fresh trial only served to demonstrate with increas- 
 ing evidence the depth and extent of sin and the 
 irreraediableness of the flesh. The wisdom of God is 
 such that He can and does turn all that man pursues 
 in his heartless folly to the account of His purposes; 
 but this is altogether independent of man's will which 
 is always and inexcusably evil. Not only therefore is 
 
182 ROMANS. 
 
 God free to censure man, but He will judge liim for all 
 by the Lord Jesus at the last day. 
 
 If it were true, as Calvin says, that those who perish 
 were destined to destruction by the will of God, the 
 case were hard indeed. But scripture never really 
 speaks thus, and the language of the texts usually 
 cited in support of such a decree, when closely as well 
 as fairly examined, invariably avoids such a thought, 
 however near it may seem to approximate. 
 
 In truth it is but the expression of the heart anxious 
 to gather an excuse for its own wilful evil and a plea 
 against judgment from the irresistible will of God. 
 Yet better is known in the heart of hearts all the while. 
 It is never said in scripture that sin was God's purpose; 
 but man fallen under sin is the platform where He does 
 display His ways, counsels, and even Himself. God 
 did not make any man to be evil ; but from all (being 
 evil already) He does choose according to His sovereign 
 will and shew mercy to some, not all, though all be no 
 more guilty than the some may have been. It would 
 be perfectly just to destroy all. But if pleased to spare 
 whom He will, who shall say to Him, nay ? It would 
 be to set up a claim of superiority over God, and is 
 really an attempt to j udge Him . Now whenever a sinner 
 is converted, he feels and owns the just judgment of 
 God, even though such a recognition sanctions the exe- 
 cution of the divine sentence against one's self,* yet 
 withal never quits in despair, but looks and cries, 
 feebly at first perhaps but with increasing earnestness, 
 for mercy. 
 
 Cavils of the sort always presuppose the conscience 
 not yet searched and the will not bent and broken 
 before God. Neither insinuations of unrighteousness 
 with God, nor the plea of the necessity of man's sinning 
 as a part of God's purpose, could satisfy, or emanate 
 from, a repentant soul. So the apostle first of all 
 answers with a rebuke : " Nay but thou, man, 
 who art thou that answerest against God ? Shall the 
 
CHAPTER IX. 183 
 
 thing moulded say to him that moulded, Why didst thou 
 make me thus ?" Is it possible a man so speaks ? It 
 is equally irreverent and unholy. As this challenge 
 why God (whose purpose is so firm, inflexible, and sure 
 of fulfilment) should any longer find fault, blots out 
 moral government and denies the difference of good 
 and evil, so the audacity which disputes against God 
 and practically defies His right to condemn wrong, 
 proceeds on the assumption that He is bound to save 
 every one alike, or at least to punish none ; that 
 is, bound to be worse than the basest of those who 
 despise and rebel against Him, bound to a moral 
 indifference w^hich they would not tolerate in their wives 
 or children, in their family connections, in their servants 
 or their tradesmen ! Such is the worth of human 
 reason when it does not surrender to the word of God. 
 The fall is ignored, and its ruinous consequences. God 
 did not form man as he is, but good and upright; and 
 He warned him of his danger and of the inevitable 
 issue of disobedience. In every point of view therefore 
 the ground of unbelief is as false as it is also a forget- 
 fulness of the majesty of God and of the due attitude 
 of the creature toward Him. 
 
 The apostle takes occasion to affirm the sovereign 
 title of God in the most unqualified way. " Hath not 
 the potter authority over the clay out of the same lump 
 to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dis- 
 honour ?" Whatever the holy boldness of this language, 
 however it is singularly free from swerving to the right 
 hand or the left, it would be easy to prove by count- 
 less witnesses how prone the best and wisest of uninspired 
 men have been to err, even with this divine chart before 
 their eyes to guide them. But it is easy to slip oa 
 either side: the hard thing is to hold only to the truth 
 of scripture, and not to speak where it is silent. The 
 apostle does not say that God has exercised the right 
 which He beyond just question possesses; but the 
 divine title is maintained in its integrity. We shall 
 
184 ROMANS. 
 
 see in the next two verses how the right is used ; but 
 it was due to God and wholesome for man that His 
 absolute right should be owned. How seldom those 
 who talk of rights seem to think that God has any ? 
 They are absorbed in themselves, in man: God is in 
 none of their thoughts. Yet surely if any rights are 
 to be respected, His ought to be the foremost whose 
 sovereign will gave us being and all things. If we 
 count ourselves entitled to do what we will with our 
 own, what can we say of Him to whom belong ourselves 
 and all that we have ? 
 
 His right then over man as over every other creature 
 is incontestable: a right which unbelief disputes only 
 because it has never seriously thought of the matter, or 
 it yields to a spirit of manifestly outrageous presump- 
 tion and rebelliousness. There are no rights if the 
 Creator has none: if they exist at all. His must be 
 absolute over us as creatures. He can form as He 
 pleases and assign to us a position high or low in the 
 scale of creation as it seems fitting in His eyes. In 
 the verses which follow there is the further considera- 
 tion that we are not only creatures but sinners, which 
 necessarily must bear its bitter fruit and judgment 
 from God. But His sovereign title it was important 
 to affirm in itself before the introduction of the actual 
 state or the doom of man. 
 
 The absolute authority of God over the creature has 
 been so laid down that none can fairly dispute it. But 
 this is far from being the whole case: His power 
 is unlimited, His title incontestable. " And if God, 
 wishing to shew his wrath and to make his power 
 known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of 
 wrath fitted for destruction, and that he might make 
 known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy which 
 he before prepared for glory, us whom he also.called not 
 from among Jews only but from Gentiles?" (Ver. 22-24.) 
 
 The mind of God was to display His wrath in this 
 evil world and to make known His power where men 
 
CHAPTER IX. 185 
 
 easily and willingly forget Himself. But the way 
 adopted was admirable and worthy of His nature. 
 Arbitrariness there was none, but " much long-suffer- 
 ing." So He bore long with the corruption and 
 violence of guilty man. Could man then justly tax 
 God either with lack of compassion for himself or with 
 haste to mark his iniquities ? Impossible that a holy 
 God could have fellowship with evil or be indifferent to 
 it ! But instead of promptly blotting out of this life the 
 rebellious creatures who make of the world a field for 
 incessant warfare against what they know of God, or 
 who at least live negligent of His will though He has 
 revealed it fully, the history of the world since nations 
 began is the fullest proof of endurance on God's part. 
 He never made them as they are; but the sin of man 
 now fallen He endured spite of countless and constant 
 provocation. They sinned, they transgressed, they 
 despised His mercy, they braved His wrath ; but He 
 endured with much long-suffering. 
 
 Sinful men thus living in enmity against God are 
 here styled "vessels of wrath," on the one hand; as 
 those who believe are designated " vessels of mercy" on 
 the other. They are objects respectively of wrath and 
 of mercy, and are figuratively supposed to contain each 
 that quality which will issue in destruction or in glory. 
 
 But there is a shade of difference as distinct as it is 
 refined and profoundly true which no reader should 
 overlook. The vessels of wrath are said to be " fitted 
 for destruction." But it is neither said nor implied 
 here, or anywhere else, that God fitted them for it. 
 They were fitted by their sins, and most of all by their 
 unbelief and rebelliousness against God. But when 
 we hear of the faithful, the phrase is altogether different, 
 " vessels of mercy which he before prepared for glory." 
 The evil is man's, and in no case is it of God ; the good 
 is His and not our own. Not the saints, but God pre- 
 pared the vessels of mercy for glory. More strictly 
 He prepared them beforehand with a view to glory. 
 
186 ROMANS. 
 
 That is, it was not their preparation while on earth, 
 His only when the glory arrives. The apostle affirms 
 here that God prepared them before unto glory. It was 
 His doing. None doubts that they became by grace 
 obedient, holy, and thus morally conformed to His 
 nature ; but it seemed good to the Holy Spirit to dwell 
 here only on God's preparation of the vessels of mercy 
 beforehand for glory. Thus the riches of His glory 
 are made known upon the vessels of mercy, for so they 
 are called, not vessels filled with these or those spiritual 
 qualities, however true this might be, but vessels of 
 mercy. 
 
 But in this passage as elsewhere there is no suffi- 
 cient reason to depart from the ordinary meaning of 
 " glory" or to give the word the sense of God's mercy. 
 Nor does Ephesians i. 12 sanction this, where glory 
 maintains strictly its own distinctive place, as will 
 appear to him who thoughtfully weighs verses 6, 7, 12. 
 The word grace is undoubtedly and most properly left 
 out of the last, where grace is not intended to be ex- 
 pressed any more than in verse 14 where it could not 
 be. The Spirit looks onward to the day when the 
 purpose of God shall be accomplished. 
 
 Such is the inheritance when the excellence of what 
 God has given and made us shall be displayed. But 
 the relationships to Himself which His infinite love 
 has brought us into, and in which He has revealed Him- 
 self are far deeper. Hence the word in verse 6 is " to 
 the praise of the glory of his grace," the fulness of the 
 revelation of Himself, as in verse 7 the abundant re- 
 sources of His goodness, in view of our misery and 
 guilt as once sinners. In all this then I see exact dis- 
 crimination, not the confusion of different thoughts or 
 words. No doubt then the wrath of God, long impend- 
 ing but long kept back, while He is sending forth the 
 message of the mercy He delights in, will at length 
 burst on those who have despised His warnings, but 
 who will then prove what it is to be vessels of wrath. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 187 
 
 And the vessels of mercy will then he displayed in 
 those scenes of divine excellence which no evil or 
 failure shall ever sully. 
 
 Thus lost man will in the end he compelled to justify 
 God and to take the entire blame on his own shoulders, 
 ^jv^ho preferred to trust Satan as his friend and adviser 
 rather than God; while the saved, however dwelling in 
 bliss, will know and make known all as the riches of 
 His glory, themselves debtors to His mere but un- 
 failing and unfathomable mercy. 
 
 But the moment mercy is thus fully before the apostle's 
 mind, he by the Spirit turns to the magnificent proof 
 and exhibition God gave of it in calling — not from among 
 Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. The law 
 distinguished and separated the people which was under 
 it from all other nations which were not. Grace, as it 
 supposes the total worthlessness not of the Gentiles 
 only but also of the Jews, so it goes out and calls in 
 not from Jews only but from Gentiles. Distinctions 
 may be in place where there is still hope of man and 
 the trial proceeds. Not so when the probation of the 
 most favoured has ended in irremediable guilt and help- 
 less total ruin. Then the door opens for mercy ; and if 
 God is pleased to exercise it, can the Jew pretend that 
 the Gentile is not at least as good an occasion for mercy 
 as himself? The greater the need, the misery, the 
 darkness, the greater is the room for God to prove the 
 -depth and extent of His grace. On the footing there- 
 fore of His own mercy has God called (for it is a 
 question of calling, not of governing a people already 
 subsisting before Him under His law) even " us not from 
 Jews only but also from among Gentiles." (Ver. 24.) 
 He calls in grace, freely to all, shut up to none, from 
 Jews certainly but from Gentiles too. 
 
 The quotations taken from Hosea are worthy of all 
 consideration, both in themselves and in the comparison 
 of the references here and in 1 Peter ii. 10. Some 
 feel the difficulty ; others, who do not seem to see any- 
 
188 ROMANS. 
 
 thing particularly to be noted, prove how little they 
 enter into the deep wisdom of God here displayed. 
 
 The call from among Gentiles is not the question 
 with Peter, who accordingly does not cite Hosea i. 10. 
 He contents himself with using Hosea ii. 23, which he 
 does not hesitate to apply even then to such of the Jews 
 as came to the one foundation stone and became thus 
 themselves living stones. Writing to the strangers of 
 the dispersion throughout a part of Asia Minor, he had 
 only the believing Jews directly before him. Hence 
 there is remarkable force in telling them that they were 
 a chosen generation and a royal priesthood. This their 
 fathers attempted to make their own at Sinai on con- 
 dition of their own obedience; and, as we know, broke 
 down immediately as well as unceasingly ever afterwairds, 
 till the final sentence was pronounced and God by 
 Hosea pronounced the Jew Lo-ammi (not my people). 
 The apostle now, addressing those who had received the 
 rejected Messiah, not only predicates unconditionally of 
 them under the gospel what was only ofifered to their 
 fathers under a condition which utterly failed, but 
 shews that they do not need to wait for the glorious 
 kingdom of the Messiah to be revealed before they can 
 be assured of the gracious reversal of the old sentence : 
 "which in time past (says he) were not a people, but 
 are now the people of God, which had not obtained 
 mercy, but now have obtained mercy." The shining of 
 grace from Christ risen on those that are His assures 
 even now, not yet indeed of the setting aside of the 
 power of evil in the world, but of the bringing the 
 believing Israelites addressed into distinct, present, and 
 known relationship with God. If the many still per 
 severed in their unbelief and its bitter consequences, 
 this did not hinder God from cheering the godly rem- 
 nant by the apostle's employment of the prophet. 
 
 Our apostle cites the same scripture as Peter uses, 
 and more fully too; but he also cites Hosea i. 10 almost 
 precisely as it stands in the Alexandrian copy of the 
 
CHAPTER IX. \ 189 
 
 LXX. Is it then certain that he quotes these two 
 passages from Hosea as applicable to the Gentiles being 
 called to be the people of God ? This is generally 
 assumed* as manifest from the words themselves, and 
 from the transition to Israel in verse 27, though many 
 who say so confess that in the prophecy they are spoken 
 of Israel, which, after being rejected and put away, was 
 to be again received into favour by God. 
 
 But it is always well for the believer to search nar- 
 rowly an assumption of the kind, more especially when 
 
 • "The meaning (says Calvin in loc.) is evident: but there ia 
 some difficulty in the application of this testimony ; for no one can 
 deny but that the prophet in that passage speaks of the Israelites. 
 For the Lord, having been offended with their wickedness, declared 
 that they should be no longer His people : He afterwards subjoined 
 a consolation, and said, that of those who were not beloved He 
 would make some (?) beloved, and from (?) those who were not a 
 people He would make a people. But Paul applies to the Gentiles 
 what was expressly spoken to the Israelites!" Again, a very 
 different mind writes thus in our day on Hosea i. 10, "Both St. 
 Peter (?) and St. Paul tell us that this prophecy is already, in 
 Christ, fulfilled in those of Israel, who were the true Israel, or of 
 the Gentiles to whom the promise was made. In thy seed shall all 
 nations be blessed, and who, whether Jews or Gentiles, believed in 
 Him. The Gentiles vi^ere adopted into the Church, which, at the 
 day of Pentecost was formed of the Jews, and in which Jews and 
 
 Gentiles became one in Christ And so St. Peter (?) says that 
 
 this scripture [expressly commenting on the latter part, which Paul 
 only applies to the Gentiles now called] was fulfilled in them, while 
 still scattered abroad through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and 
 Biihyniay (Dr. Pusey's Minor Prophets.) On chapter ii. 23 the 
 latter is still bolder : " This which was true of Israel in its 
 dispersion was much more true of the Gentiles. These too, the 
 descendants of righteous Noah, God had cast off for the time, that 
 they should be no more His people [not so ; the Gentiles never had 
 been as such in relationship with God as called nations, nor was 
 Israel itself or any other people yet chosen], when He chose Israel 
 
 out of them in reversing His sentence, He embraces in the 
 
 arms of His mercy all who were not His people, and says of them 
 
 all that they should be My people and beloved Israel was not 
 
 multiplied by itself, but through the bringing in of the Gentiles." 
 It will have been noticed from the queries, or without them by the 
 careful reader, that both are obliged to depart, by their system of 
 thought, from the language of the text. 
 
190 ROMANS. 
 
 an apparent discrepancy is thereby insinuated between 
 the Old Testament and the New. It is wise to try our 
 own hypothesis over and over again, for we may rest 
 assured that the One divine author cannot slight a word 
 He has written. " Scripture cannot be broken." Is 
 the assumption itself well grounded? We need not 
 then dwell on the answers which are attempted to the 
 difficulty which appears to me made by those who seek 
 to answer it — answers with which those who give them 
 seem themselves by no means satisfied, and no wonder. 
 The question is as to the precise aim of the Spirit. 
 For myself I cannot doubt that He contemplated the 
 Jews and the Gentiles in the two citations from Hosea; 
 for if He meant only the Gentiles in both, why quote 
 them in so peculiar an order ? Why place the fragment 
 of chapter i. 10 after that of ii. 23 ? If on the other 
 hand He means to illustrate the call of grace under the 
 gospel first to the Jews, spite of their having lost their 
 distinctive name of relationship, nothing can be more 
 natural and appropriate than his use of chapter ii. 23 
 before i. 10 is quoted; and thus the apostles Paul and 
 Peter are seen to be not only in perfect harmony with 
 each other, but in their application exact to the evident 
 bearing of the prophet. The common error sets 
 all three in opposition. The very order too agrees 
 precisely with the verse before (24) in Romans ix. 
 which is followed up by the citations. 
 
 Bat if this be so with the employment of Hosea ii. 
 23 by the two apostles, if they both expressly apply to 
 converted Jews that which the prophet expressly wrote 
 of them and of them only, what of chapter i. 10 ? This, 
 it is freely granted, may not be so obvious, but in my 
 judgment it is on mature consideration no less sure. 
 Yet why should the latter part of the verse refer to the 
 sons of Israel because the former does? Let it be 
 observed that there is a striking break or at least off- 
 shoot in the middle of the verse, which might most 
 naturally prepare the way for another disclosure of 
 
CHAPTER IX. 191 
 
 God's purposes of grace. I allow that it is somewhat 
 veiled; but this was proper and intended. The turning 
 aside to call in Gentiles was intentionally concealed till 
 the time came; but when it did come, enouuh was 
 found, expressed hundreds of years before by the pro- 
 phets, to prove that all was ordered and left room for 
 and justified in passages here and there, which could 
 scarcely have prepared any beforehand for so moment- 
 ous a change but fell in with it expressly when it was 
 a fact. So there is to my mind a similarly rapid tran- 
 sition in Isaiah Ixv. 1, 2, of which the apostle makes 
 use somewhat later in this very argument, and gives 
 us divine certainty that, as verse 1 applies to the call of 
 Gentiles, so verse 2 goes even farther than the early 
 half of Hosea i. 10, for it intimates the rejection of 
 Israel. The apostle guided by the Spirit was tender 
 to his brethren after the flesh and would not yet set 
 before them so unpalatable a truth. All he is proving 
 here from Hosea is that, as the ruin of Israel does not 
 preclude but rather gives occasion for the call of grace 
 in the gospel to the Jews spite of their dreadful estate, 
 so the same prophet very remarkably leaves room for 
 Gentiles to come in on a ground which shall yet 
 bless Israel beyond measure and number. " And it 
 shall come to pass in the place where it was said unto 
 them. Not my people, there it shall be said unto them, 
 The sons of the living God." I see no more reason 
 to doubt that Gentiles were not by accommodation but 
 directly and primarily meant in this striking portion 
 than in the first verse of Isaiah Ixv. The same apostle 
 who warrants the application of two verses of Isaiah 
 in Romans x. warrants the application of two verses of 
 Hosea in Romans ix. The call of Jews and Gentiles 
 he attests in the latter; the coming in of Gentiles and 
 the rebellion of Israel he proves from the former. 
 
 Thus there is no ground whatever for the idea that 
 the inspired Paul does violence to the prophet by 
 applying to Gentiles what was written about Jews; or 
 
192 ROMANS. 
 
 that the principle on which he quotes is merely that of 
 analogy, instead of direct divine authority. Still less 
 is it true that God makes so light of the ground on 
 which He set Israel as to allow the theory that the 
 nations had ever been in any similar position before the 
 call of Israel, or that Israel has lost it irrevocably to 
 let the Gentiles in, and thus merge all for the future on 
 one common level. Not so: the Gentiles have not 
 stood by faith, but become highminded and will surely, 
 because of unbelief, be broken off the olive-tree, whereon 
 they are now graffed ; and as surely the Jews, not con- 
 tinuing in unbelief but truly repentant and blessing 
 Him who is coming in the name of Jehovah, will be 
 once more in sovereign mercy graffed into their own 
 olive-tree. This will not be under the gospel. For as 
 concerning the gospel they are enemies for our sakes, 
 jealous that we should meanwhile receive the truth and 
 hating the grace which saves the vilest through Him 
 whom they cast out. " But as touching the election, 
 they are beloved for the fathers' sakes," as will be 
 demonstrated in that day, when it will be no longer 
 the call of indiscriminate goodness as now, which ignores 
 all earthly distinctions and unites to Christ in heaven, 
 but the fulfilment of the magnificent purposes of God 
 for the world, according to which the Israel of that day, 
 converted and restored to their land, will be the most 
 intimate and honoured and important instrument here 
 below for the universal blessedness of the race and the 
 earth. As the election of Israel was before the gospel 
 was sent out, so it will be after the gospel shall have 
 finished its heavenly work. Then the purposes of God 
 for Israel, which came to naught under the first cove- 
 nant, will be made effectual and stand for ever under 
 Messiah and the new covenant. 
 
 Meanwhile, if any from Israel are blessed, it is on 
 the principle of God's having called them, spite of 
 the people being Lo-ammi, and giving them to obtain 
 mercy anticipatively now, as the remnant will another day 
 
CHAPTER IX. 193 
 
 at the end of tliis age. But mercy now, as we of all 
 men should know best, is not confined to them, but has 
 called from among Gentiles also. Thus the two cita- 
 tions of Hosea were each equally required ; and only 
 the latter of the two used by Paul as the apostle of 
 Gentiles, and in fact writing to saints at Rome, who 
 were even more numerously Gentile than Jewish. 
 Hence the reason and beautiful propriety of our finding 
 the latter part of Hosea i. 10 not in Peter's Epistle 
 but in Paul's. 
 
 But there is another feature, not palpable to the care- 
 less eye, but most real and in the highest degree con- 
 firmatory of a Gentile reference as originally intended of 
 God in the close of Hosea i. 10. Thus the Holy Spirit 
 does not say merely (as Dean Alford for instance like 
 others ancient* or modern) "as a general assertion, that 
 in every place where they were called ' not His people,* 
 there they shall be called * His people'." If Gentiles 
 were not His people, like the Jews now for a time, 
 those who receive the gospel are called, not " His people'* 
 merely as the Jews shall be, but " sons of the living 
 God." It is the special well-known title which grace 
 now confers on all who hear the rejected One who speaks 
 from heaven ; and the emphasis is brought out the more 
 
 * It may be instructive to shew by the following extract from 
 Theodoref s comment that the errors of theology were introduced or 
 at least sanctioned by the ablest of the early fathers, ravra 8e o 
 @€05 ov irepi rwv idvwu, aWa irepl tcov avrwv e'lprjKe ruv 'lovSaiuv. 
 T(f yap 'Xlo-Tje KeK^vaas Aa^e7u 'yvvaiKa -rropVT^v, icai /xeWot Kal 
 jitoixa^'Sa, o'uTw tu yfvvT]Q^vTa ivaiZia -npoaayop^vdrivai iKsAeuae, 
 Thu ix(u oil AaoV, rrju Se ovk riyairr]iJ.€U7]u, rd avij-^Tjaoj-Liua, 'IcvSaiois 
 irpoAeycov, dAA.' o/j-ws irdAiv viretTX^TO avTo7s XP77C'ra, on kul ov Xahs 
 K\r]6-T]cr€rai \a6s, /cai rj qui: ■r]yain]ixiv7], ijyaTnqu^vr]. o-KorrriaaTi 
 Toivvv, <Pt}(t\v, oTi Ka\ vixi7s OVK Ocl rwv avrwv dTreAauo-are* aWa. 
 ■norl fMiV Aao'y, irore Se ou Xads, Koi ttolKiu (xkv expTyyUaTiVare koX 
 TTOTe (jikv r)7a7r7jju.ei'7j, elro ovk riyaiTr),u4vr], koI ttolXiv riyaTrrjpiivT]. 
 ovdeu roivvv anfiKos ov5e iirl rov mapouTos ysyeurjrai. (Tvuridcas 
 yap a.ne^\7]6r]T€' aA\o Kav iraKiv 6i\i)ar]Te. /cat yap to, 'iQvri ov 
 \aos uures, vvu Aobs xP^M^T^^ei. (Opera, ed. Schulze, torn. iii. p. 
 1U8.) Chrysostom is to tlae same effect. 
 O 
 
194 ROMANS. 
 
 powerfully, because it is said so expressly of Gentiles 
 who never enjoyed the title of the people of God, if 
 scripture is to rule our thoughts. There is thns a 
 propriety in the new title which suits the actual state of 
 things, rather than the millennial day and the relation- 
 ship of restored Israel ; and this too pre-eminently 
 fitting in with the call of Gentiles, who, if by the Holy 
 Spirit made willing to take the place of dogs, find '' the 
 crumbs" richer fare than those ever tasted who once 
 were free of the Master's table. 
 
