The . 
 
 NewCentury 
 
 Bible 
 
 Rom 
 
 ans 
 
* MAR 20 1906 *] 
 
 kc:QM. SE«#^ 
 
 Division i 
 Section 
 
The following thirteen volumes^ comprising the zvhole 
 New Testament, have already been arranged for. 
 
 1. MATTHEW, by Prof. W. F. Slater, M.A. 
 
 2. MARK, by Principal Salmond, D.D. 
 
 3. LUKE, by Prof. W. F. Adeney, M.A. 
 
 4. JOHN, by the Rev. J. A. McClymont, D.D. 
 
 5. ACTS, by Prof. J. Vernon Bartlet, M.A. 
 
 6. ROMANS, by the Rev. A. E. Garvie, M.A., B.D. 
 
 7. I AND II CORINTHIANS, by Prof. J. Massie, M.A. 
 
 8. PHILIPPIANS, EPHESIANS, COLOSSIANS, PHIL- 
 
 EMON, by the Rev. G. Currie Martin, M.A., B.D. 
 
 9. I AND II THESSALONIANS, GALATIANS, by Prof. 
 
 W. F. Adeney, M.A. 
 
 10. THE PASTORAL EPISTLES, by the Rev. R. F. 
 
 Horton, M.A., D.D. 
 
 11. HEBREWS, by Prof. A. S. Peake, M.A. 
 
 12. THE GENERAL EPISTLES, by Prof.W. H. Bennett, 
 
 M.A. 
 
 13. REVELATION, by the Rev. C. Anderson Scott, 
 
 M.A. 
 
THE NEW-CENTURY BIBLE 
 
 ROMANS 
 
General Editor : Prof. W. F. Adeney 
 
 (Rotnana 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 AUTHORIZED VERSION 
 
 REVISED VERSION WITH NOTES 
 
 INDEX AND MAP 
 
 >^ EDITED BY 
 
 ALFRED E. GARVIE,M.A.(Oxon),B.D.(Glas.) 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'the ETHICS OF TFMPF.RANCE * 
 AND ' THE KITSCHLIAN THEOLOGY ' 
 
 NEW YORK: HENRY FROWDE 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, AMERICAN BRANCH 
 
 EDINBURGH : T. C. & E. C. JACK 
 
The Revised Version is _printed by permissio7i of the 
 Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 While a number of commentaries on Romans have 
 been consulted in the preparation of this volume, 
 the writer desires especially to acknowledge his in- 
 debtedness to the International Critical Commentary 
 by Sanday and Headlam, which he has found of excep- 
 tional value in its references to contemporary Jewish 
 thought and literature, its quotations from monumental 
 inscriptions, and its discussion of the meaning of 
 words. As the text of the Revised Version has been 
 assumed as the basis of the commentary, only variant 
 readings or renderings of very great interest or impor- 
 tance have been discussed. The aim throughout 
 has been to render the thought of Paul not only 
 intelligible but 'worthy of all acceptation' even by 
 minds that have been influenced by modern intellectual 
 tendencies. 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. The Apostle Paul. 
 
 I. There are three factors in Paul's personal develop- 
 ment up to the time of his conversion to which, according 
 to his own testimony, importance must be assigned. First 
 of all, he was a Jew by race, a Hebrew in his speech (using 
 Aramaic and not Greek only, as many of the Jews living 
 abroad did), a Pharisee in religion. From youth brought 
 up in Jerusalem in the school of Gamaliel, he was zealous 
 for the law of Moses, the customs and ordinances of 
 Judaism, eager in his pursuit of the righteousness which 
 was regarded as the condition of gaining the favour of God 
 and a share in the blessings of the Messianic kingdom, 
 and thoroughly taught and trained in the knowledge of 
 the Old Testament as understood by the scribes, whose 
 conception of the authority of the Scriptures he maintained, 
 and whose methods of interpretation he practised, even 
 after he became a Christian apostle. Secondly, he was 
 also a Roman citizen, freeborn, and of this fact he was 
 proud ; and although the wider outlook over mankind 
 which Roman citizenship offered was probably in his 
 Pharisaic days never consciously assumed, yet when the 
 limitations of Pharisaism had once for all been transcended, 
 his ideas both as regards the range and the method of his 
 
 B 2 
 
4 ROMANS 
 
 ministry were more or less consciously influenced by this 
 fact. Thirdly, he was born in a city, Tarsus, which with 
 Alexandria and Athens held the foremost place in the 
 Roman Empire as a centre of Greek culture. We have 
 no reason to believe that either during his youth in Tarsus, 
 or afterwards in the school of Gamaliel, he was in any way 
 encouraged to study classical literature ; probably it was 
 carefully avoided by him. His three quotations from Greek 
 authors do not prove any familiarity with it, as these may 
 have found their way into the common speech. No 
 knowledge nor understanding of Greek philosophy needs 
 anywhere to be assumed in explanation of his writings ; 
 for Greek wisdom even he expresses his contempt. Yet 
 his birth in Tarsus was not without significance. He spoke 
 Greek as wdl as Aramaic, and probably used the Greek 
 version of the Old Testament as much at least as, if not 
 more than, the Hebrew original. To his environment he 
 doubtless owed some of the intellectual breadth which 
 he displayed. His birth in a Greek city and his Roman 
 citizenship were a preparation for his vocation as Apostle 
 of the Gentiles, a work for which a Palestinian Jew would 
 not have been nearly so well adapted. 
 
 2. None of these things, however, made Paul the 
 Christian apostle. This was manifestly, as he himself 
 confessed, God's own work. His Pharisaism did not bring 
 him contentment. He might be outwardly blameless in 
 conduct, but he knew himself under the power of sin, and 
 unable to keep perfectly the law of God. Yet he knew 
 no other way of gaining God's favour, and so finding 
 peace in the present and hope for the future. He threw 
 himself into the persecution of the Christian blasphemers, 
 as from his standpoint they appeared to be, both that he 
 might escape from an uneasy conscience in some form of 
 activit)'-, and that he might secure merit for himself by his 
 zeal, which he hoped might be reckoned as a compensation 
 for his failure to keep the law perfectly. Possibly the 
 heroism of the Christians under persecution made him 
 
INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 sometimes ask himself, if they might not after all have 
 found out the secret of a good conscience for which he 
 was seeking. But if so, he stifled his scruples. It was 
 impossible that one who had suffered the accursed death of 
 the cross could be the Messiah. He was not predisposed 
 to believe, but rather altogether opposed to any faith in 
 the Resurrection, when Christ appeared to him on the 
 way to Damascus. The nature of that appearance, and 
 the relation to one another of the accounts given of it, 
 cannot here be discussed. But this is certain, that Paul 
 distinguished this sight of Christ from the ecstatic visions 
 which were his at other times, that he claimed that he 
 had seen Christ even as the other witnesses for the 
 Resurrection, and that he described his conversion as 
 an abortion, an unratural and violent change, due to 
 a revelation of God's Son in him. We have no right 
 to assume on the one hand that Paul could have been 
 converted by any purely subjective process, or to assert 
 on the other hand, in view of what Paul became to the 
 Christian Church, that the means employed were dispro- 
 portionate to the end attained. 
 
 3. For Paul his conversion meant, although only in 
 reflection after the event he may have come to realize all 
 that it meant, that Christ was risen, that his resurrection 
 proved his Messiahship, that his Messiahship involved 
 the significance and value of his death as a propitiation 
 for sins, a reconciliation of man and God, a redemption 
 from all the evils of life, and especially the curse of death. 
 This salvation in Christ, as securing for every man what 
 the law could not offer him, and effecting in him what the 
 law could not accomplish, superseded the law. As by 
 faith in Christ a man was so closely united with him as 
 to share one life in the Spirit with him, the law was no 
 longer necessary, and it had already proved its insufficiency 
 as a means of securing holy living. The most distinctive 
 characteristic and privilege of Judaism having been thus 
 abolished, the barrier between Jew and Gentile fell 
 
6 ROMANS 
 
 necessarily, as the Gentile not only needed the salvation 
 offered in Christ as much as the Jew, but was also equally 
 capable of exercising the faith that secured it. On this 
 conviction rested Paul's consciousness of his vocation as 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, although how soon he became 
 quite clear in his own mind what his life-work was to be 
 we cannot say. Probably, as his after-practice showed, he 
 hoped to combine a ministry among his fellow countrymen, 
 to which his ardent patriotism drew him, with a ministry 
 among the Gentiles, to which his distinctive conception of 
 the universality of the gospel pointed ; but the antagonism 
 between Jew and Gentile was such that he had to make 
 his choice ; and he chose, clearly under the conviction 
 that for a time at least the Jewish nation was hardened, 
 and that the door of faith had been opened for the Gentiles, 
 whose ingathering into the kingdom of God, he kept 
 cherishing the hope, would at last arouse his own country- 
 men to claim the same blessings. The distinction between 
 Paul and the other apostles may be held to be as follows. 
 They reluctantly admitted the truth that the gospel was 
 for the Gentiles as well as the Jews only under the 
 compulsion of facts, when the Gentiles had believed and 
 received the Holy Spirit. His own experience of Christ 
 as the end of the law involved the principle of the 
 universality of the Christian salvation, and so not only 
 justified, but even necessitated, his practice of preaching 
 to the Gentiles. In the same way the radical change that 
 his own conversion involved explains his attitude regarding 
 the freedom of the Gentiles from the Jewish law. The 
 other apostles grudgingly admitted Gentile emancipation, 
 probably as a practical necessity, if the Gentiles were to 
 be won for the gospel at all. With him it was not 
 a question of expediency at all ; Christ's salvation was 
 from the yoke and burden of the law as well as the fetter 
 and curse of sin, and it freed the Jew just as much as the 
 Gentile, although it might be expedient for the Jew not 
 to change his manner of life, but to abide in that state 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 wherein he was called. For the other apostles expediency 
 \ustified rather than principle necessitated the freedom 
 of the Gentile from the law. For Paul expediency might 
 justify, but principle did not necessitate, the Jew's continued 
 observance of the law. In looking back on his conversion, 
 Paul conceived both his call to be the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, and his distinctive gospel of salvation in Christ 
 through faith apart from works, as already given in his 
 conversion. That they were both essentially implied there 
 can be no doubt ; but that they were explicitly present to 
 his consciousness it is not necessary for us to assume, even 
 to justify the account he himself gives of his conversion. 
 It is probable, however, that before he entered on his 
 public ministry reflection had given more or less distinct- 
 ness to all these elements in his experience. 
 
 4. While the guidance of providential circumstances 
 must not be denied, yet Paul's characteristic religious 
 genius seems to forbid the assumption often made that 
 Paul began with the theology common in the church, 
 and that only gradually in controversy did he develop for 
 his own mind even his distinctive gospel. It may on the 
 contrary be said with some confidence that had Paul not 
 had a distinctive gospel from the beginning he would 
 neither have become the Apostle of the Gentiles, nor have 
 provoked any controversy with the Judaizers. Doubtless 
 his polemic with those who affirmed that the Gentiles 
 to be saved must observe the law of Moses and be 
 circumcised suggested to him illustrations and arguments 
 for the exposition of his principles, but certainly it did 
 not give him these principles. The theology of Galatians, 
 although the exposition is controversial in tone and 
 method, is not the offspring of religious strife, but brings 
 to the birth that wherewith Paul's obedience to the 
 heavenly vision was pregnant. The theology of Romans 
 too has its roots in Paul's own soul. Its doctrine of 
 justification shews how Christ's death, seen in the new 
 clear light of his resurrection, brought to Paul the 
 
8 ROMANS 
 
 assurance that God Himself had atoned for his guilt ; and 
 so met his desire to be reckoned righteous before God. 
 Its doctrine of sanctification simply describes the process 
 of Paul's own deliverance from the power of sin, and 
 entrance into the new life of holiness unto God. Neither 
 the one doctrine nor the other is to be regarded as more 
 distinctively or essentially Pauline. For Paul two pro- 
 blems were solved by faith in Christ — how can the guilty 
 be forgiven? and how can the sinful be made holy? 
 Christ's death for sin offered the solution of the one pro- 
 blem, and Christ's life in the believer of the other. In 
 comparison with these two problems, which Paul's own 
 experience forced on him, the third problem with which 
 he deals in Romans, the problem of the unbelief of God's 
 chosen people, must be pronounced a secondary one, and 
 his solution of it must be regarded rather as a justification 
 of the results of his ministry than as an exposition of the 
 foundations of his faith. Accordingly we iind ourselves 
 rather in the region of speculative theology than of experi- 
 mental religion. Of Paul's theology, as a whole, however, 
 we may say that it is his experience ' writ large.' To the 
 explicitly autobiographical element in Romans attention 
 will be called in describing the characteristics of the 
 Epistle ; but so much about Paul's own experience it has 
 been found necessary to state at the very beginning, as 
 we must know, and love, and trust Paul, if we are to 
 understand at all the greatest of his letters. As not only 
 much of the phraseology, but even many of the con- 
 ceptions of his later epistles, were developed in opposition 
 to heresy, and did not belong originally to his personal 
 experience, although not inconsistent with his distinctive 
 ideas, it is to Romans above all that we must look, if we 
 want to apprehend and appreciate the peculiar quality 
 and the distinct measure of him who reckoned himself 
 chief of sinners and least of saints, but whom Christen- 
 dom honours as in word and deed alike the greatest of 
 the apostles. 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 II. The Church in Rome. 
 
 I. Rome, the capital of the empire, cast a spell over 
 the mind and heart of Paul. As a Roman citizen, he not 
 only, when necessary, claimed the protection and privi- 
 leges his citizenship afforded him, but was even proud 
 of his position. For to him at this time at least the 
 Roman Empire was not an enemy, but an ally of the 
 gospel of Christ. The hate and fury of unbelieving 
 Judaism were being kept in check by the power of 
 Rome, which had as yet shewn itself only a protector, 
 and not a persecutor, of Christianity. The law and order 
 imposed on the world by Roman armies and navies made 
 possible the safe and frequent intercourse between the 
 remcte parts of the empire, which afforded Paul the 
 opportunity for his constant and distant travels. He 
 travelled along Roman roads ; he chose as centres for his 
 work the cities, which the Roman provincial administra- 
 tion m?.de important and influential ; he saw in the 
 Roman Empire a divinely provided opportunity for a 
 rapid and peaceful spread of the gospel ; and accordingly 
 in his plans of labour we never find him looking beyond 
 its bounds. It was once usual for Christian apologists 
 to dwell exclusively on the dark shades in the picture 
 which the Roman Empire presented, on the vices of the 
 people and the crimes of the rulers ; but there were many 
 brighter tints visible. Although Nero was on the throne, 
 yet he had not yet shewn himself the monster that he 
 afterwards proved to be. The time when the Epistle was 
 written has been described as ' the happiest period of the 
 empire since the death of Augustus.' There was good 
 government, wise and firm administration. The provinces 
 were well treated ; the provincial governors were punished 
 for corruption and oppression ; generosity and benevo- 
 lence to the subject-races were not unknown. The 
 police regulations in the city of Rome itself were good 
 both in intention and execution. Paul did not cherish an 
 
lo ROMANS 
 
 illusion when he recognized 'the powers that be* as 
 'ordained of God.' Stoic philosophy was finding an 
 entrance into Roman society ; and its humanitarian and 
 universalist ideas, the basis on which the great system 
 of Roman law was reared, had some kinship with the 
 gospel. The old religions had ceased to satisfy thoughtful 
 men, and there was a readiness to welcome any religion 
 that could enforce morality and promise immortality. 
 Of this opportunity for religious propaganda Judaism had 
 already taken advantage ; and we find that Jewish in- 
 fluence at this time was not only within the imperial 
 court, but even not far from the throne in the person of 
 Poppaea Sabina. 
 
 2. As Judaism, through the converts that it had already 
 won from among the Gentiles, was a bridge by which 
 Christianity passed over to the Gentile world, the history 
 of Judaism in Rome serves as an introduction to the 
 history of the Christian Church there. Although there had 
 been communications between some of the Maccabaean 
 rulers and the Roman Senate at an earlier date, yet we 
 may reckon as the beginning of Judaism in Rome the 
 settlement there (b. c. 63) of a number of Jewish prisoners 
 whom Pompey brought with him from the East. As 
 owing to their stubborn adherence to their own customs 
 and rites they did not prove submissive slaves, many 
 of them were set free ; and so numerous was this class in 
 Rome that they had a synagogue of their own, that of the 
 Libertines (Acts vi. 9). As the Jews enjoyed the favour 
 of both Ccesar and Augustus, the number engaged in 
 trade in Rome rapidly increased. A special part of the 
 city was assigned to them, but they had synagogues in 
 other parts as well. While probably the greater number 
 were very poor, earning a precarious livelihood as huck- 
 sters in a small way, or even as beggars, yet not a few 
 were prosperous and influential, as for instance the family 
 of Herod. Zealous for the spread of their faith among 
 the Gentiles, some of them were mean enough to take 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 1 
 
 advantage in various ways of the confidence of their 
 converts. An act of fraud practised on a noble Roman 
 lady, a convert, led to the banishment of four thousand to 
 Sardinia (a.d. 19). A dangerous moment for the Jews 
 came when Caligula insisted (a.d. 41) on his bust being 
 put up in the temple at Jerusalem. His death prevented 
 this outrage on Jewish religious feeling, and so averted 
 what would probably have proved a very violent persecu- 
 tion. In the reign of Claudius there was an expulsion of 
 Jews from Rome (a.d. 52). The reason assigned by 
 a Roman historian, Suetonius, is a riot in which Chrestus 
 was the leader. It has generally been supposed that the 
 reference in this statement is to disturbances which arose 
 among the Jews, when first of all Jesus was preached 
 in the synagogues as the Messiah or Christ. If Aquila 
 and Priscilla were already converts to Christianity, and 
 took a prominent part in the discussion of the question, 
 they might be specially marked out for banishment. The 
 expulsion was not at all general, and even those who were 
 expelled were very soon allowed to return. The Jews 
 in Rome not only enjoyed freedom of worship, but were 
 also allowed to build synagogues, to collect the temple- 
 tribute, to inflict punishment for moral or rehgious offences 
 among themselves, to maintain a regular organization of 
 elders and rulers of each synagogue to administer its 
 affairs. Each synagogue, as it would seem, was placed 
 under the patronage of some influential person, a Roman 
 citizen, who was the legal representative of the com- 
 munity. While the Jews repelled the Roman populace 
 by their strict adherence to their national customs and 
 rites, which seemed grossly superstitious, yet their belief 
 in one God, and their higher moral standard and more 
 certain hope of immortality, powerfully attracted not a few 
 who were in search of a religion more in accord with 
 conscience and reason than the popular religions were. And 
 therefore in Rome itself there were more or less closely 
 attached to the synagogue a number of Gentile proselytes. 
 
12 ROMANS 
 
 3. It is probable that Christianity found its way to Rome 
 through the synagogue, but we cannot definitely say at 
 what time, (a) It is not impossible that the first tidings 
 of Christianity came to Rome through Jewish pilgrims, 
 who had been in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and 
 had heard Peter's sermon there. Of this, however, we 
 have no evidence, (d) It is quite certain that the Roman 
 Catholic claim that the apostle Peter founded the Roman 
 Church in A. D. 44, and acted as its bishop for twenty-five 
 years until his martyrdom, has not a shred of historical 
 evidence in its favour ; but many reasons can be given 
 against the assumption. Peter was present in Jerusalem 
 at the Apostolic Council in a.d. 50. The Acts of the 
 Apostles, which deals with the life of Peter as well as Paul, 
 makes no mention of the fact. Had Peter founded the 
 church as early as A.D. 44, Paul, when he wrote his letter 
 to Romans, would have made some mention of the founder, 
 and could not have included a church in which another 
 apostle was in authority as within his province as Apostle 
 of the Gentiles. Even at a later date, when Paul wrote his 
 Epistle to the Philippians from Rome, there is no mention 
 of Peter's presence and activity. It is not necessary to 
 deny that the first Epistle of Peter was written from Rome, 
 described as Babylon, or that Peter suffered martyrdom 
 in Rome ; but his arrival there must probably be placed 
 after Paul's martyrdom, (c) It has to be remembered, 
 however, that the age was one in which there was frequent 
 travel from one part of the empire to another, and that 
 Rome as the capital drew to it men from all the provinces. 
 No formal mission by an apostle needs to be assumed. 
 There may have been Jews, who had come from Palestine 
 to Rome, or who had from Rome been visiting Jerusalem, 
 among the first preachers of the gospel in the synagogues 
 in Rome. It is just as likely, however, that some of Paul's 
 Gentile converts from the provinces had found their way 
 to the capital, and had preached Christ directly to their 
 Gentile friends. We have no evidence in the Acts, and 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 the Epistle to the Romans offers no indications regarding 
 the origin of the church. For an understanding of the 
 Epistle an answer to this question is not necessary. What 
 it is important for us to try and discover from the letter 
 itself is the tendency of the church. Was it Pauline or 
 Judaistic ? For it is possible that a church mainly com- 
 posed of Gentiles may have been won over by Judaizers, 
 as the Galatian Church had been, or that a church, of 
 which the majority were Jews, may have felt no hostility 
 to Paul's views. To this question we turn. 
 
 4. A great variety of opinions regarding the tendency 
 of the church has been maintained, (a) In favour of 
 a church composed mostly of Jews, or those in sympathy 
 with Jewish views, the following proofs from the letter 
 have been advanced, (i) The argument as a whole seems 
 to be addressed to the Jewish mind. Paul shews that 
 the possession of the law by the Jews does not exempt 
 them from judgement. His reasonings about Abraham 
 and Adam reflect Jewish opinions. In shewing that 
 emancipation from the law does not involve moral licence, 
 and that the Jews have no ground of complaint against 
 God, but are themselves to blame for their rejection of 
 the gospel, he is meeting Jewish objections, (ii) The 
 questions which he one after another asks and answers 
 are such as Jewish and not Gentile objectors would urge 
 (iii. I, 5, 7, 31 ; iv. I ; vi. i, 15 ; vii. 7 ; ix. 14, 19, 3°; xi. 
 I, 11). (iii) He reckons himself along with his readers 
 as a Jew, as when he speaks of Abraham and Isaac as 
 ancestors (iv. I, 12; ix. 10. See also iii. 9). (iv) He 
 assumes that his readers had once been under the law 
 (vii. I, 5, 6). (v) His teaching regarding submission to 
 the Roman authorities was especially needed by the Jews, 
 who were noted for their turbulence (xiii. 1-7). (vi) He is 
 careful to disarm Jewish prejudice by emphatic assertions 
 of his Jewish patriotism (ix. 1-5 ; x. i ; xi. i, 2). (vii) It 
 is the Jewish-Christian consciousness that is assumed in 
 the premises of some of his arguments (ii. 2 ; iii. 2, 8, 19 ; 
 
14 ROMANS 
 
 vi. 1 6). But none of these alleged proofs is convincing, 
 (i) It must be remembered that the Gentile Christians 
 received along with the gospel the Old Testament, that 
 Christianity came not as something absolutely new, dis- 
 connected with all that had gone before, but as the 
 completion of the Jewish religion. For Gentiles even it 
 was necessary to shew the relation of the old faith to the 
 new, which presupposed, yet superseded, the old ; and 
 with them even arguments from the Old Testament could, 
 and needed to, be used to justify from the Scriptures of 
 the old religion the fresh start made in the new. (ii) The 
 objections which Paul brings forward in order to meet 
 them do not exclusively represent the Jewish standpoint. 
 Some of them might arise in the mind of a Gentile, for 
 whom some form of moral restraint such as the law afforded 
 might appear as a necessity in order to escape moral 
 licence, or whom the contrast between prophecy and 
 history perplexed. Even if some of the objections are 
 distinctively Jewish-Christian, yet Paul in seeking to ward 
 off every possible attack on his gospel might deal with 
 objections felt not by many, but by only a few of his 
 readers. Any author in meeting arguments opposed to 
 his own statements does not assume that all his readers 
 regard these arguments as convincing. Paul may some- 
 times have written for the sake of the few to whom his 
 gospel presented difficulties, and in helping them he was 
 enabled to make his teaching clearer for all. (iii) Even 
 when Paul speaks as a Jew of the fathers of the race with 
 the plural not singular pronoun, the ' our ' and the * we ' 
 may cover himself and his countrymen with whom he 
 identifies himself, and not necessarily himself and his 
 readers. The first person plural of any letter does not 
 necessarily include the writer and his readers, but may 
 embrace the writer and some person or persons closely 
 associated with him. (iv) We are not to suppose that 
 Paul always carefully distinguished between the contents 
 of his own Christian consciousness, into which a Jewish 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 heredity and education had been absorbed, and the contents 
 of the Christian consciousness which was distinctive of 
 the Gentiles. Among the Gentiles there were religious 
 experiences and moral developments analogous to that 
 which Paul passed through. When a classical writer says 
 * I approve the better and pursue the worse ' he illustrates 
 Paul's experience under the law. If the Gentiles had not 
 the Mosaic law, they had moral standards in accordance 
 with which some of them would find it difficult to live. 
 When Paul speaks of law we are not entitled to assume 
 that he means the Mosaic law exclusively, (v) While the 
 Jews were prone to disorder and lawlessness, it is to be 
 remembered that It was their consciousness of being God's 
 peculiar people, and their expectation, based on prophetic 
 promises, that they would yet be delivered from the Roman 
 yoke, which made them so unwilling to submit to their 
 foreign rulers. Even the Gentiles, accepting the eschato- 
 logical beliefs and the Apocalyptic hopes of the Jewish 
 nation, might be led to depreciate the existing organization 
 of society ; and in their own consciousness of spiritual 
 liberty and a glorious destiny might rebel against social 
 restraints and limitations. Christianity may be so mis- 
 understood as to demand not only religious revival and 
 moral reformation, but even political revolution. The 
 Anabaptist movement and the Peasants' War at the time 
 of the Reformation may serve as an instance. Paul may 
 have had good reason to dread that even among the 
 Gentiles the new faith might prove not only a leaven, but 
 an explosive, (vi) Paul's assertions of his patriotism are 
 not logical devices or rhetorical pretexts, but express his 
 own intense emotions for his people ; his own heart 
 demands the words, (vii) As has already been indicated, 
 it is impossible to distinguish and separate the Jewish- 
 Christian and Gentile-Christian consciousness so precisely 
 as to be able to affirm that this statement assumes the one 
 and that the other. 
 
 (b) In support of the view that the majority of the 
 
i6 ROMANS 
 
 church was Gentile the following proofs can be given. 
 Paul reckons the Roman saints as Gentiles (i. 6, 13, 15) 
 and addresses them as the apostles of the Gentiles (5, 14, 
 15). He represents himself as a priest presenting the 
 Gentiles as an offering to God, and gives this as a reason 
 for writing so boldly to the Roman Church (xv. 15, 16). 
 He expressly addresses a warning to the Gentile believers 
 as distinguished from the Jewish (xi. 13-32) ; and through- 
 out his argument in regard to the history of the Jewish 
 people, he writes of the Jews in the third person (ix-xi.), 
 and calls them 'my kinsmen' (ix. 3). These proofs are 
 conclusive, and therefore we do not need to fall back 
 on more dubious arguments, such as these, that the 
 readers are described as formerly ' slaves of sin ' (vi. 17) ; 
 that the sensual sins denounced were specially common 
 among the Gentiles (vi. 12, 13 ; xiii. 13) ; that the 'strong' 
 in faith are Gentiles regardless of Jewish scruples (xiv) ; 
 that ' that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered ' 
 was Paul's gospel (vi. 17). 
 
 (c) But even though the composition of the church was 
 Gentile and not Jewish, yet the Judaizers might have been 
 busy, and might have won over many as in Galatia. But of 
 this the Epistle does not afford any evidence. Paul's indig- 
 nant refutation of the slander which Judaizers would be 
 likely to spread (iii. 8), or his defence against the objection 
 to his doctrine of justification that it encouraged moral 
 license (vi. i), does not prove this. His exhortation to the 
 ' strong '^o shew consideration to the scruples of the 
 'weak' (xiv. i-xv. 13) does not necessarily imply any 
 division between the Jewish-Christian and Gentile- 
 Christian sections, or refer to any of the questions at 
 issue in the Judaistic controversy. The warning in xvi. 
 17-20 may be directed against Judaizers, but even if it 
 is, its position in the letter as a kind of after-thought 
 proves either that the tendency had just shewn itself in 
 Rome, or that Paul as yet only dreaded the approach of 
 the foe. If we cannot affirm that the Roman Church was 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 fully instructed in the Pauline gospel, yet we have no 
 reason for concluding that it was in any way hostile to 
 it. There were in the church probably Jews and Gentiles 
 representing various tendencies. There might be some 
 Jews clinging to the observance of the law, yet not 
 desiring to impose it on the Gentiles. There might be 
 some Gentiles who did not realize all that the gospel 
 implied, having derived their Christianity from teachers 
 less advanced than Paul. Other Gentiles doubtless there 
 were, converts won by Paul himself, who heartily and 
 fully accepted his gospel. It is certain that to a church 
 altogether Pauline in tendency Paul would not have 
 needed to write such an exposition of his gospel, but 
 that to a church wholly Judaistic in sympathy Paul's 
 letter would have been very different in tone and method. 
 
 III. The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 I. Occasion. On his third missionary journey (a. D. 
 49-52 according to M^Giffert ; 52-55 according to Turner 
 in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible) Paul spent nearly 
 three years in Ephesus ; then he journeyed through 
 Macedonia and Achaia to Corinth, where he spent three 
 months ; after this he again returned to Macedonia, and 
 at Philippi he took ship to pay his last visit to Jerusalem 
 (Acts XX. 1-6). Romans was written during this three 
 months' visit to Corinth. In Corinth his host was Gaius, 
 from whom a greeting is sent in this Epistle (xvi. 23) ; 
 probably he is the same man as is described as one of the 
 few believers in Corinth whom Paul himself had baptized 
 (i Cor. i. 14). Titnothy had been sent to Corinth from 
 Ephesus (Acts xix. 22 ; i Cor. xvi. 10), was with Paul 
 when Romans was written (xvi. 21), and started with 
 him on the journey to Jerusalem (Acts xx. 4). His com- 
 panion from Ephesus to Macedonia was Erastus (Acts 
 xix. 22), but it is not at all likely that this is the same 
 person as the Erastus who is described as 'the treasurer 
 of the city,' and sends his greetings in Romans (xvi. 23). 
 C 
 
i8 ROMANS 
 
 When in Ephesus, Paul had 'purposed in the spirit, when 
 he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to 
 Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also 
 see Rome' (Acts xix. 21). The object of his journey 
 through Macedonia and Achaia was to take up the collec- 
 tions made by the churches there for the poor saints 
 in Jerusalem (l Cor. xvi. 1-4 ; 2 Cor. ix. 1-5). This 
 offering he was resolved to present in Jerusalem with his 
 own hand (Rom. xv. 26-28), as he hoped thereby to 
 draw closer the bonds of Christian fellowship between 
 the Jewish and the Gentile believers, and to lessen the 
 hostility with which he knew himself to be regarded by 
 the stricter section of the church in Jerusalem, as well 
 as by the unbelieving Jews (30, 31). When this task had 
 been discharged, he hoped to carry out his long-cherished 
 wish to visit Rome (i. 10-13, xv. 32), as he no\/ regarded 
 his pioneer missionary work in the East as finished, since 
 * from Jerusalem, and round about even unto Illyricum,' he 
 had ' fully preached the gospel of Christ' (xv. 19). The 
 troubles in Galatia, where his gospel had been only too 
 soon abandoned by his converts under the influence of 
 Judaizers ; at Antioch, where an attempt was made to 
 force circumcision on the Gentiles ; at Jerusalem, where 
 the freedom of the Gentiles from the law of Moses had to 
 be asserted ; at Corinth, where moral laxity and a factious 
 spirit had compelled him to assert his authority only to 
 find it defied, and his own motives in exercising it sus- 
 pected ; — all these troubles had delayed his journey a longer 
 time chan his missionary labours alone would have done 
 (i. 13) ; but at last he was free from these trials as well as 
 done with his labours, and so his desire could be fulfilled. 
 His ambition looked even beyond Rome to 'the ends 
 of the West,' to Spain itself as his next field of labour 
 (xv. 28) ; but on his way westward he desired, even in 
 Rome, *to impart some spiritual gift' (i. li), and to 'have 
 some fruit' (13). 
 
 2. Purpose. This visit to Rome would, however, be 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 of a different character from his visits to other churches. 
 To these he had come either as the pioneer missionary to 
 preach the gospel, or as the recognized founder to confirm 
 the faith of his converts. In Rome a church aheady 
 existed, not founded by an apostle, but distinguished for 
 its faith among the churches of the empire (i. 8). 
 Although, as the greetings in the sixteenth chapter shew, 
 a number of Paul's friends or converts had made their 
 way to Rome, yet most of the members were unknown to 
 him, and he could not be sure of a warm welcome from 
 them. In his letter he not only intimates, but prepares 
 for his visit. With fine tact and noble courtesy he 
 communicates his purpose, his desire to benefit them 
 spiritually, and his expectation to be himself benefited 
 (i. II, 12). He does not command with apostohc 
 authority, lie commends his mission and his message 
 with gracious persuasiveness. This introduction of him- 
 self to the church in Rome prior to his visit is undoubtedly 
 one end which the Epistle serves. It is quite evident, 
 however, that if this were the only reason Paul had for 
 writing, the means would be quite out of proportion to 
 the end. So systematic, elaborate, and profound a writing 
 must have a purpose above and beyond this, its immediate 
 occasion. But what is it ? 
 
 3. Character. It may be said briefly that the ex- 
 planations fall into three classes, (a) It was at one time 
 maintained that the letter was controversial^ that in Rome 
 there was already a party of Judaizers opposed to Paul's 
 gospel and denying his authority, and that the letter was 
 written to combat this tendency. But against this view 
 it may be urged (i) that the tone is very different from 
 what we find either in Galatians, where Paul is defending 
 his gospel, or in 2 Corinthians, where he is repelling 
 attacks on his authority ; (ii) that the evidence of such 
 a tendency in Rome would need to be very much more 
 distinct and convincing than it is. 
 
 {b) Again, it has been held that the letter was apologetic ; 
 c 2 
 
20 ROMANS 
 
 that Paul was by no means sure of the sympathy of the 
 Roman Church for himself, his gospel, or his mission ; 
 and that, in view of his visit and the plans of larger work, 
 for which Rome was to be a starting-point, and in which 
 the Church of Rome might give him help, he attempted to 
 display the merits of, and remove the objections to, his 
 gospel. The aim of his journey to Jerusalem at this time 
 was to establish, as far as possible, harmony between Jew 
 and Gentile. The same end he sought to reach in this 
 letter. The church in the capital of the Roman Empire 
 exercised a wide-reaching, strong influence on the churches 
 in the provinces ; if it could be won cordially to accept 
 and support his gospel, much might be effected for the 
 unity of the church. Hence the conciliatory spirit of the 
 letter. Differences are not emphasized ; an effort is made 
 to do justice to all phases of the truth. Possibly Paul's 
 intimate friends and valued fellow workers, Aquila and 
 Priscilla, if no others, may have gone before him to Rome 
 to discover exactly how the church there was affected 
 to his gospel, and the form of Paul's apologetic may have 
 been determined by information that they had supplied. 
 The objections he meets may not be simply such as arose 
 in his own mind, or had been brought against his gospel 
 elsewhere, but as had been already discussed in Rome 
 itself. It is very much more probable that in writing this 
 letter Paul followed the course he adopted in writing his 
 other letters, and wrote with direct reference to the actual 
 situation in the Roman Church, than that he was simply 
 guided by the logical development in his own mind of his 
 distinctive theology, regardless of the needs or dangers of 
 those whom he was addressing. 
 
 (c) Very little, therefore, need be said about the opinion 
 that in this Epistle we have a dogmatic treatise, in which, 
 for the satisfaction of his own mind, he cast his ideas into 
 a systematic form ; this he addressed to the church in 
 Rome because of its prominence and influence, but he 
 might just as well have sent it anywhere else. This 
 
INTRODUCTION 21 
 
 explanation does not account for the omission of doctrines 
 which we know Paul held and valued — his eschatology 
 and Christology, for instance ; and' it would make this 
 letter quite different in character from all the others, 
 which, without an exception, owe their existence and 
 their form to definite circumstances in the churches 
 addressed. So much truth in this explanation may be 
 allowed. Paul, in view of the possible termination of his 
 labours in Jerusalem, and looking back on the contro- 
 versies through which his gospel had gained its definite 
 form, may have given a fuller and more orderly exposi- 
 tion of his gospel than the immediate necessities of the 
 church in Rome demanded ; and may thus, without any 
 deliberate intention, have satisfied the demand of his own 
 mind for an adequate expression of the truth as he con- 
 ceived it. This, however, must be maintained : that his 
 selection of topics for discussion, as also the mode in 
 which they are dealt with, was determined by a definite 
 historical situation in the church to which he wrote. 
 
 (d) While we may thus attempt to indicate generally 
 the purpose of the letter, it must not be forgotten that 
 a mind, rich and full, living and quick as Paul's, cannot 
 be confined within the lim.its of one purpose. While 
 in this letter there is a clearer plan more closely followed 
 than in any of the other letters, there are also incomplete 
 sentences, frequent digressions, emotional interruptions. 
 Paul knew a good deal about the church in Rome, and 
 his knowledge controlled his writing. He felt strongly 
 because he had experienced what he was expounding, 
 and his feelings broke out in his words. What was 
 held in common by himself and his readers he did 
 not desire to repeat ; but what God had revealed to him 
 as his distinctive gospel that he wanted to share with 
 them, in order that their own spiritual life might be 
 enriched, and that their influence might be used to bring 
 all the churches of Christ into 'the unity of the Spirit in 
 the bond of peace.' 
 
22 ROMANS 
 
 4. Argument. The course of the argument may now 
 be given in an outline, which may be filled up by the 
 detailed analysis given in the Commentary. After his 
 apostolic salutation and his personal explanations Paul 
 states his subject as the righteousness of God, which faith 
 claims, and which brings salvation in life. In the doctrinal 
 exposition of this thesis which follows (i-xi), Paul, in the 
 first division — the doctrine of justificatio7i (i-v) — first of all 
 proves that Jew and Gentile alike need this righteousness, 
 because both as sinful are under God's condemnation ; 
 secondly, he asserts the provision through the sacrifice of 
 Christ ; thirdly, he shews by the typical case of Abraham 
 that this condition of faith as the ground of acceptance 
 before God is not an innovation, but older than the law 
 which demands works ; fourthly, he briefly indicates the 
 blessings that this gift of righteousness includes— peace, 
 adoption, hope ; and in conclusion he presents the contrast 
 between the old order of sin and the new order of grace 
 in the typical persons Adam and Christ, in order to prove 
 the possibility of the communication of grace and life 
 from Christ to the race, even as sin and death had been 
 communicated from Adam. The objection that this 
 doctrine of justification through faith alone apart from 
 works encourages moral laxity is in the second division — 
 the doctrine of sanctification (vi-viii) — met by shewing, 
 firstly, that faith in Christ involves a thorough moral trans- 
 formation ; secondly, that the new relation to righteousness 
 which faith involves and the old relation to sin are 
 mutually exclusive ; thirdly, that so complete a moral 
 transformation as the Christian has undergone abolishes 
 entirely the relation to law in which he formerly stood ; 
 fourthly, that as the law could not enforce its own demands 
 against the rebellious flesh, it has proved its insufficiency 
 as a means of making men righteous; fifthly, that in, the 
 Holy Spirit the power of the new life is given, a life which, 
 through all temptation and trial, is being perfected until 
 immortality, glory, and blessedness are attained. Another 
 
INTRODUCTION 23 
 
 objection, that this gospel has been rejected by the chosen 
 people, and cannot therefore be true unless God has 
 forsaken His people, and so proved faithless to the 
 promises, is dealt with in the third division—///^ doctrine of 
 election (ix-xi) — in an argument in three stages : firstly, that 
 God is free to elect or to reject whom He will ; secondly, 
 that the Jewish people has by its unbelief deserved its 
 rejection ; thirdly, that this rejection is neither total nor 
 final, as God's ultimate purpose is 'mercy on all.' The 
 doctrinal exposition is followed by a practical appHcatiojt 
 (xii-xv), which deals in the first division with Christian 
 life and work generally, and in the second with the special 
 necessities of the church in Rome. In the general 
 exhortation the Christian life is described as a sacrifice 
 to God ; the Spirit of humility in the use of special gifts is 
 commended ; love is exhibited in its various applications ; 
 the duty of the Christian to the civil government is defined ; 
 love as the fulfilment of the law is again referred to ; and 
 an appeal to put off sin and put on righteousness is 
 enforced by the nearness of Christ's second coming. The 
 special counsel deals with the consideration which the 
 'strong' members of the church — those who have no 
 scruples about the use of meat or wine, or the observance 
 of days -should shew to the ' weak ' — those who entertain 
 such scruples. In drawing his letter to a close Paul again 
 offers some personal explanations of his motive in writing 
 and his plan of travel, commends the bearer of the letter, 
 sends a number of greetings to friends in Rome, adds 
 a warning against false teachers who may or have just 
 come to Rome, conveys the greetings of some of his 
 companions in Corinth where he writes, and ends with 
 a solemn doxology. 
 
 5. Authenticity and Integrity. Peter, who came to 
 Rome after Paul's martyrdom, and wrote the first epistle 
 bearing his name, there shews that he was familiar with 
 Romans (cf. Rom. ix. 25 and I Pet. ii. 10 ; Rom. ix. 32, 
 33, and I Pet. ii. 6-8 ; Rom. xii. I, 2, and i Pet. i. 4, ii. 5 ; 
 
24 ROMANS 
 
 Rom. xii. 3, 6, and I Pet. iv. 7-1 1 ; Rom. xii. 9 and I Pet. 
 i. 22 ; Rom. xii. 16, 17, 18, and i Pet. iii. 8, 9, 11 ; Rom. 
 xiii. I, 3, 4, 7, and i Pet. ii. 13-17). So striking is the 
 similarity in thought between i Peter and Romans that 
 some scholars have gone so far as to aeny that Peter 
 wrote this letter bearing his name, and to assert that it 
 was written by a disciple of Paul's. It is not improbable, 
 however, that Peter himself learned much from reading 
 Paul's letter. The Epistle to the Hebrews is with some 
 probability regarded as written from Rome shortly before 
 the fall of Jerusalem. In it also we find some resemblances 
 to Romans, which suggest that the writer of Hebrews, who- 
 ever he was, had also seen this letter (cf. Rom. iv. 17-21 and 
 Heb. xi. II, 12, 19; Rom. xii. 19 and Heb. x. 30). The 
 Epistle of James presents some resemblances to Romans 
 (cf. Rom. ii. i and Jas. iv. 11; Rom. ii. 13 and Jas. i. 22 ; 
 Rom. iv. I and Jas. ii. 21 ; Rom. iv. 20 and Jas. i. 6 ; Rom. 
 V. 3-5 and Jas. i. 2-4) ; but against the assumption of any 
 dependence is the fact that there is no evidence whatever 
 of any connexion of James with Rome. The resemblances 
 can be fully explained by a common religious environment; 
 and James's polemic against faith without works, if it were 
 directed against Paul, would simply shew that James did 
 not understand Paul. The faith Paul commends is not 
 the same as the faith James condemns ; and the works 
 James commends have no likeness to the works Paul 
 condemns. It is probable that the question of the relation 
 of faith and works was one discussed among Jews as well 
 as Christians in that age. Among the Apostolic Fathers 
 we have quotations from Romans in Clement of Rome, 
 Polycarp, and Ignatius ; among the Apologists in Aristides 
 and Justin Martyr; in the heretical writings cited by 
 Hippolytus; and in the Apocalyptic work. The Testaineitt 
 of the Twelve Patriarchs, Though quoted, the Epistle is 
 not mentioned by name ; but Marcion, about the middle of 
 the second century, included it as one of the ten Pauline 
 letters which he formed into a collection called The 
 
INTRODUCTION 25 
 
 Apostolicon. By the end of the second century the letter 
 was freely used, and was generally recognized as having 
 apostolic authority. The doubts that in more recent 
 times have been brought forward by scholars against its 
 authenticity rest on so unsubstantial a foundation that 
 they may be passed over without any mention. The letter 
 is so characteristic of Paul's genius that to doubt its 
 authenticity is to confess that we have not and cannot 
 have any knowledge of the Apostolic Age at all. But 
 while there can be no doubt that the Epistle as a whole 
 is the work of Paul, yet the question may be raised 
 whether we have it without any change just as it left 
 the hand of Paul. On this general question it may be 
 remarked, (i) that we have so many copies in substantial 
 agreement that it is not at all likely that any extensive 
 interpolations can have taken place ; (ii) that the continuity 
 of the argument (even the parentheses and digressions 
 being characteristically Pauline) excludes the possibility of 
 any serious alterations in the text. The last two chapters, 
 however, present some curious textual phenomena, from 
 which various inferences regarding the integrity of the 
 Epistle have been drawn. The contents of these two 
 chapters also present some difficulties, which have led 
 some scholars to deny their authenticity in whole or in 
 part. The discussion of this question, however, may 
 properly be deferred until the Commentary has afforded 
 the data necessary for a decision of the issues raised. 
 
 6. Constituents. In the broad and deep volume of 
 the stream of the Epistle many currents of thought and 
 life meet and blend, {a) Paul's personal experience is in 
 all his theology ; but besides the personal allusions such 
 as might be expected in any letter, there are two auto- 
 biographical passages of exceptional interest. In the 
 one Paul describes the misery of his bondage to sin 
 when under the law (vii. 7-25) ; and in the other the 
 thorough inward change wrought in him by his faith in 
 Christ (vi. 1-6). 
 
26 ROMANS 
 
 (d) His Jewish estimate of the authority and mode of 
 interpretation of the Old Testament Scriptures find 
 abundant illustration. Although Romans does not afford 
 so striking instances of the Rabbinic method as Galatians 
 (iii. 1 6, seed, not seeds ; iv. 21-31, Sarah an J Hagar as 
 an allegory of the two covenants) or i Corinthians (x. 4, 
 Christ as the spiritual rock), yet even in Romans his 
 method is not the critical and historical which we now 
 regard as alone valid. He generally quotes from the 
 Greek version, called the Septuagint, and denoted by 
 the symbol LXX. Only two out of eighty-four quotations 
 are independent of this version, and are taken from the 
 Hebrew original or some other version ; twelve depend 
 upon it, but vary considerably ; and the remaining 
 seventy, if varying from it at all, do so very slightly. 
 The inexactness of many of the quotations suggests that 
 Paul quoted from memory without reference to any 
 manuscript. He uses the same formulae of quotation 
 as the Rabbis, most commonly 'as it is written,' or 'for 
 it is written'; sometimes the question, 'What saith the 
 scripture?' throws a citation into greater prominence; 
 'the scripture saith' or 'He (God) saith' are used as 
 equivalent ; but the human author is also mentioned, as 
 David (iv. 6), Isaiah (ix. 27), Moses (x. 5^. He strings 
 together a number of passages from different sources, 
 as in the proof of man's sinfulness (iii. 10-18), and of 
 the call of the Gentiles and rejection of the Jews (ix. 25- 
 29, XV. 9-12). It is not improbable that such collections 
 of proof-texts were current in the Rabbinic schools. His 
 use is not fanciful or forced, but he puts on the words any 
 meaning which, as they stand, they can bear, without any 
 regard, however, to the context or the circumstances 
 under which the words were first spoken or written. 
 He applies to the Gentiles words spoken of the Ten 
 Tribes (ix. 25, 26), and he uses words in which the 
 gracious character of the law of God is described to 
 indicate the distinction between the gospel and the law 
 
INTRODUCTION 27 
 
 (x. 6-8). As a rule, however, Paul's use of the Old 
 Testament is logically correct ; for even when the words 
 are quoted in another sense than the immediate context 
 suggests, yet the principles and spirit of the Old Testa- 
 ment are rightly apprehended. But there is also a literary 
 use of the Old Testament by Paul when he is not proving 
 the truth of his statements by an appeal to the Old 
 Testament, but is simply using the familiar words of 
 the Scriptures to express his own thoughts. He, for 
 instance, applies to the messengers of the gospel words 
 used in a Psalm of the heavenly bodies (x. 18). Probably 
 in the quotation already referred to (x. 6-8), in which 
 what is said of the law is applied to the gospel, the words 
 are not used for logical proof, which would be an 
 illegitimate use, but for rhetorical effect, a justifiable 
 appropriation. These two uses cannot always be sharply 
 distinguished, as the statement of an unfamiliar truth in 
 familiar language helps to persuade and convince, and 
 so has not only a rhetorical propriety, but also a logical 
 value. There are some passages in Romans, however, 
 in which the Old Testament is used not only as illustration 
 but as argument ; and wath a meaning which the original 
 sense does not justify or even contradicts. Words are 
 quoted from the law to condemn the law ; a Messianic 
 reference is given to passages not originally Messianic ; 
 and cspecir.lly the calling of the Gentiles is proved by 
 words which have no reference to the Gentiles at all. 
 But it must always be remembered that Paul used, and 
 it would be a miracle had he not used, the methods of his 
 age. Controversially his method was justified, as the 
 opponents he had to meet were ready to use the Scriptures 
 in the very same way. Elaborate attempts are sometimes 
 made to justify from our modern standpoint all Paul's 
 quotations, but we relieve ourselves of many difficulties 
 at once if we frankly recognize that Paul used the words 
 of Scripture in any sense proper for his purpose which 
 they appeared to bear, without troubling himself to consult 
 
28 ROMANS 
 
 the context as to whether this was the true sense or not. 
 It must, however, be added that Paul in his interpretation 
 of the Old Testament was faithful to its dominant purpose. 
 Old Testament prophecy was opposed to ritualism and 
 legalism, and longed for a new covenant better than the 
 old ; there is a Messianic hope as an essential and vital 
 element in the Divine revelation ; in the prophetic 
 predictions there was an occasional transcendence of 
 national particularism, and a partial recognition of the 
 inclusion of the nations in God's purpose for His own 
 chosen people. Paul's theology appropriated what was 
 most universal, progressive, and gracious in the thought 
 of the Old Testament ; and if he finds in some passages 
 more than they contain, it is because he places himself 
 at the height to which revelation had risen in the fulfil- 
 ment of the law and the prophets in Christ. The two 
 quotations to which Paul attaches very special value 
 illustrate this development of germs of thought and life 
 in the Old Testament into full vitality and vigour in the 
 Christian revelation. Habakkuk's words, 'the righteous 
 shall live by faith' (ii. 4), and the words written about 
 Abraham (Gen. xv. 6), 'Abraham believed God, and it 
 w?s reckoned unto him for righteousness,' legitimately 
 afford in the Old Testament a basis for Paul's distinctive 
 doctrine of justification by faith. 
 
 It is of interest to note the books which are quoted 
 and the use made of these quotations. Genesis affords 
 five references to the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and 
 Esau. The four quotations from Exodus include two 
 references to the commandments, and two statements 
 regarding Moses and Pharaoh as the objects respectively 
 of the Divine favour and wrath. From Leviticus is taken 
 the description of the law as a way of life to the obedient 
 only. Words from Deuteronomy describe the grace of 
 the gospel, the purpose of God to provoke the jealousy 
 of the Jews by the call of the Gentiles, the joy of the 
 Gentiles in the salvation common to them and the Jews, 
 
INTRODUCTION 29 
 
 and God's sole right to execute vengeance. The two 
 verses quoted from Kings contain Elijah's complaint 
 against Israel and Jehovah's response. God's inde- 
 pendence of His creatures is described in words from 
 Job. The duty of the Christian to his enemies is enforced 
 by precepts found in Proverbs (also Leviticus). Hosea's 
 words about the rejection and restoration of the Ten Tribes 
 are applied to the Gentiles. Joel's saying about the 
 universal salvation offered to God's chosen people in the 
 day of His judgement is extended, contrary to Joel's 
 intention, to include all mankind. Habakkuk yields the 
 great statement about justification by faith. Malachi's 
 contrast between Jacob and Esau is applied either in the 
 original sense to the nations Judah and Edom or to 
 the persons themselves. The Psalms, spoken of as 
 David's, yield fifteen quotations : seven of these are 
 strung together to describe human depravity ; one pro- 
 nounces the blessedness of the man freely forgiven ; one 
 affirms God's righteousness in judging mankind ; one is 
 a complaint of saints suffering for righteousness ; one, 
 an imprecation on persecutors, is used to describe the 
 hardening that had come on God's chosen people ; what 
 is said of the heavenly bodies is in one applied to the 
 messengers of the gospel ; to two a Messianic reference 
 is given which the original context does not directly 
 suggest ; and one is a call to the Gentiles to praise God 
 for salvation. The book which is most quoted, however, 
 is Isaiah. The reproach which the sins of the Jewish 
 people in Paul's own time brought on God is described 
 in words from the second part of Isaiah, which also 
 affords two quotations to describe human depravity. 
 Isaiah is quoted to prove Israel's unbelief and rejection 
 (four times), the survival of a remnant (twice), the sending 
 forth of the messengers of the gospel (once), the belief 
 of the Gentiles (thrice), the blessings of faith (once), the 
 coming of the Messiah (twice), and the infinite wisdom 
 of God (once). From this enumeration it appears that 
 
30 ROMANS 
 
 the points which Paul sets himself specially to prove 
 from the Old Testament are these : the universality of 
 sin, the necessity of faith, the sovereignty of God, the 
 unbelief and rejection of the Jews, the call and faith of 
 the Gentiles. Accordingly we find no quotation in the 
 fifth, sixth, and sixteenth chapters, only one each in the 
 first, second, seventh, eighth, thirteenth, and fourteenth 
 chapters, two quotations in the twelfth chapter ; but ten 
 in the third chapter, four in the fourth, eleven each in 
 the ninth and the tenth, seven in the eleventh, and six 
 in the fifteenth chapter, which returns to the subject of 
 chapters nine to eleven. It is noteworthy that Paul does 
 not prove the necessity of Christ's death or the nature 
 of his atonement from the Old Testament. He does not 
 illustrate the Christian's union with Christ or hope for 
 the hereafter from the Old Testament. Apart from the 
 illustrative use already mentioned, it is to be remarked 
 that the Old Testament is quoted generally as against 
 Jewish or Judaizing opponents. That does not mean 
 that Paul undervalued the Scriptures, for he expresses 
 his sense of Jewish privilege in possessing them (iii. 2, 
 ix. 4) and their worth to the Christian (xv. 4) ; but that 
 he was not conscious that what was most characteristic 
 of the Christian faith needed any other evidence than 
 the experience of God's grace afforded. 
 
 {c) But besides proofs of the influence of the Old 
 Testament, we have traces of Paul's knowledge of extra- 
 canonical Jewish literature, and of his acquaintance with 
 contemporary Jewish theological thought, (i) His state- 
 ment (i. 18-32) about the revelation of God in nature, 
 the inexcusableness of pagan ignorance, the vanity of 
 the pagan mind, the shame of idolatry, the immorality 
 consequent on idolatry, has a striking resemblance to 
 passages in the Wisdom of Solomon (xiii. i, 5 ; ii- 23 ; 
 xviii. 9; xiii. 8, i ; xii. 24, i ; xiv. 8; xiii. 10, 13, 14, 17; 
 xiv. II, 21, 12, 16, 22, 25, 27). To passages in the same 
 book chap. ix. offers some likeness. Man's powerlessness 
 
INTRODUCTION 31 
 
 against God, God's patience with man, the freedom of 
 the potter in the handhng of the clay, are mentioned 
 (xi. 21 ; xii. 12, 10, 20; xv. 7) in similar terms. The 
 writer of ^his book in chaps, x-xix. attempts a philosophy 
 of history even as Paul does in chaps, ix-xi ; but while 
 the latter's sympathy is wide as humanity, and so he sees 
 in history a Divine purpose to save all mankind, the 
 former in his feelings is a thoroughly narrow Jew, whose 
 ideas have been very slightly modified by Hellenic 
 culture, so that on the one hand he judges indulgently 
 Israel's sin, and on the other he has not any hope for the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 (ii) Although Paul's views on faith are characteristically 
 original, yet even in Jewish literature some attention 
 was being given to the subject. In the Apocalyptic 
 literature faith means fidelity to the Old Testament 
 religion, and it is predicated of the Messiah himself as 
 well as of his subjects ; but faith does not here stand 
 alone as the condition of salvation, but works are 
 associated with it. The saying quoted by Paul about 
 Abraham's faith (iv. 3) was discussed in the Jewish 
 schools. In I Maccabees ii. 52, the words 'Abraham 
 believed in God ' are paraphrased ' Abraham was found 
 faithful in temptation.' Philo refers at leact ten times 
 to this statement, and lays great stress on the virtue of 
 trust in God ; but for him Abraham's history is an 
 allegory of the union of the soul to God by instruction. 
 In a Rabbinic tract, Mechieta, there is a passage in praise 
 of faith in which it is said, 'Abraham our father inherited 
 this world and the world to come solely by the merit of 
 faith, whereby he believed in the Lord.' Hab. ii. 4 
 is also quoted with the comment, ' Great is faith.' But 
 that faith was narrowed down to the barren belief that 
 James so severely condemns is shewn by another passage 
 from the writing entitled Siphri, * God punishes more 
 severely for doctrine than for practice.' 
 
 (iii) It is at current doctrine Paul strikes when he 
 
32 ROMANS 
 
 insists that circumcision of itself has no value, for the 
 Jewish schools taught that an apostate Jew could not go 
 down to Gehenna till his circumcision had been removed, 
 that God Himself took part in Abraham's circumcision, 
 that it was his circumcision that enabled him to beget 
 Isaac as a ' holy seed,' and to become the father of many 
 nations. 
 
 (iv) Although the Jewish teachers did not generally 
 hold the doctrine of original sin and natural depravity, 
 yet some of them did teach that death was due to 
 Adam's sin, that the beginning of sin was from woman, 
 that Adam's transgression introduced a permanent in- 
 firmity in the race, and that nevertheless man's individual 
 responsibility remained. Paul, in what he says about the 
 results for mankind from Adam's fall (v. 12-20), is 
 reproducing the thought of his age with greater emphasis 
 on the oneness of the race and the power of sin. 
 
 (v) The belief which Paul expresses in the renovation 
 of nature at the establishment of the Messianic kingdom 
 (viii. 19-21) was cornmon in his day, and, without the 
 restraint of language he displays, finds distinct and 
 frequent expression in the abundant Apocalyptic literature 
 which professes to unveil the secrets of the future. In 
 these writings the glowing poetry of some of the prophets, 
 especially of the second part of Isaiah, is literalized and 
 dogmatized, and so eloquent figures are turned into 
 prosaic facts. 
 
 (vi) In contemporary Jewish literature the election by 
 God of Israel was strongly maintained. The covenant 
 between God and Israel was regarded as so binding on 
 God that no sin could alter it, that the worst Israelite 
 was deemed better than any Gentile, that no Israelite 
 could perish, but all Israelites must inherit the blessings 
 of the Messianic Age. For Israel alone God cared, and 
 all mankind besides was excluded from His purpose of 
 grace. Paul had possibly himself at one time held this 
 view, but as a Christian he combats it, and he insists 
 
INTRODUCTION 33 
 
 (ix, x), as the prophets had maintained in opposition to 
 the popular belief of their times, that the covenant was 
 conditional, that it imposed obligations as well as con- 
 ferred privileges, that its blessings could be enjoyed only 
 as its duties were done. 
 
 (vii) The merits of the fathers, to which Paul alludes 
 (xi. 28), were much discussed in the Jewish schools. 
 Even in the time of Ezekiel it was believed that their 
 virtues might secure exemption from judgement for their 
 descendants ; and the prophet protests against this view. 
 'Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were 
 in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their 
 righteousness' (xiv. 14). 'We have Abraham to our 
 father' was a common cry, which John the Baptist 
 condemned (Matt. iii. 9). It was taught by some of the 
 Rabbis that the superfluous merits of the patriarchs 
 would be transferred to the nation to make up for its 
 shortcomings. In a tract, Shemoih rabba, the words in 
 the Song of Songs, ' I am black, but comely ' (i. 5), are 
 thus commented on. ' The congregation of Israel speaks : 
 I am black through mine own works, but lovely through 
 the works of my fathers.' This has some resemblance to 
 Paul's words, 'they are beloved for the fathers' sake' 
 (xi. 28). A close analogy to his statement, ' if the root 
 is holy, so are the branches' (verse 16), is presented 
 in the language of the writing Wajjikra rabba, ' As this 
 vine supports itself on a trunk which is dry, while it is 
 itself green and fresh, so Israel supports itself on the 
 merit of the fathers, although they already sleep.' But 
 while there is resemblance, yet there is also difference. 
 The holiness of the fathers and the approval which God 
 bestowed on them are regarded by Paul as reasons for 
 God's continuing His undeserved mercy, as grounds for 
 hoping for Israel's repentance; but the merits of the 
 fathers are not represented as a substitute which God 
 will accept for the personal righteousness of their 
 descendants, as in Jewish thought. Other illustrations 
 D 
 
34 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 might be given, but these will suffice to shew how far 
 Paul was influenced by contemporary Jewish thought. 
 
 (d) The Judaistic controversy which Paul's gospel had 
 provoked within the Christian Church is still heard in 
 echoes in the Epistle. While Paul does not directly 
 allude to this controversy as in Galatians, while his tone 
 everywhere is conciliatory, yet he shews throughout his 
 consciousness that his theology has been objected to and 
 opposed. While we need not assume on the one hand 
 that there was any Judaizing party in Rome, and cannot 
 suppose on the other hand that Paul was stating only 
 possible objections in order to develop his argument 
 completely, it is not at all improbable that some of Paul's 
 friends in Rome reported to him the actual objections 
 made when they sought to commend his gospel. Such 
 objections were that it denied all advantage to the Jew ; 
 that it represented the law as sin, and made it of no 
 effect ; that it encouraged moral licence ; that it repre- 
 sented God as unrighteous, because unfaithful to the 
 promises to His elect nation. In answering these objec- 
 tions especially Paul falls back on the Scriptures. 
 
 (e) But while all these contributory streams claim 
 recognition, yet the volume and velocity of the current 
 of thought in Romans is due to the profound and sublime 
 religious reason of Paul himself. With the quick facility 
 and the rich fertility of a great intellect, Paul works out 
 the ultimate implicates as the final conclusions of his 
 theological position. The distinctive ideas are expounded 
 in Romans with a fullness not found elsewhere in his 
 writings. Justification is through faith in God's grace, 
 not through merit of works. The Old Testament itself, 
 in the time and manner of the promise to Abraham, 
 anticipated the order of grace. Grace and life can be 
 communicated from Christ as widely and surely as sin 
 and death from Adam. Faith is so intimate a union with 
 Christ that Christ's experience becomes typical of the 
 spiritual process by which the Christian is delivered 
 
INTRODUCTION 35 
 
 from sin and renewed unto holiness. Law is as un- 
 necessary as it is inefficient as a means of holy living. 
 Man's experience now of the indwelling and inworking 
 of God's Holy Spirit is the pledge of his perfection, glory, 
 and blessedness hereafter. God's purpose is to embrace 
 all mankind in His mercy ; and He can use even man's 
 disobedience for the furtherance of that end. These are 
 the original conceptions which this letter expounds, illus- 
 trates, and applies. 
 
 (/) In common with the other teachers of the early 
 church generally, Paul teaches Christ's Messiahship, 
 Divine Sonship, Heavenly Lordship, his death as a 
 propitiation for sin, the declaration of his Sonship at 
 his resurrection, his universal presence and supreme 
 power, his return in glory to judge all men, the establish- 
 ment of his dominion in a renewed world. He does not, 
 however, develop the doctrine of Christ's person, as in 
 later epistles (Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians) he is 
 forced to do in opposition to heresy. He has less to say 
 in exposition of the doctrine of Christ's sacrifice than 
 even in Galatians. Although the nearness of Christ's 
 Second Coming is appealed to as a practical motive, there 
 is no eschatology as in i and 2 Thessalonians. We have 
 not, therefore, in Romans a complete presentation of 
 Christian truth, and this is the fatal objection to the view- 
 that its purpose is primarily dogmatic. We have simply 
 an exposition and a defence of the Pauline gospel, in 
 which all the mental resources at the command of Paul 
 are laid under contribution and made subordinate to his 
 purpose. 
 
 7. Logical method. The logical method of the 
 Epistle will repay study. Besides appeals to personal 
 experience, proofs drawn from the Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures, repudiation of false inferences from his principles 
 in the phrase ' God forbid,' in which the moral conscious- 
 ness or the religious spirit without argum.ent asserts itself 
 against what offends it, assumptions that certain truths 
 
 D 2 
 
36 ROMANS 
 
 are self-evident to the Christian mind — as that God shall 
 judge the world— there are various forms of argument used 
 by Paul. His proof of universal sinfulness apart from 
 its confirmation by Scripture is in accordance with the 
 inductive method (a posteriori). After an examination 
 of all the particulars a general conclusion is stated. The 
 deductive method is [a priori) still more frequently used. 
 From God's office as judge it is inferred that He must be 
 just, and from His creatorship that He can do as He 
 will with His creatures. The argument from a lesser to 
 a greater reason {a fortiori) is employed in the contrast 
 between Adam and Christ. If the lesser person Adam 
 could bring sin and death on the whole race, how much 
 more can the greater person Christ bring grace and life 
 to all. A more complex example of this kind of reasoning 
 is found in the inference in chap. v. from what God has 
 already done to what He will still do. If justified by the 
 death of Christ, the believer will much more be saved by 
 his life. The initial justification is more difficult than the 
 final salvation. The life of Christ is even more potent 
 than his death. If the lesser power has achieved the 
 greater task, the greater power may be trusted to accom- 
 plish the easier task. What is known as the argumeiitiwi 
 ad homtftem, the argument which does not appeal to 
 absolute truth, but is addressed exclusively to the stand- 
 point of the opponent in the controversy, whether that be 
 true or false, is used in the ninth chapter, where Paul 
 does not write out of his own Christian consciousness of 
 God as Father of all, but addresses himself to the 
 Jewish standpoint, which without qualification affirmed 
 the Divine sovereignty. Even the reductio ad ahsurdum, 
 the disproof of a statement by shewing the absurdity which 
 it involves, is employed in the argument that if God's 
 election of the remnant is of works, 'grace is no more 
 grace' (xi. 6). The argument by analogy is often 
 employed, as for instance to prove the impossibility of 
 the Christian's service both of sin and righteousness, the 
 
INTRODUCTION 37 
 
 /reedom from the law of the Christian who has died to 
 sin with Christ, the mutual dependence of the members 
 of the church as one body, the absolute power of God 
 over man as of the potter over his clay, the contrast of 
 Jew and Gentile in relation to God's purpose of grace 
 as the natural and the engrafted branches of a tree. 
 Historical facts also are made to yield theological truths ; 
 the date of Abraham's circumcision, after and not before 
 his being reckoned righteous on account of his faith, is 
 claimed as a proof that faith alone commends to God. 
 The construction of a complex argument is seen in 
 chapters ix-xi : first one proposition, God's absolute 
 freedom, is proved ; then the complementary proposition, 
 man's liberty and responsibility ; lastly, their apparent 
 contradiction is removed in the conclusion that God 
 subordinates even man's disobedience to the fulfilment 
 of His purpose. This argument, however, illustrates 
 a danger of the method : the one aspect of the truth is 
 stated in so unqualified a way that it appears as if it were 
 all the truth, and excluded every other aspect. Paul's 
 separation, in the same way, of his doctrine of justification 
 from his doctrine of sanctification has undoubtedly led 
 to practical as well as theoretical error. Paul's argu- 
 ments are not always convincing. In his proof from 
 his personal experience of the impotence of the law 
 by itself to overcome sin he does not shew, as his 
 argument required, that the law can have no place in 
 the Christian life. He pronounces the commandment 
 ' holy, righteous, and good ' ; if it is all this, how can the 
 Christian life supersede it ? If the law is spiritual, why 
 may not the life in the spirit be a life under law ? What 
 needed to be shewn, although Paul failed to shew it, was 
 that the law at its best, apart altogether from the 
 antagonism of the flesh, represented a lower stage of 
 moral and religious development than the life in the 
 Spirit. These instances of Paul's logical method may 
 afford some guidance in the intelligent study of Romans. 
 
38 ROMANS 
 
 8. Literary style. Although his letter was addressed 
 to Rome, it was written in Greek, which was, however, 
 the language of the Roman Church for ' two centuries 
 and a half at least.' Paul, however, did not write the 
 classical language, but the common speech among the 
 mixed nationalities in the Roman Empire, which owed 
 its wide diffusion to the conquests of Alexander. It was 
 a far less subtle and refined language than that found 
 in the best Greek authors. Although expositors have 
 sometimes tried to apply the rules of classical Greek to 
 the New Testament, yet it is coming to be more generally 
 recognized that what we have before us is a far less 
 accurate and resourceful medium of expression. Besides, 
 Paul dictated his letters to a companion, doubtless often 
 as he was himself engaged in manual toil, and he did not 
 take time to finish and to pohsh his sentences in a revisal 
 of his manuscript. We shall therefore be simply pursuing 
 a phantom, if we seek in his mode of expression for those 
 niceties and subtleties of language in which the scholar 
 delights, but for which the common man has no liking 
 nor understanding. Paul was not a Greek scholar with 
 a ' grammatical and rhetorical discipline ' ; his learning 
 was Rabbinic. Further, the fertility of Paul's mind and 
 the intensity of his feeling make his style still more 
 irregular. He begins one construction, is led aside by 
 a word, and when he gets back to his main thought takes 
 up another construction (v. 12-14). A long parenthesis 
 interrupts the regular flow of the words (ii. 13, 14). 
 Sometimes words and clauses follow one another without 
 any distinct grammatical connexion (xii. 6-8). These 
 irregularities prove a rapid and keen mind, not one that 
 cannot control its thoughts. As a rule the style is 
 clear, sharp, brief. A question is quickly followed by its 
 answer. A quotation in a few words finds its interpretation. 
 Some elaborate periods there are, as the salutation (i. 1-7), 
 the intimation of the sacrifice of Christ (iii. 21-26), the 
 statement of the believer's certainty (viii. 31-38), the 
 
 1 
 
INTRODUCTION 39 
 
 enumeration of Israel's privileges (ix. 1-5J, the description 
 of the righteousness of faith (x. 6-11), and the doxology 
 (xvi. 25-27). If in these passages the style sometimes 
 drags with heavy foot, in others it soars on light wing. 
 The literary devices of comparison and contrast (Adam 
 and Christ, Moses and Pharaoh, the righteousness of 
 works and of faith) are not despised. The apostrophe 
 is used with great effect in addressing both the Jewish 
 sinner who claims exemption from judgement (ii) and 
 the Jewish objector to the argument about election (ix). 
 Illustrations are drawn from human life (slavery, marriage, 
 law, government, warfare, priestly service, potter's and 
 gardener's work, sleeping and waking) and nature (the 
 body and its members, the root and the branches, fruit- 
 bearing). The style, however, was evidently never for 
 Paul an object to be considered with care and carried 
 out with skill. What excellence there is in it is due to the 
 vitality and vigour of his intellect ; its defects can all be 
 traced to the fullness and the force of his thinking, for 
 which the language he used was an imperfect instrument. 
 
40 
 
 COMMENTARIES ON ROMANS 
 
 Sanday, Romans in EUicott's New Testament Commentary. 
 
 MouLE, ,, in Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. 
 
 Brown, „ in Bible-Class Handbook. T. & T. Clark. 
 
 GiFFORD, ,, in The Speaker's Commentary. 
 
 Barmby. ,, in The Pulpit ,, 
 
 Denney, ,, in The Expositor's Greek Testament. 
 
 Sanday and Headlam, Romans in The International Critical 
 Commentary. 
 
 Beet, Commentary on the Romans. 
 
 Vaughan, ,, ,, ., ,, 
 
 Meyer, ,, ,, ' „ ,, .3 vols. 
 
 GODET, „ ,, ,, „ . ,, 
 
 LiDDON, Explanatory Analysis of St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans. 
 
 Gore, A Practical Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans. 2 vols. 
 
 MouLE, Romans in The Expositor's Bible. 
 
 MoRisoN, An Exposition of the Ninth Chapter of Paul's Epistle 
 to the Romans. 
 
 MoRisoN, A Critical Exposition of the Third Chapter of Paul's 
 Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 MoRisoN, A Practical Exposition of Romans VI : St. Paul's 
 Teaching on Sanctificatioti. 
 
 Rutherford, St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. A New 
 Translation with a Brief Analysis. 
 
CONTENTS OF THE EPISTLE 
 
 EPISTOLARY INTBODUCTIOHT. i. 1-17. 
 
 I. The Apostolic Salutation (1-7). 
 II. Personal Explanations (8-17). 
 
 TEE DOCTSIITAL EXPOSITION, i. 18— zi. 36. 
 
 I. The Doctrine of Justification, i. 18 — v. 21. 
 
 (i) Righteousness hitherto unattained (i. 18 — iii. 20). 
 
 (2) Righteousness provided in Christ (iii. 21-31). 
 
 (3) Righteousness by faith consistent with law (iv). 
 
 (4) The blissful eflfects of righteousness (v. i-ii). 
 ^5) Christ more to the race than Adam ;i2-2i). 
 
 II. The Doctrine of Sanctification. vi — viii. 
 
 (i) Faith as union with Christ (vi, 1-14% 
 
 (2) The service of sin and of righteousness (15-23). 
 
 (3) Release from authority of law (vii. 1-6]. 
 
 (4) The powerlessness of the law (7-25). 
 
 (5) The course of the Christian life (viii^. 
 
 III. The Doctrine of Election, ix — xi. 
 
 (i) God's absolute freedom (ix. 1-29). 
 
 (2) The Jews' failure through unbelief (ix. 30 — x. 21). 
 
 (3) God's final purpose of mercy on all (xi). 
 
 THE FBACTICAI. APPLICATION, xii. 1— xv. 13. 
 I. General Principles of Christian Life. xii. i— xiii. 14. 
 
 (i) Christian life as a sacrifice (xii. I, 2). 
 
 (2) The ministry of spiritual gifts (3-8). 
 
 (3) The law of love in its manifold applications (^9-21). 
 
 (4) The Christian's duty to the State (xiii. 1-7;. 
 1^5) Love as the fulfilment of all law (8-10). 
 
 {6) The nearness of Christ's Second Coming <xi-i4). 
 
42 CONTENTS OF THE EPISTLE 
 
 XI. Special Applications to the Church in Some. 
 
 xiv. I — XV. 13. 
 
 EPISTOLARY COSTCLUSION. xv. 14— xvi. 27. 
 
 I. The Motive of the Epistle (xv. 14-21). 
 
 II. Paul's Plans of Travel ; 22-29). 
 
 III. Introduction for Phoebe xvi, i, 2). 
 
 IV. Personal Greetings ,3-16). 
 
 V. Warning against False Teachers (17-20). 
 
 VI, Greetings from Paul's Companions (21-23). 
 
 VII. The Concluding Doxology (25-27). 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 AUTHORIZED VERSION 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ROMANS chap.i 
 
 1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Epistolary 
 
 2 apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (which tion° 
 
 he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy The apos- 
 
 3 scriptures,) concerning his Son Jesus Christ our tationf "' 
 Lord, which was made of the seed of David ac- 
 
 4 cording to the flesh ; and declared to be the Son 
 of God with power, according to the spirit of 
 
 5 holiness, by the resurrection from the dead : by 
 whom we have received grace and apostleship, for 
 obedience to the faith among all nations, for his 
 
 6 name ; among whom are ye also the called of 
 
 7 Jesus Christ : to all that be in Rome, beloved of 
 God, called to be saints : Grace to you and peace 
 from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for Personal 
 you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the tionsT^ 
 
 9 whole world. For God is my witness, whom I 
 serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that 
 without ceasing I make mention of you always in 
 
 10 my prayers ; making request, if by any means now 
 at length I might have a prosperous journey by the 
 
 11 will of God to come unto you. For 1 long to see 
 
46 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 1 you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual 
 
 gift, to the end ye may be established ; that is, 12 
 that I may be comforted together with you by the 
 mutual faith both of you and me. Now I would 13 
 not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes 
 I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) 
 that I might have some fruit among you also, even 
 as among other Gentiles. I am debtor both to 14 
 the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the 
 wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, 15 
 I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are 
 at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the 16 
 gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto 
 salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew 
 first, and also to the Greek. 
 
 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed 17 
 from faith to faith : as it is written. The just shall 
 The live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from tS 
 
 exposuion. heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 
 The doc- of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness ; 
 ^ustifica- Because that which may be known of God is 19 
 tion. manifest in them ; for God hath shewed // unto 
 
 Righteous- them. For the invisible things of him from the 20 
 
 ness ° 
 
 hitherto creation of the world are clearly seen, being under- 
 attained, stood by the things that are made, even his eternal 
 The sin power and Godhead; so that they are without 
 oVntiies. excuse : because that, when they knew God, they 21 
 glorified him not as God, neither were thankful ; 
 but became vain in their imaginations, and their 
 foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves 22 
 to be wise, they became fools, and changed the 23 
 glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made 
 like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted 
 
ROMANS 47 
 
 24 beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also Chap. 1 
 gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of 
 
 their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies 
 
 25 between themselves : who changed the truth of 
 God into a He, and worshipped and served the 
 creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for 
 
 26 ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up 
 unto vile affections : for even their women did 
 change the natural use into that which is against 
 
 27 nature : and likewise also the men, leaving the 
 natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one 
 toward another ; men with men working that which 
 is unseemly, and receiving in themselves thatrecom- 
 
 28 pence of their error which was meet. And even as 
 they did not like to retain God in //^^/r knowledge, 
 God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do 
 
 29 those things which are not convenient; being filled 
 with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, 
 covetousness, maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, 
 
 30 debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, 
 haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors 
 
 31 of evil things, disobedient to parents, without 
 understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural 
 
 32 affection, implacable, unmerciful : who knowing 
 the judgment of God, that they which commit 
 such things are worthy of death, not only do the 
 same, but have pleasure in them that do them. 
 
 2 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whoso- God's 
 ever thou art that judgest : for wherein thou judgest "udge"^^ 
 another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that °^®"'* 
 
 2 judgest doest the same things. But we are sure 
 that the judgment of God is according to truth 
 
 3 against them which commit such things. And 
 
48 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 2 thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which 
 do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt 
 escape the judgment of God ? Or despisest thou 4 
 the riches of his goodness and forbearance and 
 longsuffering ; not knowing that the goodness of 
 God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy 5 
 hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto 
 thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revela- 
 tion of the righteous judgment of God ; who 6 
 will render to every man according to his deeds : 
 to them who by patient continuance in well doing 7 
 seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal 
 life : but unto them that are contentious, and do 8 
 not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, in- 
 dignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon 9 
 every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, 
 and also of the Gentile ; but glory, honour, and 10 
 peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew 
 first, and also to the Gentile: for there is no n 
 respect of persons with God. For as many as have 12 
 sinned without law shall also perish without law: 
 and as many as have sinned in the law shall be 
 judged by the law ; (for not the hearers of the law 13 
 are just before God, but the doers of the law shall 
 be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have 14 
 not the law, do by nature the things contained in 
 the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto 
 themselves : which shew the work of the law written 15 
 in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, 
 and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else 
 excusing one another;) in the day when God shall 16 
 judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according 
 to my gospel. 
 
ROMANS 49 
 
 17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the Chap. 2 
 
 18 law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest ^j^^ 
 
 his will, and approvest the things that are more failure of 
 
 19 excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art ^ *^^' 
 confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, 
 
 20 a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor 
 of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the 
 form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 
 
 21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest 
 thou not thyself ? thou that preachest a man should 
 
 22 not steal, dost thou steal ? thou that say est a man 
 should not commit adultery, dost thou commit 
 adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou 
 
 23 commit sacrilege? thou that makest thy boast of the 
 law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou 
 
 24 God ? For the name of God is blasphemed among 
 
 25 the Gentiles through you, as it is written. For 
 circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law : 
 but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision 
 
 26 is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncir- 
 cumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall 
 not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 
 
 27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, 
 if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter 
 
 28 and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he 
 is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is 
 that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh : 
 
 29 but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and cir- 
 cumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and 
 not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but 
 of God. 
 
 3 What advantage then hath the Jew ? or what No objec- 
 2 profit is there of circumcision ? Much every way : vaUd. 
 
50 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 3 chiefly, because that unto them were committed the 
 
 oracles of God. For what if some did not believe ? 3 
 shall their unbelief make the faith of God without 
 effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but 4 
 every man a liar; as it is written, That thou 
 mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest 
 overcome when thou art judged. 
 
 But if our unrighteousness commend the 5 
 righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is 
 God unrighteous who taketh vengeance ? (I speak 
 as a man) God forbid : for then how shall God f^ 
 judge the world? For if the truth of God hath 7 
 more abounded through my lie unto his glory ; why 
 yet am I also judged as a sinner ? and not rather^ 8 
 (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm 
 that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come ? 
 whose damnation is just. 
 The Scrip- What then ? are we better tha7i they ? No, in no 9 
 of Uie fact, wise : for we have before proved both Jews and 
 
 Gentiles, that they are all under sin ; as it is written, 10 
 There is none righteous, no, not one : there is none n 
 that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after 
 God, They are all gone out of the way, they are 12 
 together become unprofitable ; there is none that 
 doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open 13 
 sepulchre; with their tongues they have used 
 deceit ; the poison of asps is under their lips : 
 whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : 14 
 their feet are swift to shed blood : destruction and i.;, 16 
 misery are in their ways : and the way of peace 17 
 have they not known : there is no fear of God 18 
 before their eyes. Now we know that what things 19 
 soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under 
 
ROMANS 51 
 
 the law : that every mouth may be stopped, and all Chap. 3 
 the world may become guilty before God. 
 
 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no 
 flesh be justified in his sight : for by the law is the 
 
 21 knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of Righteous- 
 God without the law is manifested, being witnessed provided 
 
 22 by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness ^ Christ, 
 of God 2vhtch is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all 
 
 and upon all them that believe: for there is no 
 
 23 difference : for all have sinned, and come short of 
 
 24 the glory of God ; being justified freely by his grace 
 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus : 
 
 25 whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through 
 faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for 
 the remission of sins that are past, through the 
 
 36 forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time 
 his righteousness : that he might be just, and the 
 justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 
 
 37 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By 
 what law ? of works ? Nay : but by the law of 
 
 28 faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is 
 justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 
 
 29 Is he the God of the Jews only ? is he not also 
 
 30 of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also : seeing 
 it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision 
 by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 
 
 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? 
 
 4 God forbid : yea, we establish the law. What shall Righteous 
 we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining conS^ent 
 
 2 to the flesh, hath found ? For if Abraham were ''^^^ ^^"^• 
 justified by works, he hath whereof to glory ; but ^an?s ac- 
 
 3 not before God. For what saith the scripture ? ceptancc 
 Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto faith. 
 
 £ 2 
 
52 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 4 him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh 4 
 is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 
 But to him that worketh not, but beheveth on him 5 
 that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for 
 righteousness. 
 
 Even as David also describeth the blessedness 6 
 of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness 
 without works, sayings Blessed are they whose 7 
 iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 
 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not 8 
 impute sin. 
 Abra- Cometh this blessedness then upon the circum- 9 
 
 ceptance cision only^ or upon the uncircumcision also? for 
 prior to ^^,g ^j^^j- f^jj-j^ ^yj^g reckoned to Abraham for 
 
 his cir- ■' , 1 J -> 1 
 
 cumcision. righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when 10 
 he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision ? Not 
 in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he n 
 received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the 
 righteousness of the faith which he had yet being 
 uncircumcised : that he might be the father of all 
 them that believe, though they be not circumcised ; 
 that righteousness might be imputed unto them 
 also: and the father of circumcision to them who 12 
 are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk 
 in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, 
 which he had being yet uncircumcised. 
 Abra- For the promise, that he should be the heir of 13 
 
 ceptance the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, 
 m^w.""^ through the law, but through the righteousness of 
 
 faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, 14 
 faith is made void, and the promise made of none 
 effect : because the law worketh wrath : for where 15 
 no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore // is 16 
 
ROMANS 53 
 
 of faith, that // inight be by grace ; to the end the Chap. 4 
 promise might be sure to all the seed ; not to that 
 only which is of the law, but to that also which is 
 of the faith of Abraham ; who is the father of us 
 
 17 all, (as it is written, I have made thee a father of 
 many nations,) before him whom he believed, evefi 
 God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those 
 things which be not as though they were. 
 
 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he Abra- 
 might become the father of many nations, according faiSi^ 
 to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. typical. 
 
 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not 
 his own body now dead, when he was about an 
 hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of 
 
 20 Sarah's womb : he staggered not at the promise 
 of God through unbehef; but was strong in faith, 
 
 21 giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded 
 that, what he had promised, he was able also to 
 
 22 perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for 
 righteousness. 
 
 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that 
 
 24 it was imputed to him ; but for us also, to whom 
 it shall be imputed, if we beheve on him that 
 
 25 raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ; who was 
 delivered for our offences, and was raised again for 
 our justification. 
 
 5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace The 
 3 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom effects of 
 also we have access by faith into this grace wherein "ghteous- 
 we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Descrip- 
 
 3 And not only so^ but we glory in tribulations ticn of the 
 also : knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; effects. 
 
 4 and patience, experience \ and experience, hope : 
 
54 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 5 and hope maketh not ashamed ; because the love 5 
 of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
 Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were 6 
 yet without strength, in due time Christ died for 
 the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man 7 
 will one die : yet peradventure for a good man some 
 would even dare to die. But God commendeth his 8 
 love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, 
 Christ died for us. Much more then, being now 9 
 justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath 
 through him. For if, when we were enemies, we 10 
 were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, 
 much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by 
 his life. 
 
 And not only so, but we also joy in God through 1 1 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now 
 received the atonement. 
 
 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the 12 
 world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon 
 all men, for that all have sinned : (for until the law 13 
 sin was in the world : but sin is not imputed when 
 there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from 14 
 Adam to Moses, even over them that had not 
 sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, 
 who is the figure of him that was to come. But 15 
 not as the offence, so also t's the free gift. For if 
 through the offence of one many be dead, much 
 more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, w/iic/i 
 is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto 
 many. And not as /V was by one that sinned, 16 
 so IS the gift : for the judgment 7aas by one to 
 condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences 
 unto justification. For if by one man's offence 17 
 
 Christ 
 more to 
 the race 
 than 
 Adam. 
 
ROMANS 55 
 
 death reigned by one; much more they which chap.5 
 receive abundance of grace and of the gift of 
 righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus 
 i8 Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one 
 judgment came upon all men to condemnation; 
 even so by the righteousness of one the free gift 
 
 19 came upon all men unto justification of life. For 
 as by one man's disobedience many were made 
 sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be 
 made righteous. 
 
 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might 
 abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much 
 
 2 1 more abound : that as sin hath reigned unto death, 
 even so might grace reign through righteousness 
 unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in Thedoc- 
 
 2 sin, that grace may abound ? God forbid. How sanctmca- 
 shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer *^°"* 
 
 3 therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as union with 
 were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into Christ. 
 
 4 his death ? Therefore we are buried with him by 
 baptism into death : that like as Christ was raised 
 up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even 
 
 5 so we also should walk in newness of life. For if 
 we have been planted together in the likeness of 
 his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his 
 
 6 resurrection : knowing this, that our old man is 
 crucified with him, that the body of sin might be 
 destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, 
 
 7,8 For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we 
 be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also 
 
 9 live with him : knowing that Christ being raised 
 from the dead dieth no more ; death hath no more 
 
56 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 6 dominion over him. For in that he died, he died lo 
 unto sin once : but in that he Hveth, he Hveth unto 
 God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be n 
 dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign 12 
 in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the 
 lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as i^ 
 instruments of unrighteousness unto sin : but yield 
 yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the 
 dead, and your members as instruments of righteous- 
 ness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion 14 
 over you : for ye are not under the law, but 
 under grace. 
 Theser- What then? shall we sin, because we are not 15 
 
 vice of sin . ,, , , -,^,,.1., 
 
 and of under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 
 
 ni^!^°"^ Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves 16 
 servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye 
 obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience 
 unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye 17 
 were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from 
 the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered 
 you. Being then made free from sin, ye became 18 
 the servants of righteousness. I speak after the 19 
 manner of men because of the infirmity of your 
 flesh : for as ye have yielded your members servants 
 to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity ; even 
 so now yield your members servants to righteousness 
 unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of 20 
 sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit 21 
 had ye then in those things whereof ye are now 
 ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 
 But now being made free from sin, and become 22 
 servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, 
 
ROMANS 57 
 
 23 and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin Chap, e 
 is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 7 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that Release 
 know the law,) how that the law hath dominion authority 
 
 2 over a man as long as he liveth ? For the woman °f i^^* 
 which hath an husband is bound by the law to her 
 husband so long as he liveth ; but if the husband 
 
 be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 
 
 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married 
 to another man, she shall be called an adulteress : 
 but if her husband be dead, she is free from that 
 law ; so that she is no adulteress, though she be 
 
 4 married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, 
 ye also are become dead to the law by the body of 
 Christ ; that ye should be married to another, eveji 
 to him who is raised from the dead, that we should 
 
 5 bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in 
 the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the 
 law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit 
 
 6 unto death. But now we are delivered from the 
 law, that being dead wherein we were held ; that 
 we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the 
 oldness of the letter. 
 
 7 What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God The power, 
 forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the onTe^Kw. 
 law : for I had not known lust, except the law had 
 
 8 said. Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occa- 
 sion by the commandment, wrought in me all 
 manner of concupiscence. For without the law 
 
 9 sin was dead. For I was alive without the law 
 once : but when the commandment came, sin 
 
 10 revived, and I died. And the commandment, 
 
58 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 7 which 7efas ordained to life, I found fo be unto 
 
 death. For sin, taking occasion by the command- ii 
 ment, deceived me, and by it slew vie. Wherefore 12 
 the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and 
 just, and good. 
 
 Was then that which is good made death unto 13 
 me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear 
 sin, working death in me by that which is good ; 
 that sin by the commandment might become 
 exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is 14 
 spiritual : but I am carnal, sold under sin. For 15 
 that which I do I allow not : for what I would, 
 that do I not ; but what I hate, that do I. If 1 6 
 then I do that which I would not, I consent unto 
 the law that it is good. Now then it is no more 17 
 I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I 18 
 know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no 
 good thing: for to will is present with me; but ho7a 
 to perform that which is good I find not. For the 19 
 good that I would I do not : but the evil which I 
 would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would 20 
 not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth 
 in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do 21 
 good, evil is present with me. For I delight in 22 
 the law of God after the inward man : but I see 2?, 
 another law in my members, warring against the 
 law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to 
 the law of sin which is in my members. O 24 
 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me 
 from the body of this death ? I thank God through 25 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind 
 I myself serve the law of God ; but with the flesh 
 the law of sin. 
 
ROMANS 59 
 
 8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them Chap. 8 
 
 which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the The course 
 
 2 flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the chHstian 
 
 Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free life. 
 
 ^ from the law of sin and death. For what the law J*^?.,, 
 ** Spirit's 
 
 could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, power. 
 God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful 
 
 4 flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh : that 
 the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in 
 us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the 
 
 5 Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind 
 the things of the flesh ; but they that are after the 
 
 6 Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally 
 minded is death ; but to be spiritually minded is 
 
 7 life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity 
 against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, 
 
 8 neither indeed can be. So then they that are in 
 
 9 the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in 
 the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit 
 of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not 
 
 10 the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if 
 Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin ; 
 but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 
 
 11 But 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 
 
 12 by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, Thebe- 
 brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live son^and^ 
 
 13 after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye i^eir. 
 shall die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify 
 
 14 the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many 
 as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 
 
 15 of God. For ye have not received the spirit of 
 
6o 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 8 bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the 
 Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 
 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, i6 
 that we are the children of God : and if children, 17 
 then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
 Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him^ that we 
 may be also glorified together. 
 
 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present 18 
 time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
 which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest 19 
 expectation of the creature waiteth for the mani- 
 festation of the sons of God. For the creature 20 
 was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by 
 reason of him who hath subjected the sa?ne in hope, 
 because the creature itself also shall be delivered 21 
 from the bondage of corruption into the glorious 
 liberty of the children of God. For we know that 22 
 the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
 together until now. And not only they, but our- 23 
 selves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, 
 even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting 
 for the adoption, to ivit^ the redemption of our 
 body. For we are saved by hope : but hope that 24 
 is seen is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth 
 he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see 25 
 not, the7i do we with patience wait for it. Likewise 26 
 the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know 
 not what we should pray for as we ought : but the 
 Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings 
 which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth 27 
 the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, 
 because he maketh intercession for the saints 
 according to the luill of God. And we know that 28 
 
ROMANS 6i 
 
 all things work together for good to them that love Chap. 8 
 (jod, to them who are the called according to his 
 
 29 purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did 
 predestinate to be conformed to the image of his 
 Son, that he might be the firstborn among many 
 
 30 brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, 
 them he also called : and whom he called, them 
 he also justified : and whom he justified, them he 
 
 31 also glorified. What shall we then say to these The assur- 
 things ? If God be for us, who can be against us ? faith. 
 
 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him 
 up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely 
 
 33 give us all things ? Who shall lay any thing to the 
 charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 
 
 34 Who is he that condemneth? // is Christ that 
 died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at 
 the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession 
 
 35 for us. Who shall separate us from the love of 
 Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, 
 
 36 or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it 
 is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day 
 long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
 
 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors 
 
 38 through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, 
 that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princi- 
 palities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things 
 
 39 to come, 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. 
 
 9 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience The doc 
 
 2 also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that election. 
 I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my God's 
 
 3 heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed freedom. 
 
62 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 9 
 
 The 
 
 Apostle's 
 patrio- 
 tism. 
 
 God's 
 uncon- 
 ditional 
 election. 
 
 God's 
 claim of 
 freedom. 
 
 from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according 
 to the flesh : who are Israelites ; to \ihom per faineth 4 
 the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and 
 the giving of the law, and the service of God^ and 
 the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom = 
 as concerning the flesh Christ came^ who is over all, 
 God blessed for ever. Amen. 
 
 Not as though the word of God hath taken none 6 
 effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 
 neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are *] 
 they all children : but. In Isaac shall thy seed be 
 called. That is, They which are the children of 8 
 the flesh, these are not the children of God : but 
 the children of the promise are counted for the 
 seed. For this is the word of promise. At this time 9 
 will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not 10 
 only this ; but when Rebecca also had conceived 
 by one, even by our father Isaac ; (for the children 1 1 
 being not yet born, neither having done any good or 
 evil, that the purpose of God according to election 
 might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 
 it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the 12 
 younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but 13 
 Esau have I hated. 
 
 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteous- 14 
 ness with God? God forbid. For he saith to 15 
 Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have 
 mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will 
 have compassion. So then // is not of him that 16 
 willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that 
 sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto 17 
 Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised 
 thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, 
 
ROMANS 63 
 
 and that my name might be declared throughout Chap. 9 
 
 18 all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on 
 whom he will have mercy^ and whom he will he 
 hardeneth. 
 
 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet The 
 
 20 find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay ^^cfth^ 
 but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Creator. 
 Shall the thing formed say to him that formed //, 
 
 21 Why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the 
 potter power over the clay, of the same lump to 
 make one vessel unto honour, and another unto 
 
 22 dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his 
 wrath, and to make his power known, endured with 
 much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to 
 
 23 destruction : and that he might make known the 
 riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which 
 
 24 he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom 
 he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of 
 the Gentiles ? 
 
 25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my 
 people, which were not my people; and her beloved, 
 
 36 which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, 
 that in the place where it was said unto them. Ye 
 are not my people ; there shall they be called the 
 
 27 children of the living God. Esaias also crieth 
 concerning Israel, Though the number of the 
 children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, 
 
 28 a remnant shall be saved : for he will finish the 
 work, and cut it short in righteousness : because 
 a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. 
 
 29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of 
 Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, 
 and been made like unto Gomorrha. 
 
M 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 9 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, 30 
 which followed not after righteousness, have attained 
 to righteousness, even the righteousness which is 
 of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law 31 
 of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of 
 righteousness. Wherefore ? Because ^/ley sought it 32 
 not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. 
 For they stumbled at that stumblingstone ; as it is 33 
 written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and 
 rock of offence : and whosoever believeth on him 
 shall not be ashamed. Brethren, my heart's desire 10 
 and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be 
 saved. For I bear them record that they have 2 
 a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 
 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and 3 
 going about to establish their own righteousness, 
 have not submitted themselves unto the righteous- 
 ness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for 4 
 righteousness to every one that believeth. For 5 
 Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the 
 law, That the man which doeth those things shall 
 live by them. But the righteousness which is of 6 
 faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart. 
 Who shall ascend into heaven ? (that is, to bring 
 Christ down from above :) or. Who shall descend 7 
 into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again 
 from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is 8 
 nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart : that 
 is, the word of faith, which we preach ; that if thou 9 
 shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and 
 shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised 
 him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with 10 
 the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and 
 
ROMANS 65 
 
 with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Chap. 10 
 
 1 1 For the scripture saith, Whosoever beheveth on him 
 
 1 2 shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference 
 between the Jew and the Greek : for the same Lord 
 
 13 over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For 
 whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord 
 shall be saved. 
 
 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they The jews 
 have not believed ? and how shall they believe in ^JSiut^ 
 him of whom they have not heard ? and how shall excuse. 
 
 1 5 they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they 
 preach, except they be sent ? as it is written, How 
 beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel 
 of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things ! 
 
 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For 
 Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report ? 
 
 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
 
 18 word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? 
 Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and 
 
 19 their words unto the ends of the world. But I say. 
 Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will 
 provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, 
 
 20 afid by a foolish nation I will anger you. But 
 Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them 
 that sought me not ; I was made manifest unto 
 
 21 them that asked not after me. But to Israel he 
 saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands 
 unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. 
 
 11 I say then. Hath God cast away his people ? God»s final 
 God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the STercy^'' °' 
 2 seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God ^^ *"• 
 hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. 
 Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias ? how 
 
66 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 11 he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 
 
 Thrreiec- ^^^^^ ^^^Y ^^^^ killed thy prophets, and digged 3 
 
 tion only down thine altars; and I am left alone, and 
 
 pa la . ^j^^y g^^j^ ^y j.^^ g^^ ^j^^^ ^^.^j^ ^^^ answer of 4 
 
 God unto him ? I have reserved to myself seven 
 thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to 
 t/ie image of Baal. Even so then at this present 5 
 time also there is a remnant according to the 
 election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no 6 
 more of works : otherwise grace is no more grace. 
 But if /'/ be of works, then is it no more grace: 
 otherwise work is no more work. What then ? 7 
 Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for ; 
 but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were 
 blinded (according as it is written, God hath given 8 
 them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should 
 not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto 
 this day. And David saith, Let their table be 9 
 made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, 
 and a recompence unto them : let their eyes be 10 
 darkened, that they may not see, and bow down 
 their back alway. 
 The rejec- I say then. Have they stumbled that they should 11 
 porary. fall ? God forbid : but rathei- through their fall 
 salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke 
 them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the 12 
 riches of the world, and the diminishing of them 
 the riches of the Gentiles ; how much more their 
 fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch 13 
 as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine 
 office : if by any means I may provoke to emulation 14 
 them which are my flesh, and might save some of 
 them. For if the casting away of them be the 15 
 
ROMANS 67 
 
 reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving chap. 11 
 of them be, but life from the dead ? " 
 
 16 For if the firstfruit de holy, the lump is also holy : The root 
 
 1 7 and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And b^iches. 
 if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, 
 
 being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, 
 and with them partakest of the root and fatness of 
 
 18 the olive tree; boast not against the branches. 
 But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but 
 
 19 the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches 
 
 20 were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; 
 because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou 
 standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear : 
 
 21 for if God spared not the natural branches, lake 
 
 22 heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore 
 the goodness and severity of God : on them which 
 fell, severity ; but toward thee, goodness, if thou 
 continue in his goodness : otherwise thou also shalt 
 
 23 be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still 
 in unbelief, shall be graffed in : for God is able to 
 
 24 graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of 
 the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert 
 graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree : 
 how much more shall these, which be the natural 
 
 35 branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For God's 
 I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant purpose, 
 of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own 
 conceits; that blindness in part is happened to 
 Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come 
 
 26 in. And so all Israel shall be saved : as it is 
 written. There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, 
 
 27 and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : for 
 this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take 
 
 F 2 
 
68 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 11 away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they 28 
 are enemies for your sakes : but as touching the 
 election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. 
 For the gifts and calling of God are without 29 
 repentance. For as ye in times past have not be- 30 
 lieved God, yet have now obtained mercy through 
 their unbelief: even so have these also now not 31 
 believed, that through your mercy they also may 
 obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all 32 
 in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 
 
 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom 33 
 and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his 
 judgments, and his ways past finding out ! For 34 
 who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who 
 hath been his counsellor ? or who hath first given 35 
 to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him 
 again? For of him, and through him, and to 36 
 him, are all things : to whom be glory for ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 1 beseech you therefore, brethren, by the 12 
 mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living 
 sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, ivhich is your 
 reasonable service. And be not conformed to this 2 
 world : but be ye transformed by the renewing of 
 your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, 
 and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 
 
 The For I say, through the grace given unto me, to 3 
 
 ministry of . i • i /• 7 • 7 /• 
 
 spiritual every man that is among you, not to think of himself 
 gifts. more highly than he ought to think ; but to think 
 
 soberly, according as God hath dealt to every 
 man the measure of faith. For as we have many 4 
 members in one body, and all members have not 
 the same office : so we, being many, are one body 5 
 
ROMANS 69 
 
 in Christ, and every one members one of another. Chap. 12 
 
 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace 
 that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy 
 
 7 according to the proportion of faith \ or ministry, 
 let us wait on our ministering : or he that teacheth, 
 
 8 on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation : 
 he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he 
 that ruleth, with dihgence ; he that sheweth mercy, 
 with cheerfulness. 
 
 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that The law of 
 
 10 which is evil ; cleave to that which is good. Be manifold 
 kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly ^^^^^' 
 
 11 love; in honour preferring one another; not 
 slothful in business ; fervent in spirit ; serving the 
 
 12 Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; 
 
 13 continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the 
 
 14 necessity of saints ; given to hospitality. Bless 
 them which persecute you : bless, and curse not. 
 
 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with 
 
 16 them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward 
 another. Mind not high things, but condescend 
 to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own 
 
 17 conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. 
 Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 
 
 18 If it be possible, as much as heth in you, Hve 
 
 19 peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge 
 not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath : 
 for it is written. Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, 
 
 30 saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, 
 feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink : for in so 
 doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 
 
 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with 
 good. 
 
70 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 13 
 
 The Chris 
 tian's 
 dutv to 
 the State. 
 
 Love as 
 the fulfil- 
 ment of 
 all law. 
 
 The near- 
 ness of 
 Christ's 
 
 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. 
 For there is no power but of God : the powers that 
 be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore 
 resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of 
 God : and they that resist shall receive to them- 
 selves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to 
 good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not 
 be afraid of the power? do that which is good, 
 and thou shalt have praise of the same : for he is 
 the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou 
 do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not 
 the sword in vain : for he is the minister of God, 
 a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth 
 evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not 
 only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For 
 for this cause pay ye tribute also : for they are 
 God's ministers, attending continually upon this 
 very thing. Render therefore to all their dues : 
 tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom 
 custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom 
 honour. 
 
 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another : 
 for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 
 For this. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou 
 shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not 
 bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet; and if 
 iJiere be any other commandment, it is briefly 
 comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no 
 ill to his neighbour : therefore love is the fulfilling 
 of the law. 
 
 And that, knowing the time, that now // is high 
 time to awake out of sleep : for now is our salva- 
 
ROMANS 71 
 
 [2 tion nearer than when we beheved. The night is chap. 13 
 far spent, the day is at hand : let us therefore cast second 
 off the works of darkness, and let us put on the Coming. 
 
 13 armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the 
 day ; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in cham- 
 bering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 
 
 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make 
 not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts 
 thereof. 
 
 14 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not special 
 
 2 to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that hons'tothe 
 he may eat all things : another, who is weak, eateth church in 
 
 3 herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that 
 eateth not; and let not him which eateth not 
 judge him that eateth : for God hath received 
 
 4 him. Who art thou that judgest another man's 
 servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. 
 Yea, he shall be holden up : for God is able to 
 
 5 make him stand. One man esteemeth one day 
 above another : another esteemeth every day alike. 
 Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
 
 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the 
 Lord ; and he that regardeth not the day, to the 
 Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth 
 to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he 
 that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and 
 
 7 giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to him- 
 
 8 self, and no man dieth to himself. For whether 
 we live, we live unto the Lord ; and whether we 
 die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live there- 
 
 9 fore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end 
 Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he 
 
 10 might be Lord both of the dead and living. But 
 
72 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 14 why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost 
 thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all 
 stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it ii 
 is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee 
 shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to 
 God. So then every one of us shall give account 12 
 of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one 13 
 another any more : but judge this rather, that no 
 man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall 
 in h's brother's way. I know, and am persuaded 14 
 by the Lord Jesus, that ^kere is nothing unclean of 
 itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be 
 unclean, to him // is unclean. But if thy brother 15 
 be grieved with ^/iv meat, now walkest thou not 
 charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for 
 whom Christ died. Let not then your good be 16 
 evil spoken of: for the kingdom of God is not 17 
 meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these 18 
 things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and 
 approved of men. Let us therefore follow after 19 
 the things which make for peace, and things where- 
 with one may edify another. For meat destroy 20 
 not the work of God. All things indeed are pure ; 
 but if is evil for that man who eateth with offence. 
 // IS good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, 21 
 nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or 
 is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? 22 
 have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that 
 condemneth not himself in that thing which he 
 alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he 23 
 eat, because lie eateth not of faith : for whatsoever 
 is not of faith is sin. We then that are strong 15 
 
ROMANS 73 
 
 ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not Chap. 15 
 
 2 to please ourselves. Let every one of us please Theunity 
 
 3 his neighbour for his ejood to edification. For of the 
 
 X ' 1 , , • ir 1 • • church- 
 
 even Christ pleased not himself ; but, as it is Christ's 
 
 written, The reproaches of them that reproached and^God's 
 
 4 thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were purpose, 
 written aforetime were written for our learning, 
 
 that we through patience and comfort of the scrip- 
 
 5 tures might have hope. Now the God of patience 
 and consolation grant you to be likeminded one 
 
 6 toward another according to Christ Jesus : that ye 
 may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, 
 
 7 even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where- 
 fore receive ye one another, as Christ also received 
 
 8 us to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus 
 Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the 
 truth of God, to confirm the promises viade unto 
 
 9 the fathers : and that the Gentiles might glorify 
 God for his mercy ; as it is written, For this cause 
 I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing 
 
 10 unto thy name. And again he saith. Rejoice, ye 
 
 11 Gentiles, with his people. And again. Praise the 
 Lord, all ye Gentiles ; and laud him, all ye people. 
 
 12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of 
 Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the 
 
 13 Gentiles ; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now 
 the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in 
 believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the 
 power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my Epistolary 
 brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled sk>n. " 
 with all knowledge, able also to admonish one 
 
 15 another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written 
 
74 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Chap. 15 the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting 
 you in mind, because of the grace that is given to 
 me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus i6 
 Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of 
 God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be 
 acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. 
 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus 17 
 Christ in those things which pertain to God. For 18 
 I will not dare to speak of any of those things 
 which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make 
 the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through 19 
 mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the 
 Spirit of God ; so that from Jerusalem, and round 
 about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the 
 gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach 20 
 the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I 
 should build upon another man's foundation : but 21 
 as it is written. To whom he was not spoken of, 
 they shall see : and they that have not heard shall 
 understand. For which cause also I have been 22 
 much hindered from coming to you. But now 23 
 having no more place in these parts, and having a 
 great desire these many years to come unto you ; 
 whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will 24 
 come to you : for I trust to see you in my journey, 
 and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, 
 if first I be somewhat filled with your co^npany. 
 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the 25 
 saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia 26 
 and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the 
 poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath 27 
 pleased them verily ; and their debtors they are. 
 For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of 
 
ROMANS 75 
 
 their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister Chap. 15 
 
 28 unto them in carnal things. When therefore I 
 have performed this, and have sealed to them this 
 
 29 fruit, I will come by you into Spain. And I am 
 sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in 
 the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. 
 
 30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Request 
 Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye ^^^'P^^ye^- 
 strive together with me in your prayers to God for 
 
 31 me ; that I may be delivered from them that do not 
 believe in Judaea ; and that my service which I have 
 
 32 for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints ; that I 
 may come unto you with joy by the will of God, 
 
 33 and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of 
 peace be with you all. Amen. 
 
 18 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is introduc- 
 
 2 a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea : that pJebe.^ 
 ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and 
 
 that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath 
 need of you : for she hath been a succourer of 
 
 3 many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Personal 
 
 4 Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus : who have for ^®®^^ss. 
 my life laid down their own necks : unto whom 
 
 not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of 
 
 5 the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in 
 their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, 
 
 6 who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ. Greet 
 
 7 Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Salute 
 Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow- 
 prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who 
 
 8 also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplias my 
 
 9 beloved in the Lord. Salute Urbane, our helper 
 lo in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. Salute Apelles 
 
76 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 13 
 
 approved in Christ. Salute them which are of 
 Aristobulus' household. Salute Herodion my kins- 
 man. Greet them that be of the household of 
 Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Try- 
 phena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. 
 Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much 
 in the Lord. Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, 
 and his mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, 14 
 Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the 
 brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus, 15 
 and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, 
 and all the saints which are with them. Salute 16 
 one another with an holy kiss. The churches of 
 Christ salute you. 
 
 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which 17 
 cause divisions and offences contrary to the 
 doctrine which ye have learned ; and avoid them. 
 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus 18 
 Christ, but their own belly ; and by good words 
 and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 
 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. 19 
 I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I 
 would have you wise unto that which is good, and 
 simple concerning evil. And the God of peace 20 
 shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The 
 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. 
 
 Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and 21 
 Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you. I 22 
 Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the 
 Lord. Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, 23 
 saluteth you. Erastus the chamberlain of the city 
 saluteth you, and Quartus a brother. The grace 24 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. 
 
ROMANS 77 
 
 25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you Chap. 16 
 according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus The con- 
 Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, eluding 
 
 26 which was kept secret since the world began, but 
 now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the 
 prophets, according to the commandment of the 
 everlasting God, made known to all nations for 
 
 2 7 the obedience of faith : to God only wise, be glory 
 through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen. 
 
 Written to the Romans from Corinthus, and sent 
 by Phebe servant of the church at Cenchrea. 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, 1 
 
 Epistolary Introduction, i. 1-17. 
 While in its general character the Epistle is a treatise as well 
 as a letter, yet the Introduction (i. T-17) and the Conclusion (xv. 
 14 — xvi. 27) are both epistolary in character, and deal with the 
 personal relations of the writer and his readers. The Introduction 
 falls into two parts, the apostolic salutation i^i. 1-7) and personal 
 explanations (8-17). 
 
 I. i. 1-7. The apostolic salutation. 
 
 In this passage Paul describes himself, his gospel, his Lord, and 
 the persons whom he is addressing, and sends the appropriate 
 Christian greeting, (i) He himself has received grace, has been 
 called as an apostle, has been separated unto the gospel for the 
 Gentiles, and has become a bond slave of Jesus Christ. (2) His 
 gospel has been promised in prophecy, is concerned with the Son 
 of God, and claims submissive acceptance. (3) His Lord was 
 a descendant of David, was marked out as Divine by the Spirit of 
 Holiness, was in a supernatural mode installed Son of God as 
 a result of his resurrection, and is associated with the Father as 
 the source of spiritual blessing. (4) His readers belong to Christ, 
 are beloved of God, and are destined for holiness. (5) His 
 salutation combines the Greek and the Hebrew greetings, but 
 with the fuller meaning that Christian faith gives to both terms. 
 This salutation is remarkable for its developed theology. The 
 credentialsof an apostle, the characteristics of the Christian Church, 
 the relation of the old and the new religion, the divinity of Christ, 
 the unity of Father and Son in the Godhead, are indicated. 
 
 1. Paul. This name was probably borne by the Apostle from 
 his birth as well as his other name Saul, as Jews living abroad 
 often had both a Greek or Latin and a Jewish name. Although 
 the book of Acts calls him Saul until the visit to the proconsul 
 
82 TO THE ROMANS 1. 2, 3 
 
 2 separated unto the gospel of God, which he promised 
 
 3 afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning 
 
 Sergius Paulus, at Paphos in Cyprus (Acts xiii. 9, ' Saul, who is also 
 called Paul ') ; yet it is improbable that Paul adopted this as a new 
 name in compliment to the proconsul. The beginning of his 
 distinctive work as Apostle of the Gentiles was an appropriate 
 occasion for the disuse of his Jewish and the adoption of his 
 Gentile name. 
 
 servant : Gr. ' bondservant.' The English word 'servant' gives 
 the sense correctly, as all the degrading associations of slavery 
 are absent in this relation. The term expresses purchase by 
 Christ (i Cor. vi. 19, 20) and self-surrender by Paul (vi. 18, 19). 
 The O. T. applies the term to prophets (Amos iii. 7 ; Jer. vii. 25 ; 
 Dan. ix. 6 ; Ezra ix. 11), in whose succession Paul thus puts 
 himself ; but the name of Christ without any explanation takes 
 the place of the name of Jehovah. 
 
 called: as Abraham (Gen. xii. 1-3), Moses (Exod. iii. 10), 
 Isaiah (vi. 8, 9), and Jeremiah (i. 4, 5). 
 
 apostle : lit. ' one sent,' is used in wider and narrower sense 
 in N. T. : in wider sense it includes personal disciples of Jesus, 
 and witnesses of his resurrection, as Barnabas (Acts xiv. 14) ; in 
 narrower sense it is applied only to the Twelve, and is claimed by 
 Paul for himself as equal with and independent of the Twelve 
 (Gal. ii. i-io) ; for he had seen Jesus not only with the bodily eye 
 (i Cor. ix. i) but also by spiritual vision (2 Cor. iii. 18, iv. 6), had 
 received a Divine call (i Cor. i. i, 17; Gal. i. i), had been con- 
 firmed in his vocation by success (i Cor. ix. 2, xvi. lo), had shewn 
 the signs of an apostle (2 Cor. xii. 12), had sealed his apostleship 
 by his sufferings (Gal. vi. 17 ; 2 Cor. vi. 4-10), and had received his 
 message from God (Gal. i. 11, 12). Not vanity or ambition, but 
 devotion to, and zeal for, his gospel of free grace and Gentile 
 liberty led Paul to contend so earnestly for the recognition of his 
 apostleship. 
 
 separated: (i) in God's purpose (Gal. i. 15, 16), (2) at his 
 conversion (Acts ix. 15), (3) by the appointment of the church at 
 Antioch (Acts xiii. 2). 
 
 erospel of God. Probably Jesus so described his announce- 
 ment of the arrival of the Messianic time as 'good news* (Matt. 
 iv. 23 ; Mark i. 14, 15). Paul uses the term sixty times ; some- 
 times his phrase is ' gospel of God,' and at others * gospel of 
 Christ' ; but the connexion of the terms is better taken generally 
 than as defining particularly God as the author or Christ as the 
 content of good news. 
 
 2. promised. The times of Jesus were marked by eager 
 expectancy, and the Christian preachers of the earliest days 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. 4 83 
 
 his Son, who was bom of the seed of David according 
 to the flesh, who was declared to be the son of God with 4 
 
 sought to commend the gospel as the fulfilment of prophecy 
 or God's promise (Matt. v. 17 ; Luke iv. 21 ; Acts ii. 14, iii. 22, 
 xxvi. 6 ; Rom. iv. 13, xv. 8). 
 
 prophets : used in wider sense for all the O. T. writers, as in 
 Heb. i. I. 
 
 holy scriptures : probably the first known use of the phrase, 
 although a collection of authoritative writings is already recognized 
 in the Prologue to Ecclesiasticus about 130 b. c. The writings 
 are called ' holy' because belonging to God in origin and contents. 
 3. was born : ///. 'became,' in contrast to what, as Son of God, 
 he eternally is. 
 
 the seed of David. Matthew (i. 17, 21) and Luke (iii. 23) 
 both trace the descent of Joseph from David. The Pharisees' 
 answer to Jesus' question (Matt. xxii. 41-45) shews what the 
 popular expectation was. Jesus himself suggests a difficulty 
 about their answer, and does not base his claims on the fact of 
 his Davidic descent, nor uses of himself the term 'son of David.* 
 This fact is mentioned as part of P?urs gospel (2 Tim. ii. 8), and 
 is appealed to as evidence in Peter's speech at Pentecost (Acts ii. 
 3o\ In the Revelation Christ is described as * the root and the 
 offspring of David ' (xxii. 16). The mention of the fact here may 
 be due to Paul's desire to conciliate, as far as he can, Jewish 
 feeling (cf. ix. 5). 
 
 accordinsT to the flesh means either '■ as regards the body ' 
 or ' in his human nature,' as we take the contrasted phrase 
 ' according to the Spirit ' to refer to the spiritual or the Divine 
 nature of Jesus, without any intention cf denying that he had 
 a human spirit as well as body. Paul probably uses ' flesh ' here 
 as that which is characteristic of humanity, as distinguished from 
 God as Spirit, to describe the manhood generally ; for Paul cannot 
 be regarded as limiting Christ's connexion with the human race to 
 his body (for fuller treatment of the term 'flesh' see note on 
 vii. 18). 
 
 4. declared: Gr. 'determined.' The Greek word means 
 either ' designated ' or ' ordained * (Acts x. 42, xvii. 31) ; but 
 Paul's meaning cannot be decided by the sense of one term. As 
 Paul taught the pre-existence of Christ as Divine (2 Cor. iv. 4, 
 viii. 9 ; Col. i. 15-19), he cannot mean that Christ became Son of 
 God at his resurrection ; yet, as he regarded the Incarnation 
 itself as an act of self-humiliation by Christ, so he represented 
 the Resurrection as an exaltation of Christ by God (Phil. ii. 5-1 1). 
 We must take the words rather in the second sense, but must 
 understand, not an assumption of Divine nature at the Resurrec- 
 
 G 2 
 
84 TO THE ROMANS 1. 5 
 
 power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrec- 
 5 tion of the dead ; even Jesus Christ our Lord, through 
 
 tion, but the entrance by Christ into the full possession and free 
 exercise of the dignity and authority, not merely which belonged 
 to him as pre-existent ' in the form of God,' but which was con- 
 ferred on him as Son of God as the reward of his obedience unto 
 death. We empty Paul's argument in the Epistle to the Philip- 
 pians of its distinctive significance, as well as this passage here of 
 its more probable meaning, if we assume that Christ's exaltation 
 at his resurrection was merely a return to his pre-existent state. 
 
 son of God. So declared at his Baptism (Matt. iii. 17) and 
 Transfiguration (xvii. 5', in Peter's confession (xvi. i6), and by 
 his Resurrection (Acts xiii. 32, 33), Although a recognized title 
 of the Messiah (Ps. ii. 7), the term did not connote divinity as 
 understood by the Jews. Seldom used by Christ himself, it was 
 soon adopted by the church to express the transcendent element 
 in his person (Mark i. i) ; and its application to him was dis- 
 tinguished from all other uses by such distinctive epithets as 
 'only begotten' (John iii. 16), 'very son' (Rom. viii. 32), 'his 
 own ' (viii. 3). 
 
 with power can be taken either with ' Son of God,' con- 
 trasting the manifest might of the risen Christ with the weakness 
 of his Passion (2 Cor. xiii. 4), or with ' declared ' (the more prob- 
 able connexion), referring to the miraculousness of the Resurrection 
 (i Cor. XV. 43). 
 
 according' to the spirit of holiness. There are two impor- 
 tant questions here : [a) the meaning of the phrase ' the spirit of 
 holiness,' (6) the sense of the term 'according to.' (a) This 
 phrase may mean (i) the Holy Spirit, (2) the human spirit of 
 Jesus as distinguished by its unique holiness, (3) the Divine 
 nature as contrasted with the human, which has been described 
 by the term ' the flesh.' As the contrast is between the flesh and 
 spirit in the same person, the first explanation is excluded. Again, 
 as the contrast is between descent from David and origin in God, 
 the second explanation would involve that only the body of Christ 
 vvas derived from humanity, and the spirit was wholly due to 
 his divinity ; but this is not likely to have been Paul's meaning. 
 The third explanation then seems best. The Divine nature of 
 Christ is described, first by the metaphysical peculiarity of 
 deity, ' spirit,' and secondly by the ethical perfection, * holiness.' 
 Paul does not mean to deny a human spirit as well as a human 
 body to Jesus ; but ' flesh ' and ' spirit ' express what is character- 
 istic of man and God in distinction from one another; for flesh 
 not only describes man's material organism, but imphes also his 
 moral character. He is neither infinite spirit nor absolute perfec- 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. 5 85 
 
 whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience 
 of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake: 
 
 tion as God is. The stress in the phrase is not so much on ' spirit ' 
 as on ' holiness.' Christ, for Paul, was marked out as Divine, 
 because he 'knew no sin' (2 Cor. v. 21) ; he had emptied himself 
 of all else that would shew him as God. \b) On this interpretation 
 of the phrase, the term ' according to ' means * in respect of ; but 
 if the first meaning of the phrase were accepted, varied inter- 
 pretations might be given. The term 'according to' might refer 
 to the agency of the Spirit in the Incarnation, or the Resurrection, 
 or the prophetic utterances fulfilled in Christ ; but there is no 
 need of deciding this question, as the reference to the Holy Spirit 
 seems quite out of question. 
 
 by the resurrection of the dead : lit. ' out of the resurrection 
 of dead persons.* A remarkable phrase as applied to Christ, whose 
 rising again was a solitary event ; but probably the phrase had 
 become almost a compound word, as Christ's was not regarded 
 as an isolated case, but the promise and the type of an event 
 anticipated by all believers (Col. i. i8). The declaration of the 
 Sonship of Jesus was a result of his resurrection. 
 
 Jesus Christ our Iiord. The personal name 'Jesus' (the 
 Greek form of Joshua, meaning 'Jehovah the Saviour'), and the 
 official title 'Christ' (ihe literal Greek translation of. Hebrew 
 ' Messiah,' 'Anointed '), which soon came to be used as a personal 
 name, are here joined with the phrase ' our Lord,' which ascribes 
 divinity. Although in the O. T. Lord was used for Jehovah, yet 
 the term was also applied to the Messiah without ascribing divinity; 
 but in the N. T. it always implies divinity, and expresses Christ's 
 Lordship, primarily over his church (Col. i. i8), but secondarily 
 over all creation (Col. i. 16, 17). This is the name which is above 
 every name, 'which Jesus obtained not by self-assertion, but by 
 self-humiliation' (Phil. ii. 10, 11). 
 
 5. grace has a great variety of meanings: (i) as a quality 
 of any object, it means ' sweetness ' or ' charm ' (Luke iv. 22, 
 'words of grace'); (2) as the feeling of a person, it is the 
 'favour' or 'goodwill' which a supericr shews an inferior; 
 (3) as transferred from man to God, it is used either generally 
 (Gen. vi. 8 ; Luke ii. 40) or in contrast with ' debt ' (Rom. iv. 4) 
 or 'works' (xi. 6), as goodness undeserved which cannot be 
 claimed as a right ; (4) as extended from ' cause ' to ' effect,' it ex- 
 presses either the Christian's state of favour or goodwill from God 
 (v. 2), or a spiritual gift (Acts vi. 8) ; (5) as a still more remote 
 effect, it may even mean the gratitude called out by unmerited 
 goodness, or even simply 'thanks' (i Cor, x. 30). Here it 
 means the Christian state generally, as Paul first acknowledges 
 
86 TO THE ROMANS 1. 6, 7 
 
 6 among whom are ye also, called to be Jesus Christ's : 
 
 7 to all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to he 
 saints : Grace to you and peace from God our Father 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 what he shares in common with all believers before claiming 
 what is his distinctive gift — apostlesMp, "onto obedience of 
 faith, not * to the faith ' (marg.). Faith does not here mean 
 a creed claiming acceptance, but the act of trustful welcome of 
 the gospel, which implies, by an effort of will, the submission 
 of man to God. As obedience to ' the heavenly vision ' was the 
 beginning of Paul's apostleship, so it was intended to be the result. 
 
 among' all the nations : better ' among all the Gentiles,' for 
 the former phrase would include the Jews as well, and there 
 would be no reason for mentioning that the Romans were among 
 the nations ; whereas the latter phrase puts the Romans among the 
 Gentiles, of whom Paul claimed to be the apostle, and so explains 
 his reason for addressing them. 
 
 for Ms name's sake : to commend and confirm the revelation 
 (name = revelation) God was giving of Himself in Christ. 
 
 6. called to be Jesus Christ's. The Divine call embraces all 
 believers, and its aim is to secure them for Christ as his possession 
 (Titus ii. 14, ' a people for his own possession '). Chaps, ix-xi. deal 
 with the problem of God's call, 
 
 7. in »ome : omitted by one MS., which changes 'beloved of 
 God ' into ' in the love of God.' Traces of a similar reading are 
 found elsewhere. * In Rome ' is omitted by the same MS. in verse 
 15, and a blank space is found between chaps, xiv. and xv. These 
 facts with the fluctuating position of the Doxology (xvi. 25-27) 
 give some countenance to the theory that the Epistle was, with the 
 Apostle's consent, circulated as a genuine treatise with the omission 
 of the personal matter at the end ; but see full discussion of this 
 question in special note on * The Integrity of the Epistle,' It is 
 noteworthy that no church in Rome is mentioned ; possibly there 
 had not yet been made even the beginnings of an organization. 
 
 beloved of Ood : reconciled to God through Christ. This 
 thought is expounded fully in chaps, i-v. Thus Paul, in his 
 description of the Roman believers, indicates the three subjects of 
 the doctrinal exposition — justification, sanctification, and vocation. 
 
 saints, or ' holy persons. ' The conception of holiness has an 
 interesting history. The first meaning was simply separation, and 
 the next separation for the service of God ; but as this involved 
 freedom from flaw or blemish, the absence of defect or imperfection 
 was soon included in the idea. From physical qualities this 
 requirement was extended to ethical. Then entirely detached 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. 8 87 
 
 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you 8 
 
 from its original reference to the service of God, the conception 
 was transferred to God Himself, as free of all defects and imperfec- 
 tion", and received always more positive contents, until it included 
 all the qualities that constitute the absolute perfection of God. 
 This perfection of the Creator was lastly represented as the ideal 
 to be realized in the creature. All ceremonial reference is left 
 behind, and the import becomes purely ethical. When Paul 
 describes the believers in Rome as holy persons, he does not 
 ascribe perfection to them, but he affirms this as the Divine 
 will for them, which it is their human duty to fulfil. In chaps, 
 vi-viii. he shews how this can be done. 
 
 Grace . . . and peace. The Greek and Hebrew salutations are 
 combined with a deepened meaning ; ' grace ' meaning both God's 
 favour and man's favoured state; 'peace' meaning both God's 
 reconciliation with man and man's with God ; the former is the 
 more general term, the latter describes one of its effects. In the 
 Pastoral Epistles mercy is inserted between grace and peace in 
 the apostolic salutation. 
 
 God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Through 
 Christ God's Fatherhood has been revealed and assured for man, 
 and Christ himself is joined with God the Father as the source of 
 spiritual blessing. Here we have the beginnings of a Doctrine of 
 the Trinity. In r Cor. viii. 6 the Christian confession of God the 
 Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is expressly opposed to 
 polytheism. The apostolic benediction in 2 Cor. xiii. 14, and 
 the baptismal formula of Matt, xxviii. 19, join the Spirit with 
 God and Christ. If we are to make any distinction we may say 
 that God the Father is the ultimate source of spiritual blessings, 
 while Christ is the proximate channel ; but Christ again acts 
 through the Spirit. 
 
 II. i. 8-17. Personal explanations. 
 
 After his salutation Paul deals with his knowledge of, his feelings 
 to, his wishes and plans regarding, the Roman believers ; and in 
 giving a reason for his desire to preach in Rome indicates the 
 subject of his Epistle, (i) He thanks God for the wide-spread 
 fame of their faith, as the position of Rome as capital of the 
 empire gave a peculiar prominence and a special importance to 
 the church there (verse 8). (2) He assures them that he not only 
 prays for their general spiritual prosperity, but offers a special 
 petition that it might be God's will to open up the way so that 
 he may pay them a long-desired visit (9, 10). (3) He explains 
 the motive of his desired visit, that they might spiritually benefit 
 by the gifts of God's grace bestowed on him ; but lest this should 
 appear too presumptuous a claim he adds, with fine tact, that he 
 
88 TO THE ROMANS 1. 9-1 1 
 
 all, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole 
 9 world. For God is my witness, whom I serve in my 
 
 spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make 
 TO mention of you, always in my prayers making request, 
 
 if by any means now at length I may be prospered by 
 II the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see 
 
 you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to 
 
 himself hopes to derive benefit from his intercourse with them 
 (11, 12). (4) He informs them that an oft-renewed purpose to 
 visit them has hitherto always met with some hindrance (13). 
 
 (5) He justifies his interest in them, because as Gentiles they 
 are included in his sphere of labour as Apostle to the Gentiles, 
 and his intended visit is but the discharge of a duty (14, 15). 
 
 (6) He affirms that he does not shrink from the discharge of that 
 duty, because he has absolute confidence in his message (16, 17). 
 In this passage Paul intimate?, prepares for, and justifies his 
 visit to Rome. 
 
 8. thank : characteristic of Paul (i Cor. i. 4 ; Eph. i. 16 ; Phil. 
 i. 3 ; Col. i. 3 ; I Thess. i. 2 ; 2 Thess. i. 3). 
 
 faith: in the most general sense Christian belief and life. 
 
 the whole world : the Roman Empire ; for whatever happened 
 in Rome was better known in all the provinces than any events 
 in the provinces, owing to the constant intercourse between the 
 capital and the provinces. 
 
 9. witness. This solemn appeal is possibly due to the calumny 
 to which he was exposed by his opponents. 
 
 serve : voluntary service of God in sacrifice or worship. 
 my spirit : the organ of service, as the gospel is the sphere 
 of service. 
 
 10. making* recLuest. This definite petition was always included 
 in the general mention of the Roman believers. 
 
 Z may "be prospered : lit. ' I may have a good way.' 
 "by the will of God : Gr. ' in the will of God,' as embraced in 
 God's purpose for him. He did not then know that it would be 
 as a prisoner that he would come to Rome, although he was at the 
 time already uncertain about the results of his visit to Jerusalem 
 (xv. 30). 
 
 11. that I may impart nnto you some spiritual gift, (i) It 
 has been assumed that Paul intended to confer the miraculous 
 gifts, such as speaking with tongues, prophecy, &c., which, 
 according to the account in Acts viii. 14-17, were bestowed by the 
 laying- on of the hands of an apostle ; but in chap. xii. Paul 
 assumes that the Roman Cliristians already possessed some of 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. 12-15 89 
 
 the end ye may be established; that is, that I with you 12 
 may be comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, 
 both yours and mine. And I would not have you 13 
 ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come 
 unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I might have 
 some fruit in you also, even as in the rest of the Gentiles. 
 I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to 14 
 the wise and to the foolish. So, as much as in me is, 15 
 
 these gifts, although he does not therefore infer any previous 
 apostolic ministry in Rome. (2) It has been maintained that Paul 
 expected benefits of various kinds to the Roman Church to flow 
 from his own possession and exercise of these miraculous gifts, 
 which he claimed to have in an eminent degree (i Cor. xiv. 18) ; 
 but it is probable that he did not distinguish as we do the miraculous 
 attestations from the normal functions of his ministry. (3) 
 Accordingly it is most probable that Paul uses the term ' spiritual 
 gift' in a more general sense, and is referring to the advantage 
 that his instruction of and intercourse with them would confer — 
 confirmation in Christian intelligence and character. 
 
 13. I wotild not have yon ignorant: a favourite phrase (xi. 
 25 ; I Cor. X. I, xii. i ; 2 Cor. i. 8) when he wants to call special 
 attention to any communication. 
 
 oftentimes I purposed: his plans were often overruled by 
 the will of God (Acts xvi. 6, 7). 
 
 frtiit: results of his ministry. 
 
 Gentiles. Whatever the origin or composition of the Roman 
 Church may have been, Paul regarded it as a Gentile church, and 
 so included it in the sphere of his apostleship. 
 
 14. debtor. His apostleship of the Gentiles involved the 
 obligation to preach to the Gentiles. 
 
 Greeks and . . . Barbarians. This was a division of the Gentiles 
 according to speech. The Greeks, and afterwards the Romans, 
 who in this division are reckoned among the Greeks, regarded all 
 peoples speaking any language but their own as making unintel- 
 ligible sounds — 'bar, bar,'— hence the name. 'Jews and Gentiles' 
 was a division of all mankind made by the Jews according to religion. 
 
 wise and . . . foolish : a division according to culture. While 
 philosophy scorned the ignorant multitude, and even Jewish 
 scribes regarded the people that knew not tlie law as accursed, 
 the gospel had a message for all, and would seem at first to have 
 found readiest welcome among the lowly (i Cor. i. 26-29), 
 
 15. as much as in me is, I am ready. The Greek words may 
 mean (i) ' I am ready' (an emphatic form of expression) ; (2) 'as 
 
90 TO THE ROMANS 1. i6 
 
 I am ready to preach the gospel to you also that are in 
 1 6 Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is 
 
 far as concerns me there is readiness' (the phrase being intended 
 to suggest to the Romans that as far as they are concerned they 
 too should be read}'^ for his visit; or to intimate that if there 
 should be any hindrance it will not be due to Paul himself, but 
 while man proposes God disposes); or (3) 'the readiness or in- 
 clination on my part is to preach the gospel.' While the last 
 construction seems the least natural in English it is probably the 
 most natural in Greek. 
 
 Rome: which, as the centre of the then known world, had 
 a strong attraction for the Apostle ; but nevertheless the purpose to 
 preach the gospel, which to the Jews was an oifence and to the 
 Greeks foolishness, amid the wealth and wisdom, pride and pomp, 
 splendour and sovereignty of Rome, was a severe test of the 
 Apostle's confidence in his message, and of his personal courage. 
 
 16, 17. Paul justifies his confidence in his message by in- 
 dicating his conception of (i) its character, ' the power of God ' ; 
 (2) its contents, 'the righteousness of God'; (3) its claim, 'faith'; (4) 
 its comprehensiveness, ' Jew and Greek ' ; (5) its consequence, * sal- 
 vation,' 'life'; and (6) its confirmation in Scripture. He in these 
 words also states what is to be the great theme of his letter. This 
 pregnant passage maybe developed in the following propositions: 
 (i) The preaching of the gospel proves the channel of God's 
 working to deliver man from all evil on the simple condition of its 
 being accepted, and this effect is universal, as certain in the case 
 of the Gentile who has not been prepared for it, as in the case of 
 the Jew who holds a place of privilege in its first having been 
 offered to him. (2) This effect of the gospel is due to its contents, 
 for in it God's perfection is revealed ; not as exclusive, but as 
 communicative ; not as condemning, but as acquitting guilty men ; 
 not as inflicting penalty, but as restoring to favour ; and again, the 
 sole condition of man's receiving this gift from God is faith, ever 
 growing from less to more. (3") The content of the gospel as 
 regards its requirement of faith has been anticipated in the 
 prophetic utterance that the righteous man owes all the good he 
 enjoys to his faith, 
 
 16. ashamed. The lowliness of Jesus' earthly lot, the shame 
 of his crosr,, the judgement of all mankind as guilty, the abandon- 
 ment of all claim to merit, the demand for faith alone, the levelling 
 of all distinctions among men alike needing and capable of sal- 
 vation—these were all elements in the gospel which Paul knew^ 
 would be likely to offend the conceit and arrogance of Rome; but 
 as to himself the gospel had proved the power and wisdom of 
 God, he not only was not ashamed of any part of it, but even 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. 17 91 
 
 the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
 beheveth ; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For r 
 therein is revealed a righteousness of God by faith unto 
 
 gloried in what was most offensive to most men in it — the cross of 
 Christ (Gal. vi. 14). 
 
 power of God : not a force apart from God, but a mode of 
 God's own action. 
 
 ^ salvation. This word has passed through several meanings 
 in the O. T, It is first applied generally to any deliverance from 
 physical peril, and next specially to the great national deliverances, 
 such as the exodus from Egypt and the return from Babylon. 
 From an historical it passes to a prophetic use, and is used of the 
 Messianic deliverance, either in the form which the expectation 
 assumed in the popular imagination and desire, military triumph, 
 political emancipation, and secular prosperity, or that of the 
 Christian hope, in v/hich it is not limited to the negative form of 
 rescue from God's wrath against sin, but is extended to the 
 positive aspect of possession of eternal life. The widest definition 
 of the term is found in John iii. 16. The term is not to be re- 
 stricted, as in popular use it often is, to describe the initial act of 
 justification ; but it includes the whole process — forgiveness, holi- 
 ness, blessedness. 
 
 Jew first. Paul always admits the Jew's prior claim, as re- 
 cipient of God's promises (iii. 2), as of the same race as Christ 
 (ix. 5), as object of Christ's personal ministry (xv. 8). 
 
 Greek: equivalent to 'Gentile' ; a division of mankind accord- 
 ing to religion. 
 
 17. is revealed: the communication has been made once for 
 all in the death of Christ (iii. 21-26) ; but is repeated in the 
 spiritual experience of each believer (Gal. i. 16). 
 
 a rig-hteousness of God. (i) Although the Greek phrase 
 has not got any article (so also iii. 5, 21, 22, and 2 Cor. v. 21), 
 yet it is very likely that the rendering, * a righteousness of God,' 
 sacrifices the true sense to verbal accuracy. The article is used 
 in iii. 25, 26, 'his righteousness' ; in x. 3, 'the righteousness of 
 (the) God ' ; in x. 6, in the phrase ' the righteousness out of faith ' ; 
 and Phil. iii. 9, 'the righteousness from God.' In 2 Cor. v. 21, 
 although the article is omitted from the phrase, the Revisers 
 render 'that we might become the righteousness of God in him.' 
 ' God's righteousness ' would be a more literal rendering still, 
 and would certainly be preferable to that adopted in R. V. But 
 the rendering of the A. V. is better still. What is revealed is not 
 one of many modes of God's righteousness, but that which crowns 
 His revelation of Himself, and interprets and justifies all the other 
 ways in which God's righteousness has been shewn, (ii) What 
 
92 TO THE ROMANS 1. 17 
 
 faith : as it is written, But the righteous shall live by 
 faith. 
 
 does the phrase mean? (a) Luther explained it as meaning * the 
 righteousness valid with God,' the righteousness imparted to the 
 sinner, on account of which he is restored to God's favour and 
 fellowship. There can be no doubt that for Paul, as for Luther, 
 the important question was. How shall a sinner be righteous before 
 God, be acquitted, held guiltless, and forgiven ? But the phrase 
 means more than this, although it includes this meaning. (6) 
 Baur rendered it * a righteousness agreeable to the nature of 
 God.' It must mean this too, for certainly whatever is revealed 
 by God must be in accord with God's perfection ; but it means 
 more, (c) It is now generally taken for granted that it can only 
 mean a righteousness which is the gift of God to man, the state 
 of forgiveness and acceptance before God, which has been pro- 
 vided for mankind in the work of Christ, and is bestowed on man 
 at justification. In favour of this view the following reasons can 
 be given: (i) As it is appropriated by man's faith, it must be 
 something that God can give to man (x. 6, ' the righteousness out 
 of faith '). (2) It is contrasted with man's righteousness, yet 
 claims man's submission*in x. 3 : 'being ignorant of God's righteous- 
 ness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject 
 themselves to the righteousness of God.' It becomes man's 
 possession, but has its origin in God. (3) Paul makes this 
 meaning quite plain when he declares of himself, * not having 
 a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but 
 that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is 
 of God by faith' (Phil. iii. 9). (4) It may be added that in v. 17 
 it is called 'the gift of righteousness,' and is joined with 'the 
 abundance of grace' ; and again in verse 21 grace is spoken of as 
 reigning through righteousness unto eternal life. There can be 
 no doubt whatever that Paul uses the phrase to indicate that the 
 Christian's state of acceptance before God is not, and cannot be, 
 the result of any effort on his part, but is wholly and solely due 
 to God. (d) But we need not stop there ; what God gives or 
 does, surely reveals what God is ; it is a false logic which 
 separates operations from attributes. Hence more recently it 
 has been maintained that the phrase means ' God's attribute of 
 righteousness,' His own perfection. In favour of this view are 
 the following considerations : (i) God is represented in the O. T. 
 as displaying His righteousness in the acts by which He saves His 
 people. Ps. xcviii. 2, 'The Lord hath made known his salva- 
 tion, his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the 
 nations' (also Pss. xxxvi. 6, 7, ciii. 6). (2) Paul's own words 
 in this Epistle, iii. 5. ' But if our unrighteousness commendeth 
 the righteousness of God,' where clearly it is the Divine character 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. i8 93 
 
 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against 18 
 
 which is referred to. (3) The evident antithesis of the phrases, 
 'the righteousness of God is revealed' (17), and 'the wrath of 
 God is revealed ' (i8). These reasons carry great weight. It is 
 not an objection that the righteousness of God is also represented 
 as conferred on, and received by, man ; for just as the term 
 * grace ' means both God's favour and man's favoured state before 
 God, so God's righteousness may mean His attribute. His exercise 
 of that attribute, and the effect of that exercise in man. Surely 
 it is more in accord with the common usage of words to interpret 
 the phrase as expressing what belongs to God rather than what 
 God bestows on others ; although the latter sense is legitimate 
 as an extension of the former, yet the former is the primary, 
 (iii) Having fixed the meaning of the phrase, we may further ask 
 of what kind is the righteousness of God thus revealed. Is it 
 merely judicial and governmental, condemning and punishing sin? 
 As will be shewn in commenting on iii. 21-26, especially the word 
 'propitiation' in verse 25, it is certainly this. God, in the cross 
 of Christ, pronounces condemnation and executes sentence on 
 the sin of mankind. But this is not, and cannot be, the final 
 and exhaustive manifestation of this Divine attribute. God's 
 righteousness is not merely judicial but also paternal, not merely 
 punitive but also restorative. It is not merely negative, opposed 
 to sin, but positive also, operative for righteousness. God's 
 purpose is not merely to prevent sin, but also to produce righteous- 
 ness. God forgives and saves, not in spite of, but because of, 
 His righteousness ; in so doing He is consistent with Himself as 
 Love. To oppose righteousness and love in God, as is sometimes 
 done, is to attribute to God creaturely imperfection. What God's 
 love purposes His righteousness approves, and what His love 
 performs manifests His righteousness. We shall fail to under- 
 stand Paul if we take for granted that he kept his Jewish Phari- 
 saic conception of God's righteousness ; his idea of God was 
 surely one of the things made new when he became a new 
 creature in Christ Jesus, (iv) God's righteousness taken in this 
 larger sense manifests itself in various forms : (i) the fulfilment 
 of His promises (iii. 3, 4) ; (2) the punishment of sin (ii. 5) ; (3) 
 the sacrifice of Christ (iii. 25, 26) ; (4) the forgiveness of the 
 sinner who believes in Christ (probably this is the sense specially 
 intended in this verse). We may surely add (5) the sanctification 
 of the believer by his Spirit, even although it may be admitted 
 that Paul nowhere expressly includes this work of God in using 
 the phrase. The death of Christ is the central manifestation of 
 God's righteousness, for it is the fulfilment of promise, shews 
 forth God's judgement on sin, is the reason for justification, and 
 the motive of sanctification. 
 
94 TO THE ROMANS 1. i8 
 
 all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold 
 
 by faith unto faith, (i) Faith claims what God gives, and 
 as it is exercised it develops its capacity. As God's righteousness 
 is appropriated, it increases faith's capacity to appropriate more. 
 Faith is both beginning and end of Christian life. It is faith 
 that receives God's justification ; it is still faith which is the con- 
 dition of sanctification. From faith, as the initial act of the soul's 
 relation to God, there is growth to faith as the permanent attitude 
 to God. (ii) An improbable interpretation, as there is nothing 
 in the context to suggest it, is this, that from the faith of Christ, 
 his faithfulness to or his trust in God as the condition on which 
 God's righteousness was revealed through him — God's righteous- 
 ness as his forgiving and saving work in the world had its 
 beginning, and that in the faith of the believer it has its end. 
 (iii) While the word 'faith ' has an interesting history in the O. T. 
 and N. T., Paul's varying use of the word can now alone be noted: 
 (i) God's faithfulness in fulfilling the promises (iii. 3) ; (2) the 
 condition on which supernati:"al gifts are possessed and exercised 
 (xii. 3, 5) ; (3) the confidence that God will fulfil His promises 
 (iv. 19, 20) ; (4) the permanent attitude of reliance on God (iv. 
 12) ; (5) the acceptance of God's grace in Christ (i. 5, x, 8, 17, 
 xvi. 26) ; (6) the assurance of acceptance before God which 
 enables a man to enjoy his spiritual liberty undisturbed by 
 scruples about things indifferent (xiv. i, 22) ; (7) the union of 
 the believer with Christ (iii. 22, 26). (iv) His use of the term in 
 the last sense is most characteristic: (i) He was led to give 
 to faith this supreme significance in the Christian life by his own 
 experience. Primarily, faith meant for him behef in the Mes- 
 siahship of Jesus resting on the fact of his resurrection, and 
 consequently in the atoning efficacy of his death. But this 
 belief was not merely an intellectual assent to these propositions, 
 but an intense love and passionate loyalty to the person of Christ 
 himself, an identification of his own will with the will of Christ so 
 complete that Christ's separation from sin and surrender to God 
 were reproduced in him (vi. 4-1 1)— a communion of spirit with 
 Christ so close that he could regard his own life as Christ's life in 
 him (Gal. ii. 20 ; Phil. i. 21). Belief justifies, union with Christ 
 sanctifies; but although Paul in his theological analysis thus 
 distinguishes the two aspects and effects of faith, in his own 
 living experience they were inseparable. His faith in Christ, 
 one and indivisible, brought him not only peace with God, but 
 the power of a new life. (2) He found that he could, from the 
 O. T. Scriptures, justify his view of faith. Two passages especially 
 aff'ord him an O. T. confirmation of his doctrine : Gen. xv. 6, 
 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for 
 righteousness.' To the exposition of this text chapter iv. is 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. 19 95 
 
 down the truth in unrighteousness ; because that which 19 
 
 devoted. Hab. ii. 4, < But the righteous shall live by faith.' In 
 other passages as well (Ps. xxxii. i, 2, cited iv. 7 ; Isa. xlix. 23, 
 cited ix, 33, x. 11; Deut. xxx. 14, cit-sd x. 8) Paul found sug- 
 gestions of his doctrine. Even when the literal sense of the 
 words taken in their context does not seem to prove all that Paul 
 finds in them, yet his quotation has this justification, that faith in 
 Christ is the genuine development of the trust and confidence the 
 Hebrew saint put in Jehovah. 
 
 But the righteous shall live by faith, (i) Probably we 
 should connect ' by faith ' with ' righteous/ although another 
 Greek construction would have expressed this thought more 
 clearly ; because, what Paul aims at shewing is, that it is by 
 faith alone that a man can be righteous before God, not that 
 being righteous he secures life by faith. (2) It was amid the 
 sorrow and trial of the Chaldaean invasion that the prophet 
 Habakkuk found consolation in the thought that the good and 
 godly man is kept in peace and safety by his trust and confidence 
 in God. The thought of the prophet and the Apostle are not 
 quite the same ; for Paul, faith is the condition of the righteous- 
 ness, of which the effect is salvation and life ; for Habakkuk, 
 faith is a manifestation of righteousness, which preserves and 
 assures life ; the point in common is the prominent place filled, 
 and the important part played, by faith. There is sufficient simi- 
 larity to justify the use made of the quotation. 
 
 FIRST PART. 
 THE DOCTBIITAL EXPOSITION, i. 18— zi. 36. 
 