 The apostle now goes a step farther. He had shewn 
 from Hosea the grace which will reverse the solemn 
 sentence of displeasure pronounced on the Jew in view 
 of the captivity in Babylon, as well as the rich mercy 
 for the Gentile to which the gospel lends so bright a 
 light. He cites Isaiah x. for God's ways with His 
 people in view of the Assyrian. " Esaias also crieth 
 concerning Israel, Though the number of the sons of 
 Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be 
 saved : for [he is] completing [the] matter and cutting 
 short in righteousness, because a matter cut short will 
 [the] Lord make on the earth." The prophet looks 
 onward to the close of the sorrowful history of the 
 chosen people, when the Assyrian, whom God first 
 employed as the rod of His anger, will no longer be a 
 just object of dread, and those who used to stay them- 
 selves on a staff which smote them, or even on that 
 broken reed, Egypt, shall stay themselves on Jehovah 
 the Holy One of Israel in truth. It is the great crisis 
 of prophecy, the end of the Lord with His people who 
 prove Him to be very pitiful and of tender mercy, 
 whatever the rough roads and stormy skies meanwhile, j 
 Israel may have been ever so numerous; yet not the M 
 mass but the remnant shall be saved. For He is ■ 
 finishing and cutting short the matter in righteous- 
 ness. It will be no question then of patient mercy, 
 but a matter cut short will the Lord make on the earth 
 or land. And this is not the only testimony of the 
 
CHAPTER IX. 195 
 
 kind : from the beginning we read to the same effect. 
 ** And as Esaias hath said before, Unless [the] Lord of 
 Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and 
 been made like as Goraorrha." Because He was 
 •dealing in righteousness with Israel, they should be 
 cut down to the uttermost; because He was faithful to 
 the mercy promised, His gracious power would hinder 
 such a total extermination as befell the guilty cities of 
 the plain. The remnant should be saved, a seed for 
 sowing the earth afresh, when they shall no more be 
 pulled up out of their land which Jehovah their God 
 has given them. Great then shall be the day of 
 Jezreel, when Jehovah will hear the heavens, and they 
 «hall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn 
 -and the wine and the oil ; and they shall hear Jezreel. 
 Ere it comes judgment must take its course; but in 
 the end mercy glories over judgment, and the remnant, 
 saved by grace, by grace is made a strong nation. 
 
 Plainly however, as the prophets lacked not the 
 assurance of mercy to the Gentiles, so they still more 
 abounded in warnings of judgment on Israel. This 
 then was not the new testimony of grace which the 
 Jews so keenly resented as interfering with their 
 -ancient privileges. Let them beware of fighting 
 against God who had taught both these truths in the 
 living oracles specially entrusted to themselves, and 
 their boast, though certainly but little understood. If 
 they therefore quarreled with such a sentence, it was 
 •evidently not so much with Paul as with Isaiah and 
 the Holy Spirit who had inspired him. 
 
 What a witness on the other hand of divine truth, of 
 indiscriminate grace, that the gospel, in itself unprece- 
 dented and wholly distinct both from what was seen 
 under the law and what will be when the kingdom 
 rappears in power and glory, does nevertheless find its 
 justification from words both of mercy and of judgment 
 uttered hundreds of years before by the various ser- 
 vants God sent to declare His message to His people ! 
 
196 ROMANS. 
 
 But as they blindly despised them and rejected His 
 word then for idols, so now they fulfilled them yet 
 more in the rejection of Christ and hatred of the grace 
 which, refused by them, sought and was received by 
 Gentiles, and thus yet more proved the word divine to 
 the confusion of the unbelief which is as blind as it is 
 proud and selfish. 
 
 Thus the case on both sides has been set out with the 
 clearest testimonies of the prophets. It only remains 
 to draw the conclusions so far. 
 
 " What then shall we say ? That Gentiles that 
 pursued not righteousness attained righteousness, yea» 
 righteousness that is of faith ; but Israel, pursuing a 
 law of righteousness, arrived not at a law of righteous- 
 ness." (Ver. 30, 31.) Such precisely had been the 
 bearing of the living oracles to which the Jews justly 
 pointed as their peculiar treasure from God; yet these 
 oracles declared unequivocally what was borne out by 
 the actual facts. The Jews were completely broken as 
 a nation. They had enjoyed the most singular favours: 
 how was it now ? Why their disruption ? Why the 
 carrying away to Babylon? why their subjection with- 
 out so much as the shadow of a king of their own to 
 the iron dominion of Rome? I speak not, it was use- 
 less to speak to them, of still worse impending. If 
 they neglected the words of Isaiah, if they sought not 
 into the visions of Daniel, it was vain to expect that 
 they would heed the warnings of the Lord Jesus. But 
 their owm prophets amply sufficed to interpret the 
 actual state around them and to prove that Jewish re- 
 belliousness to God was as certainly revealed before- 
 hand as Gentile acceptance of His mercy ; and these are 
 precisely the great and invariable characteristics of the 
 time that now is, which Christianity supposes and 
 Judaism denies. In the Gentiles grace is displayed 
 and triumphs ; by the Jews it is for the present re/used 
 and calumniated. Yet does all this only accomplish the 
 
CHAPTER IX. 197 
 
 f)rophecies every Jew owns as divine. That Gentiles, 
 spite of their dark ignorance, their utter indifference to 
 God, should be brought to the right way, not of law 
 indeed (the Jews need not be jealous of that) hut 
 righteousness on the principle of faith, righteousness 
 outside themselves, by the grace of God through the 
 redemption that is in Christ Jesus, so that it might be 
 through faith; that Israel, zealously in quest of a 
 law of righteousness, had not reached it, was not more 
 patent, if the gospel be true, than if the ancient pro- 
 phets be accom[)lished. 
 
 The moral ground also is as plain as the word of 
 God. For the pretension of man to take his stand 
 before God on his own obedience of law is refuted; as 
 on the other hand grace avowedly goes out to the basest 
 and most careless, giving and forming what is good, as 
 well as putting away the evil to the praise of divine 
 mercy, but withal righteously; yet it is no righteousness 
 of law, but rather of faith, so as to be open to those who 
 knew not the law, as w-ell as to such of Israel as were 
 broken down as to self and taught of God to receive 
 only of His grace in Christ. Thus God has glorified 
 Himself as truly as He has convicted the first man of 
 entire hoUowness and constant failure. 
 
 Israel then has not come to a law of righteousness. 
 ■*' Wherefore ?" As it was through no lack of privileges 
 from God, so it was from no want of their own efforts 
 in pursuing after it. But they pursued wrongly. They 
 overlooked, as unbelief ever does, both God and them- 
 selves; alike what is due to His majesty, what neces- 
 sarily flows from His nature; and again, what sin has 
 wrought in the moral ruin and incapacity as well as guilt 
 of man : in short, '* because [it was] not of faith but as 
 of works.* They stumbled at the stone of stumbling, 
 
 • There is excellent evidence to shew that vSfiov and ttSs have 
 (been inserted by the copyists to add force, clearness, or symmetry to 
 the apostle's citations from Isaiah. But there is nothing so good as 
 the divine word as He gave it. 
 
198 ROMANS. 
 
 even as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stone of 
 stumbling, and a rock of offence; and* he that be- 
 lieveth on him shall not be ashamed." (Ver. 32, 33.) 
 
 Sinful man understands duty to obey with a com- 
 mensurate reward annexed to success; and he is ever 
 slow to conceive his own failure and inability to meet 
 the just requirements of God. The last thing he likes 
 to do is to take all the blame of his evil on himself^ 
 unless it be to accredit the God he has wronged with 
 real and perfect goodness toward himself in spite of his 
 wrong against Him. But of all men the Jews were 
 the least disposed to it and the most obstinate in their 
 own thoughts. For why, reasoned they, should we 
 have the law of God if it be not to attain acceptance 
 with God by our faithful observance of its precepts ? 
 Where else is its value and its use ? Error fatal to 
 the ancient people, how much more in Christendom, 
 where the gospel tells the wreck of Israel on this very 
 rock of offence, that men who hear and bear the name 
 of the Lord should not repeat it to their own yet 
 surer destruction ! 
 
 Unbelief of grace, self-righteousness, is far more 
 inexcusable now than of old. For Christ the Son of 
 God is come and has accomplished redemption ; and the 
 glad tidings God sends forth on the express ground of 
 universal ruin in man that he may thankfully receive 
 another, even Jesus, and rest on His work before God 
 with peace and joy in believing. But men, baptized 
 men, stumble still, as Israel stumbled, at the stone of 
 stumbling, the Lord Jesus. If they felt their own 
 real state, how would they not bless God for such a 
 Saviour ! But they were proud, and blind withal. 
 They were satisfied with their own obedience, at any 
 rate with their own efforts. They stumbled at the 
 stumbling-stone; but the same Christ delivers the 
 believer from hurt, from shame, from confusion. He 
 
 * Copyists probably added ttus from chapter x. 11. 
 
CHAPTER X. 199^ 
 
 was set, as Simeon said to Mary, for the fall and rising 
 again of many in Israel and for a sign to be spoken 
 against, so that the thoughts of many hearts might be 
 revealed: no otherwise said Isaiah. (Chap, xxviii. 16.) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The connection of the opening verses of chapter x. 
 with chapter ix. is full of instruction for the soul. To 
 many a mind it may seem illogical; but this is only the 
 narrowness and infirmity of man who is apt to reason 
 from himself, not from the truth. God's revelation 
 affords the only sure basis ; for He alone sees all sides 
 of every object, He alone imparts the suitable affectioi^ 
 and enables one to form the sound judgment. 
 
 So here the apostle had refuted Jewish assumption 
 of inalienable privilege necessarily bound up with every 
 member of the Abrahamic family, and proved, on the 
 contrary, their ruin and indebtedness to the sovereign 
 mercy of God. Again, he had opened out with irresis- 
 tible force and clearness the Old Testament scriptures, 
 which declare that God would call Gentiles in His 
 grace, yea, that the mass of Israel should perish for 
 their rebellious unbelief and a remnant only be saved, 
 namely, whoever believed on Christ the stumbling-stone, 
 who therefore is in principle as free to the Gentile as to 
 the Jew. But this amazingly comprehensive and con- 
 nected sketch of the revealed ways and certain counsels 
 of God as to man on the earth did not at all interfere 
 with his ardent love for Israel. Men often pervert a 
 scanty portion of such knowledge to shut up their 
 bowels of compassion from those who are to blame and 
 under God's peculiar chastening. But it was not so 
 
200 BOMANS. 
 
 with the apostle: ** Brethren, the delight* of my heart 
 and the supplication toward God for them [is] for salva- 
 tion." The substitution of " them" for '* Israel," re- 
 quired by the more ancient and better authorities, 
 appears to me really stronger as being more expressive 
 of affection than the common text. It was needless to 
 define more clearly for whose blessing he was so earn- 
 estly interested, and this the more because of their 
 great danger. The threatenings in the prophecies 
 verified in Israel's deepening unbelief drew out his strong 
 crying to God on their behalf, and this for salvation. 
 For what short of it could satisfy a heart that loved 
 them ? To say that " internal as well as external evi- 
 dence is against" avTwv and for -rov 'laparjX proves 
 nothing but the unfitness of him who could so speak 
 to judge of questions which demand not learning only 
 but critical acumen and spiritual discrimination. 
 
 " For I bear them witness that they have zeal for 
 God, but not according to knowledge." " Zeal of God" 
 is an objectionable rendering, like " faith of the Son 
 of God" in Galatians ii. 20. The Greek genitive is far 
 more comprehensive than the English possessive case, 
 and admits of an objective force as readily as a sub- 
 jective. " The love of God" in that tongue equally 
 means God's love to ns or ours to Him: the context 
 alone decides. Here there can be no question of the 
 intended force. The Jews were zealous for God but 
 not according to right or true knowledge (kut eTrir^fvivaiv). 
 This filled the apostle's heart with so much the more 
 affectionate care; for their zeal carried them the farther 
 in the wrong direction, as ever must be in divine things 
 where faith does not regulate according to the revealed 
 mind of God. 
 
 " For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God 
 and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not 
 
 * The word ^hhoKia means benevolent wiih, or good will, where 
 it goes beyond complacency and good pleasure. Compare the usage 
 of the verb €u5okcw. It is more than iviOvfiia or iTTnr6dri(rLi. 
 
CHAPTER X. 201 
 
 been subjected [or submitted themselves] to the right- 
 eousness of God." No doubt, these self-righteous 
 Jews were not justified before God. Bat the apostle goes 
 farther, as indeed the principle goes deeper. They 
 ignored the righteousness of God, not merely the doc- 
 trine of justification, though this of course follows. 
 But they were ignorant of God's righteousness revealed 
 in the gospel. Man's merits composed the basis of their 
 hopes, eked out by divine promises, by priesthood, rites, 
 and observances. Messiah Himself was regarded as 
 the crown and complement of their privileges, not as a 
 suffering substitute and a Saviour in the power of His 
 resurrection after having borne their judgment on the 
 tree. Hence they could only see an arbitrary choice 
 backed up by their own confidence in their superior 
 claims and deserts, but no ground of righteousness on 
 God's part such as the Christian knows there is by 
 virtue of the redemption thai is in Christ Jesus; no 
 thought of God as through atonement just and justi- 
 fying him that believes in Jesus. The grace of the 
 Saviour by His work enables God to act righteously 
 in accounting just ns who believe, while it humbles us 
 who own the truth of our utter sinfulness instead of 
 leaving us to gratify self by setting up a righteousness 
 of our own and hence keepiftg us from submitting to 
 His righteousness in Christ as the sole ground of justifi- 
 cation before Him. 
 
 Verse 4 has given rise to very various opinions. One 
 which has prevailed from ancient times and perhaps 
 still more among moderns, is that Christ is the accom- 
 plishment of the law. But there seems no ground what- 
 ever to confound Te\o? with irXypivfia. Others again 
 take it in the sense of " object" or " aim." But the 
 simplest meaning as decided by the context appears to 
 be '' termination," though we know it is also used for 
 *^ issue" or " result." And in this meaning the repre- 
 sentatives of the most various systems coincide : 
 Augustine and Luther on the one hand; Meyer, De 
 
202 ROMANS. 
 
 Wette, &c., on the other. *' Christ is [the] end of law 
 for righteousness to every one that believeth." The- 
 Christ of God is made unto us righteousness. " By 
 law is knowledge of sin." Righteousness cannot be 
 had thus; only the believer is justified. Yet so sure is- 
 this result, that it belongs to every believer. 
 
 The apostle then contrasts the two systems and this 
 by citations from the law itself. " For Moses describ- 
 eth the righteousness that is of the law, that the maa 
 that has done the things shall live in virtue of them. 
 But the righteousness that is by faith thus speaks, Say 
 not in thy heart, Who shall go up to heaven ? that is, 
 to bring Christ down, or, Who shall go down into the 
 abyss ? that is, to bring up Christ from among dead 
 (men). But what saith it ? Near thee is the word, 
 in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of 
 faith which we preach, that if thou confess with thy 
 mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thy heart that 
 God raised him from among dead (men), thou shalt be 
 saved." (Vers. 5 — 9.) Faith applies when all is lost 
 under law and its righteousness is impossible. 
 
 First then is quoted Leviticus xviii. 5, which is 
 indeed a general recognized principle of the law, as the 
 spirit is embodied in many passages. The ground of 
 the other side is found in Deuteronomy xxx. I do not 
 agree with those who conceive that the apostle has put 
 the smallest strain upon the latter citation. As in the 
 former he speaks of life or living, not of eternal life 
 which is God's free gift and only in Christ ; so in the 
 latter his use of Deuteronomy is most profound. Moses 
 is setting before Israel, not only the consequences of 
 their unfaithfulness, but the divine mercy which meets 
 them in their ruin when their heart turns to Him spite 
 of the broken law. Now Christ really lies under the 
 law however veiled. " The Lord is that spirit," where 
 those who read only the letter see nothing of Him 
 and abide in death. But He is ever before the Holy 
 Ghost. Hence the righteousness of faith did not cast 
 
CHAPTER X. 20S 
 
 the repentant Jew upon his own efforts, let them be 
 ever so great. 
 
 " Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend to hea- 
 ven? that is, to bring Christ down, or. Who shall 
 descend into the abyss? that is, to bring up Christ from 
 among dead (men)." Man could do neither. Had it 
 been possible, neither would have suited the glory of 
 God. He in grace meets man. It was the Father who- 
 sent His Son into the world. It was by the glory of 
 the Father that He was raised from the dead. " God so 
 loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son;" 
 and God raised Him from the dead. On both truths- 
 the scriptures of the New Testament are most explicit. 
 But what says Moses in this very passage here cited? 
 " Near thee is the word, in thy mouth and in thy 
 heart." The blessing is at the doors. Christ is given- 
 and preached. It is for man to name Him with his 
 mouth and to believe with his heart. There is no ques- 
 tion of heights to be scaled or depths to be soundedy. 
 which W'Ould put honour upon human earnestness and 
 ability. Christ is proclaimed for the simplest to con- 
 fess Him, and to believe on His name. " That is, the- 
 word of faith which ^ve preach, that if thou shalt con- 
 fess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thy 
 heart that God raised him from among dead (men), thou 
 shalt be saved." The outward expression is put firsts 
 not of course as most important, but as that which 
 first comes into notice to the praise of Jesus: neverthe- 
 less it is of no value for the soul save as the embodi- 
 ment of faith. " In thy heart" does not seem to be 
 meant as a measure of afiection, however truly there 
 ought to be love for Him who first loved us. It does- 
 suppose however that the heart is interested in the 
 truth, and that it is brought to desire what it hears to be 
 true, instead of any longer fighting against it — brought 
 to rejoice in the conviction that it is the tmth of God. 
 
 Hence, believing in thy heart as well as confess- 
 ing with thy mouth, the blessing is thine. If thou 
 
204 ROMANS. 
 
 shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe 
 in thy heart that God raised Him from among the 
 dead, thou shalt be saved. It will be observed that 
 there is here no mention of death, but of resurrection. 
 Death does not of itself imply resurrection; but resur- 
 rection does necessarily involve death. Jesus then is 
 •confessed to be Lord : why fear, why be anxious, if He 
 who has undertaken to save is above all ? You believe 
 in your heart that God raised Him from among the dead. 
 It is not only then that love came down to meet you and 
 suffer for you, but power has entered, where Jesus was 
 crucified in weakness. God entered the grave of Jesus 
 in power and waked Him up — has raised Him and 
 given Him glory, that our faith and hope might be, not 
 in Christ only, but in God. He is for thee. He has 
 proved it in raising up Jesus from among the dead. 
 *' Thou shalt be saved," — not forgiven only — but 
 *' saved." " If when we were enemies, we were reconciled 
 to God by the death of his Son ; much more, having 
 been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." 
 
 Thus we see in Deuteronomy, when the legislator has 
 ■closed all the precepts and rites of the law, and shewn 
 Israel rebellious and ruined under that order of things, 
 he does not fail to hint at the resources of grace. He 
 supposes the Jew cast out of the land because of his in- 
 fidelity to the legal covenant and of course to God Him- 
 self. Nevertheless though he could not draw near after 
 that manner, the word was nigh him, in his mouth and in 
 his heart. This is the word, says the apostle, which 
 we preach. It is Christ, end of law to every one that 
 believes. So it will be at the close of the age for the 
 godly Israelite, who from his land of exile turns to God 
 in the sense and acknowlcdgtnent of the people's ruin. 
 If unbelievers were hopeless because they could not go up 
 to Jerusalem, or cross the deep, for tithes or feasts or 
 sacrifices, faith accepted the word which met their need 
 in grace where they were. Christ ended law, yet was 
 righteousness for the believer, and for every believer. It 
 
CHAPTER X. 205 
 
 is too late to speak of living Avhen the law is broken and 
 you are banished in consequence under the sentence of 
 death. Christ then is the one spring of confidence ; 
 but if for righteousness, He also closes law to every be- 
 liever. The word of faith speaks a wholly differeni 
 language from that of the law. Confessing Jesus as 
 Lord (or the Lord Jesus) and believing that God raised 
 Him from the dead is the word of faith ; and it is not 
 received only but preached. God is energetic in His 
 grace and sends out the message far and wide. 
 
 Thus there is the very reverse of looseness or a merely 
 imaginative ingenuity in the apostle's employment of 
 the Pentateuch. The gospel anticipates indeed but is 
 on the same principle of grace towards all which Deu- 
 teronomy XXX. 11 — 14 holds out to the outcast Jew. 
 For, according to the outward letter and man, their case 
 will be seen to be hopeless. But with God all things 
 are possible; and faith rests on God, who brings out in 
 due time what was then among the secret things that 
 belong to Him, in contradistinction to His revealed 
 ways in the law. In Christ now revealed all is plain; 
 and the Christian does not wait for a future day. To 
 him it is indeed always the time of the end; and he 
 looks for Jesus day by day, knowing that He is 
 ready to judge the quick and the dead, and that 
 God is not slack concerning His promise as some men 
 count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not 
 willing that any should perish but that all should come 
 to repentance. The repentant Jew in the latter day 
 will by and by be awakened to recognize the reality of 
 His grace tow\irds him ; and he will find the word very 
 nigh him, in his mouth and in his heart, ashamed alike of 
 his sins and of his self-righteousness, broken in spirit and 
 looking to God and to the resources of His mercy. So 
 does the soul that receives the apostolic preaching now. 
 
 He had used the order of mouth and heart as in the 
 original words of Moses. And so in fact it is that the 
 gospel goes forth and exhorts men. We hear the con- 
 
206 ROMANS. 
 
 fession of the moutli and trust the belief of the heart 
 accordingly. But it is plain that the inner reception 
 of the word must precede and accompany the outer 
 expression of it in order to a true and full work in a 
 man. The apostle knew this better than any of us, and 
 lets us hear it in his next words: "for with [the] heart 
 faith is exercised* unto righteousness, and with [the] 
 mouth confession is made unto salvation." Thus the 
 •whole case is accurately stated, every objection antici- 
 pated and met. Without believing there can be no 
 righteousness. We are justified by faith and in no 
 other way. But if there be no confession of Christ 
 the Lord with the mouth, we cannot speak of salvation; 
 as our Lord said, " He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved; but he that believeth not [baptized even 
 though he might have been] shall be damned." 
 
 " For the scripture saith, No one believing on him 
 shall be ashamed." (Ver. 11.) Assuredly he whom 
 God justifies can have no reason to be ashamed, but 
 rather to be always confident and to rejoice in the Lord 
 always. And here the apostle triumphs in the indis- 
 criminate favour of the gospel. As before in chapter 
 iii. 23 he had insisted that there is no difference, for all 
 sinned and do come short of the glory of God; so now 
 there is none, " for the same Lord of all [is] rich to- 
 ward all that call upon him," And this he fortifies by 
 a citation from Joel ii. 32 ; " for every one soever who 
 shall call on the name of [the] Lord shall be saved." 
 There he stops. On the great future day all Israel 
 shall be saved; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem 
 shall be deliverance, as Jehovah has said, and in the 
 remnant whom Jehovah shall call. Meanwhile the 
 Spirit avails Himself of His own comprehensive pro- 
 mises preceding the clause which specifies that localized 
 blessing and gives all possible breadth to the " whoso- 
 ever " so dear to the large heart of the apostle of the 
 
 * Literallv, the verse runs, "it is believed . . . and it is confessed. . ." 
 
CHAPTER X. 207 
 
 Gentiles; He had indeed foreseen and provided for all. 
 And it is as beautiful to hear the apostle using the part 
 which falls in with his broad argument as it is to know 
 what comfort the special promise in the entire verse 
 will bring to the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the day 
 that is coming. 
 