 Paul's thesis, 'the righteousness of God b}' faith unto faith,' is 
 developed in the doctrinal exposition in three divisions, which 
 maybe briefly described as (i) the doctrine of justification (i. 18 — 
 V. 21), (2) the doctrine of sanctification (vi-viii), and (3) the 
 doctrine of election (ix-xi). 
 
 I. The Doctrine of Justification, i. 18— v, 21. 
 
 In dealing with justification Paul shews (1) that righteousness 
 as a state of acquittal and acceptance before God has not hitherto 
 been attained (i. 18 — iii. 20) ; 12) that it has been provided for 
 all mankind in Christ on the sole condition of faith (iii. 21-31) ; 
 
 (3) that this provision is consistent with conditions laid down 
 in the law itself, as shewn in the case of Abraham (iv) ; 
 
 (4) that this righteousness by faith has its blissful effect in a 
 triumphant hope in Christ (v. i-ii) ; and (5) that the relation 
 of Christ to the human race is as universal as, and still more 
 effective than, the relation of Adam (v. 12-21). 
 
96 TO THE ROMANS 1. 19 
 
 may be known of God is manifest in them ; for God 
 
 (i) i, 18 — iii, 20. Righteousness hitherto ttnattained. 
 
 The proof of universal sinfulness is given by Paul in five 
 propositions : (i) The Gentiles have sunk through idolatry into 
 immorality (i. 18-32), (ii) The Jews as well as the Gentiles are 
 subject to God's judgement (ii. 1-16). (iii) Circumcision and 
 law have not kept the Jews from sin (17-29). (iv) No valid 
 objection can be made to this conclusion (iii. 1-8). (v) The Holy 
 Scriptures affirm this universal sinfulness (9-20). 
 
 (i) i. 18-32. The sin of the Gentiles, (a) Over against the 
 revelation of God's righteousness, and as the reason for it, there 
 is the revelation of God's wrath, which will soon, with super- 
 natural manifestations, come on all mankind on account of human 
 impiety and immorality, which is wilful in spite of knowledge 
 (18). (b) Although God has clearly revealed Himself in the 
 world He has made, so that no man can justly plead ignorance 
 of Him, yet men have been withholding the gratitude they owe 
 to Him, have abandoned themselves to the foolish speculations 
 of their vain conceit, and have sunk to the folly and shame of 
 idolatry (19-23). (c) Because they preferred the lie of idolatry 
 to the truth of the worship of God, and put the creature in the 
 place of the Creator, to whom alone all praise is due, God as 
 a penalty left them to themselves, so that their lusts through 
 their vices brought dishonour on their bodies (24, 25). {d) This 
 depravity was most shewn in the unnatural perversion of the 
 relation of the sexes to one another (26, 27). {e) But the 
 punishment of their wilful ignorance of God involved also their 
 abandonment to sins, vices, and crimes of many kinds ; con- 
 science was darkened, and will perverted ; evil feelings, words, 
 and deeds divided man from man ; religious, social, moral 
 restraints were defied and resisted ; the whole nature suffered 
 deterioration ; not only was sin committed, but, in spite of the 
 witness and warning of conscience, was approved (28-32). 
 
 18. Por. The reason why the righteousness of God is ofTered 
 to man's faith is because the wrath of God threatens him on 
 account of his sin. 
 
 tlie wrath of God. This term has, in the O. T., special refer- 
 ence to the covenant between God and His people, whether the 
 wrath be visited on members of the chosen race for gross breaches 
 of the covenant, as Nadab and Abihu (Lev, x. i, 2), Korah (Num. 
 xvi. 33), and the Israelites at Baal-peor (xxv. 3), or on their 
 foreign oppressors (Jer. 1. 11-18; Ezek. xxxvi. 5). The full 
 exhibition of God's wrath is in the prophets postponed to the 
 day of Jehovah (Isa. ii. 10-22; Jer. xxx. 7, 8; Joel iii. 12; Obad. 
 8 ; Zeph. iii. 8) ; and accordingly in the N. T. the use of tlie term 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. 20 97 
 
 manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of 20 
 him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, 
 
 isalmostentirely eschatological (Matt. iii. 7; i Thess. i. 10; Rom. ii. 
 5, V. 9 ; Rev. vi. 16, 17), as the manifestation of God's indignation 
 against sin is postponed to the end of the world. Paul, however, 
 not only anticipated the great Day of the Lord very speedily, 
 even in his own lifetime (i Cor. xv. 51), but also recognized 
 signs of its approach in the condition of mankind, proving God's 
 condemnation and punishment of sin. Although there is a judicial 
 and even penal aspect of God's dealing with mankind here and 
 now, yet God's treatment of mankind is described by Paul in the 
 phrase, * the passing over of the sins done aforetime in the for- 
 beai-ance of God' (iii. 25); he reminds the impenitent Jew of 
 'the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and longsuffering' 
 (ii. 4), affirms that God ' endured with much longsuffering 
 vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction' (ix. 22), and even uses 
 the words, ' the times of ignorance . . . God overlooked ' (Acts xvii. 
 30). Even God's judicial and penal action in the present has 
 mercy for its motive and man's salvation for its end : ' God hath 
 shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all* 
 (xi. 32). These considerations must never be forgotten. God's 
 present dealing with mankind is not in wrath, but mercy, and 
 even His wrath serves His mercy. 
 
 from heaven : apparently a reference to the supernatural 
 portents expected at Christ's Second Coming (i Thess. iv, 16). 
 
 uug'odliness and unrighteousness. These terms express 
 sins against God and sins against man — religious and moral 
 ofTences. 
 
 hold down: or, ' hold.' Although the Greek word may mean 
 'hold fast,' it also can mean 'hinder/ 'keep back,' and this is 
 the better rendering here. 
 
 the truth: the knowledge of God and goodness given in 
 reason and conscience. 
 
 in unrig-hteousness : 'while they live unrighteously.' The 
 truth which would have kept sin in check is curbed, while sin 
 gets a free rein. 
 
 19. that which may be known: lit. 'that which is known,' 
 but it may also mean ' the knowable.' 
 
 in them: not among men, but in each man's own reason and 
 conscience, in which God has His witness, 
 
 20. the invisible thing's of him : i.e. God's power and divinity 
 afterwards mentioned. 
 
 since the creation of the world. As the Greek word 
 rendered ' creation ' may mean either the act of creating or the 
 thing created, another rendering has been suggested, ' from the 
 
 H 
 
98 TO THE ROMANS 1. 21-23 
 
 being perceived through the things that are made, even 
 his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be 
 21 without excuse : because that, knowing God, they glorified 
 him not as God, neither gave thanks ; but became vain 
 in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. 
 22, 23 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and 
 changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the like- 
 ness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and 
 fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 
 
 created universe,' the meaning being that the order and fitness 
 of nature reveal God ; but the temporal sense is probably more in 
 accordance with usage. 
 
 clearly seen: or possibly, 'contemplated/ 'surveyed.' 
 
 power. This is the attribute of God that first and most of all 
 impresses itself on the mind of man in contemplating nature. 
 
 divinity : all the other attributes of God. 
 
 that they may be : or, * so that they are ' : purpose or result. 
 While the former rendering is more in accord with grammatical 
 usage, yet the latter better suits the context, for the next verse 
 gives a reason for a fact, not for an intention. It is theologically 
 sounder, for God does not reveal Himself that He may condemn 
 man, although man may bring condemnation on himself by neglect 
 of God's revelation. 
 
 21. gflorified: gave honour or praise. 
 
 vain: 'frustrated,' 'futile.' Idols are in the O. T. described 
 as 'vain things,' 'things of nought.' 
 
 reasoning's. The word is always used in the N. T. in bad 
 sense for 'perverse, self-willed speculations.' 
 
 senseless: i.e. 'unintelligent,' unable to recognize moral 
 distinctions, or to anticipate the consequences of their actions. 
 
 heart : used for all the human faculties of thought, feeling, 
 will; as the Jews believed that the life was in the blood, so the 
 heart was regarded as the seat of mr.n's inner life. 
 
 22. Professing- themselves to toe wise. The pretensions of 
 Greek philosophy are here condemned. To the Greek, wisdom 
 was the highest form of virtue. Paul expresses his estimate of this 
 wisdom in i Cor. i. 18-25. 
 
 23. glory: 'manifested perfection,' His power and divinity as 
 seen in nature. 
 
 incorruptitole : not subject to death, and so not liable to 
 decay as all creatures are. 
 
 an image, &c. Instead of being content to contemplate the 
 
TO THE ROMANS 1. 24-27 99 
 
 Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their 24 
 hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be 
 dishonoured among themselves : for that they exchanged 25 
 the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served 
 the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for 
 ever. Amen. 
 
 For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions : 26 
 for their women changed the natural use into that which 
 is against nature : and likewise also the men, leaving the 27 
 natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward 
 another, men with men working unseemliness, and 
 receiving in themselves that recompense of their error 
 which was due. 
 
 evidence of God's nature as revealed by Himself, men chose to 
 represent God to themselves as though He were like to His 
 creatures. Anthropomorphism was characteristic of Greek and 
 Roman religion, where the gods were represented not only of 
 the same form, but as of like passions as men. The worship of 
 all kinds of beasts (bull, cat) was common in Egypt ; the calf made 
 in the wilderness, and the calves set up at Dan and Bethel are 
 instances of this tendency even among the Israelites. 
 
 24. gave them up. It has been pointed out that the sense of 
 the term is not merely permissive, God allowing men to have their 
 own way, or pnvative, God withdrawing His gracious aid ; but 
 punitive^ God inflicting penalty on idolatry. There is, however, 
 nothing accidental or arbitrary in the penalty, it necessarily results 
 from the offence ; sin's punishment is its own increase. 
 
 nncleanness. Sensual immorality is the general accom- 
 paniment and the usual consequent of idolatry, for the degradation 
 of God involves the debasement of man. 
 
 25. rather than : not merely more than, but instead of; passing 
 the Creator by to regard the creature. 
 
 blessed: not merely happy, but worthy of all praise and 
 honour. This doxology is called forth by the previous mention of 
 that which the reverent spirit is sorry and ashamed to recognize 
 as fact : in it Paul, as it were, condemns what he records. 
 
 26. 27. Historians and satirists alike confirm this account of 
 the awful and unnatural vice of pagan society. 
 
 26. vile passions: Gr. 'passions of dishonour,' appetites, the 
 indulgence of which brings shame. 
 
 H 2 
 
loo TO THE ROMANS 1. 28-32 
 
 28 And even as they refused to have God in their know- 
 ledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do 
 
 29 those things which are not fitting ; being filled with all 
 unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; 
 full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity ; whisperers, 
 
 30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, 
 
 31 inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without 
 understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural aifec- 
 
 32 tion, unmerciful : who, knowing the ordinance of God, 
 that they which practise such things are worthy of death, 
 not only do the same, but also consent with them that 
 practise them. 
 
 28. refused: Gr. 'did not approve.' The literal rendering 
 would be better : * the right choice was wilfully not made.' 
 
 knowledg'8 : * full knowledge.' 
 
 reprobate : lit. ' disapproved.' There is a play on words ; 
 since men do not approve to have the knowledge of God, God 
 gives them up to a disapproved mind. 
 
 mind: the faculty of moral discernment, conscience. 
 
 29. wickedness : the disposition to hurt others, 
 maliciousness : doing mischief to others. 
 
 murder : angry thoughts against others prompting to murder 
 (Matt. v. 21-26). 
 
 whisperers : those who secretly slander others. 
 
 30. backbiters : generally evil speakers. 
 
 hateful to God: or, 'haters of God.' As a description of 
 a vice the latter sense would appear preferable ; but Paul may not 
 be intending here to add another vice to the catalogue, but rather 
 to point out that all the preceding sins involve God's disapproval. 
 The term, however, suggests defiant wickedness, conscious of, 
 but unrestrained by, God's displeasure. 
 
 insolent in deed, haug-hty in thought, boastful in words: 
 'bullies, braggarts, bravoes.' 
 
 31. covenant-breakers: 'false to their engagements.' 
 without natural affection. Infanticide and divorce were very 
 
 common in that age. 
 
 32. ordinance : declaration of God's righteous sentence, 
 consent with: ' heartily approve.' To encourage others in 
 
 wrong-doing, and thus to lower the social standard of morality, is 
 worse than solitary wrong-doing. A man may act against his 
 
TO THE ROMANS 2. i loi 
 
 Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever 2 
 
 conscience, but his state is worse when his conscience is so 
 perverted that he can find satisfaction in the sins of others. 
 
 The State of the Gentiles. 18-32. 
 Before passing from this passage it is needful to deal very 
 briefly with the objection which modern thought may bring 
 against Paul's statement. H^s view of man's primitive state, 
 and the decline into idolatry and immorality, seem in sharp 
 antagonism to what anthropology has to tell us about human 
 evolution. In describing the state of the heathen world Paul 
 assumes an'^riginal knowledge of God through nature and con- 
 science, a conscious and voluntary fall into idolatry, and, as its 
 consequence, a growth of immorality. The general assumption 
 of anthropology is, however, that man's movement has been 
 steadily upwards. It is neither necessary nor desirable to lay 
 any stress on the fact that some students of comparative religion 
 deny that the superstition of the savages of the present day repre- 
 sents the primitive religion, and maintain that there are evidences 
 at an earlier stage, if not of absolute monotheism, yet of a vague 
 conception of a unity in all phenomena of nature adored as 
 Divine ; and that barbarism accordingly represents not arrested 
 evolution, but actual deterioration in religion and morals alike. 
 Although Paul may prove less in error about the facts than is usually 
 assumed, his defence does not lie here. It is certain that in the 
 Roman Empire at least, with which Paul was, as he wrote, ex- 
 clusively concerned, religious superstition and moral corruption 
 had succeeded a comparatively purer and better state. It was not 
 a progressive but a decadent age. That there is a close connexion 
 between false views of God and wrong standards of duty, and 
 that nature and conscience alike do afford evidence of God's 
 existence and character, which might have rebuked and restrained 
 idolatry and immorality — these are truths which no legitimate 
 conclusions of anthropology can invalidate. It must be re- 
 membered that amid pagan superstition and corruption a moral 
 monotheism — imperfect and inadequate from our standpoint, yet 
 a great contrast to its environment— had been developed in the 
 philosophical schools. The stale of the Roman world was not a 
 physical necessity or an historical fate ; there had been defiance 
 of and disobedience to conscience ; there had been abuse of liberty 
 of choice ; there had been approval of the better and pursuit of 
 the worse course ; there were, therefore, sin and guilt. This is all 
 Paul's argument requires him to prove, and he succeeds in doing 
 this. That he gives the proof in the form of the common assump- 
 tions of his age and people need be no stumbling-block to the faith 
 of those who recognize that in the Scriptures the heavenly 
 
I02 TO THE ROMANS 2. 2, 3 
 
 thou art that judgest : for wherein thou judgest another, 
 thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost 
 
 2 practise the same things. And we know that the judge- 
 ment of God is according to truth against them that 
 
 3 practise such things. And reckonest thou this, O man, 
 
 treasure is in an earthen vessel, eternal and universal truth is 
 presented in temporary and local modes of thought. 
 
 (ii) ii. 1-16. God's universal judgement, (a) The Jewish judge of 
 the Gentile sinner, having himself sinned, stands self-condemned ; 
 for as God judges all alike, the Jewish sinner cannot claim exemp- 
 tion from judgement as his national privilege, but God's dealings 
 in mercy with him, as aiming at his repentancCj if perversely 
 abused, will involve him in deeper condemnation (1-5). {b) God 
 will deal with all men in strict justice, punishing the wrong-doer, 
 and rewarding him who seeks to do right, the Jew's priority being 
 recognized even in judgement (6-1 1). (c) While there will be 
 judgement for all, the standard of judgement for the Jew will be 
 the law of Moses, which it is not merely his privilege to hear, but 
 also his obligation to obey, and for the Gentile the law of con- 
 science, of which he shews himself possessed, in his actions, his 
 judgement of himself, and the standard he applies to others ; this 
 judgement will be carried out at the Great Day when Christ shall act 
 as God's agent in bringing to light all that has been hidden (12-16). 
 
 1. Wherefore. The connexion with the previous paragraph is 
 this : What has just been said about the Gentiles applies to the 
 Jews as well, inasmuch as they, too, have sinned against know- 
 ledge ; but before Paul can complete his proof of universal sinful- 
 ness by bringing the same charge against the Jews, he has first to 
 disprove the arrogant claim of the Jews to be so superior morally 
 to the Gentiles that they have a right to be judges ; and, secondly, 
 to refute the assumption that their national privileges exempt 
 them from the same judgement. He affirms God's universal 
 judgement of Jew and Gentile alike by the standard valid for each. 
 
 O man. Paul expresses himself thus generally, although he 
 has the Jew especially in view. 
 
 2. we know. Paul assumes that the truth of God's righteous 
 judgement is admitted by all, and he can base his argument upon it. 
 
 judgrement. In the N. T. the word is not used in the general 
 sense usually, but means condemnation and even execution of 
 adverse sentence. 
 
 tmth: the real moral condition, not race, rank, or religious 
 profession. 
 
 3. thou Shalt escape. Although the Rabbis often insisted on 
 
TO THE ROMANS 2. 4-7 103 
 
 who judgest them that practise such things, and doest 
 the same, that thou shalt escape the judgement of God ? 
 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and for- 4 
 bearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness 
 of God leadeth thee to repentance ? but after thy hardness 5 
 and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in 
 the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement 
 of God ; who will render to every man according to his 6 
 works : to them that by patience in well-doing seek for 7 
 
 the necessity of observing the law, yet it was a popular opinion 
 among the Jews that Jewish nationality conferred the privilege of 
 exemption from Divine judgement. One Rabbinic saying ran 
 thus : * He that hath his permanent abode in Palestine is sure of 
 the Hfe to come.' In the N. T. itself such a belief is rebuked 
 (Matt. iii. 9 ; John viii. 33 ; Gal. ii. 15). 
 
 4. the riches. This figurative use of the term in reference to 
 the Divine attributes is found twelve times in Paul's writings, but 
 nowhere else in the N. T. 
 
 SToodness and forbearance and long'suffering' : kindly dis- 
 position and delay of punishment (holding one's hand, literally) 
 and patience (long temper, literally). Cf Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. 
 
 leadeth thee. This is what is known as the conative present, 
 and the sense may be given thus : * aims and seeks to lead thee.' 
 It expresses effort which may not realize its purpose. 
 
 repentance: as elsewhere in the N. T., not merely grief for 
 sin, but thorough inward change. 
 
 5. hardness : rather, insensibihty, callousness, 
 treasurest: contrast to the riches of God's goodness just 
 
 spoken of and the heavenly treasure (Matt. vi. 20), The punish- 
 ment was gradually laid up, and would come on the sinner in one 
 overwhelming burden of judgement. 
 
 di.y of wrath : the prophets, from Amos onwards to John 
 the Baptist, taught that the day of the Lord would be a day of 
 judgement (Amos v. 18 ; Isa. ii. 12, xiii. 6, xxiv. 21 ; Jer. xlvi. 10 ; 
 Zeph. i. 7 ; Ezek. vii. 7, xxx. 3 ; Joel ii. i ; Zech. xiv. i ; Matt. iii. 
 7 ; Luke iii. 7). This same expectation is continued in the N. T. 
 (Luke xvii. 30 ; Acts ii. 20 ; i Cor. i. 8, v. 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 14 ; i Thess. 
 V. a, 4 ; 2 Thess. ii. 2 ; 2 Pet. iii. 10, 12 ; Rev. vi. 17, xvi. 14), 
 even although it is the manifestation of Christ, not of Jehovah, 
 that is looked for. A complete triumph of good over evil is not 
 expected in the present order. 
 
 6. who will render to every man according to his works. 
 
I04 TO THE ROMANS 2. 8 
 
 8 glory and honour and iiicorruption, eternal life : but 
 
 This is the uniform and consistent teaching of the Scriptures, that 
 a man will be judged in the final judgement according to his works 
 (Matt. xvi. 27, XXV. 31-46 ; 2 Cor. v, 10 ; Gal. vi. 7 ; Eph. vi. 8 ; 
 Col. iii. 24 ; Rev. ii. 23, xx. 12, xxii. 12 . But it may be asked, How 
 can this teaching be reconciled with Paul's doctrine of justification 
 by faith alone apart from works? The following considerations 
 may be suggested to remove the contradiction : (i) The two 
 doctrines came into Paul's consciousness from two distinct 
 sources. The doctrine of judgement according to works he held 
 in common with all the theological schools among the Jews, and 
 it has its roots in the O. T. The doctrine of justification is his 
 original contribution to Christian thought ; although it has points 
 of support in the O. T. and in the teaching of Jesus, yet it rested 
 for the most part on his own distinctive experience. As Paul 
 himself does not seem to have been conscious of any contradiction, 
 he has not himself explicitly offered us any harmony of the two 
 truths. In his teaching, however, there is implied all we need 
 for reconciling the difference. (2) The doctrine of justification 
 deals only with the conditions on which a sinner finds acceptance 
 before God and begins the Christian life. Its subsequent course 
 is treated in the doctrine of sanctification, in which works, not as 
 an external conformity to any legal code, but as the spontaneous 
 expression of the spiritual life, are insisted on not only as 
 necessary but even as inevitable. Only he is Christ's to be saved 
 and blessed in him who has the Spirit; and where the Spirit is, 
 there too will be the fruits of the Spirit. (3) It is only then as 
 the means of earning forgiveness that works are in contrast to 
 faith; but when God's grace has been once received through faith, 
 this faith expresses and exercises the grace it receives in works 
 conformable to the will of God. (4) At the last judgement the 
 reward bestowed on works will be by an act of free grace ; for 
 without faith in God's grace the course of Christian life would 
 never have been entered on, and without the continuous com- 
 munication of God's grace no progress in that course would have 
 been possible, (5) The works by which a man will be judged, 
 therefore, are either works which through lack of faith in God's 
 grace, which alone makes goodness possible, fail to conform to the 
 Divine strndard, or works which as the expression and exercise 
 of faith not only do conform, but even by the faith from which 
 they spring give the promise of a growing conformity to the will 
 of God. (6) Works as a substitute for faith cannot avert punish- 
 ment or secure reward, for apart from faith the conformity to the 
 will of God required is impossible ; but works are recognized in 
 the final judgement as evidence of faith, which can prove its 
 reality and sincerity only b}' such evidence. (7) Faith in God's 
 
TO THE ROMANS 2. 8 105 
 
 unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, 
 but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, 
 
 grace is not a substitute for holy living, for righteous conduct, but 
 :the condition on which alone guilty, sinful men can become 
 holy and righteous. 
 
 7, 8. As the words eternal life are in the accusative case, we 
 must supply from verse 6 ' he will render ' as the verb of which 
 this is the object ; God's personal action in rewarding the righteous 
 is affirmed. But in the next verse the construction is changed. 
 As the words wrath and indignation are in the nominative case, 
 we must supply a verb of which these will be the subject ; the 
 words supplied by the R. V., shall be, are sufficient. By this 
 construction the inevitable sequence of cause and effect is sug- 
 gested rather than God's personal action. In ix. 22, 23, by 
 a change of construction Paul again avoids ascribing the punish- 
 ment of the wicked directly to God's personal action while 
 attributing the reward of the righteous. This shews a refinement 
 of feeling, with which every reverent Christian must deeply 
 sympathize. 
 
 7. patience. Not so much passive resignation as active endurance 
 is suggested by the Greek word ; it is not only a burden borne, 
 but a warfare waged. 
 
 eternal life: (i) 'Life' does not mean merel}' existence — 
 even conscious existence — but an existence which combines here 
 the promise, hereafter the fulfilment, of perfection, and the 
 blessedness which the conciousness of perfection implies. (2) 
 ' Eternal/ even as ' Life,' has by some writers been held as 
 a qualitative description. It does not mean, it is affirmed, duration 
 merely, bui duration conformable to the nature or character of 
 that of which the term is predicated. Each existence has its own 
 appropriate period of duration, and * eternal ' means continuance 
 throughout the whole of that period. As this life from and in God 
 is the perfect life, eternal in this connexion means everlasting ; 
 but we must not render the term everlasting where the same 
 reason cannot be given. This reasoning is, however, doubtful ; 
 and in the N. T. ' eternal ' seems to be used as equivalent to ever- 
 lasting. 
 
 8. factions. The literal meaning of the Greek word is 'those 
 who act in the spirit of a hireling ' ; but the secondary meaning 
 of contentiousness may have been already current ; if so, the 
 meaning would be, those who, instead of submitting to God's will, 
 seek means of discussing God's authority or disobeying God's 
 commands. 
 
 truth : not intellectual conceptions, but moral standards 
 conforming to the Divine will. 
 
 wrath and indignation. While the former term expresses 
 
io6 TO THE ROMANS 2. 9-12 
 
 9 tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that 
 
 worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; 
 
 10 but glory and honour and peace to every man that 
 
 worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek : 
 
 [, 12 for there is no respect of persons vnth God. For as 
 
 many as have sinned without law shall also perish 
 
 a permanent feeling, the latter describes the occasional outbursts 
 of that feeling. 
 
 9. tribulation and angxiish. Anguish is the stronger word 
 and means ' torturing confinement.' It is noticeable that the 
 contrast to ' eternal life * is, according to Paul, a conscious state. 
 
 soul of man : not merely a periphrasis for every man, but 
 calling attention to that part of man on which the penalty will fall. 
 
 worketli : not an adequate rendering of the Greek word, 
 which would require the rendering * persevereth to the end in 
 working.' 
 
 first. The Jew, as having clearer knowledge, had a greater 
 responsibility ; this was a recognition of Jewish prerogative that 
 Jewish patriotism would willingly have ignored. 
 
 10. peace. There may be special reference to the peace of 
 justification (v. i). 
 
 11. respect of persons. The term literally means 'acceptance 
 of the countenance,' and hence (i) gracious reception of a suppliant 
 or suitor, and (2) partial, and so corrupt, judgement, always the 
 latter in the N. T. 
 
 12. law: (i) Attention must be called to the difference of 
 meaning when this word is used with or without the article, (i) 
 With the article it means generally the law of Moses as something 
 with which the readers are familiar. (2) Without the article it 
 means law in general. But (3) there is a third use, when the 
 word is without an article, although the context clearly shews 
 that the reference is to the law of Moses ; the explanation of the 
 absence of the article is this, that attention is called to the law 
 not as from Moses, but as legal requirement ; to quality, not origin. 
 In this passage Paul is laying emphasis not on any positive law, 
 but on the principle of law as regulative of God's relations to men. 
 (ii) While the Gentiles are without the law of Moses,- they shew 
 a law written in their hearts (ii. 15) ; but the Jews, while 
 instructed in the law (verse 18), resting in the law (verse 17), and 
 making a boast of the law (verse 23), do not keep the law, even 
 although it is not hearing, but doing the law that justifies (verse 13). 
 Even though death reigned from Adam to Moses, sin was not 
 imputed, was not reckoned as guilt when there was no law (v. 13). 
 
TO THE ROMANS 2. 12 107 
 
 without law: and as many as have sinned under law 
 
 When the law came, it brought the knowledge of sin (iii. 20, vii. 7), 
 sin became transgression, and so incurred condemnation (iv. 15), 
 and disobedience was provoked by the prohibition of the law 
 (vii. 8), so that the direct result of the coming in of the law was 
 that the trespass abounded (v. 20), guilt was increased. But on 
 the other hand the law is spiritual (vii. 14) and holy (verse 12), 
 and the inward man delights in the law (verse 22). Although it 
 multiplies sin, the law is not sin (verse 7), but it is made weak 
 by the flesh (viii. 3) ; and, as no man can keep the law because 
 of this weakness, there is no justification possible to any man by 
 the law (iii. 20), Hence there must be provided a righteousness 
 apart from the law (verse 21) although it is witnessed by the law. 
 This righteousness does not make the law of none effect in putting 
 faith instead of works as the condition of possessing it, but it 
 establishes the law (verse 31) ; for (i) the law itself in the case of 
 Abraham witnesses that faith was reckoned for righteousness 
 (iv. 3) ; (2) what the law failed to accomplish because of its 
 weakness is accomplished in this righteousness, the condemnation 
 of sin in the death of Christ (viii. 3), and the fulfilment of all the 
 requirements of the law, which are summed up in love (xiii. 9) by 
 the Spirit in believers (viii. 4V As Christ is thus the end of the 
 law (x. 4), the believer is discharged from the law (vii. 6), and is 
 now not under law, but grace (vi. 14). (iii) This summary of 
 Paul's teaching on the law will be made fully clear when the more 
 important statements have been discussed : but it is important to 
 have such an outline of his treatment of the subject before one's 
 mind in dealing with any part of it. It will now be sufficient to 
 remark, by way of explanation, (i) that Paul conceives the law as 
 the Pharisees conceived it, as a system of commands and ordinances 
 which must be literally observed if the penalty threatened was to 
 be averted, or the reward promised secured ; but at no time in the 
 history of revelation was God's relation to man thus a merely 
 legal one ; (2) that Paul had a profound and intense personal 
 experience of the impotence of man's will to keep the law 
 perfectly, of the provocation to sin that a prohibition often proves 
 to be, of the misery that such moral failure involves ; (3) that he 
 interpreted the moral history of mankind in accordance with, on 
 the one hand, this personal experience, and on the other the 
 records of the past current in his own people ; and (4) that the 
 three stages of man's moral development he indicates — the state 
 before the moral consciousness has been fully awakened (the 
 world without the law), the state when the contrast between duty 
 and desire is experienced (the world under law), and the state 
 when the contrast is transcended, and a man recognizes that he 
 can fulfil the end of his own life only as he submits to the laws of 
 
io8 TO THE ROMANS 2. 13, 14 
 
 13 shall be judged by law; for not the hearers of a law are 
 just before God, but the doers of a law shall be justified : 
 
 14 for when Gentiles which have no law do by nature the 
 
 his being (the world under grace) — do accurately correspond to the 
 moral history of the race and the individual. 
 
 without law: not absolutely, but relatively ; for Paul himself 
 had just declared that the Gentiles had suppressed the testimony of 
 conscience to righteousness (i. 18, 28), and he afterwards ascribes 
 to the Gentiles a law written in their hearts— the testimony of 
 conscience — mutual moral judgement (ii. 15). Law is here used in 
 the narrower sense of an explicit code recognized as of Divine 
 origin ; there were many nations without this. 
 
 13. hearers of a law. While one Rabbi is reported to have 
 said, ' Law is acquired by learning, by a listening ear,' another 
 said, ' Not learning, but doing is the groundwork, and whoso 
 multiplies words, occasions sin.' Every Jew heard the law read 
 in the synagogue (Acts xv. 21). For the same contrast between 
 hearing and doing see Matt vii. 24-27 and Jas. i. 22-25. The Jews 
 seem to have believed that the mere hearing of the law conferred 
 benefit and privilege. 
 
 justified: or, 'accounted righteous.' The word justified is 
 not here used in the distinctive sense given to it in Paul's 
 theology (see v. i) ; it does not refer here to the initial acceptance 
 of the behever before God, but the final acquittal of him who 
 has kept the law at the judgement. Paul does not affirm that any 
 man will be so justified. It is a conditional statement. If any 
 man will be justified, it will be not through hearing the law, but 
 doing it. Afterwards he goes on to shew that no man has so 
 kept the law, and that therefore no man on this ground can claim 
 acquittal before God. Verse 16 is to be joined to verse 13, the 
 words * in the day ' are a temporal adverbial clause belonging to 
 the verb ' shall be justified.' Verses 14 and 15 are to be regarded 
 as a parenthesis intended to explain the possession by the 
 Gentiles of a law in accordance with which they, even as the 
 Jews, will be acquitted or condemned. 
 
 14. Gentiles. With the article the phrase would mean all the 
 other nations as contrasted with the Jews ; the absence of the 
 article calls attention to their character as non-Jews. 
 
 which have no law. The Greek, by its use of two negatives, 
 one of which denies a fact, and the other a conception, allows 
 a distinction here which the English has no means of expressing. 
 Paul does not deny as a lact that the Gentiles have a law, for 
 he is going to affirm this. What he declares is that the Jews 
 regard the Gentiles as without any law, because without the law 
 of Moses. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 2. 15 109 
 
 things of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto 
 themselves; in that they shew the work of the law 15 
 written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness 
 therewith, and their thoughts one with another ac- 
 
 nature : spontaneously by their own impulse, in contrast 
 to conscious obedience to an external commandment. Paul is 
 not here contrasting nature and grace, or what a man may do 
 without, and what he is enabled to do by, God's Spirit. Paul 
 would undoubtedly have recognized the presence and operation 
 of God's Spirit even in what the Gentiles do by nature. 
 
 the tMngs of the law : such actions as the law commands. 
 
 a law unto themselves. These impulses in accordance with 
 the law were a standard to each man, and, as the next verse shews, 
 became a standard for others also ; actions done without con- 
 sciousness of a rule became in time a rule to be consciously 
 observed. 
 
 IB. the work of the law: the practical effect of the law, 
 the end of which is to establish the distinction between right and 
 wrong. As the external code constrains or restrains, so do these 
 internal impulses. 
 
 written: a reference to the stone tables of the law (Exod. 
 xxiv. 12). A similar contrast is made in 2 Cor. iii. 3. 
 
 their conscience bearing" witness therewith. Conscience 
 means literally co-knowledge, that knowledge which a man has 
 of the moral quality of his acts along with his knowledge of the 
 acts. As used by Paul in accordance with the usage of the 
 contemporary philosophical schools, the term means the faculty 
 by which judgement is pronounced on actions after they are 
 done ; we now use the term more generally for the capacity for 
 framing moral conceptions and recognizing moral obligations. 
 There is a double witness according to Paul — the moral quality 
 of the actions themselves, and the moral judgement pronounced 
 on them by conscience. 
 
 thoughts : or, ' reasonings.' If the former, then the meaning 
 is not intuitive thoughts such as those of conscience, but rather 
 reflective, their inward debate on the significance and value of 
 their moral judgements. Three stages in moral development are 
 indicated : first, moral actions are spontaneously done ; secondly, 
 moral judgements are intuitively pronounced ; thirdly, moral pro- 
 blems are reflectively considered. If, however, we render as in the 
 R. V. margin, ' reasonings,' although it has been maintained that 
 the original word does not mean expressed arguments, then the 
 reference may be the discussions or treatises on moral questions. 
 Among tlic Gentiles at this time ethical problems claimed the 
 
no TO THE ROMANS 2. 16,17 
 
 16 cusing or else excusing them ; in the day when God 
 shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, 
 by Jesus Christ. 
 
 17 But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest 
 
 interest of many thinkers and writers. But the rendering we 
 adopt must depend on the sense we assign to the phrase one 
 with anotlier. Does it mean one thought with another thought, 
 an inward debate ? or does it mean one person with another, the 
 moral judgements which men pronounce mutually ? If the former, 
 then we have a more advanced stage of moral reflection as con- 
 trasted with the less developed judgement of conscience. If the 
 latter, then a threefold witness is enumerated to shew that the 
 Gentiles have a law. (i) The moral quality of their acts ; (2) the 
 moral judgement each man pronounces on himself; (3) the moral 
 standards by which men judge each other. The latter inter- 
 pretation seems on the whole preferable. 
 
 or else : '■ or even,' '■ or it may be * ; excuse is less likely than 
 accusation. 
 
 16. my gospel. The O. T. had affirmed the Divine judgement. 
 What was distinctive of Paul, although not peculiar to him among 
 N. T. writers, was that God's agent in judgement will be Christ 
 (1 Cor. iv. 5 ; 2 Cor. v. 10 : cf. John v. 27 ; Acts xvii. 31). 
 
 (iii) ii. 17-29. The failure of the Jews. Having shewn that 
 the Gentiles have sinned, and that the Jews as well as the 
 Gentiles are subject to God's universal judgement, Paul forges 
 the third link in his chain of argument by shewing that the Jews 
 have failed to keep the law of which they make a boast, {a) 
 Although the Jew is proud of his name, thinks himself secure in 
 his possession of the law, plumes himself on his relation to God, 
 claims not only knowledge and insight for himself, but the ability 
 to guide, teach, and judge others, yet so far from applying for 
 himself the instruction he offers others, he commits all the offences — 
 dishonest, sensual, and impious — which he condemns in others ; 
 and thus by his conduct he brings dishonour on the name of 
 God (17-24). (b) The fact that he has been circumcised gives 
 him a sense of security, although circumcision has no value apart 
 from obedience to the law, and obedience has value even without 
 circumcision ; the circumcised Jew may, therefore, lose all the 
 privileges of which circumcision is the sign, while the uncircum- 
 cised Gentile may secure their enjoyment, for not the ordinance, 
 but the disposition of which it is the symbol, submission to God, 
 is the condition of being blessed (25-29 1. 
 
 17. Jew. The three names are all significant — Hebrew calls 
 attention to peculiarity of language ; Jew to distinction of race ; 
 
TO THE ROMANS 2. 18-20 in 
 
 upon the law, and gloriest in God, and knowest his will, 18 
 and approvest the things that are excellent, being in- 
 structed out of the law, and art confident that thou 19 
 thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are 
 in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, 20 
 having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth ; 
 
 and Israelite to privilege of relation to God. Jew is here used 
 with the same sense as Israelite, and denotes a member of the 
 chosen race. 
 
 restest. The possession of the law was regarded as a pledge 
 of acceptance with God, and so as a ground of self-confidence; 
 the Jew thought that it was enough that he had the law, whether 
 he kept it or not. 
 
 gfloriest in God. The Jews claimed a special relation to 
 God, but this consciousness, instead of shewing itself in humble 
 dependence and loyal obedience, shewed itself in conceit and 
 pride, arrogance and censoriousness towards other peoples (Jer. 
 ix. 24). 
 
 18. Ms will : or, ' the will.' 
 
 approvest the thing's that are excellent : or, ' provest the 
 things that differ ' (marg.). The latter is the literal sense, but as 
 proving may result in approving, and approval changes difference 
 into excellence, the former is a generally recognized secondary 
 sense of the phrase. He who can approve the things that are 
 excellent must be able to prove the things that differ, hence the 
 literal is implied in the secondary sense, which is here preferable. 
 Moral discernment is what is meant, 
 
 19. a gnide of the blind. Cf. Matt. xv. 14, xxiii. 16. Paul 
 may have known these sayings, or Jesus may have been using 
 a common proverbial expression. A Jewish saying can be quoted 
 in illustration : ' When the shepherd is angry with the sheep, he 
 blinds their leaders.' 
 
 20. a corrector: or, 'instructor.' The word combines both 
 senses of training and teaching. 
 
 babes : morally and religiously immature persons, as the 
 Gentiles appeared to the Jews. The term is used in a kindly 
 sense of the common people who heard him gladly, as contrasted 
 with 'the wise and prudent' (Matt. xi. 25) by Christ himself 
 Paul uses it with mild censure to describe the Corinthian converts 
 (^i Cor. iii. i). 
 
 form. In 2 Tim. iii. 5 the form of godliness is contrasted 
 with the power thereof. While this contrast between outward 
 appearance and inward reality might be here implied, it is not 
 
112 TO THE ROMANS 2. 21-23 
 
 21 thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not 
 thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, 
 
 3 2 dost thou steal? thou that sayest a man should not 
 commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery ? thou that 
 
 23 abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples? thou who gloriest 
 
 thrown into any prominence. The derivation of the word is 
 rather against our looking for this contrast between semblance 
 and substance. The word here used is morphosis (as in the 
 English word 'metamorphosis'); it is derived from morphe, the 
 word used in Phil. ii. 6, 'he was in the form of God,' meaning 
 essential form as contrasted with schema (English scheme), which 
 is used for external figure. Accordingly ' form ' should be taken 
 here to mean not appearance, pretext, but * outline,' 'embodiment,' 
 for the law was a real expression of Divine truth and afforded 
 a genuine knowledge of righteousness. 
 
 21. therefore. Because the Jew made such pretensions he 
 brought on himself greater obligations, and justified, regarding 
 himself, higher expectations. The verse recalls Jesus' words 
 about the scribes who laid on others burdens which they them- 
 selves would not touch ;^Luke xi. 46). 
 
 preachest: in synagogue discourses. 
 
 steal. Paul does not mean to charge all the Jewish teachers 
 with being thieves, adulterers, robbers, &c. ; but (i) there can be 
 no doubt that crime and vice were frequent and notorious among 
 even the religious professors among the Jews ; and (2) the ex- 
 ternality of the Rabbinic morality allowed the unchecked growth 
 in the heart of evil motives, of which these vices and crimes were 
 the inevitable result. (Compare Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on 
 the Mount, Matt, v.) 
 
 22. abhorrest idols. The Jewish aversion to idolatry, which, 
 as the O. T. history shews, only a long discipline by God's 
 providence had firmly implanted, was one of the most prominent 
 features of the race, often so offensively displayed as to excite 
 the anger and hate of other nations (Deut. vii. 26 ; Dan. xii. 11 j 
 Matt. xxiv. 15). Pilate, soon after he became Procurator of Judaea, 
 excited a most violent outbreak of Jewish fanaticism, by ' allowing 
 his soldiers to bring with them by night the silver eagles and 
 other insignia of the legions from Caesarea to the Holy City, an 
 act which they regarded as idolatrous profanation,' So strong 
 was the feeling shewn that he had to give way, though sullenly. 
 Even in the Christian Church this abhorrence of idolatry sur- 
 vived. In order to make social intercourse between Jewish and 
 Gentile Christians possible, the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem 
 desired the Gentile believers to 'abstain from things sacrificed 
 
TO THE ROMANS 2. 24,35 113 
 
 in the law, through thy transgression of the law dis- 
 honourest thou God ? For the name of God is blasphemed 24 
 among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written. 
 For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of 25 
 
 to idols' (Acts XV. 29). In the church at Corinth, the question 
 whether food that had been offered to an idol might be eaten or 
 not was exciting keen controversy, when Paul laid down the rule 
 that those who had no scruples should shew tender consideration 
 for those who had (i Cor. viii~. 
 
 rob temples: or, ^commit sacrilege.' The town-clerk of 
 Ephesus expressly defended Paul against this charge (Acts xix. 
 37) ; and this shews that the charge was one that was likely to 
 be brought against Jews, in spite of their abhorrence of idolatry, 
 as it is possible the Jews thought that the robbery of an idol- 
 temple was itself a meritorious act, even as Protestant fanaticism 
 has regarded the destruction of images in Roman Catholic churches. 
 The Talmud expressly provides that no Jew shall touch anything 
 connected with an idol, unless it has been previously desecrated 
 by Gentiles. 
 
 23. Probably this verse is not to be treated as a question. 
 There is a change of construction in the Greek which seems to 
 indicate that, having, so to speak, in the previous verses cross- 
 examined the Jew on trial, Paul now gives his verdict against 
 and passes sentence on him. 
 
 24. This is a free adaptation from Isa. lii. 5. Paul follows 
 the Greek version, but omits ' continually all the day long,' and 
 changes ' my ' into ' of God ' (cf. also Ezek, xxxvi. 20-23). The 
 reference in the original passage is to the dishonour done to 
 God's name by the oppressors of His people. Paul, following the 
 lead of the LXX, sees the cause of the dishonour in the incon- 
 sistent life of the people itself. 
 
 25. Paul here begins another subject. The possession of the 
 law was the Jews' boast. He has shewn that their possession 
 of that law, because unaccompanied by obedience, is no profit 
 to themselves, and even brings dishonour on God. Circumcision, 
 even more than the possession of the law, was the peculiarity 
 on which the Jew prided himself, while for it he was most 
 despised by the Gentile. Paul now shews that the cultivation 
 of a right disposition, not the performance of an outward rite, 
 is alone of value. 
 
 profiteth. Circumcision, as the seal of Jewish nationality, 
 was a door that admitted to many privileges ; but Paul affirms 
 that without obedience these privileges would prove valueless, 
 and the Jew might as well have been an uncircuincised Gentile. 
 
114 TO THE ROMANS 2. 26-29 
 
 the law : but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy 
 
 36 circumcision is become uncircumcision. If therefore 
 the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall 
 not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? 
 
 37 and shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if 
 it fulfil the law, judge thee, who with the letter and 
 
 28 circumcision art a transgressor of the law? For he is not 
 a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, 
 
 29 which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew, which is 
 one inwardly : and circumcision is that of the heart, in 
 
 doer of the law. This does not mean one who keeps per- 
 fectly every commandment, for such there is none ; but one who 
 sincerely seeks to order his life according to God's will. 
 
 26. In this verse Paul goes still further. Not only is the dis- 
 obedient Jew no better than the uncircumcised Gentile, but even 
 the righteous Gentile is as good as the circumcised Jew. 
 
 the uncircumcision : the abstract for the concrete ; the un- 
 circumcised man. 
 
 be reckoned: as a substitute or an equivalent for cir- 
 cumcision. 
 
 27. uncircumcision which is by nature: a difficult phrase, 
 as all are uncircumcised by nature ; but it is the counterpart of 
 the phrase, 'Jews by nature' (Gal. ii. 15), and means Gentiles 
 born and bred, and as such remaining uncircumcised. 
 
 judge : so judge as to condemn (Matt. xii. 41, 42). 
 
 letter and circumcision : either the letter of circumcision, 
 with the hteral commandment to circumcise obeyed, or the written 
 law generally and circumcision (resuming what has been said in 
 verses 17-24). The word ' letter,' used here of the written law, 
 lays emphasis on its purely external relation to the moral 
 disposition as external for many of the Jews as the rite of 
 circumcision itself. 
 
 28. Paul often contrasts the literal Israel after the flesh with 
 the true Israel in the spirit. Here he uses Jew not as a race 
 name, but as equivalent to ' Israelite,' the religious title, descriptive 
 of the possessor of the covenant privileges, and inheritor of the 
 prophetic promises. He here declares that this position does not 
 depend en any external rite, but on a personal disposition ;Gal. 
 iii. 7, vi. 15, 16; Phil. iii. 2, 3 : cf. Rev. iii. o"*. 
 
 29. inwardly: It'l. 'in secret' (Matt, vi 4). Cf. i Pet. iii. 4, 
 ' the hidden man of the heart.' 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. i 115 
 
 the spirit, not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, 
 but of God. 
 What advantage then hath the Jew ? or what is the 8 
 
 the spirit, . . . the letter. The same contrast is found in 
 vii. 6 and 2 Cor. iii. 6-8. (i) The 'letter' means the outward 
 rite ; (2) the * spirit ' the inward disposition of submission to God 
 (Deut. X. 16; Jer. iv. 4, ix. 26; Ezek. xliv. 7 ; Acts vii. 51). 
 
 praise. There is a play on words here. ' Jew ' is derived 
 from Judah, and Judah means ' praise ' (Gen. xxix. 35, xlix. 8 : cf. 
 Hos. xiv. 8 ; Ephraim means ' faithfulness '). 
 
 (iv) iii. 1-8. No objections valid. Paul's conclusion that Jew 
 and Gentile have alike failed, and are both subject to God's 
 judgement, seems from the Jewish standpoint open to several 
 objections which may have presented themselves to Paul's own 
 mind, as he was developing his argument, or may more probably 
 have been brought forward by those engaged in controversy with 
 Paul. These objections are : (i) The Jew loses all advantage of 
 his nationality ; (2) the unbelief of the Jews has led to God's 
 canceUing His promises ; (3) the unbelief which exhibits only 
 the more clearly God's faithfulness cannot be blamew^orthy or 
 justly punished ; (4) evil which has good for its result, to 
 generalize the principle involved in the preceding particular 
 instance, does not deserve condemnation. With each of these 
 objections Paul in turn deals, (a) The Jew is not deprived of 
 every advantage, for he has still many privileges, one of these 
 being his possession of the promises of God regarding the 
 Messiah (i, 2). [In chapter ix. 4, 5, Paul gives a fuller list of 
 these privileges ; in xi. 28-32 he shews what advantage to the 
 Jew his possession of these promises will ultimately prove ; in 
 XV. 8 he states that to confirm these promises ' Christ hath been 
 made a minister of the circumcision.'] (b) The Jews' unbelief 
 does not lead God to cancel His promises, for whatever man may 
 do, God will vindicate His fidelity, and at the bar of history will 
 by man's own confession be acknowledged righteous (3, 4). 
 '[c) Nevertheless God's fulfilment of His promises in spite of 
 man's unbelief, nay it may be even by means of that unbelief, 
 does not excuse it, and does not render God's punishment unjust ; 
 for God's action must always be righteous, as otherwise He 
 could not be the judge of the world (5, 6). (d) There can be only 
 deserved condemnation on those who, professing to carry to its 
 logical conclusion this statement, justify a wrong action for 
 a right end. and attribute such reasoning to the Apostle himself 
 (7, 8;. Although the rhetorical form is not strictly observed, yet 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 TO THE ROMANS 3. 2-4 
 
 2 profit of circumcision ? Much every way: first of all, 
 
 3 that they were intrusted with the oracles of God. For 
 what if some were without faith ? shall their want of faith 
 
 4 make of none effect the faithfulness of God ? God 
 forbid : yea, let God be found true, but every man 
 a liar; as it is written, 
 
 the logical method of the passage is a question by an assumed 
 Jewish objector, followed by the Apostle's answer. 
 
 1. a^lvantagre : lit. 'what excess of privilege.' 
 
 2. first of all. Paul mentions one advantage or profit, and 
 then breaks off abruptly. As by the oracles of God he probably 
 means especially the various promises made by God to His 
 people, the mention of these at once suggests another objection. 
 The promises made to the Jews had not been fulfilled for the 
 Jews(ix. 4). , . , 
 
 3. The argument runs thus : As the promises were given to the 
 Jews, they must be fulfilled for the Jews, else God has cancelled 
 them, and so is proved unfaithful. So reasons the assumed Jewish 
 objector, Paul's answer is that this reasoning must be declared 
 false, and God must be left free to fulfil His promises in any way 
 He may please. However untrue man's reasonings may be 
 made to appear, God's character must at any cost be vindicated. 
 
 faith . . . faithfulness: the same Greek word is used in 
 both cases, and may have either meaning. Possibly in this 
 passage we should rendei the word * faithfulness * in both places, 
 the Jews being blamed not for unbelief, but for failure in their 
 duty. In the preceding passage it is certainly moral failure that 
 is condemned, and nothing, has as yet been said about Jewish 
 unbelief. As these verses, however, deal with the fulfilment of 
 God's promises, in which God shews His faithfulness, what we 
 should expect as required in man so that he may enjoy this 
 fulfilment is ' faith,' as trust in God's faithfulness. Probably then 
 the R. V. rendering is in both cases right. 
 
 4. God forbid: lit. *be it not so.' It is with this phrase Paul 
 always rejects any objection to his argument which seems to him 
 pernicious or profane. 
 
 true . . . liar. God must be left free to vindicate His 
 faithfulness in whatever way may seem good to Him, even 
 although that method should contradict all man's calculations 
 and expectations. 
 
 as it is written: (i) The words that follow are taken from 
 the Greek version of Psalm li. 4. The changes in the Greek 
 version represent God as on His trial in His dealings with the 
 Psalmist, and as vindicated in His character. (2) According to 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 5 117 
 
 That thou mightest be justified in thy words, 
 And mightest prevail when thou comest into judge- 
 ment. 
 But if our unrighteousness commendeth the righteous- 5 
 ness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous 
 who visiteth with wrath ? (I speak after the manner of 
 
 the common view this Psalm was composed by David, after his 
 sin with Bathsheba had been rebuked and punished ; and the 
 thought of the verse is that one effect of sin is to display all the 
 more clearly God's righteousness and justice in the punishment 
 He inflicts upon it. Even if we cannot so definitely fix the 
 occasion of the Psalm, the truth thus stated remains unchanged. 
 (3) The meaning Paul gives the words is this, God overrules all 
 evil so as to justify His method and vindicate His character at 
 the bar of history. 
 
 5. xinrig'liteousuess : a more general term than unbelief, as 
 righteousness is also more general than faithfulness. Paul gene- 
 ralizes the argument. There are two syllogisms implied, although 
 the argument is in condensed form : (i) A judge must be righteous. 
 God is a judge. Therefore God is righteous. (2) Righteousness 
 includes faithfulness. God is righteous. Therefore God is also 
 faithful. 
 
 rigrhteousness of God. Is the phrase used here generally 
 for the moral perfection of the Divine character, or is it used in 
 the distinctively Pauline sense, discussed in note on i. 17? The 
 latter meaning is not impossible. The argument would be then 
 as follows : If it is the sin of man which is the occasion of, and 
 reason for, the revelation of the righteousness of God in accepting 
 sinners, why should God punish sin, and the sinner regard him- 
 self as blameworthy ? The context makes this sense, however, 
 improbable, as Paul is here stating the objection a Jew might be 
 supposed to put forward, and a Jewish objector could not be 
 presented using the phrase not in the common Jewish, but the 
 distinctively Pauline sense. 
 
 what shall we say? Another phrase which, like 'God 
 forbid,' is pecuHar to this Epistle, and is used to carry on the 
 argument from point to point. 
 
 Is God nnrig-hteous ? The objector's question should properly 
 be, * Is not God unrighteous ? ' to which the proper answer would 
 be, * Yes, He is.' But Paul, probably from a sense of reverence, 
 puts the question so that the answer to be expected is ' No.' 
 He thus sacrifices rhetorical form to pious feeling. 
 
 who visiteth with wrath: lit. *the inflicter of the anger,' 
 referring to the last judgement. 
 
ii8 TO THE ROMANS 3, 6, '/ 
 
 6 men.) God forbid : for then how shall God judge the 
 
 7 world ? But if the truth of God through my lie 
 abounded unto his glor}% why am I also still judged as 
 
 Z speak after the manner of men. This is another character- 
 istic Pauline phrase, used when the analogy between things 
 human and Divine seems for his sense of reverence to have been 
 carried so far as to need some sort of apology. 
 
 6. how shall God judgfe the world? It was a theological 
 axiom for Paul and those with whom he was arguing ♦^hat there 
 was to be a judgement of the world by God. Anything that made 
 it impossible to maintain this conviction must be denied. If God 
 be convicted of injustice in His dealings with men in history, His 
 future judgement cannot be relied on as just. Thus the very 
 foundations of moral responsibility would be removed. But as 
 God will judge the world He cannot be unjust in any of His 
 dealings. Divesting this conception of a Divine judgement of all 
 figurative forms, derived from human law-courts, and conceiving 
 the Divine judgement as unceasingly and unfalteringly exercised 
 through the moral order of the world which God has established 
 and maintains — a moral order which punishes sin by its con- 
 sequences outward and inward, and rewards righteousness by its 
 effects on character and condition— this truth may be regarded as 
 axiomatic for us, even as it was for Paul and his opponents. 
 the world: all mankind. 
 
 f, 8. In verses 5 and 6 the question was considered from the 
 side of God. If man's sin displays God's righteousness, how can 
 God be just in punishing? In verse 7 the side of man is taken, 
 and Paul, from ^ motives of delicacy,' represents himself and not 
 his opponent as arguing thus.. If my unbelief shews God's fidelity, 
 what blame attaches to me? But in verse 8 the argument is 
 somewhat complicated by the introduction of a consideration 
 apart from the immediate subject of discussion. Paul's doctrine 
 of justification by faith alone apart from works had been objected 
 to on the ground that it encouraged continuance in sin (this 
 objection is dealt with fully in chap. vi). Paul here so far 
 anticipates this discussion, inasmuch as the charge brought against 
 him resembles the excuse made by his Jewish objector, if evil may 
 prove a means of good, it is neither to be blamed nor to be 
 punished, but rather may be done. His sole answer is that 
 alike the man who makes such an excuse for his unbelief and the 
 man who makes such a charge against himself (Paul) deserve all 
 the condemnation that may fall on them. 
 
 *7. truth: fidelity of God to His promises. 
 lie : virtual denial of these promises by unbelief in their 
 fulfilment. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 8,9 119 
 
 a sinner ? and why not (as we be slanderously reported, 8 
 and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that 
 good may come ? whose condemnation is just. 
 
 What then ? are we in worse case than they ? No, 9 
 
 8. and why not. There is an omission here which may be 
 supplied in one of two ways, (i) And why should we not say. 
 (2) And why should we not do evil. There is no great diflference 
 in the sense. In the former case verse 7 affords the justifica- 
 tion for the saying with which the Apostle is charged falsely ; in 
 the latter case verse 7 offers an excuse for the action which the 
 Apostle is falsely accused as justifying, 
 
 condemnation: better, 'judgement,' if 'judged* is kept in verse 
 7 ; or if * condemnation ' is kept here, ' condemned ' should be read 
 in verse 7. The same word is used in both cases, and the force 
 of the argument is weakened by a different rendering. 
 
 (v) iii. 9-20. The Scripture proof of the fact. As none of the 
 objections which the Jew may bring forward against the judge- 
 ment pronounced on him as alike sinful with the Gentile are valid, 
 the charge stands, and it can be confirmed by the testimony of 
 the Scriptures, which in varying language, yet with uniform 
 purpose, represent all men as depraved, estranged from God, 
 opposed to one another, (a) Although greater privilege involves 
 greater responsibility, and so the Jew may appear to have even 
 less reason than the Gentile to expect exemption from judgement, 
 yet all the argument demands, and Paul desires to do, is to assert 
 that all men, without exception, are sinners (verse 9). {b) The 
 Scriptures shew that through ignorance of God all men have 
 morally become worse, have sunk into manifold forms of sin, 
 deceit, malice, violence, and have at last lost all sense of moral 
 restraint (10-18). (c) To the Jew, as the possessor of the law, 
 this declaration of universal sinfulness has immediate reference ; 
 the law awakens the sense of sinfulness, it announces God's 
 judgement, it forbids all self-confidence, but it offers no man the 
 prospect of acquittal or reward (19, 20). 
 
 In this passage Paul confirms his argument by an appeal to the 
 Scriptures, which for all his readers were absolutely authoritative. 
 He combines a number of passages, sometimes quoting them 
 exactly, sometimes introducing modifications to suit his purpose. 
 Then having given this proof he affirms the negative conclusion — 
 no man righteous — which prepares for his positive declaration — 
 righteousness for all in Christ — which is expounded in the next 
 section. The old system of law has failed ; the world needs, and 
 is ready for, the new system of grace. One cannot understand for 
 what reason the Revisers did not end one paragraph at verse 20 
 
I20 TO THE ROMANS 3. lo 
 
 in no wise : for we before laid to the charge both of 
 10 Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin ; as it is 
 written, 
 
 and begin another at verse 21 ; for one subject is ended with 
 verse 20, and another is begun with verse 21. 
 
 9. what then (follows) ? Another of Paul's phrases to express 
 a transition in his argument. 
 
 are we in worse case than they ? or, * do we excuse our- 
 selves?' (marg.) Both phrases are possible renderings of a single 
 Greek word, the meaning of which it is very difficult to fix. 
 Against the rendering of the margin a grammatical objection may 
 be brought. The rendering of the text is adopted by many of the 
 best scholars, but the context seems to be against it. As Paul has 
 asserted in verse 2 that the Jew, as compared with the Gentile, 
 has much advantage every way, is he likely in verse 9 to suggest 
 that the Jew may be in worse case than the Gentile ? Yes, if we 
 distinguish the respects in which the comparison is made in each 
 case. The Jew has undoubtedly the advantage in his historical 
 position and function. But iriasmuch as greater privilege involves 
 greater responsibility, the Jew's failure may bring on him a severer 
 doom than the failure of the Gentile. In this way the Jew maj' 
 be, not in spite of, but because of, his advantage, in worse case 
 than the Gentile. The rendering of the A. V., 'Are we better 
 than they?' gives the word a meaning contrary to usage. 
 
 No, in no wise. This is not an absolute denial of the 
 question asked, but a peremptory refusal to discuss it. It is not 
 his intention to prove the superiority of Gentile to Jew in 
 contesting the superiority of the Jew to the Gentile. What he 
 aims at is to shew their equaKty in guilt. 
 
 under sin. The Greek suggests motion, ' fallen under sin.* 
 This is the first occurrence of the word 'sin,' which is found 
 nearly fifty times in the first eight chapters. While the Greek 
 word means ' missing the mark,' Paul attaches a positive signifi- 
 cance to the term. He does not conceive sin primarily as an 
 individual act or personal habit. He personifies sin as the per- 
 manent and universal source of all sinning. Through Adam's 
 disobedience it entered into the world, and brought death as its 
 companion (v. 12). It henceforth reigns over the race (v. 21, 
 vi. 12) ; it abounds (v. 20) ; it has dominion (vi. 14) ; it makes 
 all mankind its slaves (vi. 6, 20, vii. 14) ; it administers a law 
 (vii. 23) ; it pays the wages of death (vi. 23^, ; it takes up its 
 abode in the individual man (vii. 17, 20), especially in his 
 flesh (viii. 3) ; it makes his body its instrument (vi. 6^ ; it may 
 become dormant, but the law revives it (vii. 9) ; and it takes 
 occasion from the commandment to provoke the will to break the 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. ir, 12 121 
 
 There is none righteous, no, not one • 
 There is none that understandeth, 11 
 
 There is none that seeketh after God ; 
 They have all turned aside, they are together 12 
 become unprofitable; 
 
 law (vii. 8). All the law can do is to bring the consciousness of 
 sin, and even to provoke sin : it cannot deliver from sin. But 
 the believer is dead to sin (vi. 2, 11), and so freed from its law, 
 dominion, power, servitude (vi. 7). The first sin, as the violation 
 of a positive commandment, was a 'transgression' or a 'trespass' 
 (a going over the line or a falHng away v. 14, 15) ; until the law 
 was given to mankind sin was not imputed as guilt (v. 13), but as 
 soon as the law came, sin was reckoned as transgression, and 
 so incurred condemnation (iv. 15). Paul in his doctrine of sin 
 recognizes the dependence of the individual man on the race ; he 
 inherits the tendency to sin, his environment evokes and develops 
 that tendency ; temptations and allurements to sin come to each 
 man from his fellow men ; the solidarity of the race gives to sin 
 its permanence and universality. There is nothing in Paul's 
 doctrine of sin untrue to the facts of human experience. To the 
 history of sin in the world, as he gives it, we must return in the 
 notes on v. 12-21. 
 
 10. as it is written. This series of quotations is made 
 up as follows : Pss. xiv. 1-3 (verse i freely quoted, 2 abridged, 
 3 exactly), v, 9 (exactly), cxl. 3 (exactly), x. 7 (freely) ; Isa. lix. 
 7, 8 (abridged): Ps. xxxvi. i (exactly). AH these quotations are 
 from the Greek version. As the first of the quotations is intended 
 as a general description, it is, therefore, apposite as a scriptural 
 proof of the proposition of universal sinfulness. But as the second, 
 third, and fourth quotations are descriptive of the Psalmist's 
 oppressors, as the fifth from Isaiah is appHed to the con- 
 temporaries of the prophet as affording a reason for the captivity, 
 and as the sixth is expressly assigned to the wicked, all must be 
 taken as illustrations rather than as proofs of the Apostle's thesis. 
 
 There is none rig'hteous, no, not one. This is probably not 
 a general statement by Paul himself introducing the series of 
 quotations, but is intended to be a quotation from Ps. xiv. i, last 
 clause. The change Paul makes is easily explained ; it is intended 
 to bring the passage into more close connexion with his argument 
 about the righteousness which none can attain by works, but 
 which alt must receive in faith. 
 
 11. Paul has abridged Ps. xiv. a. 
 
 12. Quoted from Ps. xiv. 3. 
 together : one and all. 
 
122 TO THE ROMANS 3. 13-19 
 
 There is none that doeth good, no not so much 
 as one : 
 
 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre ; 
 
 With their tongues they have used deceit : 
 The poison of asps is under their lips : 
 
 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : 
 
 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood ; 
 
 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways ; 
 
 J 7 And the way of peace have they not known : 
 
 1 8 There is no fear of God before their eyes. 
 
 19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, 
 
 become unprofitable: the Hebrew means 'to go bad,' 
 ' become sour/ like milk. 
 
 13. Quoted from Ps. v. 9. 
 
 open sepulchre : a yawning pit, not only into which a man 
 may fall, but also from which come pestilent vapours. 
 
 used deceit. The sense of the Hebrew is * their tongue do 
 thej' make smooth * (R. V. margin). Paul follows the LXX, which 
 here corresponds closely with the Hebrew. The last clause of 
 the verse is quoted from Ps. cxl. 3. 
 
 under their lips. The poison-bag of the serpent is placed 
 as here described, and the venom is connected not with the 
 forked tongue, but with the bite. 
 
 14. Paul here quotes freely the Greek version of Ps. x. 7. Tlie 
 Hebrew has ' deceit ' for the Greek bitterness. 
 
 15-17. Paul quotes freely from the Greek version of Isa, lix. 7, 8. 
 
 18. Quoted from Ps. xxxvi. i. Paul begins this set of quota- 
 tions with a general statement of man's sinfulness, he then describes 
 some of its manifestations, and here he closes with an indication 
 of the origin of sin — wickedness springs from godlessness, even as 
 in i. 18, 32, immorality is traced back to idolatry. 
 
 19. the law. Is this the law strictly so called, the Pentateuch, 
 or the O. T. generally, which was divided into three collections 
 of books, entitled law, prophets, and writings ? But the full title 
 law, prophets, and writings was not usually used, and all three 
 divisions might be referred to under the title law, or law and 
 prophets. If we understand • the law' here as meaning only the 
 first division of the Jewish canon, then it is not the law that 
 speaks in the preceding quotations, as none of them is from the 
 Pentateuch ; but to the testimon}'' of the writings : Psalms) and 
 the prophets (Isaiah) regarding universal human sinfulness the 
 law now adds its declaration regarding the necessary' connexion 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 20, 21 123 
 
 it speaketh to them that are under the law ; that every 
 mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought 
 under the judgement of God : because by the works of 20 
 the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight : for through 
 the law cometh the knowledge of sin. But now apart 21 
 
 between sin and ])enalt3'', guilt and judgement, not in an express 
 quotation, but in the Apostle's own summing up of the teaching 
 of the law. If, however, the law is used for the O. T. generally, 
 then all the previous quotations are included in what the law says 
 especially to those under the law, that is, the Jews. The in- 
 tention of the law's testimony is to produce a conviction of guilt, 
 and so arouse an expectation of judgement. The Jews of all 
 nations had least excuse for ignorance of man's sinfulness, guilt, 
 and judgement. Whether we can adopt this latter interpretation 
 or not depends on the probability of Paul's having used 'law' in 
 this extended sense. Against the assumption it has been argued, 
 (i) That Paul only once uses law as equivalent to the O. T. (i Cor. 
 xiv. 21, where he is quoting Isa. xxviii. ii) ; (2) that in the phrase 
 ' under the law,' law must be used in the restricted sense; and (3, 
 that in verse 21, in the phrase 'the law and the prophets,' Paul 
 expressly distinguishes the law from the prophets. But these 
 objections may be satisfactorily met. (i If Paul once uses law 
 in the wider sense, he may do so again. (2' He may pass from 
 one sense of a word to another. (3, The description of the O. T. 
 in the N. T. writings varies, and we need not look for uniformity. 
 It is not improbable then that Paul describes the quotations from 
 the Psalms and Isaiah as the testimony of the law. 
 
 saith . . . speaketli : the Greek words thus rendered dis- 
 tinguish the mental content from the physical utterance of speech. 
 
 stopped: left without excuse (ii. i). 
 20. As the law can bring only conviction of sin, but cannot 
 enable a man to resist sin, and so to fulfil all the demands of the 
 law as to be acquitted in God's judgement, every man is left 
 under condemnation liable to punishment. 
 
 works of tli3 law : such works as are commanded by the law. 
 
 flesh : a Hebrew use for a man in his creaturely weakness as 
 distinguished from God. Here there is no suggestion of the dis- 
 tinctively Pauline sense of the word, to which attention will 
 afterwards be called. 
 
 knowledgfe. The Greek word means full, clear, adequate 
 knowledge : law develops conscience. The statement of the 
 function of the law to awaken consciousness of sin. and of the 
 impotence of the law in enforcing its demands in this twentieth 
 verse, is based here on the testimony of Scripture to man's sinful- 
 
124 TO THE ROMANS 3. 22 
 
 from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, 
 22 being witnessed by the law and the prophets ; even the 
 
 ness. It is a deduction from facts thus attested. Because the law 
 has not been obeyed, therefore it cannot be obeyed. A psycho- 
 logical demonstration of this deduction is offered by Paul in vii. 
 7-25, in which he assumes that his own experience is typical of 
 that of the race. Here ends the proof that righteousness has not 
 been hitherto attained, and that, therefore, God's wrath is awaiting 
 the world, unless some other method of righteousness than that 
 of obedience to law can be discovered. It is the Apostle's con- 
 sciousness of having discovered this new method of righteousness 
 that has for him put beyond all doubt whatever the failure of the 
 old method. And it is in order that others may be led to adopt 
 the new method that he so faithfully presses home on the 
 conscience of all men this failure. He next displays the new 
 method of righteousness. 
 
 (2) iii. 21-31. Righteousness provided in Christ (a) In the new 
 order God Himself provides righteousness for man. (i) It is 
 apart from the law, yet is borne witness to by law and prophets 
 (21). (2) As all have need of it, it is a free gift to all who believe 
 in Christ (22, 23). (3) It offers pardon to all as part of a complete 
 deliverance in Christ from the power, the guilt, the doom of sin 
 (24). (4) It has been secured by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, 
 in which God so clearly and fully displays His condemnation and 
 punishment of sin as to remove any doubt about His attitude to 
 sin, which might be due to His patience with the sins which He 
 passed over without due judgement in times past, or which 
 might be encouraged by the pardon which He now offers to the 
 sinful (25, 26). (b) From these characteristics of God's righteous- 
 ness in Christ two consequences follow, (i) Those who possess it 
 have no reason for conceit or pride, as they in no way owe it to 
 their merits (27, 28). (2) It is intended for all mankind, as all men 
 equally are regarded by God, and are capable of the iaith which 
 claims it (29, 30). ,(c) The objection that the value and authority 
 of the la-w are denied in the demand for faith alone is not valid, 
 as it will be shewn subsequently that this new method confirms 
 the old (31). 
 
 21. But now: a temporal as well as a logical contrast; not 
 only two states, the state under law and under grace, are opposed, 
 but also two periods, the period before and the period after Christ. 
 The practice of Christendom to reckon years from the supposed 
 date of Christ's birth is its testimony to the greatness of the 
 change in the world's history Christ has made. 
 
 apart from the law : not dependent on, or subordinate to, the 
 law, but as an alternative to, nay even a substitute for, the law. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 22 125 
 
 righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto 
 
 This separation of the new from the old order appears in two 
 respects, (i) The sacrifice of Christ, by which the new order 
 was instituted (i Cor. xi. 25), was not in any way provided for, 
 required by, or in accordance with the statutes or institutions of 
 the law. (2) The law was abolished for all believers, and faith 
 in Christ took its place. 
 
 rierliteonsiiess of God. See the extended note on i. 17. Here 
 the Divine condition, which had to be fulfilled before this 
 righteousness could be revealed — the sacrifice of Christ — is for 
 the first time mentioned (v. 25) ; and the human condition of its 
 appropriation — faith — is repeated, and now more clearly defined as 
 its object is given (v. 22). 
 
 manifested. This verb is used in the N. T. especially of 
 the Incarnation as a counsel of the invisible God gradually realized 
 in human history and thus made visible to man (i Tim. iii. 16 ; 
 Heb. ix. 26 ; i Pet. i. 20 ; i John iii. 5, 8). The same term is 
 applied to Christ's appearances after his Resurrection (Mark xvi. 
 12, 14; John xxi. 14) and at his Second Advent (i Pet. v. 4 and 
 I John ii. 28, iii. 2}. The grace of God is manifested in the 
 appearing of Christ (2 Tim. i. 10), and 'eternal life' in his 
 Incarnation (i John i. 2). 
 
 witnessed. While independent of law, this righteousness 
 was prepared for by law in ritual types, prophetic predictions, 
 the religious necessities and aspirations developed in Hebrew 
 history (see i. 2). 
 
 22. faith in Jesns Christ: or, 'faith of Jesus Christ.' The 
 Greek has the genitive case, which is capable of expressing either 
 the object or the possessor of the faith. While it has generally 
 been taken for granted that the meaning must be the faith of the 
 believers in Christ, it has been recently maintained that what is 
 meant is the faith which Christ himself exercised, which bore him 
 through the trial of the cross, which is the significant and valuable 
 spiritual and ethical element in his sacrifice, without which his 
 death could not have been offered as an acceptable sacrifice unto 
 God, and which must be reproduced in the believer's experience 
 that he may benefit by the atonement made by Christ. Probably 
 in Heb. xii. 2 Jesus is set before us as the great example of faith 
 in his sacrifice. Certainly Paul recognizes the spiritual and 
 ethical element in the sacrifice of Christ, and insists on the 
 reproduction of Christ's experience in the believer, as will be 
 shown in the notes on vi. i-ii. The faith of which Christ is the 
 object appropriates Christ in his fullness, claims as motive and 
 type all Christ experienced, endured, accomplished; so that 
 a fully developed faith in Christ includes the faith of Christ. 
 This interpretation - faith of Christ - seems inadmissible, however, 
 
126 TO THE ROMANS 3. 23,24 
 
 23 all them that believe ; for there is no distinction ; for 
 
 24 all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God ; being 
 justified freely by his grace through the redemption that 
 
 in some of the passages in which the phrase occurs, and there- 
 fore must be held improbable. 
 
 unto all. Some ancient authorities add * and upon all ' 
 (marg.) ; but this seems to be a combination of two alternative 
 readings. ' Unto ' expresses the destination of the righteousness 
 of God for all ; * upon/ its inclusion of all. 
 
 no distinction : a glance back to the argument in ii. 1-16. 
 
 23. This verse again states the conclusion of the previous 
 argument, i. 18 — iii. 20. It gives the reason for the statement 
 of the previous verse ; a universal disease demands a universal 
 remedy ; impartial grace corresponds with impartial judgement. 
 
 fall short. The Greek word used here is rendered ' to be in 
 want ' (Luke xv. 14) ; * to suffer need ' (Phil. iv. 12) ; and ' being 
 destitute' (Heb. xi. 37). The form of the verb expresses not only 
 the fact, but also the feeling. Not only has man failed through 
 sin, but he knows his loss. 
 
 the glory of God. The word 'glory' has two altogether 
 distinct uses in the N. T., (i) fame, honour, reputation, from its 
 original meaning in classical Greek ' opinion ' ; (2) brightness in 
 the Greek version of the O. T., as the verb from which the word 
 is derived may mean to seem, or to appear, as well as to think, 
 or to imagine, the sense from which the meaning of the noun 
 ' opinion ' is derived. In the sense of brightness the word is used 
 for (a) the manifestation of God's presence in the Tabernacle, 
 the Shekinah ; (6) the Divine perfection as expressed in this 
 visible splendour ; (c) the holiness and blessedness of God, which 
 man in Christ is called to share, and which in man's resurrection 
 body will be shewn in outward brightness. If we assume the 
 first sense here, then what this verse means is that all mankind 
 as sinful has failed to gain God's approval, and instead lies under 
 His condemnation. If we take the second sense, then the meaning 
 is that man has failed to attain to any share in the personal 
 perfection of God for which he was destined. He has lost the 
 image and forfeited the likeness of God, and has no prospect 
 in the future of recovering this lost good. As Paul is in this 
 passage dealing with man's standing before God, and in the next 
 verse puts justification in the forefront of the Divine gift of 
 redemption, the former sense would be more appropriate. But 
 the common usage of the term in the N. T. rather supports the 
 latter. 
 
 24. being justified, (i) There is an ambiguity about the 
 grammatical construction, the participle stands here unconnected 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 25 127 
 
 is in Christ Jesus : whom God set forth to be a propitia- 35 
 
 with any finite verb. Four explanations are possible : (i) The 
 participle depends on the finite verb * fall short ' in the preceding 
 verse, the meaning being that because men need to be pardoned 
 freely without any merit on their part, the mode of their accep- 
 tance before God intimates their personal failure ; because God 
 forgives them, though undeserving, we know that they have 
 fallen short. This is, however, a strained explanation. (2) The 
 participle is equivalent to a finite verb co-ordinate with the 
 preceding verb, and the sense is ' all have sinned, fall short, 
 and are justified,' or even, ' all having sinned and fallen short 
 are justified.' While the sense thus got is good, it is doubtful 
 whether Greek grammar justifies such an explanation. (3) The 
 participle begins a new sentence and we must supply some finite 
 verb from the context ; but this is a violent expedient. (4) The 
 participle, although it is in the nominative case, may be regarded 
 as depending on ' all them that believe ' in verse 22, although the 
 accusative is there used, the nominative having been suggested by 
 the nearer nominative ' all ' in verse 23, while all the intervening 
 words must be taken as a parenthesis to explain why all were 
 included in God's intention. This is the best explanation, as the 
 irregularity of construction is not infrequent in Paul's writing 
 (see ii. 14, 15). (ii' The words 'justify,' 'justified,' 'justification,' 
 have been the subject of much controversy. There seems to be 
 a growing agreement among scholars that ' to justify ' means * to 
 reckon, pronounce righteous.' If the person so reckoned, or 
 pronounced righteous, is not actually righteous, then the word 
 is equivalent to ' to forgive.' While in ii, 13 'justified' is used 
 of persons assumed to be declared righteous, because they have 
 been proved righteous, yet Paul's use generally, as verse 26 
 shews, implies that the declaration of righteousness does not 
 refer to, or assume any righteousness in, the person justified. 
 The term does not and cannot mean 'to make righteous' in the 
 sense of a moral change ; for < i) the whole class of Greek verbs 
 formed in the same way, as this verb is, from adjectives expressing 
 any moral as distinguished from any physical quality, has the 
 meaning not of making worthy, holy, righteous, but of reckoning, 
 proving, declaring. (2) No example has 3'et been cited from 
 classical literature where the verb means ' to make righteous,' 
 (3) In the Greek version of the O. T. it is used always, or almost 
 always, in a judicial sense ; so also in the extra-canonical Jewish 
 literature, and in the N. T. (Matt. xi. 19, xii. 37 ; Luke vii. 29-35, 
 X. 29, xvi. 15, xviii, 14 , especially Paul's writings {Rom. ii. 13, 
 iii. 4 ; I Cor. iv. 4 ; i Tim. iii. 16), in passages which are not 
 concerned at all with Paul's distinctive doctrine, (4) Paul himself 
 gives a definition of the term, which excludes expressly the sense 
 
128 TO THE ROMANS 3. 25 
 
 Hon, through faith, by his blood, to shew his righteousness, 
 
 ' to make righteous ' : iv. 5, ' But to him that worketh not, but 
 believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned 
 for righteousness.' Paul's doctrine of justification may be summed 
 up in three propositions: (i) God reckons, or pronounces, or 
 treats as righteous the ungodly who has no righteousness of his 
 own to shew (iv. 5). (2) It is his faith that is reckoned for 
 righteousness ; faith in Christ is accepted instead of personal merit 
 gained by good works (iv. 5). (3) This faith has Christ as its 
 object (iii. 22), especially the propitiation which is in his blood 
 (iii. 25) ; but as such it results in a union with Christ so close 
 that Christ's experience of separation from sin and surrender to 
 God is reproduced in the believer (vi. i-ii). (iii) The doctrine 
 has been denounced as legalistic and even immoral. What has 
 to be carefully remembered is that Paul is not responsible for 
 what a theological scholasticism or a popular evangelicalism may 
 have made of his doctrine. He does not represent God as de- 
 ceiving Himself as regards the actual moral condition of the man 
 whom, in His grace, He forgives. God recognizes in His pardon 
 fully and clearly the fact that He is dealing with the ungodly 
 who has no righteousness to commend him. Paul does not 
 anywhere speak of God's transferring Christ's merits to us, and 
 then regarding us as though they were our own. There is no 
 make-believe, no legal fiction in Paul's doctrine. If Christ's 
 righteousness could be transferred to the sinner, and become in 
 any sense his own, there would be no grace in God's justification. 
 If justice could accept such a transfer, then justice alone would 
 pronounce the sentence of acquittal. Even human forgiveness 
 means the treatment of a man not as he actually is, not as he 
 really deserves, but as for some good reason we choose to treat 
 him, as though he had not committed any offence against us. 
 Why should not God forgive if man feels that he may and ought 
 to forgive ? If forgiveness is not to be a bane but a blessing, 
 there must of course be genuine repentance of sin and sincere 
 resolve of amendment. But this is secured in faith. God does 
 not impute righteousness to the unrighteous, but He accepts 
 instead of righteousness, instead of a perfect fulfilment of the 
 whole law, faith. ' Faith is reckoned for righteousness.' In for- 
 giving, God's intention is not to allow a man to feel comfortable 
 and happy while indifferent to, and indolent in, goodness ; but 
 to give a man a fresh opportunity, a new ability to become holy 
 and godly. Those whom God reckons righteous, He means also 
 to make righteous ; and the gradual process of sanctification can 
 only begin with the initial act of justification. A man must be 
 relieved of the burden of his guilt, he must be recalled from the 
 estrangement of his sin, he must be allowed to escape from 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 25 129 
 
 because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, 
 
 the haunting shadows of his doom, before he can with any con- 
 fidence, courage, or constancy tread the upward path of goodness 
 unto God. The man who accepts God's forgiveness in faith cannot 
 mean to abuse it by continuance in sin, but must long for and 
 welcome it as allowing him to make a fresh start on the new 
 path of trustful, loyal, and devoted surrender to God. Paul, it is 
 quite certain, knew of no saving faith that could claim justification 
 but disown sanctification. To him faith was not only assent to 
 what Christ had by his sacrifice done for man's salvation, but 
 consent, constant and complete, to all that Christ by his Spirit 
 might do in transforming character. He knew of no purpose of 
 grace that stopped short at reckoning men righteous, and did not 
 go on to making them righteous. Paul was not a mere Pharisee, 
 desiring to be acquitted of guilt, and to be accepted with favour 
 before God. He wanted that ; but as more than a Pharisee, as 
 a man who regarded his moral task with intense seriousness, and 
 sought to discharge it with genuine fidelity, he wanted to become 
 holy, right in feeling and motive as well as deed and word. He 
 found in Christ not only the gift of forgiveness, but also the power 
 of holiness. If in his exposition he separates the two elements 
 in his experience, justification and sanctification, it is not because 
 he supposes for a moment that a man can be truly justified who is 
 not also being really sanctified ; but because his own position as a 
 converted Pharisee contending against the survival of Pharisaism 
 in the Christian Church leads him to throw into the foreground, 
 to present in bold relief, the truth that God does not, as the 
 Pharisees conceived, stand aloof from man in his moral struggle, 
 waiting only at the end of the day, when the victory is won, 
 to recognize merit and confer reward ; but that God is ever 
 waiting to be gracious, so that the very first turning away from 
 sin unto God meets, in Christ, with God's free forgiveness— a grace 
 which is not only the promise, but also the power of the holi- 
 ness, which is God's unchanging purpose for man, as it is man's 
 unceasing duty to himself. 
 
 freely : gratis, gift-wise. The same word as is rendered 
 'without a c%^ise' (John xv. 25) ; *in vain' (Gal. ii. 21, A. V.) ; 
 * for nought' (2 Thess. iii. 8). The word lays stress on the 
 absence of all merit in man. 
 
 grace : free favour, which man does not merit and cannot 
 claim. The motive of Christ's sacrifice and man's salvation is this 
 undeserved love of God. Every theory of the atonement that puts 
 justice in the place of grace is untrue to Paul's teaching. 
 
 redemption. It has been contended that as in classical 
 Greek the verb from which the noun is formed does not mean 
 'to pay a ransom,' but *to release on ransom,' and in the LXX 
 
I30 TO THE ROMANS 3. 26 
 
 26 in the forbearance of God ; for the shewing, I say^ of his 
 
 the term is applied to the deliverance from Egypt — a case in 
 which there is no mention of a ransom— therefore 'redemption' 
 means deliverance, simply excluding any reference to a ransom. 
 While the indefinite sense is in some passages admissible, yet the 
 more definite sense cannot be denied. In Exod, vi, 6, ' I will 
 redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgements,' 
 it is no straining of the sense to see in God's deeds of judgement 
 against the Egyptians, and deeds of help for his people, the 
 ransom of their deliverance. In Isa. xliii, 3, which deals with 
 the second great redemption of God's people, it is said distinctly, 
 ' I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.' 
 Christ himself declared that ' the Son of man came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
 (not on behalf, but instead of) many' (Mark x, 45). Paul also 
 affirms of ' the one mediator between God and man,* that he 
 
 * gave himself a ransom for all ' ( i Tim. ii. 6 ; while the word 
 *for' means 'on behalf of,' not 'instead of here, yet the word 
 
 * ransom ' in Greek is a compound word, and the first part is 
 the word meaning ' instead of). Christians are represented as 
 'bought' (2 Pet. ii. i), or ' bought with a price' (i Cor. vi. 20, 
 vii. 23), or 'purchased unto God' with Christ's blood (Rev. 
 V. 9). The ransom Christ paid to ' redeem us from the curse of 
 the law' was 'his having become a curse for us' (Gal. iii. 13). 
 Accordingly, we 'were redeemed not with corruptible things, 
 with silver or gold, . . . but with precious blood, as of a lamb 
 without blemish and without spot' (i Pet. i. 18, 19). It is 
 simply impossible to get rid of the conception of a ransom from 
 the N. T. Christian piety should surely be as willing to consider 
 gratefully 'all our redemption cost,' as to recognize confidently 
 'all our redemption won.' We need not press the metaphor of 
 redemption to yield a theory of the atonement ; but the idea 
 of Christ's death as a ransom expresses the necessity of that 
 death as the condition of man's salvation, as required not only 
 by the moral order of the world, but also by the holy will of God, 
 which that moral order expresses. If the earUest theory of the 
 atonement was wrong in asserting that the ransoiii was paid to 
 the devil, one of the latest speculations on the subject, that Christ 
 paid the ransom to his brethren to secure their faith, has as little 
 support in the Scriptures. If we are to answer the question at 
 all, we must say the ransom is paid to God, as the sacrifice of 
 Christ is presented unto God. This redemption, of which 
 Christ's death is the necessary condition, includes deliverance 
 from sin's guilt (justification), power (sanctification), and curse 
 (resurrection), (viii. 23) ; it embraces forgiveness, holiness, and 
 blessedness. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 26 131 
 
 righteousness at this present season : that he might 
 
 Christ Jesus. While the Person of Christ is here presented 
 as the stage on which man's redemption takes place, yet in the 
 next verse the death on Calvary is fixed on as the act in which 
 it is carried through. 
 
 25. set forth. The Greek word may also mean 'proposed to 
 himself,' ' designed,' * purposed,' a sense which would altogether 
 agree with Paul's teaching elsewhere (ix. ii ; Eph. iii. ii ; 2 Tim. 
 i. 9) ; but the context suggests that it is the publicity of the 
 sacrifice that is specially in view ; ' set forth ' is, therefore, the 
 preferable rendering. (Cf. Gal. iii. i, 'before whose eyes Jesus 
 Christ was openly set forth crucified,' literally, * placarded as 
 crucified ' ; also John iii. 14, * as Moses lifted up the serpent in 
 the wilderness * (that is, so that all the sufferers might see), ' even 
 so must the Son of man be lifted up).' 
 
 propitiation: or, ' propitiatory.' The Greek word is usually 
 a noun meaning ' the place or vehicle of propitiation,' but 
 originally it is the neuter of an adjective, (i) In the LXX, 
 and Heb. ix. 5, ' and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing 
 the mercy-seat {Gr. the propitiatory),' it stands for the lid of the 
 ark of the covenant, which on the Day of Atonement was 
 sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice, and on which the 
 Shekinah, or glory of God, rested. In favour of so rendering the 
 word here the following considerations have been advanced : 
 (i) Its connexion with the phrase ' in His blood ' ; (2"; its familiarity 
 through the LXX ; (3) its adoption by the Greek commentators ; 
 (4) its appropriateness, as the glory of the Divine Presence rests 
 on Christ, as in him God graciously meets man, as his death is 
 prefigured in the act which ended the service of the Day of 
 Atonement. Against this rendering, however, it is argued : (i) 
 that it is a strain on figurative language to represent Christ 
 as at once priest, and victim, and place of sprinkling (Origen 
 describes Christ *as propitiatory (mercy-seat), and priest, and 
 victim which is off*ered for the people,' and Hebrews represents 
 Christ as both priest and victim (ix. 11-14, 23 — x. 22), but 
 not as mercy-seat) ; (2) that it is the cross rather that is 
 the place of blood-sprinkling — Calvary is God's 'tryst' with 
 man ; (3) that the publicity of the Crucifixion is the prominent 
 consideration in the context, whereas the sprinkling of the 
 mercy-seat was the one act of worship which was performed by 
 the high-priest alone when withdrawn from the gaze of the 
 people. The arguments both for and against this view are 
 ingenious rather than convincing, but on the whole it is improbable 
 Paul would have introduced an allusion so obscure to the majority 
 of his readers without some fuller explanation, (ii) It has also 
 been proposed to understand the term in the sense of propitiatory 
 
 K 2 
 
132 TO THE ROMANS 3. 36 
 
 himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith 
 
 victim, but no distinct evidence of such use has been produced. 
 Yet in favour of it is the consideration that Paul has been dealing, 
 in the previous section, with the revelation of the Divine wrath 
 against sin. It would suit this context that he should regard the 
 death of Christ as shewing both the Divine wrath and the 
 appeasement of that wrath. If he did not think of the levitical 
 sacrifices (and his references to the O. T. ritual system are not 
 as frequent as we might have expected), he may have thought, 
 as has been suggested, of some of the human sacrifices to avert 
 the anger, or to secure the favour of the gods, found in Greek or 
 Roman story, (iii) There is evidence that the word was used as 
 an adjective, and there does seem an advantage in taking the 
 word in the most general sense possible. Christ himself is set 
 forth by God as propitiatory in his blood. In whatever way the 
 word itself is taken there can be no doubt of the idea expressed. 
 The death of Christ is that which renders God propitious to 
 sinners, and it does this in its character as a sacrifice (i John 
 ii. 2, iv. 10; Heb. ii, 17. The same word is not used in these 
 passages, but words from the same root). 
 
 throug"!! faith, by his blood : or, * through faith in his blood.' 
 Either by his blood is to be connected with propitiatory as that 
 element in the revelation of Christ in respect of which he is set 
 forth as propitiatory, or * in his blood ' is to be attached directly 
 to faith as indicating that on which faith fixes as its object. The 
 former, is the preferable explanation, as it defines more clearly the 
 idea of propitiatory ; the latter is of course involved in the former, 
 for faith attaches itself necessarily to that in which Christ is 
 revealed as propitiatory. 
 
 by his blood, (i) The N. T. lays great stress on the blood 
 of Christ in connexion with his work of redemption or propitiation 
 (Eph. i. 7, ii. 13; Col. i. 20; Rom. v. 9 ; Heb. ix. 11-22; i Pet. 
 i. 2, 19; I John i. 7, V. 6-8; Rev. i. 5, v. 9, vii. 14, xii. 11). 
 This common witness of the apostles seems even to go back to 
 words of Jesus himself (Matt. xxvi. 28 ; Mark xiv. 24). His 
 death is represented as a sacrifice, the passover lamb (John i. 29, 
 xix. 36; I Cor. V. 7, 8), the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement 
 (Heb. ii. 17, ix. 12, 14), the covenant sacrifice (Heb. ix. 15-22 : 
 cf. I Cor. xi. 25), and the sin-oflering (Heb. xiii. n, 12; i Pet. 
 iii. 18 ; perhaps also Rom. viii. 3). His death is related 
 immediately to the forgiveness of sin (Matt. xxvi. 28 ; Acts v. 
 30, 31 ; I Cor. XV. 3; 2 Cor. v. 21; Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14, 20; 
 Titus ii. 14 ; Heb. i. 3, ix. 28, x. 12 ; i Pet. ii. 24, iii. 18 ; i John 
 ii. 2, iv. 10 ; Rev. i. 5). The author of the Hebrews even lays 
 down the general principle, 'without shedding of blood there is 
 no remission ' (ix. 22) ; and probably all the writers of the N. T. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 27 133 
 
 in Jesus. Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. 27 
 
 would have agreed with him. We are not warranted in weakening 
 the force of this testimony by the explanation that in sacrifice 
 the sprinkling of the blood on the altar, signifying the presentation 
 of the life to God, was the important matter, not the shedding of 
 the blood signifying the death of the victim ; for in the N. T. use 
 of the sacrificial imagery it is the blood-shedding, and not the 
 blood-sprinkling alone, on which stress is often laid. The two 
 ideas go together, for without the shedding there could not be 
 the sprinkling of the blood. Christ's offering unto God was 
 certainly his holy obedience, but he rendered that in enduring 
 death. Viewed then as a sacrifice, the death of Christ is pre- 
 figured in the sacrifices of the O. T. ritual, and even in heathen 
 worship. The spiritual principle which is thus expressed is 
 presented most vividly in the O. T. in the figure of the servant 
 of Jehovah (Isa. Hi. 13— liii. 12), who saves others by suffering 
 for them. If vicarious suffering is not the sole element in sacrifice, 
 but representative submission is also included, yet it is an 
 essential element, and without setting aside the teaching of the 
 N. T. it cannot be got rid of from the Christian doctrine of the 
 Atonement, (ii) Although Paul does not use the phrase ' for Christ's 
 sake,' yet it is certain that apart from Christ's sacrifice he does 
 not and cannot think of man's salvation. It is in Christ a man 
 is justified, sanctified, glorified. Christ's sacrifice is the means of 
 securing man's redemption, by which Paul means first of all 
 acquittal, forgiveness, acceptance before God ; but also deliverance 
 from the power of sin, the authority of the law, and the ills of life, 
 as interruptions of the soul's communion with God, and the doom 
 of sin, death. 
 
 to shew his rig-hteoiisness. This, according to Paul here, 
 was the ultimate object of Christ's death, which exhibits the 
 righteousness of God in its negative aspect as penalty for sin, 
 and also in its positive aspect as forgiveness bestowed on the 
 sinner. 
 
 because of the passing" over of the sins done aforetime. 
 The sins of the race before Christ had not been forgiven in the 
 full sense as the doctrine of justification presents forgiveness; 
 they had been passed over; God had not exacted the full penalty 
 for them. This might create the false impression that God was 
 indifferent or indulgent to sin ; but Christ's death by shewing the 
 righteousness of God corrects this false impression. It further 
 shews the provisional and anticipator}'^ character of God's dealing 
 in the past, which pointed forward to an order of grace still 
 coming. 
 
 in the forbearance of G-od. * In ' may here have the sense of 
 during while the forbearance of God lasted, or it may indicate the 
 
134 TO THE ROMANS 3. 28, 29 
 
 By what manner of law ? of works ? Nay : but by a law 
 2S of faith. We reckon therefore that a man is justified by 
 29 faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the 
 
 motive, God passed over sins because of His forbearance : the latter 
 sense is preferable, as the writer is dealing with the mind of God 
 in relation to sin, as revealed in Christ's death. 
 
 26. for the shewing'. This is not a co-ordinate clause with 
 'to shew' in verse 25, merely repeating the same thought, but is 
 subordinate to the clause just preceding and explanatory of it. 
 To shew his righteousness is the general statement of the purpose 
 of the death of Christ, that the fulfilment of this purpose might 
 take place at '■ the present season, that is, ' the fulness of the times.' 
 God in His forbearance passed over the sins done aforetime. As 
 it was God's intention to offer pardon to sinners in Christ, it would, 
 so to speak, have contradicted that intention if before Christ came 
 God had dealt with men in strict justice. Even the generations 
 before Christ so far benefited by ' the redemption in his blood,' 
 that in view of it God deals with them in His forbearance ; the 
 cross casts alight backward ; it, as already shewn, offers the moral 
 justification for God's passing over of sins. It casts a light forward ; 
 it affords the reason for the pardon that God now offers to men. 
 
 just, and the justiner. To bring out clearly the connexion 
 with the phrase the righteousness of God, it would be better to 
 render * righteous and reckoning righteous.' The meaning is not 
 ' reckoning righteous in spite of being righteous,' as is sometimes 
 assumed, but rather because His righteousness not only condemns 
 and punishes sin, but alsoincludes the purposeof restoring sinners to 
 righteousness, and because these two elements in His righteousness 
 are combined and harmonized in the sacrifice of Christ, therefore 
 He now reckons righteous. A higher element of God's perfection 
 is revealed in forgiving sinners than in punishing sin. 
 
 that hath faith : or, '■ that is of faith.' Faith is the starting- 
 point, the motive, and so the dominant tendency of his life. 
 
 27. glorying": the Jew's boast in his exclusive privileges. 
 
 It is excluded : once for all by the decisive act of the cross. 
 
 law of faith : God's manner of dealing with men, in which 
 He does not demand obedience to commandments, but requires 
 faith in His grace. 
 
 28. therefore is the better attested reading, but 'For' (R. V. 
 margin) suits the context better. Paul does not infer from the 
 exclusion of boasting that justification is apart from works of the 
 law through faith, but because justification is by faith, not works, 
 therefore boasting is excluded. Verse 28 gives the reason for 
 verse 27, not an inference from it. 
 
 29. To assert justification by works is to restore the distinction 
 
TO THE ROMANS 3. 30—4. i 135 
 
 God of Jews only ? is he not the God of Gentiles also ? 
 Yea, of Gentiles also : if so be that God is one, and he 30 
 shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the un- 
 circumcision through faith. Do we then make the law 31 
 of none effect through faith ? God forbid : nay, we 
 establish the law. 
 
 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather 4 
 
 between Jew and Gentile that Paul's previous argument denied, 
 and this is to assign partiality to God, who has been declared to 
 be 'without respect of persons.' 
 
 30. shall justify : not at the Day of Judgement, but henceforth. 
 by faith, . . . through faith. This variation expresses no 
 
 essential distinction between Jew and Gentile. The Jew's faith, 
 not his circumcision, is God's reason for justifying him. The 
 means by which the Gentile, even although uncircumcised, finds 
 acceptance before God is faith — the same faith as justifies the 
 Jew. 
 
 31. Does the establishment of ' the law of faith,' that is, God's 
 method of reckoning righteous the believer in Jesus, not abrogate 
 the principle of law, the method of dealing with men according to 
 their works (this is the sense without the article before ' law'), or 
 the Mosaic law in particular (the meaning of 'law' with the 
 article) ? This is the question the Jewish objector might put 
 Paul asserts summarily that the new method confirms the old. 
 One instance in proof of this he gives in the next chapter. The 
 literature of law recognizes this principle of faith in the person 
 of Abraham, the father of the race to whom the law had been 
 given. 
 
 (sY iv. 1-25. Rtghieousness by faith consistent with law. 
 
 Having proved man's need of righteousness and declared God's 
 provision in Christ, Paul sets himself the task of shewing that 
 the human condition for the possession of God's righteousness — 
 faith — is consistent with the testimony of the law itself in the 
 crucial case of Abraham. He shews (i) that Abraham's acceptance 
 before God, which resembled that described by David, was due to 
 his faith, not his works (1-8); (ii) that it took place before he 
 was circumcised, so that he might be the spiritual father of the 
 circumcised and uncircumcised alike (9-12) ; (iii) that the promise 
 was of grace, and not in accordance with law, and therefore 
 extended to all who share his faith, and not only to those under 
 the law (13-17) ; (iv) that in his faith he was a type of the 
 Christian believer, for he believed that God was able to bring life 
 out of death (17-25). 
 
136 TO THE ROMANS 4. 2 
 
 2 according to the flesh, hath found ? For if Abraham 
 was justified by works, he hath whereo'f to glory ; but 
 
 (i) iv. 1-8. Abraham's acceptance through faith. As the Jewish 
 objector might assert that surely Abraham, the father of the 
 chosen people, had been accepted by God on account of his 
 merits, Paul sets himself to shew that even if Abraham had been 
 altogether free of sin, that might have given him a title to 
 man's respect, but would not have entitled him to claim God's 
 favour as a right ; but he does not need to complete the argument, 
 for he can appeal to the law itself for his proof that personal merit 
 had nothing to do with Abraham's acceptance before God, which 
 was entirely due to his trust in God — a trust in God's grace which 
 by its very nature excluded all claim of reward on the ground of 
 merit, a trust of the same kind as that on which a blessing is 
 pronounced by David when he speaks of the happiness of the 
 man whose sin God freely forgives. 
 
 1. that Abraham . . . hath found: or, ' of Abraham.' It is doubt- 
 ful whether a single Greek word which explains the difference of 
 these two renderings belongs to the original text or not. If it is 
 inserted, then the question asked is this : What advantage did 
 Abraham derive from his position as forefather of the chosen 
 race ? This is, however, not what is afterwards dealt with, but the 
 question, How did Abraham gain his position ? The omission of 
 the word is to be preferred, and the sense then is, What is to be 
 thought about the case of Abraham ? A third rendering has been 
 suggested. It is to take ' hath found ' with * according to the 
 flesh,' and to give the sense as, ' What shall we say that Abraham 
 has gained by his natural powers unaided by the grace of God?' 
 Although inverses 18-21 the contrast is made between Abraham's 
 physical incapacity for fatherhood and his faith that God could 
 even through him fulfil the promise of a son, yet the immediate 
 context does not even suggest this question ; and it is much more 
 natural to connect accordinsr to the flesh with our forefather. 
 In these words Paul asserts his Jewish nationality, and probably 
 suggests that the person bringing forward this objection must also 
 be thought of as a Jew ; but the phrase does not prove that the 
 majority of the Roman believers were Jews. 
 
 2. That Abraham was justified, that is, accepted by God to 
 favour, his being chosen to be forefather of the elect nation puts 
 beyond all doubt. The question in dispute was not this fact, but 
 the ground of it. Was it works, or faith ? Paul, as a pious and 
 patriotic Jew, will go in reverence for the patriarch as far ss he 
 can. He does not settle the question at once by applying to 
 Abraham the general principle he had laid down, * By the works 
 of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.' He is willing 
 
TO THE ROMANS 4. 5 137 
 
 not toward God. For what saith the scripture ? And 3 
 Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him 
 
 to entertain the supposition that Abraham was an exception to 
 the rule of universal sinfulness. In that case Abraham had a claim 
 to the honour of all men, and so might shew some confidence in 
 himself in relation to men : but even if acquitted of all fault he 
 had no right to assert any claim on God's favour. The Pharisaic 
 conception of self-righteousness is thus absolutely disproved and 
 denied. Even the sinless, according to Paul, can claim no merit 
 before God. This argument need not, however, be carried any 
 further, as the law itself excludes the supposition that Abraham 
 found favour before God on account of his merits. 
 
 3. And Abiaham believed Ood, and it was reckoned tinto 
 hinx for rigrhteousness. This is quoted from Gen. xv. 6 (LXX) 
 both by Paul and James (ii. 23) ; but while Paul draws the 
 conclusion that Abraham was reckoned righteous for his faith 
 alone, not his works, James infers that ' by works a man is 
 justified, and not only by faith.' The difference is due to the 
 different experiences, environments, and intentions of the two 
 apostles. The one had felt no need to forsake the law to follow 
 Christ ; the other had been forced to break with the law that he 
 might be joined to Christ. The one lived in the midst of Palestinian 
 Jewish-Christianity, where the law was prized as a precious 
 possession and a glorious privilege ; the other moved among 
 the Gentile churches, where it was proving a wall of partition 
 between brethren in Christ. The one was rebuking a barren 
 orthodoxy ; the other a Pharisaic self-righteousness. For the one, 
 faith meant simply belief in doctrine; for the other, union with 
 Christ. For the one, works were good and godly deeds such as 
 please God and bless man ; for the other, the observance of rules 
 for the sake of reward. There is no controversy between them, just 
 because they have no conceptions in common where contradiction 
 might emerge. Paul's position is grounded on a deeper and higher 
 experience, but James's contention is provoked by a common 
 danger of a shallow piety. The discussions in the Jewish schools 
 regarding Abraham's faith are referred to in the Introduction. 
 
 reckoned. This metaphor is taken from accounts. * It was 
 set down on the credit side.' Malachi (iii. 16) speaks of 'a book 
 of remembrance,' in which man's deeds are written, similar to the 
 records Oriental sovereigns kept of services to, or offences against, 
 their persons (Esther vi. i) ; and Daniel and Revelation alike 
 declare that at the judgement-day ' books ' are brought out before 
 God (Dan. vii. 10 ; Rev. xx. 12). This is figurative language, but 
 a spiritual reality corresponds to it; each man before God carries 
 his own record in himself. 
 
138 TO THE ROMANS 4. 4-7 
 
 4 for righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the reward 
 
 5 is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him 
 that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the 
 
 6 ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Even 
 as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto 
 whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, 
 
 y saying, 
 
 for righteousness. Faith was, so to speak, entered in the 
 books as an equivalent for righteousness. The Jews, while laying 
 stress on Abraham's faith, also made much of his righteousness. 
 As the only righteous man of his generation, it was affirmed that 
 he was chosen to be the father of the chosen people. He knew 
 beforehand all the requirements of the law and kept them. The 
 Shekinah was brought to earth by the merits of seven righteous 
 men, of whom Abraham was the first. Circumcision and the 
 keeping of the law by anticipation perfected his original righteous- 
 ness. Paul seems in the following verses to be combating some of 
 these notions. 
 
 4. 5. Paul, from a common illustration (a workman's wages are 
 a debt due to him, not a gift bestowed on him, and therefore a gift 
 can be received, but not earned), draws a conclusion important for 
 his argument that Abraham's justification was not due partly to 
 his faith and partly to his righteousness, but wholly and solely to 
 the former, and not at all to the latter. If Abraham in any degree 
 at all deserved God's favour, it was not God's free grace that 
 bestowed it, or Abraham's simple faith that received it. 
 
 5. that justifieth : God ; for although Christ is usually repre- 
 sented as the object of Christian faith, yet as Paul is dealing 
 with faith in its most general aspects, he prefers to describe God 
 as the object. In this verse Paul is laying down a general prin- 
 ciple, and is not confining his attention to the case of Abraham, 
 although Abraham's case is the occasion for stating this principle ; 
 for he would not describe Abraham as ungodly. He purposely 
 uses this term to shew all that faith can accomplish, and to 
 prepare for the quotation from a Psalm that follows. 
 
 6. David. Ps. xxxii, from which the words quoted are taken, 
 is by both the Hebrew and the Greek versions ascribed to David, 
 and some scholars still maintain his authorship. But it has to be 
 remembered that the use of the name in the N. T. does not settle 
 any question of authorship, as at that date the whole Psalter was 
 popularly spoken of as by David. 
 
 hlessingr. David does not pronounce the blessing on the 
 forgiven man, it is God Himself who pronounces him blessed. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 4. 8-11 139 
 
 Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, 
 
 And whose sins are covered. 
 
 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not 8 
 reckon sin. 
 Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, 9 
 or upon the uncircumcision also ? for we say, To Abraham 
 his faith was reckoned for righteousness. How then was 10 
 it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in un- 
 circumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircum- 
 cision: and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal n 
 
 David in this Psalm speaks of * the pronouncing blessed by God ' 
 (that is the meaning of the Greek word). 
 
 7. Blessed. The Greek word expresses the highest state of 
 happiness possible. 
 
 8. will not. The Greek has a double negative, ' will in no wise.' 
 (ii) iv. 9-12. Abrahant's acceptance prior to his circumcision. 
 
 The Jewish objector might urge his suit by declaring that even 
 although faith was the condition of Abraham's favour before God, 
 3'et the fact that God appoint-ed the institution of circumcision 
 proves that faith cannot be taken into account alone, but some 
 significance and value must attach to circumcision. Paul in 
 answer appeals to the historical fact that the acceptance of 
 Abraham is recorded (Gen. xv. 6) before the account of his 
 circumcision is given (xvii. lo), and draws from this fact not only 
 the immediate inference that in Abraham's case faith alone was 
 the ground of his acceptance, but also the more remote conclusion 
 that this took place in order that uncircumcised Gentiles as well as 
 circumcised Jews might be able to claim him as spiritual ancestor, 
 and a share in the spiritual inheritance promised to him. The 
 reasoning runs as follows : — The blessing spoken of by David 
 belongs to the uncircumcised as well as to the circumcised, 
 because Abraham was accepted by God before his circumcision, 
 which was not a reason for, but a seal in confirmation of, his 
 acceptance. God's purpose in accepting him prior to circumcision 
 was manifestly this, that he might be the spiritual ancestor of all 
 believers irrespective of circumcision, and might communicate to 
 all the spiritual inheritance of which circumcision was the sign on 
 the sole condition of faith. 
 
 11. si^n of circumcision : the sign consisting of circumcision. 
 This, in Gen. xvii. ii, is described as 'the sign of the covenant.' 
 God made an agreement with Abraham, to which he set his seal 
 by being circumcised. 
 
140 TO THE ROMANS 4. 12,13 
 
 of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he 
 was in uncircumcision : that he might be the father of all 
 them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, 
 
 12 that righteousness might be reckoned unto them; and 
 the father of circumcision to them who not only are of 
 the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that 
 faith of our father Abraham which he had in uncircum- 
 
 13 cision. For not through the law was the promise to 
 
 a seal. When a child was circumcised, the following prayer 
 was offered. ' Blessed be He that sanctifieth His beloved from 
 the womb, and put His ordinance upon his flesh, and sealed His 
 offspring with the sign of a holy covenant* Similar statements 
 are found in other Jewish writings. 
 
 that he niigfht be, &c. Circumcision as a sign or seal is less 
 important than that which it signifies or seals, faith ; and there- 
 fore those who have faith like Abraham's, and so prove them- 
 selves his spiritual descendants, can clain justification such as his, 
 even if they have not the sign or the seal. Paul reads purpose 
 into history. Abraham's acceptance with God preceded his cir- 
 cumcision in order to leave a door open to the Gentiles. 
 
 father of all them that believe. In one of the Jewish 
 prayers for the Day of Atonement Abraham is called ' the first of 
 my faithful ones.' 
 
 12. father of circumcision. Abraham transmits to his physi- 
 cal descendants who believe circumcision as a sign and a seal of 
 their faith, as it was to himself. 
 
 walk in the steps. The Greek word is a military term 
 meaning 'march in file.' 
 
 in xmcircumcision : Paul insists so strongl}' on this fact in 
 opposition to contemporary Judaism (see Introduction), which 
 insisted fanatically on the rite as a necessity to salvation and 
 a protection against perdition. 
 
 (iii) iv. 13-17. Abraham's acceptance apart from the latv. Con- 
 temporary Judaism asserted that Abraham enjoyed God's favour 
 because he by anticipation fulfilled all the requirements of the lav/. 
 Paul now sets himself to shew that Abraham's acceptance was 
 not only previous to his circumcision, but that the promise to him 
 had no connexion with the law. (a) He makes a definite asser- 
 tion. The promise was not made in any way dependent on keeping 
 of the law, but only on the acceptance before God which is given 
 to faith (verse 13). (6) He gives a reason for the assertion. From 
 the very nature of law, which attaches guilt to every sinful act. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 4. 14 141 
 
 Abraham or to his seed, that he should be heir of the 
 world, but through the righteousness of faith. For if 14 
 they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, 
 
 and so inflicts condemnation on the sinner, it follows that the 
 promise could never have been fulfilled, as the demands of the 
 law could never have been fully met, and so faith would have 
 been altogether deprived of its object (14, 15). (c) He indicates 
 a purpose in the fact asserted. That the promise might be ful- 
 filled for all believers, faith in God's grace was laid down as the 
 sole condition of the possession of the promise (16). {d) He 
 confirms his indication of such a purpose by the testimony of 
 Scripture to the Divine intention that Abraham should have 
 a numerous spiritual progeny (17). The quotation in verse 17 
 belongs to the section, but with the words ' before him whom he 
 believed' Paul passes to another subject, the analogy between 
 the faith of Abraham and Christian faith, because for both God 
 is quickener of the dead. The grammatical construction prevents 
 the logical division of the verse, and we must take the whole of 
 it along with the previous verses. 
 
 13. throug-li the law : or, ' through law.' Either the Mosaic 
 law definitely, or the principle of law generally. 
 
 promise. The O. T. religion is one of promise, and the N. T. 
 of fulfilment. At this time Jewish thought was very much 
 absorbed in the promises, and was eagerly expecting their early 
 fulfilment. Only an exposition of the whole subject of Messianic 
 prophecy would afford an adequate comment on this word. 
 
 lieir of the world. Abraham was promised the land of 
 Canaan (Gen. xii. 7, xiii. 15, xv. 18, xvii. 8), an heir (xv. 4, 
 xvii. 19), a numerous seed (xiii. 16), and a blessing through him 
 to the nations of the earth (xii. 3). These promises were under- 
 stood to include (i) a son, (2) numerous descendants, (3) one 
 among them who should bring blessing to all mankind, and (4) a 
 world-wide dominion with this descendant for all Abraham's 
 seed. In a time of oppression and persecution the Psalmist found 
 consolation in this promise ; the oppressed and persecuted would 
 find deliverance and gain dominion. ' The meek shall inherit the 
 land' (xxxvii. u) ; and the same promise, but in a spiritual 
 application, was repeated by Christ himself, ' Blessed are the meek : 
 for they shall inherit the earth' (Matt. v. 5). 
 
 righteousness of faith : same as 'righteousness of God' (i. 17). 
 It is given by God, accepted by faith. 
 
 14. they which are of the law: those who in relation to 
 God do not depend on faith in His grace, but on their performance 
 of the requirements of the law. If by this method blessing 
 can be secured, then Paul argues the other method of faith in 
 
142 TO THE ROMANS 4. 15-17 
 
 15 and the promise is made of none effect : for the law 
 worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is 
 
 16 there transgression. For this cause // is of faith, that // 
 7nay be according to grace ; to the end that the promise 
 may be sure to all the seed ; not to that only which is of 
 the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, 
 
 17 who is the father of us all (as it is written, A father of 
 many nations have I made thee) before him whom he 
 
 God's promise is set aside. The assumption of Paul's argument 
 is that there cannot be alternative methods of securing God's 
 favour. If observance of the requirements of the law is possible 
 as a condition of acceptance before God, then faith in God's 
 promise is not necessary ; if God could deal with mankind accord- 
 ing to law. He need not have dealt according to promise. As 
 faith in His promise is what God declares that He desires, the 
 other alternative method is excluded. The next verse shews that 
 ' they which are of the law ' are resting their expectations on 
 a false assumption ; the requirements of the law cannot be so 
 observed as to secure acceptance before God. 
 
 15. Where law is, sin is provoked to opposition (vii. 7-11) and 
 becomes transgression; and when sin thus becomes conscious 
 defiance, it incurs guilt and deserves punishment. Paul dis- 
 tinguishes between ' transgression ' as disobedience to a known 
 commandment and *sin' as a tendency to self-will generally, which 
 is not reckoned as guilt until it assumes the form of disobedience 
 
 (v. 13)- 
 
 16. of faith. We must supply something. 'It is' helps the 
 grammatical construction, without doing anything for the sense. 
 We must understand either the inheritance or the promise, or 
 even more generally this new order of righteousness like Abra- 
 ham's, which includes Gentiles as well as Jews. 
 
 grace. On the human side there can be nothing more or 
 other than faith — grateful acceptance — if on the Divine side of this 
 relation between God and man there is to be only grace — free, 
 unmerited favour ; ' grace * and ' faith * are correlative terms. 
 
 to the end. The inclusion of the Gentile as well as the Jew 
 in the Divine favour could be secured only by laying down such 
 a condition as the Gentile could fulfil as well as the Jew, and 
 such a condition is faith responsive to grace. 
 
 17. A father of many nations : quoted from Gen. xvii. 5, but 
 applied not literally to nations physically descended, but figura- 
 tively to all among all the nations who share his faith. 
 
 before him : rather, '• in the presence of him.' Abraham, so 
 
TO THE ROMANS 4. i8 143 
 
 believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth 
 the things that are not, as though they were. Who in li 
 
 to speak, appears before God as the representative of all believers, 
 who in the eyes of men may not be able to make good their claim 
 to be his descendants, but who are so regarded by God, before 
 whom Abraham stands as their ancestor. (A statement offering 
 resemblance yet contrast to these words is found in Isa. Ixiii. i6.) 
 Paul immortalizes the moments of Abraham's intercourse with 
 God (^Gen. xvii. i). 
 
 who quickeneth the dead. Paul is thinking here first of the 
 birth of Isaac (19), and next of the resurrection of Christ (24). 
 The author of Hebrews adds another illustration, the restoration 
 of Isaac to Abraham when he was about to sacrifice him (xi. 19). 
 
 calleth, &c. There are four explanations of this phrase : 
 (r) 'speaks of non-existent things as though they existed'; (2) 
 'issues his creative fiat' ; (3' 'gives his commands to the non- 
 existent as though existent ' ; (4) * invites to life or salvation.' 
 The last explanation has no support in the context. Against the 
 second is the consideration that the non-existent is described as 
 treated as existent, but the creative y?a^ would abolish the non- 
 existent and substitute the existent. The first explanation is the 
 simplest, but the third the most striking. The reference is to 
 Abraham's numerous seed to whom the promise is given, when as 
 yet he had not even an heir. There is a more remote reference 
 to the Gentiles, who, although not God's people, are included in 
 the promise as though the}' were (ix. 25-26). 
 
 (iv) iv. 18-25. Abraham's faith typical. As has already 
 been indicated, Paul passes from his proof that the promise was 
 given to faith, and not according to law, to a comparison of Abra- 
 ham's faith with Christian faith with respect to their object, {a) 
 Abraham's faith was accepted by God instead of any observance 
 of the requirements of the law, because he frankly recognized the 
 natural improbability of a son's being born to him by Sarah, but 
 instead of doubting was confirmed in faith (or was made physically 
 capable by his faith), and honoured God by acknowledging His 
 ability to fulfil His promise, even although that involved a creative 
 act (17-22). (6) His case is not recorded on account of its personal 
 interest only, but as a typical instance of faith. The same promise 
 of acceptance by God is made to all who shew the same faith in 
 God's power as shewn in the resurrection of our Lord, who was 
 given over to the hands of his enemies that he might make an 
 atonement for the sins of men, but who rose again that God's 
 acceptance of his sacrifice might be declared, and that thus the 
 faith which secures acceptance before God might be evoked 
 (23-25)- 
 
144 TO THE ROMANS 4. 19-21 
 
 hope believed against hope, to the end that he might 
 become a father of many nations, according to that which 
 
 19 had been spoken. So shall thy seed be. And without 
 being weakened in faith he considered his own body now 
 as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), 
 
 20 and the deadness of Sarah's womb : yea, looking unto 
 the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, 
 
 21 but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and 
 
 18. in hope: a subjective feeling, ag'ainst hope: an objective 
 fact. The first hope is the hope inspired by God's promise ; the 
 second is the hope that any man might have of being a father. 
 The latter, resting on natural probability, Abraham could not 
 cherish ; the former, grounded in God's word, he did maintain. 
 
 to the end. This was not the motive in Abraham's own mind, 
 but it was the Divine intention in all God's dealings. 
 
 So shall thy seed "be. This is an allusive quotation, the 
 meaning of which can be discovered only by recalling the context 
 (Gen. XV. 5) : * And God brought Abram forth abroad, and said, 
 Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to tell 
 them : and he said unto him. So shall thy seed be.' 
 
 19. he considered. Some ancient MSS. read ' he considered 
 not.' In the latter case the meaning is that strong in his faith 
 he took no note of the physical difficulties in the way of the fulfil- 
 ment of God's promise. In the former case Abraham is represented 
 as fully aware of all that seemed to stand in the way of God's 
 carrying out His purpose, yet as not allowing his faith to be at all 
 weakened thereby. Not oply is the MS. authority for the omission 
 of the negative much stronger than that for its insertion, but the 
 former reading represents Abraham in a more heroic attitude 
 than the latter. The faith that ignores difficulties is not so great 
 as the faith which persists while recognizing obstacles fully. 
 
 20. waxed strong through faith. This phrase has two possible 
 meanings: (i) 'He was strengthened in his faith.' (2) 'He 
 was given the power to become a father through his faith,' that 
 is, his faith appropriated a supernatural virtue. In the theology 
 of the Jewish schools the statement is met with : 'Abraham 
 was renewed in his nature, became a new creature, in order to 
 accomplish the begetting.' And the author of Hebrews affirms 
 (xi. 11): 'By faith even Sarah herself received power to con- 
 ceive seed when she was past age, since she counted him 
 faithful who had promised.' The second interpretation is un- 
 doubtedly to be preferred. It is interesting to note that according 
 
TO THE ROMANS 4. 22-25 MS 
 
 being fully assured that, what he had promised, he was 
 able also to perform. Wherefore also it was reckoned 22 
 unto him for righteousness. Now it was not written for 23 
 his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him ; but for 24 
 our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who 
 believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 
 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised 2. 
 for our justification. 
 
 to the record in Genesis, Abraham's consideration of the natural 
 improbabilities led him at first to receive God's promise with in- 
 credulity. ' Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said 
 in his heart. Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred j^ears 
 old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? ' (xvii. 17.) 
 This incredulity is shared by Sarah. 'And Sarah laughed within 
 herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my 
 lord being old also?' (xviii. 12.) Both Paul and the writer to the 
 Hebrews consider only the final faith, not the temporary in- 
 credulity. 
 
 giving' glory. This does not mean that Abraham praised 
 God in words only, but that his faith redounded to God's honour. 
 
 23. for his sake alone. A Jewish writing affirms : * Thou findest 
 that all that is recorded of Abraham is repeated in the history of 
 his children.' (Cf. i Cor. ix. 9.) The principle assumed in this 
 application of the Scriptures is expressed in i Cor. x. 6, ir, and 
 Rom. XV. 4. Not historical interpretation, but practical applica- 
 tion of the Scriptures is Paul's sole aim. 
 
 24. him that raised Jesus our Xiord from the dead. 
 Christian faith is similar to Abraham's in the following respects : 
 (i) The object is God, but (2) God as exercising the power to 
 bring life out of death — in Abraham's case, birth from parents 
 as good as dead ; in Christ's case, resurrection from the dead. 
 
 25. for our trespasses: either ' because of our trespasses' as 
 a necessary result of them, or * in order to atone for them.' But 
 Christ's death is a necessary result of our sins, because it is God's 
 purpose by that death to atone for them. 
 
 for our justification. This can have no other meaning than 
 'with a view to our justification.* This pregnant statement, 
 however, demands an exposition of its contents. Christian faith 
 has its starting-point in the resurrection of Christ ; for if Christ 
 had not risen, but had perished in death, Christian faith, as such, 
 would have had no object (Acts xvii. 31). Again, the Resurrection 
 declares more fully the nature of this object ; for by the Resurrec- 
 tion Christ is ordained Son of God in power (Rom. i. 4). The 
 
146 TO THE ROMANS 5. i 
 
 Being therefore justified by faith, let us have peace 
 
 Resurrection once more reverses the judgement of man on Christ, 
 and expresses God's judgement of approval on him (Acts ii. 36, 
 iii. 14, 15). Thus the Resurrection declares God's acceptance of 
 the sacrifice of Christ as the ground on which sinners are forgiven 
 (i Cor. XV. 13-17), and accordingly renders possible the faith in 
 Christ's death as a sacrifice for sin which secures justification for 
 the individual believer. Lastly, it is the Resurrection that is the 
 starting-point of that fellowship of the believer with the risen 
 Christ by which the transformation of the Christian character is 
 effected (Rom. vi. i-ii), and that is the pledge and the pattern of 
 man's immortality, glory, blessedness ( i Cor. xv. 20, 23 ; 2 Cor. iv. 
 14; Col. i. 18; Rom. viii. 11). 
 
 (4) V. i-ir. The hlissfid effects of righteousness. 
 
 After having shewn man's need and God's provision of righteous- 
 ness, and having proved that the way in which God's provision 
 meets man's need, grace offered to faith, does not make the law 
 of none effect but establishes it, Paul anticipates the gradual 
 development of his theme by (i) briefly indicating what the 
 blissful effects of this righteousness are (1-4'), and (ii) clearly 
 demonstrating the solid foundation of Divine purpose on which the 
 structure of the Christian experience rests (5-1 1). 
 
 (i) V. 1-4. Description of the blissful effects. The blissful effects 
 of justification partially possessed and gradually to be realized 
 are reconciliation with God, the enjo3'ment of God's favour, the 
 gladness inspired by the hope of sharing in the holiness and 
 blessedness of God, and the confirmation of this hope in the 
 endurance of trial cheerfully, and the discipline of character which 
 this endurance involves. 
 
 1. Being- therefore justified by faith. The foundation of the 
 Christian life has been laid in the previous chapters ; Paul now 
 sketches the structure that is to be built on it. 
 
 let us have. Some ancient authorities read ' we have ' (R. V. 
 marg.). While the external evidence, that of MSS., &c.. is 
 overwhelming for the former reading, the internal evidence — what 
 seems to suit the context best — seems to be as strongly for the 
 latter. This is the didactic part of the letter, and the practical 
 begins only with chapter xii. It is not Paul's habit, as of the author 
 of Hebrews, to mingle exposition and exhortation. He is here 
 dealing with the blissful effects of justification, and we should 
 therefore expect him to state these not as duties to be done, but 
 as facts already experienced. On the other hand these are 
 subjective effects, effects in the disposition of the believer, and 
 
TO THE ROMANS 5. 2, 3 i47 
 
 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ ; through whom 2 
 also we have had our access by faith into this grace 
 wherein we stand ; and let us rejoice in hope of the 
 glory of God. And not only so, but let us also rejoice 3 
 
 the degree in which he experiences them will depend on himself. 
 Hence statement easily passes into appeal. Paul declares that 
 such are the effects of justification, if the believer does not put 
 any hindrance in their way. While it is justification that first 
 makes possible these inward dispositions, yet the believer must 
 fulfil the conditions of their reahzation. In this way we may 
 follow the MS. authority, and yet explain the reading in harmony 
 with the context. This explanation applies also to other variant 
 readings in these verses. 
 
 let us have peace. This means Met us keep or enjoy peace,' 
 not in the submission of our wishes to God's will, or the harmony 
 of our aims with His ends (for this subject is not dealt with till 
 the next division of the Epistle, the doctrine of sanctification\ but 
 in the conscious enjoyment of the reconciliation with God Christ 
 has procured for us, the acquittal of our guilt, our acceptance to 
 God's favour, the restoration of our personal communion with 
 God. 'Peace' here has the same sense as 'reconciliation' in 
 verse 11, and what needs to be said about the conception may be 
 deferred to the note on that word. Distrust of God's love for us, 
 suspicion of His dealings, dread of His judgement, all the feelings 
 of estrangement from God which sin produces, are condemned 
 by this exhortation as unbecoming and unwarranted in the 
 justified. 
 
 2. have had our access: better, 'have got our introduction.' 
 (Of. Eph. ii. 18.) The idea suggested is that of the presence- 
 chamber of a king, into which his subjects cannot enter alone, but 
 must be introduced by some person in authority. Christ is here 
 the introducer. 
 
 grace. The Divine cause is put for the human result. What 
 is meant is the state into which the justified sinner is introduced 
 by God's favour in Christ. 
 
 stand : stand fast or firm ; a state of security, and therefore of 
 confidence. 
 
 let us rejoice, and not * we rejoice' ; see note on verse i. 
 
 rejoice: Gr. 'glory,' 'make our boast.' The Jew made his 
 boast of what he had done ; this Paul condemns. The Christian 
 makes his boast of what God will do ; this Paul commends. 
 
 glory of God : see note on iii. 23. 
 
 3. not only so. The hope of the future good, and the endurance 
 of the present ill go together. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 TO THE ROMANS 5. 4,5 
 
 in our tribulations : knowing that tribulation worketh 
 
 4 patience ; and patience, probation ; and probation, hope : 
 
 5 and hope putteth not to shame ; because the love of God 
 hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy 
 
 triljulations : bodily hardships and sufferings, which Paul 
 himself so abundantly experienced, and which he regarded as 
 inseparable from every Christian experience (Rom. viii. 35 ; 
 I Cor. iv. 11-13, vii. 26-32, xv. 30-32; 2 Cor. i. 3-10, xi. 
 23-27). 
 
 patience : * manly endurance,' ' fortitude,' an active virtue, 
 and not only a passive grace, as ' patience ' suggests. 
 
 4. probation : a character that has been tested, has stood the 
 test, and can confidently be put to any test again, 'The temper 
 of the veteran as opposed to that of the raw recruit' (2 Tim. 
 
 "• 3)- 
 
 hope: resting on faith in God's word, but strengthened with 
 the discipline of the whole character. 
 
 (ii) V. 5-1 1. Demonstration of the blissful effects. (a) The 
 blessings which the Christian believer enjoys will not prove 
 illusions ; they are guaranteed to him by the Spirit of God filling 
 his consciousness with the certainty of God's love, of which 
 the convincing evidence has been given in the death of Christ 
 for the good of the undeserving, contrary to all human analo- 
 gies, as only in very exceptional circumstances would one man 
 be willing to die for another (5-8). {b) When God has done 
 so much, acquitting the sinful, and bringing back the estranged to 
 His love, He may be confidently expected to do what is not 
 so great, deliver from judgement and doom. If the lesser power of 
 His death has accomplished the harder task, the greater power 
 of His life will not fail in the easier (9-10). (c) Not only is the 
 future good thus assured, but the Christian, by his faith in Christ 
 restored to loving communion with God, has his joy in that 
 communion (11). 
 
 5. hope putteth not to shame: 'does not disappoint,* 'does 
 not prove illusory' (2 Cor. vii. 14, ix. 4). The thought may have 
 been suggested by the Greek version of Isa. xxviii. 16, ' he that 
 believeth shall not be put to shame.' 
 
 the love of God : not our love to God, but God's love to us, 
 or rather, our sense of God's love, for the reality of that love 
 cannot be the basis of our hope until we gain a consciousness 
 of it. 
 
 hath been shed abroad : lit. * has been poured out.' Owing 
 to the intense heat and frequent scarcity of water in the East, 
 the communication of spiritual benefits is often represented by 
 
TO THE ROMANS 5. 6, 7 149 
 
 Ghost which was given unto us. For while we were yet 6 
 weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. For 7 
 scarcely for a righteous man will one die : for per- 
 
 the metaphor of * pouring water ' (Isa. xliv. 3; Joel ii. 28). Cf. 
 John vii. 38, 39. 
 
 Holy Ghost : the first mention in this Epistle of the Spirit, 
 to whose presence and activity Paul ascribes all his experiences 
 as a Christian. The Christian life is a life in the Spirit (viii. i, 
 4, 9), who is the Spirit of God dwelling in the believer (9), and 
 the Spirit of Christ, without whom no man can claim to be a 
 believer (9^. The Spirit not only dwells in the believer (11), but 
 also leads him (14) ; bears witness with his spirit to his sonship 
 and heirship (16) as Spirit of adoption (15), and as Himself the 
 firstfruits ; helps his infirmity in prayer by making intercession 
 for him (26), as life is the means whereby God quickens his 
 mortal body in the Resurrection (11). He is the power by 
 whom signs and wonders are wrought (xv. 19) ; but also the 
 source of the Christian virtues and graces, as love (30), righteous- 
 ness and peace and joy (xiv. 17), hope (xv, 13), and holiness 
 (16). One of the conspicuous features and distinctive merits of 
 Paul's doctrine of the Spirit is that it allows the supernatural 
 manifestations of the Spirit's power to fall into the background, 
 although many of the early church seem to have attached special 
 importance to these, and brings into the forefront the spiritual and 
 ethical results of the Spirit's work. 
 
 6. weak: incapable of saving ourselves by meriting forgiveness 
 and reward through fulfilling the law. 
 
 due season. It is a favourite thought with Paul that Christ 
 came just at the fittest moment in the world's history (Gal. iv. 4 ; 
 2 Cor. vi. 2 ; Eph. i. 10 ; i Tim. ii. 6, vi. 15 ; Titus i. 3 : see also 
 iii. 26). The historical justification of this thought may be found 
 in the extent of the Roman Empire as an open field of evangeliza- 
 tion, the diffusion of the Greek language as a channel of general 
 communication, the dispersion of the Jews as a preparation by 
 their propaganda for the spread of the gospel. 
 
 ung-odly. Paul has shewn in chap. i. how impiety is the 
 root of immorality. 
 
 *7. This verse explains, by means of human analogies, how 
 striking a proof of the love of God is afforded by the death of 
 Christ. 
 
 rig-hteous . . . good. There is evidently a contrast intended 
 between righteous and good : the righteous man is he who acts 
 in strict accordance with moral law ; the good, he who shews a 
 genial and generous disposition. The Gnostics called the God 
 of the O. T. righteous — of the N. T. good. As the good man 
 
I50 TO THE ROMANS 5. 8-10 
 
 adventure for the good man some one would even dare 
 
 8 to die. But God commendeth his own love toward us, 
 in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
 
 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall 
 10 we be saved from the wrath of God through him. For 
 
 if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God 
 
 inspires an affection the righteous cannot command, a greater 
 sacrifice will be made on his behalf. 
 
 the good man : or, ' that which is good.' The Greek may 
 be either masculine or neuter, but the neuter, * a good cause,' is 
 excluded, because the contrast is of persons. 
 
 8. Ms own love. The motive of redemption is not in man, 
 but in God Himself. The closer the relationship between God 
 and Christ is conceived to be, the fuller the revelation of God's 
 love in him proves to our mind and heart ; the lower the con- 
 ception of Christ's Person, the narrower the idea of God's 
 Fatherhood. 
 
 sinners. Therefore in a state of enmity to God, undeserving 
 of His favour ; man might make a sacrifice for one who had proved 
 himself worthy, and had endeared himself: God makes a sacrifice 
 for those without any desert or attractiveness. 
 
 for us: 'on our behalf,' not 'in our stead,' is the meaning of 
 the preposition used here. Undue stress should not be laid on 
 the distinction, for if ' on our behalf.' that we might be saved 
 from the doom of death, Christ himself endured that doom in the 
 darkness and lowliness of his soul, if by his suffering we are 
 saved from suffering, what he endures 'in our behalf is surely 
 also endured 'in our stead.' 
 
 9. Much more then. Christ's death to gain forgiveness for 
 sinners now is a greater proof of God's love than the salvation of 
 saints by his life at the last da3' ; and if God has done the greater, 
 much more will He do the less. 
 
 justified by his blood. Justification or the sinners ac- 
 ceptance before God is a result of the propitiation in Christ's 
 death, and is distinguished b3' Paul from 'salvation,' the deliverance 
 of the righteous from the wrath (of God) which shall fall on the 
 wicked in the final judgement. 
 
 10. enemies. Not only estranged in mind from God, but 
 necessarily and deservedly in a hostile relation to God, subject 
 to His wrath, liable to His punishment ; hence reconciled means 
 mutual removal of hindrances to loving fellowship, not only man's 
 estrangement from God set aside, but also God's displeasure 
 against us as sinners taken out of the way. This follows from 
 the sense which is attached by Paul to the death of Christ as not 
 
TO THE ROMANS 5. 11,12 151 
 
 through the death of his Son, much more, being re- 
 conciled, shall we be saved by his life ; and not only so, ^ i 
 but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 
 Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the 12 
 
 merely a display of Divine love to melt our hard hearts, but as 
 also a propitiation, a revelation of the Divine righteousness. 
 
 by Ms life : in personal union with the living Saviour and 
 Lord. The full exposition of this phrase must be reserved for the 
 notes on vi. 8-11, viii. 10, 11. 
 
 11. and not only so, but. The objective facts, justification 
 now, salvation hereafter, are accompanied by the correspojiding 
 subjective feeling, joy in, or boast of, God. The participle and not 
 tl;e indicative of the verb is the better attested reading; this is 
 another illustration of the loose grammatical construction of some 
 of Paul's sentences. 
 
 reconciliation. This is the same as the 'peace' of verse i. 
 While some theologians contend that the reconciliation is only 
 on the part of man, man's hostility to God changed to submis ion, 
 and cannot be on the part of God, as God is Love 'without 
 variableness, or shadow of turning'; yet, on the other hand, 
 (i) we read here of receiving the reconciliation from God as 
 a gift; (2) we find 'enemies' contrasted in such a way with 
 'beloved' (xi. 28', that as the latter can mean only objects of 
 God's love, the former cannot mean anything else than ' exposed 
 to God's hostility'; (3'i God's wrath against sin, here and here- 
 after, is asserted i. 18) ; (4} the death of Christ is described as 
 propitiator^', and this can only mean that in that death God is 
 propitiated ; that is, Christ's death as an adequate and effective 
 manifestation of God's righteousness in condemning and punishing 
 sin makes possible a change in God's attitude to sinners, although 
 that does not imply a changed disposition or intention. Grieved, 
 wounded love can now forgive, and find joy in the forgiveness ; 
 God's good pleasure hindered and thwarted by sin can now have 
 free course. 
 
 (5) V. 12-21. Christ more to the race than Adam. 
 
 This passage is not merely a rhetorical peroration to this division 
 of the Epistle ; it is a logical demonstration of a fact without which 
 the argument itself would not be completed. On the one hand 
 tlie righteousness of God is in one person, Christ, operative and 
 communicative in his death and life ; on the other, sin is diffused 
 throughout the whole race. Is there or can there be such a 
 connexion between one person and the whole race as to secure 
 
152 TO THE ROMANS 5. 12 
 
 world, and death through sin ; and so death passed unto 
 
 for all what one has done? Paul first of all proves that such 
 a connexion is already existing in human history in the relation 
 of Adam to the race, and therefore the possibiHty of such a con- 
 nexion between Christ and mankind may be assumed. This is 
 the comparison between Adam and Christ (12-14). Paul in the 
 next place shews that such a connexion is for many reasons even 
 more probable in the case of Christ than of Adam. This is the 
 contrast between Adam and Christ (15-21), Putting this argu- 
 ment in modern phraseology it is simply this: (i) the soUdarity 
 of the race is a condition for the diffusion of good, even as it 
 has proved for the extension of evil, and (2) the result will be 
 favourable, and not adverse to progress, (a) Even as the effects 
 of Adam's sin extended beyond himself to include the whole 
 race, so did the effects of Christ's work, of whom Adam was a 
 type (12). (Z») Through Adam sin entered the race, and death 
 as penalty of sin ; and as all men shared Adam's sin, so there 
 fell on them his doom, even although till the law was given by 
 Moses their sin could not be regarded as involving the guilt 
 of conscious disobedience (13, 14). (c) But if there is some 
 resemblance between Adam and Christ there is still greater 
 difference : (i) in moral quality — Adam's act was disobedience, 
 Christ's work is undeserved kindness ; (ii) in immediate con- 
 sequence — condemnation through Adam, justification in Christ ; 
 (iii) in ultimate consequence — death from Adam, life from Christ; 
 (iv) in mode of connexion — condemnation expanding from Adam 
 to include the race, the sins of the race concentrating in Christ to 
 be forgiven (15, 16). {d) The contrast may be set forth sum- 
 marily in two propositions. By his trespass Adam made all 
 mankind sinful, brought on them a judgement, resulting in the 
 dominion of death ; by his obedience Christ brought to all men 
 grace, forgiveness, righteousness, and life (17-19). {e) Between 
 this order of sin and this order of grace the law came, but its 
 effect was not to restrain, but to multiply sin, and yet it thus 
 prepared for grace, inasmuch as the abundance of sin was the 
 occasion for an exceeding abundance of grace (20). (/) The 
 purpose of God was thus made manifest, to supersede the order 
 of sin resulting in the dominion of death by the order of grace, 
 which has its immediate consequence in righteousness, and its 
 ultimate effect in eternal life. This new order has been established 
 and is being maintained by the one person, whom faith confesses 
 Saviour, Messiah, Lord (21). 
 
 12-14. The structure of this sentence is very irregular. Paul 
 begins the sentence as though he intended it to run, * As through 
 one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so through 
 one man righteousness entered, and life through righteousness.' 
 
TO THE ROMANS 5. 13 153 
 
 all men, for that all sinned : — for until the law sin was in i; 
 
 But he is led to explain how death became the common lot, and 
 then vvhj% even before there was guilt, death reigned ; and so 
 he abandons the construction he has begun, and instead of the 
 conclusion we might have expected, he introduces his reference 
 to Christ in a subordinate relative clause, ' who is a figure of him 
 that was to come.' 
 
 12. througli one man : Adam. Paul assumes the common tradi- 
 tion of his age and people about the early history of mankind — 
 one common ancestor of the race, the introduction of sin through 
 his disobedience, the infliction of the sentence of death as a 
 penalty on sin. But, be it observed, he is not attempting here 
 to account either for sin or death ; he introduces this reference to 
 Adam solely to justify his assertion that Christ's sacrifice is the 
 means of salvation to the whole race. His doctrine of redemption 
 in Christ does not rest on his conception of man's primitive state, 
 and docs not stand or fall with it, as is often assumed. But the 
 whole subject will be discussed more fully in a note at the end of 
 this passage. 
 
 sin. See note on iii. 9 for Paul's teaching on this subject. 
 
 death. Death in its widest aspects, not as physical dissolu- 
 tion merely, but embracing all that this event means for the 
 consciousness of a sinful race. 
 
 passed into : ' made its way to each individual member of 
 the race,' as has been said, ' like a father's inheritance divided 
 among his children.' 
 
 for that. The Greek thus rendered is the preposition meaning 
 *at,' 'by,* 'on,' and the relative pronoun, either masculine or 
 neuter, 'whom' or 'which.* There has been a great variety 
 of interpretations of this seemingly simple phrase, (i) Some 
 commentators take the relative as masculine, with Adam as its 
 antecedent, and render 'in whom*; but against this there are 
 grammatical objections. (2) A still less probable interpretation 
 is that which makes death the antecedent. (3) Taking the relative 
 as neuter, the meaning has been taken to be ' in like manner as,' 
 'in so far as' ; but the simplest and most probable translation is 
 to treat the phrase as a conjunction, and render ' because.' 
 
 all sinned. The question is. In what sense? (i) As Adam 
 was the father of the race all the descendants sinned in his sin, 
 even as Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec ' in the loins ' of Abraham 
 (Heb. vii. 9, 10). He was the representative of mankind, and all 
 men arc responsible for what he did. But by adding ' in Adam,' 
 Paul would have made that clear if that had been his meaning. 
 This sense cannot be got out of the words as they stand. (2) 
 Taking the words in their ordinary sense, some commentators 
 render ' all as a matter of fact by their own choice committed 
 
154 TO THE ROMANS 5. h, 15 
 
 the world : but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 
 
 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even 
 over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's 
 transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. 
 
 15 But not as the trespass, so also is the free gift. For if by 
 
 sin ' ; but (a^ Paul goes on in the next verse to shew that till 
 the time of Moses, in the absence of law, the descendants of 
 Adam could not sin in the full sense of sin as Adam ; and {b) the 
 comparison with Christ turns on the transmission to Adam's 
 descendants of the consequences of his act, whereas this inter- 
 pretation represents every mart's sin as the cause of his death, 
 and so ignores the connexion of the race with Adam, (c) We 
 may take ' sinned ' in the ordinary sense as personal acts of 
 Adam's descendants, but explain these acts as the result of a 
 tendency to sin inherited from Adam. Without expressly stating 
 it, Paul assumes the doctrine of original sin in the sense of an 
 inherited tendency to sin, for what he aflfirms bej'ond all doubt 
 here is that both the sin and the death of the human race are the 
 effects of Adam's transgression. 
 
 13. Inheriting from Adam both the tendency to sin and the 
 liability to its punishment, death, mankind, until the law came, 
 was less guilty than Adam : its sin was not conscious, voluntary 
 transgression of a recognized authority, and would not have 
 deserved the full penalty of death. That was an inherited evil, 
 not a personally incurred judgement. 
 
 sin is not imputed : * brought into account,* regarded as guilt 
 itself deserving penalty. 
 
 14. death reig-ned. Death is personified as sin had beeh, and 
 is represented as a tj-rant wielding universal dominion. 
 
 Moses. After the law had once been given the chosen people 
 was, as regards moral knowledge, in the position Adam had been. 
 Henceforth sin was transgression. 
 
 figoire. Tiie Greek word means (i) 'stamp struck by a die,' 
 (2) 'copy' or 'representation,' (3") 'mould,' 'pattern,' and (4) 
 * type,' which has been defined as ' an event or person in history 
 corresponding in certain characteristic features to another event 
 or person.' The type comes first in time, and is followed by the 
 anti-type. 
 
 liini that was to come: 'the coming one,' but coming after 
 the time of Adam, not ' him who is yet to come* (with reference 
 to the Second Advent). 
 
 15. trespass: lit. *a step or fall sideways.' This is the third 
 word used by Paul to describe moral evil. If the literal sense 
 of sin, 'missing the mark,' suggests failure to realize the ideal, the 
 
TO THE ROMANS 5. 16-18 155 
 
 the trespass 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 not as id 
 through one that sinned, so is the gift : for the judgement 
 ccifne of one unto condemnation, but the free gift came of 
 many trespasses unto justification. For if, by the trespass 17 
 of the one, death reigned through the one ; much more 
 shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the 
 gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even 
 Jesus Christ. So then as through one trespass the judge- iS 
 me?it came unto all men to condemnation ; even so 
 through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto 
 
 literal sense of trespass suggests a relapse even from the attained 
 good. Sin is not ox\\y imperfection, but even deterioration. 
 
 free ^\S\,. The Greek word is a derivation of the word 
 rendered in the N. T. ' grace,' and this connexion would be shewn 
 by rendering 'act of grace* or 'gift of grace'; in the plural the same 
 term is used for the supernatural powers that often accompanied 
 the reception of the Spirit. 
 
 the oiie : Adam, the many : all mankind. 
 
 much more. This verse begins to shew the unlikeness of 
 Christ to Adam. The good results of Christ's work may be expected 
 to exceed the evil consequences of Adam's act. 
 
 g"ift: 'boon,' award reserved for the highest and best, good 
 bestowed. In verse 17 the gift is defined further as 'the gift of 
 righteousness'; this is the justification the sinner gets in Christ. 
 
 by the grace is connected with 'gift,' not 'abound.' 
 
 16. justification : lit. 'act of righteousness,' the Divine sentence 
 by which all sinners who believe are in Christ pronounced 
 righteous. 
 
 17. through the one. Subjects of death's tyranny become 
 sovereigns. Christ accomplishes all that mankind needs in order 
 to escape the tyranny of death and attain the sovereignty of life. 
 
 18. so then. Paul now begins to sum up what has been proved 
 in the previous verses. 
 
 one act of righteousness. This phrase renders the same 
 Greek word as is rendered 'justification ' in verse 16, and there is 
 no adequate reason for making any change. The word here as 
 there means, * the Divine sentence of justification pronounced on 
 the race.' It is doubtful whether it can mean, as some maintain, 
 'the righteous act,'' the obedience' of Christ. Although this §ense 
 
156 TO THE ROMANS 5. 19-21 
 
 19 all men to justification of life. For as through the one 
 man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even 
 so through the obedience of the one shall the many be 
 
 20 made righteous. And the law came in beside, that the 
 trespass might abound ; but where sin abounded, grace 
 
 21 did abound more exceedingly: that, as sm reigned in 
 
 would offer a more direct contrast to ' the trespass' of Adam, yet 
 the effect of Christ's act may be opposed to Adam's act. 
 
 justification of life : justification which has, as its immediate 
 consequence, hfe. 
 
 19. disobedience. It was this that made Adam's sin trans- 
 gression. 
 
 were made. We may ask, In what sense? The answer is this, 
 ' All the effects of Adam's sin as transmitted to his descendants, 
 apart from their personal transgressions are included on the one 
 side ; and all the results of Christ's work apart from their personal 
 efforts on the other.' 
 
 obedience : the moral, as propitiation is the religious, aspect 
 of the cross. 
 
 shall ... be made. The future does not refer to the last judge- 
 ment, but to the successive generations of believers, and therefore 
 includes the present. 
 
 20. cante in beside: as an 'after-thought,' a 'parenthesis.' 
 Paul thus expresses its temporary and relative character. 
 
 that the trespass mig-ht abound: better, 'be multiplied.' 
 The law was given to restrain sin, but as a matter of fact its effect 
 was in many cases to provoke sin (vii. 10, 13), and as this sin was 
 disregard and defiance of restraint it was now trespass or trans- 
 gression, and involved greater guilt. This secondary result is 
 here represented as the primary purpose. 
 
 21. death: the most evident, permanent, and universal result 
 of the dominion of sin over the race. 
 
 rig'hteoiisness. Here still in the sense of righteousness of 
 God, justification, not in the sense of righteous character. 20, 21 
 illustrate Paul's Christian optimism ; the good is greater, stronger, 
 more enduring than the evil. 
 