 But this predicted opening the door so widely to all 
 that call on the name of the Lord gives rise to a new 
 development of the argument. As the Gentiles did not 
 call on the name of Jehovah, a fresh instrumentality 
 begins to appear with a view to awakening them from 
 the dust of death and furnishing such a testimony as 
 should draw out their hearts toward Him. It will be 
 needed by the Israelites scattered up and down the 
 •earth among the Gentiles when their hour of national 
 restoration draws nigh ; but the Spirit applies it here, 
 as He doubtless intended it, with admirable foresight to 
 the Gentiles meanwhile. They must be called by the 
 gospel in order to call on the name of the Lord for 
 salvation. Preaching is thus eminently characteristic 
 of the ways of God not under law, but since redemption. 
 For " how shall they call upon him in whom they have 
 not believed ? and how shall they believe on him of 
 whom they have not heard ? and how shall they hear 
 without one preaching ? and how shall they preach un- 
 less they shall have been sent? According as it is 
 written, How beautiful the feet of those that announce 
 glad tidings of peace, that announce glad tidings of 
 good things!" 
 
 The law did not call any one. It regulated the 
 ways of the people to whom it was given; and hence 
 with it was bound up a priesthood which transacted their 
 spiritual business with God, drawing near to Him in the 
 sanctuary and representing the people there, with both 
 gifts and sacrifices for sins. Bat the gospel supposes a 
 wholly different state of things, in which the grace of 
 God acts energetically, giving and producing what is 
 according to Himself, on the proved ruin not merely of 
 
208 K0MAN8. 
 
 the Gentiles but of the Jews in the rejection of their 
 own Messiah. Hence it goes out freely toward all, 
 not merely to the Jews but to the Gentiles; and if these 
 were the more necessitous, to thera the more emphati- 
 cally. Was the guilt, was the ruin, indiscriminate T 
 So is His mercy ; and the gospel is the witness which 
 calls souls, not to do their duty as the tenure of life^ 
 but to believe in the Lord Jesus whom God raised from 
 the dead, to believe for righteousness and to confess for 
 salvation. Thus it becomes a question not of the law;, 
 for on this score a Jew was himself condemned and the 
 Gentiles knew nothing of it, and, if they did, could 
 find in it no better hope than the Jews. For salvation 
 is what a lost sinner wants; and as God's word demon- 
 strates such a condition to be that of His own people^ 
 and salvation therefore to be their true want, so 
 not even a Jew could deny the Gentiles to be lost sin- 
 ners in the fullest sense. Would they then deny the 
 Lord to be the Lord of any or of all? Would they 
 affirm that He was poor, that He was not rich enough 
 to meet the most deplorable need of all who should 
 call upon Him ? They might spare themselves the 
 trouble of solving a question perhaps too knotty for 
 Rabbis: God had decided it Himself long ago as Israel 
 was sliding faster and deeper into the fulness of revolt 
 from Jehovah. He had associated deliverance with 
 calling upon His name; not with observance of law^ 
 which in fact those who had it had broken; and He 
 had proclaimed it in terms so large as to encourage and 
 warrant any one whatever. Consequently then the 
 dealings of grace imply a testimony to be heard and be- 
 lieved by all that call upon His name; and this again^ 
 one to preach or proclaim it duly sent of God. 
 
 The cheering announcement of Isaiah lii. 7 is the 
 authority here cited; but here again we may observe the 
 wisdom of the citation. The apostle does not quote the 
 latter clause of the verse "that publisheth salvation; 
 that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth !" For in 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 209 
 
 truth, according to the just sense of prophecy, the very 
 reverse appears from that day to this. The days of 
 vengeance were at hand for that Christ-rejecting gene- 
 ration, not of salvation for the holy city. And Jeru- 
 salem is still trodden down of the Gentiles until the 
 times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. But assuredly the 
 joyful tidings must come, for the mouth of Jehovah 
 has spoken it; and then how beautiful, yea, on the 
 mountains (which the apostle did not cite) the feet of 
 him that publishes glad tidings of peace, that tells glad 
 tidings of good things, that publishes salvation, saying 
 to Zion, Thy God reigneth! No dust will make their 
 very feet otherwise than beautiful because of the good 
 news they bear. It is not as in Nahum the fall of 
 Nineveh, nor yet of Babylon, for Babylon, as punisher 
 or punished, is heard of no more after Isaiah xlviii. 
 We have from Isaiah xlix. — Ivii. entered the still more 
 solemn charge which the prophet lays in Jehovah's 
 name against His people, not for idol worship but for 
 the rejection of the Messiah. Yet here we have the 
 glad tidings of His pardoning and delivering mercy 
 after reaching the lowest depths of rebellion. The 
 apostle shews that in this as in so many other respects 
 the gospel anticipates what repentant and restored Israel 
 will receive from God in the latter day, (and may we 
 not add ?) in if possible a deeper form of the truth. 
 For grace, as we know it in Christ (even beyond 
 earthly glory itself, let it be ever so pure as in that 
 day), gives the deepest motives to the earnest spread of 
 the good news: and who so fit to apply the prophecy 
 thus as that indefatigable minister of the gospel, 
 through whom mainly the gospel was even then present 
 in all the world, and bearing fruit and making growth, 
 as we learn in Colossians i. ? 
 
 No; the watchmen of Jerusalem cannot yet raise 
 
 their voice nor sing together; for Jerusalem is still in 
 
 the hands of the cruel foe, and the hearts of the Jews 
 
 are still under a tyrant more deadly still; but eye to 
 
 p 
 
210 ROMANS. 
 
 eye shall they see when Jehovah restores Zion, and 
 the waste places of Jerusalem shall burst out and sing 
 together after ages of desolation; for Jehovah will at 
 length have comforted His people and redeemed Jeru- 
 salem when He makes bare His holy arm before all the 
 nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the 
 salvation of their God. But the grace of God is not 
 idle nor inefficient. Zion remains in the hands of the 
 stranger because Zion's sons received not their divine 
 King, but slew Him on the tree by the hands of 
 lawless heathens who could be swayed by them and 
 join them in that fatal deed, out of which God has 
 caused to shine the richest mercy for both, if they but 
 heed His message. Hence He is sending out His gos- 
 pel (as this epistle styles it), as Paul also had received 
 grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all 
 the nations in behalf of Christ's name. 
 
 We see clearly too in this how the ministering of 
 the preacher is tied to the gospel itself. How debas- 
 ing as well as groundless to foist in man here as if he 
 must be the sender, where the whole scope is to make 
 nothing of him and to glorify God in all things by 
 Jesus Christ our Lord ! In no part of scripture is 
 man said to send out the preacher: God keeps this 
 prerogative in His own hands. Hence, said our Lord 
 here below to the disciples, " The harvest truly is 
 plenteous, but the labourers few : pray ye therefore the 
 Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers 
 into his harvest. And when he had called unto him 
 his twelve disciples, he gave them power against un- 
 clean spirits, &c. These twelve Jesus sent out." He 
 was man, and could pray and bid His disciples pray ; but 
 He was God, Emmanuel, Jehovah, Messiah; and so as 
 Lord of the harvest He could and did answer the prayer 
 by constituting the twelve His apostles and sending 
 them forth on their mission. And if once dead, He is 
 risen and alive again for evermore, and still He from on 
 high has given gifts to men. Believe not the enemy's 
 
CHAPTER X. 211 
 
 lie that, because He is unseen, He has abdicated His 
 headship or abandoned for one moment His loving care 
 in supplying all that is needful for the perfecting of 
 the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify- 
 ing of the body of Christ. Others who intrude into His 
 place of sending out ministers of the gospel are but 
 usurpers ; and those who submit to be so sent are 
 consenting parties (and for what ?) to their Lord's dis- 
 honour. His will. His word, is plain enough : all that 
 is wanted is an eye in us single to Christ. We shall 
 then see clearly how deeply all this concerns His name, 
 even if it cost us everything in this world. Doubtless 
 the gospel comes through men, however truly sent from 
 above men : only it is not for a man, or for any number 
 of men, to arrogate the Lord's rights, who entrusts to 
 His own servants His goods, to one five talents (to 
 another two, to another one, to each according to his 
 several ability); and who on His coming will reckon 
 with those servants. Such is the doctrine of the 
 ■divine word as set out dogmatically in the epistles and 
 maintained even in the parables of the Saviour. How 
 false is the practice of Christendom ; and how hollow 
 the evasions or apologies (they cannot be fairly called 
 interpretations) of theologians ! Why sell themselves 
 to do this evil ? Are they blind to results plain before 
 all other eyes? Do they heed not the warnings in the 
 unerring word of God of still worse ills at hand ? 
 
 Thus prophecy speaks, not of a law to be done or of 
 ordinances to be kept, but of a testimony in which God 
 has complacency as being of His own grace, and so a 
 matter of faith. Even the Jew who had the law could 
 only be blessed by the good news. The law had 
 wrought ruin and condemnation and death for no fault of 
 its own, but of Israel who had broken it and fallen under 
 its curse. Good can only come by grace through a testi- 
 mony sent them from God. But the prophet adds more 
 in the following chapter, the solemn witness of unbelief 
 -even among the Jews. " But they did not all obey 
 
212 ROMANS. 
 
 the glad tidings. For Esaias saith, Lord, who believed 
 our report? So then faith [is] of report, and the report 
 through God's word."* (Ver. 16, 17.) Israel too, it is 
 here shewn, was to be in part at least unbelieving, if 
 the prophet is to be credited ; for the apostle abounds in 
 testimonies from the Old Testament to make good his 
 solemn charge against the rebellious people of God, and 
 vindicate hence the going forth of the good news to the 
 Gentiles. It was not merely Paul but their most illus- 
 trious prophet long ago who gave this appalling picture 
 of Jewish unbelief. But being a question of a testi- 
 mony sent out to be heard and believed, the way was- 
 open to reach the Gentiles who had not the law. 
 
 " But I say. Did they not hear ? Yes indeed. Their 
 voice went out into all the earth, and their words unto 
 the ends of the world" {oiKovixcvq^, the habitable earth). 
 The apostle quotes from Psalm xix. a striking and 
 most apt illustration of the universality of God's 
 testimony. For we readily see that the psalm divides 
 into two parts, the works of God and the law of Jeho- 
 vah alike testifying, one outward and universal, the 
 other dealing with those who possessed it. The heavens 
 belonged to no land in particular, nor do the sun and 
 stars shine for Israel alone. They are for man in 
 the earth at large according to the beneificence of 
 Him whose rain falls on just and unjust, and whose 
 sun is made to rise on evil men and on good. Just 
 so, whatever the circumscribed sphere of the law, 
 the gospel goes forth in the grace of God without 
 restriction. God is not indifferent, if the Jews were, 
 to the Gentiles ; He pities and has given a testimony to 
 them in their dark ignorance. Compare Acts xiv. 17 ; 
 Romans i. 20. This however is general, though enough 
 to assert and exemplify the principle. 
 
 The good tidings then came by a testimony sent of 
 God through those who preached, not by the law which 
 
 * K B C D E, with some cursives, versions, and fathers, read 
 Xpiarov " Christ's" for " God's;" F G, &c. omit either. 
 
CHAPTER X. 213 
 
 could only sliew the Jew his duty and convict him of 
 ein because of his failure under it. The only hope of 
 good therefore for a sinner is from the gospel; but, if 
 so, it goes out not to some only but to all mankind. 
 And as Isaiah proved that the message would be 
 slighted by the Jews (they that preached having to 
 complain to the Lord, " Who hath believed our report?"), 
 so the Psalms bear witness to a universal testimony of 
 Ood in creation as illustrative of the principle that He 
 thinks of and cares for, and would be known by, the 
 Oentiles. Granted that the law dealt with Israel, has 
 God nothing but the law ? And what had the law done 
 for them? or rather what had they done under it? 
 " By the law is the knowledge of sin." This is whole- 
 some no doubt, and should be humbling; but what a 
 sinner evidently wants is far more that this, even 
 salvation, and to this the law does not pretend, but the 
 contrary. It can kill, not quicken; it can condemn, not 
 justify. Grace alone can pardon, reconcile, bless, and 
 this righteously through the redemption that is in 
 Christ Jesus. But this is the voice of the gospel, not of 
 the law, and goes out, as being grace, to sinners indis- 
 criminately, be they Gentiles or Jews matters little or 
 nothing. They are needy, guilty, lost ; and God is saving 
 such by the faith of Jesus proclaimed in the gospel, 
 which goes out accordingly to all the world, being in 
 no way tied to the land of Palestine or any other. 
 
 It was in vain again for the Jews to allege that this 
 was a dealing without warning on God's part. He had 
 not kept it so absolutely a secret that they should not 
 have been apprised by His word in their hands. " But 
 I say, Did Israel not know ? First, Moses saith, I 
 will provoke you to jealousy through [that which is] 
 not a nation, through a nation without understanding 
 I will anger you. But Esaias is very bold and saith, 
 I was found by those that sought me not; I became 
 manifest to those that inquired not after me. But to 
 Israel he saith, All the day long I spread out my hands 
 
214 ROMANS. 
 
 to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Thus not 
 only is the general principle illustrated from the 
 psalms, but the lawgiver is himself summoned to 
 give his ancient testimony to the future intention of 
 God in provoking the Jews to jealousy on the occasion 
 of His ways with those who were not a nation, or a 
 foolish nation — an evident allusion to His mercy to the 
 Gentiles, not abandoning His people, but provoking 
 them to jealousy, and in fact drawing out their irrita- 
 tion. Still more explicit is the greatest of the pro- 
 phets, who says outright that God should be found by 
 those who were not seeking Him, and make Himself 
 manifest to those who did not ask after Him — a de- 
 scription certainly anticipative of His call of the 
 Gentiles ; the more suitable because in the same context 
 He says to Israel that He spread out His hands all the 
 day long to a people disobedient and contradicting. 
 
 A Jew would not deny the law, the psalms, and the 
 prophets ; no honest mind could dispute the interpreta- 
 tion. The application is incontestable. From the 
 beginning, in their greatest prosperity, and when their 
 ruin was predicted formally and fully, such was the 
 uniform declaration of the Holy Spirit. They should 
 not have been ignorant. God had taken care to testify 
 the unbelieving obduracy of Israel and the calling in of 
 Gentiles. These find God under that gospel against 
 which the Jews more than ever rage and rebel. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 It was the prophet Isaiah then, after Moses, not Paul, 
 "who had distinctly pronounced Israel a rebellious 
 people, spite of God's daily pleading with them, and 
 the call of the Gentiles who had not sought it. It was 
 in vain to quarrel with the gospel on this score. The 
 question is raised consequently whether Israel was 
 wholly to lose their position in God's favour according 
 to promise. The apostle proves the contrary in this 
 chapter. 
 
 " I say then. Hath God cast away his people ? Far 
 be it ! For I also am an Israelite, of Abraham's seed, 
 of Benjamin's tribe. God hath not cast away his 
 people whom he foreknew. Know ye not what the 
 scripture saith in [the section of] Elias, how he 
 plead eth with God against Israel? 'Lord, they have 
 killed thy prophets, they have dug down thine altars; 
 and I only am left, and they seek my life?' But what 
 saith the divine answer to him ? ' I have left to myself 
 seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to 
 Baal.' * Thus then in the present time also there hath 
 been a remnant according to election of grace ; but if by 
 grace, no longer of works, otherwise grace becomes no 
 longer grace [ ; but if of works, it is no longer grace, 
 otherwise work is no longer workf]. What then? 
 That which Israel seeketh for he did not obtain, 
 
 * In the LXX, as the text at present stands, the masculine article 
 is prefixed, not as here the feminine; but it may originally have been 
 otherwise as elsewhere. (Judg. ii. 13 ; Hos. ii. 8 ; Zeph. 1. 4.) The 
 quotation is the sense, not the precise transcript of either the Heb. 
 or the LXX. Abarbanel speaks of a male image for men, a female 
 for women ; but this scarcely accounts for the case before us. 
 Others (as Authorized Version) suppose an ellipse of ilKovi. 
 
 t The Vatican, which is the best support of this doubtful clause, 
 reads x«P's> grace. 
 
216 ROMANS. 
 
 but the election obtained, and the rest were hardened; 
 even as it is written, ' God gave them a spirit of 
 stupefaction, eyes not to see and ears not to hear unto 
 this day.' And David saith, * Let their table be for a 
 snare, and for a trap, and for a stumblingblock, and for 
 a recompense to them; let their eyes be darkened not to 
 see, and bow down their back alway." (Ver. 1 — 10.) 
 
 This is the first answer to the question of Israel's 
 total and final rejection. God foreknew* His people 
 when He chose and called them ; and, knowing all their 
 evil beforehand. He certainly will not cast them off. He 
 has not done so, as Paul's own case proved; for he was 
 no bad instance — he who had shared in the nation's 
 guiltiest prejudices and bitterest unbelief and rejection 
 of Jesus ; yet had God called him. His love lingered 
 over His poor unworthy people even now, as Paul was 
 also a pattern for them who should hereafter believe on 
 Christ Jesus to eternal life. On him first was the 
 Lord shewing the whole of His longsufiering : yet was 
 he also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the 
 tribe of Benjamin, the one recalling the ancient 
 promises, the other subsequent sin, himself withal 
 present electing mercy, a pledge of the future grace which 
 would save the people fully. Were the exclusion abso- 
 lute, Paul certainly could not have been brought into 
 His favour. But there is further proof still. *' Know 
 ye not what the scripture saith" in the account of 
 Elijah? The disheartened prophet saw himself alone 
 faithful in that dark page of Israel's history — himself 
 therefore the object of hatred unto death as far as king 
 and people could. But the divine admonition leU him 
 know of a complete remnant, " seven thousand, such as 
 bowed not the knee to Baal." Thus then in the 
 present time also there has been a remnant *' according 
 to election of grace." It was electing grace now as 
 
 * It is a mistake to call this an election before the world's 
 foundation which is only said of Christians, of the church. Israel 
 were chosen in time. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 217 
 
 then. The general state was at that time undeniably 
 apostate : what was it in Paul's day ? 
 
 This gives the apostle the occasion, never let slip by 
 the Holy Spirit, of asserting grace in its exclusion of 
 works — in their mutual exclusion, if we accept the re- 
 ceived reading. But I do not see that the bracketed 
 •clause adds to the precision of the truth; whereas it 
 was natural enough to tack it on, especially as the form 
 in the Vatican copy seems an evident error (x^^P^^ i^" 
 stead of ep^^ou in the end of the disputed clause). 
 
 How then stands the case? " What Israel seeketh, 
 this it obtained not, but the election obtained; and the 
 rest were hardened." It will be noticed that those we 
 call ordinarily the remnant or righteous portion of Israel 
 are designated " the election," while the mass are called 
 the rest or remnant. ** Hardened" also is the right 
 sense, rather than blinded (though this is also taught 
 elsewhere). It may be that eTrivpwOTjaav was confounded 
 in thought and sense with i7rripiv6rjaav, as another has 
 pointed out to be the fact in the Vatican text of Job 
 xvii. 7 in the LXX. 
 
 This leads the apostle to adduce the testimony of 
 scripture, in the words (apparently mingled) of Isaiah 
 xxix. 10 and Deuteronomy xxix. 4, followed up by the 
 still more tremendous imprecation of David in Psalm 
 Ixix. 22, 23, all speaking of the ungodly in Israel. 
 Here again the law, the psalms, and the prophets gave 
 their joint overwhelming evidence in terms so vehement 
 that the apostle had rather to bring in " strong con- 
 solation" from the unfailing faithfulness of God for at 
 least a remnant as we have seen, before he established 
 every word by these " two or three witnesses" for the 
 general condition of Israel. What more apt to clench 
 the question? What wiser course possible for the 
 apostle ? 
 
 But let me refer to Calvin's comment on these quo- 
 tations; for, able as he was, pious too and grave in 
 general, his narrow system exposed him here to adven- 
 
218 ROMANS. 
 
 ture remarks on the apostle no less unworthy than 
 presumptuous, " Quae adducit testimonia, quanquam 
 ex variis potius scripturae locis collecta, quam ex uno- 
 loco desumpta sunt, omnia tamen videntur aliena ess& 
 ab ejus proposito, si ex circumstanciis suis ea propiu& 
 expendas. Ubique enim videas excaecationem et indu- 
 rationem commemorari, tanquam Dei flagella, quibu& 
 jam admissa ab impiis flagitia ulciscitur: Paulus autem 
 probare hie contendit, excaecari non eos, qui sua malitia 
 jam id meriti sint, sed qui ante mundi creationem re- 
 probati sunt a Deo. (?) Hunc nodum ita breviter sol- 
 vas, Quod origo impietatis, quae ita in se provocat 
 Dei furorem, est perversitas naturae a Deo derelictae. 
 Quare non abs re Paulus de aeterna reprobatione (?} 
 haec citavit, quae ex ea prodeunt ut fructus ex arbore, 
 et rivus a scaturigine. Impii quidem propter sua 
 scelera justo Dei judicio caecitate puniuntur: sed si 
 fontem exitii eorum quaerimus, eo deveniendum erit^ 
 quod a Deo maledicti, nihil omnibus factis, dictis, con- 
 siliis suis, quam maledictionem accersere et accumular& 
 possunt. Imo aeternae reprobationis ita abscondita est 
 causa, ut nihil aliud nobis supersit, quam admirari in- 
 comprehensibile Dei consilium sicuti tandem ex clausula 
 patebit. Stulte autem faciunt, qui simulac verbum 
 factum est de propinquis causis, earum praetextu banc 
 primam, quae sensum nostrum latet, obtegere tentant: 
 acsi Deus non libere ante Adae lapsum statuisset d& 
 toto humanogenere quod visum est, quia damnatvitiosum 
 ac pravum ejus semen: deindequia peculiariter singulis 
 quam meriti sunt scelerum mercedem rependit."* (Caly* 
 in loo. i. 149, ed. Tholuck, Halae, 1831.) 
 
 » "The quotations which he adduces, collected from various 
 parts of scripture, and not taken from one passage, do seem, all of 
 them, to be foreign to his purpose, when you closely examine them 
 according to their contexts ; for you will find that in every passage, 
 blindness and hardening are mentioned as scourges, by which God 
 punished crimes already committed by the ungodly; but Paul 
 labours to prove here, that not those were blinded who so deserved 
 
CHAPTER XI. 219* 
 
 One could understand a believer perhaps saying that 
 the citations of an apostle seemed foreign to his purpose 
 when not examined with their context; but is it too 
 much if we denounce as irreverent no less than unintelli- 
 gent the man who could venture so to speak, for no- 
 better reason than a blind love of his own scheme ? It is- 
 excellent and right that scripture should declare harden- 
 ing to be an infliction of God after men have already 
 proved their ungodliness. It is false and bad to say 
 that Paul labours to prove here that the blinding was- 
 not because it was deserved but in consequence of 
 eternal reprobation. In fact scripture teaches no such 
 doctrine. Nowhere are any said to be rejected before- 
 the foundation of the world. Nor this only: they are- 
 punished at the world's end for their wickedness, not 
 because of a divine decree. Indeed a judgment in this 
 case would be nugatory. But they are judged each 
 according to their works, and the lake of fire is their 
 
 by their wickedness, but who were rejected by God before the- 
 foundation of the world." [Paul really does nothing less.] 
 
 "You may thus briefly untie this knot— that the origin of the- 
 impiety which provokes God's displeasure is the perversity of nature- 
 when forsaken by God. Paul therefore, while speaking of eternal 
 reprobation, has not without reason referred to those things which, 
 proceed from it, as fruit from the tree or river from the fountain. 
 The ungodly are indeed for their sins visited by God's judgment 
 with the blindness ; but if we seek for the source of their ruin, we- 
 must come to this, — that being accursed by God they cannot b}' all 
 their deeds, sayings, and purposes, get and obtain anything but a. 
 curse. Yet the cause of eternal reprobation is so hidden from us, 
 that nothing remains for us but to wonder at the incomprehensible 
 purpose of God, as we shall at length see by the conclusion. But 
 they reason absurdly who, whenever a, word is said of the proxi— 
 mate causes, strive, by bringing forward these, to cover the first, 
 which is hid from our view ; as though God had not, before the- 
 fall of Adam, freely determined to do what seemed good to him 
 with respect to the whole human race on this account, — because he- 
 condemns his corrupt and depraved seed, and also because he repays 
 to individuals the reward which their sins have deserved.'* I pur- 
 posely cite from the Calvin Transl. series, Comm. on Hora., p. 417^ 
 Edinb. 1819. 
 