 Adam's Sin and its Results (12-21). 
 
 In this contrast between Adam and Christ, Paul assumes, as 
 every Christian of the: Apostolic Age assumed, that Adam was 
 an historical personality, that the record of the Fall in Genesis 
 was a narrative of facts, that sin and death were introduced into 
 the race as the penalty of the disobedience of its one ancestor. 
 
TO THE ROMANS. 5. 21 157 
 
 death, even so might grace reign through righteous- 
 
 Apart altogether from any objection that anthropology might 
 urge against this view, even a moderate critical exegesis recognizes 
 the symbolical character of the narrative in Genesis. The question 
 is not whether we can reconcile these two views, but whether 
 the essential significance of Paul's argument is invalidated by 
 recognizing that in this matter he shared the intellectual limitations 
 of his age. That the whole race has sprung from a common 
 ancestr3', the theory of evolution would tend rather to confirm than 
 to disprove. That the primitive state was one of spiritual and 
 moral perfection, as Christian theology has sometimes affirmed, 
 and as modern anthropology would most certainly deny, Paul 
 does not assert. His words in i Cor. xv. 47, that * the first man is 
 of the earth, earthy,' would indicate rather that he recognized in 
 some degree the imperfections of that state. The doctrine of the 
 flesh too indicates that he saw in man's nature as embodied spirit 
 a possibility of evil that might very easily become an actuality. 
 It cannot be denied, however, that he represents Adam's condition 
 as one of greater responsibility, because clearer knowledge and 
 fuller freedom, than that of his descendants. He transgressed 
 a positive command ; they sinned, but in the absence of law their 
 sin was not imputed to them as guilt. Just as in describing the 
 heathen world Paul's view is confined to the Roman Empire, so 
 in recording the moral history of mankind Paul's horizon is limited 
 by the sacred traditions of his own people. The only law he 
 thinks of is the law of Moses; but we may generalize his conception 
 of the giving of the law as the awakening of the moral conscious- 
 ness, and may see in the distinction he makes between the 
 period before the law and the period after the law a recognition 
 of a moral development for the race. So far as our present 
 knowledge goes, we may not be able to justify the exception 
 Paul makes of the earliest ancestor of the race ; but must admit 
 that his moral consciousness was probably not less, but more 
 rudimentary than that of his descendants. But whenever and 
 however a conscious and voluntary transgression of a law 
 recognized as valid by the developing moral consciousness took 
 place, sin and guilt became facts in human history. Mankind is 
 a fallen race, because its conduct ever falls short of its conscience. 
 That this need not be so, man's sense of freedom and feeling of 
 guilt — ultimate facts beyond which we cannot get — prove. That 
 heredity is an important and influential factor in the moral history 
 of the race, which may be regarded as an organic unity, modern 
 investigation confirms. The Pauline assumptions then, that sin is 
 not a necessity but due to an abuse of liberty, that there has been 
 a development of the moral consciousness involving increasing 
 responsibility, that heredity favours the diffusion and transmission 
 
158 TO THE ROMANS 5. 21 
 
 ness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 of sin, are truths not contradicted, but even confirmed by our wider 
 knowledge. Can this, however, be also said of the connexion he 
 asserts between sin and death ? Death, it is said, is a natural 
 necessity for every vital organism, to which living creatures before 
 man's advent were already subject There is no evidence that 
 man's sin did or could so change not only his own constitution, 
 but even the organization of other living beings, as to make them 
 with him liable to death. To this valid objection answers have 
 been attempted, to which it would be a pity if Christian theology 
 bound itself. It has been said that God, foreseeing man's sin, 
 placed him in a dying world. Had there been no evil in prospect, 
 the constitution of living creatures would have been different. Or, 
 assuming that death would have been the lot of the lower creatures 
 in any case, man's nature has been represented as endowed with 
 a possibility of immortality, of a development above and beyond 
 the conditions of mortality. Had man not sinned, he would have 
 realized that possibility by completing that development. Interest- 
 ing as these speculations are, we do not need to assume their 
 truth in trying to justify Paul. Paul meant by death not physical 
 dissolution merely, but death in its totality as it is for the human 
 consciousness. Can it be denied that the terror and darkness of 
 death for the mind and heart of man is due in large measure to 
 his sense of guilt, and the effects of sin in his reason, conscience, 
 spirit? Christ abolishes death, not by preventing physical dis- 
 solution but by giving the fact a new meaning by allowing man 
 to see it from the standpoint, not of human guilt, but of Divine 
 grace. In a sinless race death as an experience would have been 
 very different from what it is. Doubtless had Paul been asked 
 whether physical dissolution was due to sin or not, he would 
 have given an affirmative answer. While we may not be able 
 now to do the same, yet we can recognize a connexion between 
 death, as in its totality it is for the human consciousness, and 
 human sin and guilt, and this is the important consideration. 
 But the main purpose of Paul's argument is not to account for 
 the origin of sin or death, nor to prove man's need of redemption 
 through Christ. Man is sinful and mortal, that is a fact that 
 needs only to be stated : proof is superfluous. On that fact, not 
 on anj' theory about it, rests man's need of redemption. Paul's 
 argument in this passage is briefly this. He assumes as facts the 
 solidarity of the human race as the condition of the diffusion and 
 transmission of sin, and consequently death as its penalt}'. He 
 draws the conclusion that heredity and environment will prove still 
 more adequate and effective means for communicating the grace 
 and the resulting life manifest in Christ. Surely belief in progress 
 involves this conception, that these factors of man's unity as a race 
 
TO THE ROMANS 6. i 159 
 
 What shall we say then ? Shall we continue in sin, 6 
 
 work in the long run and to the widest extent for good rather than 
 evil, for a grace still more abounding than sin, which abounds. 
 
 IZ. The Doctrine of Sanctlfication. vi— viii. 
 Although Paul passes from the first to the second division of 
 his doctnnal exposition by offering his doctrine of sanctification 
 as an answer to an objection that might be brought against his 
 doctrine of justification, yet we would do injustice to Paul's 
 own experience as well as his theology if we were to regard 
 his treatment of the question of forgiveness as primary and 
 essential in this treatise, and his dealing with the question of 
 holiness as secondary and defensive merely. Surely the two 
 autobiographical passages (vi. i-ii and vii. 7-25) shew that Paul 
 felt as keenly the need of deliverance from the bondage of sin 
 as of escape from the shadows of guilt, and that he prized 
 Christ's spirit as the power of holiness as highly as Christ's 
 sacrifice as the reason for his forgiveness. In Paul's Gospel we 
 must accord as prominent and important a place to his doctrine of 
 sanctification as to his doctrine of justification, although his method 
 of introducing it might suggest inferiority and dependence, (i) 
 Against the objection that the doctrine of justification encourages 
 moral laxity and indulgence, Paul shews that, as the sj^mbol of 
 baptism declai-es, faith is so vital a union with the living Christ 
 that the typical experience of Christ in his crucifixion and 
 resurrection is reproduced in the believer as death unto sin and 
 life unto God (vi. 1-14). (2) To meet the same objection presented 
 in a slightly different form he shews under the figure of service 
 the impossibility of continuing in bondage to sin while rendering 
 obedience unto God (vi. 15-23). (3) That release from the 
 bondage of sin involves also emancipation from the authority of 
 the law is proved by an illustration drawn from the limitation 
 of the obligations of marriage to this life (vii. 1-6). (4 But this 
 apparent disparagement of the law demands justification from the 
 Jewish standpoint ; and this is offered in an account of his own 
 moral conflict before his conversion, in which was shewn not 
 only the impotence of the law to prevent sin, but even the 
 provocation of sin by the law (vii. 7-25). (5) Having thus met 
 these objections, and having developed in this defence his own 
 positive doctrine of sanctification, he closes this division of his 
 Epistle by a sketch of the triumphant course of the Christian life, 
 amid temptation, persecution, affliction, by the presence and 
 power of the Holy Spirit (viii). 
 
 (i) vi. 1-14. Faith as union with Christ. 
 
 (a) It is quite impossible, as some object, for the believer to 
 go on sinning that he may be able to claim ever more grace, 
 
i6o TO THE ROMANS 6. 2 
 
 2 that grace may abound ? God forbid. We who died to 
 
 because his baptism at the beginning of his Christian life so 
 dedicated him to Christ as the saviour by his sacrifice that he 
 becomes vitally united to Christ, and as a consequence there 
 are spiritually reproduced in him those changes through which 
 Christ himself passed in the events of which baptism is sym- 
 bolical, death, burial, and resurrection (1-4). (6^ For as Christ 
 by his death on the cross wholly separated himself from all 
 connexion with sin, and in his resurrection wholly dedicated 
 himself to the service of God, so the believer condemns and 
 executes all his sinful inclinations, and having been thus set free 
 makes a fresh start in a life consecrated to God (5-1 1). (c) If for 
 every believer this has not yet proved the reality, yet it is the 
 ideal he must set before himself, separation from sm and dedica- 
 tion to God by resistance of every sinful desire, and by exercise 
 of all his powers in the service of God. He is encouraged to 
 do this by his emancipation from the dominion of law, and his 
 entrance into a state of favour before God (12-T4). 
 
 1. Paul had already indignantly repudiated an accusation 
 brought against himself, that he taught the precept, * Let us do 
 evil that good may come ' (lii. 8). Then having stated fully his 
 doctrine of justification, he faces a similar objection that not only 
 might be brought against it, but that probably had been brought. 
 We must expand the sentence, 'Shall we continue in sin that 
 grace may abound,' to recognize the full force of the objection. 
 Paul taught that God shewed His grace by granting righteousness, 
 a state of acceptance before Him with all its blissful effects, not 
 to those who had deserved this gift by the merit of their good 
 works, but to those who, recognizing their incapacity to deserve 
 any favours from God, cast themselves wholly on His mercy, and 
 welcomed pardon as a free gift. A conclusion might be drawn 
 from this doctrine to this effect : the more sin to forgive the 
 greater grace in forgiving, the longer continued the sin the more 
 enduring the grace ; God's grace is magnified by the multiplication 
 of sin. The practical application of such an inference must be, 
 keep on sinning more and more that God's grace to you may 
 more abound. Paul, be it noted, does not prove this conclusion 
 with its application as logicallj' invalid ; but what he does is this. 
 He virtually admits that his doctrine of justification is an abstract 
 statement about the Christain's experience ; it isolates an aspect 
 of that experience to describe it more completely and define it 
 more accurately ; the objection drawn from that abstract statement 
 can be met only by getting back to the concrete experience itself, 
 other factors of which so enforce the obligation of, and so afford 
 the motive to, a holy life, that the objection is put quite out of 
 court. But it must be frankly admitted that Paul's method of 
 
TO THE ROMANS 6. 3 161 
 
 sin, how shall we any longer live therein ? Or are ye 3 
 ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus 
 
 setting these two doctrines side by side as complementary aspects 
 of Christian truth presents a very serious difficulty, not only 
 theoretical, but even practical. What is the essential connexion 
 between the acceptance of forgiveness and the pursuit of holiness ? 
 How does the one necessarily lead on to the other. There are 
 men for whom Paul's doctrine of justification expresses not one 
 isolated aspect of Christian experience, but what is for them 
 practically the whole, for they want forgiveness without willing 
 holiness ; and there are on the other hand men who, repelled by 
 this error, strive after holiness without welcoming forgiveness, 
 who admit sanctification as an imperative obligation, but do not 
 enjoy justification as an assured possession. This problem cannot 
 be solved here ; but it is necessary, in interpreting Paul's Epistle, 
 to indicate the difficulty which he leaves unremoved. 
 
 2. died to sin: in their baptism, as a confession of allegiance 
 to Christ, and consequently as a renunciation of all attachment 
 to sin. 
 
 3. are ye ignorant. Paul assumes that his readers know the 
 solemn and sacred significance of the Christian ordinance ; and 
 only ignorance of its meaning could afford any excuse for the 
 objection which is being dealt with. It is very improbable, 
 however, that many of his readers saw in baptism all that his 
 profound and original mind, interpreting his unique and intense 
 experience, discovered in it. They were not. as he was, safe from 
 the danger of error regarding the Christian life. 
 
 were baptized into Christ Jesiis. Cf, i Cor. x. 2, ' baptized 
 into Moses.* This means that they did not simply confess Christ 
 as Saviour and submit to him as Lord, but were so united to him 
 that his life and theirs became one spiritual unity (Gal. ii. 20, iii. 
 27). This is the first statement in this Epistle of one of Paul's 
 most characteristic contributions to Christian thought, his doctrine 
 of the mystical union of the believer with Christ. This doctrine 
 is the interpretation of his own experience. His faith in Christ 
 as Saviour and Lord meant not only the acceptance of the gifts 
 of God's grace in him, but such responsive love and loyalty to 
 Christ himself as did not fall short of a practical identification of his 
 will with the purpose of Christ ; such intense vivid consciousness 
 of the presence of the risen Christ with him as enabled him to 
 hold confident and constant communion with Christ ; such un- 
 hindered receptivity for the communication of the Spirit of Christ 
 as put all his faculties, mind, heart, and will, at the command of 
 Christ. Although baptism meant more for the early Christians 
 than it means for most modern believers, yet even in the Apostolic 
 
 M 
 
i62 TO THE ROMANS 6. 4 
 
 4 were baptized into his death ? We were buried therefore 
 
 Age it is not likely that there were many who could claim the 
 same experience with the same completeness and constancy as 
 Paul. To many in the present day this doctrine seems too high, 
 they cannot attain unto it ; but nevertheless it has some analogy 
 to ordinary human experience, for the stronger the affections of 
 two persons for one another, the greater harmony is there in their 
 motives, purposes, and actions. In the measure in which any 
 Christian realizes that Christ lives, responds to Christ's love, and 
 receives Christ's Spirit, will he possess this mystical union with 
 Christ. As Paul in this passage is not justifying a theory, but 
 stating an experience which was his own, which he believed was 
 not only possible but necessary for every Christian, that there are 
 Christian men to whom this doctrine seems unreal does not prove 
 Paul's teaching false, only that there are possibilities unreahzed 
 in them. The least emotional and most matter-of-fact believer, 
 if he is a believer, can surely go as far as this. He must feel that 
 sin deserves condemnation, when Christ so sorrowed and suffered 
 on account of it. He must feel that Christ deserves gratitude for 
 his sacrifice. He must feel that Christ is not deceiving him when 
 Christ assures him of God's pardon, for the Son has shewn that 
 he knows the Father. He must feel that he cannot but shew his 
 gratitude to Christ in the way best pleasing to him, even the way 
 of obedience to his teaching and example. If any believer humbly 
 and sincerely makes such a beginning of dying unto sin and living 
 unto God, his own experience will afterwards give more and more 
 reality to Paul's teaching on union with Christ. If Christ by 
 his sacrifice bringing us to repentance and constraining us to 
 righteousness makes us what punishment could never make us, 
 what a pardon that left it possible for us to think of God as 
 indifferent or indulgent to sin would never make us — even opposed 
 to sin and obedient unto God —surely the moral effects of his cross 
 prove its moral value. Now Paul did find that Christ's death, 
 regarded as a propitiation, convinced him of God's righteousness 
 in forgiving sinners, that God's justification in Christ made him 
 more hostile to sin and more devoted to God than he could other- 
 wise have become, that the union with Christ which was involved 
 in and developed from the faith through which he received God's 
 grace enabled him practically to realize his moral ideal, as recogni- 
 tion of or submission to the authority of a moral law could not. 
 It may be confidently assumed that in lesser or greater degree 
 this experience can be reproduced in believers, and thus holiness 
 be the necessary consequent of forgiveness. 
 
 3. into his death. This is the part of Christ's work on which 
 faith lays hoKl in its initial act. Christ's death as a propitiation 
 
TO THE ROMANS 6. 4 163 
 
 with him through baptism into death : that like as Christ 
 
 makes possible the justification with which the Christian life 
 begins. The believer's union with Christ, of which baptism is the 
 symbol, begins with the appropriation by faith of the righteousness 
 secured by the death of Christ. In virtue of his sacrifice on behalf 
 of the believer Christ claims more absolute surrender, more devoted 
 service than could be required or expected on any other ground. 
 
 4. buried. Baptism has three parts — descent into, burial 
 under, and ascent out of, the water. (Paul's statement assumes 
 that baptism is by immersion ; probably this was the form in 
 which the ordinance was usually administered, although even in 
 the first century other forms were permitted.) To these three 
 parts of baptism correspond three events in Christ's experience — 
 Crucifixion, Burial, Resurrection ; and to these three events there 
 should correspond three features of the Christian life ; but Paul 
 does not work out the symbolism fully, for he practically 
 identifies death and burial, and so death to sin corresponds to 
 Christ's crucifixion, and life unto God to his resurrection. 
 
 into death. The phrase may be joined either to baptism 
 or to buried. In the former case the meaning is this : as by 
 our baptism we appropriated the benefits of his death, so we 
 accepted for ourselves whatever that death meant for Christ, 
 that is, * our old man was crucified with him ' (verse 6). In the 
 latter case * buried into death ' means that Christ's death becomes, 
 as it were, the grave into which the old self is laid. As death 
 is completed in burial, so our death to sin was fully, finally 
 accomplished in this our appropriation of his death as the ground 
 of our justification. Against the connexion with ' buried ' it has 
 been urged, (i) that in verse 3 Paul has spoken of baptism into 
 Christ's death, and it is probable he would repeat rather than 
 vary the phrase here ; (2) that as death comes before burial, 
 ' burial into death ' is an incongruous phrase ; and (3) that ' into 
 death ' is too distant from ' buried ' to be connected with it. But 
 these objections can be met : (i) There is progress in Paul's 
 thought ; what he defines as ' baptism into death ' in verse 3 he 
 describes as 'burial into death' in verse 4, putting the thing 
 symbolized for the symbol; (2) as the phrase 'into the death' 
 need not mean into death in the abstract, but may mean into his 
 death, that is Christ's death, the incongniit}' disappears, and the 
 believer's baptism is represented as the burial, which is the sign 
 of his complete identification with the death of Christ ; (sj Paul 
 does not avoid such ambiguities (iii. 25). The second construction 
 seems preferable, as it makes more evident the progress in Paul's 
 thought. 
 
 like. Analogy between Christ's and the believer's experience 
 
 M 2 
 
i64 TO THE ROMANS 6. 5, 6 
 
 was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, 
 
 5 so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have 
 become united with him by the likeness of his death, we 
 
 6 shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection ; knowing 
 this, that our old man was crucified with hiin^ that the 
 
 now takes the place of the identity of Christ and the behever. 
 This variation of expression warns us not to interpret Paul's 
 words with prosaic literalness ; still less are we warranted in 
 basing speculations about a metaphysical relation of Christ to the 
 believer upon them. 
 
 the glory. As Christ's resurrection was according to the 
 will and by the power of God, it manifested God's perfection; 
 and as God's manifested perfection is his glory, the resurrection 
 may be described as by the glory of God. 
 
 Father. The use of this phrase for God is surely intended 
 to suggest that the resurrection clearly'' shewed God's paternal 
 relation to Christ. It was a declaration in deed, 'this is my 
 beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' 
 
 walk. The term describes both the continuity and the 
 voluntariness of the Christian life ; it is by our own choice and 
 act the Christian life is lived. 
 
 newness of life. As Christ's life after his resurrection 
 differed from his life before, so the Christian's life in Christ must 
 assume a totally different character from his life in sin. 
 
 5. become united: or 'have grown together,' or 'become 
 grafted' (xi. 17), or 'vitally connected.' Cf. the allegory of the 
 Vine and the Branches (John xv. 1-8). 
 
 united with him by the likeness of his death : or, ' united 
 with the likeness of his death.* While the former rendering makes 
 the sense clearer, the latter is more literal. Paul here begins to 
 apply the events of Christ's life to the believer's experience as 
 typical. 
 
 6. knowing" this. The recognition of this vital union results 
 from a reasonable interpretation of the meaning and the aim of 
 Christ's death and resurrection, 
 
 our old man (Eph iv. 22; Col. iii. 9.) = 'our old self So 
 also Paul speaks of the new man ' (Eph. ii. 15, iv. 24 ; Col. iii. 9), 
 ' the inward man ' (vii. 22 ; Eph. iii. 16), ' the outward man ' 
 (2 Cor. iv. 16). 
 
 was crucified. Cf. Gal. ii. 20, vi. 14. The believer by faith 
 appropriates and applies to his own old self the condemnation 
 and execution which was vicariously represented in the cross of 
 Christ, and so by his acceptance of that sacrifice he once for all, 
 in a decisive act, separates himself from sin. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 6. 7-9 165 
 
 body of sin might be done away, that so we should no 
 longer be in bondage to sin ; for he that hath died is 7 
 justified from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe 8 
 that we shall also live with him ; knowing that Christ 9 
 being raised from the dead dieth no more ; death no 
 
 the body of sin : * the body of which sin has gained the 
 mastery,' the body as the seat and the instrument of sin. Similar 
 phrases are, ' the body of this death ' (vii. 24) = the body which is 
 doomed to die, 'the body of our humiliation* (Phil. iii. 21) = the 
 body in its weakness and perishableness, ' the body of the flesh ' 
 (Col. ii. 11) = the body which serves the fleshly impulses. Paul 
 does not teach that the body is this and nothing more, but this 
 is the aspect of our corporeal existence on which he is now led to 
 lay stress. 
 
 luig'lit be done away. This is the same word as is rendered 
 ' make of none effect ' (iii. 3, 31). It does not mean entire removal, 
 but complete reduction to impotence and inaction. Only as the 
 seat and instrument of sin is the body to be thus ' done away.' 
 
 in bondag'e to sin. Sin is personified as a hard taskmaster, 
 and it is especially through the fleshly impulses, the seat and 
 instrument of which is the body, that sin exercises its dominion 
 and man becomes a slave. 
 
 *7. Death cancels all engagements and annuls all obligations ; 
 the physically dead is beyond the reach of any law to which he 
 was subject while he lived ; the morally dead likewise is no 
 longer under the control of any authority exercised over him 
 in his previous state : as ' dead to sin ' the Christian has passed 
 out of sin's dominion. (Cf. i Pet. iv. i.) A Rabbinic parallel is 
 quoted : * When a man is dead he is free from the law and the 
 commandments.' 
 
 is justified. This phrase is used not in the Pauline, but in 
 a more general sense. Sin loses its suit against the dead because 
 he is no longer under the jurisdiction of the court to which sin 
 can make appeal. 
 
 8. we shall . . . live. Here Paul seems to leave the ethical sense 
 of the term ' life ' and to use it in the eschatological sense, ' The 
 life of glory and blessedness following the Resurrection.' These 
 are not, however, separate, but only different aspects of the one 
 life, for the Christian's hope rests on his experience of moral 
 change through faith in Christ. 
 
 9. Because Christ lives the believer lives also. Death can 
 make its claim onl^' once, and the claim fully discharged it cannot 
 again assert any right. 
 
i66 TO THE ROMANS 6. lo, n 
 
 10 more hath dominion over him. For the death that he 
 died, he died unto sin once : but the life that he Hveth, 
 
 11 he Hveth unto God. Even so reckon ye also yourselves 
 to be dead unto sin, but ahve unto God in Christ Jesus. 
 
 dominion. Christ as sinless and perfect was not subject to 
 death's reign, but he voluntarily subjected himself to that 
 dominion as a vicarious sacrifice on man's behalf. His sacrifice 
 accomplished, death's power over him ceased once for all. 
 
 10. Per the death that he died : or, * for in that he died.' The 
 former rendering brings out more clearly the sense of the 
 original. 
 
 he died unto sin. How did Christ die unto sin ? Paul him- 
 self supplies the explanation, ' Him who knew no sin he made to 
 be sin on our behalf (2 Cor. v. 21). We should take this in the 
 widest sense possible, not restrict it simply to Christ's substitu- 
 tionary endurance of the penalty of sin on the cross. In all 
 except personal transgression Christ was subject to the conditions 
 of man's sinful state— temptation fHeb. ii. 18, iv. 15), trial (Heb. 
 xii. 3), discipline (Matt. xxvi. 41 \ development (Luke xviii. 19). 
 His death was a release not only from the consequences of sin, 
 but from the liability to sin. His death as an act of filial obedience 
 put an end to his moral discipline and development by temptation 
 and trial, and was his final voluntary separation of himself from 
 all contact with sin. 
 
 once : * once for all.' The sacrifice did not need to be re- 
 peated ; this is one of the characteristic conceptions of the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews (vii. 27, ix. 12, 26, 28, x. 10. See also i Pet, 
 iii. 18). 
 
 the life that he Uveth: or, 'in that he liveth.' The former 
 rendering preferable. 
 
 liveth unto God : a life of unobscured vision of, undisturbed 
 communion with, absolute consecration to, God. 
 
 11. The self is a double self: the old self is dead, 'the old man 
 was crucified with Christ'; the new self is alive, but while it 
 is living unto God it is dead unto sin. The consciousness is set 
 over against this double self, and can pronounce the one self dead 
 and the other self alive. This thorough change is not yet 
 altogether completed ; it is still an ideal to be realized. The 
 believer must consciously present this ideal to himself, as the 
 acceptance of an ideal is the first step towards its realization. 
 
 in Christ Jesus. The Christian life is one of which Christ 
 is the sphere and atmosphere. He sets its limits, ordains its 
 laws, provides its nourishment, and controls its exercise. This 
 assumes his universal presence and absolute authority ;Matt. xxviii. 
 
TO THE ROMANS G. 12-15 167 
 
 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that 12 
 ye should obey the lusts thereof: neither present your 13 
 members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness ; 
 but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, 
 and your members as instruments of righteousness unto 
 God. For sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye 14 
 are not under law, but under grace. 
 
 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under 15 
 
 18-20). Accordingly it is not the historical Jesus, subject to local 
 limitations and creaturely conditions, but the glorified Christ, 
 who is thus represented. Therefore also the form is always 
 'Christ Jesus,' never 'Jesus Christ.' As this universal presence 
 of Christ is not spatially extensive so that each believer has part 
 of him, but spii'itually intensive so that the whole Christ is with 
 each believer, the counterpart of the phrase, 'Christ in us,' can 
 with equal propriety be used. 
 
 13. present: the Greek tenses are in the two instances differ- 
 ent: the first is the continuous present, 'go on presenting'; the 
 second is the momentary past tense, 'present by an act of 
 choice.' 
 
 instruments : or, 'weapons' ; the latter is better. (Cf. xiii. 12, 
 2 Cor. vi. 7, X. 4, and especially Eph. vi. ir-17, where the figure 
 is more fully worked out. ) 
 
 14. under law . . . under grace. As law cannot restrain but 
 provokes sin, its result is that instead of putting an end to, it 
 confirms and extends the dominion of, sin. Hence under law 
 it is a hopeless attempt to get rid of sin's rule. Grace has a con- 
 straining power, renders obedience easy, so commands and controls 
 the will as to make it victorious over temptation. Hence the 
 struggle against sin ceases under grace to be a forlorn hope and 
 becomes a certain triumph. 
 
 ('2) vi. 15-23. The service of sin and of righteousness. 
 
 Paul realizing probably that the previous illustration drawn from 
 his own experienceof vital union with Christ would not be altogether 
 intelligible to all his readers, presents the same truth in an illustra- 
 tion, for the inappropriateness and inadequacy of which he feels 
 constrained to apologize (verse 19), but which nevertheless was 
 nearer the common range of Christian thought. He compares the 
 life under sin or under righteousness as a servitude exclusive of 
 any other claim. His argument runs as follows : (a) The Christian 
 cannot take advantage of his liberty, as being not under law^, but 
 under grace, to commit sin ; for this service of sin necessarily 
 
i68 TO THE ROMANS 6. i6, 17 
 
 16 law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that 
 to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, 
 his servants ye are whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto 
 
 17 death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks 
 be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye 
 
 involves enslavement by sin, and the Christian has the grateful 
 consciousness of release from that bondage in order that he might 
 render service unto God (15-18). {b) Although the term servitude 
 does not worthily and fitly describe the Christian's relation to 
 God, yet the weakness and wilfulness which still survive even 
 in the believer after his conversion give the life in and for God 
 this appearance (19). (c) Even so regarded the service of God 
 is to be preferred to the service of sin, for while the duly deserved 
 wages of sin is death, the free gift of God, which the service 
 does not merit and therefore cannot demand, is eternal life 
 (20-33). 
 
 15. This is the same objection against Paul's doctrine of 
 justification, although stated in a slightly different form. In the 
 previous case the conclusion drawn was that grace would be 
 made to abound by continuance in sin. In this case the con- 
 clusion drawn is not quite so extreme. Continuance in sin as 
 a permanent habit is not advocated ; but it is suggested that 
 as the restraints, threats, and penalties of the law are once for 
 all removed, occasional indulgence in sin will be safe now as it 
 has not been hitherto. Paul's answer is that any indulgence in 
 sin involves a relapse into that state of bondage to sin from which 
 faith in God's grace has released the believer. Paul shews (i-ii) 
 that the permanent habit of sin is inconsistent with confession of 
 Christ, and now, as the next step in his argument, that occasional 
 indulgence in sin involves a return to that permanent habit. 
 
 16. Paul's illustration is taken from the institution of slavery, in 
 which the owner claimed complete control and absolute authority 
 over his slave. Free labour, where a definite service within 
 specified hours is contracted for, and where several engagements 
 may be combined, would not afford an illustration of the principle 
 he asserts. But the moral fact thus illustrated is correctly stated. 
 Acts form habits, habits fix character ; occasional indulgence in 
 sin results in permanent subjection to sin ; right conduct forms 
 a right disposition. For man there is possible only a choice of 
 masters (Matt. vi. 24). 
 
 righteousness. Although some commentators would still 
 maintain here the distinctively Pauline sense of the word 'justifi- 
 cation,' yet, as this yields a forced interpretation, it is better to 
 
TO THE ROMANS 6. 18, 19 169 
 
 became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching 
 whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from 18 
 sin, ye became servants of righteousness. I speak after 19 
 the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh : 
 for as ye presented your members as servants to unclean- 
 ness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present 
 your members as servants to righteousness unto sancti- 
 
 assume that the word here has its general meaning — right conduct 
 or character. 
 
 17. from tlie heart. The phrase points to the spirituality and 
 sincerity of the Christian life. 
 
 form of teachingf wlieretmto ye were delivered. The 
 metaphor here is of transference to a new master. While w^e 
 should say that the form of doctrine was delivered to the persons, 
 rather than that the persons w^ere delivered to the form of doctrine, 
 the conception here is easily understood. The converts were care- 
 fully taught their Christain duty ; after their baptism they were 
 left under the guidance and to the control of the instruction they 
 had received. 
 
 form.: or, ' pattern '= standard, not of doctrine, but of faith 
 and duty. There is no thought of different types of apostolic 
 doctrine. 
 
 19. I speak after tlie manner of men. Cf. Gal. iii. 15. The 
 phrase introduces an inadequate illustration of Divine truth, which, 
 however, may make it intelligible to human thought. 
 
 tlie infirmity of yonr fiesh. The reference maj'' be either 
 (i) to failure in spiritual discernment, so that they could not 
 understand the Christian experience as a death and a life with 
 Christ, and needed to have it represented as a service of righteous- 
 ness instead of a service of sin ; or (2^ to lack of spiritual power, 
 so that holiness, instead of being to them a spontaneous expression 
 of the life of Christ in them, must needs assume the lower form 
 of service to God as master. As Paul is giving a reason for 
 the illustration which he has adopted, the former explanation is 
 preferable ; although lack of power and failure in discernment 
 are different aspects of the same immaturity or imperfection. 
 ' Flesh ' is here used to express human nature in its weakness, 
 intellectual and moral. See vii. 7-25.) 
 
 uncleanness and ' lawlessness ' were characteristic of pagan 
 rather than Jewish immorality'. 
 
 iniqtiity unto iniquity : better, * lawlessness.' The lawless 
 principle results in the lawless act ; indulgence in sin is punished 
 with abandonment to sin. 
 
 Banctificatiou, the process of being made holy, and 'sanctity,' 
 
170 TO THE ROMANS 6. 20— 7. i 
 
 ao fication. For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free 
 
 21 in regard of righteousness. What fruit then had ye at 
 that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for 
 
 22 the end of those things is death. But now being made 
 free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your 
 
 23 fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal hfe. For 
 the wages of sin is death ; but the free gift of God is 
 eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 7 Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men that 
 
 the state of holiness, are represented in Greek by words very 
 similar in form, and in some cases interchangeable in meaning. 
 Hence some commentators would render here 'unto sanctity' 
 or 'holiness.' But unless there is some absolute necessity for 
 assuming such a change of meaning, it is better to maintain the 
 separate senses of the terms ; and here righteous deeds may fitly 
 be described as having for result the process of sanctification, by 
 holy deeds men become holy persons. iSee i. 7.) 
 
 21. (i) The R. V, carries on the question to the word ' ashamed,' 
 and the answer we must supply is ' None.' (2) Some commen- 
 tators end the question with the word ' time,' and regard the 
 phrase tlie things whereof ye are now ashamed as the answer. 
 The first construction seems more simple and natural, but the 
 second is at least possible, and not less appropriate to the context. 
 
 23. wages: a soldiers pay. The word meant originally 
 'ration money,' and was derived from a shorter word meaning 
 * cooked food.' 
 
 free gift : v. 15. Eternal life is not merited or deserved as 
 a reward, although it has to be prepared for by sanctification. 
 
 (3) vii. 1-6. Release from authority of law. 
 
 Paul had shewn that faith apart from the works of the law 
 justifies ; he had assumed that the believer in his Christian life 
 is not under law but under grace ; he has now to shew how 
 deliverance from sin is also emancipation from law, and he does 
 this by means of an illustration drawn from the marriage relation. 
 (a) The familiar legal principle that law is binding as long as life 
 lasts is illustrated by the caseof a woman, who during her husband's 
 lifetime is not free, without social condemnation, to form any other 
 connexion, but on her husband's death may marry again with- 
 out blame (1-3). (6) In the same way the Christian's self was 
 joined to the sinful nature, and the results of the union were actions 
 finally producing death ; but now the sinful nature has been done 
 away with by his union with Christ in his death ; and, therefore, the 
 
TO THE ROMANS 7. 2, 3 171 
 
 know the law), how that the law hath dominion over 
 a man for so long time as he liveth? For the woman 2 
 that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband 
 while he liveth ; but if the husband die, she is discharged 
 from the law of the husband. So then if, while the 3 
 
 Christian's self, on the one hand, is no longer under the authority 
 of the law, and, on the other, is free to form such a union with 
 Christ himself as will produce conduct acceptable unto God (4, 5). 
 (c) There must be a consequent change of spirit in the service 
 thus rendered, as no longer bondage, but liberty (6). This 
 illustration is not worked out as clearly as might be desired. 
 According to verses 1-3 the husband dies, and sets the wife free 
 for another union ; the husband apparently representing the law, 
 and the wife, the Christian's self. But according to verses 4-6, 
 where the illustration is explained, it is the Christian's self (the 
 wife) which has died to the law (the husband), and yet lives on 
 to be married to Christ, The meaning is, however, plain enough; 
 if the law has no further claim on the Christian (is dead to him, 
 verses 1-3), he has no further connexion with the law :is dead 
 to it, verses 4, 5). We maj'', however, carry out the illustration 
 consistently if we consider the old sinful nature as the husband, 
 the permanent self of the Christian as the wife, the law of Moses 
 as the law which binds the sinful nature to the self (the imputation 
 of the sin to the self, and the condemnation of the self for the sin) ; 
 the self continues under the jurisdiction of this law as long as the 
 union continues. The death spoken of in verse 4, and again 
 in verse 6, is the crucifixion of the old man, and as this, in 
 one aspect, is the self of the Christian, its death is his death 
 also, although the essential permanent self survives for a new 
 life and a new marriage. The illustration is further complicated 
 by a fresh train of thought. Marriage suggests offspring, and 
 so the illustration is made to apply not only to the Christian's 
 conduct when joined to the law, but also to his conduct as a 
 result of the dissolution of the old union and the formation of the 
 new union with Christ. 
 
 1. are ye ignorant? Paul is going to state a conclusion which 
 his readers might have drawn for themselves as a necessary in- 
 ference from what he had stated about the Christian s death with 
 Christ, as death ends all claims of law, 
 
 the law: better, 'law,' as Paul is not referring either to the 
 Jewish or to the Roman law, but to law generally, in which this 
 principle always finds recognition, 
 
 2. tlie law of the husband: the rules of law that deal with 
 the relation of marriage, the duties a wife owes to her husband 
 
172 TO THE ROMANS 7. 4,5 
 
 husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall 
 be called an adulteress : but if the husband die, she is 
 free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she 
 
 4 be joined to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye 
 also were made dead to the law through the body of 
 Christ ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him 
 who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth 
 
 5 fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful 
 passions, which were through the law, wrought in our 
 
 ('the law of the leper/ Lev. xiv. 2 ; 'the law of Nazirite,' Num. 
 vi. 13). 
 
 4. ye also were made dead. As has already been shewn, it 
 is the self, so far as it is one with the sinful state, that dies when 
 the old man is crucified with Christ (vi. 6). If we take it for the 
 Christian's permanent, essential self, then v/e have the contra- 
 diction that it is represented as dead, and yet as living to be 
 united to Christ, 
 
 tlie body of Christ : the sacrificial body of Christ. The old 
 man, the sinful self, is done to death by the Christian's spiritual 
 participation in the crucifixion of Christ as a condemnation and 
 execution of sin. 
 
 anotlier. Not master, but husband ; for although it is not the 
 law which is represented as the first husband, but the sinful state, 
 yet the law is so closely connected with the sinful state that Paul 
 here practically identifies the state under law with the sinful state, 
 and death to sin is represented as death to law. 
 
 bring' forth fruit. Either there is a violent change of 
 metaphor, or the words must mean * bear offspring,' the illustra- 
 tion of marriage being carried farther than the argument required. 
 
 5. in the flesh is contrasted with ' in the spirit.' It describes 
 a life, the highest object of which is the indulgence of the senses 
 and appetites. 
 
 sinfal passions: Gr. 'passions of sins.' 'Passion' means 
 first of all ' suffering,' and next, ' the violent reaction of emotion ' ; 
 the reactions here spoken of are ' of sins,' as due to temptations 
 to sin, and as resulting in indulgence in sin. 
 
 through the law. In this phrase Paul heralds the subject of 
 the next paragraph. Law, instead of restraining, provokes sin. 
 
 wrought in our members. The illustration may be thus 
 expanded. The passions of sins are the husband begetting, 
 the members of the body are the wife bearing the offspring of 
 actions resulting in death (^a similar illustration is found in Jas. i. 15). 
 
TO THE ROMANS 7. 6, 7 173 
 
 members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we have 6 
 been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein 
 we were holden ; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, 
 and not in oldness of the letter. 
 
 What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid. 7 
 
 6. discharged from the law. The law had its jurisdiction 
 only over the sinful stale, the old man and the Christian having 
 now no further connexion with that, the law has no more any 
 claim on him. 
 
 having' died to that wherein we were holden. The old 
 sinful state is dead, and so the law has no more hold over it. 
 The figure may be expanded thus : (i) The sinful state was 
 holden by the law ; (2) the self was wedded to the sinful state, 
 and so under the law ; (3) the sinful state died, and so the law 
 had no more to do with it ; (4) the self, having been set free from 
 its connexion with the sinful state, is now out of all relation to 
 the law. 
 
 so that: better, *so as to.' Not result, but purpose is ex- 
 pressed. There is complete emancipation from the law in order 
 that a new service may be entered on. 
 
 newness of the spirit, . . . oldness of the letter. This 
 does not mean a new spirit and an old letter ; but the new state 
 is a state in the spirit : the old state was a state under the letter. 
 'Spirit' and 'letter' are not here contrasted as the essential and 
 the literal sense of a commandment. But life in the spirit is a 
 life maintained and controlled by the Holy Spirit (see chap, viii), 
 while life under the letter is life under the commandments of the 
 law of Moses. 
 
 (4) vii. 7-25. The powerlessness of the law. 
 
 The Jewish objector, however, might assei t that Paul in his teach- 
 ing was identifying law and sin, if deliverance from sin must needs 
 mean also emancipation from law, and death to sin an end of the 
 law. Paul indignantly denies this inference, and appeals to his 
 own personal experience to prove that not only is law impotent to 
 control sin, but is even provocative of sin. This passage raises 
 two questions, (i) Is Paul's use of the first person singular 
 merely rhetorical, or is he autobiographical ? It seems certain that 
 he is giving his own experience, for it is only such an experience 
 as explains his attitude to the law, and a personal testimony has 
 greater value in the argument than a theoretical discussion could 
 have. On the other hand, however, he evidently regards his 
 experience as not solitary but as t^'^pical ; not only the Jew but 
 even the Gentile might be assumed to have made an analogous 
 
174 TO THE ROMANS 7. 7 
 
 Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law : 
 
 discovery of the contradiction of conscience and conduct. It is 
 more doubtful, however, whether, as has been maintained, we can 
 regard verse 7 as the record of a definite event in Paul's inner 
 life, when the discovery for the first time of the inwardness of 
 the law, its application to desire and disposition, as well as choice 
 and conduct, disturbed his Pharisaic self-satisfaction. It is 
 possible he may in this verse be giving a summary account of 
 a gradual process of moral development. (2) Does this passage 
 refer to the unregenerate or the regenerate state? Is Paul 
 speaking about the period prior to his conversion ? Paul has said 
 what he has to say about justification, and he is now dealing with 
 sanctification. Hence it has been argued the position of the 
 passage shews that he cannot be dealing with an experience 
 previous to justification, but only with one which fi'ls within the 
 process of sanctification? But this argument is not conclusive, 
 for Paul's aim is to meet an objection which may be made against 
 allowing his claim that the Christian believer is free from the 
 law ; and it would be quite natural and legitimate to him to 
 appeal to the powerlessness of the law, as he had experienced it 
 before his conversion, in proof that the law is not necessary as 
 a means of sanctification for the believer. But further, in this 
 passage he assumes that the law is a legitimate authority for the 
 man who approves but does not obey its commands ; whereas 
 for the Christian believer, who is not under law, but under grace, 
 for whom Christ is the end of the law, the law is non-existent. 
 If he were referring to the Christian experience in the passage 
 he would be self-contradictory, for he would be admitting the 
 validity of the law, which it is the purpose of his argument to 
 deny. It is true that the Christian, as not yet made perfect, is 
 prone to lapse from filial freedom to legal bondage ; as his will is 
 not absolutely identified with the will of Christ, holiness will 
 sometimes cease to be for him the spontaneous exercise of an in- 
 dwelling power, and will appear as a hard task to be discharged ; 
 the contrast between desire and duty, the conflict between in- 
 clination and aspiration, will present themselves in his experience 
 though Christian ; and in so far his regenerate will reproduce 
 features of his unregenerate state. This experience is his not as 
 a Christian, but in so far as he falls short of claiming and using 
 the grace offered to him in Christ. Possibly in verse 25 Paul 
 intends to confess that even now he has some experience of this 
 contrast and conflict, for there seems to be a chronological 
 sequence in this personal confession. The first stage of his 
 experience, his self-discovery through recognition of the inward 
 claim of the law, is reported in verse 7, the end of his Pharisaic 
 self-complacency in verse 9, the utter despair that possessed him 
 
TO THE ROMANS 7. 7 175 
 
 for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, 
 
 as he vented his fury on the Christians in verse 24, the deliverance 
 that came to him on the way to Damascus in verse 25. The last 
 sentence of this passage then may describe the continuance in the 
 Apostle's present experience, although in lesser degree, of the 
 struggle which had filled so large a place in his past experience 
 before his conversion. It is an admission that v/hile through 
 Christ the victory has been decided, yet for a time the battle must 
 still go on. While the capital has been occupied the provinces 
 have yet to be subdued. To apply all that precedes this verse to 
 Paul as a Christian, however, would be to admit practically that 
 the grace of God is as powerless against sin as the law is. To 
 blunt the point of this argument, as is sometimes done, by the 
 assumption that Paul throughout is speaking of the Christian 
 experience such as it is, or at least might be apart from the re- 
 straining and constraining grace of Christ, is to attribute to Paul 
 an over-subtlety of thought. But what necessity is there for such 
 desperate expedients to escape the admission that this is an 
 account of the unregenerate state ? The reason given is this : the 
 unregenerate man does not and cannot approve the law of God as 
 good, will what is good, delight in the law ' after the inward 
 man.' He is so completely in bondage to sin that he can know 
 nothing of struggle against sin. This is, however, an exaggeration 
 of the doctrine of total depravity which is simply against known 
 facts. A man is not absolutely evil before, and absolutely good 
 after, his conversion. Neither element is entirely absent from the 
 one or the other state, only their relative strength is changed. It 
 is an extreme case when a man is so abandoned to sin as never to 
 condemn it in his conscience and resist it by his will. Nearly all 
 men know something of the inward conflict, even if it be not as 
 intense and constant as Paul's was. The question cannot be 
 decided by laying stress on the present tense, or by refusing to 
 take it literally, by quoting single phrases, as * sold under sin,' 
 'performing (the evil),' 'wretched man,' on the one side, or 'I 
 hate (the evil),' * I will to do the good,' ' I delight in the law,' on 
 the other. But we must take the passage as a whole, and allow 
 the general impression to tell on us ; we must consider the 
 purpose to prove the powerlessness of the lav/ as a reason for 
 refusing it any place in the Christian life ; we must note its 
 position before the eighth chapter, which sketches the career of 
 the Christians. With these explanations the course of the argu- 
 ment in this passage will be better appreciated. 
 
 (a) Although deliverance from sin means emancipation from 
 law, yet law and sin are not the same ; but law makes plain what 
 acts are sinful, and so stirs up the wish to sin (7, 8 . (b , Before 
 the knowledge of what is sinful comes, the soul is happy and at 
 
176 TO THE ROMANS 7. 8,9 
 
 8 Thou shalt not covet : but sin, finding occasion, wrought 
 in me through the commandment all manner of coveting : 
 
 9 for apart from the law sin is dead. And I was alive 
 
 ease, for sin has not been aroused to defy and disobey the law ; 
 but once the knowledge is given, then slumbering sin is awakened 
 and the soul is made miserable C9). (c) The blame of this result 
 does not rest on the law, which aims at leading men to life, 
 although sin so uses it as to bring them to death, and which as 
 given by God is holy, and shews this character in all its com- 
 mands ; but all the fault lies with sin, which is provoked by control, 
 and turns to man's injury what was intended for his good, and is 
 thus allowed to shew its real nature (10-13). (^) The law given 
 by God, who is Spirit, is spiritual ; but man to whom it is given 
 has not only the weakness of a creaturely nature, but by his 
 physical organism, with its necessities and impulses, has been 
 brought into bondage to sin. For while on the one hand his 
 better self (his conscience and reason) recognizes the command- 
 ments of the law as right, on the other hand his lower nature 
 (his passions and appetites) is altogether possessed by sin, so 
 that his better self is powerless to keep him from sin or make him 
 do right ; and he finds himself under the power of sin (14-20). 
 {e) Conscious of this contradiction between his higher and his 
 lower nature, a man cannot himself remove it although it drives 
 him unto despair ; and even when deliverance has come in Christ, 
 yet the conflict goes on in so far as the victory is not yet alto- 
 gether achieved (21-25). 
 
 7. coveting : or, ' lust.' The Greek word corresponds rather 
 with the latter sense, and iwcludes any unlawful desire, but may 
 refer especially to the sensual passion. 
 
 8. finding occasion. The term ' occasion * is used in a military 
 sense for ' a base of operations.' The phrase ' finding occasion * 
 means ' taking a hint,' or ' adopting a suggestion.' We might 
 render here ' getting a start,' or * snatching an opportunity.' 
 
 sin is dead. The restraint on man's wishes, the opposition 
 to man's inclinations which the law brings with it, awakens to 
 life the self-seeking and self-pleasing tendency of his nature, 
 which is not conscious of itself until it finds itself rebuked and 
 restrained by the law ; but this self-discovery has, as its further 
 result, self-assertion against the law. 
 
 9. alive. This word describes the freedom of a life which 
 knows no subjection to law, the ease and comfort of a life in which 
 conscience knows no guilt. The earliest years of childhood before 
 the moral sense is educated, the first period in a nation's history 
 before moral standards have been fixed, it is of some such state 
 that Paul is thinking. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 7. 10-15 i77 
 
 apart from the law once : but when the commandment 
 came, sin revived, and I died ; and the commandment, 10 
 which was unto hfe, this I found fo be unto death : for u 
 sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled 
 me, and through it slew me. So that the law is holy, and 1 2 
 the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. Did 13 
 then that which is good become death unto me ? God 
 forbid. But sin, that it might be shewn to be sin, by 
 working death to me through that which is good ;— that 
 through the commandment sin might become exceeding 
 sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual : but I am 14 
 carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I know not : 15 
 
 revived. Sin began to live at the falJ, was asleep till law 
 came, awoke and fell to work when stirred up by the law. 
 
 10. life...deatli. The law was given in order that by obedience 
 man might be rewarded with the blessings of life (see x. 5, quota- 
 tion from Lev. xviii. 5). In fact, however, by his disobedience 
 he incurred the penalty of death. 
 
 11. begruiled me. Paul is thinking of the deceit practised by 
 the serpent on Eve (Gen. iii. 13 : cf. 2 Cor. xi. 3 ; i Tim. ii. 14), 
 
 slew: made miserable with a sense of guilt, and brought 
 under the doom of death. 
 
 12. the law . . . the conLmandiueut : the whole and the part. 
 holy : set apart or belonging to God. 
 
 rigrliteous : according to standard. 
 Sfood: beneficent in intention. 
 
 13. The eifect of law in and by itself could not be death ; but its 
 perversion to produce this result was permitted, that a full exposure 
 of the character of sin might be made, as turning good into evil. 
 
 sin: supply 'became death to me.' 
 
 might become exceeding sinful . This perversion of the law by 
 sin has a double result : it shews sin in its true character; it punishes 
 sin by its own increase, for greater sin is the penalty of Jess sin. 
 
 14. spiritual : as the Manna, and the Water from the Rock 
 (i Cor. X. 3, 4), because due to or given by the Spirit, and also 
 because corresponding in character to origin. 
 
 carnal, (i) The primary reference in the use of the word 
 'flesh' is to the material organism ; man is spirit, but spirit breathed 
 into a body of flesh and blood ; but the secondary reference is to 
 those inclinations to self-indulgence and self-assertion which 
 have their occasion in the body, the physical impulses and animal 
 
 N 
 
lyS TO THE ROMANS 7. 15 
 
 for not what I would, that do I practise ; but what I hate, 
 
 appetites, which unrestrained lead man into sin. Paul contrasts 
 * spirit ' and * flesh ' as opposed principles, and hence it has been 
 maintained that he regarded the flesh, because material, as essen- 
 tially and necessarily evil, having thus departed from the Jewish 
 and adopted the Hellenic view. But it is now generally agreed 
 that he uses flesh in the O. T. sense of human nature in its 
 creaturely weakness ; but that as on the one hand he distinguishes 
 the human soul from the Divine spirit more sharply than had 
 before been done, so on the other he attaches to ' flesh ' a moral 
 significance as the occasion, instrument, and seat of sin ; although 
 not originally evil by nature, it has become in man a force 
 antagonistic to righteousness. The prevalence of sensual sins 
 in the heathen world, or, as has been even suggested, some painful 
 feature in his own experience, may have led Paul to use the term 
 ' flesh ' for sin generally ; but he does not confine the term to sin 
 which has a connexion with the body, but includes in 'the works 
 of the flesh' 'enmities, strifes, jealousies, wraths, factions, divi- 
 sions, heresies' (Gal. v. 19). His hope for a bodily resurrection 
 (viii. 23), his description of the body as a living sacrifice unto God 
 (xii. I, 2) and as a temple of the Holy Ghost (i Cor. vi. 19), his 
 call to the glorifying of God in the body (verse 20), his inclusion 
 of the flesh along with the spirit in the work of sanctification 
 (2 Cor. vii. i), and his ascription of flesh to Christ (i. 3, ix. 5 ; 
 see note on viii. 3) — all these are proofs that Paul did not regard 
 the flesh as essentially and necessarily evil. He uses the term in 
 a number of senses, for mankind (iii. 20), human nature (i. 3, ix. 5, 
 with reference to Christ), natural relationship (iv. i, ix. 3, xi. 14), 
 physical organism (ii. 28), the moral impotence of human nature 
 (vi. 19), human nature as subject to sin (vii. 5, 18, 25, viii. i, 3, 4, 
 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, xiii. 14). (ii) There are two Greek adjectives, 
 differing only by one letter, formed from the Greek word for flesh, 
 the one means 'consisting of flesh, composed of flesh,' and the 
 other * having the nature of flesh,' i. e. under the control of the 
 animal appetites ; the one might be rendered physical, the other 
 sensual. In this place some of the MSS. read the one word, 
 others the other. There can be no doubt, however, that the 
 moral reference is here intended, and that ' carnal ' is the correct 
 rendering, although the balance of authority is rather in favour of 
 the word which bears the more general sense. If Paul did not 
 use the terms indiscriminately, he may possibly have intended, by 
 using the word in which the moral reference is usually absent, 
 to lay emphasis on the connexion of sin with the bodily organism. 
 If Paul is thinking especially of sensual sin, then in verse 7 we should 
 render ' coveting ' and ' covet ' ' lust.' The same uncertainty about 
 the reading is found in i Cor. iii. i, where 'carnal' is contrasted 
 
TO THE ROMANS 7. 16-18 179 
 
 that I do. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent 16 
 unto the law that it is good. So now it is no more I that 17 
 do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. For I know that 18 
 in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing : for 
 to will is present with me, but to do that which is good 
 
 with ' spiritual.' There is no doubt of the reading or rendering in 
 I Pet. ii. II, 'fleshly lusts'; 2 Cor. x. 4, 'weapons not of the 
 flesh' ; i. 12, ' fleshly wisdom.' In Rom. xv. 27 and i Cor, ix. 11 
 * carnal things ' is a phrase without moral reference ; although it is 
 used in contrast to ' spiritual things,' it means simply ' things 
 needed for the sustenance of the body.* 
 
 sold nnder sin : like a prisoner of war who has been sold as 
 a slave ; sin is the master under whose power the human person- 
 ality has been put by the flesh with its impulses and appetites. 
 
 15. do : Gr. ' work ' ; carry into effect, not as a voluntary agent, 
 but as an instrument in another's power, 
 
 I know not. Action does not follow deliberation; but sin, 
 acting on the impulses and appetites, uses the will as its tool. 
 Hence there is failure on the one hand to practise, do as a 
 responsible moral being, what has been resolved on, and on the 
 other hand there is the working or doing as an inanimate machine 
 what the conscious self condemns and opposes. 
 
 16. This action without choice, contrary to purpose, shews 
 that the self does not approve sin, but does approve the law of 
 God, which sin disobeys, 
 
 17. So now: not ' at the present time,' but * as the case is.' 
 
 I. The inner, higher self has no share in the sin, but is 
 hindered and overcome by the sin which, as a foreign power, has 
 invaded, subjected, and tyrannizes over the human personality. 
 Paul therefore regards sin not merely as the wrong choice of the 
 self, but as a power which can gain the mastery over the self, so 
 as to compel action contrary to its desires and purposes. He 
 divides the personality into two parts, the inward man, and the 
 flesh or the members in which sin dwells, and he identifies self 
 with the inward man, and treats the flesh and members as some- 
 thing distinct from the self. This is assuredly no scientific 
 psychology, but one cannot even refrain from asking oneself 
 whether it does not implicitly deny liberty and responsibility. In 
 the next verse, however, this analysis is modified. 
 
 18. in me. Paul now identifies the self with the flesh, just as 
 before he had identified it with the inward man, so that after all 
 the self is responsible for, and active in the deeds of, sin in the 
 flesh. 
 
 to will is present with me: volition 'lies to my hand,' or 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o TO THE ROMANS 7. 19-23 
 
 19 is not. For the good which I would I do not : but the 
 
 20 evil which I would not, that I practise. But if what I 
 would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but 
 
 21 sin which dwelleth in me. I find then the law, that, to 
 
 22 me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight 
 
 23 in the law of God after the inward man : but I see a 
 different law in my members, warring against the law of 
 my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law 
 
 ' is within my reach.' Willing and doing are here contrasted, 
 although volition is not complete until it takes effect in action. 
 ' To will ' is here used as equivalent to ' to wish ' or ' to purpose.' 
 Goodness does not get beyond the intention ; so far the self can 
 go in its approval of the law, but action is beyond its power. 
 
 20. no more I . . . but sin. But can a man thus disown 
 responsibility for his actions? Probably all that Paul means, 
 however, is that while sin is chosen and willed, and it involves 
 guilt only as chosen and willed, the self is not absolutely identified 
 with the evil choice, but there is still left in a man the desire and 
 the purpose not to sin but to do righteousness. This Paul regards 
 as the true and permanent self of the man ; he is thus far from 
 teaching the doctrine of total depravity. 
 
 21. tlie law : or, *in regard to the law.' In the former rendering 
 the term 'the law' is used in an unusual sense for 'the rule,' 
 ' the constraining principle ' : the content of this rule then is the 
 presence of evil in the self willing good. In the latter case 'the 
 law' means especially the Mosaic law, one of the commandments 
 of which has been quoted, and the meaning may be brought out 
 in a paraphrase : In so far as concerns my relation to the law, 
 while I approve it as good, and wish to obey it, yet I am hindered 
 by ever-present sin. Paul may be supposed to have intended to 
 write, ' I find the law, when I intend to do good, powerless to help 
 me,' but instead of completing the sentence to have turned aside 
 to state what made the law thus powerless. While the use of 
 the term * law ' for ' rule ' is unusual, yet the former rendering does 
 less violence to the grammatical structure of the sentence than 
 the latter. 
 
 22. delight. Conscience approves what law commands. 
 inward man (vi. 6), reason, conscience, mental and moral 
 
 faculties. 
 
 23. a different law : a force acting uniformly in opposition to 
 the law which the inward man approves. 
 
 law of my mind : or, reason ' ; the faculty which distinguishes 
 right from wrong, which belongs to man's moral nature, and is 
 
TO THE ROMANS 7. 24, 25 181 
 
 of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I 24 
 am ! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death ? 
 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then 25 
 
 distinct from ' spirit,' which is the pecuh'ar organ of reh'gion. This 
 * mind ' may become reprobate (i, 28), but it can also be renewed 
 (xii. 2), The inward man is a wider term, but includes the mind. 
 The law revealed to and approved by the mind becomes the law 
 of the mind. 
 
 24. wretclied man. This cannot describe a Christian. But could 
 a Pharisee be so miserable — would he not be self-satisfied ? But 
 Paul had probably lost all Pharisaic vanity and conceit before he 
 became a Christian. Possibly it was his discovery that Pharisaism 
 offered no way of peace that drove him into persecuting the 
 Christians, as both a relief from his inward misery, and a means 
 of securing God's favour, which he had realized he could not obtain 
 by the keeping of the law. "Was his vision on the way to Damascus 
 an answer to so despairing a cry ? Were the goads against which 
 he had kicked the feelings of intense disgust with, and despair 
 regarding, himself? This passage, however, is not merely auto- 
 biography, it expresses a typical experience. 
 
 the body : the realm in which sin reigns. 
 
 this death. The body as subject to sin is also under the 
 dominion of death. It is a body doomed to die. For Paul 
 deliverance from sin appeared to be completed only when the 
 body which had been its occasion, seat, and instrument was taken 
 away. Christians wait for their adoption, * the redemption of 
 their body ' at the resurrection (viii. 23). 
 
 25. I thank God : or, ' But thanks be to God.* What does Paul 
 thank God for? (i) The power of the new life in Christ, death 
 to sin, and life unto God. (2) The hope given in Christ of final 
 emancipation from sin and death. 
 
 So then : the words following do not serve simply as a 
 summary of the whole passage, but are an admission by Paul 
 that the deliverance in Christ has not yet been completed, and 
 that the inward conflict, though in modified form, still continues. 
 
 The Christian's Emancipation from the Law (vii). 
 
 As Paul's teaching in the relation of the Christian to the law 
 may be easily misunderstood, and so present serious difficulties, 
 it seems necessary at this stage to offer some observations in 
 explanation and defence of his view. The immediate practical 
 question which Paul had to deal with in his apostolate was the 
 emancipation of his Gentile converts from the Jewish law, the 
 rite of circumcision, and all the ceremonial and ritual observances 
 
i82 TO THE ROMANS 7. 25 
 
 I myself with the mind serve the law of God ; but with 
 the flesh the law of sin. 
 
 of Judaism. But he is not content with settling this narrower 
 issue ; he raises the wider problem of the relation of the believer 
 to any law, and solves it by affirming his absolute freedom. 
 While there would be none found probably who would deny the 
 Tightness of his advocacy of Gentile emancipation from Judaism, 
 yet doubt may be felt regarding the wisdom of his assertion 
 of absolute freedom. Licence and laxity may so easily take 
 the place of liberty that law in some form or another seems 
 a necessary provision for the moral life. We must look at Paul's 
 teaching to see if it provides the necessary moral safeguards. 
 While the Jew has the law of Moses, the Gentile has the law 
 in himself. The Jew, while boasting his possession, neglects the 
 practice of the law, and it is not having but doing the law that 
 profits. Yet as all have sinned none can be justified by the works 
 of the law. What the law alone does, and can do, is to bring the 
 knowledge of sin. Sin as disobedience to a known prohibition 
 becomes transgression, and so incurs guilt, and therefore the law 
 works wrath. Not only does the law bring condemnation, but 
 b3' its very restraint provokes sin, and so multiplies the offence. 
 The sin in man's nature, the flesh, not only renders man impotent 
 to fulfil the demands of the law, but is even driven to more 
 reckless self-assertion in opposition to the law. This was Paul's 
 own experience of life under the law. While it awakened the 
 moral consciousness, it could not strengthen the moral purpose ; 
 it produced only a deeper sense of discord between duty and 
 desire. Despair of self was all the law brought to him. In many 
 of his countrymen it worked otherwise, but even more disastrously. 
 It led them to make the assumption that they could so keep the 
 commandments of God as to gain merit before Him, and so secure 
 a reward. It led them to take up an attitude of presumptuous 
 confidence towards God ; to claim God's favour as a right instead 
 of welcoming it as a gift. A false view of the relation of God 
 and man was the result of the law for the majority of the Jewish 
 people. This result was what John the Baptist and Christ himself 
 liad condemned in the people, as the other result was what 
 Paul experienced in himself. While he generally approves the 
 provisions of the law, asserts its Divine origin, ascribes its failure 
 to the wilfulness and weakness of the flesh, disowns any intention 
 to identify law and sin, and instead of making it void seeks to 
 establish it ; yet he puts for all its varied and complex provisions 
 the one principle of love as the fulfilment of the law, and for 
 conformity to its rules, union with Christ realized in a life in the 
 Spirit. Disregarding all the ceremonial and ritual observances 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. i 183 
 
 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that 8 
 
 of the law, he affirms its moral content yet iiot as external 
 command, but as inward constraint. Morality for him is not the 
 observance of rules, but the spontaneous and energetic expression 
 and exercise of a Divine life present and active in the believer — 
 a life, the characteristic, constant feature of which is love, because 
 reproducing the nature of God. Rigliteousness must be done, of 
 that he is convinced. What is the most effective way of securing 
 that man's liberty will be used for righteousness? Experience 
 had proved that conformity to an external command failed to 
 secure righteousness. Experience was proving that union with 
 Christ by his Spirit made possible a life of love, in which all the 
 commandments found their fulfilment. Who can doubt the greater 
 effectiveness of the expulsive and the impulsive power of the 
 new affection for Christ, as compared with the restraints or the 
 constraints of conscience apart from Christ ? If a man will not 
 rise to the height of this union with Christ, which makes the 
 moral life free, he is not by his failure released from the demands 
 of purity, temperance, justice, charity. If he will not live under 
 grace, he must needs fall under law. As in the history of mankind 
 law was a preparatory stage for grace, so in individual experience, 
 he who will not accept Christ as Saviour and Lord has no part 
 in the freedom wherewith Christ makes free, the freedom that 
 is secured and maintained only by dying unto sin and living 
 unto God. If a believer in Christ uses his liberty for self- 
 indulgence, he in that act lapses from his Christian standing, 
 and needs, by penitence and pardon, to be restored to it. He 
 enjoys rightful freedom only in so far as he is in all things one 
 with the mind and will of Christ. His emancipation from the 
 law means, and can mean nothing else than absolute submission 
 to Christ. Surrender to a person takes the place of obedience to 
 a commandment, and as it is surrender to a person dearly beloved 
 it is felt as perfect freedom. 
 
 (5) viii. The course of the Christian life. 
 
 This chapter sketches in outhne the life of the believer, for 
 which, in vii. 25, Paul gives thanks. In it is shewn (i) that 
 Christ's coming and the gift of the Spirit have done in him what 
 the law failed to do (i-ii); (ii) that he, living in the Spirit, 
 becomes a son and an heir of God (12-17) ; (iii) that nature shares 
 his ardent expectation of his inheritance (18-25) ; (iv) that he in 
 his present experience is sustained by the Spirit's intercession 
 in accordance with the Divine purpose (26-30) ; (v) that he thus, 
 amid all affliction, has the certainty of ultimate triumph (31-39)' 
 
 (i) viii. i-ii. The Spirit's power, (a) Christ by his Spirit, 
 which is life and gives life, has saved the believer from the power 
 
i84 TO THE ROMANS 8. 2 
 
 2 are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in 
 Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of 
 
 of sin and the dominion of death ; for by assuming the human 
 nature, of which sin has taken possession, and by offering it as 
 a sacrifice, he has executed God's sentence on sin, a task beyond 
 the power of the law to accompHsh owing to the hindrance offered 
 by the sinful passions, and accordingly has effected a moral 
 transformation in human nature (1-4). (6) This transformation 
 involves a complete change of interests and inclinations, the 
 spiritual taking the place of the carnal, and results in the entire 
 removal of the estrangement between God and man due to sin, 
 and their complete reconciliation (5-8. (c) The evidence of this 
 transformation is the present possession of the Holy Spirit, which 
 is the promise and pledge of a personal resurrection similar to 
 Christ's, even although the existing physical organism, because 
 of its connexion with sin, must perish (9-1 1). These verses are 
 pregnant with truth. The purpose of God the Father, the 
 incarnation and sacrifice of God the Son, the presence and power 
 of God the Spirit, are all mentioned as co-operative in accom- 
 plishing what the law could not accomplish. The execution of 
 sentence on sin, the deliverance of man from the power of sin, 
 the justification of the believer in the sight of God, the recon- 
 ciliation of the forgiven to God, the communication of the Spirit, 
 the resurrection of the body— all these truths are presented in this 
 outline of the believer's life. 
 
 1. condemnation. This is the very opposite of justification. 
 Although Paul here recalls the initial stage of the Christian life, 
 when the believer is declared and treated as righteous, yet what 
 he is going to deal with is the process of sanctification. But 
 there is a reason for this statement. If the grace of God were 
 not able to keep a man holy he would be always lapsing again 
 into sin, and so again coming under condemnation, and again 
 needing justification. As the Christian life is, however, in its 
 ideal one of progressive sanctification, the initial act of justification 
 does not need to be repeated. 
 
 them that are in Christ Jesns. Without such union in 
 death and life with Christ as is described in vi. i-ii, a man 
 cannot on the one hand claim the justification of which Paul 
 treats in iii. 21-31, or on the other experience the sanctification 
 with which this chapter deals. Saving faith is not, and cannot be, 
 anything else or less than such union with Christ. 
 
 2. the law of the Spirit of life : the rule exercised by the 
 Spirit, who is Himself life, and gives life. The lawless tyranny of 
 sin and death is abolished by the lawful authority of the Spirit, 
 who has not only the right but also the power to reign. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. 3 185 
 
 death. For what the law could not do, in that it was 3 
 weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the 
 
 3. what the law coxild not do. (i) Literally the phrase may be 
 rendered in two ways : (i) the impossible for the law (passive 
 sense), or (2) the impotence of the law (active sense). The R. V. 
 rendering assumes the first sense, which is more in accord with 
 Biblical usage, and gives an easier construction of the whole 
 sentence, although ancient authority, which must have great 
 weight in the interpretation of the language, supports the second 
 sense, (ii) As regards the relation of this phrase to the whole 
 sentence, two constructions are possible, (i) Either we regard 
 ' the impossible to the law ' as an accusative in apposition, 
 explaining 'condemned sin in the flesh*; Christ by his coming 
 did what the law could not do. (2) Or we treat 'the impotence 
 of the law ' as a nominative in apposition, which is defined by the 
 following sentence. The impotence of the law is shewn by this, 
 that Christ had to come to condemn sin in the flesh. This is 
 a more difficult construction, and gives a more strained sense. 
 The R. V. interpretation is therefore to be preferred, 
 
 in that = because : or, 'wherein.' The latter sense is better, 
 as Paul is not stating the reason for the powerlessness of the law, 
 but calling attention to the point in which it fails. While the 
 law can point out the right way it cannot make weak man walk 
 in it. 
 
 his own Son. The word * own ' is intended to emphasize 
 the close relationship between Christ and God. So again in verse 
 32, although another Greek word is used which might be para- 
 phrased by 'his very' Son. In Col. i. 13 the sense is given more 
 fully, ' the Son of His love.' 
 
 in the likeness of sinful flesh. The phrase raises two 
 important questions, (i) Does Paul use the term 'likeness' to 
 suggest similarity and not identity between the human nature 
 of Christ and that of mankind generally ? (2) By the term ' flesh 
 of sin,* does he mean simply to state the fact that in mankind 
 generally the flesh is the seat of sin ? or does he expressly affirm 
 an essential and necessary connexion between the flesh and sin? 
 On the answer to these questions depends the further important 
 question, (3) Was the nature which the Son of God assumed a sinful 
 human nature, that is, a nature with a tendency to evil, which, 
 although it was never allowed to assert itself, was nevertheless 
 present, and had constantly to be kept under restraint ? or was it 
 a human nature, liable to temptation yet without any inclination 
 to evil? As regards the answer to the second question, it has 
 already been shewn (see vii. 14) that Paul does not affirm the 
 essential or necessary sinfulness of the flesh, although as a matter 
 
1 86 TO THE ROMANS 8. 4 
 
 likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, con- 
 4 demned sin in the flesh : that the ordinance of the law 
 
 of fact there is a close and constant connexion between sin and 
 flesh. As regards the first question, the answer depends on 
 what has just been stated. For if Paul had regarded the flesh 
 as necessarily and essentially evil, there can be no doubt that the 
 term ' likeness ' would have been intended to indicate similarity 
 but not identity ; but if he was simply stating the fact that 
 the flesh is the seat of sin in mankind generally, then there was 
 not the same motive for in any way distinguishing Christ's human 
 nature from that of all other men. Now briefly to answer the 
 third question we may say that Paul intends to affirm the likeness 
 of Christ's humanity with man's as flesh, material organism, and 
 all that that may involve, but so far also the unlikeness, as the 
 flesh was never the seat of sin. Liability to temptation, conflict 
 with evil, conquest of sin, all these he means to ascribe to Christ, 
 else the verse would have no meaning at all, for a personality 
 incapable of sin would not have condemned sin in the flesh. 
 
 and as an offering for sin : Gk. '■ and for sin.* This phrase 
 is found constantly in the Greek O. T. as an equivalent for 
 the * sin-offering.' In Leviticus alone it is used more than fifty 
 times. As Paul in iii, 25 describes Christ's death as propitiatory, 
 and as his reference probably is to sacrifices (see note there), it is 
 possible that he here does refer to the sin-offering, but the context 
 seems to require a wider reference. The purpose of the passage 
 is to shew that the Christian can now gain a victory over sin 
 which the law was powerless to secure for him ; tiie power by 
 which he thus conquers is the Spirit. Christ's life was typical. 
 He became truly man, and yet instead of coming into subjection 
 to sin, he resisted its temptations, and so conquered it ; and he 
 has thus proved sin both unnecessary and unjustified. His 
 sinlessness was the condemnation of the sin of all mankind. 
 Christ dealt with sin on behalf of mankind, not only in bearing 
 its penalty in his death, but also in denying its claim, breaking its 
 power, overthrowing its reign in his life, in which, although he 
 was tempted in all points even as we are, yet he was Vv^ithout sin. 
 While this wider reference of the phrase does admirably suit the 
 context, yet the emphasis Paul lays on Christ's death in his 
 teaching maybe admitted to lend support to the narrower reference 
 to a sacrifice for sin. 
 
 condemned sin in the flesh. Is this condemnation to be 
 limited to his death, or extended to his life as well ? If limited 
 to his death, as a vicarious endurance of the penalty of sin, then 
 it is viewed as the ground of justification, and not as the reason 
 for sanctification as the context requires. The law was able 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. 5, 6 187 
 
 might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but 
 after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind 5 
 the things of the flesh ; but they that are after the spirit 
 the things of the spirit. For the mind of the flesh is 6 
 
 to condemn sin in the sense in which Christ's vicarious sacrifice 
 was a condemnation of sin. It demanded and pronounced such 
 penalty. What the law could not do was to enable men to live 
 a holy life as now by the Spirit of Christ was made possible for 
 them. This condemnation must, therefore, have taken place in 
 Christ's life, or in his death only as the crowning act of his 
 conflict with, and conquest of, sin. In his death he died to sin 
 in the sense that he ceased from all contact with sin, was no 
 longer liable to temptation, in his filial obedience made an absolute 
 surrender to God of that will of self which is asserted in sin. 
 This death to sin was not brought about merely by a physical 
 event, but by a moral process which, continued throughout his 
 life, was completed in his obedience unto death, his surrender 
 unto God : * Not my will, but thine be done.' Christ's whole 
 life, the spirit and purpose of which is summed up in the sacrifice 
 of his death, the offering not merely of a slain body, but of 
 a surrendered will, is the condemnation of sin. For the Christian 
 joined to Christ, and therefore sharing his obedience, sin has been 
 once for all condemned as having no claim on him, no rule over 
 him. This is the most attractive and seems the most appropriate 
 interpretation. If, however, the reference in the previous phrase 
 is to the sin-offering, then the sense here must be somewhat as 
 follows : Christ in his death was made sin for us, and became 
 a curse. His death was the execution of the Divine sentence of 
 condemnation on sin. Sin thus appears as an executed criminal, 
 and therefore its power is broken ; its rule is ended for all who,, as 
 united to Christ, accept the Divine judgement on sin. 
 
 4. ordinance : the righteous demand. 
 
 fulfilled. Paul does not mean literal obedience to the Mosaic 
 statutes. By ' fulfilment ' he means what Christ means in Matt. v. 
 17, what the law aimed at making man in character and conduct 
 by its precepts, and failed in making him, that he fully and freely 
 becomes by life in the Spirit. 
 
 flesh, . . . spirit. * Flesh ' is man's nature in its creaturely 
 weakness and its proneness to sin ; ' Spirit ' is that nature as 
 renewed by grace, and devoted to righteousness through the 
 Spirit of God. 
 
 5. mind: set their minds and hearts on; direct their spiritual 
 faculties of attention, affection, and activity to (cf Matt. xvi. 23 ; 
 Phil. ii. 5). 
 
i88 TO THE ROMANS 8. 7-10 
 
 death; but 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, neither indeed can it 
 
 8 be : and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 
 
 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that 
 the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath 
 
 I'j not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ 
 
 6. the mind of the flesh is death. The general intention and 
 inclination of the life in the flesh is such that it produces a mental, 
 moral, and spiritual decay, which will finally culminate in death 
 of body and soul. 
 
 life and peace. Not only is he who lives in the Spirit assured 
 of a blessed and glorious immortality, but already he experiences 
 that quickening of mind, heart, and will which is its foretaste. 
 ' Peace ' adds to the objective fact, the subjective feeling of satis- 
 faction in the state attained ; for the term means not only 
 reconciliation with God, but also the blissful consciousness of 
 such reconciliation. 
 
 *7. enmity against God. Only he who lives in the Spirit can 
 be at peace with God, because by its very nature the life in the 
 flesh, as self-indulgence and self-assertion, involves disobedience 
 and antagonism to God, and results in a sense of estrangement 
 from God. It is characteristic of Paul's style that he should, in 
 verse 6, contrast the mind of the flesh and the mind of the Spirit 
 as regards their ultimate consequences, death and life ; that he 
 should mar the symmetry of his sentence by adding, as an after- 
 thought, the words 'and peace,' and that by that afterthought 
 he should be turned back in his course to deal with some of 
 the more immediate consequences of the mind of the flesh — 
 estrangement from God, disobedience against God, disapproval 
 by God. 
 
 9. not in the flesh. The believer still lives in his material 
 organism, but the impulses and appetites, of which it is the source 
 and instrument, no longer dominate his will and so control his 
 action. 
 
 in the spirit. The characteristic of this life is the prominence 
 and predominance of the affections and activities in which man 
 shews his affinity to, and maintains his communion with, God. 
 
 if so toe. The old life ceases only as the new life commences; 
 the Spirit can alone expel the flesh from rule in man's life. 
 
 the Spirit of God. This life in the Spirit is not the result of 
 human effort ; it is due to the operation of God personally in man. 
 
 none of his. Without the Spirit a man is in no sense a 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. ii 189 
 
 is in you, the body is dead because of sin ; but the spirit 
 is Hfe because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him 
 that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he 
 tha^t raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall quicken 
 also your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth 
 in you. 
 
 Christian. He is the Spirit of God as God is the ultimate source, 
 the Spirit of Christ as Christ is the immediate channel, for Christ 
 is the typical manifestation of the Spirit's presence and power in 
 human personality, and becomes the cause in his work of the 
 communication of the Spirit to man. The interchangeable use of 
 the phrases ' Spirit of God' and 'Spirit of Christ' indicates the 
 unity-in-difiference of the godhead. 
 
 10. the "body is dead. In what sense ? (i) Christ, having 
 died for us on the cross, our bodies are reckoned as having been 
 put to death, as having borne the penalty of sin. (2) As occasions 
 and instruments of sin our bodies are dead to us ; we employ 
 them no more for the ends of sin. (3) Our bodies bear in them 
 the sentence of mortality ; they are destined for and doomed to 
 death as a penalty for sin. This third sense is simplest, and suits 
 the context best. 
 
 the spirit is life because of rig'hteousuess. The human 
 spirit by the indwelling and inworking of the Divine Spirit is 
 not only assured of immortality, but already gives evidence of 
 that life which cannot but be immortal, because akin to, and 
 of worth for, God. The reason for tliis certainty of life is 
 'righteousness,' taken in the widest possible sense as including 
 both justification and sanctification. Him whom God has for- 
 given and is making holy He will not suffer to perish, but will 
 preserve in life. 
 
 11. him that raised up Jesus from the dead. The resur- 
 rection of Christ is the pledge and pattern of the believer's 
 resurrection. Christ is the firstfruits (i Cor, xv. 20-23), a^i^ 
 it is by the same power as raised him that behevers will be 
 raised (i Cor. vi. 14 ; 2 Cor. iv. 14 ; Phil. iii. 21 ; i Thess. iv. 14). 
 Those who now share his life in the Spirit will once share his 
 resurrection. 
 
 throug'h his Spirit: or, < because of his Spirit.' In the one 
 case the Spirit is the power by means of which the dead are 
 raised ; in the other, the reason of their being raised. The 
 two senses are not contradictory, but harmonious. The Spirit 
 sustains the higher life of the believer now, because of that life 
 he expects the resurrection. But may we not assume that the 
 
I90 TO THE ROMANS 8. 12-14 
 
 13 So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to 
 
 13 Hve after the flesh : for if ye hve after the flesh, ye must 
 die; but if by the spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, 
 
 14 ye shall Hve. For as many as are led by the Spirit of 
 
 same Spirit who sustains the Hfe will not only continue to sustain 
 it through death, but will also be the agent of the Divine working 
 for the completion of that life in the resurrection ? For the 
 Spirit is represented in the Old and New Testament alike as 
 the spirit of power as well as of holiness, the spirit of miraculous 
 endowments as well as sanctifying influences. 
 
 (ii) viii, 12-17. The believer as son and heir. From this contrast 
 in the consequences of life in the flesh and life in the Spirit 
 Paul first of all draws a practical inference — the duty of the 
 believer to shun the former and seek the latter life. In ofTering 
 an additional reason for this exhortation he passes on to present 
 another aspect of the Christian life, the filial relation to God 
 which the believer possesses ; and this truth again suggests a 
 return of thought to the Christian hope, represented as an 
 awaited inheritance. Although the exhortation of verses 12 
 and 13 attaches itself closely to the preceding verses, yet as 
 the following verses 14 to 17 give an additional reason for it, 
 although introducing a new topic, the paragraph division in the 
 R. V. is correct, (a) The hope of resurrection in Christ enforces 
 the duty of abandoning the lower life and cherishing the higher, 
 as indulgence of the sinful nature cannot but end in death, while 
 resistance to its temptations in the cultivation of the spiritual 
 capacities leads to life (12, 13). {b) This must necessarily be 
 the result, as submission to tlie Spirit establishes and maintains 
 the filial relation of the believer to God, and the Spirit Himself 
 affords the evidence of the reality of this relation by communicating 
 an assured consciousness of it (14, 15). (c) This consciousness, 
 which is being ever confirmed by the Spirit, includes the expecta- 
 tion of an inheritance of glory, to be shared with Christ even as 
 his sufferings have been shared (16, 17). 
 
 12. debtors. Moral obligation is represented as a debt (i. 14). 
 
 13. mortify: so restrain and repress as to reduce to impotence 
 the impulses and appetites which result in evil deeds. 
 
 deeds: Gr. 'doings'; practices, dealings. 
 
 14. led "by the Spirit. While the Spirit dwells and works 
 in the spiritual man ; yet such a phrase as this shews that the 
 Apostle clearly distinguishes the human from the Divine Spirit; 
 there is immanence, but not identity ; the operations of the Spirit 
 demand the voluntary co-operation of man. 
 
TO THE ROMANS, 8. 15, 16 191 
 
 God, these are sons of God. For ye received not the 15 
 spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the 
 spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The 16 
 
 sons of God. The phrase means that those who are led 
 by the Spirit have not merely such a relationship to God as 
 children have to their parents (this natural relationship is suggested 
 by the term 'children'), but enjoy the full status, with all the 
 privileges and benefits which it confers, of those who have attained 
 their majority. In Gal. iii. 24-26 the position of believers as sons 
 of God is contrasted with their condition under the law as a tutor. 
 Again in iv. 1-7 the condition of the child, though heir yet under 
 guardians and stewards, is contrasted with his position as a son 
 who has reached 'the term appointed by the father' for his 'coming 
 of age.' Paul does not expressly deny, neither does he explicitly 
 affirm, the universal fatherhood of God. Whether man has a 
 natural relationship to God as son, he does not inquire. What 
 alone concerns him is the actual condition of men in relation to 
 God ; and he recognizes that men, as sinners, are so estranged 
 from, suspicious of, and opposed to, God, that they cannot in the 
 full moral and religious sense be described as sons. Only the 
 reconciled and regenerate are fulfilling the obligations, and so 
 enjoj'ing the privileges of sons. 
 
 15. received : at the beginning of the Christian career, when 
 justified and reconciled. 
 
 the spirit : not either the human or the Divine Spirit, but 
 a more general use of the term to express a mood, habit, or state 
 of feeling. 
 
 "bondag-s : a servile temper, a slavish disposition. 
 
 ag-ain unto fear : so as to fall back again from the joy and 
 trust of conversion into the dread felt by the sinner conscious of 
 God's wrath. 
 
 the spirit of bondagfe signifies a permanent disposition ; 
 fear, a temporary emotion, which is its results and manifestation 
 (see ii. 8). 
 
 adoption: lit. 'placing as son.' The Jews had no such 
 practice, but the Greeks and Romans had. A man might by this 
 legal process be taken into a family with which he had no natural 
 relationship, might possess all the rights and be invested with all 
 the duties of a born son. Paul does not mean expressly to deny 
 man's natural relationship, and to substitute for it a legal. He 
 uses this change of legal relationship as an illustration of the 
 contrast between the sinner's and the believer's consciousness in 
 relation to God. 
 
 Abba, Father. The first word is Aramaic, the language spoken 
 by Jews in Palestine ; the second is Greek, a language also under- 
 
192 TO THE ROMANS 8. 17 
 
 Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are 
 17 children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of 
 God, and joint-heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer 
 with hi7n^ that we may be also glorified with him. 
 
 stood and spoken by many Palestinian Jews. We find the same 
 repetition in Mark xiv. 36, ' Abba, Father, all things are possible 
 unto thee,' and in Gal. iv. 6. As Jesus spoke both languages it is 
 very probable that it was his habit in prayer to use both words, 
 and that some of his disciples took the habit from him. When it 
 reached Paul, he handed it to his converts. 
 
 16. beareth witness with. In ii. 15 conscience is represented 
 as bearing witness with the work of the law ; in ix. 2 conscience 
 is described as bearing witness with Paul himself in the Spirit. 
 Here the spirit of adoption is analysed into two co-operant factors, 
 the Divine and the human spirit. But another explanation has 
 been suggested. The term ' Abba, Father ' may have been used in 
 public worship in the church, in which the Spirit has His distinctive 
 sphere and organ ; thus the individual consciousness of sonship 
 may have been confirmed by the corporate consciousness as ex- 
 pressed in the forms of worship. The first explanation is, however, 
 quite in accord with Paul's psychological method ; and for the 
 second the context does not afford any basis, for there is nothing 
 said about the church. In such an explanation the ' churchly ' 
 mind is reading itself back into the thoughts of the Apostle. 
 
 children. The term suggests affection, intimacy, depen- 
 dence. 
 
 17. heirs. The idea of an inheritance is derived from theO. T. 
 The term refers first of all to the simple possession of the Holy 
 Land (Num. xxvi. 56) ; it^ signifies next the permanent and 
 assured possession (Ps. xxv. 13); it is then specialized to mean 
 Messiah's deliverance of the land, and his settlement of the people 
 in it (Isa. Ix. 21) ; once more it is generalized to express all the 
 Messianic blessings (Matt. v. 5). Christ, in the Parable of the 
 Wicked Husbandmen, calls himself the heir (Matt. xxi. 38), and 
 so to him may be due the N. T. use of the term (cf. iv. 14 ; Gal, 
 iii. 29, iv. 7). The child of God has not yet entered into the full 
 possession of all his powers and blessings, and therefore he still 
 waits his inheritance (cf. i John iii. 1-3). 
 
 suffer with him. Paul here seems to be recalling to his 
 readers a common Christian saying; for in 2 Tim. ii. 11-13 the 
 words ' If we died with him, we shall also live with him ; if we 
 endure, we shall also reign with him ' are described thus : Faithful 
 is the saying.' Christ's life is typical. As he went, so all his 
 followers must go, through pain to peace, through suffering to 
 glory. (Matt. xx. 2a, 23; 2 Cor. i. 5; Phil. iii. 10; Col. i. 24.) 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. i8 193 
 
 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are 
 
 (iii) viii. 18-25. Nature sharing man's hope. The Christian not 
 only hopes in spite of his sorrows, but can see in his endurance 
 of these sorrows a means of the fulfilment of his hope. His 
 affliction is not solitary, but extends to the whole present order 
 of existence. Can he use his experience in the interpretation of 
 the universe ? Can he give to creation generally a place in his 
 expectations, even as it has a share in his afflictions ? Paul 
 answers this question in the affii-mative. He does not merely 
 ascribe to nature sympathy with the moods of man, as the poets 
 have so often done. He attributes to nature a consciousness of, 
 and a dissatisfaction with, its present imperfection— a desire for, 
 and an expectation of, its completion. He includes nature in 
 man's grievous disaster, but also in his glorious destiny. As by 
 the sin he has committed he has brought misery, so by the grace 
 he will receive he will impart blessing. This cosmic speculation 
 cannot be fully discussed. There may be difficulty in accepting 
 Paul's account of the origin of physical evil as altogether due to 
 man's sin. There can, however, be no doubt that man has a vital, 
 organic relation to his environment. The evolution of the world 
 and the development of humanity are not independent but con- 
 nected processes. If we are warranted in believing in the 
 progress of the race, we are justified in hoping for a corre- 
 spondent and consequent transformation of the universe. For the 
 perfect man we may expect the perfect home. If we may under- 
 stand the scientific doctrine of ' the survival of the fittest ' in ' the 
 struggle for existence * as meaning that progress is through pain, 
 then Paul's spiritual intuition offers some analogy to the con- 
 clusion of science ; even as in i Cor. xv. 46-49 he anticipates in 
 some measure the results of recent research. We are justified 
 in studying this passage as not a flight of fancy, but as displaying 
 both insight into the world's course and foresight of its goal. 
 
 (rt) There can be no comparison, Paul declares, between the 
 present ill and the future good, for the hope of it possesses even 
 the whole creation, amid all the pain which man's sin has brought 
 upon it, and transforms this pain from a death-throe to a birth- 
 pang (18-21). [b) Believers can discern in nature an incomplete- 
 ness and dissatisfaction, such as they themselves experience, 
 because although they already possess in their own spiritual life 
 the pledge of their own coming good, yet they ardently desire 
 that complete deliverance which includes even their bodies (22, 
 23). (c) As all that is involved in the Christian salvation is not 
 immediately realized, hope has a place to fill in Christian life 
 from its beginning, and if it plays its part, endurance and expecta- 
 tion will both be characteristic of the believer (24, 25). 
 
 18. I reckon : I count up, make an estimate, strike a balance. 
 
194 TO THE ROMANS 8. 19 
 
 not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be 
 
 [9 revealed to us-ward. For the earnest expectation of the 
 
 creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. 
 
 Paul has been speaking of the Christian's inheritance of glory, but 
 he remembers that for the believer as for Christ the path to 
 glory is through pain, and so he turns aside in this passage to 
 shew : (i) that the glory far exceeds the pain ; (2) that the pain is 
 shared by all creation ; (3) that even the pain in creation is a 
 pledge of the glory ; and (4) that the believer's sufierings are 
 largely due to his sense of the contrast between what he now is, 
 and what he is sure he will yet be. If he has comfort and relief 
 as regards some of the sufferings he shares with others, he has 
 sorrows all his own, a keener sense of sin, a deeper sympathy 
 with others, the pain of unrealized possibilities and unsatisfied 
 aspirations. 
 
 the suffering's of this present time. What these were for 
 Paul we may learn from Acts xix. 23-41, xx. 18-35 > 2 Cor. i. 3-1 1, 
 vi. 4-10, xi. 23-33. 
 
 glory : the manifestation of Christ in his perfection, which 
 will be communicated to believers, who shall be like him when 
 they shall see him as he is (i John iii. 2), and who shall reflect 
 him as a mirror, and so be changed into the same likeness (2 Cor. 
 iii. 1 8). 
 
 19. earnest expectation. The Greek word is pregnant with 
 meaning. It may be thus expanded, 'waiting with head out- 
 stretched and turned away from all else,' like the runner whose 
 eye is fixed on the goal. 
 
 creation. This includes not only man, but nature also. Paul 
 undoubtedly believed that as nature had shared in the curse of 
 man's fall (Gen. iii. 17, 18), so nature too would share in the 
 blessings of his recovery. This was the common belief of his 
 age, finding abundant and often very fantastic expression in con- 
 temporary Apocalyptic literature. One illustration from the Book 
 of Enoch must suffice : * In those days will the mountains leap like 
 rams and the hills will skip like lambs satisfied with milk, and 
 they will all become angels in heaven. Their faces will be lighted 
 up with joy, because in those days the Elect One has appeared, 
 and the earth will rejoice, and the righteous will dwell upon it, 
 and the elect will go to and fro upon it.' The belief rested on 
 O. T. prophecy, although in the popular expectations the hope of 
 the prophets was literalized, materialized, secularized. Isa. Ixv. 
 17-25 promises a new heaven and a new earth, length of days to 
 man, secure possession of the land, abundant fertility of the soil, 
 and peace among the wild beasts of the earth. As compared with 
 contemporary Jewish thought Paul displays here much greater 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. 20, 21 195 
 
 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own 20 
 will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that 21 
 the creation itself also shall be delivered from the 
 
 sympathy with nature in its discord and incompleteness, and 
 much wider charity to mankind, as he claims no superiority for 
 Israel among the nations of the earth. 
 
 waiteth : another word of pregnant meaning, ^waiteth with 
 attention, withdrawn from all else.' 
 
 the revealing" of the sons of God: the manifestation of 
 Christ and his attendant hosts of the redeemed in their glory at 
 his Second Advent (i Cor. xv. 51-53 ; i Thess. iv. 16, 17). 
 
 20. was subjected : by the Divine sentence (Gen. iii. 17-19) as 
 a penalty for man's fall. 
 
 vanity : that which misses its aim, fails in its effort, dis- 
 appoints expectations. Ecclesiastes is a commentary on this 
 one word. The present world never reaches its appointed 
 perfection, and so always disappoints justified expectations. 
 
 not of its own will. Nature was altogether blameless, the 
 fault was wholly man's. 
 
 by reason of him who subjected it. Although the agency 
 of Satan in tempting man is affirmed in the Scriptures, yet this 
 does not justify the assumption made by some commentators that 
 the devil is here referred to, for it would be ascribing to him 
 a power over nature which no Scripture statement warrants. 
 Although it seems easiest in view of the context to suppose 
 that God is referred to, yet the grammatical construction adopted 
 is not the natural one, if that was the intention. Why did Paul 
 not say simply * by him who subjected it ' ? Accordingly there is 
 some probability in the suggestion that either Adam or man 
 generally is referred to. Adam's or man's sin was the occasion 
 or reason for the subjection of nature to vanity, and, therefore, the 
 responsibility for it may be assigned to him, 
 
 21. in hope. Is the hope to be assigned to him who subjects, 
 or to that which is subjected 1 If God is referred to in the previous 
 clause ' purpose' would be a more appropriate term to apply to him 
 than * hope.' If Adam or man is referred to, then the meaning is 
 that, although he saw the ruin in the fall, yet the Divine promise 
 at once awakened his hope. But the phrase probably does not 
 refer to the motive of the actor, but to an accompaniment of the 
 action. The subjection to vanity was accompanied by an awakening 
 of hope in the creation, as a relief and comfort amid its pain and 
 loss. 
 
 that. What follows defines the content of the hope ; but 
 ' because ' is an equally justifiable rendering, and then the following 
 
 O 2 
 
196 TO THE ROMANS 8. 22-24 
 
 bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the 
 
 22 children of God. For we know that the whole creation 
 
 23 groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And 
 not only so, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits 
 of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, 
 waiting for oitr adoption, to wit^ the redemption of our 
 
 24 body. For by hope were we saved: but hope that is seen 
 
 words would give the reason for the hope ; the sense in the end 
 is the same. 
 
 "bondagre of corruption. Nature's decay and dissolution 
 limits and hinders the free and full development of all its possi- 
 bilities ; the evil in the world prevents good that might be. 
 
 the liberty of the glory. In the perfect state man will have 
 full scope and free exercise for all his powers. 
 
 22. we know. All Paul's readers might know, although 
 probably all did not know, what his deeper insight and wider 
 sympathy enabled him to discern, that all nature's pains were 
 birth-pangs ; his certainty of a future good for nature rests on 
 his discovery of a present expectation in nature. 
 
 tog-ether : in all its parts ; better than ' with us.' 
 
 23. Even Christians are not content and satisfied, for although 
 they have a pledge not given to the rest of the world, they are 
 not yet in full possession of their promised good. 
 
 firstfruits of the Spirit. Not only the supernatural gifts, 
 which were characteristic of the early church, are meant, but also 
 the personal tranformation of character which distinguished the 
 Christian from other men. 
 
 adoption. At justification the believer is adopted as a son of 
 God, this process is continued in his sanctification, and is 
 completed only in his glorification. Even as Christ was ordained 
 Son of God with power at his resurrection, so the believer 
 becomes fully son only in glory. 
 
 redemption of our body. As man's life is now a bondage of 
 corruption, so the resurrection maybe represented as a deliverance; 
 the word ' redemption ' is used evidentlj' without any stress on the 
 conception of ransom, but only on the idea of release from 
 bondage. 
 
 24. by hope. As Paul teaches that salvation is of grace through 
 faith, and as he distinguishes faith and hope, it is not likely that he 
 would represent hope as the means of salvation ; it is preferable, 
 therefore, to render * in hope.' Faith assures us of our salvation, 
 but as this salvation will be completed only in the future glory, 
 hope is at once awakened in the believer. The suggestion ' for 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. 25, 26 197 
 
 is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth? But 25 
 if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with 
 patience wait for it. 
 
 And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: 26 
 for we know not how to pray as we ought ; but the Spirit 
 
 hope,' as though the meaning were that we are saved in order to 
 hope, is less satisfactory. 
 
 but hope that is seen. Here the meaning of the word 
 ' hope * changes ; it is not the subjective feeling that is meant, which 
 could never be visible ; it is the object of the hope, which may be 
 manifest when realized. 
 
 for who hopeth for that which he seeth ? An alternative 
 reading is, 'for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?' 
 The first reading as more terse is to be preferred. If we hope 
 then we do not already see all that is in store for us. The absence 
 of hope would mean that the future held no higher good in trust 
 for us. 
 
 25. patience: courage and endurance under persecution. 
 
 (iv) viii. 26-30. The Spififs inteixession and God's purpose. 
 A confirmation of the certainty of the fulfilment of the Christian 
 hope is found by Paul in the experience of the believer, that the 
 Holy Spirit Himself is operative in these unsatisfied aspirations, 
 and participates in the prayers in which they are expressed. 
 But if God by His own Spirit thus commits Himself to the 
 believer's expectations, then Paul next draws the conclusion, that 
 God's purpose, to which all existences must serve as means, does 
 include the fulfilment of these hopes. The work God has already 
 done is the promise and pledge that He will complete it. These 
 thoughts are developed as follows : {a) Although the believer 
 does not know how to give expression in prayer to his longings, 
 the Spirit, as sharing these longings, praj's for him, and this 
 prayer is both fully known to God and perfectly in accord with 
 the will of God (26, 27). (6) The believer who is conscious of being 
 united to God in love has the certainty that God is ordering all 
 things for his good, as the call to which he responded in faith 
 brought him within the Divine purpose, which is realized in the 
 following stages — foreknowledge and foreordination to likeness to 
 Christ, calling and pardon now, and perfection and blessedness 
 hereafter (28, 30). 
 
 26. in like manner. The connexion may be taken in two 
 ways, (i) As we groan in ourselves, so the Spirit intercedes for 
 us with unutterable groans. (2) As hope keeps us up, so does 
 the Spirit. But the first explanation is preferable, for the 
 
198 TO THE ROMANS 8. 27 
 
 himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which 
 
 27 cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth the hearts 
 
 knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he 
 
 repetition of the words ' groan ' and ' groanings ' is a sign of the 
 connexion, and the supports given by hope and the Spirit are not 
 distinct. That we are saved in hope has its evidence not only 
 in our groans of expectancy, but also in the yearnings which are 
 too deep even for groans, and are the Spirit's intercession in us, 
 A Divine witness agrees with a human witness that man has not 
 yet attained his destiny. 
 
 helpeth : taketh hold of us so as to support us along with 
 what we can do to support ourselves. So pregnant in meaning 
 can Greek compound words be that all this is suggested by the 
 one word rendered 'helpeth.' 
 
 our infirmity. If we regard the connexion with the pre- 
 ceeding verses as indicated in a previous note, then the infirmity 
 is this, that 'we know not how to pray as we ought.' If, 
 however, the view of the connexion there rejected is accepted, 
 then infirmity means weakness generally in trial and sorrow. 
 
 how : it is not the subject of prayer, but the mode of it, in 
 which the infirmity is shewn. 
 
 as we ought. ' In proportion to our need ' is the rendering of 
 the Greek phrase of two words which is allowed by the one, but 
 forbidden by the other of the two words. We must therefore 
 accept the rendering as given in R. V. ' According to the will of 
 God ' defines the proper mode of the prayer. The Spirit does 
 not suggest the contents of our prayers, but, as we are guided 
 by the Spirit, brings the mode of our prayer into conformity with 
 the will of God. 
 
 groanings which cannot be tittered. Discontent with sin, 
 or aspiration after holiness, may by its very intensity fail to get 
 adequate utterance, yet in it God's own Spirit is pleading with 
 God on our behalf. There may be acceptable and effective prayer 
 without words. Must not all intense desire exceed its possible 
 expression ? 
 
 27. searcheth the hearts. Compare i Sam. xvi. 7 ; Rev. 
 ii. 23- 
 
 mind. See note on verse 6. 
 
 because. Although the same Greek conjunction may be 
 rendered 'because' and 'that,' and in some cases it matters very 
 little which rendering is preferred, yet here 'that' is better than 
 ' because.' We need no reason given for God's knowledge of the 
 mind of the Spirit, but a definition of that mind may be fitly 
 added. It is on the one hand according to the will of God, and 
 on the other it is for the realization of perfection in each believer, 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. 28 199 
 
 maketh intercession for the saints according to the will 
 of God. And we know that to them that love God all 2\ 
 
 for it is as destined for saintship and with a view to its attainment 
 that the Spirit intercedes for him. 
 
 intercession. This intercession is not, so far at least as the 
 present context demands, to be conceived as (to use, as the only 
 terms available, words quite inadequate) internal to the Godhead, 
 a communication between Divine Spirit and Divine Father, and 
 external to human consciousness ; but it is in the groanings that 
 cannot be uttered, in the wordless longings of the soul, that the 
 Spirit intercedes ; it is not as representing us, but as energizing 
 in us that the Spirit pleads. He is the Paraclete (Comforter) 
 with us (John xiv. i6), while Christ is the Paraclete (Advocate) 
 with the Father (i John ii. i). In Hebrews Christ is represented 
 as the High Priest who has entered heaven, the holiest place, 
 where 'he ever liveth to make intercession' (vii. 25). But these 
 distinctions between Spirit as intercessor in us on earth and 
 Son as intercessor with the Father in heaven must not be unduly 
 pressed. The one omnipresent God, transcendent yet immanent, 
 both prays in us and answers our praj'ers for us. 
 
 28. And we know. Paul now turns to another ground of 
 confidence, and yet it is suggested by what immediately precedes. 
 The spirit intercedes 'according to God,' rightly expanded 'ac- 
 cording to the will of God.' Paul therefore shews next how 
 that will controls all events for its own ends, and what are the 
 stages in which God realizes the purpose which He wills. 
 
 all thing's. The phrase is to be taken in the widest possible 
 sense. It includes everything mentioned in verses 35, 38, 39. 
 
 work tog-ether. Paul here anticipates modern scientific 
 teaching on the organic unity, mutual dependence, and reciprocal 
 action of all things in the universe. Another reading which 
 explains the statement may be mentioned : ' God worketh all 
 things,* or better, ' God causeth all things to work.' 
 
 them that love God . . . them that are called. Here Paul 
 presents the two complementary aspects of the religious life. 
 There is the human side of the relation, 'love,' and the Divine 
 side, ' the call.' While Paul has already spoken of the love of 
 God to us (v. 5, 8), and in this chapter again speaks (39^ he has 
 not yet mentioned our love to God, and this is the only mention 
 in Romans. He speaks several times of love to others (xii. 
 9, 10, xiii. 8, 9). He has mentioned faith again and again ; hope 
 has just been his theme ; and now he completes the trinity of 
 graces by mentioning love. It has been noted that he says much 
 more about faith in God than love to God ; but in laying the 
 foundation doctrines of the Christian life, faith must necessarily 
 
200 TO THE ROMANS 8. 29 
 
 things work together for good, even to them that are 
 29 called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, 
 
 be more prominent, and faith in God must surely be accompanied 
 by love to God. The grace which faith grasps shews and gives 
 the love of God, and God's love must needs awake in man its 
 own likeness, man's love, which cannot be directed merely out- 
 ward to his fellows, but must also return upward to the Giver. 
 The Divine side in the relation is the ' call,' to which the believer 
 responds ; it is the first stage in the realization of God's purpose 
 which fails within time. The term 'called' implies that the 
 Divine summons has been obeyed. 
 
 according' to his purpose. Cf. Rom. ix. ii ; Eph. i. n, iii. 11 ; 
 2 Tim. i. 9. The call of the gospel and the love of man which 
 grows out of the faith that answers it are in time, but before 
 them and bej'ond them is the timeless will of God, which, 
 however, is realized in time, and the successive stages of which 
 are now sketched. Here we are brought face to face with the 
 problem of man's freedom and God's purpose, which no theology 
 has fully solved. While on the one hand God's purpose is 
 realized through man's freedom, on the other hand man's free- 
 dom can ever be subordinated to God's purpose. Here we are 
 dealing with the language not of dogmatic theology, but of religious 
 experience ; it does not solve problems for our knowledge, but 
 expresses certainties for our faith. 
 
 29. foreknew. There are three possible interpretations : 
 (i) We may allow ourselves to be solely guided by the Biblical 
 usage of the word 'know' (Pss. i. 6, cxliv. 3; Hos. xiii. 5; 
 Amos iii. 2; Matt. vii. 23) in the sense of 'take note of,' 'fix 
 regard on,' with a suggestion of a further purpose, generally of 
 favour or blessing. If 'know' means this, then 'foreknow' 
 means that in His eternal counsel God looked favourably on and 
 marked out for blessing those who are included in His purpose. 
 (2) We may define the content of the foreknowledge from the 
 context : either he ' foreknew ' as ' them that love God,' or as 
 ' those to be conformed to the image of his son.* (3) We may 
 finally give a dogmatic interpretation as from the standpoint of 
 Calvinism, 'whom He foreknew as the elect in contrast to the 
 reprobate,' or from a standpoint which seeks to reconcile Divine 
 election and human freedom, ' whom He foreknew as those who 
 would believe.' The third way of explaining the word brings 
 in considerations that are not in the passage itself. The second 
 way, while it introduces nothing foreign to the context, yet does 
 not recognize the distinctive sense attached in the Scriptures 
 to the word * know.' The first way not only recognizes this 
 distinctive sense, but is also appropriate to the context. God's 
 favourable regard is the starting-point of the whole process. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. 30, 31 201 
 
 he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his 
 Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren : 
 and whom he foreordained, them he also called : and 30 
 whom he called, them he also justified : and whom he 
 justified, them he also glorified. 
 
 What then shall we say to these things ? If God is for 31 
 
 foreordained. Divine will follows Divine knowledge ; but 
 we must beware of regarding Divine will as a metaphysical 
 necessity which excludes human liberty. God's purpose must 
 be carried out, and can be thwarted, by man's freedom. It must 
 also be observed that what God foreordains is the sanctification 
 and glorification of those whom He favourably regards. This, 
 and not any other good, is what he intends for them. 
 
 conformed. This means not outward resemblance merely, 
 but essential similarity. 
 
 iinag'e. This includes the glorified body as well as the 
 perfect spirit of the Son, who himself is the image, the visible 
 manifestation of the invisible God (i Cor. xv. 49 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18, 
 iv. 4 ; Col. i. 15). 
 
 that lie might he the firstborn among many brethren. 
 That God may be all in all (i Cor. xv. 28) is the ultimate purpose, 
 but this purpose is realized in a family (Heb. ii. ii) in which the 
 image of God — the manifestation of the Divine perfection — is 
 communicated to many through One, in whom it appeared first 
 of all not as an exclusive right, but as a communicative grace. 
 Prior to Incarnation, Christ is 'the image of the invisible God' 
 (Col. i. 15), and ' the firstborn of all creation.' Subsequent to 
 his resurrection, he is ' the firstborn from the dead ; that in all 
 things he might have the pre-eminence' (18). Here the reference 
 is to the latter relation. 
 
 30. glorified. Although glorification is still future, the past 
 tense is used, for in God's counsel the whole process stands 
 complete (Eph, ii. 4-6). Sanctification is not mentioned, although 
 it is not excluded, but is implied in glorification. 
 
 (v) viii. 31-39. The asswrance of faith. Having thus established 
 the objective fact of God's purpose concerning the believer, Paul 
 next describes the subjective feeling of certainty, which the fact 
 inspires and justifies. In this passage there is more attention 
 given than is at all usual with Paul to the rhetorical form. As 
 the comparison between Adam and Christ closed the division of 
 the Epistle dealing with the doctrine of sanctification, so this 
 hymn of triumphant faith closes Paul's treatment of sanctification. 
 (a) Such being God's purpose, the believer has nothing to fear. 
 
202 TO THE ROMANS 8. 32, 33 
 
 32 us, who is against us ? He that spared not his own Son, 
 but dehvered him up for us all, how shall he not also 
 
 33 with him freely give us all things ? Who shall lay any- 
 
 for God has in the gift of His Son pledged Himself to all good 
 that the believer may need (31, 32). (b) No man can find any 
 fault with God's chosen one, whom He has forgiven, whom Christ 
 has suffered and triumphed to bless in union with himself (33-35*). 
 (c) Suffering in the worst forms that can be threatened cannot 
 sever this bond, but can only prove Christ's strength still more 
 abundant (35''-37). id) The believer is confident that there is 
 no kind of being which can take from him God's love in Christ 
 (38, 39)- 
 
 32. The same argument is expanded in v. 6-10. God having 
 done the greater may be confidently expected to do the less. 
 
 spared not. The same word is applied to Abraham's sacrifice 
 of Isaac (Gen. xxii. 16). Christ draws an inference from God's 
 fatherly love as compared with man's imperfect affection (Matt, 
 vii. II). 
 
 33-35. It is possible to take the construction of these verses in 
 three ways. (i) As the punctuation of the R. V. indicates, 
 * Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? ' is a 
 question which gets two answers : (i) ' It is God that justifieth,' 
 and (ii) ' It is Christ Jesus that died,' &c. Each of these answers 
 has a subordinate question attached to it : ' Who is he that shall 
 condemn ? ' belongs to answer (i) ; and ' Who shall separate us 
 from the love of Christ ? ' to answer (ii). This dependence might 
 be brought out by changing the form of the sentence. Answer (i), 
 If God justifies, who will condemn? Answer (ii). If Christ died, 
 who can separate? The passage interpreted in this way may 
 be summed up in a few words. No accusation because no 
 condemnation for those whom God has justified ; and no separation 
 for those for whom Christ's work has been done. ' Shall tribula- 
 tion,' &c., in verse 35 would then be a fresh question suggested 
 by the preceding answer, and would be answered in verse 37. 
 (2) As the punctuation of the A. V. and the division of verses 
 indicate, we may regard the passage as consisting of tliree 
 successive co-ordinate questions w^ith their answers : (i) Who 
 accuses? God justifies, (ii) Who condemns? Christ saves, (iii) 
 Who separates ? Nothing can. (This third question is put twice : 
 'Who shall,' &c. ? and • Shall tribulation,' &c. ?) The passage might 
 be summed up in these words : No accusation, no condemnation, 
 no separation. The former of these two ways is better, as the 
 second and third questions attach themselves to the preceding 
 answers, and we do the sense some violence by taking them 
 
TO THE ROMANS 8. 34, 35 203 
 
 thing to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that 
 justifieth; who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ 34 
 Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, 
 who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh inter- 
 cession tor us. Who shall separate us from the love of 35 
 Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or 
 
 apart. (31 Still a third interpretation is suggested by the margin 
 of the R. V. The argument then assumes the form of a redttctto ad 
 absurdum. (i) Who shall accuse? Shall God who justifieth? 
 Never, (ii) Who shall condemn ? Shall Christ who died? Never, 
 (iii) Who shall separate? Shall tribulation, &c. ? Never. But 
 the first construction is simplest and clearest. 
 
 33. elect. Matt. xxii. 14 distinguishes the called and the 
 chosen ; but Paul regards all the called as chosen also, for he 
 uses the term ' called ' not of those who onl}' hear the call, but 
 of those who also heed it. Their choice, however, presupposes 
 a previous choice b}^ God, but of this Divine election we l^now 
 nothing apart from human obedience to the Divine summons. 
 All who have heeded as well as heard the call are God's elect. 
 
 34. It is Christ, &c. The connexion with the preceding 
 verse is this : On what ground has God j ustified ? The answer 
 is, Because of what Christ has done and is doing. Crucifixion, 
 Resurrection, Ascension, Intercession-rthese are the outstanding 
 features of Christ's work. The Spil^J/uitercedes as well as Christ 
 (see note on 'intercession,' verse 27). We must not suppose 
 the Father unwilling to hear and answer and needing persuasion, 
 but the intercession, even as the propitiation by the Son, is 
 included in the Father's own reconciliation of the world unto 
 Himself. It is difficult for us to conceive the mode or the purpose 
 of this intercession. But as human intercession sometimes 
 confirms human petition, so Christ is, for the encouragement 
 of our faith, represented as taking up our feeble petition into his 
 mighty intercession. ' His greatness flows around our incomplete- 
 ness, round our restlessness His rest.' 
 
 35. of Christ : or, ' of God.' If verse 35 is connected with 
 verse 34, the former is more suitable, as it is Christ's love which 
 is expressed and exercised in his work for us, and God's love 
 through his. 
 
 trihulation (see v. 3), angfuish (ii. 9), persecution (2 Cor. 
 xi. 23-32, xii. 10), famine, nakedness (i Cor. iv. 11 ; 2 Cor. xi. 
 27^, peril (i Cor. xv. 30; 2 Cor. xi. 26), sword (Acts xii. 2; 
 Rom. xvi. 4). This statement of possible evils is not fancy, 
 but fact. 
 
204 TO THE ROMANS 8. 36-39 
 
 36 famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is 
 written, 
 
 For thy sake we are killed all the day long ; 
 We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
 
 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors 
 3^ through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that 
 
 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
 39 things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, 
 
 36. This is an exact quotation from Ps. xliv. 22, which is not 
 ^ a mere illustration, but a real argument, for from Paul's standpoint 
 affliction prophesied is affliction justified. 
 
 all tlie day. Cf. i Cor. xv. 31, ' I die daily.' 
 > 37. more than conquerors. Paul is fond of laying stress on 
 the excess of God's bounty over man's need (v. 20). 
 
 tliroug-h hixn that loved us. It is the apprehension, appre- 
 ciation, and appropriation of the love of Christ as exercised and 
 expressed in his work that imparts vigour to, and secures victory 
 for, the believer. 
 
 38-39. As verse 35 deals with present experienced evils, so 
 these two verses deal with future possible dangers. 
 
 33. I am persuaded. Paul's individual conviction is appealed 
 ^"^to to confirm the common Christian assurance. 
 
 death, nor life : the changes in man's lot. If we are to lay 
 stress on the order, then 'life' must mean not the present but 
 the future life, unknown, unproved. If Paul thought of the 
 common belief that death puts man more fully under the power 
 of spirits in the life beyond, then the next reference becomes 
 more intelligible. 
 
 ang-els, . . . principalities, . . . powers. Although according to 
 the best reading the word ' powers ' is separated from the other 
 two, yet it must be explained along with them. 'Angels,' ///. 
 * messengers,' is the most general term applied to these spiritual 
 beings. According to the common belief they were arranged 
 in various orders, differing in dignity, function, and powers. 
 'Principalities' and 'powers' are two of the titles given to 
 angels, Paul adopts the popular conception and terminology 
 (i Cor. XV. 24 ; Eph. i. 21, iii. 10, vi. 12 ; Col. i. 16, ii. 10). He 
 protests against the worshipping of angels (Col. ii. 18), and 
 asserts their creation through and unto Christ (i. 16), their 
 inclusion in his atonement (i. 20), their defeat in his death 
 (ii. 1$), their subjection to his dominion (i Cor. xv. 24 ; Eph. i. 
 10). As his references are mostly directed against a doctrine 
 and worship of angels which disputed the absolute supremacy 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. r 205 
 
 nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to 
 separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord. 
 
 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience 9 
 
 and perfect sufficiency of Christ, his tone is more or less hostile. 
 He speaks much of the conflict to be waged against evil angels 
 (Eph. vi. 12). In this speculation, which Paul tacitly accepts 
 without definitely approving, and which he uses rhetorically and 
 controversially, we have no essential part of his Christian faith, 
 but an unimportant survival of his Jewish training. 
 
 tiling's present, . . . thing's to come. By this Paul does not 
 mean abstractly successions of time, but concretely the present 
 age before the Second Advent, and the future age subsequent 
 to it; that is, the whole course of human history. Jewish theology 
 thus recognized two periods, one before and one after the Messiah's 
 coming. 
 
 39. height, nor depth. Although Paul does objectify abstrac- 
 tions (2 Cor. X. 5, 'every high thing'; Eph. iii. 18, 'the breadth 
 and length and height and depth'), yet probably the words here 
 are not used abstractly for dimensions of space, but concretely. 
 The ' height ' is the heavens as the abode of evil spirits (Eph. 
 vi. 12). The * depth ' is the abyss of darkness and death (Eph. iv. 
 9 : cf. Rom. x. 6, 7). Christ hath both descended and ascended, 
 and has triumphed in the depth and in the height. 
 
 any other creature. The sense is not any other created 
 thing, but any other kind of creation, differing from all already 
 enumerated. 
 
 the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our liord. 
 Christ is the Son of God's love (Col. i. 13), and the love of Christ 
 (2 Cor. V. 14 ; Eph. iii. 19, v. 25) is the love of God, which is 
 commended in Christ's death (v. 8), and is shed abroad in our 
 hearts through the Holy Ghost (v. 5). 
 
 III. The Doctrine of Election, ix— xi. 
 
 The gospel which Paul preached had been accepted by many 
 Gentiles, but had been rejected by most Jews; this might seem 
 a serious objection against it. If the people to whom the promises 
 were given had not welcomed it, surely it could not be their 
 fulfilment as it claimed to be. Or, if the gospel was indeed the 
 fulfilment of the promises, had not God failed to keep His word 
 to His chosen people, whose place was now being taken by the 
 Gentiles? If God were faithful. His fulfilment of His promises 
 would surely be of such a kind as would commend it to those who 
 had received the promises, and would not, as Paul's gospel did, 
 
2o6 TO THE ROMANS 9. 2 
 
 2 bearing witness with me in the Holy Ghost, that I have 
 
 arouse their antagonism. But if God Himself allowed His people 
 to be thus offended by the gospel, His character seemed com- 
 promised. Paul seeks to shew in this third division of his 
 doctrinal statement both that his gospel is true, even although 
 the Jewish people as a whole has rejected it, and that their 
 rejection does not involve God's unfaithfulness to His promises. 
 The argument consists of three main propositions : (i) God is 
 absolutely free to elect or reject individuals or nations according 
 to His own will (ix. 1-29) ; (2) the Jewish people, by its unbelief, 
 has deserved its present exclusion from the blessings of the gospel 
 (ix. 30 — X. 21) ; (3) this exclusion is partial and temporary, as it 
 is God's purpose ultimately to include both Jew and Gentile in 
 His grace (xi). 
 
 (i) ix. 1-29. God's absolute freedom. 
 
 (i) The Apostle first of all affirms his ardent Jewish patriotism, 
 his intense sorrow over his people's unbelief, and his profound 
 sense of its privileges (1-5). (ii) Next, he proves that the rejection 
 of Israel does not involve any breach of Divine promises, as 
 the principle of God's unconditional election has been affirmed 
 throughout the history of the chosen people ,6-13). (iii) Thirdly, 
 he vindicates this unconditional election against the charge of 
 injustice by proving by God's own words His claim to freedom in 
 all His actions (14-18). (iv) Fourthly, he rebukes any attempt on 
 the part of the creature to question the action of the Creator, but 
 shews that God has used His freedom not in strict justice, but in 
 abundant mercy (19-29). This last thought prepares us for passing 
 to his second proposition, that Israel's doom is deserved. 
 
 (i) ix. 1-5. The Apostle's patriotism, {a) Speaking as one who 
 in his relation to Christ is conscious of the obligation of truthfulness, 
 the Apostle affirms his intense sorrow on account of Israel's doom, 
 and his willingness to endure any sacrifice, however great, even 
 exclusion from life in Christ, if that were possible, to benefit his 
 brethren (1-3) ; (6) he enumerates the many privileges granted 
 by God to His people, culminating in the Incarnation of God in 
 one of Jewish descent (4, 5). 
 
 1. I say the truth. Paul's opponents had gone so far as to 
 charge him with insincerity and falsehood, and had represented 
 him as an enemy of his own people, and an apostate from its beliefs 
 and customs. Hence this vehement assertion is necessary. 
 
 in Christ. Christ is the motive and principle, the environment 
 and atmosphere of his whole life, word, and deed. 
 
 my conscience bearing witness with me. This distinction 
 between the self and the conscience is explained in notes on 
 ii. 15- 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 3, 4 207 
 
 great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I 3 
 could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for 
 my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh : 
 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, 4 
 
 in the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit had enlightened, 
 quickened, renewed in the Apostle, the faculty of conscience, 
 which even the Gentiles possessed. 
 
 2. sorrow . . . pain: the first Greek word refers to the mental 
 and emotional, the second rather to the physical aspect of grief. 
 
 3. coiild wish: or, ' pray.' The wish was in his mind, the prayer 
 in his heart, while the Apostle knew the wish was one that could 
 not be fulfilled, the prayer one that could not be offered ; yet 
 the words express his willingness to endure even the greatest 
 imaginable sacrifice. 
 
 anathema. This word is spelt in Greek with a long or a short 
 
 * e ' (for which Greek has two distinct letters). With the long ' e * 
 it means * that which is offered or consecrated to God.' With the 
 short ' e,' which is found here, it means ' accursed,' * devoted to 
 destruction.' In the Greek version of the O. T. it is applied to 
 things or persons under the ban. In the N. T. it has always this 
 meaning (Gal. i. 8, 9 ; i Cor. xii. 3, xvi. 22). In this sense the 
 word must be taken here, and not in the later signification, as 
 
 * excommunication.' We may compare with Paul's wish Moses' 
 prayer (Exod. xxxii. 32, 33) : * Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their 
 sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou 
 hast written.' The impossibility of an answer to such a prayer is 
 shewn in God's answer. 'Whosoever hath sinned against me, 
 him will I blot out of my book.' 
 
 from Christ : not accursed by Christ, but accursed in being 
 separated from Christ. 
 
 according- to the flesh. All Christian believers were Paul's 
 brethren spiritually (cf. Jesus' words, Mark iii. 35). The Jews 
 were his brethren by natural relationship (so kinsmen, xvi. 7-11). 
 
 4. Paul now takes up the subject he had just suggested, iii. i, 2. 
 Israelites. As Israel was a divinely given name of Jacob, 
 
 the term describes his descendants as God's chosen people, and 
 the heirs of the promises given to the fathers (Eph. ii. 12). This 
 title is transferred to the Christian Church, which is spoken of as 
 'the Israel of God' (Gal. vi. 16). In contemporary Jewish litera- 
 ture the term is used to express the privileged position of God's 
 elect nation. 'Hebrew' expresses a Ungual, 'Jew' a national, 
 
 * Israel ' a religious distinction. 
 
 adoption. (See note on viii. 15 for the application of the 
 term to Christians.) Here it is used to express God's choice of 
 
2o8 TO THE ROMANS 9. 5 
 
 and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the 
 5 service of God^ and the promises ; whose are the fathers, 
 
 the Hebrew people as His own ; the relation between Jehovah 
 and Israel is already so described in the O. T. (Exod. iv. 22 ; Deut. 
 xiv. I, xxxii. 6; Jer. xxxi. 9; Hos. xi. i), 
 
 g-lory : the pillar of cloud by day, and the fire by night, which 
 was the visible token of Jehovah's presence among the people 
 (Exod. xvi. 10). The Rabbis called this the Shekinah, and had 
 many speculations about it. 
 
 covenants. The plural is used not to include the old and the 
 new, the Jewish and the Christian covenants, but in reference to 
 the several renewals of the one covenant (Gen. vi. 18, ix. 9, xv. 
 18, xvii. 2, 7, 9 ; Exod. ii. 24). The Jews were prone to ignore 
 the obligations the covenant imposed on them, and to assert the 
 obligations which they assumed that it imposed on God. The 
 prophets were unwearied in their rebuke of the false confidence 
 which this sense of standing in covenant relations with Jehovah 
 often produced. 
 
 the g'iving' of the law. The dignity and glory of having 
 received amid circumstances of awe and splendour a Divine com- 
 munication of the Divine will was a national distinction much 
 prized by the Jews. Thus consciousness is expressed in Deut. iv. 
 8 ; Neh. ix. 13, 14. Paul has already rebuked the assumption 
 that the possession of the law merely, without its observance, con- 
 ferred benefit. In Gal. iii. 19, 20, he reckons the fact that the law 
 'was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator' as 
 a disadvantage in comparison with the direct gift of the promise 
 by the one God. Keeping the law was regarded by the Jews as 
 the condition for securing the enjoyment of the blessings of the 
 Messianic kingdom. 
 
 the service of God : the ritual worship of the temple, which, 
 with the law and the doing of kindness, one of the Jewish fathers 
 regarded as sustaining the world. In Heb. ix. 1-6 a brief de- 
 scription of this service is given, but with reference to the 
 tabernacle, and not the temple. 
 
 the promises : especially those relating to the Messianic 
 kingdom (i. 2 ; Gal. iii, 19 ; Heb. vi, 12, xi, 13). These promises 
 included the secure possession of a fertile land, an abundant 
 posterity, the righteous and prosperous rule of a Davidic king, &c. 
 5. the fathers. Cf, Acts iii. 13, vii. 32, ii. 29. Jesus describes 
 the woman holden with an infirmity as a ' daughter of Abraham,' 
 and gives this as a reason why she should be released from her 
 bondage (Luke xiii. 16). Lazarus is described as in * Abraham's 
 bosom,' and the rich man as calling him ' father Abraham ' (Luke 
 xvi. 23, 24). The merits of the fathers were regarded by Jewish 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 6 209 
 
 and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is 
 over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. But // is not as 6 
 
 theology as available to compensate for the shortcomings of their 
 descendants (see note on xi. 28). 
 
 Christ : rather, < the Christ'; the official title, not the personal 
 name. Paul refers several times to the Davidic descent of Jesus. 
 
 concerning- tlie flesh. See note on i. 3. 
 
 who is over all, God hlessed for ever. With change of 
 punctuation three other renderings are possible: (i) 'He who is 
 God over all, be (or is) blessed for ever.' A full stop in place of 
 a comma is placed after < flesh.' (2) ' He who is over all is God, 
 blessed for ever.' The same punctuation allows this different 
 rendering. (3) * Who is over all. God be (or is) blessed for ever.' 
 The full stop is placed after the ' all.' As the original MSS. of the 
 Epistles had no punctuation , the later MSS. can claim no traditional 
 authority for their punctuation. The question then is purely one of 
 the best interpretation, (i) Against the rendering in the text the 
 following considerations have been urged : (i) Paul always repre- 
 sents Christ as subordinate to the Father, and therefore it is not 
 likely that he would have ascribed to him supreme dominion in the 
 words < who is over all.' But he does ascribe to Christ sovereignty 
 over creation (i Cor. xi. 3, xv. 28 ; Phil. ii. 5-1 1 ; Col. i. 13-20). 
 (2) He uses ' God ' as practically a proper name for the Father, 
 even as * Lord ' for Christ, and ' Spirit' for the third person in the 
 Godhead, and so would not be likely to call Christ 'God.' But 
 he calls the Father 'Lord' (i Cor. iii. 5) and Christ 'Spirit' 
 (2 Cor. iii. 18), and why not Christ ' God ' ? (3) A doxology is 
 nowhere addressed to Christ, save in 2 Tim. iv. 18, about the 
 Pauline authorship of which there is at least sufficient doubt to 
 forbid its use in any argument about Pauline usage. But Paul 
 ascribed such Divine dignity and prerogative to Christ that we 
 cannot say confidently that he could not, in a mood of spiritual 
 exaltation as here, have addressed a doxology to Christ. The 
 arguments against the R. V. rendering are not conclusive. But 
 what can be said for or against the other renderings? (ii) The 
 third rendering ('who it over all. God be blessed for ever') has 
 little to commend it ; the doxology comes in too abmptly. The 
 clause 'who is over all' is an insufficient contrast to the phrase 
 'as concerning the flesh.' (iii) Between the first and second 
 alternative renderings there is no great difference ; but if we 
 could adopt either, probably the first (' He who is God over all 
 be blessed for ever ') is preferable. Against this punctuation and 
 the resulting renderings there are serious objections, (i) The 
 doxology comes in too abruptly ; it is in no way prepared for in 
 what precedes. (2) There is needed and expected some striking 
 
 P 
 
2IO TO THE ROMANS 9. 7 
 
 though the word of God hath come to nought. For they 
 jr are not all Israel, which are of Israel : neither, because 
 
 contrast to the description of Christ as of Jewish descent as con- 
 cerning the flesh, and what could be more striking than the 
 ascription of divinity to him in so exalted a form. A similar 
 contrast in i. 3-4 strengthens the force of this argument. (3^ 
 There is a grammatical objection to the sudden change of subject, 
 first Christ, then God. (4) The position of blessed at the end of 
 the sentence, and not at the beginning, is contrary to idiomatic 
 usage in doxologies. Strange then as the ascription in so un- 
 qualified a form of the title God, of the descriptive epithet 
 * who is over all,' and of a doxology to Christ must be pronounced 
 to be in Pauline usage, yet the most, probable conclusion is that 
 the R. V. rendering is right. But at the same time it must be 
 maintained that this passage cannot be used dogmatically as teach- 
 ing a doctrine of our Lord's divinity in advance of what we find 
 elsewhere in Paul's writings stated beyond any doubt or question. 
 
 (ii)ix.6-i3. God's unconditional election. Having enumerated the 
 privileges of Israel, both to prove the sincerity of his sorrow and 
 to shew the greatness of the problem to be dealt with, Paul makes 
 an appeal to history to illustrate his thesis that God's election is 
 not determined by any claim or merit of man, but only by His 
 free will, (a) God has not broken His word, for the previous 
 history of the nation shews that God's election does not include 
 all the physical descendants of an elect person, but that individual 
 descendants are elected or rejected according to God's free choice 
 (6-8). {b) The principle was illustrated in the case of Abraham, 
 of whose sons only Isaac was chosen ; so still more unmistakably 
 in the case of Isaac, of whose twin sons one was before birth, 
 irrespective of merit, called to honour, the other appointed to 
 servitude, a distinction which the history of their respective 
 descendants has verified (9-13). 
 
 6. But it is not as thong-h. Paul's intense anguish for his 
 people does not, as might at first appear, imply any doubt of God's 
 faithfulness to His promises. 
 
 word of God: God's declaration of His will, whether in 
 promise or threat. This is the only place in the N. T. where the 
 phrase is used in this sense, usually it means 'the gospel' as 
 preached. 
 
 hath coxne to nought: lit. 'fallen from its place,' that is, 
 failed. 
 
 Israel. In the first use of the word here the meaning is the 
 chosen race, in the second the ancestor Jacob. Not all Jacob's 
 physical descendants (of Israel) share in the privileges which the 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 8, 9 211 
 
 they are Abraham's seed, are they all children : but, In 
 Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, it is not the 8 
 children of the flesh that are children of God; but the 
 children of the promise are reckoned for a seed. For this 9 
 is a word of promise. According to this season will I 
 
 new name sealed as his possession. It is to be noted, however, 
 that we do not find any selection made among the sons of Jacob, 
 but all the tribes were included in the nation. Hence Paul has 
 to go back for his illustrations to Abraham and Isaac. In verse 7, 
 therefore, he states the same general principle, that physical 
 descent docs not necessarily involve spiritual privilege with 
 special reference to Abraham. 
 
 7. Abraham's seed. A distinction is first made between ' seed ' 
 as physical descendants, and ' children ' as those who in addition 
 arc chosen to inherit the privileges ; but immediately after in the 
 quotation 'seed' is used not of physical descendants merely, but 
 in the same sense as * children ' has just been used. But we have 
 the same double sense in Gen. xxi, 12, 13, for immediately after 
 the words quoted the ' son of the bondswoman ' is described as 
 'Abraham's seed.' Paul himself claims to be physically 'of the 
 seed of Abraham* (xi. i), but describes all who are Christ's as 
 spiritually 'Abraham's seed' (Gal. iii. 29). 
 
 In Isaac. Not all Abraham's descendants were elected, but 
 only those who had in Isaac their forefather, and the reason for 
 this is given in the next verse, 
 
 called : counted, reckoned, not summoned. 
 
 8. children of the flesh: those who are merely physical 
 descendants, begotten and born in the natural course, as 
 Ishmael was. 
 
 children of God : those who stand in covenant relations to 
 God, inherit the promises, possess the privileges of the chosen 
 people. 
 
 the children of the promise : not merelj' ' the promised 
 children,' but the children not due to merely natural generation, 
 but Divine promise, which, appropriated by human faith, becomes 
 a miraculous power operative even in the sphere of physical 
 nature. Abraham and Sarah are both regarded as ph3'sically 
 impotent for parenthood, but as supematurally vitalized by their 
 faith in God's promise (see notes on iv. 18-21). While the 
 principle is generalized by the use of the plural, it is the case of 
 Isaac that is specially referred to. It is by a supernatural re- 
 generation that the Gentiles become the spiritual descendants of 
 Abraham. This idea is worked out in Gal. iv. 21-31. 
 
 9. a word of promise: the Greek order is *of promise this is 
 
 P 2 
 
212 TO THE ROMANS 9. lo, ii 
 
 10 come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so; but 
 Rebecca also having conceived by one, eve7i by our father 
 
 11 Isaac — for the children being not yet born, neither having 
 
 the word.' The promise was not given because of the birth, but 
 the birth was because of the promise ; the physical always depends 
 on the spiritual ; Isaac's claim was not that he was a physical 
 descendant, but that he was born in fulfilment of promise. 
 
 Accordingr to this season. Paul in his quotation combines 
 a clause from verse lo and another from verse 14 of Gen. xviii. 
 The reference of this first clause is clearly to the time of year 
 when the messengers of Jehovah visited Abraham. After a year's 
 lapse the promise given would be fulfilled. 
 
 10. And not only so : Paul is going to give a still clearer 
 illustration of the same principle, for it might be said that Isaac's 
 election was quite explicable, because (i) he was the child of 
 Abraham's v^ife, while Ishmael was born of a bondswoman, and 
 (2) he was born in fulfilment of promise, whereas Ishmael's birth 
 shewed a distrust of God's promise. But Jacob and Esau were 
 born at one birth to the same parents, and yet the election of 
 one was before birth. 
 
 but Babecca: the sentence is not finished, but after the 
 parenthesis of verse 11 the construction is changed in verse 12. 
 
 our father Isaac. Paul writes as a Jew, but the phrase tells 
 us nothing about the composition of the Roman Church. 
 
 11. for. In this parenthesis Paul introduces a new thought, 
 which is not at all necessary to his argument. He would have 
 proved the freedom of God's choice irrespective of the physical 
 descent of those chosen, if he had simply mentioned that Jacob 
 was preferred to Esau. But as it is a distinctive feature of his 
 gospel that salvation is apart from works, he pauses to explain 
 that the choice of Jacob was quite apart from any merit on his 
 part, for it was made at a time when there could be no merit. As 
 physical descent does not limit God's freedom, so even personal 
 merit does not ; the reason for God's action is in Himself. As the 
 Jews based their claims on their physical descent, not their moral 
 merit, this conclusion is irrelevant to the argument ; but, as in the 
 next stage of the argument Paul sets himself to shew that the 
 Jews deserved their rejection, it is even worse, it is inconsistent 
 with his own position. It might be met in two ways by the 
 Jewish opponent, (i) The possibility of sin even in the womb 
 was recognized by contemporary Jewish theology (cf. John ix. 2, 
 ' Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind ? '). 
 (2) God's judgement on the twin brothers might be pronounced in 
 anticipation of the character that each would afterward display. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 12, 13 213 
 
 done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God 
 according to election might stand, not of works, but of 
 him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall 12 
 serve the younger. Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, 13 
 but Esau I hated. 
 
 Paul shews himself here more of the Rabbinic controversialist 
 than of the Christian theologian. 
 
 that the purpose. Paul states, as the purpose of these events, 
 what is the principle illustrated in the facts— the freedom of God's 
 choice. 
 
 the purpose of God. This is one of Paul's leading thoughts. 
 The salvation of mankind has been the intention of God from the 
 beginning, and this intention has guided His action throughout the 
 ages (viii. 28 ; Eph. i. 9-1 1). 
 
 accordingf to election. God fulfils His purpose by this 
 method, the selection of individuals as the instruments of His 
 will. The word means (i) the process of choice, but also (2) the 
 persons chosen, the elect (xi. 7). 
 
 not of works, "biit of him that calleth. This clause sets 
 aside all human merit as the ground of God's choice, and asserts 
 God's absolute freedom. But the argument here is concerned 
 only with God's election to historical function and privilege 
 as a member of the chosen race, not with God's determination 
 of any man's eternal destiny by including or excluding him from 
 His grace. In the Calvinistic doctrine of election and reprobation 
 this passage is used for a purpose for which it was not intended, 
 for which it is inconclusive. 
 
 12. it was said unto her. Just as Paul had described Isaac's 
 election by quoting the words spoken to Abraham, so he now 
 records Jacob's election by repeating the intimation to the mother 
 (Gen. XXV. 23). 
 
 elder . . . young-er: lit. the 'greater,' the 'smaller,' but 
 correctly rendered in the R. V. As applied to the descendants, 
 the nations, the reference of the terms would be not to age, but 
 strength. 
 
 sha<ll serve. This was not literally fulfilled in the case of 
 Esau and Jacob, for Jacob appears rather as a suppliant for 
 Esau's mercy and a dependent on his favour. But it was literally 
 fulfilled in the history of their descendants, as Edom was long 
 subject to Judah. 
 
 13. The purpose of this verse has been explained in two wa3'S : 
 (i) It simply gives the reason for the choice of Jacob and 
 rejection of Esau. God loved the one, and hated the other. 
 God's choice depended not on human merit, but simply on Divine 
 
214 TO THE ROMANS 9. 14 
 
 14 What shall we say then ? Is there unrighteousness with 
 
 feeling. But it must be felt that this explanation, however simple 
 it may appear, is theologically very objectionable. We may be 
 sure Paul does not want to represent God as acting from caprice, 
 from prejudice, or favouritism. (2) The second explanation is 
 undoubtedly to be preferred. Paul, in his quotation from the 
 prophet Malachi (i. 2, 3), is not describing the Divine feeling 
 towards individuals, Jacob and Esau, but the historical destiny 
 of two peoples, Judah and Edom, in which the election of the 
 ancestor of the one and the rejection of the ancestor of the other 
 found illustration and confirmation. The following reasons can be 
 urged for this view: (i) Paul, on his whole treatment of the 
 subject, has the descendants as well as the ancestors in view, 
 as he is arguing against the pretensions of the Jews to exclusive 
 privilege on account solely of physical descent, (ii) The passages 
 quoted from Genesis and Malachi both refer to nations, and not 
 individuals only. Gen. xxv. 23 reads: 'Two nations are in thy 
 womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels.' 
 Mai. i. 2-4 runs : ' I have loved 3'ou, saith the Lord. Yet ye say. 
 Wherein hast thou loved us ? Was not Esau Jacob's brother ? 
 saith the Lord ; yet I loved Jacob ; but Esau I hated, and made 
 his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of 
 the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith. We are beaten down, but 
 we will return, and build the waste places.' While Paul might 
 have given these quotations a reference they had not in the 
 original context, yet when the reference of the original context 
 is admissible, it should be preferred. ;iii) Paul wants to lay 
 emphasis on historical facts as illustrating that God fulfils His 
 purpose according to election, and would not be likely to go 
 behind the facts to the Divine feeling as an explanation of them. 
 
 loved, . . . hated. Accepting the explanation given above 
 we need not explain ' hated ' as meaning ' loved less,' a use 
 of the term which may be illustrated from Gen. xxix. 30-33 ; 
 Matt. X. 37 ; Luke xiv. 26 ; John xii. 25. As a matter of fact, 
 Israel enjoyed privileges that were denied to Edom ; and this 
 broad distinction, the full explanation of which is not attempted, 
 is expressed emphatically in the prophetic utterance. This has 
 nothing to do whatever with the Divine disposition to individuals, 
 but simply with the historical destiny of nations. Some general 
 considerations in further explanation of this passage may be 
 reserved until the argument is completed. 
 
 (iii) ix. 14-18. God's claim of freedom. This passage does not 
 explain the difficulty of God's election ; but it seeks to meet an 
 objection which a Jew might make by an argument which from 
 his standpoint must be regarded as conclusive. Paul might be 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 15-17 215 
 
 God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have 15 
 mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion 
 on whom I have compassion. So then it is not of him 16 
 that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that 
 hath mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For 17 
 this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might shew 
 
 blamed by the Jewish objector for representing the Divine election 
 as unjust, but his answer was ready to hand. In the Holy 
 Scriptures, the ultimate court of appeal, God is represented 
 as claiming for Himself the very freedom which Paul has asserted 
 that He exercises. This is not a final solution of the theological 
 problem ; it is simply an argument fitted to close the mouth of the 
 Jewish objector. God's absolute election cannot be charged with 
 being unjust, for God expressly claims for Himself this freedom in 
 dealing with man, whether He deals graciously as with Moses, or 
 severely as with Pharaoh (14-18). 
 
 14. with God : in His court, at His bar (ii. ir ; Eph. vi. 9). 
 
 15. Moses. Just as Abraham is mentioned in iv. to prove that 
 he was accepted for his faith and not his works, so Moses is here 
 selected for illustration of the principle that election is of God's 
 freedom, not man's merit, as the Jews might well assume that he 
 deserved favour. 
 
 I will have mercy : quoted from Exod. xxxiii. 19 (LXX). The 
 emphasis in the original passage is on the certainty of God's 
 favour to His chosen, in Paul's use of it on God's freedom in 
 choosing; man cannot claim God's favour, or dictate His choice. 
 
 mercy, . . . compassion. The first word in Greek means 
 the feeling ; the second, its physical expression. (Cf. for 
 similar contrasts, 'wrath' and 'indignation' (ii. 8), 'tribulation' 
 and 'anguish' (ii. 9) ; 'sorrow* and 'pain* (ix. 2).) 
 
 16. From this particular instance Paul infers a general rule 
 that the reason for God's favour is not man's desire or purpose 
 (willeth), or his effort (runneth), but God's own choice alone. 
 
 runneth : a metaphor for strenuous, continuous effort, taken 
 from the Greek race-course, which offers Paul several illustrations 
 (i Cor. ix. 24-26 ; Gal. ii. 2, v. 7 ; Phil. ii. 16, iii. 12-14). 
 
 1*7. the scripture saith. Notice (i) the personification of the 
 Scripture in this common formula of quotation (Gal. iii. 8, 22) ; 
 (2) the change of formula from verse 15, 'he (God) saith' ; but 
 Paul regards what Scripture saith as identical with what God 
 saith. 
 
 Pharaoh. The mention of Moses would naturally suggest 
 his opponent as an illustration of contrasted dealing. 
 
 Por this very purpose : quoted from Exod. ix. 16 (LXX). 
 
2i6 TO THE ROMANS 9. 18,19 
 
 in thee my power, and that my name might be published 
 
 18 abroad in all the earth. So then he hath mercy on whom 
 he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. 
 
 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find 
 
 The words in their original context mean that Pharaoh had been 
 spared in the plague of boils, as God had further intentions in 
 dealing with him, to use him as the instrument for the release 
 of Israel from bondage. Paul disregards this limitation, and 
 refers the words generally to Pharaoh's historical career as an 
 exhibition of Divine power, not to save, but harden. 
 
 did I raise thee up : not from the bed of sickness, as in 
 the original context, but on the stage of history (Hab. i. 6 ; Zech. 
 xi. 16; Jer. xxvii. 41 ; LXX). 
 
 18. So then: again the general inference from the particular 
 instance. 
 
 hardeneth. While God is on one hand described as hardening 
 Pharaoh's heart (Exod. vii. 3, ix. 12, x. 20, 27, xi. 10, xiv. 4, 8), 
 Pharaoh is on the other hand represented as hardening his own 
 (viii, 32, ix. 34). The O. T. represents as direct Divine action 
 what we, with a more adequate theology and a more accurate 
 psychology, would describe as the necessary result of man's moral 
 constitution. Paul is here dealing with only one aspect of God's 
 action ; his aim is to assert the Divine sovereignty over against 
 all human arrogance ; it is altogether to misuse this passage to 
 derive from it any doctrine of Divine reprobation to eternal death. 
 
 (iv) ix. 19-29. The creature and the Creator. («) But if God thus 
 claims freedom to shew mercy, or to pardon, what, the objector 
 may ask, becomes of human responsibility ? If God makes or mars 
 men in arbitrary omnipotence, there can be neither praise nor 
 blame (19). {b) The answer to this objection is: It is not for the 
 creature thus to criticize or to challenge the action of the Creator, 
 as His rights are absolute (20, 21). (c) Especially is this attitude 
 unbecoming as God has used His freedom to deal patiently with 
 the perverse deserving punishment, and to shew unmerited grace 
 to the undeserving, in calling into His church Gentiles as well as 
 Jews, as has been foretold in prophecy, which declares not only 
 the unexpected favour granted to the Gentiles, but also the sur- 
 prising patience shewn to Israel (22-29). The first objection 
 Paul met (verse 6) was that God's promise had come to naught, 
 if the Jews were rejected, the second (verse 14), that God's action 
 was unjust if He elected or rejected individuals or nations according 
 to His mere will. The third objection he now meets is that if God 
 acts just as He wills, man has no freedom, no merit or demerit, 
 no praise or blame. He does not meet the objection full in the 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 20, 21 217 
 
 fault ? For who withstandeth his will ? Nay but, O man, 20 
 who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing 
 formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make 
 me thus? Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, 21 
 
 face by seeking to reconcile Divine sovereignty and human freedom. 
 That problem had probably little interest for him, and he vi'as no 
 more able to solve it than we now are. He turns it aside by 
 rebuking the irreverence towards God which this challenge of 
 God's ways implied. If his rebuke seems harsh and severe, be 
 it remembered that this mood of racial arrogance deserved such 
 treatment. But Paul does more than rebuke, while he claims for 
 God such freedom, he shews that we can trace in God's dealings, 
 not arbitrary power, but longsuffering patience and abounding 
 mercy. God's actual dealing is such that man has no occasion 
 for raising this problem of Divine sovereignty and human freedom. 
 While in this section Paul does deal with the eternal destiny of 
 individuals, his argument is purely hypothetical. If God did just 
 as He pleased, man would have no right to complain. This 
 hypothetical argument breaks down in Paul's own hands. As 
 a fact, God does not act as the exigencies of controversy require 
 Paul to assume that He would have a right to act. 
 
 19. Thou wilt say then. By the use of this phrase instead of 
 'What shall we say then?' Paul holds himself more thoroughly 
 aloof from this objection, 
 
 why doth he still find fault ? If God Himself hardens, why 
 does He blame His own workmanship ? 
 
 still implies a changed situation. As long as a man could 
 regard himself as free, God's judgement must seem just to him. 
 But now when, as in the previous argument, his liberty is denied, 
 his responsibility must go too. 
 
 who withstandeth his will? The man who disobeys is on 
 this view as much determined by God's will as he who obeys ; 
 there can be no resistance where there is impotence. 
 
 20. Nay but, O man. A strong personal rebuke gaining force 
 from the use of the singular. 
 
 Shall the thing" formed. The relation of man as creature to 
 God as Creator is expressed in the O. T. by the figure of the 
 potter and the clay which he fashions according to his will 
 (Isa, xxix. 16, xlv. 9, 10, Ixiv. 8; Jer. xviii. 6). For Paul and the 
 Jew whom he addressed the idea of God's absolute sovereignty 
 as Creator over His creatures, thus illustrated, would be one 
 beyond all doubt or question, and he could, therefore, confidently 
 appeal to it in argument. 
 
 21. This is the argument called vednctio ad ahsurdum. If you 
 deny that God can do with man as He will, you may as well denj' 
 
2r8 TO THE ROMANS 9. 32 
 
 from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto 
 
 22 honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, 
 
 willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, 
 
 endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted 
 
 the power of the potter over the clay— an absurd idea. The potter 
 has regard of course to the quality of the clay, he can nise one 
 lump in a way he cannot another ; but this thought, although it 
 might be applied to God's dealings with men, whose varying 
 capacity He surely does take into account, is not present to the 
 mind of the Apostle. All he wants to assert is God's absolute 
 sovereignty as Creator over His creatures. 
 
 a vessel uutc honour, . . . unto dishoiiour. Cf. 2 Tim. ii. 20, 
 where, however, there follows immediately, in verse 21, a recog- 
 nition of human freedom and responsibility. 
 