220 ROMANS. 
 
 sentence ; though scripture takes care after this to append 
 the divine side, adding that, if any one was not found 
 written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of 
 fire. So in a previous chapter of this epistle Paul had 
 carefully shewn how God, willing to shew His wrath 
 and make His power known, endured with much long- 
 suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and 
 that He might make known the riches of His glory upon 
 vessels of mercy which He had before prepared for 
 glory. To me I confess it looks like the blinding 
 influence of falsehood when men overlook the difference 
 of vessels of wrath fitted on the one hand to destruc- 
 tion, and of vessels of mercy which He on the other 
 hand before made ready for glory. It is guilty man 
 who is the agent in sin and misery; God only who is 
 the source of all the good, though His longsuffering be 
 •conspicuous most of all if possible in bearing with the 
 ■evil who at last come into judgment. 
 
 In short then not only not Paul but no other inspired 
 writer ever speaks of " eternal reprobation ;" it is 
 merely a dream of a certain school. So the curse of 
 Ood follows, instead of causing, the impious ways of 
 men. Arminianism is wholly astray no doubt in reduc- 
 ing God's election to a mere foresight of good in some 
 creatures; but Calvinism is no less erroneous in im- 
 puting the evil lot of the first Adam race to God's 
 ■decree. They both spring from analogous roots of un- 
 belief: Calvinism reasoning, contrary to scripture, from 
 the truth of election to the error of eternal reprobation ; 
 Arminianism rightly rejecting that reprobation but 
 •wrongly reasoning against election. Like other systems 
 they are in part true and in part false — true in what 
 they believe of scripture, false in yielding to human 
 thoughts outside scripture : happy those, who are con- 
 tent as Christians with the truth of God and refuse to 
 he partisans on either side of men ! Our wisdom is to 
 have our minds open to all scripture, refusing to go a 
 iiair-breadth farther. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 221 
 
 The next position of the apostle is, in great part, 
 decided by the question: "I say then, Did they stumble 
 in order that they should fall ? Far be it : but by their 
 trespass salvation [is come] to the Gentiles to provoke 
 them to jealousy. But if their trespass be [the] world's- 
 riches and their loss [the] Gentiles' riches, how much 
 more their fulness? Now* I speak to you, the Gentiles ; 
 inasmuch therefore as I am apostle of Gentiles I glorify 
 my ministry, if by any means I shall provoke to jeal- 
 ousy my flesh and save some of them. For if their 
 rejection [be the] world's reconciliation, what the re- 
 ception but life from [the] dead?" (Ver. 11—15.) 
 
 Thus the very slip of Israel from its place of witness 
 and depositary of promise, turned as it is through di- 
 vine mercy into present favour towards the Gentile 
 world, becomes an argument in the hands of grace to- 
 assure their future restoration. The apostle alludes to the 
 words of Deuteronomy xxxii., the bearing of which on 
 the question is as evident as to the Jew their authority 
 is indisputable. It was not Paul but Moses who de- 
 clared that the Jew provoked Jehovah to jealousy, that, 
 he was unmindful of the Rock who begat him, the 
 glory of God that formed him. It was Moses who tes- 
 tified that Jehovah said, *' I will hide my face from 
 them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a 
 very froward generation, children in whom is no faith* 
 They have moved me to jealousy with [that which is] 
 not God ; they have provoked me to anger with their 
 vanities : and I will move them to jealousy with [those 
 which are] not a people; I will provoke them to anger 
 with a foolish nation." Undoubtedly it is the sure and 
 solemn threat of God's displeasure in turning from 
 Israel to the Gentiles, as certainly as Israel used to- 
 turn from Jehovah to false gods. But the threat, now 
 accomplishing after the utmost patience, and only ac- 
 
 • 5e *'but," "now," is the reading of ^^ A B and other good" 
 authorities, instead of the more common and easy yap, " for." The* 
 difference in sense seems slight. 
 
222 ROMANS. 
 
 complished when they added to their old idolatry the 
 still graver sin of rejecting the Messiah and disdaining 
 the gospel that offered them the pardon of these and all 
 other sins by His blood, — the threat itself contains the 
 no less sure intimation of restoring mercy in the end. 
 For certainly He who acts with a view to provoke 
 them to jealousy through blessing the Gentiles does not 
 mean to cast them off eventually; rather the very re- 
 verse. One sees by such admirable reasoning and such 
 profoundly accurate employment of the Old Testament 
 scripture how truly it is the same Spirit who wrote of 
 old by Moses working now by Paul. 
 
 Apart from any particular allusion, the state of 
 things whether now or by and by accords perfectly 
 both with the facts of Christianity and with the general 
 prospects for the world according to the prophets. For 
 it is just when the Jews lose all their place and nation no 
 less than distinctive rank as a witnessing and worship- 
 ping people in their land that we see the Gentiles gradually 
 renouncing their idols, and the true God and His word 
 incomparably better known than even of old in Israel. 
 Revealed truth, having its centre and display in Christ, 
 alone accounts for the eclipse on the one side and the 
 possession of a brighter light on the other. Did not 
 the Jews reject the true light which now shines on na- 
 tions so long benighted in idolatry? Again, while owning 
 the mercy of God, which has thus wondrously turned 
 aside to visit the Gentile with the gospel during the 
 continued unbelief and consequently dark and wretched 
 nothingness of the Jew, who can overlook the rich and 
 full stream of Old Testament scripture which depicts 
 the joy and blessedness of the whole earth only when 
 God causes His face to shine on Israel ? " God shall 
 bless us " (says the inspired Jewish psalmist) ; " and all 
 the ends of the earth shall fear him." It is right to 
 preach, a privilege to look for souls to be blessed ; but 
 it is vain, because unscriptural, to expect universality of 
 blessing and delivering power over the world as a whole 
 
CHAPTER XI. 223 
 
 till Zion's light is come and the glory of Jehovah is 
 risen on her. Then and not before shall the Gentiles 
 come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her 
 rising; then the nation and kingdom that will not 
 serve Zion shall perish — a state of things in evident 
 contrast with the grace that goes out now to Jew and 
 Gentile indiscriminately, and gathers believing souls by 
 the Spirit for heavenly and eternal glory, instead of 
 being a display of the righteous government of Jeho- 
 vah-Messiah in Israel and over all the earth. 
 
 Hence it is obvious with what strict truth the apostle 
 could affirm that the salvation to the Gentiles, by the 
 slip or trespass of the Jews, is but to provoke them to 
 jealousy instead of being a sign of being abandoned for 
 ever as a people by God. Nay further he could reason, 
 in harmony with the prophets, that if their trespass is 
 the world's wealth, and their loss and diminution the 
 Gentiles' wealth, how much more their fulness? The 
 apostle here accounts, or, if one will, apologizes, for his 
 bringing in the Gentiles when discussing the destiny of 
 Israel. He was speaking to the saints at Eome, " to 
 you the Gentiles." Farther, " inasmuch therefore as I 
 am apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry:" how 
 or why should he forget the divine mercy to such hing- 
 ing on God's ways with Israel that now occupied him ? 
 Especially too as he was thereby seeking to further that 
 provocation to jealousy for which he had the authority 
 of Him who alone is good and of whose compassion to- 
 ward Israel he was no less assured than of His righte- 
 ous displeasure at their sins. " If by any means I may 
 provoke to jealousy [those who are] my flesh and may 
 save some of them." (Ver. 14.) " For if their rejec- 
 tion [be the] world's reconciliation, what their reception 
 but life from among [the] dead ?" Such we have seen 
 is the uniform impression left by the Psalms and the 
 Prophets, as every candid and intelligent Jew must 
 feel. Then only will be " the regeneration *' when the 
 Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory with 
 
224 ROMANS. 
 
 His glorified assessors, and all the nations as well 
 as the twelve tribes of Israel shall know what it is 
 to have a king reigning in righteousness and princes 
 ruling in judgment. It is the mistake of Origen,, 
 Chrysostom, and Theodoret, of Meyer, Fritzsche, Tho- 
 luck, &c., to bring in the resurrection literally as meant 
 here, though I doubt not that the first resurrection will 
 have then taken place as proved by the most positive 
 evidence of scripture. Nor is there just ground for 
 Dean Alford's singular indecision who objects both to- 
 the true and to the erroneous view. Whatever the di- 
 vine mercy in the " world's reconciling " which we now 
 know while the gospel goes forth to every creature, a 
 wholly different blessedness awaits the whole earth as 
 " life from the dead," when all Israel received back and 
 saved, far from their old envy and churlish scorn, shall 
 bid all the lands to sing joyfully to Jehovah and come 
 before His presence with triumphal song. If His house 
 shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, in* 
 that day also is His name to be great among the na- 
 tions, and in every place incense is to be burnt and a 
 pure ofiering offered to His name. How far beyond 
 the present, and how different, though the present may 
 be an earnest and pledge ! Will it not be for all on, 
 earth " life from the dead ?" 
 
 It seems to my mind that Calvin is far from having a 
 simple, clear, or strong view of the argument, though I da 
 in no wise deny his generally grave and pious sentiments. 
 But he says that you will be greatly hampered in un- 
 derstanding this discussion, except you take notice that 
 the apostle speaks, sometimes of the whole nation 
 of the Jews, sometimes of single individuals. The 
 truth is that the question is exclusively about the na- 
 tion as God's witness on earth and inheriting the line 
 of promise from Abraham. There was no doubt about 
 individuals. But Paul, we have seen, beautifully uses 
 the faith of himself and others as a proof that even dur- 
 ing the judicial hardening there is a remnant according 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 to tte election of grace, and that tlie call of Gentiles 
 meanwhile is but a provocation to jealousy, instead of 
 implying that God cast away His people, and that they 
 have fallen never more to be received as Israel. And 
 here I cannot but deplore the presumption, as well as 
 ignorance, with which even so godly a person as the 
 Genevese chief speaks, especially on verse 12.* The- 
 apostle should have been humbly listened to, not cor- 
 rected. Need I add that the rudeness of speech belongs 
 exclusively to the critic, and that the inspiration is- 
 thoroughly exact, not the too confident commentator ? 
 A human antithesis, which Calvin ventured to say- 
 would have been more proper, is in force, beauty, and 
 truth far short of that which the Spirit has given. A 
 rising or raising up of Israel conveys no such import 
 of necessary blessedness as their " reception " after 
 their stumble, loss, and rejection. Even if we did not 
 see and could not prove this, every believer is bound 
 to resent such want of respect to scripture. 
 
 Here the apostle adds some observations which not 
 only confirm but explain much : these the reader should 
 the more sedulously weigh because they are in general 
 ill understood. *' But if the firstfraitj [be] holy, the 
 lump also; and if the root [be] holy, the branches 
 also. But if some of the branches were broken off, and 
 thou, being a wild olive, w^ast graft in among them and 
 
 * " Magis autem proprie locutus fuisset, si lapsui opposuisset sus- 
 citationem. Quod ideo admoneo, nequis dicendi ornatum hie 
 requirat, aut offendatur ista dicendi ruditate. Pectus enim, non 
 linguam, ut formarent, haec scripta sunt." In loc. p. 151. 
 
 f There is not the least ground for the strange notion of Chal- 
 mers after McJe that by the firstfruit the apostle meant the 
 earliest Jewish converts to Christianity, though no one denies that 
 James i. 18 applies the term to the Christian believers out of Israel, 
 as Jeremiah ii. 3 had already done to Israel originally as such. It 
 is demonstrable from the context that by the figures of the first- 
 fruit with the lump (^compare Num. xv. 19 — 21) and the root with 
 the branches the apostle is setting forth the relation and responsi- 
 bility of those who followed him to whom the promises were given, 
 as the stock of divine testimony on earth after men at large had 
 Q 
 
226 ROMANS. 
 
 ^'ast made fellow-partaker of the root and* of the fat- 
 ness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches: 
 but if thou boastest, not thou bearest the root but the 
 root thee. Thou wilt say then, Branchesf were 
 broken off in order that / might be graft in. Well: 
 through unbelief they were broken off, and tliou stand- 
 •est by faith. Be not highminded but fear: for if God 
 spared not the natural branches, it may be he will not 
 spare even thee." (Ver. 16 — 21.) From principles 
 familiar to the Jew in the Old Testament the reasoning 
 is drawn, and the ways of God in government are vin- 
 dicated with singular force. The Jew, springing from 
 Abraham, the one first chosen and called out to have 
 promises in his line (though for all others in their 
 effects), had been the natural trunk or branches of the 
 olive tree. The Gentile grew wild outside. But God 
 
 fallen into idolatry. Theodoret, like Origen, indulges In the odd 
 conceit that Christ is " the firstfruit," while rightly regarding 
 Abraham as "the root." Both illustrations really point to the 
 same. 
 
 The rendering here is as certain as the sense resulting from it 
 is clear and good. With plurals or collectives iv regularly means 
 " among," as in the Authorized Version, or " inter illos" as Grotius 
 correctly translates. The Vulgate (" in illis'') is obscure; Calvin 
 and Beza, not without predecessors among the fathers and followers 
 in modern Germany, including even Olshausen and Meyer, giA'e 
 "^Jro illis" which is unequivocally without warrant. Erasmus is 
 far more right in his comment than Beza who cavils at it and 
 adopts the sense which the former justly censures. But there is no 
 need of resorting to the influence of the Hebrew preposition 3 
 
 however largely true elsewhere in the New Testament. What M-e 
 find here is as common in classical as in Hellenistic Greek; but 
 v€j/ = in loco (or locum) is the usage nowhere that I know, and in 
 my judgment impossible to reconcile with the genius of the 
 language. 
 
 * The Kat "and" is doubtful; K* B C, with the Coptic, and 
 T)amasus, reject it, probably others also; and we can readily see 
 why some might bring it in to soften a phrase seemingly rugged 
 ■without it. 
 
 t J^ABCD' FGLP and many cursives and fathers omit Oh 
 which may readily have crept in from the context. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 227 
 
 must liave branclies in keeping with the root, and, be- 
 cause the Jews were not, judgment proceeded against 
 them. It was evident then, first, that boasting least 
 became the Gentiles, who had no necessary or natural 
 connection with the root, the father of the faithful, like 
 the Jews ; secondly, that they had most reason to fear, 
 for if God had dealt with the failure of the seed of 
 Abraham, it was not to be conceived that He would 
 tolerate Gentile iniquity. It belonged to the plan of 
 God to graft the Gentile into the line of promise on 
 earth, in place of Jewish branches broken off through 
 their unbelief. By faith the Gentile stands: let him 
 not be highminded but fear. Otherwise God will not 
 spare. 
 
 " Behold then God's goodness and severity : upon 
 them that fell severity, but upon thee God's* goodness 
 if thou continue in his goodness : otherwise tliou also shalt 
 be cut off. And they too, if they abide not in unbelief, 
 shall be graft in, for God is able to graft them in 
 again. For if tliou wast cut off from the olive tree 
 wild by nature, and contrary to nature wast graft into 
 a good olive tree, how much more shall these who are 
 according to nature be graft into their own olive tree ?" 
 (Ver. 22—24.) 
 
 It is of the greatest moment to avoid confounding 
 the continuous line of the inheritance of the promise 
 on earth, the olive tree, with the mystery of Christ and 
 the church where all is new and above nature. There is 
 no breaking off members from the body, nor is the Jew 
 a natural limb any more than the Gentile. All is hea- 
 venly grace and entirely distinct from the system of 
 administered promises which began with Abraham, the 
 firstfruit. No doubt those who compose the church, 
 Christ's body, come in as branches standing through 
 faith in the room of the broken off Jewish ones ; but 
 others do also who are mere professors of Christ, and do 
 
 • ©ecu is attested by J^ A B C D* beside many ancient veraiciTS. 
 
228 ROMANS. 
 
 not appreciate God's goodness but forsake it for forms 
 or scepticism or open evil, and will thus fall under His 
 just severity -when the moment arrives to cut off the 
 faithless Gentile graft, as before the unbelieving natu- 
 ral boughs of Israel. It is no question of saving grace 
 here but of earthly responsibility according to the re- 
 spective testimony, first of Israel, next of Christendom, 
 A man of exercised conscience, or even of ordinary 
 knowledge of the New Testament, cannot look on the 
 Gentile profession of Christ east, west, north, south, 
 and affirm seriously that they have continued in God's 
 goodness; if not, the sentence is excision for the Gentile, 
 as of old for the Jew. Will the tree then be cut down? 
 In nowise more in the future than in the past. Contra- 
 riwise the judgment of the Gentile branches makes way 
 for the grafting in of the Jews, for they will then no- 
 longer abide in unbelief, and God is able to graft them 
 in again. It is indeed " their own olive tree," which 
 God never forgets, nor should the Gentile. 
 
 Thus we all may and should clearly see the distinct- 
 ness of the responsibility of the creature, whether in. 
 Israel or in Christendom, from the security of the elect 
 who are saved by grace. Salvation is of Him who is 
 rich in mercy, possible only, though given fully and 
 freely, to the believer in virtue of redemption. But this 
 does not hinder the trial of Christendom now, as of 
 Israel in the past. The revealed result is the apostasy ; 
 but grace will translate the saints risen or changed to 
 meet the Lord at His coming, as His day will fall with 
 unsparing judgments on His enemies and most severely 
 on those who abuse in the worst way the best and 
 brightest privileges. The cutting off of the apostate 
 Gentile profession will make way for the reception of 
 Israel. 
 
 The apostle had reasoned against the notion that God 
 had cast away His people ; first, from the remnant 
 according to the election of grace, of whom he was 
 himself a sample j and next, from God's revealed object 
 
CHAPTER XI. ZZy 
 
 in calling Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy, which 
 brought in the beautiful and instructive episode of their 
 own olive tree, still pointing in a similar direction ; but 
 now we come to a ground more definite and conclusive. 
 The word of God has given express testimony to His 
 purpose of recalling Israel in sovereign mercy after and 
 spite of all their sins, giving them in the latter thorough 
 repentance and turning their heart toward their Mes- 
 siah so long rejected. 
 
 " For I do not wish you, brethren, to be ignorant of 
 this mystery, in order that ye be not wise in your own 
 conceits, that hardness in part is happened to Israel 
 until the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in ; 
 and so all Israel shall be saved, even as it is written, 
 There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; he shall 
 turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is the 
 covenant on my part to them when I shall have taken 
 away their sins." (Ver. 25 — 27.) If the apostle used the 
 Septuagint Version of two passages in Isaiah (chaps. 
 lix. 20, xxvii. 9 ; compare also Jer. xxxi.), in the Greek 
 text as it now stands the phrase is neither " to" Zion, 
 as in the Hebrew, nor " out of" Zion as in the epistle, 
 but evBKev (" for the sake of"), save in two copies re- 
 ferred to by Holmes and Parsons in their great edition 
 of the LXX, one of which is certainly a correction, the 
 other probably so. That Origen, Chrysostom, and 
 Theodoret cite according to the New Testament decides 
 nothing against the common t«xt of the Seventy. And 
 this is confirmed by the plain fact that Origen, who had 
 quoted the prophet when interpreting Psalm xiv. ac- 
 cording to the apostle's form of citation, gives in his 
 Hexapla the text of the LXX. just as it now stands, 
 ■while we see Aquila and Symmachus adhering precisely 
 to the Hebrew. It is evident to me that the last verses 
 of Psalms xvi. Hi. fully and literally justify the apostle, 
 who was directed by the Holy Spirit to use the Old 
 Testament in such a way as looks lax to the hasty, 
 careless, or unbelieving, too disposed to regard an in- 
 
230 ROMANS. 
 
 spired man as like themselves, but really with the most 
 comprehensive wisdom and the nicest exactitude, so as 
 to convey the mind of God as contained in His word, 
 not in one text only but out of many interwoven into 
 one. The Deliverer will come to Zion, out of which He 
 will subsequently send the rod of His power for the 
 full deliverance of His people, in the day that He shall 
 turn away ungodliness from Jacob and place him for 
 ever under the new covenant. 
 
 Thus if the hardening of Israel (though, we may bless 
 God, only in part) was then true and still goes on, long 
 before announced, the same prophet and, we may add^ 
 the rest of the prophets anticipate the bright day for 
 the earth when all Israel, as such, shall be saved. The 
 TrXrjpivjua, fulness or full complement of the Gentiles, 
 who now believe, will have come in; and so the long 
 guilty, long chastened, people of Jehovah will turn to 
 the Lord and own Him in the crucified Nazarene, their 
 Lord and their God; even as Thomas who in this re- 
 presents them, seeing Him and believing. 
 
 There is no comment in the New Testament more 
 important for determining the just meaning of Old 
 Testament prophecy. The allegorical school of ancients 
 from Origen down to the moderns of our own day are 
 in this far from the truth of God. Indeed it is as a 
 system mere trifling and its root unbelief, as its dogma- 
 tic effect is to shake confidence in the plain written 
 word, and its practical result is not only to deprive the 
 ancient people of God of their hope, but to lower and 
 obscure our own by substituting the earthly position 
 of Israel (confused and spoiled by a so-called 
 spiritualism) for separation to and union with Christ in 
 heaven, the true place of the Christian and of the 
 church. It will astonish some of my readers to learn 
 that Origen, undoubtedly one of the ablest and most 
 learned of the early Greek fathers, speaks of Zion as 
 representing the Father in this very connection I 
 Others may be more sober; but they understood the 
 
CHAPTER XI. 231 
 
 truth no better than he, if they did not commit them- 
 selves to such wild flights of fancy. If some might 
 have hoped better things of Theodoret, like Chrysos- 
 tom, I am forced to prove how precarious is the teaching 
 which, after saying truly that the Jews will believe, on 
 the conclusion of the work spoken of among tlie Gen- 
 tiles, tells us that " all Israel " means those who believe 
 whether of Jews or of Gentiles. Even this meagre 
 expectation of blessing at the end for Israel is boldly 
 denied by Jerome (Comm. Esai. xi.), who will have all 
 to be understood of the first advent ! 
 
 Nor did the reformers clear themselves from the igno- 
 rance and prejudice of the fathers, partly through their 
 dread of Anabaptist violence and fanaticism in their 
 dreams of a fifth kingdom, dreams which after all are 
 far more akin to the theories of Rome and the fathers 
 than to the holy and heavenly hopes given in the 
 written word. For it will be observed that such vision- 
 aries look for a Zion of their own on earth, just as in 
 a modified sense their adversaries interpret the pro- 
 phets of the church. All were at fault, though in 
 different directions; so must all be who do not see the 
 church's portion to be a heavenly one with Christ at 
 His coming, who will restore His people to the enjoy- 
 ment of every promised blessing and glory on the earth, 
 the nations being then only blessed as a whole though 
 subordinately. But the risen saints will reign with 
 Christ over the earth. We are blessed in heavenly 
 places in Him. 
 
 Hence we can understand the vacillation of Luther. 
 But Calvin was always wrong, as an instance of which 
 may suffice his interpretation of this place where he 
 makes " all Israel " to mean the whole of those saved, 
 the Jews having only the superior place as the first- 
 born.* 
 
 • " Multi accipiant de populo Judaico, acsi Paulus diceret instau- 
 randum adhuc in eo religionem ut prius; sed ego Israelis nomen ad 
 totum Dei populum extendo, hoc sensu : Quum Gentes ingressae 
 
232 BOMAKS. 
 
 MiicK more correctly have Beza on the Protestant 
 side, and E^^tins on the Catholic expounded the verse 
 and shewn the opposition of 7ra? 'lapayX in the future 
 hardening aTro fiepov<i, which strictly means " in part," 
 not a mere qualifying of a severe declaration, "until" 
 also specifying the point of time at which the great 
 change takes place. To say with Calvin that " until" 
 i^axpi^ ov) does not mark this but only equivalent to 
 *' that" shews the strong prejudice of a good man whose 
 knowledge of the language was imperfect and who 
 missed to a great extent the point of the chapter before 
 him, through that wisdom in one's own conceit against 
 which the apostle is warning the Gentiles. That 
 ** the fulness of the Gentiles" cannot mean the general 
 conversion of the world to Christ, is perfectly certain 
 if it were only from the previous reasoning of the 
 apostle in the central portion of the chapter, where he 
 asks if the slips of the Jews were the world's riches, 
 how much more their fulness ? and shews how he was 
 provoking them to jealousy to save some ; for if their 
 rejection be the world's reconciling, w^hat their recep- 
 tion but life from among the dead? And this, as 
 already shewn, harmonizes with the constant testimony 
 of the Law, and the Psalms, and the Prophets, which 
 invariably make the blessing of Israel as a creation the 
 condition and under God the means of the blessing of 
 all the earth — a new state of things, not the gospel or 
 
 fuerint, simul et Judaei ex defectione se ad fidei obedientiam re- 
 cipient: atque ita complebitur salus totius Israelis Dei, quem ex 
 utrisque colligi oportet : sic tamen ut priorem locum Judaei obtineant, 
 ceu in familia Dei primogeniti." (Comm. in loc.) Nor is his rea- 
 son sounder than his conclusion ; for he considers the mj'stic sense 
 to suit better because Paul wished to point out here the consum- 
 mation of Christ's kingdom, " quae in Judaeis minime terminatur 
 sed totum orbem comprehendit." The argument really goes to 
 confirm what is denied ; for the church is essentially an election out 
 of Jews and Geniiles, and never can embrace the whole world; 
 whereas the salvation of Israel at Christ's coming to reign in- 
 augurates and characterizes His kingdom over all the earth. Com- 
 pare Zechariah xii. xiv. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 the church as now known, both of which are inconsis- 
 tent with it, but the kingdom in its manifestation of 
 glory when in the broadest sense all flesh shall see the 
 salvation of God. Here the commentators are, I must 
 say, painfully defective. The effort of some ancients, 
 and of moderns like Grotius and Hammond, to find the 
 accomplishment in the apostolic times is of all schemes 
 the grossest absurdity, and the most directly opposed 
 to the text commented on. 
 