 22. Paul here gives the argument a new turn. Even if God 
 acted arbitrarily, man could have no right to complain. Still less 
 excuse has he for any complaint when, as is manifest, God's action 
 is beneficent in its character to all alike. What follows is intended 
 to modify the severity of what precedes. 
 
 What if God. The original Greek is elliptical — a conditional 
 clause without the principal clause on which it should depend : 
 the literal sense of the words being ' But if God.' The R.V. 
 'What,' if understood to mean 'What answer wilt thou make?' 
 correctly gives the sense. The conditional clause does not express 
 an hypothesis, but a fact, and thus the objector is supposed to be 
 efTectually silenced. 
 
 willing' : the exact connexion of the participle with the finite 
 verb is doubtful. It may mean either ' because God wishes to 
 shew His wrath,' or 'although God wishes to shew His wrath.* 
 Taking the former meaning the sense of the whole sentence 
 would be, God's patience is exercised in order that He may the 
 more terribly at last display His indignation against sin ; He 
 restrains His wrath with a view to its fuller manifestation at the 
 future judgement. But as Paul's aim is to shew that God does 
 not inflict on man all the penalty he deserves, this interpretation 
 is inappropriate, and is in other respects very objectionable. The 
 latter meaning of the clause gives the true sense of the passage. 
 God permanently and essentially is indignant at and opposed to 
 sin, and it is His will to manifest His relation to sin, but He sets 
 limits to this will by His longsuffering endurance. 
 
 wrath: see note on i. i8. 
 
 make his power known. This is added as a remembrance 
 of the quotation in verse 17 ; the power is the agent of the wrath. 
 
 endured with mxich longsufforing-. In ii. 4 a gracious 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 23,24 219 
 
 unto destruction : and that he might make known the 23 
 riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore 
 prepared unto glory, even us, whom he also called, not 24 
 
 purpose is indicated in God's patience ; its aim is to lead to 
 repentance, not, as the context here might suggest, to reserve for 
 a future manifestation of wrath. 
 
 vessels of wrath. The word ' vessels ' is suggested by the 
 figure of the potter and the clay of the previous verse. The 
 genitive in Greek, * of wrath,* does not definitely fix the connexion 
 of the two words. Probably it does not mean * appointed to 
 wrath,' but either * deserving of wrath,' or, as a complete contrast 
 to ' vessels of mercy,' * experiencing his wrath.' The construction 
 is different from that in the previous verse, * vessels unto dishonour,' 
 a phrase which does mean * appointed unto dishonour.' 
 
 fitted unto destruction. Paul does not say 'which God 
 fitted unto destruction,' as he says in verse 23 of the vessels of 
 mercy, * which he afore prepared unto glory.* Although in verse 
 18 he had spoken of God's hardening whom He will, here he 
 wants to suggest God's beneficence rather than His severity. 
 Neither does he say * which fitted themselves for destruction,' 
 although in the next chapter he charges the Jews with being 
 
 * a disobedient and gainsaying people,' for now he is laying stress 
 on God's, not man's freedom of action. He chooses an intermediate 
 expression which avoids both explanations of the fact, and which 
 states simply the fact of fitness for destiuction. 
 
 23. and that he mig'ht make known. The grammatical 
 construction of this sentence is defective, but the sense is clear. 
 God's endurance had a purpose not only as regards those who 
 were the objects of it, but had a further reference to the larger 
 purpose of His mercy. He bore with unbelieving Jews not onl}' 
 for their own sakes, but in order that in the fullness of the times 
 He in Christ might shew His mercy to Jew and Gentile alike. 
 
 the riches of his gflory. Cf. Eph. iii. 16 and Rom. 
 ii. 4. 
 
 vessels of mercy: not 'deserving of the mercy' (that would 
 be not a Pauline thought), but simply ' experiencing His mercy.* 
 Mercy and desert are mutually exclusive conceptions. Where 
 there is desert there is no need of mercy, and where mercy 
 is shewn there can have been no desert. 
 
 which he afore prepared unto glory. Paul ascribes to God 
 the preparation of the vessels of mercy for glory, although he does 
 not describe God as fitting the vessels of wrath for destruction. 
 (A similar variation of phrase may be noted in Matt. xxv. 34, 
 
 * Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
 for you from the foundation of the world,' and 41, * Depart from 
 
220 TO THE ROMANS 9. 25-28 
 
 25 from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? As he 
 saith also in Hosea, 
 
 I will call that my people, which was not my people; 
 And her beloved, which was not beloved. 
 
 26 And it shall be, that in the place where it was said 
 
 unto them, Ye are not my people, 
 There shall they be called sons of the living God. 
 
 27 And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, If the number of 
 the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the 
 
 28 remnant that shall be saved : for the Lord will execute 
 
 me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the 
 devil and his angels.') The Divine preparation for glory is 
 outlined in viii. 28-30. 
 
 24. Gentiles: Paul regards the calling of the Gentiles not 
 merely as the historical result of the rejection of the Jews, but 
 as the Divine intention in that rejection. (See the argument 
 worked out in chap, xi.) 
 
 25-29. Paul, writing to those who, whether Jews or Gentiles, 
 accepted the Jewish Scriptures as authoritative, seeks always to 
 confirm his conclusions, especially when they might appear 
 disputable, by quotations from the Scriptures. First (25, 26), 
 he shews that the calling of the Gentiles was prophesied ; and 
 secondly, that the salvation of only a remnant of the Jews was 
 anticipated by the prophets (27-29). 
 
 25. This is a quotation with inversion of clauses from Hos. 
 ii. 23 (LXX). Hosea was bidden call a son Lo-ammi, * not my 
 people,' and a daughter Lo-ruhamah, 'without mercy,' to intimate 
 God's rejection and desertion of the Northern kingdom. But he 
 was afterwards told to prophesy its restoration and consolation, as 
 with a play on his children's symbolic names he does in this 
 passage. Paul applies to the Gentiles words spoken of the 
 Ten Tribes, but this is said to have been done by Jewish Rabbis 
 before him. 
 
 26. This is aquotation from Hos. i. 10 (LXX). Paul adds 'there,' 
 thus laying stress on the reference to a place. He may, sharing 
 Jewish eschatological conceptions, mean Palestine as the gathering- 
 place of the nations, or more probably ' where ' and * there ' are 
 indefinite. Wherever there are Gentiles there the call is. 
 
 27. 28. A quotation from Isa. x. 22, 23 (LXX), which is con- 
 siderably shortened. The Greek differs considerably from the 
 Hebrew. 
 
 27. remnant. One of Isaiah's sons was called Shear-jashub, 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 29 221 
 
 his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short. 
 
 And, as Isaiah hath said before, 29 
 
 Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, 
 \<t had become as Sodom, and had been made like 
 unto Gomorrah. 
 
 * A remnant shall return ' (vii. 3) ; and this doctrine of the 
 remnant played so large a part in his teaching that he represents 
 it as included in the commission given him at his call (vi, 13), and 
 he repeats it again and again (i. 9, x. 20-22, xi. n-i6, xxxvii. 4, 
 31, 32). In the second part of the Book of Isaiah the remnant is 
 mentioned once (xlvi. 3). This doctrine is found already in Amos 
 (v. 15) and Micah (ii. 12, iv. 7, v. 7, 8, vii. 18;. It appears also in 
 Joel (ii. 32),Zephaniah (ii. 7. 9, iii. 13), Haggai(i. 12, 14), Zechariah 
 (viii. 6, 12). Jeremiah makes frequent use of the conception 
 (vi. 9, xxiii. 3, xxxi. 7, xl. 11, 15, xlii. 2, 15, 19, xUii. 5) ; Ezekiel 
 also refers to it (v. 10, vi. 8, xiv. 22). Not the unbelieving many, 
 but the faithful fev^ are the object of God's care, the agent of His 
 purpose. Stephen takes up the idea in his speech of the con- 
 tinuous provocation given by Israel to God (Acts vii. 51-53). Paul 
 returns to this idea in xi. 5. 
 
 28. finisMng' it and cutting- it short. God's judgement will 
 be final and decisive ; this seems the meaning of the difficult phrase. 
 
 29. hath, said Ijefore : hath foretold, although the English 
 rendering might suggest that a previous allusion v^-as now to be 
 quoted. It is the Greek version of Isa. i. 9 that is now quoted. 
 Greek and Hebrew practically agree. Hebrew has ' a small 
 remnant,' Greek has * a seed,' but the connexion is given in vi. 13, 
 
 * the holy seed is the stock thereof.' 
 
 Sabaoth. The Hebrew word means 'hosts,' and the reference 
 is to hosts of stars, or angels, or Israel. Each of these ideas 
 ma}-^, at a different period of religious development, have been 
 associated with this title. 
 
 Sodom, . . . Gomorrah. (Gen. xviii-xix.) Allusions to this 
 disaster are found frequently in the O. T. (Deut. xxix. 23, xxxii. 
 32; Isa. xiii. 19 ; Jer. xlix. 18, 1. 40; Lam. iv. 6; Amos iv. 11 
 Zeph. ii. 9). Our Lord refers to Sodom as a conspicuous illustra- 
 tion of Divine judgement (Matt. xi. 23, 24; Mark \\. 11, A. V. ; 
 Luke x. 12). 
 
 Paul's Doctrine of Election (ix. i-29\ 
 
 Paul has shewn that God is free to choose whom He will (6-13), 
 that He has actually exercised and expressly affirmed His right 
 to use His freedom (14-18), that it is not for man as creature to 
 
222 TO THE ROMANS 9. 1-29 
 
 criticize or challenge the action of God as Creator, even if 
 God used this right absolutely (19-21), that as a fact, however, 
 God has used His freedom to shew patience and mercy (22-24), 
 and that God's action in rejecting Israel and accepting the 
 Gentiles has been foretold in prophecy (25-29). Thus Paul 
 develops the first stage of his argument. Although it can be 
 properly understood only in relation to the two other stages, that 
 Israel's fate is deserved, and that God's aim in all is mercy for 
 Jew and Gentile alike, yet this passage by itself presents so 
 serious difficulties that an attempt must be made to deal with 
 them in addition to what the notes allowed. The difficulties are 
 not relieved by affirming, as has been done, that Paul is not dealing 
 with the eternal destiny of individuals, but with the historical 
 functions of nations, for even although the problem is the temporal 
 rejection of the Jewish nation, yet Paul justifies his doctrine of 
 God's freedom in election by individual illustrations (Isaac chosen, 
 Ishmael not ; Jacob chosen, Esau not). If of these cases it can be 
 said that the election has to do only with historical function as 
 heir of the promises of God, the plea cannot be made for the 
 next illustrations, Moses and Pharaoh, for the determination of 
 moral character is ultimately the decision of eternal destiny. It 
 is certain Paul did not intend in any sense to limit God's freedom. 
 When he speaks of ' vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction,' and 
 ' vessels of mercy which he afore prepared unto glory,' he is most 
 certainly dealing with the eternal destiny of individuals. The 
 following considerations, however, have to be taken into account. 
 (i) The whole passage is an argutnentunt ad kominem. It appeals 
 to facts recorded, words reported, and figures of speech used in 
 the Jewish Scriptures to rebuke Jewish arrogance, which asserted 
 a claim on the part of the chosen people to God's continued favour, 
 irrespective of its character. Against this claim of rights, un- 
 becoming in the creature towards the Creator, Paul bluntly affirms 
 that, as regards God, man has no rights. He supports his position 
 by appeals to statements in the Scriptures, in which the Divine 
 sovereignty is without qualification affirmed, without inquiring 
 whether these Scriptures are not capable of another explanation 
 than that which serves his immediate purpose. It has been shewn 
 in the notes on verses 11, 15, 17, 18, that only a strained exegesis 
 can get the meaning out of the O. T. Scriptures which Paul finds 
 in them. On so controversial a use of the Holy Scriptures no 
 dogmatic conclusions of permanent validity can be based. (2) 
 But even as an argument, granting the Jewish assumptions, the 
 passage is inconclusive. Paul's reasoning breaks in his own 
 hands ; he cannot consistently carry it out. He must admit that 
 God does not use His freedom as He argues that He may. 
 Patience and beneficence mark God's dealings with men. Paul 
 distinguishes vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy, vessels unto 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 1-29 223 
 
 dishonour and vessels unto honour, and his image of the potter 
 suggests that God absolutely determines to which class each man 
 shall belong. Yet it is noticeable ( i) that he distinguishes vessels unto 
 dishonour from vessels of wrath, the former refe-ring, it would 
 seem, to historical position, the latter to eternal destiny ; (ii) that 
 while he ascribes the preparation of the vessels of mercy unto 
 glory to God, he abstains from describing God as fitting the vessels 
 of wrath unto destruction, and here he uses a phrase which without 
 affirming yet admits the recognition of individual liberty and 
 personal responsibility; (iii) that the different constructions, 
 'vessels unto dishonour' and 'vessels of wrath,' demand a dis- 
 tinction in the interpretation, the former asserting a Divine 
 destination, the other simply affirming an actual connexion. 
 These considerations suggest that while Paul represents God as 
 disposing at will of man's earthly lot, yet he does not ascribe to 
 God the absolute decision of man's destiny hereafter, but is 
 compelled to admit modifications that not only correct, but even 
 contradict, the more unqualified statements. If we look more 
 closely at the metaphor of the potter, it will suggest thoughts 
 that lead us beyond this doctrine of absolute election even as 
 regards man's earthly lot. He would be a foolish and wasteful 
 potter who used for the making of a common jar a clay so fine 
 that a beautiful vase could be made from it. A master-workman's 
 choice depends on the quality of the material he is handling. God, 
 as potter, can be trusted to be a noble artist, and not a bungling 
 artisan. As Creator God has obligations to make the best possible 
 of His creatures. Again, the vessel unto dishonour which the 
 potter makes serves a purpose, useful if less ornamental than that 
 assigned to the vessel unto honour. The very figure of speech 
 refuses, as it were, to bear only the meaning that Paul's con- 
 troversial use of it would impose upon it. Paul thought of God as 
 love, mercy, grace, goodness, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and our Father in him. This arbitrary omnipotent potter is a 
 caricature of controversy, not a portrait of faith ; and Paul has 
 himself to abandon his own work. (3) This proposition, that 
 God does as He wills, is only one of three forming a continuous 
 argument; it is virtually retracted in what follows, for in the 
 second proposition it is affirmed that man's conduct conditions 
 God's action, and in the third that the motive of God's action is not 
 the punishment of sin and the reward of virtue merely, although 
 even that would lead us to a more ethical conception of God, but 
 His purpose to save and bless all, the truly and fully evangelical 
 conception. If God's freedom is not limited altogether by man's 
 deserts, it is not that God may treat him worse, but that He does 
 treat him far better than he deserves. If Paul himself retreats 
 from the position to which he had advanced in carrying the war 
 into the enemy's camp, surely we do not need to defend the 
 
224 TO THE ROMANS 9. 1-29 
 
 position in the interests of Paul's theology, far less should we try 
 to represent it as a stronghold of the Christian faith which must 
 be held at all costs. (4) While it is quite true that we can never 
 give an exhaustive explanation of the differences in character and 
 circumstances between two individuals, and we must admit in the 
 lives and lots of men an inscrutable operation of God's providence, 
 we need not in explanation of the facts fall back on any such 
 doctrine of an absolute Divine election. God's freedom is rational, 
 "Tioral, beneficent. As we compare Ishmael with Isaac, or Jacob 
 A^ith Esau, we recognize that Ishmael and Esau were ' profane 
 persons,' persons without a due sense of the value of the promise, 
 and therefore the needful capacity for furthering its fulfilment. 
 In Moses and Pharaoh alike we can trace a moral process of 
 development and deterioration, which maybe summarily described 
 as due to Divine mercy and hardening, but which can also be 
 proved to be the inevitable result of the operation of laws which 
 God has in His infinite and eternal perfection imposed on human 
 nature. (5) Paul has undoubtedly, apart from all controversy, 
 a doctrine of election, both in regard to the Jewish nation, and in 
 regard to Christian believers, (i) He accepts the O. T. teaching 
 regarding God's choice of the Jewish nation (Deut. vii. 6; Ps. 
 cxxxv. 4 ; Is. xli. 8, 9) as an act of Divine condescension (Deut. 
 vii. 8, X. 15; Is. xliv. 21, 22), which imposed obligations (Deut. 
 vii. 9), and had reference to the good of other nations as well 
 (Gen. xii. 3 ; Isa. Ixvi. 18). He refused to regard with con- 
 temporary Judaism this election as a bond binding God to the 
 nation (chap, x) irrespective of the nation's character, and he 
 subordinated the election of Israel to God's universal purpose of 
 grace (chap. xi). To this doctrine no exception can be taken ; it 
 is simply an interpretation of historical facts, (ii) But Paul has 
 also a doctrine of election regarding Christian believers. God's 
 foreknowledge and foreordination came before God's call to the 
 individual (viii. 28, 29). In Christ believers are chosen 'before 
 the foundation of the world ' (Eph. i. 4). The aim of this teaching 
 is, however, to give the believer assurance that his relation to God 
 does not begin in time with his faith in God's grace, but is deeply 
 rooted, firmly fixed, in the eternal will of God. No speculative 
 problem is thereby solved, but a practical conviction is given. 
 Paul does not teach that God foreknows, foreordains, or elects 
 any man unto eternal death. The responsibility for that he 
 throws on the man himself. If it be argued, however, that it 
 necessarily follows that those whom God omits to foreknow, 
 foreordain, and elect to eternal life He consciously and voluntarily 
 leaves to perish, the answer must be that Paul was occupied 
 solely with the positive aspect of the doctrine ; the negative, so 
 far as his writings are evidence, never arrested his attention. 
 To this inference, however, we may oppose the undoubted teach- 
 
TO THE ROMANS 9. 30 225 
 
 What shall we say then ? That the Gentiles, which 30 
 
 ing of Scripture, that God does not wish 'that any should perish, 
 but that all should come to repentance' (2 Pet. iii. 9); that the 
 call of the gospel is addressed to all, so that ' whosoever will may 
 *:ome' (Rev. xxii. 17) ; and that Paul's express statement is that 
 *God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have 
 mercy upon all' (xi. 32). The doctrine of individual election 
 and the doctrine of God's universal purpose to save are found 
 side by side in Paul's teaching. He does not harmonize them, 
 and there is no practical necessity that he should, and with 
 ©peculative consistency Paul did not concern himself. In the 
 same way Divine sovereignty and human freedom are both 
 affirmed, but their relation is not explained. We may leave the 
 problems he left unsolved, having tried to shew that his teaching 
 on election does not justify the Calvinistic interpretation. 
 
 (2) ix. 30— X. 21. The J ew^ failure through unbelief. 
 
 Having stated the one aspect of the problem of history, the 
 Divine sovereignty, Paul turns to the other aspect, the human 
 responsibility. He places these two aspects side by side without 
 any attempt to shew their unity, (i) In shewing that the Jews 
 deserved their rejection, Paul first of all states the case briefly 
 (ix. 30-33). (ii) Next, after again asserting his interest in the 
 spiritual welfare of his countrymen, he shews that their efforts 
 have been zealous but not inteUigent, self-willed and not obedient, 
 for they have failed to recognize (a) that Christ brings the period 
 of law to a close, (6) that the way of salvation is simple and easy, 
 and (c) that salvation is free to all, Jew and Gentile alike 
 (x. 1-13). (iii) Lastly, here he proves that this unbelief is 
 without, excuse, because (a) the messengers of the gospel have 
 gone forth, (6) the Jews have not heeded the gospel, although 
 it has been preached in the world, (c) the prophets warned them 
 against the very unbelief of which they are now guilty (x. 14-21). 
 
 (i) ix. 30-33. The case of Jewish unbelief stated. While the 
 Gentiles have found what they did not seek, the Jews have not 
 found what they sought, even acceptance as righteous before 
 God : because they sought it, not by faith, but by works, so 
 that, as had been foretold, the Messiah became a stumblingblock 
 to them. 
 
 30. What shall we say then? This question introduces the 
 summing up of the previous argument with a view to starting on 
 a new line of thought. It is usually followed by another question. 
 The second question here is, ' Shall we say that the Gentiles,' &c. ? 
 and the answer is assumed, ' Yes.' Then follows a third question, 
 ' Wherefore ? ' 
 
226 TO THE ROMANS 9. 31-33 
 
 followed not after righteousness, attained to righteous- 
 
 31 ness, even the righteousness which is of faith: but Israel, 
 following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at 
 
 32 that law. Wherefore ? Because they sought it not by 
 faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the 
 
 33 stone of stumbling ; even as it is written, 
 
 followed ... a ttained. These words go together in Paul's use 
 to express pursuing and overtaking, and are borrowed from the 
 race-course, as are other words used by him (i Cor. ix. 24 ; 
 Phil. iii. 12). The Gentiles had no special revelation to guide 
 them, even the light of conscience was disregarded by them, 
 and yet when salvation was offered to them in the gospel, they 
 welcomed it 
 
 righteousness which is of faith : iii. 22, 'the righteousness 
 of God,' not moral perfection, but acceptance before God. 
 
 21. law of righteousness: a code of precepts, obedience to 
 which would make righteous. 
 
 arrive. The goal, as it were, always receded from them. 
 
 law. This is a rather unexpected turn of thought ; we should 
 have expected Paul to say, 'did not attain righteousness.' The 
 Jews believed themselves to be in possession of a law which, 
 if obeyed, would make them righteous ; but Paul here says that 
 no code of principles could ever be got by man which would 
 secure this righteousness. Righteousness cannot be got along 
 the path of legal observance. 
 
 32. Because. Two constructions of this verse are possible: 
 (i) as in the text of the R.V., we may supply the finite verb 'they 
 sought it,' and put a full stop at ' works ' ; or (2) as in the margin of 
 the R. v., we may supply the participle 'doing it,' and put only 
 a comma at ' works.' The sense is the same, but probably the 
 former construction is simpler and easier. 
 
 as it were : Paul introduces this qualifying phrase to indicate 
 that it was only in the opinion of the Jews, and never in reality, 
 that righteousness could be got by works. The Jews failed 
 because they attempted the impossible. There is not a choice of 
 ways, faith and works, but only one way, faith. 
 
 stumbled at: 'were annoyed with,' 'shewed irritation at.' 
 This was the disastrous consequence of their mistake. Because 
 Christ came to bestow righteousness on all who sought it by 
 faith, those who were seeking it by works misunderstood, were 
 made angry by, set themselves against him. 
 
 stone of stujnhling-. This phrase means a stone which causes 
 offence ; but the offence was not necessarily and essentially 
 in the stone, but rather in the mood and attitude of those to whom 
 
TO THE ROMANS 10. i 227 
 
 Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a 
 
 rock of offence : 
 And he that believeth on him shall not be put to 
 shame. 
 Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication lo 10 
 
 it proved an offence. Christ crucified, while the power and 
 the wisdom of God to them that beHeve, was a 'scandal,' a snare, 
 a trap to the Jews (i Cor. i. 23). 
 
 33. The quotation combines the Greek version of Isa. xxviii, 
 16 and of Isa. viii. 14. Paul makes several changes: he inserts 
 part of the second passage into the midst of the first, from which 
 he omits a number of words ; he adds the words on him to 
 emphasize the reference of the quotation to Christ ; he gives the 
 Greek and not the Hebrew of the last word, 'shall not be put 
 to shame ' instead of * shall not make haste ' (which is either 
 a mistranslation of the Hebrew by the Greek or presupposes 
 another Hebrew text), the sense remaining unaffected. According 
 to the Hebrew original, the believer, confident in Jehovah, does 
 not allow himself to get into a flurry or hurry, but waits patiently 
 on God. According to the Greek version the believer does not 
 find his confidence misplaced, is not disappointed. The reference 
 in the original context of the passage is to Jehovah, and not to 
 the Messiah ; but as the words in Ps. cxviii. 22, ' The stone 
 which the builders rejected is become the head stone of the 
 corner,' very soon got a Messianic reference (Matt. xxi. 42 ; Mark 
 xii. 10; Luke xx. 17, by our Lord Himself; Acts iv. 11 by Peter), 
 other passages in which the figure of a stone is used came to be 
 regarded as Messianic. It is even probable that ' The Stone ' was 
 a title for the Messiah among the Jews. In Eph. ii. 20 Christ is 
 spoken of as * the chief corner-stone.' Paul quotes the first 
 passage again in x. 11 ; and in i Pet. ii. 6, 7, the two passages, 
 which he here fuses together, are quoted separately along with 
 the passage from Ps. cxviii. 22. This can scarcely be a mere 
 coincidence, and the explanation is either that Peter was familiar 
 with the Epistle to the Romans (a conclusion for which other 
 good reasons can be given), or that both Paul and Peter used 
 a selection of passages from the O. T., all of which were assumed 
 to have a Messianic purpose, and which had been collected for 
 convenience of use in controversy with Jews. 
 
 (ii) X. 1-13. The causes of the Jews' failure. Paul prays 
 heartily for the salvation of his own fellow countrymen, for he 
 knows that, however mistaken, they are in earnest, although by 
 their ignorance of God's will and their attachment to their own 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 TO THE ROMANS 10. 2 
 
 2 God is for them, that they may be saved. For I bear 
 them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not 
 
 way they are opposing themselves to God's purpose ; for they 
 fail to admit (a) that Christ has put an end to the period of law, 
 (b) that it is not by law but by faith that salvation is to be 
 attained, for as Christ has done and suffered all needful for man's 
 salvation, all man needs to be saved is belief in, issuing in confession 
 of him, and (c) that this salvation, as it is of faith, is for all, of 
 whatever race they may be. 
 
 1. Paul's personal assurance here has probably led to the 
 division of the chapter at this point, as we find a similar personal 
 reference at the beginning of chap, ix, and again of chap, xi ; 
 but, as we have already seen, the second stage of the argument 
 in this division begins with verse 30 in chap. ix. Paul has in 
 these verses, 30-33, brought a serious charge against his own 
 nation, and so here he inserts this personal assurance in the 
 course of his argument, both to relieve his own intense feeling 
 of sorrow, and to assure his readers that one who loves his own 
 people as he does would bring no charges against it, unless 
 under the strongest compulsion or absolute necessity. 
 
 Brethren. He appeals to the Christian brotherhood, from 
 which the Jews are excluding themselves, and which he himself 
 so values that he desires his natural to be also his spiritual 
 kindred. 
 
 desire: rather as the R. V. marg., 'good pleasure,' for the 
 word never means ' desire ' merely. 
 
 that they may be saved : hi. ' unto salvation.' 
 
 2. I hear them witness. Paul having once been himself an 
 unbelieving Jew understands the position of the Jews. 
 
 zeal for God. Cf. Ps. Ixix. 9, cxix. 139. Paul claims th s 
 zeal for himself (Acts xxii. 3 ; Gal. i. 14 ; Phil. iii. 6). The Jew 
 prided himself on his zeal ; the Gentiles despised what they 
 regarded as his fanaticism. A passage in illustration of Paul's 
 words has been quoted from Josephus : 'The Jew knows the law 
 better than his own name . . . The sacred rules were punctually 
 observed . . . The great feasts were frequented by countless 
 thousands . . . Over and above the requirements of the law, 
 ascetic religious exercises advocated by the teachers of the law 
 came into vogue . . . Even the Hellenized and Alexandrian Jews 
 under Caligula died on the cross and by fire, and the Palestinian 
 prisoners in the last war died by the claws of African lions in the 
 amphitheatre, rather than sin against the law. What Greek 
 would do the like ? . . . The Jews also exhibited an ardent zeal 
 for the conversion of the Gentiles to the Law of Moses. The 
 proselytes filled Asia Minor and Syria, and — to the indignation 
 
TO THE ROMANS 10. 3,4 229 
 
 according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God's 3 
 righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they 
 did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 
 For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to 4 
 
 of Tacitus — Italy and Rome.' A similar testimony is borne by 
 Heb. xi. 32-38, a passage which refers not only to heroes 
 mentioned in the O. T., but specially to martyrs in the time of 
 the Maccabees. 
 
 knowledge : rather, * discernment.' The same word is used at 
 i. 28 and iii. 20. Col. i. 9 gives an indication of what is meant 
 by the word, ' that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his 
 will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.' The Jews knew 
 the law and the prophets, but they had no true insight into the 
 meaning of God's words and works. 
 
 3. Tot. Spiritual discernment would have come with moral 
 submission. If they had done the will, they would have known 
 the doctrine that it was of God ; but because they were dis- 
 obedient, therefore they remained undiscerning. 
 
 ignorant. Paul here simply states the fact of ignorance, 
 that it was culpable ignorance he implies, although he expressly 
 states this in verses 14 and 15. 
 
 God's righteousness. Not God's personal perfection, but 
 God's way of righteousness for sinners, the way of faith which 
 the Jew would not take, because he wanted righteousness, not 
 as a gift of grace, but as the reward of merit. 
 
 subject themselves. Faith is not merely an intellectual or 
 emotional process, it must also include the exercise of the will 
 in submission to the authority of God. This initial act of 
 obedience determines the attitude of the subsequent life. Jas. 
 iv. 7, ' Be subject . . . unto God.' 
 
 4. Paul now gives the three reasons why the Jews were in 
 error and wrong in not submitting themselves to God's righteous- 
 ness, (i) The way of the law had been closed (verse 4). (2) 
 The way of faith had been opened (5-10). Consequentl3' (3) 
 The way is now open to all (ii-i3\ 
 
 the end. This means not fulfilment, but termination. With 
 Christ the legal period in man's relation to God ceases and is 
 abolished. Law is regarded in Eph. ii. 15 as the barrier between 
 Jew and Gentile which Christ has abolished in order that his 
 salvation might be a universal good. The same inference is 
 drawn in verses 11-13 of this chapter. The salvation is universal 
 because not legal. Commandments, ordinances, institutions, dis- 
 tinguish and divide nations ; a spiritual attitude, such as faith, can 
 alone unite. Again Paul declares, in Col. ii. 14, that Christ, 
 
230 TO THE ROMANS 10. 5,6 
 
 5 every one that believeth. For Moses writeth that the man 
 that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live 
 
 6 thereby. But the righteousness which is of faith saith thus, 
 
 * having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was 
 against us, which was contrary to us : hath taken it . . . away, 
 nailing it to the cross.' ... As law must always demand more than 
 man can render, its sole result is condemnation, but salvation can 
 never be reached by way of the law. Law may promise life 
 (verse 5), but what it actually brings is a curse (Gal. iii. 10), and 
 ' Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.' Termination 
 then is the only suitable sense for the word rendered 'end.' It 
 cannot mean fulfilment, for another word from the same root is 
 used to express this meaning ; nor can it mean goal or object, for 
 although the law is called the tutor to bring us to Ciirist (Gal. 
 iii. 24), yet only in one other place (i Tim. i. 5, 'But the end 
 of the charge is love') has the word this unusual sense. The 
 context here shews that Paul is seeking to emphasize the contrast 
 between law and Christ, and not the connexion, which elsewhere 
 he may recognize. 
 
 the law: rather, 'law.' The Greek has no article, the 
 reference is not to the Mosaic law in particular, but to the 
 principle of law generally. Not only has the Jewish law ceased 
 to be authoritative for the Christian, but his relation to God in 
 Christ has ceased to be in any sense a legal one ; the indwelling 
 Spirit takes the place of outward commands. 
 
 unto rigfhteousness. Christ abolishes the law that righteous- 
 ness, acceptance before God, may be attainable by all on the sole 
 condition of faith. 
 
 5-10. The one way of righteousness— by law — has been 
 abolished in order that the other way— by faith — may be 
 established, because the two are antagonistic, mutually exclusive. 
 This contrast Paul now displays in language drawn from the 
 O. T. which he has, however, freely adapted to his purpose. 
 
 5. The words are adapted from Lev. xviii. 5. These words 
 are quoted to shew tliat the blessing is conditional on the fulfil- 
 ment of the law, the keeping of all its commandments ; and this, 
 in chaps, i-iii, Paul has shewn has never been done, and can 
 never be done (cf. vii. 14"!. 
 
 shall live: enjoy life in its fullest measure here and 
 hereafter. 
 
 6. the righteousness w3aich is of faith. Paul does not 
 introduce his free adaptation cf words from the law as words of 
 Scripture, or as words of Moses, for he must have recognized that 
 the use he made of these words was too remote from the original 
 intention to justify either form of quotation ; but he personifies 
 
TO THE ROMANS 10. 6 231 
 
 Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that 
 
 the new order of grace through faith, and puts the words 
 descriptive of it into its own mouth. A similar personification of 
 wisdom is found in Prov. i. 20 and Luke xi. 49, and of exhorta- 
 tion in Heb. xii. 5. The quotation thus partly adopted in the 
 Greek version (Deut. xxx. 11-14) reads, 'For this commandment 
 which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, nor 
 is it far from thee. Not in heaven above, saying, Who shall go 
 up for us into heaven, and receive it for us, and having heard of it 
 we shall do it ? Nor is it beyond the sea, saying, Who will go 
 over to the further side of the sea for us, and receive it for us, 
 and make it heard by us, and we shall do it? But the word 
 is very nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, and in thy 
 hands that thou mayest do it.' It is to be noted : (i) that Paul 
 selects only certain words (the words italicized above) ; (2) that 
 he introduces some alterations : (a) for ' saying ' he introduces 
 ' Say not in thy heart' from Deut. viii. 17, ix. 4 ; ib) for * Who will 
 go over to the further side of the sea' he boldly substitutes words 
 more appropriate to his purpose, 'Who shall descend into the 
 abyss'; (c) he omits 'very' before 'nigh,' and 'in thy hands that 
 thou mayest do it ' after ' heart,' as that clause belongs to the legal 
 standpoint ; (3) that he gives the words so selected quite another 
 application than that originally intended, for the aim of the 
 passage in Deuteronomy is to shew that the law is not a grievous 
 burden, but that its yoke is easy. Pharisaism regarded the law 
 from the standpoint of a rigid and oppressive legalism, and Paul 
 as a Pharisee seldom gets away from that standpoint. There was, 
 however, another way of looking at the law, the way taken by 
 many of the saints of the Old Covenant, and so regarded, the law 
 and the gospel are not so opposed as Paul in the course of his 
 argument here represents them to be. That his attitude is in 
 some measure artificial is clearly shewn by the fact that he can 
 use words originally intended to represent the law as gracious to 
 describe the gospel which he opposes to the law. The serious 
 objection that, from the standpoint of modern exegetical method, 
 may be taken to his procedure may be met by the following 
 considerations: (i) no stress is laid on the fact that the O. T. 
 is being quoted; (2) the usual formula of quotation is omitted; 
 (3) the quotation is very free ; (4) the clauses quoted had probably 
 become almost proverbial ; (5) he sometimes uses words of 
 Scripture not in a logical demonstration, but as a literary device — 
 familiar language may commend unfamiliar thought. We need 
 not say, therefore, that this is Rabbinic exegesis. Paul, by using 
 words from the law, tacitly admits that the Pharisaic view did not 
 see all in the law that was to be seen ; even the law had in itself 
 evangeUcal elements. 
 
232 TO THE ROMANS 10. 7, 8 
 
 7 is, to bring Christ down :) or, Who shall descend into the 
 ^ abyss ? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) But 
 
 tliat is. There are many interpretations of the phrase 
 offered, but only two demand notice, (i) There is the interpreta- 
 tion suggested by the punctuation of the R. V. text, ' To say in 
 the heart, Who shall ascend into heaven 1 (who shall attain 
 glory and blessedness by his own effort?) is equivalent to denying 
 that Christ has ascended ; it is a bringing of Christ down from his 
 throne.' This sense of the phrase 'that is' is possible here and 
 in the next verse, but is inappropriate in verse 8 ; but this does 
 not seem a fatal objection, as the construction in verse 8 is 
 different from that in verses 6 and 7, for 'that is' is not there 
 followed by an infinitive. As Paul is -not here, however, repre- 
 senting legalism as a denial of the Christian facts — and this is what 
 this interpretation involves— we may turn to the second interpreta- 
 tion. (2) 'To bring Christ down ' is a definition of the purpose of 
 the ascent into heaven introduced for the sake of emphasis by 
 this phrase, which calls attention to the fact that an explanation is 
 being given. The sense on this construction is, Faith does not 
 ask. How is Christ to be got to come down from heaven to become 
 man for man's salvation, for it knows that Christ has already come. 
 Man does not bring about the Incarnation by his own effort ; 
 by faith he accepts the fact, and all that it involves for his 
 salvation. 
 
 7. Who sliall descend into the abyss? Paul substitutes this 
 for 'Who will go over to the further side of the sea' for two 
 reasons, (i) The abyss and heaven form a striking contrast. 
 (2) The descent into the abyss at once recalls Christ's descent into 
 Hades, the world of the dead. * Abyss ' is used in the Greek version 
 of the O. T. for ' the depths of the sea * in Ps. cvii. 26, for ' the 
 lowest parts of the earth ' in Ps. Ixxi. 20. In the N. T. it is used 
 of the abode of demons (Luke viii. 31) and the place of torment 
 (Rev. ix. i). With this contrast of an ascent and a descent 
 cf. Eph. iv. 9, 10. 
 
 that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. Two interpreta- 
 tions here again claim notice, (i) 'To say in the heart, Who 
 shall descend into the abyss (that is, who shall endure the penalty 
 of sin for himself) is equivalent to denying that Christ has gone 
 down among the dead, that he has endured all that need be 
 endured on account of sin.' For the same reason as in the previous 
 verse this interpretation may be set aside. (2) The true interpreta- 
 tion is as follows : ' Faith does not ask, How is Christ to be raised 
 from the dead, for it knows that Christ has risen.' As powerless 
 as man is to bring about his Incarnation, so is he to bring about 
 the Resurrection. Man can do nothing, God does all. Faith is 
 the recognition of man's insufficiency, of God's sufficiency. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 10. 9-ir 233 
 
 what saith it ? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, 
 and in thy heart : that is, the word of faith, which we 
 preach : because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth 9 
 Jesus as Lord, and shalt beheve in thy heart that God 
 raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved : for with 10 
 the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with 
 the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the n 
 scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be 
 
 8. the word of faith : not the message of the faith, the teaching 
 that is to be believed, nor yet the message which appeals to faith, 
 but the message which requires faith, and faith only as the condition 
 of salvation. 
 
 whicli ws preach. The clause is added to shew that the 
 gospel is not unknown, but can be known by all, if they will but 
 hear. This thought that the Jews cannot excuse themselves on 
 the ground of ignorance is more fully developed in verses 14-21. 
 
 9. This verse explains the quotation, 'The word is nigh thee, in 
 thy mouth, and in thy heart.' As mouth is mentioned before 
 heart, Paul speaks of confession of Christ before belief in Christ, 
 although the actual order is first faith, then confession. The 
 confession of Christ's lordship is suggested by verse 6, which 
 represents heaven as Christ's home ; the belief in his resurrection 
 by verse 7, which affirms that he is not in the abyss ; and these 
 two facts again are suggested by the words quoted, so that we 
 have here not theological formulation, but literary association. 
 Nevertheless belief in the Resurrection as the confirmation of 
 Christ's claims, as the Divine seal on his sacrifice, was an essential 
 element in Christian faith ; and the confession of Christ's lord- 
 ship was a necessary condition of membership in the Christian 
 Church. If the reading of the R. V. margin, ' confess the word 
 with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord,' be correct, then we have 
 here the simplest, earliest, and briefest confession, of which the 
 more elaborate creeds are developments. 
 
 10. Paul, it is evident, attaches little value to belief that does 
 not issue in confession. If he had been asked which condition 
 was primary, he would probably have put faith first, but would 
 also have insisted on confession as its necessary issue. 
 
 the heart: the seat of the inner life of thought, feeling, 
 wishing, and willing. Faith involves a complete inward change. 
 
 11. Paul again quotes the words from Isa. xxviii. 16 to shew 
 that faith is the condition of salvation, but the words suggest 
 another aspect of the gospel, its universality, to which he now 
 turns. 
 
234 TO THE ROMANS 10. 12-14 
 
 12 put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew 
 and Greek : for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich 
 
 13 unto all that call upon him : for, Whosoever shall call 
 1. 1 upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then 
 
 12. Having shewn in iii. 22, 23, that all alike need the gospel, 
 he now shews that the gospel is for all : but the universality of 
 the gospel is here proved by Christ's universal lordship, not man's 
 universal need. 
 
 Ziord of all. Christ must be referred to (i Cor. xii. 5 ; Acts 
 X. 36; Phil. ii. 10, 11). 
 
 rich : in spiritual gifts and blessings (Eph. iii. 8). 
 
 that call upon him. As prayer to any deity began with an 
 address to him by name, the worshipper is he who calls on the 
 god's name. The Hebrews were those who called on Jehovah. 
 The Christians, as calling on Christ, are his worshippers (i Cor. i. 
 2). This necessarily involves a recognition of his divinity, as only 
 God can be worshipped. 
 
 13. The quotation is taken from Joel ii. 32. In the original the 
 reference is to salvation from judgement and punishment in ' the 
 great and terrible day of the Lord ' by worship of Jehovah. Paul 
 not only calls Christ Lord, but transfers to him passages from the 
 O. T. which refer to Jehovah (2 Thess. i. 9 ; i Cor. ii. 16, x. 22-26 ; 
 2 Cor. iii. 16). 
 
 (iii) X. 14-21. The Jew^ unbelief without excuse. The R. V. 
 does not begin a fresh paragraph at verse 14, but attaches verses 
 14 and 15 to the preceding passage. This division is determined 
 by another interpretation of the import of these verses than that 
 which is here adopted. The verses are regarded as a justification 
 of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. If the gospel is 
 intended for all, as is implied in 'whosoever' in verse 13, then it 
 should be preached to all. Paul's Gentile ministry is thus justified. 
 But this would be a digression, not by any means impossible 
 according to Paul's literary methods, but not to be assumed unless 
 no other interpretation is possible. Paul is not dealing with the 
 mission to the Gentiles at all in this section, he is treating the 
 unbelief of the Jews. Hence it is more probable that these veri^s 
 have some reference to this subject. If we attach these verses to 
 the passage which follows we can get an interpretation consistent 
 with the context. Paul proves the unbelief of the Jews in a 
 series of questions with answers quoted from prophecy, and so 
 deprives the Jews of any excuse for their unbelief, (i) Were the 
 messengers of the gospel sent? Yes, for their joy is described 
 (14, 15). (2) Could they have truly heard, since they have not 
 believed ? Yes, for preaching may be heard and not believed 
 
TO THE ROMANS 10. 15 235 
 
 shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ? 
 and how shall they believe in him whom they have not 
 heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and 15 
 how shall they preach, except they be sent ? even as it is 
 written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring 
 glad tidings of good things ! 
 
 (16, 17). (3) Are you quite sure that they did hear? Yes, for 
 the gospel has been preached everywhere (18). (4) If they 
 heard, did they fully understand ? Yes ; the Gentiles, not prepared 
 as they for the message, have understood and believed (19-21), 
 and their unbelief is due to their wilfulness. It is not at aW 
 necessary to disprove the forced interpretation of these words, 
 which would see in them an argument for an apostolic ministry. 
 Ecclesiastical organization is an interest remote from the mind of 
 Paul. The Jews cannot plead ignorance of the gospel as an 
 excuse for their unbelief; for (a) as the messengers have been 
 sent, have preached, have been heard, they might, if they would, 
 have believed, and called on the Lord (14, 15) ; (6) as foretold in 
 prophecy they have heard, and not heeded (16, 17) ; (c) they must 
 have heard, as the gospel has been everywhere preached (18) ; 
 and {d) as God had warned them of their unbelief, and had 
 foretold the faith of the Gentiles, they were in a position to 
 understand God's dealings with them (19-21). 
 
 14. Kow then. Having stated the universality of the Christian 
 salvation, Paul now discusses the conditions which must be fulfilled, 
 if it is to be appropriated. The first of these is that the gospel 
 must have been preached. 
 
 whom. Faith is in Christ, but it is the preacher of Christ 
 who is heard ; Paul here identifies Christ and his preacher. To 
 hear the gospel preached by any man is to hear Christ preach, for 
 the preacher is sent by Christ. 
 
 15. Worship implies faith, faith hearing, hearing preaching, 
 preaching a message. If it can be proved that the message has 
 been given, it can be taken for granted that the other dependent 
 conditions have been fulfilled. The prophetic quotation is the 
 answer to the series of questions. The quotation is from Isa. lii. 
 7. The original reference is to the messenger who brought the 
 news of the return from captivity in Babylon ; but this event 
 of Hebrew history was regarded as typical of the Messianic 
 salvation, and so language used with reference to it was fre- 
 quently applied to the work of Christ. Paul, it will be observed, 
 shortens the quotation, uses the plural instead of the singular 
 as more suitable for his purpose, and omits 'upon the mountains,' 
 
236 TO THE ROMANS 10. 16-19 
 
 16 But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings. For 
 
 17 Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So 
 belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of 
 
 18 Christ. But I say. Did they not hear? Yea, verily. 
 
 Their sound went out into all the earth. 
 And their words unto the ends of the world. 
 
 19 But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses saith, 
 
 which had a merely local appropriateness. The A. V. reads ' of 
 them that preach the gospel of peace ' after ' feet,' but although 
 this reproduces a clause of the original passage, it is not supported 
 by the ancient MSS. 
 
 16. That the gospel may have been preached, even although it 
 has not been believed, is proved by the prophets complaint 
 regarding the unbelief with which his message had been received. 
 The quotation is from Isa. liii. i, although the word 'Lord' does 
 not occur there. 
 
 report: lit. 'hearing.' The word is used in a double sense, 
 either for ' the faculty by which a thing is heard,' or ' the substance 
 of what is heard.' Here the word has the second sense, and so 
 may be rightly rendered < report,' although this rendering obscures 
 the fact that the same word is used in this and the next verse, 
 where it has the first sense. 
 
 \*J. tlie word of Christ: verse 8, 'the word of faith.' This 
 message has Christ for its content, and demands faith for its 
 acceptance. 
 
 18. But I say. The gospel has been preached, and has not 
 been believed. Is there any excuse? The unbelieving may not 
 actually have heard, or (verse 19) they may not have understood. 
 That they have heard Paul proves by asserting the universal 
 extension of the gospel by means of a quotation from Ps. xix. 4, 
 according to the Greek version, which differs slightly from the 
 Hebrew : ' Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their 
 words to the end of the world.' He does not here use any 
 formula of quotation, and therefore probably he does not intend 
 the words to be taken as a proof from the Scriptures, but as 
 simply the statement of a fact in familiar language. The words 
 refer originally to the universal revelation of God in nature, and 
 by adopting them for his purpose Paul probably intends to suggest 
 that the gospel is to be preached as widely as nature speaks of 
 God. It has been objected that as a matter of fact the gospel 
 at this time had not been preached everywhere ; but we must not 
 take a writer like Paul with prosaic literalness. There might be 
 possibly some isolated communities of Jews to whom the gospel 
 
TO THE ROMANS 10. 20, 21 237 
 
 I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no 
 nation, 
 
 With a nation void of understanding will I anger you. 
 And Isaiah is very bold, and saith, 20 
 
 I was found of them that sought me not ; 
 
 I became manifest unto them that asked not of me. 
 But as to Israel he saith, All the day long did I spread 21 
 
 had not yet come ; yet, broadly speaking, in all the centres of 
 Jewish life in the Roman Empire the gospel had been preached. 
 At last the nation as a whole had had an opportunity of hearing 
 the gospel. 
 
 19. Israel. The use of this name has an argumentative force. 
 It recalls the relation to Jehovah of His own chosen people. 
 Taught and trained by His messengers, as the Jews had been, they 
 could not plead the excuse of ignorance, or incapacity to under- 
 stand the gospel. If they did remain ignorant, their ignorance 
 was culpable. The call of the Gentiles, according to the Apostle, 
 was a challenge to Israel ; the faith of the Gentiles a rebuke of 
 the unbelief of Israel ; this unbelief was due to, and a proof of, 
 self-will. The first quotation is from Deut. xxxii. 21, and is 
 intended to shew that as early as the time of Moses (Pirst 
 Moses) this unbelief had already shewn itself. This passage 
 is a threat that the idolatry of Israel will lead Jehovah to shew 
 His favour to another nation, a nation that had not before known 
 Him. Paul uses the quotation to describe what he expects to 
 be the effect of the call of the Gentiles on the Jews. As Apostle 
 of the Gentiles his aim is to provoke his countrymen to jealousy. 
 Shall they, God's chosen people, miss the blessing which other 
 nations are now sharing? This is what the argument means. 
 
 20. very l)olcl. Paul himself felt that it required courage to 
 rebuke the unbelief of his countrymen, and so he can understand 
 what it must have cost Isaiah to speak as he did to his own 
 people. The quotation is from Isa. Ixv. i according to the LXX, 
 with an inversion of clauses. The prophet alludes here to his 
 apostate countrymen, whose return to God he hopes for ; Paul, 
 with the freedom that is characteristic in his use of the O. T., 
 applies the words to the Gentiles, whose faith, so unprepared for 
 and so unexpected, should rebuke the unbehef of Israel who had 
 been prepared to receive, and so might be expected to accept, the 
 gospel. 
 
 21. as to Israel. This second quotation is applied not to the 
 Gentiles but the Jews, who in their unbelief were displaying a 
 characteristic which the prophets had again and again condemned. 
 
238 TO THE ROMANS 11. i 
 
 out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying 
 people. 
 11 I say then, Did God cast off his people ? God forbid. 
 
 It is the verse immediately following the previously quoted words 
 (Ixv. 2). Stephen in his speech brings the same charge. 
 
 disobedient and grainsaying" is an expansion of the Hebrew 
 * rebellious.' 
 
 (3) xi. God' s final purpose of mercy on all, 
 
 Paul has proved that God was free to reject His people, and 
 that the people deserved to be rejected ; and now he completes 
 his argument by shewing that at the present time even there is 
 a remnant believing and saved, and by venturing the bold hope 
 that, as the rejection of the Jews has been the occasion for the 
 call of the Gentiles, so the salvation of the Gentiles will lead to 
 the conversion of the Jews, in order that the end of all God's 
 dealings may be ' mercy upon all.* This glorious prospect evokes 
 a doxology, with which the doctrinal exposition fitly closes. 
 This argument falls into four parts, (i) Paul shews that the 
 rejection is partial now, as it has been in former days (i-io). 
 (ii) He then argues that it is temporary, as affording an occasion 
 for the introduction of the Gentiles into the kingdom (11-15). 
 (iii) He next infers, from the sacred ancestry of this people, its 
 ultimate restoration (16-24). (iv) He lastly shews that this 
 restoration is a necessary stage in the fulfilment of God's purpose 
 of universal salvation (25-31). He concludes his argument with 
 a doxology in praise of the wisdom of God (33-36). 
 
 (i) xi. i-io. The rejection only partial, (a) As a true Israelite 
 Paul cannot admit that God's chosen people have been altogether 
 rejected (1-2'*). (b) As in the time of Elijah, who beHeved 
 himself alone in the midst of an apostate nation, there was a 
 chosen remnant, so even now God has His own, though few 
 (2''-5). (c) These have been chosen in God's mercv^ not through 
 any merit of their own (6). (d) The rest of the nation, however, 
 is in accordance with prophecy being divinely punished by 
 spiritual insensibility (7-10). 
 
 1. I say then: this phrase marks the beginning of a fresh 
 stage in the argument. 
 
 Did God cast ofF his people? (i) The form of the question 
 itself suggests the negative answer to be given. (2) In the 
 Greek the words ' God ' and ' his own people ' are close together 
 to suggest that the one cannot be separated from the other. (3) 
 Paul purposely uses the familiar language of the O. T. The 
 assurance, ' the Lord will not forsake His people,' is given in 
 I Sam. xii. 22 ; Ps. xciv. 14. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 11. 2 239 
 
 For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of 
 the tribe of Benjamin. God did not cast off his people 2 
 which he foreknew. Or wot ye not what the scripture 
 saith of Elijah ? how he pleadeth with God against Israel, 
 
 I also. Two explanations of this personal reference have 
 been suggested. (1) Paul as an Israelite is himself a proof that 
 all Israel has not been rejected ; but («) Paul was not likel}' to 
 give himself such prominence in the argument, for his solitary 
 case would not be sufficient evidence; and {b) Paul gives a more 
 convincing proof of his denial in the scriptural reference in 
 verse 3. (2) Paul here, as at two other points in this delicate 
 and difficult argument (ix. i, x. i), introduces the personal 
 reference to shew his intense interest in the question under 
 discussion ; to him the suggestion that God has forsaken His 
 people appears as blasphemous as it could seem to any Jew. 
 
 Benjamin. This tribe was closely connected with Judah in 
 keeping up the theocratic continuity through the exile. (Cf. 
 2 Cor. xi. 22 ; Phil. iii. 5.) 
 
 2. whicli he foreknew. This is the reason why it was im- 
 possible for God to forsake His people ; but the words are capable 
 of being understood in two ways, (i) He had known and chosen 
 the people beforehand, and God's choice is without repentance. 
 Compare Amos iii. 2, ' You have I known of all the families of the 
 earth.' This meaning belongs to the simple word 'knew'; but 
 the word ' foreknew ' nowhere else has this meaning. Hence (2) 
 He had foreknown all the history and destiny of the people ; 
 its unbelief could not come as a surprise to Him, and so involve 
 an entire change in His relation. It is the people as a whole that 
 is foreknown, not only a specially elect part of it, as has sometimes 
 been maintained ; for such a limitation of God's interest would 
 deprive Paul of the broad foundation on which he rears the lofty 
 structure of his universal hope in the latter part of this chapter. 
 
 Or wot ye not. The argument is this. If you maintain 
 that God has now cast off His people, you must ignore what was 
 actually the case at a previous period of its history, when to all 
 appearance even as now the whole nation was apostate, but in 
 reality a remnant was still faithful. That past experience shews 
 what should be our present expectations. 
 
 of Elijah : lit. ' in Elijah,' that portion of the Scriptures 
 which deals with the story of Elijah. So 'in the bush' (Mark 
 xii. 26 ; Luke xx. 37) has probably the same meaning, although 
 the local sense is there admissible. For facility of reference the 
 Scriptures were divided into paragraphs bearing such significant 
 titles. 
 
 pleadeth. The Greek word menns '^x) to meet, <'^) to meet 
 
240 TO THE ROMANS 11. 5-7 
 
 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have digged 
 down thine altars ; and I am left alone, and they seek my 
 
 4 life. But what saith the answer of God unto him ? I 
 have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not 
 
 5 bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then at this present 
 time also there is a remnant according to the election of 
 
 6 grace. But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: 
 
 7 otherwise grace is no more grace. What then ? That 
 
 for talk, (3) to plead with, (4) to accuse. The fourth rather than 
 the third sense is appropriate here. 
 
 3. Iiord, &c. The words are quoted from the Greek version 
 of I Kings xix. 10 (14). These words were spoken by Elijah 
 when he fled to Horeb from the wrath of Queen Jezebel, and 
 when he believed himself to be alone faithful to God. 
 
 4. God's answer (verse 18). Paul quotes as a statement of 
 fact ; in the original context they are a Divine promise, that at the 
 time when the people will be judged for its idolatry and sin this 
 remnant will be spared, Paul sees an analogy between the situa- 
 tion in Elijah's time and his own. As in the darkest hour in the 
 past God did not altogether forsake His people, so will it be now. 
 
 Baal. In Greek there is a feminine article before this name, 
 although Baal was regarded as a male divinity. The reason is 
 this, that among the Jews there was latterly so strong an aversion 
 to pronounce this name of a false God, that the word 'shame,' 
 a feminine word, was read instead, and to indicate that the change 
 was to be made the feminine article was inserted. Paul thus 
 adopts a usage of the Jewish synagogue in writing even to 
 Gentiles. ' 
 
 5. Paul novir draws his conclusion from his illustration. 
 
 the election of grace. The remnant did not earn its position 
 by the merit of its works ; it was freely chosen by God that it 
 might be the recipient of His grace. 
 
 6. Paul is anxious to maintain against all possible misunder- 
 standing his doctrine of justification from grace through faith ; and 
 so he explains that if this remnant had deserved its position, there 
 would have been no g^ace in God's dealing, for wages earned, or 
 reward merited and grace given, are mutually exclusive con- 
 ceptions. Grace would so change its character as to lose its 
 identity if its gifts could be earned or deserved. 
 
 7. The statement of ix. 31 can now be so far modified that 
 it is not a total failure of Israel, but only a partial which must be 
 spoken of. 
 
TO THE ROxMANS 11. 8,9 241 
 
 which Israel seeketli for, that he obtained not ; but the 
 election obtained it, and the rest were hardened : accord- 
 ing as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes 
 that they should not see, and ears that they should not 
 hear, unto this very day. And David saith, 
 
 Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, 
 And a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto 
 them : 
 
 election : the abstract for the concrete, ' the elect.' The use 
 of the abstract lays stress not on the individuals chosen, but on 
 the fact that they owe their position entirely to God's choice. 
 
 hardened. Paul's order of thought is not ours. We should 
 attribute the failure to the hardening ; Paul ascribes the hardening 
 to the failure. It is a judicial penalty ; but he does not directly 
 ascribe it to God, nor does he blame themselves ; but, as in ix. 22, 
 he uses a word that leaves the question undecided. The quotation 
 in verse 8 represents God as producing the hardening, but the 
 word 'stumble' in verse 11 suggests that their fate was their 
 fault. 
 
 8. Here Paul combines in his quotation words from Isa. xxix. 
 10 ; Deut. xxix. 4 ; and Isa. vi. 9. While the form of the quotation 
 is determined mainly by Deuteronomy, the situation in time of 
 Isaiah offers the closest analogy to the condition of spiritual in- 
 sensibility, with which the Apostle charges his own countrymen. 
 This was nothing new in the history of the nation. 
 
 spirit of stupor. Isa. xxix. lo, a 'spirit of deep sleep, 
 absolute spiritual insensibility. 
 
 unto this very day. Cf. Stephen's sketch of Jewish history 
 to prove this same point. Acts vii. 51, 'Ye stiff-necked and un- 
 circumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy 
 Ghost : as your fathers did, so do ye.' 
 
 9, 10. This quotation is from the LXX of Ps. Ixix. 23, 24. 
 This penalty from God's wrath the Psalmist invokes on his own 
 enemies, whom he regards as also the enemies of God. Paul 
 boldly identifies the unbelieving Jews themselves with the enemies 
 of God's cause, and so applies this imprecation to them. 
 
 9. a snare, and a trap. Paul adds the words ' and a trap.' The 
 meaning of the quotation is briefly this. As the security which 
 prosperity inspires often exposes a man to danger and loss, so the 
 Scriptures, and ordinances, and institutions, in which the Jews 
 put their trust, misunderstood and misused, became the cause of 
 their persistence in the way of unbelief. 
 recompense: penalty of wrong-doing. 
 
242 TO THE ROMANS 11. lo, ii 
 
 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, 
 And bow thou down their back alway. 
 
 11 I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall ? God 
 
 10. This quotation describes two prominent features of un- 
 believing Judaism, (i) The Jews lacked spiritual discernment. 
 They had given so much attention to trivial ceremonial and ritual 
 minutiae, that they had lost capacity to appreciate essential moral 
 and spiritual realities. (2) They were oppressed by the burden 
 of ritualism and ceremonialism, as Christ, both in gracious invitation 
 (Matt. xi. 28) and in stern condemnation, declared (Matt, xxiii. 4). 
 
 (ii) xi. 11-15. The rejection temporary. Having shewn that the 
 rejection is partial, Paul now shews that it is temporary. He 
 deals no longer with the remnant, but looks more closely at those 
 at present rejected, those who have been hardened. Their present 
 rejection has in view their final restoration, which will bring even 
 greater blessing to the Gentiles than their rejection has done. It 
 is one thought which is developed in verses 11-15, even although 
 at verse 13 Paul digresses to address himself to the Gentiles, 
 and it therefore seems a mistake to begin a new paragraph there, 
 as the R.V, does. 
 
 {a) The rejection of the Jewish people is not final, but 
 temporary, the occasion of the call of the Gentiles, whose 
 entrance into the kingdom is fitted to arouse the Jews to a sense 
 of their loss in missing these blessings (11). (6) A still greater 
 good to the Gentiles may be looked for from the return of the 
 Jews than from their rejection (12). (c) Although Paul is proud 
 of his calling as Gentile Apostle, he has still his own countrymen 
 in view in his work, hoping to arouse the desire in them to share 
 the blessings enjoyed by the Gentiles (13, 14). {d) In so doing 
 he is not neglectful of the Gentiles, as the result of the recovery 
 of the Jews must needs be abundant blessing to all (15). 
 
 11. stumble . . .fall. This figure is suggested by the word 
 ' stumblingblock ' in verse 9, and two stages are distinguished. 
 A man may stumble, but again recover himself and go on his way; 
 or he may not only stumble, but fall also so as not to rise again. 
 Paul asks whether the former case or the latter is to be expected, 
 and strongly denies the possibility of the latter (Isa. xxiv. 20). 
 
 that they might fall. Although the grammatical structure 
 appears to indicate purpose, yet all that is probably meant is 
 result, and the meaning would be better rendered * so as to fall ' ; 
 for it cannot be the purpose of those who stumble to fall, and it 
 is a forced interpretation to refer the purpose of their stumbling 
 to God. 
 
 fall: or, 'trespass' ; rather, to maintain the metaphor, 'false 
 step.' 
 
TO THE ROMANS 11. 12 243 
 
 forbid : but by their fall salvation is come unto the Gen- 
 tiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if their fall 12 
 is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the 
 Gentiles ; how much more their fulness ? 
 
 salvation is come unto tlie Gentiles. Paul is stating his- 
 torical facts : it was his practice to begin in the Jewish synagogue, 
 and only when he was met with unbelief there did he go else- 
 where and address himself directly to the Gentiles. See Acts 
 xiii. 44-48, xxviii. 28. Had the apostles won many of the Jews, 
 it is probable that not only would the Gentile mission have been 
 delayed, but even that the new converts would have given the 
 Christian Church so distinctively Jewish a character as to greatly 
 increase the difficulties of any Gentile mission. Had there been 
 an extensive national movement among the Jews in favour of 
 Christianity, it seems at least unlikely that Paul could have 
 secured the emancipation of the Gentiles from the Jewish law. 
 In God's providence it was needful that, in order to become the 
 universal religion, Christianity should suffer rejection by the 
 nation in which it had its origin. 
 
 to provoke them to jealousy. The phrase is suggested by 
 the quotation in x. 19. We know that in not a few cases, at the 
 beginning at least, the effect was to exasperate the Jews all the 
 more. See Acts xiii. 50, xvii. 5, xxii. 22. There jealousy did not 
 lead to repentance. But there may have been some cases in 
 which pious Jews were won for Christ by what they saw of 
 God's work through the Christian Church among the Gentiles. 
 
 12. loss : rather, ' defeat,' or, ' defect.' In i Cor. vi. 7 the same 
 word is rendered * defect,* and in margin ' loss.' The rendering 
 * diminution,' although it offers a more distinct antithesis to ' ful- 
 ness,' is less justified by the etymology. 
 
 the riches of the Gentiles. The opening of the kingdom 
 of God to the Gentiles added to the world's spiritual wealth in the 
 greater number included in God's purpose of grace ; and the saints 
 in the Gentile churches were their most precious possession. 
 
 how much more. This is what is known as an a fortiori 
 argument, from the less to the greater, the lower to the higher. 
 If the rejection of the Jews can have such an effect, how much 
 greater must be the effect of their restoration. Cf. for same kind 
 of argument v. 9, 10. 
 
 fulness. The Greek word which this renders is pleroma^ 
 and it played an important part in later theological systems ; but 
 its meaning is still doubtful. It may mean eitlier (i) that which 
 is completed, the totality, or (2) that which completes, the addition 
 necessary to produce this totality. The latter is the proper sense 
 of the English word complement. Cf. John i. 16 ; Eph. i. 23, iii. 19; 
 
 R 2 
 
244 TO THE ROMANS 11. 13-15 
 
 13 But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then 
 
 1 4 as I am an apostle of Gentiles, 1 glorify my ministry : if 
 by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are 
 
 15 my flesh, and may save some of them. For if the 
 casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, 
 what shall iXiO. receiving of them he, but life from the dead ? 
 
 Col. i. 19; where complement or completeness are both possible 
 renderings. Here the sense of the passage is the same, whatever 
 meaning we may give the word, for if the Jewish nation at its 
 restoration will receive its complement, it will also then attain 
 its completeness. 
 
 13. Paul does not now turn from the Jews to deal with the 
 Gentiles, there is no change of subject. Verse 15 so clearly 
 resumes verse 12 that it is a mistake to begin a new paragraph. 
 What Paul says to the Gentiles is parenthetic, but its intention 
 clearly is to shew that what he is now saying about the Jews has 
 an interest for them as well. By his ministry he hopes to bring 
 good to his countrymen, but this good he hopes will in turn prove 
 for the greater gain of the Gentiles. This address suggests that, 
 however Jewish the tone and method of the previous argument, 
 Paul was conscious that for the most part he was addressing 
 Gentiles. 
 
 you tliat are Gentiles. The Jews are spoken of in the third 
 person, the Gentiles are here addressed in the second, this 
 supposes a church composed mostly of Gentiles. 
 
 apostle of Gentiles. Paul was conscious that this was 
 his distinctive work, to which God had called him (Acts xxii. 21 ; 
 Gal. ii. 7-9 ; i Tim. ii. 7). 
 
 I glorify my ministry : either (i) by insisting on the claims 
 of the Gentiles to the gospel (iii. 29, x. 12), or (2) by doing 
 everything possible to make the work among the Gentiles prosper. 
 The latter is probably what Paul means here. It is from the 
 success of his ministry among the Gentiles that he hopes some 
 influence on the Jews will result. 
 
 15. From the parenthesis of verses 13 and 14 Paul now returns 
 to his main argument, this verse repeating verse 12, but in other 
 language. 
 
 reconciling of the world. Paul's was a ministry of recon- 
 ciliation (2 Cor. V. 18, 19), and in this he was a worker for God, 
 whose purpose is reconciliation (Col. i. 20). Inasmuch as the 
 rejection of Israel was the occasion for the call of the Gentiles, 
 it contributed to the realization of this purpose. 
 
 receiving of them : their restoration to the blessings and 
 privileges of the Messianic kingdom. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 11. 16,17 245 
 
 And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the lump : and if the 16 
 root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the 17 
 
 life from the dead. The phrase may be taken either literally 
 or figuratively, (i) If taken literally the meaning is, that as 
 soon as Israel is restored, God's purpose being thus fulfilled, the 
 Resurrection, as the first stage of the final consummation of all 
 things, will take place. (2) If taken figuratively, then what Paul 
 anticipates as a result of Israel's restoration is a great spiritual 
 revival, doubtless- among the Gentiles as well as restored Israel. 
 The former explanation, taking into account the prominence of 
 eschatology in the Apostolic Age, is the more probable. 
 
 (iii) xi. 16-24. The root and the branches. Not onl}' was the 
 restoration of the Jews likely to confer benefit on the Gentiles 
 (11-15), Paul now shews that the past history of this people 
 justified this future expectation. Their ancestry could not be 
 altogether valueless, their inheritance prove altogether vain ; as 
 the fathers had been, so surely the sons would yet be. (a) This 
 restoration is to be expected, because even as the piece of dough 
 which is offered to God as a heave-offering consecrates the whole 
 lump, and as the branches of a tree are one with its root, so 
 the origin of this race will control its destiny (16). {b) The 
 present position of the Church of Christ is this: it is like an 
 olive tree, of which some of the branches (the unbelieving Jews) 
 have been cut off, and into which other branches taken from 
 a wild olive tree (the Gentiles, who had hitherto enjoyed no 
 special religious privileges) have been grafted (17). ic) The 
 Gentiles must not scorn the Jews, or boast that they have been 
 preferred before them, because as the Jews were cut off for 
 unbelief, so also the Gentiles may, and as the Gentiles have 
 been grafted in through faith, so also may the Jews, when they 
 turn from their unbelief (18-23). (^ It is more probable even 
 that the branches cut off should be restored to the tree than that 
 branches cut off from another tree should be grafted in ; the Jews 
 return is more probable even than the Gentiles' reception (24). 
 
 16. firstfnxit. This metaphor is taken from the custom pre- 
 scribed in Num. xv. 19-21. As this offering to God consecrated all 
 the dough, so Paul suggests (he leaves the conclusion to be diawn 
 from the illustration stated) the patriarchs, by their consecration 
 to God, consecrated the whole people. As verse 28 shews, the 
 patriarchs, not Christ, or the remnant, are the firstfruits. 
 
 holy: not in the ethical sense of personal perfection, but in 
 the religious sense of separation and dedication unto God. 
 
 root . . . branches. This is the same idea, although expressed 
 in a less appropriate metaphor; for the firstfruit was actually 
 consecrated unto God with a view to the consecration of the whole 
 
246 TO THE ROMANS 11. 17 
 
 branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, 
 wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker 
 with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree ; 
 
 lump. But this holiness cannot in the same literal sense be pre- 
 dicated of the roots of a tree with its branches. The thought 
 that this metaphor does naturally suggest is that the descendants 
 share the character of their ancestors. This figure is here added 
 to allow the fuller working out of the analogy in verses 17-24. 
 
 17-24. The image of an olive tree is found in the prophets, applied 
 to Israel (Jer. xi. 16 ; Hos. xiv. 6). A similar figure— that of a 
 vine — is also used (Isa. v. 7 ; Ps. Ixxx. 8). Jesus compares himself 
 to a vine, of which his disciples are the branches. The olive tree 
 is the Church of God, first Jewish, then Christian, but one 
 throughout. This assumption of the continuity of Christianity' and 
 Judaism is essential to the analogy. The Jews in refusing the 
 gospel not only missed something new, but even lost something 
 old. The roots of this tree are the patriarchs ; the branches are 
 the individual believers, whether they be natural branches (of 
 Jewish descent) or grafted branches (Gentiles). Two lessons are 
 drawn from this figure: (i) a warning to the Gentiles not to be 
 high-minded, but fear ; they are not natural, but grafted branches, 
 and ma3' be cut off: (2) an encouragement for the Jews; the 
 natural branches can be more easily restored than the branches 
 from another tree grafted in. Even if arbori culture would not 
 justify Paul's assumption as regards a tree, yet something can be 
 said for his assumption as regards a race ; old aptitudes are more 
 easily recovered than new aptitudes are acquired. The metaphor 
 Paul uses is, however, not correct. No gardener ever yet 
 grafted a branch of a wild olive tree on a cultivated one ; it is 
 a wild stock on which a branch from a cultivated tree is grafted. 
 We need not rashly assume, however, that Paul here shews his 
 ignorance. He possibly purposely reverses the natural process 
 to suggest how contrary to all probability and expectation was the 
 call of the Gentiles. 
 
 17. some. Paul states less than the fact from consideration and 
 sympathy for his countr3'men, so iii. 3. 
 
 a wild olive. This is the ungrafted tree, the fruit of which 
 is small and worthless. The Gentiles had been without the 
 religious privileges of the Jews ; theirs had not been a special 
 revelation of God's grace. 
 
 partaker with them. Cf. Eph. iii. 6. 
 
 the root of the fatness of the olive tree. The branches 
 draw their nourishment from the roots through the stem. Paul 
 thinks of the fatness of the tree as stored in the roots and drawn 
 from them. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 11. 18-21 247 
 
 glory not over the branches : but if thou gloriest, it is 18 
 not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee. Thou 19 
 wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be 
 grafted in. Well; by their unbelief they were broken 20 
 off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not highminded, 
 but fear : for if God spared not the natural branches, -^ 1 
 
 18. grlory not. The Gentiles hated and scorned the Jews. 
 Even when converted to Christianity, this feeHng of the Gentiles 
 would probably be turned against tlie unbelieving Jews, and 
 would even be intensified. The Jews had lost their religious 
 privileges, and the Gentiles had gained them. A sense of 
 superiority, shewn in a supercilious attitude, had developed itself, 
 and Paul needed to rebuke it. This pride and conceit seems to 
 have been speciall}' characteristic of the Corinthian Church. Some 
 signs of the same spirit may have already appeared in Rome, and 
 thus led to Paul's warning. 
 
 it is not thou that bearest the root, hut the root thee. 
 This is not so obvious a truth as it may appear. The grafted 
 branch ennobled the stock on which it was grafted ; so the 
 Gentiles might believe that by accepting the gospel from the Jews 
 they were conferring favour and benefit on the Jews. Paul 
 reminds them that the good they enjoy has come to them ; they 
 are the benefited, not the benefactors. 
 
 19. Thou wilt say. Paul himself did argue that the result of 
 the temporary rejection of the Jews was the call of the Gentiles ; 
 nay, doubtless he held that this result was divinely intended. He 
 can, however, conceive of the Gentiles putting forward the same 
 conclusion in a spirit of arrogance. ' As they were cut off to let 
 us in, we must be better than they.* Paul at once refutes such an 
 inference. 
 
 20. Well. This is an ironical comment, which might be para- 
 phrased, 'You are a clever fellow.' Paul, however, at once 
 rebukes this smartness. There is no human merit as the reason 
 for God's dealing. Unbelief caused the rejection of the Jews ; 
 faith was the condition of the acceptance of the Gentiles. Such 
 conceit is destructive of faith, and may involve, if cherished, loss 
 of all privilege and benefit. 
 
 21. This verse gives the reason for the warning. God's 
 severity to the unbelief of the Jews may be a warning to the 
 Gentiles, lest the same judgement for the same reason unbelief — 
 fall on them. In the phrase natural branches Paul suggests that 
 the Jews had more reason to expect than the Gentiles that they 
 would be spared. 
 
248 TO THE ROMANS 11. 22-25 
 
 22 neither will he spare thee. Behold then the goodness 
 and severity of God : toward them that fell, severity ; but 
 toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his 
 
 23 goodness : otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And 
 they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be 
 
 24 grafted in : for God is able to graft them in again. For 
 if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild 
 olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a 
 good olive tree : how much more shall these, which are 
 the natural branches^ be grafted into their own olive tree ? 
 
 25 For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this 
 
 22. God, in His dealings with men, appears in a double character. 
 He has shewn grace to the Gentiles, and as long as their faith 
 continues to claim this grace, it will be theirs. He has visited the 
 Jews with judgement because of their unbelief; and when the 
 Gentiles shew the same unbelief, the same judgement will fall 
 on them. 
 