 It may be added that, though Dean Alford took the 
 term Israel in its proper sense, he like the rest spoils 
 much of the force of the truth by winding up with the 
 assertion that the matter here treated is their reception 
 into the church of God. Not so. The question of the 
 olive tree stands wholly distinct from the church, though 
 no doubt there are branches now in the olive tree since 
 Pentecost which are also members of Christ's body, the 
 assembly of God. But the olive tree is another idea 
 altogether and embraces the dealings of God on the 
 footing of promise since Abraham through Israel of old, 
 the Gentile profession now, and Israel again in the mil- 
 lennial age, not believers only but responsibility accord- 
 ing to the privileges given, with judgment executed on 
 the faithless Jewish branches of the tree to let in the 
 Gentiles, as it will be executed on the disobedient Gen- 
 tiles when God will give repentance to Israel and 
 remission of sins at the appearing of Christ and His 
 kingdom. 
 
 Hence the apostle goes on to affirm what is wholly 
 different from the gospel and church state. "According 
 to the gospel, [they are] enemies on your account; but ac- 
 cording to the election, beloved on account of the fathers.* 
 For the gifts and the calling of God [are] irrevocable." 
 
 • " Incredulos fuisse redditos misericordia Gentibus exhibita, 
 paulo asperius est; nihil tamen continet absurdi, quia Paulua 
 excaecationis causam non assignat, sed tantum significat, quod ad 
 Gentes transtulit Deus Judaeis fuisse ademptum." Comm. in 
 ioc. ed. Tholuck, p. 15S. 
 
1 
 
 234 ROMANS. 
 
 (Ver. 28, 29.) The meaning is that, after the Jews 
 proved their hostility to the gospel instead of being 
 saved by it, which God turns, as we have seen, to Hi» 
 gracious call of the Gentiles meanwhile, election love 
 will still prove faithful in the latter day to the sons for 
 the sake of the fathers. This is not the principle on 
 ■which souls are blessed now whether from Gentiles or 
 from Jews. There is no difference. All are alike 
 guilty and lost through their sins ; all alike forgiven 
 and saved through faith. But after the actual nnbelief 
 of the Jews, sovereign mercy will interpose at the end 
 of the age. For the gifts and the calling of God 
 admit of no regret on His part. He may repent of 
 creation (Gen. vi.), never of what grace gave in promise 
 to Abraham and to his seed, never of His call which 
 was first illustrated publicly in the father of the faith- 
 ful. According to that " election" He will yet break 
 their stony heart and put a new spirit within them. 
 
 " For as ye were once disobedient to God but now 
 have become objects of mercy through their disobe- 
 dience, so have they also now become disobedient to the 
 mercy shewn to you, in order that they also may become 
 objects of mercy. For God shut up together all in 
 disobedience in order that he might shew mercy to all." 
 (Verses 30—32.) 
 
 Wiclif, Tyndale, and Cranmer, with the Vulgate, 
 the Peshito and the Philoxenian Syriac, the Arabic, 
 are here more correct than the Geneva Version, Beza, 
 and the Authorized. Calvin seems nearer to the truth, 
 but has not quite hit the mark. " That they became 
 unbelievers through the mercy shewn to the Gentiles" 
 is indeed somewhat harsh ; nor is there any need of his 
 explanation for clearing up a difficulty created by his 
 own mistake. The Jews rebelled against the mercy 
 shewn to the Gentiles as we learn from the Acts, 
 1 Thess. ii., &c., and as experience shews in fact to 
 this day. 
 
 There appears to my mind not only an absence of any 
 
 1 
 
CHAPTER XI. 235 
 
 just sense in the modern view but positive error at issue 
 with the chapter, the context, and scripture in general. 
 With the chapter it clashes, because the previous 
 argument treats the restoration of the Jews as life from 
 the dead to the world, not the fulness of the Gentiles 
 the means of their restoration; with the context, be- 
 cause the express point is to crush all conceit from both 
 Jew and Gentile, and especially from the Gentile as- 
 now enjoying light whilst the Jew knows a dark and 
 cold eclipse; with scripture at large, because nowhere 
 is the mercy shewn to the Gentiles hinted at as the (or 
 a) means of Israel's recovery. No doctrine can be con- 
 ceived more foreign to the Bible than that it is by 
 the instrumentality of believing Gentiles that Israel as- 
 a nation shall at length look to Christ and so obtain 
 mercy. As the Gentiles were warned that they must 
 be cut off if they continued not in God's goodness 
 (and none but the most unspiritual, not to say hardened,, 
 can affirm that they have so continued), the sentence is 
 excision, not the honour of bringing Israel into the- 
 faith. No doubt the believing Gentiles will be trans- 
 lated to higher blessedness, as the believing Jews were 
 when the faithless Jews were cut off. Thus the prime 
 object is to extinguish all self-confidence and boasting. 
 As mercy alone accounted for bringing in the Gentiles, 
 on Israel's rebellion against God, so the Jews when 
 grafted into their own olive tree will feel that nothing 
 but mercy could have done it or explain it, somewhat 
 in unison of spirit with the apostle of the circumcision 
 when at the council of Jerusalem he uttered the 
 memorable words, so worthy of the occasion, " We be- 
 lieve that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 we shall be saved even as they " (the Gentiles), not 
 they, even as we (the Jews). 
 
 Thus they were all sinners ; and the dealings of God 
 in holiness and love and truth only brought out the 
 stubborn insubjection of both Jew and Gentile, on the 
 one hand, and the incomparable mercy of God, on the 
 
236 ROMANS. 
 
 other : man's claims, righteousness, privileges, all 
 ending in unbelief and rebellion, but God never more 
 truly shining as God than in His mercy enduring 
 for ever. 
 
 Can one wonder that the large and fervent heart of 
 the apostle, animated and filled yet guarded by the in- 
 spiring Spirit, breaks forth in an outburst of praise as 
 he looks back on the grace and ways of God in Christ? 
 ^'O depth of God's riches* and vrisdom and knowledge: 
 Tiow unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his 
 •ways ! For who hath known Jehovah's mind ? or who 
 became his counsellor ? or who first gave to him and it 
 -shall be repaid to him ? Because of him and through 
 him and to him [are] all things: to him the glory unto 
 the ages. Amen." (Ver. 33 — 36.) He is the source, 
 means, and end of all He has counselled, accomplished, 
 or purposes still to efifect for His own glory. 
 
 The appropriateness of the doxology to the epistle is 
 not only remarkable in itself but exactly in place where 
 it stands. Indeed it is not alone; for, as we have a 
 very brief one in the first chapter, we have another very 
 notable in the last. Here it is the admiration of his 
 rsoul as he looks back on the triumphs of divine mercy 
 — the last thing of which man would think in discussing 
 the dispensations of God. Yet to the spiritual mind 
 subject to the written word and confiding in the known 
 characters of God as He has revealed Himself in 
 Christ, such is the bright and blessed and adoring con- 
 clusion. The depth of His wealth, wisdom, and know- 
 ledge is to be seen, felt, proved, but unfathomable; His 
 decisions beyond scrutiny, His ways not to be traced 
 out, yet all open to our learning of Him with ever 
 -swelling praise. For who knew Jehovah's mind ? or 
 who became His counsellor ? Yet has not the apostle 
 touched on other and heavenly purposes for the glory 
 of Christ in the church, of which he speaks to the 
 
 * Or *' both of God's wisdom " &c. as in the Authorized Version. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 237 
 
 Ephesian saints in due season. Here he had only been 
 given to develope the righteousness of God in the face 
 of man's unrighteousness, known from the beginning 
 and revealed all along, and the methods by which Grod 
 humbles the pride of each and gives the fullest scope 
 to His mercy, causing evil itself to set forth good with 
 the utmost lustre. Who then has given to God and 
 made Him debtor to repay ? For of Him and through 
 Him and to Him are all things: to Him be the glory 
 for ever. The gospel is His, the righteousness His, 
 the grace His, and so is the glory. To Him then with 
 the apostle our hearts join in ascribing the display of 
 perfect excellency without end. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The apostle had set forth the doctrine of grace in atone- 
 ment and salvation ; he had shewn in the resurrection 
 of Christ the living link that binds together the justi- 
 fication of the believer with life, and hence with holiness 
 of walk and heart — a link too often forgotten in the 
 teaching, if not in the practice, of the children of God. 
 He had reconciled the indiscriminate grace of God in 
 the gospel with the ways of God and the special pro- 
 mises to Israel, and shewn by the past, present, and 
 future course of dispensations on earth that, as man's 
 part has been unfaithfulness through unbelief, and all 
 its train of miserable consequences, so God's has been 
 and will be the triumph of His goodness for the 
 Gentiles now, for the Jew shortly, all concluded in un- 
 belief that He might have mercy on all. Now he begins 
 formally to exhort the saints by the compassions of 
 God thus displayed in redemption, and even in His dis- 
 pensations. 
 
238 EOMANS. 
 
 " I beseecli you therefore, brethren, by the com- 
 passions of God, to present your bodies a living 
 sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, your reasonable ser- 
 vice." (Ver. 1.) It is the detailed application of the 
 principle laid down in chapter vi., where we first hear of 
 the Christian reckoning himself dead to sin but alive 
 to God in Christ Jesus, under grace, not under law. 
 From this there is no receding to law now, as the tone 
 of the exhortation itself testifies. But the compassions 
 of God are morally to form the believer within and 
 without. Just as in chapter x. the apostle had taught 
 the value of confession with the mouth as well as of 
 believing with the heart, so here the brethren are en- 
 treated to yield their bodies as a sacrifice to God. Many 
 then as now would have been disposed to have professed 
 an inward devotedness with license for the outward 
 man. The possibility of this self-deception is here 
 precluded, the more strikingly as the exhortation is 
 made not to Jews with their system of external obser- 
 vances, but to Christians who know that without faith 
 it is impossible to please God. Thus is secured the 
 service of the man as a whole; just as the apostle says 
 elsewhere in his desires for the Thessalonian saints, 
 ^' The God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and 
 your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blame- 
 less at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Again, 
 the word " to present," or yield, is so put as to convey 
 the idea of a completed act summed up in its conclusion. 
 It is not mere effort as under law, but a thing done 
 once for all, though of course stamped on the entire 
 christian walk up to the last according to that beginning. 
 The Spirit of God contemplates nothing less for every 
 soul called of God out of this woild, reconciled by the 
 death of His Son and to be saved by His life. How 
 could He lower the standard of Christ ? 
 
 But the mention of " bodies" in God's wisdom asso- 
 ciates itself with the thought of a sacrifice so familiar 
 then to every mind even among the Gentiles. Only 
 
CHAPTER XII. 239 
 
 in Cliristianity it is an incomparably more intimate and 
 personal question than in Judaism. Animals devoted 
 to death and sacrifice do not suffice or suit, but our own 
 " bodies," and this of course as a living sacrifice con- 
 trasted with those of dead beasts, which of themselves 
 left self unjudged and untouched. With the Christian's 
 self-sacrifice God is well pleased. It only is holy now, 
 what was once legally so being in truth proved profane, 
 now that the true light shines ; it is acceptable to Him 
 as the expression of giving God His true place, and of 
 man, the believer, taking his. Without this the show 
 of doing good and communicating is vain ; with it such 
 sacrifices are indeed well pleasing to God. Further, 
 this is " our intelligent service." Worldly elements are 
 condemned, carnal ordinances passed away, formal wor- 
 ship at an end. God will only be served now intelli- 
 gently. It is no question of reason judging for itself 
 without the word, but of the Spirit guiding the mind 
 by divine revelation understood growingly. 
 
 " And be not conformed to this age but be transformed 
 by the renewing of the mind that ye may prove what 
 [is] the good and acceptable and perfect will of God." 
 <Ver. 2.) 
 
 Here it is not the man personally devoted to God but 
 a negative guard from external influence, and the direct 
 contrary positively carried on by the renewing of the 
 mind, the end being the thorough discernment of God's 
 will. Thus, in order to prove practically that good and 
 acceptable and perfect will, there is need on the one hand 
 of being continually on the watch against the course of 
 this age, the spirits and habits of men where opinion 
 rules, and on the other hand of being transformed; yet 
 this not after a mere outward sort but by the renewing 
 of the mind. It is by practical exercise that one grows 
 in learning His will, and proves that it and it only is 
 good and well pleasing and perfect. Here again we see 
 contrast with the Gentiles on the one hand who knew 
 not God and therefore not His will, on the other with 
 
240 BOMANS. 
 
 the Jewish people subjected to known definite require- 
 ments independent of spirituality. The whole course 
 of men outside Christianity, even if it profess to recog- 
 nize God in outward acts, is wholly ignorant of rela- 
 tionship with Him, and, having no faith, regards it as 
 the presumptuous assumption of believers. Now the 
 Spirit, in calling us to a path of separation from the 
 ways of men, lays down no lines of outward difference 
 but what follows the mind renewed, and this in steps 
 of enlarging obedience. So Jesus learnt obedience 
 (for as the eternal Son He had only known to command) 
 — learnt it in a path of suffering unequalled. " Lo, I 
 come to do thy will, God ;" and God's will He did 
 and suffered at all cost, as we know now to everlasting 
 joy. 
 
 In the age to come there will be no such discordance 
 enjoined nor right nor even possible; for the world will 
 be under the direct and displayed government of 
 God in Christ the Son of David and the Son of man, the 
 power of evil being publicly put down and expelled. 
 But now it is otherwise in this present evil age, when 
 divine life has to swim against the stream. Pro- 
 portionate is the blessing of fidelity to the name of 
 the Lord when His throne is unknown save to faith 
 and disregarded by men as such. It is therefore a way 
 of obedience hard to nature but pleasant to the new 
 man directed of the Spirit that glorifies Christ, who is 
 the way, and the only way, through the wilderness of 
 the earth to the Father. " If thine eye be single, thy 
 whole body shall be full of light." Self-will is detected 
 and detested ; the good and acceptable and perfect will 
 of God is more and more discerned. This cannot be- 
 where the spirit of this age governs. 
 
 " For by the grace given me I tell every one that is 
 among you, not to have high thoughts above what he 
 ought to think, but to think so as to have sober 
 thoughts, as God hath dealt to each a measure of faith. 
 For just as in one body we have many members, but 
 
CBAPTEB XII. 241 
 
 all tbe members have not the same function, so we, the 
 many, are one body in Christ, and individually members 
 of each other. And having gifts differing according to 
 the grace given us, whether prophecy, [let us prophesy] 
 according to the proportion of faith ; or service, [let us 
 occupy ourselves] in service; or he that teacheth, in 
 teaching; or he that exhorteth, in exhortation; he that 
 bestoweth, in simplicity; he that taketh the lead, with 
 diligence; he that shevveth mercy, with cheerfulness." 
 (Ver. 3—8.) 
 
 From the more general principles of Christ's devoted- 
 ness and obedience we descend to the reason the apostle 
 gives. High-mindedness is incompatible with either ; it 
 is the very reverse both of the love which animated 
 Him in giving Himself for us, an offering and a sacri- 
 fice to God of a sweet smelling savour, and of the 
 obedience which He closed in the death of the cross. 
 High-mindedness hinders both the doing our own duty 
 and others in theirs. So Paul speaks to every one 
 among the saints at Rome. This was no pretentious- 
 ness on his part but the lowly discharge of the task as- 
 signed him by the Lord Jesus, and not the less decided 
 because it was in lowly obedience. And as each did 
 his own proper work according to the measure of faith 
 dealt out by God, each would act with humility but 
 with firmness, knowing it was God's will and his own 
 service. Unbelief seeks great things and overlooks the 
 one thing of moment — our own duty assigned of God 
 without going beyond its measure or outside its nature. 
 Let us remember however that there is a false modesty 
 that fails to act, as well as the want of modesty that 
 goes too far. 
 
 For it is in this after the pattern of the body 
 with its many members, the doctrine so fully un- 
 folded in 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. 
 Here the apostle but touches on it in a practical 
 point of view, to illustrate the importance of various 
 members in one body mutually helpful; many as they 
 
242 ROMANS. 
 
 •may be, one body in Christ and severally members one 
 of another. 
 
 Besides let ns never forget that, whatever the differ- 
 ences, all are gifts ; and the grace which has given has 
 made one to differ from another but also each necessary 
 to the others, as all in the one body. Whatever we have 
 from the Lord, let us use all in subjection to Him, and 
 ■for the object He had in view: if prophecy, let us pro- 
 phesy according to the proportion of faith. Such an 
 exhortation is the more weighty, because we see that 
 even the highest of the gifts of edification comes within 
 the scope of such a caution. He that prophesied had 
 to beware of overstepping what God had given. The 
 reality of gift did and does not supersede the need of 
 regulation by the word. None put the hearer's soul 
 more directly in contact with God than prophesying; 
 yet must it be conformable to the faith. And if a man's 
 gift lay in ministering to the saints, not in the way of 
 speaking but serving them otherwise in love, his wisdom 
 would be to occupy himself in this, as also the teacher 
 and the exhorter in their own work, not in a service for 
 which they had no divinely given fitness. It is plain 
 that each of these gifts is distinct, though of course God 
 might give more than one sometimes to the same man. 
 But commonly each would have his proper gift. 
 
 Another remark it will be well to make, that God 
 guards us here from so sharp a distinction as would 
 favour the ruinous distinction, into which the early 
 church too soon slipped, of clergy and laity. Even the 
 more moderate of those who would apologize for it 
 seek to extract the transition from public to private 
 gifts out of the omision of etVe ("whether" or "or"). 
 But this is wholly fanciful; for the Holy Spirit has 
 taken care to render such a scheme untenable by placing 
 the most public gift possible, the ruler or leader (o 
 7r/3ot<TTaytt6i/o9) bctweeu "him that bestoweth" and " him 
 that sheweth mercy," all three being found after the 
 omission supposed to mark the private gifts, The de- 
 
CHAPTER XII. 243 
 
 sire to avoid the force of this has led men into arbitrary 
 meanings of d rn-p. as merely presiding over one's own 
 household, which really demands that sphere to be de- 
 fined as in 1 Timothy iii. 4, 5, 12; or a patron of 
 strangers as in Romans xvi. 2, which however is a 
 different word. But 1 Thessalonians v. 12 (not to 
 speak of 1 Timothy v. 17) clearly shews the true mean- 
 ing where it occurs absolutely. 
 
 Again, we may notice that, as he that bestows 
 has to take heed that he yield to no evasive pretexts, 
 but to cultivate liberality (which with money is " sim- 
 plicity "), so the leader or ruler is exhorted to diligence, 
 and he that shews mercy to shew it with cheerful- 
 ness, not as if he grudged the consolation. Some take 
 o fie7adidov<i as the official distributor of the public 
 charities of the assembl^^, rather than as dispensing 
 from his own property ; but BiaciBov^ in that case 
 would probably have been the word chosen. 
 
 The aposLle now goes out into broader ground and en- 
 joins on the saints every sort of christian duty, not in 
 outward conduct only, but perhaps even more as to the 
 tone, temper, and spirit in which the Lord would have 
 all done by them. " Shewing mercy " or compassion 
 naturally serves as a link of transition, and prepares 
 the way for the more general exhortation to love, low- 
 liness, and patient grace. 
 
 "[Let] love [be] unfeigned." ( Ver. 9.) Love is of God. 
 Therefore it is of the deepest moment that it should 
 ever be genuine and incorrupt : for the higher its source, 
 nature, and character, the more dangerous where that 
 which is spurious usurps its place and name, misleading 
 others and oneself under a fair but false pretension. It 
 is not the same as the brotherly kindness of verse 10; 
 and the reality of the distinction reappears in 2 Peter 
 i. 7. On the other hand it is far from being that kind- 
 ness to all men, the perfection of which we know in the 
 Saviour God as witnessed in Christ the Lord. Love is 
 the activity of the divine nature in goodness, and hence 
 
244 ROMANS. 
 
 is inseparable from that nature as reproduced in the 
 
 children of God. Nevertheless this does not absolve 
 them from the need of self-judgment that it be sincere 
 and undcfiled, seeking others' good according to God's 
 will unselfishly. The letting in of hopes, fears, or ob- 
 jects of our own falsifies it. 
 
 Hence in the same verse the connected injunction, 
 " abhorring evil; cleaving to good." It is a word the 
 more needful in our own day especially, because we live 
 in Laodicean times of sickly sentiment where latitudi- 
 narian charity abounds, the essence of which is a spirit of 
 indifferentism toward evil, in particular evil against 
 Christ. And the danger as well as the sin is the more 
 extreme, because it is and has long been that " last 
 hour " of which John warns so solemnly, the hour not 
 of Christianity prevailing but of many antichrists, 
 though not yet of the Antichrist. But where love is real, 
 there is and must be the detestation of evil, no less deci- 
 dedly than the close attachment to good. If the latter 
 attracts, the former offends and is often ill received in 
 the world as it is. But the Christian must cherish the 
 instincts of the new nature and be subject to God's 
 word who has called him out to be a witness of Christ 
 here below where evil meets him at every step and 
 turn. The amiability which would shirk difficulties 
 and apologize for sin is thus proved to lack the salt of 
 the covenant of God, and will soon be seen to be honey 
 and to end in leaven, instead of being the flour and oil 
 which God looks for in such offerings. 
 
 " In brotherly kindness affectionately kind one to- 
 ward another; in honour anticipating each other; in 
 diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the 
 Lord;* in hope rejoicing; in tribulation enduring; in 
 
 * I see no good reason here for taking the dative as a mere case 
 »f rp''alion like so many others in the context, and for rendering it 
 with M. Stuart, " as to the Lord, obedient or engaged in His service." 
 The common construction as the complement of the participle seema 
 to me more exact and simple. 
 
CHAPTER XH. 245 
 
 prayer persevering ; distributing to the necessities of the 
 saints, studious of hospitality." (Ver. 10 — 13.) Here 
 we begin with the call to tender interest among brethren 
 mutually ; and so also not exactly to prefer or esteem 
 others better than ourselves, as in Philippians ii. 3, im- 
 portant as such lowliness of mind is, the mind that 
 was in Christ Jesus. It is here a question of not 
 merely repaying the courtesy of others, but of taking 
 the lead in treating them with honour and thus by ex- 
 ample leading them on in these comely ways. Then, 
 instead of allowing slothfulness, the apostle insists on 
 zealous dilifrence. Lest tliis however should be only 
 outside work, he immediately adds " in spirit fervent," 
 and these with a blessed motive to both, " serving the 
 Lord." It is well known that Griesbach, following a few 
 MSS, versions, and fathers, joined with Erasmus in read- 
 ing Kuipiv for Kvpiu), contrary to the mass of authorities 
 and almost all other editors. It was, we may boldly 
 say, infirmity in judgment; especially as the internal 
 evidence is at least no less adverse than the external. 
 Serving the time (rather " season" or " opportunity ") seems 
 at least somewhat unworthy, is little suited to the con- 
 text in itself, and easily susceptible of the worst abuse. 
 It is no fair instance of a more difficult and therefore 
 preferable reading. The two words may have been 
 confounded by an ignorant scribe, who took the abbre- 
 viated form of icto as meaning Kaipil instead of Kvpiiv. 
 Possibly it may have been wilfully altered, but we 
 should be slow to suspect this when we can otherwise 
 account for a change. 
 
 Further, the mention of the Lord and of His 
 service appears to me the link in the mind of the 
 Spirit with the bright future ("in hope rejoicing"), 
 as this again very simply connects itself with pre- 
 •sent suffering ("in tribulation enduring"), and with 
 the grand support of the soul, come what may mean- 
 while, " in prayer persevering." This portion concludes 
 with the remembrance of the poor saints, whicli stands 
 
246 ROMANS. 
 
 in a similar relation here, as the third clause to the 
 two former in the preceding verse, in which (we know 
 from his own touching account in Galatians ii.) the 
 apostle was ever diligent, as well as the pursuit of hos- 
 pitality, which the conventionalities of modern life 
 should not enfeeble if we would be wise in the Lord. 
 
 In verse 14 practical grace to enemies in power (or 
 at least having the means of harassing the saints) is 
 urged with emphasis. " Bless those that persecute 
 you ; bless and curse not." So did Jesus. 
 
 Sympathy in joy and sorrow next finds its place 
 (ver. 15) : *' Eejoice with [any] rejoicing, and weep with 
 [any] weeping; having the same mind one towards 
 another, not minding high things, but going along* 
 with the lowly." (Ver. 15^, 16.) Spite of the antithe- 
 sis tempting one to take the last word in the same 
 gender as in the clause before, which is grammatically 
 easy, I think that the differing form is both more in 
 keeping with the fulness of the apostle's style and 
 better in this passage, though " lowly things " may 
 yield a sense not to be despised.f What a contrast 
 with the self-exalting and disdainful spirit of the world! 
 How blessed to see it exemplified in the human path of 
 the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose 
 name is holy, and enjoined by a servant of His whose 
 qualities of mind and heart have found few if any equals 
 among men ! Nowhere perhaps, where they let out their 
 
 * It may seem more literal to take this as " led away," i.e. to the 
 judgment seat of rulers, with the despised Christians when thus op- 
 pressed, as Schleusner, &c., or by them in the sense of conforming to 
 them, as Grotius,&c. But the meaning given in the text seemsfar better. 
 
 t So far it seems to me that the text of the Authorized Version 
 is preferable to the marginal alternative. But the phrase as a 
 whole is otherAvise given very unhappily. In no way does it mean 
 " condescend to men of low estate," but rather to associate with 
 them. Condescension is quite contrary to the spirit the apostle would 
 have us cultivate: for it supposes the maintenance of worldly 
 superiority in our own hearts, because it means shewing kindnesa 
 to the lowly in a patronizing tone. The Lord guards the disciplea 
 against similar feelings and ways in Luke sxii. 25 — 27. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 247 
 
 thoughts and feelings, can one find the very opposite 
 so painfully as among the Rabbis. Their scorn for the 
 unlettered poor is unbounded. But indeed it is too 
 natural to man as such. Here we have exhortations to 
 Christians. He that saith he abideth in Him ought 
 himself so to walk even as He Avalked 
 
 Following up this the apostle says, " Be not wise in 
 your own eyes; recompensing to none evil for evil; pro- 
 viding things good before all men: if possible, as far as 
 concerneth you, being at peace with all men : not 
 avenging yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath, 
 for it is written, To me [belongeth] vengeance: I will 
 recompense, saith [the] Lord. If therefore thine 
 enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; 
 for, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his 
 head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with 
 good." (Ver. 16—21.) 
 
 Self-confidence is another and kindred danger, which in 
 such a world as this would soon ensnare the saint in re- 
 taliation. In every way contrariwise we are called to bo 
 witnesses, not of the first man, nor of the law, but of 
 Christ, and hence to be above suspicion before all men 
 in providing things good or comely (for such is the true 
 sense here, rather than benevolent) ; and this too in a 
 spirit of peace with all, as far as depends on us. 
 It is a solemn thought that wrath and vengeance 
 belong to God. It becomes us, instead of avenging 
 ourselves, to bend before the blast, looking to God ; nay, 
 to render service to an enemy in need and distress. 
 This will bring him to a point with God or with you : 
 if he melt, so much the better for all ; if he harden 
 himself, so much the worse for him. For the Chris- 
 tian it is exercise in the divine nature, that is in faitli 
 and patience and love. For the christian rule is Christ, 
 not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome it with 
 good. So God, in our own case as with all who love 
 Him, overcame our evil with His good in Christ our 
 Lord ; and now also He gives us to be imitators of Him 
 
248 ROMANS. 
 
 in grace, which wins the victory in His sight and to our 
 own consciousness, even when we may seem most down- 
 trodden before the world. Tor this is the victory that 
 overcometh the world, even our faith — of course faith 
 working through love. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The apostle next enters on the relation to worldly 
 authority of the saints, after treating of their attitude 
 toward all men as the witnesses of the good they had 
 learnt in Christ, where God overcame all evil with 
 His good, and privileges us as partakers of it both to 
 he active in it and to suffer for it. 
 
 " Let every soul he subject to authorities in power. 
 For there is no authority save from God, and those 
 that exist are ordered by God : so that he that setteth 
 himself against the authority resisteth the ordinance of 
 God, and those that resist shall receive judgment for 
 themselves. For rulers are not a fear for the good work 
 but for the evil.* Dost thou wish then not to be 
 afraid of the authority ? Do good, and thou shalt 
 • have praise from it; for it is God's servant to thee for 
 good; but if thou do evil, fear; for not in vain doth it 
 wear the sword ; for it is God's servant, an avenger for 
 wrath to him that doeth evil. Wherefore [it is] need- 
 ful to be subject not only on account of wrath but also 
 on account of conscience. For on this account ye pay 
 tribute also; for they are God's ministers attending 
 continually to this very thing." (Ver. 1 — 6.) 
 
 The holy wisdom of the exhortation is as worthy of 
 God, as the suitability of all that is taught is apparent 
 
 So it is in J^ A B D F G P, and other authorities, instead of 
 the common rwv ay. ep. d. t. k. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 249 
 
 for those who, though not of the world, yet have rela- 
 tive duties in it, as they wait for the Lord and are 
 called to do the ^vill of God meanwhile. By a gradual 
 transition we are bro,ught from not avenging ourselves, 
 and overcoming evil with good, as becomes the children 
 of God, to our relation to the authorities in the world 
 whose office it is to avenge evil, punishing evil-doers, 
 and praising those that do well. It was pre-eminently 
 in place from the apostle writing to the saints in the 
 great metropolis of the Gentile world, imperial Rome. 
 No otherwise had the apostle of the circumcision ex- 
 horted the christian Jews scattered over the East. The 
 falsehood, the folly, the impurity, the abominations of 
 the Gentiles would naturally expose those who mingled 
 their idolatries with the civil power to find the latter 
 jeoparded when souls discerned and rejected the former 
 in the light of Christ. Hence the exceeding moment 
 of pressing the place which worldly authority should 
 have in the conscience of the saints from among either 
 Jews or Gentiles as of God, spite of the heathenism of 
 those who were in possession of it. " Let every soul" 
 is more comprehensive (and I cannot doubt so intended 
 of the Spirit) than every saint. No position exempts. 
 The household too ought to feel it, children or other 
 dependent relations and servants, as well as believers. 
 It is laid down purposely in the broadest terms: com- 
 pare chapter ii. 9. If the verb be regarded as in the 
 middle voice, it would express the willingness of the 
 subjection so much the more strongly: just as the other 
 side, " he that sets himself against," is seen in verse 3. 
 
 Again," authorities in power" {i^ovaiai^ vyrepexovaai^) 
 is an expression that embraces every form of governing 
 power, monarchical, aristocratic, or republican. All 
 cavil on this score is therefore foreclosed. The Spirit 
 insists not merely on the divine right of kings but that 
 ** there is no authority except from God." Nor is there 
 an excuse on this plea for change; yet if a revolution 
 should overthrow one form and eet up another, tho 
 
250 ROMANS, 
 
 Christian's dnty is plain: "those that exist are or- 
 dained by God." His interests are elsewhere, are 
 heavenly, are in Christ ; his responsibility is to acknow- 
 ledge what is in power as a fact, trusting God as to 
 the consequences and in no case behaving as a partisan. 
 Never is he warranted in setting himself up against 
 the authority as such ; for this were to resist the ordi- 
 nances of God, and those that resist shall receive judg- 
 ment for themselves. For it is by no means " damnation,'* 
 but " sentence," or the charge for which he is con- 
 demned. Scripture is ever sober, as the apostle said he 
 •was, for our sakes: if he were ecstatic, it was for God, 
 as it might well be. Other scriptures shew that, where 
 the authority demands that which is offensive to Him, 
 as for instance that an apostle should speak no more 
 of Jesus or that a Christian should sacrifice to an idol 
 or an emperor, we must obey God rather than man, 
 but suffering, not resisting, if we cannot quietly leave 
 the scene of persecution. For it is evident that it is 
 impossible to plead God's authority for obeying a com- 
 mand which dishonours and denies Him. Every rela- 
 tion has its limits in conduct which virtually nullifies 
 it ; and that is a requirement which undermines its own 
 authority by antagonism to Him who set it up. But 
 Calvin seems to speak unwarrantably when he goes so 
 far as to say that tyrannies are not an ordained govern- 
 ment;* and those who listened to him or shared his 
 thoughts have proved that they did not count it beneath 
 Christians to take an active part in overthrowing what 
 they considered tyrannical. 
 
 * Nam etsi tyrannides ac dominationes inustae, quum plenae 
 sint ara^ias, non sunt ex ordinata gubernatione : ipsum tamen iu3 
 imperii in humani generis salutem a Deo ordinatum est Itaqua 
 quum et bella arcere et caeteris noxiis remedia quaerere liceat, 
 Apostolus magistratuum ius et imperium tanquam humano generi 
 utile, sponte et libenter a nobis suspici et coli iubet. Quas enim 
 Deus intligit poenas hominum peccatis, non proprie ordinationes 
 vocabimus, sed quae consulto media statuit ad legitimum ordinera 
 servandum." (Comment, in loco, i. 173.) 
 
CHAPTEB XIII. 251 
 
 It is a wholly inadequate apprehension to regard the 
 magistrate on the side of man only. Not that he may 
 not be chosen in ever so various a form by man, but 
 that he is God's servant, as here repeatedly said. He is 
 His servant for good, not for evil. But if you prac- 
 tise evil, what then ? Fear ; for not in vain does he 
 wear the sword ; for he is God's servant, an avenger for 
 wrath to him that does evil. To see God in the magis- 
 trate brings in conscience. Wherefore one must needs 
 be subject not only on account of wrath (this would 
 be merely a question of consequences from man), but 
 also on account of conscience. " For on this account 
 also ye pay tribute." This is connected with the fore- 
 going exhortation as to magistrates, and prepares the 
 way for more general relationships in the world. " For 
 they are God's ministers [or officers], attending diligently 
 unto this very thing." Thus they are designated God's 
 StaKovoi and also His \ei-ovp'^foi', the one as doing the 
 work prescribed to them in keeping the order of the 
 world in obedience to the laws, the other as public 
 functionaries or officially appointed to it. The payment 
 of ^opos was for the administration of government, a 
 tribute or tax on persons or property or both, as reXo? 
 was on merchandize and therefore fairly translated 
 " custom." Hence the apostle (ver. 7) exhorts, " Render 
 to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute, custom to 
 whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom ho- 
 nour." The greater and the lesser are thus taken in, each 
 in its just measure; which the Christian can heartily 
 pay, inasmuch as he is entitled to acknowledge God in 
 all without seeking anything for himself. For we are 
 here occupied with what is of God in the repression of 
 evil, and hence external to the proper sphere of christian 
 life, save as honouring God in every respect. 
 
 But next we enlarge yet more. " Owe no one any- 
 thing except to love one another; for he that loveth the 
 other [i.e. his neighbour] hath fulfilled law. For Thou 
 shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thoa 
 
252 ROMANS. 
 
 shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet, and if [there be] any- 
 other commandment, it is summed up in this word, 
 namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love 
 vvorketh no ill to the neighbour: love therefore [is] law's 
 fulfilment." (Ver. 8—10.) Thus the debt of love is the 
 only one which is legitimate and in honour, good among 
 men and acceptable to the Lord ; the debt we should 
 ever be paying, but never can pay off. Grace alone 
 gives the power, but law is fulfilled thereby and indeed 
 only thus. Law had continually claimed but never 
 found it. Those under the law were under obliga- 
 tion but were wholly unable to make it good. Grace 
 revealing Christ not only shews us His perfection and 
 fulness but forms the heart accordingly. The com- 
 mandments manwards are comprehended in loving one's 
 neighbour; so are those God ward in loving God. Thus, 
 what the law could not do in that it was weak through 
 the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of 
 flesh of sin and for sin condemned sin in the flesh ; in 
 order that the righteous demand of the law might be 
 fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the 
 Spirit. (Rom. viii. 3, 4.) 
 
 There is another powerful motive for the believer, the 
 nearness of that day when all that is not of Christ 
 must be detected and pass away. " And this, knowing 
 the meet time, that already [it is] time for you to be 
 aroused out of sleep ; for now [is] our salvation nearer 
 than when we believed. The night is far spent, and 
 the day is drawn nigh.* Let us cast away therefore the 
 
 * Calvin (in loco) understands by "night" ignorance of God, in 
 which lie the unbelieving, insensible to His truth and will; by 
 'light" the revelation of divine truth by which Christ rises like 
 the sun on us " Porro quoniam hie allegorica est, notare operae 
 pretium est quid singulae partes significent. Noctem vocat ignora- 
 tionem Dei, qua quicunque detinentur, veluti in nocte errant ac 
 dormiunt. Duobus enim istis malis laborant infideles, quia caeci 
 Buirt ac stupidi stuporem vero istum paulo post per somnnm de- 
 signat qui est (ut ille dicit) imago mortis. Lucem nominat divinae 
 veritatis revelationem, per quam sol iustitiaeChristus nobis exoutur:** 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 25i 
 
 works of darkness and put on the armour of light 
 Asin daylight letus walk becomingly, not in revelling and 
 drunkenness, not in chambering and lasciviousness, not 
 in strife and envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and take no forethought for the flesh for lusts." (Ver. 
 11 — 14.) For the earth the Sun of righteousness is 
 not yet risen ; for it the believer, though he has Christ 
 the trne light for himself, knows that it is night still. 
 Yet daylight has dawned and the morning star arisen 
 in his heart. Hence he sleeps not as do others ; or, if he 
 should, judges it as sin, for he is in the secret of the 
 Lord and is charged with the gravest mission of love 
 and holiness in the witnessing of His name as he passes 
 through the world. Man slumbers heedless of danger, 
 spite of solemn and reiterated warning. His evil con- 
 science forbids his crediting the grace which is in God; 
 his self-complacency blinds him to the moral beauty of 
 the dependent and obedient Man, as well as to his own 
 need of such a Saviour and such a salvation as God 
 urges on him; and so he sleeps on till he perishes, wak- 
 ing up too late to the truth he has rejected and the 
 grace he has slighted irreparably then. The believer 
 with his soul saved already looks for a salvation worthy 
 of Christ and of His redemption at His coming; and, 
 though the interval may seem long sometimes, he knows 
 that it is ever growing nearer. The works of darkness 
 are therefore wholly incongruous and must be cast 
 away. In such alas ! the Gentiles used to walk when 
 they lived in them ; even as the Jews under the law 
 occupied themselves with dead works. But now, dead 
 to them. Christians would put on the armour of light; and 
 though the day be not yet, they as children of it would 
 
 but the context proves that "night" here means the dark condition 
 of the world -while Christ is absent, "day" when He shall appear 
 the second time for salvation. For the believer it is no longer 
 night in the sense of ignorance of God, for him the light of day 
 already shines : so it is seen in the sense of realizing the heavenly 
 hops* 2 ret i. ISr 
 
254 ROMANS. 
 
 walk comelily as in its light. What have such to do 
 with revels and drinking bouts, with ways of lewdness 
 and lasciviousness, with strife and envy ? Are they not 
 the blessed saints of God in full view of the speedy 
 coming and day of the Lord ? How suitable the call 
 to put on the Lord Jesus Christ ! As we have Him in- 
 wardly our life, may we wear Him outwardly, cherish- 
 ing Him as our all, and make no provision for the flesh 
 with a view to lusts. This were to revive the old man 
 already crucified, to have believed and to hope in vain. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The apostle now proceeds to treat of a question exceed- 
 ingly delicate and critical, especially in days and 
 places where the saints consisted of any considerable 
 mixture of converts, brought out of systems so 
 opposed as those of Jews and Gentiles. What to the 
 strong in faith is an indifferent matter may trouble the 
 conscience of those who are weak, as the apostle here 
 distinguishes them. The weak were such Christians as 
 were still shackled in conscience by their old Jewish ob- 
 servances, as to days, meats, &c., by distinctions not 
 moral but ceremonial; the strong were those who saw 
 in their death with Christ the end to all such bondage 
 and enjoyed liberty in the Spirit. Carefully must we 
 guard against the offensive misinterpretation that the 
 weak mean those who tampered with evil. Contrariwise 
 so fearful were they of sin that they were needlessly 
 burdened and thus cherished a conscience not tender 
 only, which is of the utmost moment for all, but scru- 
 pulous. But they were in no way lax, which is 
 an evil of the greatest magnitude and only exaggerated, 
 not diminished, by increase of knowledge. The weak 
 were really ignorant of the liberty wherewith Christ 
 has set us free, and hence apt to burden themselves con- 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 255 
 
 tinnally where they might have found rest for their 
 Bouls. They knew not that His yoke is easy and 
 His burden light. 
 
 The practice to which brethren are called in such 
 matters is mutual forbearance (chaps, xiv., xv. 7), all 
 agreeing in doing what they do to the Lord, spite of 
 difference in judgment of what should be done. Room 
 is thus left for growth in knowledge as the word of God 
 opens to our faith, while conscience meanwhile is re- 
 spected. " Now him that is weak in faith receive, 
 not to decisions of reasonings. One believeth that he 
 may eat all things, *while he that is weak eateth herbs 
 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, 
 and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth; 
 for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest 
 another's servant? To his own master he standeth or 
 falleth; but he shall stand, for God is able to make him 
 stand. One esteemethf day above day, while another 
 esteemethf every day. Let each be fully persuaded in his 
 own mind. He that regardeth the day to [the] Lord 
 regardeth [it], [and he that regardeth not the day to the 
 Lord regardeth [it] not.]+ And he that eateth to [the] 
 
 * Calvin's criticism on tne clause clearly demonstrates his own 
 incompetence for questions of this sort. " In diversa lectione quid 
 sequitus fuerit Erasmus, non video. Mutilam enim sententiara 
 reddidit, quum plena sit in verbis Pauli ; et pro articulo relative 
 improprie posuit : Alius quidem credit. Nee illud asperum aut co- 
 actum videri debet, quod infinitivum pro imperativo accipio; 
 quoniam ista loquendi formula Paulo usitatissima est.'' There is no 
 difference of reading here ; and Erasmus is as right as Calvin is 
 "wrong. " Qui credit vescatur quibusvis" is a version so unfaithful 
 that even Beza must needs agree substantially with Erasmus 
 ■against his leader. The Vulgate ("credit se manducare") is an 
 instance that what seems most literal may be erroneous and 
 absurd. 
 
 t Literally, "judgeth." The word means originally to pick or 
 choose, hence to decide, sentence, prefer, or even condemn. 
 
 J The bracketed clause does not appear inJ«^ABCDEFG, 
 besides cursives, Vulg., Cop., Aeth., with various Greek and Latin 
 fathers. 
 
256 ROMANS. 
 
 Lord eateth, for he thanketh God; and he that eatetb 
 not to [the] Lord eateth not and thanketh God. For 
 none of us liveth to himself, and none to himself dieth; 
 for hoth if we live, to the Lord we live, and if we die, 
 to the Lord we die. Therefore, both whether we livi^ 
 and whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this 
 [end] Christ died and livedjf that he should rule over 
 both dead and living. And why dost thou judge thy 
 brother? or why dost thou too despise thy brother? 
 For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God. 
 For it is written, [As] I live, saith [the] Lord, to me 
 shall bend every knee, and every tongue shall confess to 
 God. So then each of us shall give account about 
 himself to God." (Ver. 1—12.) 
 
 It is obvious that the Gentiles, as having been out- 
 side the law, would be least affected by such scruples. 
 But the apostle puts the difference on a ground far 
 deeper and holier than any such accidental and circum- 
 stantial distinction after the flesh. A believer whether 
 a Jew or a Greek might freely realize his deliverance 
 from questions of meats or days. Not a few Gentiles in 
 those days knew the law and could not but feel the im- 
 measurable superiority of its institutions as compared 
 with the abominations of the heathen. So we might 
 have difficulty in understanding that those regulations 
 given by the true God through Moses to His people could 
 vanish away, null and void for the Christian. Hence 
 therefore we hear of him that is weak in the faith, as 
 the next chapter opens with the conduct which becomes 
 us who are strong in bearing the infirmities of the 
 weak, the apostle identifying himself of course with 
 such as see earthly restrictions at an end. But while 
 grace alone produces strength in the faith, there is far 
 more behind in the grace which produces it, and what 
 savours more characteristically of Christ. The know- 
 
 f The common reading has no serious support of manuscripts. 
 There is much discrepancy in the copies ; but the best text is what 
 I have here translated. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 257 
 
 ledge of faith is -good; the love that is of God, of which 
 Christ was the perfect expression, is still better; and he 
 who has that knowledge is above all called to walk in this 
 love, as indeed every one who is born of God must be. 
 The question of eating and days may concern the least 
 things, but it can only he rightly solved by the deepest 
 truth and the richest grace. . Both come through Jesus 
 Christ, and are the portion really of the Christian. But 
 how little Christians appreciated Christianity then, 
 how much less now ! 
 
 Undoubtedly then he who believed that he may eat 
 all things is far more right in thought than he who 
 makes a point of eating herbs. Still there was no 
 ground in such prejudices or in their absence for making 
 little of the weak and for judging the strong; for there 
 was a double danger of fault — to him who knew his 
 liberty, of despising the scrupulous ; to him who was 
 scrupulous, of judging censoriously the free. But such 
 weakness is no more folly than such strength is laxity ; 
 even as divine love is always holy while always free. 
 God has received the believer ; and this is said empha- 
 tically of him who was judged licentious by the weak ; as 
 the brethren on the other hand are called to accept, but 
 not to the determination of controversial questions, him 
 that is weak in the faith. How much ignorance the 
 Lord bears with in the most intelligent ! " Who art 
 thou that judgest another's servant ? To his own mas- 
 ter he standeth or falleth." He beautifully adds (in 
 answer doubtless to many a bitter anticipation of what 
 would be the end of their liberty) " and he shall be made 
 to stand; for the Lord is able to make him stand." 
 For the strong have no strength of their own, but 
 grace will hold them up. Would we wish it otherwise, 
 if it could be ? Do we not delight that all is of Him? 
 
 In speaking next of a day regarded above a day the 
 
 apostle enlarges. Giving up idols the Gentiles saw 
 
 nothing in one day more than another. The Jew was 
 
 naturally disposed to cling to old religious associations. 
 
 s 
 
258 ROMANS. 
 
 But in this the Lord's day is in no way included ; for it 
 rests on the highest sanction of the risen Lord (John 
 XX. 19, 20), confirmed by the Holy Ghost sent down 
 from heaven (Acts xx. 7; Cor. xvi. 2 ; Rev. i. 10), and 
 is no open matter as to which each is to be fully assured 
 in his own mind. For a Christian not to regard the 
 Lord's day would be a direct dishonour put on His own 
 special meeting with His disciples on that day, an open 
 slight to that witness of grace and of the new creation 
 (as the sabbath was of the old creation and of law). 
 Only we must bear in mind that, while some lower the 
 ground on which the Lord's day is observed by reduc- 
 ing it to the mere practice or authority of the church, 
 others unwittingly foist into Christianity what properly 
 belongs to man and Israel. But the Christian is not a 
 mere son of Adam or Israel. He is called out from 
 •both into an incomparably higher relationship. He is 
 dead and risen with Christ; and to this change the 
 Lord's day is not the least striking testimony. On it 
 the Lord proclaimed His brethren set in the same place 
 with His God and Father as Himself risen from the 
 dead. To confound the Lord's day with the sabbath is 
 to confound the gospel with the law, the Christian with 
 the Jew, Christ with Adam. The very absence of a 
 formal enactment in its case is admirably consistent 
 with its nature as contrasted with that day which sanc- 
 tified from the beginning, entered so prominently into 
 God's dealings with Israel as to be a sign between Him 
 and them. 
 
 Were the Lord in view then, it would be seen that 
 the eater eats to Him, for he gives God thanks, and the 
 abstainer abstains to Him and gives God thanks. The 
 truth is that we belong to Him, not to ourselves, either 
 in life or in death. Living or dying, it is to Him : 
 whether one or the other therefore, we are His and this 
 grounded on His dying and living (i.e. in resurrection), 
 the grand doctrine of this epistle and the basis of 
 Christianity. Thus is He Lord of all, dead and living. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 259 
 
 Hence one must be aware of meddling with His rights. 
 *' Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou 
 too despise thy brother ?" We are forgetting our place 
 and His, in thus turning either to the right or to the 
 left. 
 
 " For we shall stand before the judgment-seat of 
 Ood." To this end is cited Isaiah xlv. 24 : every knee 
 shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. 
 " So then each of us concerning himself shall give account 
 to God." How incongruous for one to judge^ for another 
 to despise ? We shall each give an account, and this 
 about ourselves and none else. To bring in Christ truly is 
 the due settlement of every question. To Him all bow 
 that believe, as all unbelievers must bow in that day 
 when He shall judge the quick and dead. The believer 
 comes not into judgment, but shall be manifested there 
 and give account When those who believe not give 
 account, it is judgment for them, and hence necessarily 
 condemnation ; for as they confess no Saviour, so they 
 can no longer hide their sins. What David deprecated 
 by the Spirit (Psalm cxliii. 2), we are assured by our 
 Lord Jesus, will not be our lot. (John v. 24.) Nor 
 does the believer need judgment to vindicate Jesus ; the 
 unbeliever does because he refuses His grace. Thus 
 admirably perfect are the ways of God with both, in 
 everyone and in everything glorifying Himself by Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. 
 
 From the account we shall render to God each con- 
 cerning himself, the apostle draws the conclusion, " Let 
 us not then judge one another any more, but judge this 
 rather, not to put a stumbling-block or an occasion of 
 fall before one's brother" (ver. 13): a principle as true 
 for the strong as for the weak ; for though the weak 
 were the more prone to judge, the strong to despise, 
 both are called to make this their determination, if they 
 would not be an occasion of stumbling or offence, 
 whether in act or thought. 
 
 Not but that the apostle had a judgment as to these 
 
260 ROMANS. 
 
 questions. He was clear as to the Lord's mind, but he 
 would not insist upon this at first, being more careful 
 that the affections should be right, than merely to lay 
 down an accurate judgment; and in truth it is thus 
 only that soundness in determining all questions can be 
 arrived at. Wrong feelings falsify the judgment, as on 
 the other hand, if the eye be single, the whole body 
 shall be full of light. When Christ is the object, the 
 path will be unmistakably clear. Hence we need One 
 to guard our hearts, and One only can, and He has 
 called us to liberty, but we need to watch that this liberty 
 be never perverted to license for ourselves any more 
 than to slight others. Love is the bond of perfectness. 
 Here the apostle says, " I know and am persuaded in 
 the Lord Jesus, that nothing [is] unclean of itself; ex- 
 cept to him that reckoneth anything to be unclean, to 
 him [it is] unclean." It is no question now of meats, 
 in which they who walked were not profited. It is a 
 good thing that the heart be established with grace. 
 The Lord Jesus is also the truth, and has put every- 
 thing in the light of God. But conscience must be 
 heeded, and the strong must be careful not to weaken or 
 wound another's conscience, whatever be his own con- 
 viction. " For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, 
 thou walkest no longer according to love." But love is 
 the energy of the divine nature in which the Spirit 
 guides, not in self-will. " Destroy not him with thy 
 meat for whom Christ died." The Holy Spirit speaks 
 according to the tendency of our conduct. Anything 
 that would stumble another tends to destroy. What a 
 mis judgment to insist upon liberty as to meat so as to 
 nullify the value of Christ's death as far as we can ! 
 Grace may, and no doubt does, deliver, but our misuse 
 of liberty remains no less guilty in the sight of God. 
 " Let not then your good be evil spoken of, for the 
 kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righte- 
 ousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." This is 
 a weighty practical truth, and we need, especially if we 
 
CHArTER XIV. 261 
 
 have knowledge, to guard against pressing anything 
 beyond those who are but ill-instructed. It was not so 
 that Christ walked and that God dealt with our own 
 souls. And now that Christ has revealed God, it is of 
 the deepest consequence that we insist only on what is 
 grace and what makes for edification. 
 
 The reader will observe how " the kingdom of God" 
 is used here, not so much dispensationally as morally. 
 Indeed it is so where the phrase occurs in Matthew, 
 who alone also uses the well-known formula " the 
 kingdom of heaven." Only the latter phrase invariably 
 occurs in a dispensational sense, and means that state 
 of things where the heavens rule now that Jesus is cast 
 out from the earth; first, while He is hid in God; 
 secondly, when He comes again in the clouds of heaven 
 with power and glory. But the kingdom of God might 
 be said to be already there, already come upon them, 
 when He, by the Spirit of God, cast out demons. The 
 kingdom of heaven, contrariwise, could not be said to have 
 come till He went on high. Thus the kingdom of God 
 might be used where the kingdom of heaven occurs but 
 also as here where it could not be. The apostle insists 
 that the kingdom of God cannot be lowered to that 
 which perishes with the using ; it is righteousness and 
 peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, the inward spirit and 
 practical power of the Christian. " For he that in 
 this serves Christ [is] acceptable to God and approved of 
 men." It is walking in the Spirit, in short, the true 
 guard against fulfilling any lust of the flesh. " Against 
 righteousness and peace and joy there is no law." 
 " Let us therefore pursue the things of peace and the 
 things of mutual edification." God Himself is the God 
 of peace, and the Lord is Himself the Lord of peace 
 who gives us peace continually in every way. Know- 
 ledge puffs up, love alone builds up. And as He builds 
 His church infallibly upon the rock, the confession of 
 His own name, so we, by the godly use of His name, 
 are called to build up one another. We can understand 
 
EOMANS. 
 
 therefore how impressively the apostle again urges, "Do 
 not for the sake of meat undo the work of God.'* 
 " All things indeed [are] clean." This is freely allowed 
 to the strong, but " it is evil to the man that eateth 
 with stumbling." This is the danger for the weak, 
 and love would lead the strong to consider the weak, 
 assuredly not to help the enemy against them. " [It is] 
 right not to eat meat nor to drink wine [nor anything] in 
 which thy brother stumbleth or is offended or is weak." 
 (Ver. 21.) There might be various degrees of danger; 
 but the only thing that becomes the saint in this is to 
 seek his brother's good. " Hast thou faith ? have [it] 
 to thyself before God: blessed he that judgeth not 
 himself in what he alloweth." To be strong in faith 
 then is right: only it should be conjoined with the 
 energy of love for those who are weak, guarding 
 against all boast also in that which is received by grace 
 from God. '' But he that doubteth is condemned if he 
 eat, because [it is] not of faith ; but whatever [is] not of 
 faith is sin :" a maxim often strained in ancient and 
 modern times to pronounce upon unbelievers and the 
 worthlessness of every act in their lives. But this is 
 clearly not in question here; rather is it a matter 
 between Christians, some of whom saw their liberty, 
 others being still in bondage. It is a great favour ta 
 enjoy the liberty of Christ in the smallest matters of 
 every-day life; but he who has entered into this is so 
 much the more bound to consider the believer who is 
 still hampered with doubts as to this or that. To imi- 
 tate liberty without believing its ground would be 
 to endanger the work of God. Grace respects the 
 conscience of him that doubts, and instead of trifling 
 with scruples would rather seek to lead into the due 
 application of Christ to the case by faith : without it all 
 is vain or worse. " Whatever is not of faith is sin." 
 
CHAPTER XV * 
 
 The apostle identifies himself with the strong, as indeed 
 might have been gathered from the latter part of 
 chapter xiv. 14 — 23. He had no difficulty himself as 
 to any creature of God; nevertheless he maintains the 
 claims of conscience inviolable in the weakest of the 
 saints, and, as we have seen, is anxious to settle, not so 
 much questions, as souls. He puts them all in direct 
 responsibility to Christ as Lord and in view of the 
 judgment-seat. Nevertheless the judgment he had 
 received by grace he does not withhold. Having stated 
 it however, he returns to the exercise of love. It would 
 be wretched and a mere triumph for the enemy to make 
 things in themselves indifferent an occasion of stumbling 
 and of sin. *' But we the strong ought to bear the 
 infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves." 
 (Ver. 1.) To press our own convictions is neither the 
 
 * It is well known that between chapters xiv. and xv. certain old 
 editors inserted (according to the testimony of many copies, ver- 
 sions, and fathers) the doxology of Romans xvi. 25 — 27. It was 
 not surprising that Matthsei, &c., keeping close to Constantinopolitan 
 manuscripts, adhered to them in this. But there is no sufficient 
 reason to disregard the weightiest witnesses of the ancient text, 
 confirmed as it is by the internal evidence. The Sinai, the Vatican 
 (1209), the Parisian palimpsest, the Clermont, and the St. Germain 
 Greco-Latin Uncials, with several good cursives (16. 80. 137. 176.), 
 the Vulgate, Peschito Syriac, Coptic, &c., give the passage at the 
 close of the epistle. The Alexandrian and the Porphyrian with 
 some other authorities have it in both positions, a corrector of the 
 Clermont MS in neither ; while Boerner's Uncial, now in Dresden, 
 leaves a vacant space at the end of chapter xiv. — the Augian of 
 Cambridge has a similar vacancy at the end of chapter xvi. ; as 
 opposed to Passionei's Cod. Angel. (^L., now belonging to the 
 Augustinian monks at Kome), backed up by about two hundred 
 cursives, &c. The insertion here is resisted by the connection of 
 the chapters; it is perfectly suitable at the end. The first seven 
 verses of our chapter conclude the subject under discussion, with 
 five transitional verses following which prepare the way for the 
 notices of his ministry among the Gentiles to the end of the 
 chapter. 
 
264 EOMANS. 
 
 divine nor the human way to convince : not the human, 
 because will only provokes will, and defers the end we 
 most desire ; not the divine, because it is not the way 
 of faith either on our part or on theirs whom we 
 hurry. How much better to walk in faith and 
 leave God room to act! He can and will give efficacy to 
 His own grace and truth. " Let each of us please his 
 neighbour for good unto edification." (Ver. 2.) Love is 
 better than knowledge, seeking not its own things but 
 those of others. " For the Christ also pleased not him- 
 self, but even as it is written. The reproaches of them 
 that reproached thee fell upon me." (Ver. 3.) Such was 
 the perfection of devoted love in Christ. He identified 
 Himself with God even as He was God. The zeal of His 
 Father's house ate Him up, and as the image of the 
 invisible God He bore the brunt of all that touched 
 God. How wondrous that we should now stand in a 
 similar place! Yet it is most consistent with the grace 
 which has made Him our life and given us the family 
 interests in all respects. 
 
 Thus, if we are called to be imitators of God as dear 
 children and walk in love even as Christ loved us, so 
 also to bear the world's enmity against God, as feeling 
 for Him and with Him in the midst of a gainsaying 
 generation. By grace we are one with Christ. In 
 practice too we are to cherish His portion here below; 
 and thus, what the Old Testament says of Christ, the 
 New says of the Christian. Hence all scripture is not 
 confounded but interwoven, and every scripture becomes 
 of the deepest interest and profit, to us above all who 
 are brought into such an identity of place with Christ. 
 " For as many things as were written before were 
 written for our instruction, that through endurance 
 and through the encouragement of the scriptures we 
 might have hope." (Ver. 4.) How gracious is God 
 and how rich His provision! We might have been un- 
 prepared and disheartened otherwise. We are here 
 shewn that the path of love is the path of Christ, and 
 
CHAPTER XV. 265 
 
 that patience as well as comfort are meant to be the 
 pathway in which we have our hope. Christ was the 
 perfect pattern of all patience. Near but how far off, 
 yet comparatively nearest to Him, come the apostles, 
 notably Paul himself. May we seek this. It is the 
 proof of power, and in the most excellent way. In the 
 world as it is, it is ever called for, in heaven no longer 
 needed. " May the Grod of endurance and comfort," says 
 he, " give you to be of the same mind one toward an- 
 other according to Christ Jesus ; that ye may with one 
 accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ver. 5, 6.) If Christ Jesus 
 engages the thoughts and mind of each, there will be the 
 same mind, and the God who made Him the channel, 
 as He was the only full expression of endurance and 
 comfort in a world full of misery, can give us to glorify 
 Him thus. Oneness of mind or feeling is an illusion 
 otherwise. Such unanimity glorifies the creature, the 
 first man, not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. We want no other motive, no object but Christ. 
 This alone glorifies God. " Wherefore receive one an- 
 other, even as the Christ also received you unto [the] 
 glory of God." Certainly Christ did not receive souls for 
 settling points of difference. He who died and rose for 
 us is above the controversies and the scruples and the 
 self-importance of men. Our best wisdom is to 
 worship and serve Him, who glorified God here below 
 and is now glorified by Him on high. But His glory is 
 a safeguard no less than a motive : for, if it blot out by its 
 brightness the questions which are apt to vex Christians 
 in the inverse ratio of their intrinsic importance, it dis- 
 plays the true significance of what is involved in that 
 which otherwise might seem of no moment. Who with- 
 out it could have conceived that the truth of the gospel 
 was compromised by Peter's no longer eating with 
 Gentile believers, after certain came to Antioch from 
 James ? Who would have written so peremptorily to 
 the elect lady and her children if one sought to visit 
 
266 ROMANS. 
 
 them who brought not the doctrine of Christ? To 
 receive such would have been to God's dishonour as dis- 
 tinctly as saints are to be received to His glory. Christ, 
 not this question or that, abides the only unerring test. 
 To receive one in His name is to God's glory, as surely 
 as to reject those who plead that they are Christians so 
 as to deny the Christ of God. 
 
 " For* I say that Christ became a minister of 
 circumcision for [the] truth of God to confirm the pro- 
 mises of the fathers, and that the Gentiles should glorify 
 God for mercy, according as it is written, For this 
 cause I will confess to thee among [the] Gentiles, and 
 will sing praises to thy name. And again he saith, 
 Rejoice, Gentiles, with His people; and again, Praise 
 the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud him, all ye peoples. 
 And again Esaias saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, 
 and one that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles : on him 
 shall [the] Gentiles hope." (Ver. 8—12.) It is plain here 
 that we approach the same twofold line as we have seen 
 from the beginning, where Jesus is viewed as Son of 
 David according to flesh, Son of God in power according 
 to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead. He 
 had been made a minister of circumcision for God's 
 truth in order to confirm the promises made to the 
 fathers; but also that the Gentiles should glorify God 
 for mercy. For the one there were definite covenant 
 grounds on which God entered with Israel : not so with 
 the others, who were dealt with in pure grace. To some 
 the latter may seem vague and insecure as compared 
 with the former ; but this only because God is feebly 
 known. In fact His grace flows without limit when the 
 people who had the promises rejected Him in whom alone 
 they can be made good; and as there is no limit to the 
 mercy of God, so there is no question of claim, com- 
 petency, or desert in our own. Thus, while it did not 
 become the Gentile believers to slight the Lord's con- 
 
 * Much the weightiest authorities give ydp, not 5e like the received, 
 text, which breaks or alters the connection. 
 
CHArXER XT. 267. 
 
 nection in flesh with Israel, it was of great moment 
 for the Jewish helievers to note that the ancient oracles 
 testified of that further outgoing in mercy when the 
 truth was overlooked hy, and unbearable to, self-com- 
 placent unbelief. The Psalms, the Law, and the Pro- 
 phets bore concurrent witness to that mercy toward 
 Gentiles which the Jew found it so hard to allow, save- 
 on conditions exalting to the first man instead of to the 
 praise of the Second. None goes so far as to teach the 
 one body of Christ in which all distinctions should dis- 
 appear. This was the mystery kept hid from the ages 
 and ages. But prophecy did declare mercy to Gentiles, 
 and joy with Israel, and Messiah their object of hope as- 
 well as Governor. The first citation is general ; the 
 second joins them in gladness with Israel ; the third 
 asserts the universality of the nations' praise ; the fourth 
 speaks distinctly of Messiah's ruling Gentiles and of 
 their hope founded on Him. The apostle makes no- 
 comment: the suggestion was plain, the bearing on the 
 actual state at Rome full of instruction tc such as had 
 ears to hear, clenching his previous exhortation. He 
 was led only to add the prayer, " And may the God of 
 peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye- 
 may abound in hope by [the] power of [the] Holy 
 Spirit." (Ver. 13.) Thus He who saves the believers 
 already justified to have peace with Himself through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ is entreated as " the God of peace " 
 to fill them with all joy and peace in believing. Settling 
 points of conscience however wisely could efi"ect no such 
 result ; whereas, when hearts are thus filled with divinely- 
 given happiness, not only do (Questions disappear with- 
 out controversy, but the power of the Holy Spirit vouch- 
 safes abounding hope, instead of a fleshly contest between 
 the past prestige of the Jew and the present privileges- 
 of Gentile saints. He who goes forward with the re- 
 vealed future in view will desire that whatever he does- 
 now, even in such matters as eating or drinking, may 
 be to God's glory, not occupying those who are to share 
 
268 BOMANS. 
 
 it with debates, but diffusing the joy and peace which 
 fill himself in believing. 
 
 The application we have seen of the Old Testament to 
 the actual call of Gentiles as well as Jews is the tran- 
 sition to a delicate, dignified, and withal affectionate 
 apology, if such it may be called, which the apostle 
 gives next. He explains why he had thus written to 
 the Christians in Rome, and why he had not yet visited 
 them, intimates what was in his heart as regards his 
 work in relation to them, and asks their prayers, add- 
 ing his own. 
 
 " But I am persuaded, my brethren, even I myself, 
 concerning you, that yourselves also are full of good- 
 ness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish 
 one another. But I have written more boldly to you 
 [brethren] in part, as putting you in mind because of 
 the grace given to me by God that I should be a 
 minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, carrying on 
 sacrificially the gospel of God, that the offering up of 
 the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by [the] Holy 
 Spirit. I have then my glorying in Christ Jesus in 
 the things that pertain to God." (Ver. 14 — 17.) 
 
 Thus the apostle lets these saints know, though a 
 stranger to them as a company, his own personal assur- 
 ance, spite of his strong expostulation and earnest 
 caution throughout the epistle, of that which grace 
 had already wrought among them in goodness and 
 knowledge as well as in ability to admonish one another. 
 As the apostle John tells the babes in his first epistle, 
 he had written, not because they did not know the 
 truth, but because they did. Yet he wrote the more 
 boldly in part as reminding them, because grace had 
 given him to be an official servant of Christ Jesus 
 to the Gentiles. They therefore came within his 
 domain ; but what tender consideration of others, what 
 confidence in the precious fruits of grace and truth, 
 and what a contrast with that haughty assumption 
 which was most of all to go forth from that very city 
 
CHAPTEn XV. 269 
 
 when at a later day she should sit as a harlot queen 
 and make men drunk with the wine of her fornication ! 
 
 It will be observed that there are energetic figures 
 employed here, as where the apostle describes himself 
 as Xeirovpr^ou X. 'I., and yet more, i€povp<^iovv7a to ev, 
 T. 0., and again, lua 7. 7} 7rpoa<popa t. iO. We can easily 
 understand how ritualism catches at such phrases to eke 
 out the semblance of a sacerdotal character for a servant 
 of the Lord Jesus. But it is vain. Far more dis- 
 tinctly and with less ambiguity does the Spirit assert a 
 priestly place for every Christian as such, as we may 
 see not only in words but in the standing and functions 
 to which all are called expressly; as in Hebrews x. 
 19—22, 1 Peter ii. 5—9, Revelation i. 6. The apostle 
 once more magnifies his office; and if the Roman 
 saints felt his weighty words, they must think of him 
 as a public servant of Christ Jesus, occupied with pre- 
 senting the Gentiles, that it might be an offering 
 acceptable to God ; as Aaron of old offered the Levites 
 before Jehovah for an offering of the sons of Israel^ 
 the Christians being sanctified by the Holy Spirit as the 
 Levites were by birth and ceremonial rites. The truth 
 is that in this context the apostle uses Xeirovprpjaai of 
 the Gentile believers serving the Jewish saints in 
 carnal things, as he has Xenovpr^ila in speaking of the 
 service of the Corinthian and Philippian saints. (2 Cor. 
 ix. 12, Phil. ii. 17, 25, 30.) Hence there is not the 
 smallest ground for confounding ministry with priest- 
 hood, or for the notion that scripture admits of a 
 sacerdotal caste between the Christian and God. On 
 the other hand no intelligent believer will weaken 
 either the perpetuity of christian ministry, or the 
 extraordinary place of apostles, above all of him who 
 was apostle not from men, nor through man, but by 
 Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from 
 the dead. Paul then had his ground of boasting in 
 Christ Jesus in the things regarding God. 
 
 " For I will not dare to speak of any of these things 
 
270 EOMANS. 
 
 which Christ did not effect by me for obedience of 
 Gentiles by word and deed, in [the] power of signs and 
 wonders, in [the] power of [the] Holy Spirit; so that 
 from Jerusalem and round about Illyricum I have fully 
 set forth the gospel of Christ; and so zealously aiming 
 to preach the gospel, not where Christ hath been named 
 that I might not build upon another's foundation, but 
 according as it is written, To whom it hath not been 
 told concerning him, they shall see; and they that 
 have not heard shall understand." (Ver. 18 — 21.) 
 
 Here he comes to matters of fact and how far the 
 mighty offering of the Gentiles had been waved before 
 the Lord. In a few pithy words and with the most 
 genuine modesty he sums up his life of labour in the 
 gospel. Truly it was Christ who effected it by Paul in 
 the power of the Spirit. His principle was to preach 
 Christ where His name was unknown, according to the 
 word of Jehovah in Isaiah lii. 1 5. The Roman saints 
 then could understand why he had been labouring 
 elsewhere rather than in the great city where from the 
 beginning of the gospel some seeds of the risen corn 
 of the land had taken root and borne fruit. Labour- 
 ing in the vast field where none had been borne he 
 adds, " wherefore also I have been often hindered from 
 coming unto you; but now having no longer place in 
 these regions and having a longing to come unto you 
 for many years whenever I go unto Spain ; for I hope 
 when I go through to see you and by you to be sent 
 forward thither if first I be in part filled with you 
 [i.e., your company]. But now I go unto Jerusalem 
 ministering to the saints; for Macedonia and Achaia 
 have been pleased to make a certain contribution for 
 the poor of the saints that [are] in Jerusalem. For 
 they have been pleased, and they are their debtors; for 
 if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, 
 they ought also in fleshly things to minister to them. 
 Having finished this then and sealed to them this fruit, 
 I will go away by you unto Spain ; and I know that 
 
CHAPTER XV. 271 
 
 on coming unto you I shall come in fulness of Christ's 
 blessing." 
 
 There is a time for all and a place for each, of which 
 the Lord only is absolute judge; but He does not fail 
 to give the sense of it to His servants: according to 
 the measure of their spirituality they will gather it. 
 The object which the Master had in view through the 
 apostle being now achieved, he had no longer place in 
 the East; and the old longing to visit the saints at 
 Rome, often hindered, came up again when he proposed 
 to go onward to Spain. For, it will be observed, Spain, 
 not Rome, was the point sought, doubtless according 
 to the measure of the rule which God apportioned him. 
 His eye was on the regions beyond, but he hoped by 
 the way to see the Roman saints and by them to be 
 sent forward thither " if first I be in part filled with 
 your company," for he will not allow that any time 
 could exhaust his love for them or enjoyment of con- 
 verse with them: hence he says, if I be in part " filled 
 with you." Meanwhile he was engaged in an errand 
 of compassion for the poor of the saints at Jerusalem. 
 The saints of Macedonia and Achaia (at that time the 
 two provinces into which the Romans long before sepa- 
 rated Greece politically) had raised means to help their 
 brethren ; and this the apostle treats rather as a debt of 
 love than its simple outflow. If the Gentiles were 
 partakers in the spiritual privileges of the Jews, ought 
 they not to remember their poor saints in fleshly things ? 
 They were pleased, he repeats, but they are their 
 debtors. Grace pleads powerfully, for it sees with 
 single eye and desires the reciprocation of love which 
 exercises and unites the heart in all that are of God. 
 The least things as well as the greatest afford the 
 materials ; and he who does not think a deacon's service 
 beneath an apostle was inspired to write of all for our 
 edification, assured of a fulness of Christ's blessing 
 for saints at Rome when he came. Whether he 
 attained his desire to visit Spain may be a question, as 
 
272 ROMANS. 
 
 many have doubted it, though one may not be prepared 
 to affirm it. Much depends on the point so much con- 
 tested of a second imprisonment in Rome and that 
 which filled up the interval of the apostle's free labours 
 after the first. Certain it is that he came to Rome, 
 when he did, differently from his expectations, a prisoner 
 of Jesus Christ; but was it with less blessing? 
 
 " Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive 
 together with me in your prayers to God for me ; that 
 I may be delivered from them that do not believe in 
 Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jeru- 
 salem may be accepted of the saints ; that I may come 
 unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with 
 you be refreshed." (Ver. 30—32.) 
 
 It is sweet to find the earnest desire of the great 
 «postle for the prayers of the saints, even of those he 
 had never visited. But the knowledge of Christ, whilst 
 it fills the soul with happiness, knits us up with all that 
 are His, and enhances in our eyes the value of their 
 prayers, always effectual on the part of godly men of 
 all ages. Again, the Spirit, as He comes the witness, 
 and power of divine love in its perfection, so produces 
 unselfish working of affection Godward as well as 
 toward man. He sought their striving together with 
 him in prayers to God for him : first, that he might be 
 saved from those that believe not in Judea, ever implac- 
 able toward him who was once a leader of their unbelief, 
 now a champion of the grace they hated; secondly, 
 that his ministry for Jerusalem might be acceptable to 
 the saints, for alas ! the unbelief of believers, especially 
 the Jewish ones, wrought deeply against the apostle, 
 and none the less because he loved them so well and 
 laboured for the relief of their need, in which this 
 ministry of his consisted (Gal. ii.); and both these, in 
 order that he might come in joy to the saints at Rome 
 by the will of God, " that I may be refreshed with you " 
 (not merely you by me) added and most truly felt. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 273 
 
 How forcibly he closes this with " May the God of 
 peace [be] with you all. Amen." (Ver. 33.) To seek 
 the peaceful blessing of others is the happy pathway 
 where the God of peace is with us. May we and all 
 saints have Him thus ! 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Apostolic salutations follow. Not that the apostle 
 had been to Rome, still less had he wrought there, but 
 this the more illustrates the principle. There are such 
 links of labour, and a special tie with the saints to 
 which one is blessed of God. But the divine bond of 
 love is both deeper and larger than that which is or- 
 dinarily recognized by christian men. Love is of God 
 and goes out to all who are of God, yea, beyond them, in 
 the overflowing of divine grace that seeks to save the 
 lost. Besides, the apostle fully realizes his relationship 
 as to the letting out of his heart among Gentiles, and so, 
 as writing to the Christians in this city, the metropolis 
 of the world, the wisdom of God had taken care that, 
 boastful as it was, and far more boastful as it was 
 going to be when the church utterly sunk into the 
 world's ways and desires and ignorance of God, they 
 should not truly boast of an apostolic foundation. The 
 message ot grace in redemption was carried to Rome, 
 but it would seem rather by indirect means than by the 
 express visit of any among the more known labourers 
 of the Lord, still less by an apostle. That it was 
 founded or governed by Peter is a mere fable, resting 
 on no evidence save of fathers, whose statement as to 
 facts in those early days is egregiously unreliable, and 
 openly at variance with the inspired record. Peter was 
 apostle of the circumcision, whether in Palestine or out 
 of it, and where we do hear of his work outside, it is 
 
 T 
 
274: HOMANS. 
 
 with the believers from among the Jews, according to 
 the arrangement agreed on (doubtless by the Spirit of 
 God) with the apostle Paul who had the apostolate of 
 the uncircumcision ; and this very epistle gives unques- 
 tionable evidence that Paul had not as yet visited 
 Rome, though he fully recognizes the saints already 
 there. It is possible those who first carried the gospel 
 thither may have been the Romans sojourning in Jeru- 
 salem on the day of Pentecost. (Acts ii. 10.) Certainly 
 there were then dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, pious 
 men, from every nation of those under heaven, and one 
 cannot doubt that their visits or return or even com- 
 munications to their own lands would help to spread 
 the gospel far and wide. ' 
 
 However this may be, the apostle goes into remark- 
 able detail in his salutations to those at Rome. *' Now 
 I commend to you Phoebe our sister, being minister* of 
 the assembly that is in Cenchreae, that ye may receive 
 her in [the] Lord, worthily of the saints, and ass'ist her 
 in whatever matter she hath need of you; for she also 
 hath been a helper of many and of myself." (Ver. 1, 2.) 
 We know from elsewhere that elderly females, especially 
 widows, held a position official or quasi-official in which 
 they rendered service to the assembly where they lived. 
 A deaconess such as Phoebe was distinct from these 
 widows ; but the one illustrates the other : the value of 
 this would be specially felt of old before Christianity 
 had vindicated the place of women, and this too, par- 
 ticularly in the east as well as in dissolute Greece. 
 Indeed at all times and in all places there are functions 
 to be discharged from time to time more fittingly by a 
 godly female rather than by any man, however pure- 
 minded or elderly. Phoebe was one of these in the 
 assembly of the port of Corinth — Cenchreae. As she 
 
 • It may be interesting to some to hear that Pliny, in his letter 
 to the emperor Trajan, speaks of two maids who were ministers of 
 the church, using the Latin term exactly corresponding to the Greek 
 of the apostle. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 275 
 
 had thus been honoured of the Lord and recognized by 
 His chief servants in the ordinary circle of her christian 
 duty, so the apostle now introduces her thus to the 
 saints at Rome that they might receive her in a becom- 
 ing sort, and this, not merely in spiritual things but 
 in whatever business she might need their help, for she 
 too, as he affectionately adds, had been a helper of many 
 and of himself. 
 
 " Salute Prisca* and Aquila my fellow-workers in 
 Christ Jesus (which [ofT/j/evf] for my life staked their 
 own neck, to whom [or?-}-] not I only give thanks, but 
 also all the assemblies of the Gentiles), and the assembly 
 at their house." (Ver. 3 — 5.) Here the apostle stamps 
 them as his fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, the more 
 carefully because Aquila and he had wrought in the same 
 trade of tent-makers; but the natural occupation disap- 
 pears, however rightly noticed in its own placp. Grace 
 acknowledges this converted godly Jew and his wife, 
 not only as workers in Christ Jesus, but as fellow- 
 workers with the apostle. Nor this alone; they had for 
 his life risked their own neck, and thus earned the 
 thankfulness not of himself only, but of all the assemblies 
 of the Gentiles too. Further, he salutes the assembly 
 also in their house. The trade of tent-maker, if pur- 
 sued at Rome, would naturally furnish him with a large 
 room, where not a few might assemble. We know that 
 for a considerable time after this Christians were in the 
 habit of so meeting, as is shewn for example in the 
 answer of Justin M. to the prefect Rusticus. 
 
 " Salute Epaenetus, my beloved, who is [the] first- 
 fruits of Asia for Christ." Achaia in the received text 
 is wrong. The household of Stephanus were the first- 
 fruits there, as we know from 1 Corinthians xvi. 16. The 
 
 • Such seems the best reading here, 1 Corinthians x^^. 19, and 
 in 2 Timothy iv. 19. In Acts xviii. 2, 18, 26, it is rather Priscilla, 
 the diminutive form, but the same name. 
 
 t The reader -will notice, as has been often done, the difference of 
 character and fact in verse 4, and also 7. 
 
276 ROMANS. 
 
 apostle could not say that Epaenetus devoted himself in 
 an orderly way to the service of the saints like the 
 Achaian household ; but at any rate he is not without 
 honour in the Lord nor without the apostle's special 
 afifection. 
 
 " Salute Maria" (or Mary ; the reading differs), 
 " who laboured much for you." (Ver. 6.) It seems a 
 question whether it be not us. Much as the apostle 
 might value this, his loving heart delighted in her 
 abundant labour for them. 
 
 " Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and 
 fellow captives which [otTii/es] are of note among the 
 apostles, who [©r] also were before me in Christ." 
 (Ver. 7.) We see how the apostle delights in noticing 
 every distinctive form of service, relation, or fellowship. 
 
 " Salute Amplias,* my beloved in f^^^] Lord. 
 Salute Urban, our fellow-workman in Christ ; and 
 Stachys, my beloved." (Ver. 8, 9.) The reader will 
 notice the shades of difference which love marks ; for 
 being unselfish it can see clearly, and promotes love 
 and honour among the saints, being above the unworthy 
 pettiness which disparages what we may not have our- 
 selves or like not others to have. 
 
 *' Salute Apelles,"]* the approved in Christ. Salute those 
 that belongto Aristobulus. Salute Herodion my kinsman. 
 Salute those belonging to Narcissus that are in [the] 
 Lord." (Ver. 10, 11.) Still do we find love, but it 
 is discriminating no less than unfeigned. He who 
 had stood trial for Christ is mentioned with honour; 
 but the kinsman of Paul is not forgotten. He would 
 conciliate his brethren after the flesh by thus naming 
 
 * The Sinaitic, Alexandrian, Vatican and others read *Afiir\iaTou. 
 A similar remark applies to this probably as to Prisca and Priscilla. 
 
 t Origen suggests, without the smallest reason save the similarity 
 of the name and the distinction attached to it, that this may have 
 been Apollos ! I think it right to name such facts that the reader 
 may know the guesswork of these ecclesiastical writers even as 
 early as the third century. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 277 
 
 one who was a Christian. Nor are certain great 
 names without witnesses for Christ, even if Narcissus 
 be not the famous freedman of Claudius executed some 
 few years before the epistle was written. (Suet. Claud. 
 28; Tac. Ann. xiii. 1.) 
 
 " Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, that laboured in 
 [the] Lord. Salute Persis the beloved, which (?yTfs) 
 laboured much in [the] Lord. Salute Rufus, the elect 
 in [the] Lord, and his mother and mine." (Ver. 12, 13.) 
 Those christian sisters are here graciously named, but 
 with due meed, those as labouring, this as having laboured 
 much in the Lord : the two former as at present in the 
 work ; the latter for her past and great service. Christ 
 opens the heart and mouth in the fullest recognition of 
 work for His name; but He purges our dim eyes 
 also. Nor had He forgotten Simon the passing Cyre- 
 nian, who, as he came from the field, was compelled 
 to carry the cross by the mob of soldiers and others as 
 they led Jesus out to His crucifixion. The Lord re- 
 paid with interest the burden of that day. Compare 
 Mark xv. 21. Rnfus is here before us "the elect in 
 [the] Lord," and his mother who had been as such to 
 the apostle. Salvation came to that house. 
 
 " Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, 
 Hermas, and the brethren with them. Salute Philologus, 
 and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and 
 all the saints with them." (Ver. 14, 15.) The names of 
 these Christians follow without specific notice, and 
 among them one to whom many have attributed the 
 allegory of the " Shepherd," read in the assemblies of 
 the third and fourth centuries. But Origen and Euse- 
 bius err in their identification ; for Hermas the author 
 wrote about a century after the Epistle to the Romans 
 was written, his brother Pius being then bishop of 
 Rome. 
 
 " Salute one another with an holy kiss; all the 
 assemblies of Christ greet you." (Ver. 16.) The Roman 
 saints were enjoined to manifest mutual love in the Lord ; 
 t2 
 
278 ROMANS. 
 
 and the apostle sends greeting from all* the assemblies 
 of Christ. Who knew their minds and hearts better ? 
 He who wrought and wrote by Paul; He would keep 
 the saints in the interchange of true and warm 
 but holy affection in His grace. 
 
 It is not all, however, the joy of love in these conclud- 
 ing messages of the apostle. The largeness of his 
 heart had delighted to take note of whatsoever things 
 were true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report; 
 if there was any virtue, if there was any praise, he 
 thought on these things in writing to the saints at 
 Rome, and inscribed a memorial of Christ on each 
 name which came before his spirit. But there were 
 other things very different, men of a temper and state 
 diverse from those and wholly opposed to Christ. It 
 needed, however, the power of the Spirit to detect these 
 in their beginnings, and to descry both the character 
 and the end of all such ways. For I cannot accept the 
 notion of Olshausen, that the persons, against whom 
 the apostle warns the saints in Rome, had not yet 
 made their appearance there. The circumstance that 
 it is only at the end of the epistle that we find a short 
 admonition against divisions couched in general lan- 
 guage, so far from being decisive, is no evidence at all 
 that the persons in question did not actually exist at 
 Rome. Such is not the way of the Spirit of God. He 
 may speak prophetically, but He starts from an actual 
 ground-work of hostility to the Lord and of danger to the 
 saints. Naturally the evil would develope itself worse 
 and worse, but in the epistles especially, as in scripture 
 generally, there was moral mischief before His eyes at 
 that time, which awakened His care for the saints, as 
 to which He gives them admonition. 
 
 " But I beseech you, brethren, to consider those that 
 
 * Copyists seem to have regarded the apostle's word as over- 
 strong; and have tried to soften by omitting iracrai " all.'' But he 
 could speak from a large sphere without hesitation. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 279 
 
 make the* divisions and the* stumbling-blocks con- 
 trary to the doctrine which ye have learnt, and turn 
 away from them; for such serve not our Lord Christ 
 but their own belly, and by their plausibility and fair- 
 speaking deceive the hearts of the guileless. For your 
 obedience has reached unto all: as regards you there- 
 fore I rejoice, but I wish you to be wise unto the good 
 and simple unto the evil. And the God of peace shall 
 bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you." (Ver. 17—20.) 
 
 Insubjection of spirit is a dangerous thing among 
 those who teach in public or in private, and quite as 
 much in private only as in public. It is truth severed 
 from Christ and that consciousness of divine authority 
 and of dependence on grace which we all need to keep 
 us right, most of all perhaps those who teach. Few 
 men are in such danger of mental activity in divine 
 things ; and this not merely because of self-importance 
 on their own part, but from the desire to satisfy the 
 craving for what is new among the saints themselves. 
 The excitement of novelty is apt to carry away the 
 natural mind, especially among the weak, to the hurt 
 of all, both teachers and taught. Divine revelation, 
 not human thoughts about it, alone secures the glory 
 of Christ and the well-being of souls. As the Holy 
 Spirit wrote it to this end, so He alone can make it 
 good in practice. Mental activity gathers round its 
 own source and forms a school; truth wielded by the 
 Spirit judges the flesh in its most specious form, 
 nourishes the new man, and builds up the body of 
 Christ to God's glory. 
 
 The brethren then are besought to beware of such as 
 made these divisions and stumbling-blocks. What 
 they had already learnt would serve as a test for these 
 
 * The actuality of the mischief at work in Rome would seem to be 
 confirmed by the article in this place. Had it been merely cha- 
 racteristic tendency or a possible contingency not yet arrived, I 
 think that the construction would have been anarthrous. 
 
280 noMANs. 
 
 piquant statements which pampered nature under the 
 show of utterly condemning it. Even asceticism is 
 not the denial of self, still less is it Christ. The seem- 
 ingly opposite snare of doing good in the world on a 
 grand scale by the truth is yet more evidently apart 
 from the cross and contrary to it. Whatever be the 
 shape of contrariety to the doctrine we have been 
 taught, the duty of saints is to turn away; for they 
 that are such are slaves not to our Lord Christ, but to 
 their own belly: so contemptuously does the Holy 
 Spirit characterize their work, let it be ever so refined 
 in appearance, let it ever so loudly boast of its own 
 superior spirituality. But not he who commendeth 
 himself, but whom the Lord commendeth. Still the 
 hearts of the guileless are in danger of being deceived 
 by the plausibility^ and fair-speaking of these makers of 
 parties, and are warned accordingly. For the spirit of 
 obedience which those teachers lacked exposed them 
 with the taught if not accompanied with vigilance; I say 
 not suspiciousness, for this is an unmitigated evil and 
 the fruit of a corrupt heart, not the holy action of faith, 
 jealous for the glory of the Lord and the good of saints. 
 If therefore those at Eome were conspicuous for their 
 obedience, it was only a reason for the apostle not to 
 weaken that which was truly of God, but to guard it 
 by what is equally so. " As regards (or, over) you I 
 rejoice; but I wish you to be wise as to the good and 
 simple as to the evil." Such is the divine remedy, even 
 as our Lord Himself put it figuratively in Matthew x. 
 16; combining the prudence of the serpent with the 
 harmlessness (or simplicity, it is the same word) of the 
 dove. Human wisdom seeks to guard itself by a 
 thorough knowledge of the world and of all evil ways. 
 This is not the wisdom that cometh down from above, 
 but earthly, natural, devilish. The wisdom from above 
 is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, yielding, full of 
 mercy and good fruits, uncontentious and unfeigned. 
 It needs not to cultivate acquaintance with evil; it 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 281 
 
 knows good in Christ, it is satisfied and adores. It 
 hears and loves the shepherd's voice; a stranger's voice 
 it knows not, and will not follow. And this, as it suits 
 the simplest soul brought to the knowledge of God, it 
 may be to-day, so it alone becomes the wisest, because 
 it alone glorifies the Lord, as indeed it is the only path 
 of safety for us, being such as we are and in such a 
 world. For in it evil as yet has the upper hand, though 
 the believer has the secret of victory over it, already 
 vanquished in the cross of Christ. Still nothing as yet 
 appears of that victory as a whole, whatever be the 
 testimony of faith, at that time too not without ex- 
 ternal signs to unbelief; but in the midst of the conflict 
 the heart is comforted and cheered, for the God of peace 
 shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly. The first 
 revelation of grace may to our impatience seem to 
 linger, but faith can rest upon the word " shortly." 
 Faithful is He who hath called us, and spoken it, who 
 also will do it. This draws out afresh the prayer of the 
 apostle, " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with 
 you : " they needed it, and so do we. 
 
 The apostle then sends the salutations of others 
 around him. 
 
 " There saluteth you Timothy my work-fellow, and 
 Lucius and Jason and Sosipater my kinsmen." (Ver. 
 21.) Faith wrought at all times the first link with 
 God for a soul outside of this fallen world, and this is 
 brought into greater simplicity and strength than ever 
 by the gospel. But the gospel produces a fellowship 
 of heart, little if at all known before it. Hence the 
 place and moment of these mutual salutations, 
 
 " I Tertius, who wrote the epistle, salute you in [the] 
 Lord." (Ver. 22.) The epistle to the Romans was not, 
 like that to the Galatians, written by the apostle's own 
 hand, but dictated to an amanuensis, as indeed was the 
 ordinary practice of Paul. (Cf. 2 Thess. iii. 17.) Love 
 however gave him who wrote it down a place for 
 christian greeting. 
 
282 ROMANS. 
 
 " There saluteth yon Gaius, the host of me and th& 
 "whole church. There saluteth you Erastus the steward 
 of the city, and Quartus the brother. The grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen." In Gaiu& 
 we see how Christ becomes the spring of large and holy 
 hospitality. Erastus is the witness that conscience is- 
 not forced or hurried ; not only was he the steward of 
 the city, but he is expressly so described in scripture. 
 Such a position in heathen times especially would ex- 
 pose him who held it to difficulties and dangers. But 
 christian conduct should ever flow from the intelligent 
 sense of our relationship to God and of the claims of 
 His truth and grace. In order to this, room must be left 
 for growth and the exercise of right and godly feeling. 
 Quartus has his place in scripture as **the brother," 
 traditionally, of course, one of the seventy, as most of 
 the unknown names here are fabled to have been, and 
 afterwards bishop of Berytus. These salutations too 
 the apostle seals with the same benediction and, if 
 possible, more fervently, " The grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ be with you all. Amen." 
 
 Even so he cannot close this most comprehensive 
 epistle without a burst of adoration, which serves the 
 important purpose of linking on this unfolding of the 
 gospel in its simplest elements, its practical results, its 
 connection with the dispensations of God, and the duties 
 consequent upon its reception, with the revelation of the 
 mystery given in some of his later epistles, especially 
 to the Ephesians and Colossians. 
 
 ** Now to him that is able to establish you according 
 to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ ac- 
 cording to [the] revelation of [the] mystery kept in 
 silence in times of the ages but now manifested and by 
 prophetic scriptures according to commandment of the 
 everlasting God made known for obedience of faith 
 Tinto all the Gentiles, to God only wise, through Jesus 
 Christ, to whom [be] the glory unto the ages of the ages- 
 (or, for ever), Amen." (Ver. 25—27.) 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 283 
 
 To tlie Roman saints the apostle does not develope the 
 mystery. The gospel of the glory of Christ he proclaims 
 to others. (2 Cor. iv.) Each aspect has its appropriate 
 application. The heavenly side is not for all the most 
 wholesome. Here they had a more primary and funda- 
 mental need, and this he has here supplied by unfolding 
 to their souls the bearing of Christ's death and resur- 
 rection on their wants, first as sinners, then as saints. 
 But the heavenly privileges of the Church are only 
 alluded to, not set out. There is a season for every- 
 thing, and the highest truth is not always the most 
 important for the exigencies of souls. To the Ephesians 
 he could disclose all the heavenly privileges of the 
 body of Christ. To the Colossians, just because they 
 were in danger of turning aside for philosophy and 
 earthly ordinances of a religious character (for both 
 snares were laid for their feet), he could and did bring 
 out the glory of Christ as the head of the church, and 
 indeed His divine fulness in all respects, but it was 
 meat in due season to feed the Roman saints rather on 
 Christ dead and risen. However, here at the close, he 
 alludes to a mystery as to which silence had been kept 
 in the course of ages, but now manifested and by means 
 of prophetic scriptures made known unto all the Gentiles 
 in order to obedience of faith. Carefully remark that 
 the true word and thought is "prophetic scripturos," 
 that is, not " the scriptures of the prophets " or Old 
 Testament, but those of the New Testament, for we 
 are built upon the foundation of the apostles and pro- 
 phets. Paul's writings, for instance, are prophetic 
 scriptures, and in some of these the mystery of Christ 
 and the church is fully made known, not merely 
 touched on as in Romans xii. 5. This is according 
 to commandment of the everlasting God; for the 
 mystery, if the last in revelation, is first in purpose. 
 Between them lay the times of the ages during which 
 creature responsibility was fully tested and proved 
 wanting; then, grounded upon the cross of Christ, 
 
284 EOMANS. 
 
 exalted to heaven, is revealed the mystery, and this 
 is during the days, not of the law given by Moses, but of 
 gospel mission to all the Gentiles for obedience of faith, 
 wherein God proves Himself alone wise, no less than 
 good, through Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory for 
 ever. Amen. 
 
 The temporal ways of God were bound up with 
 Israel and the earth. The mystery attaches to heaven 
 and eternity, though the message of it is sent out to all 
 the nations. 
 
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 * And it was given to her that she 
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 1^ And I saw the heaven opened, 
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 13 but himself, and clothed with a 
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 1* And the armies which [are] in the 
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 and he shall shepherd them with 
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 ™ Some add ' as.' 
 
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 18 wrath of God the Almighty. And 
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 and bond, and both small and 
 great. 
 
 13 And I saw the beast and the 
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 war against him that sat upon 
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 20 And the beast was taken, and the 
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 by which he deceived them that 
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 and those that worship p his image. 
 Alive were both cast into the lake 
 of fire which burns with brim- 
 
 21 stone ; and the rest were slain 
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 XX. And I saw an angel descend- 
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 1 Last interview with a servant 
 
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 Wind 
 
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 37 " Unto you which Believe," 
 
 &c. 
 
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 39 The Christian 
 
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 42 "What time I am afraid I 
 
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 43 My Ain Countree 
 
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 50 "What is that to thee?" 
 
 Follow thou me 
 
 51 Careful for nothing 
 
 52 In the plains of Jordan 
 
 53 If you love me lean hard 
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