 23. From warning the Gentiles Paul turns to encouragement 
 for the Jews. As soon as unbelief ceases, judgement ceases ; 
 as soon as faith begins, grace begins ; God has not only the will, 
 but the power to restore those whom He has rejected. 
 
 24. This is again an a fortiori argument, from the less to the 
 more probable ; the call of the Gentiles was less probable than the 
 restoration of the Jews. That the one has taken place affords 
 reason to believe that the other will take place. (See Introduction — 
 III, 6, {c) (vii)— for discussion of Jewish contemporary opinion on 
 the subject of this paragraph ; and note at verse 32 on Paul's 
 hope for his people.) 
 
 (iv) xi. 25-32. Go<^s universal purpose, (a) As the cure for 
 conceit is knowledge, Paul takes his readers into his confidence, 
 and unfolds to them the secret of God's purpose as revealed to 
 him, namely, that the spiritual insensibil'ty of Israel is temporary, 
 and will continue only until the full number of the saved from 
 among the Gentiles has been made up, and then, according to 
 the prophetic prediction, salvation will come to Israel (25-27). 
 {b) Although the temporary rejection of the Jews served as the 
 occasion for the bringing in of the Gentiles, yet God's unchanging 
 purpose is their final salvation (28, 29). (c) It is with a view 
 to the revelation of His grace to all mankind that God suffered 
 the unbelief of the Gentiles in times past, and is suffering the 
 unbelief of His own people now (30-32). 
 
TO THE ROMANS 11. 26 249 
 
 mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a 
 hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of 
 the Gentiles be come in ; and so all Israel shall be saved : 26 
 even as it is written, 
 
 25. For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant. Cf. 
 i. T3 ; I Cor. x. i, xii. i ; 2 Cor. i. 8 ; i Thess. iv. 13. Paul uses this 
 phrase when he wants to take his readers into his confidence, 
 or to communicate to them some truth of special importance. It 
 is a call to attention. 
 
 this mystery. In the time of Paul the mysteries enjoyed 
 great popularity, as they professed to reveal to the initiated 
 secrets, especially about the future life. These secrets were 
 communicated only to the 'perfect' ^Col. i. 28 ; i Cor. ii. 8) who 
 had been 'initiated' (Phil. iv. 12, 'have learned the secret'), and 
 ' had been sealed ' (Eph. i. 13). Paul uses the phraseology of 
 the mysteries, but does not follow the practice ; for it is his 
 mission not to hide God's secrets, but to let all men know them. 
 By mystery he means not something to be kept secret, but something 
 that has at last been revealed ; God's eternal purpose, long 
 hidden in human history, has at last been laid bare in Christ's 
 gospel. The Christian revelation as a whole is described as 
 a mystery (xvi. 25 ; i Cor. ii. 7 ; Eph. vi. 19 ; Col. ii. 2 ; i Tim, 
 iii. 9) ; or the term is applied to special doctrines, as the 
 Incarnation (i Tim. iii. 16), the Crucifixion of Christ (i Cor. ii. i, 
 7), the Divine purpose to sum up all things in Christ (Eph. i. 9), 
 the entrance of the Gentiles into the kingdom (Eph. iii. 3, 4 ; Col. 
 i. 26, 27), the union of Christ with his Church as typified in 
 marriage (Eph. v. 32), the transformation of those who are alive 
 at the resurrection (i Cor. xv. 51), the antagonism of Antichrist 
 (2 Thess. ii. 7). The mystery here is the temporary unbelief 
 of the Jews to be followed by their final restoration. 
 
 lest ye be wise in your own conceits. * A little knowledge 
 is a dangerous thing.' The Gentiles were in danger of drawing 
 a false conclusion from what Paul had already shewn of God's 
 ways ; the only cure for this defect was complete knowledge. 
 
 in part. The phrase recalls the doctrine of the remnant 
 (verse 5). 
 
 until the fulness {pleroma, see verse 12) of the Gentiles 
 be come in (to the Messianic kingdom. Cf. Matt. vii. 13, xxiii. 
 13 ; Luke xiii. 24). The unbelief of the Jews is to continue till 
 the Gentiles are all brought in (cf. Luke xxi. 24. 
 
 26. and so. This clause cannot be co ordinate with the pre- 
 ceding clause depending on 'that,' as the meaning then would 
 be that the hardening was the means of Israel's salvation. The 
 
250 TO THE ROMANS 11. 27,28 
 
 There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer ; 
 He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : 
 
 27 And this is my covenant unto them, 
 When I shall take away their sins. 
 
 28 As touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake : 
 but as touching the election, they are beloved for the 
 
 clause must be independent, and the reference of the word * so ' 
 must be to the gathering in of the fullness of the Gentiles. 
 
 all Israel. This does not mean every individual Israelite, 
 but Israel as a whole ; not the spiritual Israel (the Christian 
 Church"), or the elect remnant, but the historical nation (taken 
 in its totality without any emphasis on the members of it). Paul 
 here is taking a broad general view of the Jewish nation and 
 the Gentile nations. As regards the eternal destiny of individuals, 
 he here says absolutely nothing. 
 
 26. 27. as it is written. The quotation is from Isa. lix. 20, 
 21, and xxvii. 9; and, although free, the only important change is 
 'from Zion* instead of 'for Zion,' and this change was probably 
 suggested by Ps. xiv. 7. What the prophet had said about the 
 spiritual destiny of Israel Paul here more definitely applies to 
 the work of Christ ; but it had already been so applied to the 
 Messiah by Jewish theology, which anticipated a general restora- 
 tion of Israel, following on a general resurrection in a kingdom in 
 Palestine with Jerusalem as its centre, in which there was to be, 
 in accordance with prophetic prediction, a place even for the 
 Gentiles. Although JPaul here uses the phrase ' out of Zion,' we 
 must not suppose that he regarded the prophecy literally, for in 
 Gal. iv. 25, 26, he expressly contrasts 'the Jerusalem that now 
 is' and 'the Jerusalem that is above.' The question may be 
 asked, Does he refer to the First or the Second Advent ? Very 
 probably the coming he refers to is the preaching of the gospel 
 to the Jews that Christ had come, and their acceptance of him as 
 Messiah, and not the Second Advent. 
 
 Deliverer. Cf. i Thess. i. 10. 
 
 27. my covenant. God's covenant is not now one of com- 
 mandments to be obeyed, but of sins forgiven — a new covenant. 
 
 28. as touching' the g'ospel. As regards God's plan for the 
 spread of the gospel. 
 
 enemies. Treated by God as such, rejected for their unbelief 
 for your sake. The call of the Gentiles was the result of 
 
 the unbelief of the Jews, as has already been fully shewn. 
 
 the election: not as in verse 7, the elect ones, or the 
 
 believing remnant, but with respect to God's choice of the Jews 
 
 as His own people. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 11. 29-33 251 
 
 fathers' sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are 29 
 without repentance. For as ye in time past were dis- 3° 
 obedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their 
 disobedience, even so have these also now been dis- 31 
 obedient, that by the mercy shewn to you they also may 
 now obtain mercy. For God hath shut up all unto dis- 32 
 obedience, that he might have mercy upon all. 
 
 beloved. Probably suggested by the words quoted in ix. 25. 
 
 for the fathers' sake. The nation as a whole was still dear 
 to God, because the ancestors of the race had been well pleasing 
 to Him. 
 
 29. God is an unchanging being ; He may vary His method, 
 but He does not abandon His purpose (i Sam. xv. 29; Ezek. 
 xxiv. 14). 
 
 30. This verse shews further ground for expecting God's mercy 
 on His people. The Gentiles, though disobedient in times past, 
 had now obtained mercy. If God be unchangeable, then it is 
 certain that the disobedience of Israel now will hereafter be 
 followed by mercy. 
 
 "by their disobedience. The unbelief of the Jews led to the 
 preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. 
 
 31. the mercy shewn to you. The Jews are placed on the 
 same footing as the Gentiles. They had forfeited all claims and 
 rights under the covenant, and must be restored just as the 
 Gentiles had been received, 
 
 32. This is a brief summing up of the history of the past, Paul 
 has already distinguished three stages in it, marked out by the 
 names of Adam, Moses, and Christ. Adam brought sin, Moses 
 gave law, and Christ offers grace. He has also distinguished the 
 condition of the Gentile world from that of the Jewish people. 
 The Gentiles held down the truth in unrighteousness (in idolatry 
 and immoralitj'), and the Jews displayed a zeal for God without 
 knowledge, boasted the possession while neglecting the practice 
 of the law. He now affirms that even in the sin of mankind there 
 w^as a Divine purpose ; Gentiles and Jews alike were given over 
 to disobedience that God might more clearly reveal His mere}'. 
 Not only where sin abounded did grace much more abound, but 
 sin was allowed to abound in order that grace might much more 
 abound. God can turn all man's opposition to Himself into an 
 occasion for carrying out His purposes. Cf. Gal. iii. 22, ' Howbeit 
 the Scripture hath shut up all things under sin, that the promise 
 by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe,' 
 23, ' But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law. 
 
252 TO THE ROMANS 11. 32 
 
 shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.' The 
 Gentiles also ' were held in bondage under the rudiments of the 
 world' until 'the fulness of the time came' (iv. 3, 4). Dis- 
 obedience was the prison-house in which mankind was kept 
 until the purpose of gra.e could be fulfilled. How far Divine 
 sovereignty and human responsibility mutually limit each other 
 Paul does not consider. How far individual men are to be 
 blamed for a disobedience that subserves the ends of Divine mercy 
 he does not indicate. He states the one side of the truth with an 
 absoluteness which appears to exclude the other. But elsewhere, 
 in warnings and counsels and appeals, he fully recognizes man's 
 liberty and accountability. This flight of religious hope here 
 carries him into so lofty regions of theological speculation that, for 
 the time at least, the facts of common experience are left below 
 and dwindle out of sight. 
 
 all: not every individual man, but Israel as a whole (verse 
 26) and the fullness of the Gentiles (verse 25). Paul does not 
 teach a dogmatic absolute universalism, for which there is no 
 secure foundation, either in the facts of human experience or 
 the truths of Divine revelation. We cannot be certain that 
 every individual man will believe, and, therefore, we cannot con- 
 fidently affirm that God's purpose will be fulfilled with absolute 
 universality. 
 
 Paul's Hope for his People (25 -3s). 
 
 To Paul's expectation of the future, the conversion of 'all 
 Israel ' after ' the fulness of the Gentiles ' has come in, exception 
 may be taken on the ground that it is inspired by a narrow 
 patriotism, and that the course of human history forbids our 
 cherishing any illusion that this hope will ever be fulfilled. It 
 must, however, be carefully noted what Paul does, and what 
 he does not, affirm. He does not assert that every individual 
 Israelite will be saved, but only that the nation as a whole will 
 at some time be brought to faith. He does not assert that it will 
 be by any act of Divine omnipotence that the change will be 
 brought about, but that the evidence for the Christian faith which 
 the converted Gentiles will afford will bring conviction to the 
 Jewish people. The conversion will be the result of a genuinely 
 moral and religious process. Paul's hope had its grounds not only 
 in his Jewish patriotism, but even in his Christian faith. This 
 nation had, as he asserted, enjoyed many high privileges, and 
 discharged many useful functions. The revelation in Christ is 
 not independent of the revelation to the Hebrew people, but was 
 prepared for by it. All who believe in Christ as Saviour and 
 Lord must recognize the deep debt that mankind owes to God's 
 chosen people, the organ of His revelation, and the agent of His 
 purpose. To cherish high hopes for the future of this people 
 
TO THE ROMANS 11. 25-32 253 
 
 is not itself a proof of any narrowness of feeling, but proves rather 
 a just judgement regarding the facts of history. Are these hopes 
 vain ? The degradation of the Jews at the present day, absorbed 
 as most of them are in money-making, and the difiiculty of 
 securing many genuine conversions to Christianity may appear 
 to contradict them absolutely. But on the other hand the 
 persistence of the Jewish type, beliefs and customs, in spite of 
 the dispersion of the Jews among the nations, and the persecution 
 to which they have been exposed, seems to indicate that God 
 has yet a national restoration in view for His chosen people. 
 The degradation in the worship of Mammon rather than God, 
 which even the warmest friends of the Jews must admit, is the 
 inevitable result of their shameful treatment by professedly 
 Christian nations. Because the Jew could nowhere be sure of 
 a home ; because everywhere scorn, hate, cruelty, met him ; 
 because all hope of the fulfilment of God's promises to His people 
 seemed taken from him, he has become what he is. Christendom 
 must share the burden of guilt and shame that it is so. Again, 
 as Christianity has become hateful to the Jew because of what 
 so called Christians have done, or are still doing, against his 
 race, need we wonder that there are few conversions ? If, 
 however, Christendom were to become genuinely, intensely 
 Christian, if all the nations of the earth were to be won to 
 Christianity, have we any good reason for assuming that this one 
 nation would remain obdurate in its unbelief? A genuine, intense, 
 universal Christianity would not put any obstacles in the way 
 of Jewish faith, but would surely afford convincing evidence. 
 It is because we are still so far from seeing the condition Paul 
 lays down — the gathering in the fullness of the Gentiles — fulfilled, 
 that the expectation of the conversion of the Jews seems so 
 unreal. But if we believe that Christ is yet to be King of kings 
 and Lord of lords, the conversion of the Jews becomes not only 
 a possible, but a necessary hope, grounds for which are on the 
 one hand God's fidelity, and on the other hand human heredity. 
 Would not an inexplicable unreason appear in human history 
 as the fulfilment of Divine purpose, if the nation whom God had 
 used to preach to others as the bearer of His revelation, should 
 itself prove a castaway? While God cannot and will not force 
 His salvation on an unwilling nation, while His fidelity to His 
 promises is always conditioned by human action, yet on the 
 other hand the racial peculiarities and national characteristics 
 that fitted the Hebrew people for its high and holy calling, 
 preserved in its present descendants, although repressed by their 
 present circumstances, would surely reassert themselves under 
 favourable conditions, and so the lump prove holy as its firstfruits, 
 the branches as their root. Confidently may Christian faith 
 welcome and cherish Paul's hope for his people. 
 
254 TO THE ROMANS 11. 33-35 
 
 33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the 
 knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgements, 
 
 34 and his ways past tracing out ! For who hath known the 
 
 35 mind of the Lord ? or who hath been his counsellor ? or 
 who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed 
 
 (v) xi. 33-36. Praise of God's wisdom. Paul, as if conscious 
 that his thought has soared into heights of speculation, where 
 the mind of man cannot long hold on its flight, at this point 
 arrests his argument to acknowledge w^ith adoring gratitude the 
 transcendence of the truth of God above and beyond all knowledge 
 and understanding of man. With this doxology he fitly closes his 
 doctrinal statement, (a) God is beyond the reach of man's 
 knowledge and understanding in His thoughts and plans, dealings 
 and works (33). (b) As His mind is hidden from all, He needs 
 not the counsel or the help of any man (34, 35). (c) In Him is 
 the origin, through Him is the continuance, unto Him is the 
 destination of the whole universe, and therefore praise is due to 
 Him in every period of existence (36). 
 
 33. deptli : a figurative expression for the immeasurable, un- 
 fathomable, inexhaustible character of God's nature and attributes. 
 Cf. Ps. xxxvi. 6, ' Thy judgements are a great deep.' 
 
 of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledg'e of 
 God : better as in R. V. margin, ' of the riches and the wisdom 
 and the knowledge.' 'Riches' refers to God's superabounding 
 grace (ii. 4, ix. 23, x. 12 : cf. Eph. i. 7, 18, ii. 7, iii. 16). 
 
 wisdom : all-embracing understanding of the world as a whole 
 (i Cor. i. 21-24 ; Eph. iii. lo). 
 
 knowledge : full grasp of each thing. 
 
 past tracing out : lit. ' not to be tracked by footprints.' The 
 Book of Job is an extended commentary on the one theme of 
 the mystery of God's ways (v. 9, ix. 10, xxxiv. 24). Daring as 
 Paul sometimes is in his thought, venturesome in his faith, subtle 
 in intellect, and keen in insight, yet even he is led to confess that 
 God's ways are, after all, beyond the reach of our understanding. 
 
 34. This quotation is from Isa. xl. 13. It is quoted again in 
 I Cor. ii. 16. The words occur in a passionate protest against 
 idolatry, in which the absoluteness of the one God finds vivid 
 and vigorous expression. This quotation justifies what has 
 just been said about the depth of the wisdom and knowledge 
 of God ; it transcends all man's capacity to produce, or even to 
 apprehend. 
 
 35. This is quoted from Job xli. n, but differs from the 
 LXX, and comes nearer the Hebrev/. 'Who hath first given 
 unto me, that I should repay him ? ' This illustrates the riches 
 
TO THE ROMANS 11. 36 255 
 
 unto him again ? For of him, and through him, and 36 
 unto him, are all things. To him he the glory for ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 of God. It confirms Paul's constant insistence on the fact 
 that man cannot render to God anything that would give him 
 a claim on God's favour. The Pharisees believed that they could 
 make God their debtor by the merit of their good works. 
 
 33. God is the source, the support, and the goal of creation. 
 The attempt to find the doctrine of the Trinity in these words 
 must be pronounced mistaken; God as the source of all might refer 
 to the Father, God as the support of all to the Son, but God as 
 the goal of all does not correspond to the place or the function 
 of the Spirit in the N. T. doctrine. Of course, if we were at 
 liberty to be guided by philosophic speculation in scriptural 
 exegesis, the phrase 'unto him' might be taken to describe the 
 work of the Spirit as the return of God to Himself from what is 
 called His otherness in the universe, His going forth being the 
 work of the Logos or Son. But it seems more consistent with 
 Paul's thought to regard the Godhead in its unity as in these 
 manifold relations with the universe. 
 
 To him be the glory. Cf. xvi. 27 ; Gal. i. 5 ; Phil. iv. 20 ; 
 2 Tim. iv. 18; Heb. xiii. 21. The word 'glory' here does not 
 mean the splendour that manifests God's perfection, or that per- 
 fection itself; but is used in a sense nearer the original meaning, 
 'opinion' for 'honour' or 'praise.' To give glory to God is to 
 hallow His name. 
 
 for ever: /;/. 'unto the ages.* Whatever new phases or stages 
 of existence there may yet be, ' the plural denotes the individual 
 ages whose sum is eternity.* There are many variations of phrase 
 to express the same idea: 'unto the age' (Heb. v. 6), 'unto the 
 age of the age' (Heb. i. 8), ' unto the ages of the ages' (Gal. i. 5) ; all 
 these are attempts to express in terms of time what transcends time. 
 
 Amen. This is a Hebrew word meaning * surely,' used in 
 confirmation of what has been said or asked (Deut. xxvii. 15 ; 
 Ps. Ixxii. 19 ; Jer. xi. 5). This use of the word passed from 
 the Jewish synagogue to the Christian Church. In Rev. iii. 
 14 Christ is called ' the Amen, the faithful and true witness,' and 
 in 2 Cor. i. 20 it is said of Christ in regard to God's promises, 
 ' in him is the yea [the Divine fulfilment] : wherefore also through 
 him is the Amen [the human confirmation of God's fidelity].' 
 
256 TO THE ROMANS 12. i 
 
 12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 THE PRACTICAI. APPLICATION, xii. 1— 3CV. 12. 
 
 Paul usuaUy distinguishes the doctrinal and the practical part 
 of his letters, but his separation is more marked in Romans than 
 in Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians, i and 2 Thessalonians. In 
 the practical part of Romans there are two main divisions, one 
 dealing generally with the Christian life (xii, xiii), the other 
 treating specially some questions of importance in the circum- 
 stances of the Christian Church in Rome (xiv — xv. 12). 
 
 I. General Principles of Cliristian Idfe. xii, xiii. 
 The topics dealt with in this division are: (i) Christian life as 
 a sacrifice (xii. i, 2). (2) The ministry of spiritual gifts 
 (3-8). \3) The law of love in its manifold applications (9-21). 
 (4) The Christian's duty to the State (xiii. 1-7). (5) Love as 
 the fulfilment of all law (8-10). (6) The nearness of Christ's 
 Second Coming (11-14). 
 
 (i) xii. I, 2. Christian life as a sacrifice. 
 
 la) It is the Apostle's earnest desire that those whom God has so 
 fully and freely saved and blessed should bring as a thank-offering 
 unto God (which will both have a moral value and afford God 
 a satisfaction which no animal sacrifices possess and confer), even 
 their bodily desires and activities in a conscious and voluntary 
 surrender to His will for His use (i). {h) Instead of following 
 the fashion of the society around them, their character is to 
 undergo a change corresponding with and consequent on the 
 enlightening and quickening of their moral discernment, so that by 
 their moral progress they may be increasingly fitted to understand 
 God's purpose, which is distinguished by its excellence in all 
 respects (2). 
 
 1 . I beseech you therefore. This is a regular form of exhor- 
 tation with Paul ; so Eph, iv. I ; i Tim. ii. i ; i Cor. iv. 16. 
 
 therefore. This points back to the whole doctrinal statement, 
 election, vocation, justification, sanctification, glorification — all are 
 motives for holy living. This word is expanded in the phrase 
 the mercies of God, which is a comprehensive description of all 
 God has done to save and bless man, and defines the Divine 
 motive. In 2 Cor. i. 3 God is called ' the Father of mercies ' ; in 
 Ps. cxix. 156 it is said of God, * Great are thy tender mercies, 
 O Lord.' 
 
TO THE ROMANS 12. i 157 
 
 God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 
 acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 
 
 present : a technical term for bringing an offering. It is used 
 of the presentation of the babe Jesus in the temple (Luke ii. 22) ; 
 Paul presents his converts (Col. i. 28), Christ his church (Eph. 
 V. 27), the Christian himself (Rom. vi. 13). 
 
 bodies: lit. as in vi. 13, the 'members* are to be presented. 
 The body is spoken of in this verse, the mind in the next. 
 Christianity claims a purification and sanctification of the body. 
 The sacrifice of the body is the avoidance of all self-indulgence 
 in the gratification of animal appetite or sensual desire, the 
 endurance of all hardship or w^ant of the body that the service 
 of Christ may demand, the exercise of all the powers of the body 
 in doing the work of Christ in the world. There seem to be two 
 reasons why Paul lays stress on this Christian use of the body : 
 (i) the prevalence of sexual vice in the pagan world, (2) the 
 tendency to regard the body, because material, as essentially evil, 
 and therefore to excuse, or treat as morally indifferent, the sins 
 of the body. The members of the body are, according to Paul's 
 view, to be used as weapons of righteousness unto God (vi. 13). 
 As the bodies of Christians are members of Christ and temples 
 of the Spirit (i Cor. vi. 15, 19), God is to be glorified in the body, 
 
 a living sacrifice. The animal offerings of the Jewish ritual 
 were slain, but the Christian offers himself not only alive, but by 
 pure and holy living unto God. ^ ^ 
 
 holy : unblemished, free of defect or stain. Lev. xix. 2, * Ye 
 shall be holy : for I the Lord your God am holy.' 
 
 acceptable : //'/. * well-pleasing.' Phil. iv. 18 ; Rom. xiv. 18. 
 Ritual ofierings were not pleasing unto God (Isa. i. 10-16), but 
 the sacrifice of a broken and a contrite heart was (Ps. li. 16, 17). 
 
 reasonable service: or, 'worship.' This does not mean a 
 worship which it is reasonable for you to offer, but a worship 
 which befits your reason. It is a spiritual offering as contrasted 
 with the oflfering of brute beasts ; i Pet. ii. 5, * a holy priesthood, 
 to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus 
 Christ.' Although Paul does not, like the author of Hebrews, 
 employ the argument of O. T. typology, and although the Chris- 
 tian rehgion knows only Christ as mediator, and all believers 
 as having freedom of access unto God, it is interesting to note 
 what use Paul makes of sacrificial or sacerdotal phraseology. 
 He, in Phil. ii. jn -^presents the shedding of his blood in the 
 martyrdom^l^yj.'j,'^ n .pecting as the libation which accompanied 
 a sacrifiy^jj'^gj. > ^^ j^. 18, likens the gift of the Philippians to the 
 ince^'gg than the least^'^ when the sacrifice was being made. (So 
 ^ not to tlxink of) ^" ^°°'- ^^- ^^ ^^ states his purpose to 
 
 S 
 
2S8 TO THE ROMANS 12. 2 
 
 2 And be not fashioned according to this world : but be 
 ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye 
 
 be 'a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, ministering in 
 Sacrifice the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles 
 might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.' 
 Such figurative language does not, however, lend any support 
 to sacramentarian assumptions or sacerdotal pretensions in the 
 Christian Church. 
 
 2. Having dealt with the body, and shewn that the separation 
 of the body from sin and dedication unto God itself involves 
 a spiritual service of God, Paul now shews more fully and clearly 
 what that spiritual service is ; it has a negative and a positive 
 aspect. 
 
 fashioned. Not an essential but an external resemblance is 
 suggested by this word, whereas transformed implies a thorough 
 change, which is elsewhere spoken of as a birth, a resurrection, 
 a new creation. As man's destiny lies elsewhere he cannot realize 
 his true nature in doing as the world does, he can only follow 
 a fashion, assume a vain show. The Greek words rendered 
 * fashioned ' and ' transformed * present a marked contrast. More 
 literally the first word might be rendered configured. The figure 
 {schema) is external semblance ; the form {morphe) is essential 
 nature. Cf. Phil. ii. 6, Christ was in * the form {morphe) of God,' 
 and was * found in fashion {schema) as a man,' 
 
 world : rather, ' age,' to emphasize the fleeting character of 
 man's present surroundings. The present age was contrasted 
 in Jewish thought with the age of the Messiah (Matt. xii. 32 ; 
 Luke XX. 34, 35 ; Eph. i. 21). As the present age is transitory, 
 and not eternal ; defective, and not perfect ; subject to the ruler 
 of this age, * the prince of the power of the air' (Eph. ii. 2), and 
 not the Ruler of the ages, God over all ; the word aeon, as the 
 word cosmos in John, gets a moral meaning. It is the period of 
 evil. (Gal. i. 4, 'the present evil age.') 
 
 the renewing" of your mind. The mind, the faculty for 
 moral discernment, may come under the power of the bodily 
 appetites. Then it is a mind of the flesh (Col. ii. 18) ; but it may 
 also be filled with the Spirit, and then it is the mind of Christ 
 (i Cor. ii. 13-16). Baptism, as marking the entrance into the 
 Christian life, is described as 'the washing of regeneration and 
 renewing of the Holy Ghost' (Titus iii. 5). Although at con- 
 version a decisive change of mind takes P\"\° i^^^ Greek word 
 rendered 'repentance' in the N. T. literally m' defines ore of mind), 
 yet this change is also progressive : 2 Cor. iv."^^'^ °' rnerc^qj-j man 
 is renewed day by day' (also Col. iii. 10). ^"^ tender mei^^an' 
 becomes enlightened by this renewing thro 
 
TO THE ROMANS 12. 3 259 
 
 may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect 
 will of God. 
 
 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to 3 
 every man that is among you, not to think of himself 
 
 the outward life must be steadily changed ; quickened conscience 
 must shew itself in better conduct and nobler character, the 
 transformation here required. 
 
 that ye may prove (and by proving may approve). The 
 result of a changed life due to a renewed mind is keener moral 
 discernment, making still further moral improvement possible. 
 
 what is the g'ood and acceptable and perfect will of 
 God: or, 'the will of God, even the thing which is good and 
 acceptable and perfect.' According to the first interpretation 
 the characteristics of the Divine will are described, according to 
 the second the contents, but the difference is very slight. If the 
 will of God have these characteristics, its contents will possess them. 
 
 g'ood, the morally right; acceptable, the religiously fit; 
 perfect, what realizes the ideal, whether moral or religious. 
 
 (2) xii. 3-8. The ministry of spiritual gifts. 
 
 {ci) As one who has himself been endowed by God with the 
 grace of apostleship, and so can claim the right, and discharge 
 the duty, of giving counsel to believers. Paul urges on all who 
 have gifts first of all to form a just estimate of their place and 
 powers (3). (6) One reason for this self-scrutiny and self-limita- 
 tion is the organic unity of the church, in which the members, 
 as having a capacity for and being engaged in the exercise of 
 various functions, are mutually dependent (4, 5). (c) Each man 
 accordingly is exhorted to use his own gift in its proper sphere 
 and its appropriate manner, whether his function is some form 
 of instruction, administration, or beneficence (6-8). While these 
 spiritual gifts were a gain to the church they were also a danger, 
 leading to ostentation, rivalry, and division (see i Cor. xii, xiii), 
 the more showy being often preferred to the more useful endow- 
 ment. Paul, therefore, shews how these gifts may be used, not 
 according to the fashion of this world, but in accordance with 
 the renewing of their minds. 
 
 3. the grace: the spiritual gift given him as an apostle, in 
 virtue of which, without estimating himself beyond due measure, 
 or trespassing beyond his own proper province, he may exercise 
 authority in the regulation of the worship and work of the 
 Christian Church (i. 5, xv. 15, 16; i Cor. iii. 10 'as a wise 
 master-builder,' xv. 10 ; Gal. ii. 9 ; Eph. iii. a. 7, 8, ' Unto me, who 
 ,■71 less than the least of all saints, was this grace given'). 
 V not to think of himself more hig-hly than he ought to 
 
 S 2 
 
26o TO THE ROMANS 12. 4-6 
 
 more highly than he ought to think ; but so to think as 
 to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each 
 
 4 man a measure of faith. For even as we have many 
 members in one body, and all the members have not 
 
 5 the same office : so we, who are many, are one body in 
 
 6 Christ, and severally members one of another. And 
 having gifts differing according to the grace that was 
 
 think; but so to think as to think soberly. This reading 
 reproduces the play on words in the Greek, but more literally 
 we might render 'not to be high-minded beyond what one ought 
 to be minded, but to be minded so as to be sober-minded.' This 
 injunction is supported by two reasons : (i) Whatever a man has, 
 God's grace bestows, his faith receives ; (2) no one gift is to be 
 esteemed above another so as to encourage a sense of superiority 
 in the possessor, because it is God who assigns to each man just 
 the gift which He pleases. There is no choice or* merit in the 
 possession. 
 
 a measure of faith. A man's faith is the measure of his 
 possession and exercise of spiritual gifts. 
 
 4, 5. Each man must think no more and no less of himself 
 than he ought, for he has a function to discharge in a society. 
 If he thinks too highly of himself, he will exceed his proper 
 limits and trespass on another's sphere. If he thinks too meanly 
 of himself, he will fail to render all the service to the Christian 
 society which it requires. Paul expresses the truth of the mutual 
 dependence of the members in the unity of the church by a 
 familiar figure of speech, that of a living body and its parts. 
 In I Cor. xii. 12-31 the same thought is worked out very much 
 more fully than here. In Eph. iv. 15, 16, and Col. i. 18, the 
 same metaphor is used to illustrate the relation of the church as 
 the body to Christ as the head. 
 
 5. in Christ. This suggests the thought of Christ as head. 
 severally. This may be paraphrased 'with respect to in- 
 dividuality,* or, * as concerning our several positions.' 
 
 members one of another : the phrase is not strictly correct. 
 The members are members of the body, but not of one another ; 
 the leg is not a member of the hand. The thought, however, 
 is this— that as each ministers to the life of the whole, it ministers 
 to the life of each other part. 
 
 6-8. There are two questions about the construction in this 
 passage, (i) Should the clause 'having gifts, &c.,' be joined to 
 the preceding clause (verse 5), or should it be joined to the clauses 
 following, in verses 6, 7, 8 ? The latter is more probable. (2) 
 
TO THE ROMANS 12. i^ 261 
 
 given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according 
 to the proportion of our faith ; or ministry, let us give 7 
 ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth, to his 
 
 Should we supply finite verbs, as is done in the R. V. for each 
 of the succeeding clauses, or should we regard all the nouns, 
 which are in the accusative case, as dependent on 'having,' as for 
 instance, should we render 'having prophecy according to the 
 proportion of faith, or ministry in matters of ministration ' ? The 
 former is decidedly the simpler construction, and is generally 
 adopted. 
 
 6. prophecy : inspired utterance of truth. The prophet was 
 not to go beyond what his spiritual endowment, as conditioned by 
 his faith, warranted. He was not to claim inspiration when he 
 was not conscious of being inspired ; he was not to feign the 
 inspired mood when he did not feel the Spirit's impulse ; he was 
 not to represent his own opinions and conclusions as Divine 
 oracles. The story of Savonarola offers a pathetic illustration 
 of a prophet going beyond the measure set to his prophesying 
 by faith. 
 
 according- to the proportion of our faith. Faith means 
 here, not the Christian truth that is believed, for the word had 
 not yet gained that meaning, but the trust in God's grace that is 
 exercised. 
 
 7. ministry. The Greek word here used has given us the 
 words deacon and diaconate. It is used in the N. T. generally of 
 Christian service of others (Rom. xi. 13 ; i Cor. xii. 5 ; Eph. iv. 
 12), but especially of the distribution of alms and the attention 
 to bodily wants, which the Christian Church regarded as a duty 
 that it owed to its members (i Cor. xvi. 15 ; 2 Cor. viii. 4). It 
 was this ministry to which the Seven were appointed (Acts vi. 
 1-6). As ' ministry * is here mentioned as a special gift along 
 with others, it is probably the narrower sense of the term that 
 is to be taken. The man who cared for the bodily wants of 
 others was not to forsake his work, but to give himself heartily 
 to it, seeing in it a service of God just as in prophecy, or exhorta- 
 tion, or teaching. A false spirituality then as now might be 
 prone to scorn the secular work of the church. We must not 
 assume a special office of deacon in the Roman Church, although 
 by the time Paul wrote to the Philippians there was so distinct 
 an office in Philippi. 
 
 he that teacheth. Paul has to vary the phrase, using instead 
 of the abstract noun 'teachings' the present participle 'he that 
 teacheth,' because had he used the abstract noun it would have 
 meant * he that is taught.' The teacher, in contrast to the prophet, 
 did not give fresh revelations of truth, but rather impressed on 
 
262 TO THE ROMANS 12. 8 
 
 teaching ; or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting : he that 
 giveth, let him do it with hberahty ; he that ruleth, with 
 dih'gence ; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. 
 
 the mind and applied to the life the truth that had already been 
 received (i Cor. xii. 28; Eph. iv. 11). 
 
 8. exhortetlx : encourages, consoles, supports. This was a kind 
 of teaching for which Barnabas was noted (Acts iv. 36). We are 
 not to suppose there was a separate office of exhorter, as distinct 
 from prophet or teacher; but in the trying circumstances in which 
 the church was often placed this was a much-needed and much- 
 valued ministry. 
 
 giveth. This refers to the rich man who liberally gave his 
 wealth in alms. As confession of Christ meant for some of the 
 converts loss of property, and even of means of livelihood, and as 
 many of the members of the church were very poor, this giving 
 played an important part. In the Jerusalem Church there was 
 an approach to a voluntary communism. 
 
 liberality : lit * singleness ' ; that is, with unmixed motives, 
 not from ostentation, or ambition, or vanity. If a man has the 
 right motive he will give in the right measure ; the single-minded 
 will be according to his means the liberal giver (2 Cor. viii. 2, 
 ix. 11-13). 
 
 ruletli : in any position of authority or influence, whether in 
 the church (i Thess. v. 12 ; i Tim. v. 17), or in the home (i Tim. 
 iii. 4, 5, 12). This rule was as yet a personal function, not an 
 official prerogative ; in every community there are men who lead, 
 whether they fill a public office or not. 
 
 shewetli nxercy : does acts of kindness distinct from, and in 
 addition to, giving alms : ^ To visit the widows and the fatherless 
 in their affliction,' 'to bind up the broken-hearted,' *to visit the 
 sick and the prisoners,' these were all forms of shewing mercy 
 recognized in the early Christian Church. 
 
 cheerfulness. Kindness done gladly and heartily has far 
 greater worth than when it is done evidently from a sense of duty. 
 2 Cor. ix. 7, * God loveth a cheerful giver.' * A warm heart, a pure 
 conscience, and a serene mind' made cheerfulness a characteristic 
 of the early Christians (Acts ii. 46, v. 41 ; Phil. i. 4, 18; i Thess. 
 v. 16). 
 
 Spiritual Gifts (3-8). 
 
 The word charisma^ lit. * thing of grace,' is applied in tlie N. T. 
 to any spiritual endowment from the work of an apostle (Rom. 
 i. 11) to abstinence from marriage from religious motives (i Cor. 
 vii. 7). These gifts are not distinguished as natural and super- 
 natural, A man's gift determined his function in the church, but in 
 
TO THE ROMANS 12. 9 263 
 
 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil ; 9 
 
 the Apostolic Age at least did not confer on him an office. One 
 person might be endowed with more than one chansnt. Here, as 
 in Corinthians, Paul insists on the exercise of these gifts for the 
 greatest good of all. In i Cor. xii Paul mentions as gifts the 
 word of wisdom and of knowledge, faith, gifts of healings, 
 workings of miracles, prophecy, discernings of spirits, divers 
 kinds of tongues (probably ecstatic utterances), and the interpreta- 
 tion of tongues. 
 
 (3) xii. 9-21. The law of love in its manifold applications. 
 
 As in I Corinthians the discussion about spiritual gifts (xii) is 
 followed by the exposition of ' a more excellent way ' in the match- 
 less description of love (xiii), so here Paul passes at once from the 
 use of gifts to the exercise of love in manifold ways. The various 
 counsels follow one another without any apparent order. While 
 most of the duties enforced can be regarded as applications of 
 love, yet he does not strictly confine himself to the one subject. 
 The association of ideas is not always obvious, and in some cases 
 any attempt to shew a close connexion would be forced. Hence 
 an analysis of this passage can be little more than an enumeration 
 of the precepts given. 
 
 (rt) Love ought to possess the moral quality of sincerity, shewn 
 in hatred of evil and devotion to good (9). (6) The first sphere 
 of love is the Christian brotherhood, and here it shews itself as 
 a family affection, and in respectful consideration for others (10); 
 (c) In the work of the church there should be both diligence and 
 enthusiasm, and it should be regarded as a service of Christ (11). 
 {d) The joy which hopefulness inspires and the endurance needed 
 in affliction are to be secured by continuance steadily in prayer 
 (12). (e) Love should take the practical forms of helping the 
 needy among the members of the church, and of ready entertain- 
 ment of any brethren travelling (13). (/) Love should display 
 itself in desiring not the evil, but the good, even of those who 
 shew hostility and inflict injury ; in readiness of sympathy, whether 
 with joy or with sorrow ; and in a conciliatory disposition, from 
 which ambition and conceit are both absent, and in which humility 
 appears (14-16). {g) Wrong should not be repaid by wrong, 
 the respect of other men should be sought, causes of estrangement 
 should as far as possible be avoided, revenge should not be taken, 
 but the judgement of the sinner should be left to God who claims 
 it as His right alone, and an attempt should bis made by kindness 
 to bring him to penitence for the wrong he has done ; for by 
 indulging in revenge the Christian allows himself to come again 
 under the dominion of sin, while by patience and pardon he gains 
 the victory over evil (17-21). 
 
 9. without hypocrisy. Cf. 2 Cor. vi. 6 ; i Tim. i. 5 ; Jas. iii. 
 
264 TO THE ROMANS 12. fo-12 
 
 10 cleave to that which is good. In love of the brethren be 
 tenderly affectioned one to another ; in honour preferring 
 
 11 one another; in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; 
 
 12 serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribula- 
 
 17 ; I Pet. i. 22. Love is to be genuine, felt when it is expressed, 
 sincere, arising from no mixed motive, honest, shewing itself 
 as it is. 
 
 Abhor . . . cleave. In the Greek these words are participles. 
 We may, as in the R. V., render them as imperatives, or, which 
 seems preferable, we may treat ' Let love be without hypocrisy ' 
 as equivalent to ' love ye without hypocrisy,' and make these 
 participles qualifications. The sincerity of love is shewn in its 
 antagonism to evil and its devotion to good. The word ' abhor ' 
 may be paraphrased to bring out its meaning, * loathe so as to 
 keep yourselves away from.' Sincere love cannot approve or 
 even tolerate the evil in a man, although it seeks his good ; its 
 aim must ever be to combat the evil and confirm the good. 
 
 10. love of the brethren. The Greek word is ' Philadelphia,' 
 and is used to describe the closer bond that bound the members 
 of the Christian Church to one another as compared with the love 
 they cherished for all men (2 Pet. i. 7). 
 
 tenderly affectioned. The Greek word describes a strong 
 family affection, and indicates the estimate of the new relation 
 held (cf. Mark iii, 35). 
 
 in honour preferring one another. The word rendered 
 * preferring ' means Hterally * going before,' and accordingly three 
 interpretations have been suggested : (i) ' in matters of honour 
 preventing one another,' that is, being first to shew honour; 
 (2) ' lead the way in honourable actions,' giving an example of 
 a life worthy of respect ; (3) ' surpassing one another, stimulating 
 one another by emulation in what is good.' For the sense of the 
 R. V. rendering there are several parallels (Phil. ii. 3 ; i Thess. 
 V. 13). The meaning is this, no man is to be ambitious of getting 
 honour to himself, but each is to be desirous of shewing honour 
 to others. 
 
 11. in dilig'ence not slothful: or, * in zeal not flagging.' This 
 refers not to secular concerns as the A. V. rendering suggests, 
 but to spiritual interests (cf. Matt. xxv. 26). 
 
 fervent in spirit. In Acts xviii. 25 Apollos is described as 
 'fervent in spirit.' It is the human spirit which is referred to, 
 but its fervour is the inspiration of the Divine Spirit. 
 
 serving the Iiord. This is the supreme motive of Christian 
 life, and if that be present, the inner life will be intense, and the 
 outer life energetic. * Spirit ' may have suggested ' Lord/ which 
 
TO THE ROMANS 12. 13, 14 265 
 
 tion; continuing stedfastly in prayer; communicating to 13 
 the necessities of the saints ; given to hospitah'ty. Bless 14 
 
 here refers not to the Father, but to Christ. Another reading 
 is * serving the opportunity,' as the Greek words for * Lord ' and 
 'time' (or season, opportunity) are very much alike. Ahhough 
 the balance of MSS. authority is in favour of the reading ' Lord/ 
 yet we have a similar thought to 'serving the opportunity* in 
 Eph. V. 16, 'redeeming the time,' literally 'buying up the season.' 
 
 12. rejoicing in hope. In verse 8 cheerfulness is commended. 
 In V. 2 there is the exhortation, * let us rejoice in hope of the glory 
 of God.' The Greek has the article before hope here, indicating 
 that it is not hope generally, but the Christian hope distinctively, 
 which is to awaken joy; the connexion between love and hope 
 is indicated in i Cor xni. 7, * Love hopeth all things.' 
 
 patient in tribulation : enduring under persecution Cf. 
 
 1 Cor. xiii. 7, ' Love endureth all things.' Although the Roman 
 Church was not at the time, so far as we know, suffering 
 persecution, yet Paul knew from his own and his converts* 
 experience that much had to be suffered for the cause of Christ 
 (v. 3, viii. 35 ; 2 Cor. i. 4 ; i Thess. i. 6, iii. 3-7 ; 2 Thess. i. 4-6), 
 
 continuing' Etedfastly in prayer. Only by constant com- 
 munion with God could hope be inspired and endurance be 
 sustained (Acts i. 14 ; Col. iv. 2). 
 
 13. Two practical applications of love are (1) sharing one's 
 goods with the needy members of the church (verse 8, xv. 26; 
 
 2 Cor. ix. 13 ; Phil. iv. 15 ; Heb. xiii. 16) ; (2) shewing hospitality 
 to Christian brethren coming from a distance. Local persecution 
 often drove Christians from their homes, and they needed, and 
 were sure to find, a home wherever they might go among Christians 
 (i Tim. iii. 2 ; Titus i. 8 ; Heb. xiii. 2 ; i Pet. iv. 9\ Letters of 
 commendation were given by one church to another (2 Cor. iii. i, 
 viii. 18. 23, 2.1). Rom. xvi. i, 2, is such an introduction of Phoebe 
 to the church in Rome. In 2 John 10 this hospitality is forbidden 
 to teachers of error ; in 3 John 5 8 Gains is commended for 
 shewing, and in verses 9, 10 Diotrephes is condemned for withhold- 
 ing, hospitalit}'. That this custom in the churches was in danger of 
 abuse is shewn by the minute instructions on the subject of the 
 entertainment of strangers given in The Teachtng of the Tuelve 
 Apostles, one of the earliest Christian writings outside the N. T. 
 The wayfarer is to be entertained three daj^s at most ; if he settles, 
 he must be set to work; if he will not work, then he is one 'who 
 maketh merchandise of Christ' (chap. xii). 
 
 ccnununicating- to the necessities of the saints. A curious 
 alternative reading to this is * taking part in the commemoration 
 of the saints* (by a slight change of letters), as though there were 
 
266 TO THE ROMANS 12. 15-17 
 
 15 them that persecute you; bless, and curse not. Rejoice 
 
 16 with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep. Be 
 of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind 
 on high things, but condescend to things that are lowly. Be 
 
 1 7 not wise in your own conceits. Render to no man evil for 
 evil. Take thought for things honourable in the sight of 
 
 a reference here to the much later ecclesiastical usage of holding 
 festivals in honour of martyrs. 
 
 14. This seems to be a reminiscence of Matt. v. 44, * Love your 
 enemies, and pray for them that persecute you.' Paul had 
 probably heard part at least of the oral tradition of our Lord's 
 teaching. This verse offers an interesting illustration of Paul's 
 habit of associating ideas by similarity of sound. In verse 13 
 he says, rendering literally, ' pursue hospitahty ' (nominative parti- 
 ciple). This suggests to him in verse 14 ' bless them that pursue 
 you ' (accusative participle). The two Greek words differ only 
 by one letter, e in the nominative, a in the accusative. 
 
 15. Sympathy in all circumstances is a severe test and a sure 
 proof of love. If love stand the test, it is made stronger thereby. 
 
 16. Be of the same mind, lit. * mind the same thing' (Phil, ii, 
 2, iv. 2; 2 Cor. xiii. ii). Pride or ambition, contempt for others, 
 conceit, all hinder harmony ; hence the exhortations that follow. 
 
 Set not your mind on high thing's (xi. 20 ; i Cor. xiii. 5). 
 This pride might be in spiritual attainments, as i Cor. xii. shews. 
 
 condescend to. Gr., be carried away with as by the current 
 of a river ; that is, let yourself be attracted to, absorbed in, 
 possessed by either (i) 'things that are lowly,' the better contrast 
 to high things, meaning humble duties, 'the daily round, the 
 common task,' or (2) 'them that are lowly,' the more probable 
 rendering, as the word is used elsewhere in the masculine, and 
 not the neuter. As most of the members of the church were 
 poor, the few rich men might be prone to despise their brethren- 
 of lowlier lot (cf. Jas. ii. 1-9). ' 
 
 be not wise in your own conceits : lit. * with yourselves.' 
 Cf. Prov. iii. 7, ' Be not wise in thine own eyes.' 
 
 17. Render to no man evil for evil. Cf. Matt. v. 43, 44 ; i Cor* 
 xiii. 5, 6 ; I Thess. v. 15 ; i Pet. iii, 9. ' 
 
 Take thought for things honourable in the sight of all 
 men. The exact meaning to be given to this exhortation can best 
 be shewn by quoting several parallel passages : Prov. iii. 4, * So 
 shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of 
 God and man.' 2 Cor. iv. 2, * By the manifestation of the truth 
 commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of 
 God.' viii. 21, 'We take thought for things honourable, not only 
 
TO THE ROMANS 12. 18, 19 267 
 
 all men. If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at 18 
 peace with all men. Avenge not yourselves, beloved, 19 
 but give place unto wrath : for it is written, Vengeance 
 belongeth unto me ; I will recompense, saith the Lord. 
 
 in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.' While 
 a new religion must in many respects oppose itself to current 
 conceptions and recognized standards, yet the adherents of a 
 new religion are prone to flaunt their opposition, and to court 
 persecution. While Paul never shrank from arousing antagonism, 
 when conscience made the demand, yet here he bids the Roman 
 converts exercise. foresight and caution, so as not by their conduct 
 unnecessarily to offend the scruples, arouse the prejudices, and thus 
 incur the hostility of others. Two instances of his own practice 
 in this respect are his prohibition of women speaking in church, 
 and his censure of women praying in public with head uncovered 
 (i Cor. xi. 1-16). The sound sense of the Apostle compares 
 favourably with the morbid desire for martyrdom which even an 
 Ignatius displays. 
 
 18. The connexion with the preceding exhortation is obvious. 
 Paul admits that there may be occasions when fidelity to convic- 
 tion compels us to excite the hostility of others. Hence his 
 qualification ' if it be possible.' But it is each Christian's duty 
 to do his utmost to avoid a quarrel ; he should see to it that when 
 the peace is broken, he is not responsible for the breach. 
 
 19. beloved. Paul expresses his love for his readers, because 
 in this exhortation he is making the severest demand on their 
 love possible. 
 
 give place unto wrath : or, ' the wrath.' Three explanations 
 of this phrase are given, (i) Give space to your anger. Put an 
 interval between your emotion and its expression. Give your 
 temper time to cool. Delay of expression means decrease of 
 emotion, (2) Give your opponent's anger room. Let him rage 
 as he will. If you don't oppose him, his anger will spend itself. 
 (3) Stand aside, and let God's wrath avenge your wrong, (For 
 the use of the phrase cf. Eph. iv. 27, ' Neither give place to the 
 devil.') This is the best interpretation as regards both the 
 meaning of the Greek phrase and the context. 
 
 Vengeance "belong-etli unto me, &c. This is quoted from 
 Deut. xxxii, 35, ' Vengeance is mine, and recompense.' It is quoted 
 in the same form in Heb. x. 30. In Deuteronomy the threat is 
 directed against the chosen people ; in Hebrews it is a warning 
 to apostates ; here it is a consolation to God's people ; God will 
 avenge them (Luke xviii. 7, 'And shall not God avenge his elect, 
 which cry to him?'). 
 
268 TO THE ROMANS 12. 20— 13. i 
 
 20 But if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give 
 him to drink : for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire 
 
 2 1 upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome 
 evil with good. 
 
 13 Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers : 
 for there is no power but of God ; and the powers that be 
 
 20. This verse is quoted from Prov. xxv. 21, 22, LXX. What 
 is meant by heaping 'coals of fire upon his head?* (i) Does it 
 mean that we may console ourselves with the thought that our 
 kindness but increases his guilt, and makes him liable to greater 
 penalty? This would be a malicious motive for the act; and the 
 context both in the O. T. and the N. T. represents the act as good. 
 (2) The meaning must be that such action will make him ashamed, 
 will awaken his conscience, will lead him to repentance. We 
 may get our revenge by turning an enemy into a friend. 
 
 21. He who yields to his passion and avenges an injury suffers 
 defeat at the hands of sin; but he who turns a wrong done to 
 himself into an occasion for shewing kindness is the victor 
 over sin. 
 
 (4) xiii. 1-7. The Christian's duty to the state. 
 The topic which is dealt with in this section may have been sug- 
 gested by the previous exhortation. Private revenge is prohibited 
 in an organized community, because the state is charged with the 
 duty of punishing injuries and defending rights. In giving place to 
 the state a man allows God's wrath against sin to work, for the state 
 is one of the channels of God's moral government, (a) As civil 
 government is a Divine appointment, disobedience to it is defiance 
 of God, incurring condemnation (i, 2). {b) The state exists to pro- 
 mote good and repress evil, and therefore it has no terror for, but 
 a claim on, every man who seeks to do as his conscience commands, 
 while it necessarily inspires fear in the evil-doers, as it must 
 discharge its divinely appointed function of punishment (3, 4). 
 {c) Principle as well as prudence demands subjection (5). {d) As 
 the state needs to be supported by the contributions of its subjects, 
 the authority of the state is recognized in paying whatever is due 
 to it, while in so doing the general principle of meeting all our 
 obligations is applied (6, 7). 
 
 1. every soiQ. The phrase lays emphasis on individual obliga- 
 tion and responsibility. 
 
 higher powers : the abstract for the concrete = those set in 
 authority over others, Luke xii. n ; Titus iii. i. 
 
 there is no power : negative and general statement. 
 
 the powers that be: positive and particular statement. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 13. 2-6 269 
 
 are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the 2 
 power, withstandeth the ordinance of God : and they 
 that withstand shall receive to themselves judgement. 
 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the 3 
 evil. And wouldest thou have no fear of the power ? do 
 that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the 
 same : for he is a minister of God to thee for good. 4 
 But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he 
 beareth not the sword in vain : for he is a minister of 
 God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil. Where- 5 
 fore ye must needs be in subjection, not only because of 
 the wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this 6 
 cause ye pay tribute also ; for they are ministers of God's 
 
 Government serves Divine purpose and possesses Divine sanc- 
 tion. 
 
 2. As resistance to government is disobedience to God, the 
 penalty government inflicts has the approval of God. 
 
 3. This is a general statement which may not be true in 
 particular cases ; yet, speaking broadly, a man will do his duty 
 best by submitting to the civil government (cf. i Tim. ii. i, 2). 
 
 4. he : the ruler, or more probably ' it,' the power which is 
 personified throughout the whole passage. 
 
 2uiuister of God : ///. * God's deacon.* 
 
 to thee: in thy interest, for thy advantage. 
 
 for g-ood: ' to promote good,' to promote virtue and repress vice. 
 
 sword. This refers not to the dagger worn by the emperor 
 as emblem of his power, but to the sword by which criminals 
 were executed, which was on certain occasions borne before the 
 magistrate as a symbol of his authority to inflict punishment. 
 While this passage takes capital punishment for granted, and so 
 far sanctions it, yet just as slavery, of which the N. T. expresses 
 no disapproval, has been abolished in man's moral progress, so 
 may capital punishment be. 
 
 an avenger for wrath: 'inflicting punisliment in vengeance 
 so as to exhibit wrath,' that is, the wrath of God, as the state is 
 God's minister. 
 
 5. Fear of punishment is not the Christian's motive of subjection 
 to the civil government ; as he recognizes the Divine appointment 
 of the state, his submission to it is obedience to conscience. 
 
 6. for this cause: that is, for conscience sake. It seems 
 
270 TO THE ROMANS 13. 7 
 
 service, attending continually upon this very thing. 
 7 Render to all their dues : tribute to whom tribute is due ; 
 custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour 
 to whom honour. 
 
 to have been a matter of principle in the Christian Church to pay 
 taxes without question or complaint, probably in obedience to the 
 command of Christ (Luke xx. 20-25). 
 
 ministers : not the same word as above. Although this 
 word here is also used of secular services, it is specially applied 
 to priestly ministry (xv. i6 ; Heb, viii. 2). Paul's use of the 
 word is intended to invest even civil government with a sacred 
 character. 
 
 attending continually : * persevering faithfully in their 
 office.' 
 
 7. Paul passes from this special subject to the more general 
 theme of the next paragraph by stating the broad principle which 
 applies in both cases. 
 
 tribute : the taxes paid by a subject nation (Luke xx. 23). 
 
 custom: the dues paid in any case for the support of civil 
 government (Matt. xvii. 25). The former was a tax on persons 
 and property, the latter on merchandise. 
 
 fear : awe felt to the person executing justice. 
 
 honour: respect due to any person in authority. 
 
 Paul's Views on Subjection to the State (1-7). 
 
 (i) This exhortation would be specially applicable to the 
 Jewish converts, as the Jews at this time were in a very 
 turbulent, rebellious mood. A riot among them led to their ex- 
 pulsion from Rome a few years before. The counsel was not, 
 however, needed by them alone. New principles often tend 
 to excite revolutionary expectations and efforts, and Gentile 
 Christians even might regard the pagan and corrupt government 
 in Rome as deserving only condemnation. (2) For Paul at this 
 time the Roman Empire was a Divine ordinance. It maintained 
 law and order, enforced peace, protected person and property 
 throughout the whole world, as known to him. His Roman 
 citizenship, of which he was proud, protected him on several 
 occasions from the fury of his own countrymen. Unbelieving 
 Judaism is probably the Antichrist of the eschatological passage 
 in 2 Thessalonians, and the Roman Empire is * he that restraineth.' 
 When the Apocalypse came to be written, the Roman Empire had 
 begun to persecute the Christians, and the tone is quite different 
 from that which we find in all Paul's letters. Yet subsequently 
 the Christian Church as a whole seems to have sought to maintain 
 
TO THE ROMANS 13. 8,9 271 
 
 Owe no man anything, save to love one another : for 8 
 he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law. For 9 
 this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not 
 
 Paul's attitude. (3) Paul's attitude has the sanction of our Lord 
 himself. He refused to arrogate to himself the functions of civil 
 government, w^hen he rebuked the attempt to submit a dispute 
 about property to his judgement (Luke xii. 14). He paid the 
 temple-tax, although as a son he knew himself free (Matt. xvii. 
 26, 27). He gave no encouragement to Jewish patriotism to 
 revolt against Rome by withholding the required tribute (Matt, 
 xxii, 2i). He forbade his disciple's attempt to rescue, him by 
 violence from the hands of the Jewish authorities (Matt. xxvi. 52).: 
 (4) The passage before us is to be explained, however, by the 
 historical situation, when it was written. It lays down no 
 absolute principles of the Divine right of kings or the passive 
 obedience of subjects. A government may become so oppressive 
 and tyrannous that it practically ceases to discharge the functions 
 of government, and so loses its authority and sanction as a Divine 
 ordinance. Then the subjects are free to consider whether 
 revolution or rebellion is not required by fidelity to truth and 
 righteousness. As a rule, however, it is in the interests of morality 
 and religion generally that, even although the rule of the govern- 
 ment be not all that might be desired, its commands should be 
 obeyed, unless conscience absolutely forbids, as when the 
 Christians refused to offer Divine honours to Caesar. The disease 
 in any state must, however, be very desperate which demands 
 the very drastic remedy of a civil war. 
 
 (5) xii. 8-10. Love as the fulfilment of all law. 
 
 One debt believers owe to all, and that is love, and if they 
 shew love, they fulfil all the commandments^ as their afm is to 
 restrain from doing injury to others. 
 
 8. Owe no man. Paul passes from a special to a universal 
 moral relation. We are to pay all we owe, but one debt we can 
 never fully discharge, as love is an infinite obligation. 
 
 Ms neig-hbonr : Gr. ' the other ' person in the moral relation. 
 
 fulfilled: fully realized the purpose of the law, which can 
 never be perfectly carried out by mere external conformity to 
 positive commands of the law. 
 
 the law : better 'law' ; not the Mosaic law specially, but the 
 principle of law generally, in whatever commands it may be 
 expressed. As faith takes the place of works in the Christian's 
 relation to God, so love supersedes all positive external commands. 
 (Cf. Matt. xxii. 40.) 
 
 9. The law forbids any injury to a neighbour's family, person, 
 
272 TO THE ROMANS 13. lo 
 
 kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covets and if 
 there be any other commandment, it is summed up in 
 this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 lo thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour : love 
 therefore is the fulfilment of the law. 
 
 and property, and even the desire to commit such injury. The 
 man who loves vs^ill never cherish any such desire or commit any 
 such offence. He will even go beyond these prohibitions, for he will 
 recognize positive obligations to seek another's good. Two points 
 in this verse are to be noted : (i) The A. V. inserts 'Thou shalt 
 not bear false witness ' after 'Thou shalt not steal,' but this reading 
 is very weakly supported ; and Paul's words, 'and if there be any 
 other commandment,' explicitly shew that he does not profess to 
 give a complete statement of the commandments, but only speci- 
 mens. (2) The order of the commandments differs from the 
 Hebrew text, in which the order is this, the prohibition of murder 
 precedes that of adultery. This order is found in Matt. xix. 18. 
 The same order as here is found in Luke xviii. 20 and Jas. ii. 11. 
 Paul followed the order of the MS. of the LXX he had. 
 
 summed up : lit. 'brought to a head' (cf Eph. i. 10). 
 
 in this word. Cf. Matt. xxii. 40 ; Mark xii. 31 ; Luke x. 27 ; 
 Gal. v. 14 ; Jas. ii. 8. James speaks of this saying as 'the royal 
 law.' The teaching of Jesus must on this point have influenced 
 James as well as Paul. The saying itself is quoted from Lev. 
 XIX. 18. 
 
 10. 3Love worketh. no ill to his neig-hbour: expounded in 
 I Cor. xiii. 4-6, 
 
 love. The Greek language had three verbs to express the 
 idea, erao, fileo^ agapao ; the one expressing the sexual passion, 
 the other family affection, and the third a less passionate but 
 more reverent esteem. Although the noun formed from the first 
 verb w^as used in Platonic philosophy to express the soul's de- 
 votion to higher things, yet it is not found in the N. T. In 
 the LXX, a noun agape was formed from the verb agapao, but 
 seldom used. This word the early Christian Church grasped as 
 its own, and it is common in the N. T. One of the words used to 
 render it in Latin was carinas, which has come to us in the form 
 of ' charity,' but as the meaning of this term has been narrowed 
 down to either the giving of alms or the exercise of lenient judge- 
 ment, it is a decided gain that the R. V. has given the word ' love' 
 instead of the word 'charity' as the uniform rendering of agape. 
 There are three features of the Christian teaching on love which 
 call for special attention, (i) The range of the duty is extended 
 until it is made to include all mankind. Jesus taught this in the 
 
TO THE ROMANS 13. ir, 12 273 
 
 And this, knowing the season, that now it is high time 11 
 for you to awake out of sleep : for now is salvation 
 nearer to us than when yfo. first believed. The night is 12 
 far spent, and the day is at hand : let us therefore cast 
 
 parable of the Good Samaritan, and Paul in his assertion of the 
 abolition in Christ of all social, racial, or religious divisions among 
 mankind. (2) In previous ethical teaching love had been recog- 
 nized as one of the duties ; for Christ quotes the O, T. to enforce 
 his teaching, and Hillel, the Jewish Rabbi, is said to have re- 
 quired love to all mankind, and to have given the golden rule in 
 the negative form, *What is hateful to thyself do not to thy 
 fellow,' as 'the whole law,' of which 'the rest is commentary.' 
 Christianity has the distinction, however, of having raised love into 
 pre-eminence as the essential, vital, and organic principle of all 
 morality. (3) Christianity alone affords an adequate motive and 
 a perfect ideal of love in the love of God for us, which is in Christ, 
 fulfilment : lit. pleronta, bringing the law to completeness. 
 
 (6) xii. 1 1- 1 4. The nearness of Chrisfs Second Coming. 
 
 Having laid down the highest principle of the Christian life, 
 Paul now appeals to what seems to have been one of the strongest 
 motives for Christian living in the Apostolic Age, the belief in the 
 near approach of the Second Advent, (a) As the time for the 
 complete salvation is drawing near, and the period of trial is 
 nearly over, it becomes beUevers to cast off all sloth, to lay aside 
 all evil deeds, and to take up the weapons of warfare against sin 
 (11, 12). (b) Instead of self-indulgence in its manifold forms, 
 there should be a strenuous appropriation of the character of 
 Christ (13, 14). 
 
 11. And this. The phrase recalls the appeals of the previous 
 sections. It might be expanded, ' Do all these things, because 
 you know,' &c. Cf. i Cor, vi. 6, 8 ; Eph. ii. 8. 
 
 season: a fixed time, commonly used of the period yet to 
 elapse before the Second Advent (i Cor. vii. 29 ; Mark i. 15 ; 
 Heb. ix. 9). The time of trial is represented as a night in which 
 the Christian is prone to fall into the sleep of languor and sloth. 
 The Lord's Second Advent is the day, and the believer must 
 arouse himself to interest and effort. 
 
 salvation : better, ' our salvation.' According to Paul's teach- 
 ing salvation is only begun at conversion, and will only be com- 
 pleted when Christ comes in power and glory. The eighth 
 chapter states what is all included in this completed salvation — the 
 redemption of the body, the deliverance of nature from the bond- 
 age of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. 
 
 12. far spent: 'has advanced towards dawn' (Luke ii. 32). 
 
 T 
 
274 TO THE ROMANS 13. 13, 14 
 
 off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour 
 
 13 of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day ; not in 
 revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wanton- 
 
 14 ness, not in strife and jealousy. But put ye on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, 
 io fulfil the lusts thereof. 
 
 cast off. Like the night-garment, all evil deeds befitting the 
 darkness of ignorance and indolence are to be laid aside, and the 
 armour of truth and righteousness for the day of Christ's presence 
 in glory and power is to be put on. The figure of the Roman 
 soldier's armour is several times used by Paul, as in i Thess. 
 V. 8 ; 2 Cor. vi. 7 ; Eph. vi. 13-17. 
 
 13. walk. Paul describes conduct as a walk thirty-three times, 
 revelling' has drunkenness as its necessary consequence 
 
 (Gal. V. 21 ; I Pet. iv. 3), and is followed by other sins of lust and 
 temper. 
 
 chamtoeringf : 'unlawful intercourse.' 
 
 wantonness (a plural word) : wanton acts, the various forms 
 of sensual desire. 
 
 strife and jealousy. These faults of temper which many 
 Christians would regard with some measure of indulgence Paul 
 reckons along with the grosser vices. 
 
 14. put ye on. The metaphor of the armour is repeated, but 
 Christ himself is now represented as the Christian's panoply. 
 Christ is put on at baptism (vi. 3, Gal. iii. 27), but the principle 
 which is then accepted has to be continuously and gradually 
 realized in practical applications throughout the whole Christian 
 experience (Eph. iv. 24 ; Col. iii. 12). 
 
 to fulfil the lusts thereof: lit. 'unto lusts/ evil desires. The 
 clause means this. Do not exercise your foresight in the interests 
 of animal appetite so that sensual desires may be gratified. 
 Augustine in his ' Confessions ' states that the reading of this 
 passage marked the turning-point of his life. 
 
 Paul's Belief in the Nearness of the Second Coming (ii- 14). 
 
 Paul, in common with all Christians of the Apostolic Age, believed 
 in the nearness of Christ's Second Coming. In i Thessalonians 
 he definitely expresses his expectation to survive to that event (iv. 
 17) ; and although in 2 Thessalonians he corrects a mistake 
 made in regard to the meaning of the first epistle, and anticipates 
 some delay, yet this hope remains (ii. i). For him the time is 
 shortened (i Cor. vii. 29 31), and so he affirms that 'we shall not 
 all sleep, but we shall all be changed ' (xv. 51). Even in Philip- 
 
TO THE ROMANS 14. i 275 
 
 But him that is weak in faith receive ye, yet not to 14 
 
 pians he writes, * The Lord is at hand ' (iv. 5). But on the other 
 hand he sometimes seems to look for death before the Second 
 Coming. He knows that if the earthly house of his tabernacle is 
 dissolved, he has a building from God (2 Cor. v. i-io). He desires 
 to depart and be with Christ (Phil. i. 23). His view of the 
 progress of God's purpose, the gathering in of the fullness of the 
 Gentiles, to be followed by the conversion of all Israel, as ex- 
 pressed in chap, xi, assumes some lapse of time. The truth 
 seems to be that Paul had no positive revelation on this subject, 
 but that his hope wavered with changing moods and varying 
 circumstances. In our Lord's own teaching there is no definite 
 indication of the time or the manner of his Second Coming. His 
 language is entirely figurative ; and when asked to give definite 
 information, he not only declined (Acts i. 7), but even confessed 
 his own ignorance (Mark xiii, 32 ; Matt, xxiv, 36). At the end 
 of the Apostolic Age the fact was being recognized that Christ's 
 sayings may have been misunderstood. This belief in the nearness 
 of the Second Advent was, however, of practical value in two 
 respects, (i) It gave the early church its intense and strenuous 
 temper. (2) It prevented all ambitious schemes of organization or 
 regulation of Christian hfe for the future. With so vigorous 
 a vitality at its birth, the church was left free to grow by the 
 inner laws of its own spirit, controlled and directed by its neces- 
 sities and circumstances. 
 
 ZZ. Special Applications to the Chnrcli in Rome. 
 
 xiv. I — XV. 13. 
 After dealing with the general principles of Christian duty, 
 Paul turns to deal with a problem of conduct which the special 
 circumstances of the church in Rome had raised. There were 
 members of that church desirous of exercising to the full their 
 Christian liberty in matters of indifference, such as the eating of 
 flesh or the drinking of wine. There were others who had 
 scruples on these subjects. While Paul does not approve these 
 scruples, but condemns them by describing those who cherish 
 them as weak, yet he does not demand the abandonment of them. 
 Instead of this he appeals to the strong to limit their freedom 
 so as to respect these scruples. The great end should be the 
 peace and the unity of the church. His argument and appeal 
 falls into three parts, (i) First of all he asserts individual moral 
 responsibility (xiv. 1-12). (2) Next he urges mutual tolerance 
 and support (13-23). (3) Lastly he appeals to the example of 
 Christ and the purpose of God, as a reason for the unity of the 
 church, as between strong and weak (xv. 1-7), and Jew and 
 Gentile (8-13). 
 
 T 2 
 
276 TO THE ROMANS 14. 2, 3 
 
 2 doubtful disputations. One man hath faith to eat all 
 
 3 things : but he that is weak eateth herbs. Let not him 
 that eateth set at nought him that eateth not; and let 
 not him that eateth not judge him that eateth : for God 
 
 (i) Individual moral responsibility. 
 
 (a) The morally scrupulous should be cordially received in the 
 fellowship of the church by the morally vigorous, but not drawn 
 into controversy (verse i). (b) While one has scruples about eating 
 meat which another does not share, while one attaches a sanctity 
 to a day which another does not, yet the one should not condemn 
 the other, whether it be for scrupulosity or for laxity, if both are 
 acting conscientiously (2-6). (c) But both should rather realize 
 their own personal dependence on and obligation to Christ, and 
 their individual responsibility to God (7-12). 
 
 1. weak in faith. One is weak in faith who does not realize 
 that faith in Christ alone is sufficient to save, and therefore 
 supposes that there are some indulgences that may endanger, 
 while there are some abstinencies which may ensure, salvation. 
 In I Cor. viii. a similar problem, the use of food offered in 
 sacrifice to idols, is dealt with, and the same principles are laid 
 down. 
 
 receive ye: into full communion in the church as brethren. 
 The word is used of God's acceptance of and assistance to man 
 (Ps. xxvii. 10, ' The Lord will take me up ') ; and also of man's 
 communion with man. Both uses are combined in xv. 7, ' Where- 
 fore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you 
 to the glory of God.' 
 
 to doubtful disputations: or, 'for decision of doubts.' A 
 rendering more probable than either of these is this, ' not to pass 
 judgement on their thoughts.' The possible meanings would be : 
 (i) Their scruples are not to be discussed. (2) No attempt is to 
 be made to settle the question. (3) They are not to be made to 
 feel that the community tolerates them, but condemns their 
 scruples. Probably the third interpretation is to be preferred. 
 
 2. Paul describes the two classes into which the church at 
 Rome was divided. One man had a vigorous faith, that is, so full 
 and clear an understanding of the free spirit of Christianity as to 
 recognize how indifferent all such matters are. The other has yet 
 so feeble a hold of the Christian spirit that he is doubtful whether 
 it can be right to eat meat, and thinks his only safety is in eating 
 vegetables only. It is uncertain whether Paul is here referring 
 to an actual party in the church, or is simply selecting this as 
 a sample of the scruples that are to be dealt with gently by the 
 strong. 
 
 3. set at uou£rlit : look down on, or despise. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 14. 4, 5 277 
 
 hath received him. Who art thou that judgest the 4 
 servant of another ? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. 
 Yea, he shall be made to stand ; for the Lord hath power 
 to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above 5 
 another : another esteemeth every day alike. Let each 
 
 judgfe him : censure his freedom. The language of verse i, 
 'receive ye,' as compared with the words in verse 3, God hath 
 received him, would suggest that there was a question in the 
 church as to whether the scrupulous should be admitted to 
 fellowship. Paul counsels their admission, but warns them, when 
 once admitted, not to begin questioning the right of the strong to 
 be in the church. If God has not imposed any test, the person 
 with scruples must not. 
 
 4. Who art thou . . . ? The weak and scrupulous are prone to 
 be censorious, and Paul rebukes this spirit for the solemn reason 
 that God alone is Lord and Judge. 
 
 servant: Gr. 'household-servant.' It is an invasion of the 
 sanctity of the home, this judgement of those who are in God's 
 household, and own Him alone as Master. 
 
 standeth: is morally steadfast (i Cor. xvi. 13; Phil. i. 27), 
 or is acquitted in God's judgement, probably the former. 
 
 falleth : fails morally (xi. 11, 22), or is condemned in judge- 
 ment ; probably, as in the previous case, the former. 
 
 made to stand. God who grants liberty will preserve him 
 who uses his liberty in dependence on, and submission to, Himself 
 from the perils which liberty involves, and which the scrupulous 
 seeks by other means to avoid. The alternative interpretation 
 here again is, he shall be acquitted in the judgement. 
 
 the Lord. The weak rely on their abstinence, the strong on 
 the Lord. 
 
 5. Another illustration, the observance or non-observance of 
 days is given. Paul here does not condemn the scruples, but he 
 does not forbid the liberty. What he insists on is moral sincerity. 
 In the scruples of the Galatians in respect to the observance of 
 sacred seasons he saw a danger of legalism (iv. 10, 11). He 
 insists on the Colossians preserving their freedom in this matter 
 (ii. 16, 17). Paul's assertion of the moral indifference of such 
 observances cannot be restricted to Jewish sacred seasons, as 
 contrasted with Christian, or to ecclesiastical usages with respect 
 to Christmas or Easter, while the Lord's Day is regarded as 
 holding a place by itself. Christ himself had laid down the 
 principle that ' the sabbath was made for man, and not man for 
 the sabbath' ; and had claimed a large liberty in his own practice. 
 Paul, it is certain, desired to impose no restriction beyond this. 
 
278 TO THE ROMANS 14. 6-9 
 
 6 man be fully assured in his own mind. He that re- 
 gardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord : and he that 
 eateth, eate'th unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks ; 
 and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and 
 
 7 giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, 
 
 8 and none dieth to himself. For whether we live, we 
 live unto the Lord ; or whether we die, we die unto the 
 Lord : whether we live therefore, or die, we are the 
 
 9 Lord's. For to this end Christ died, and lived agam, 
 
 Puritan Sabbatarianism is an instance of the 'weak faith,' 'which 
 esteemeth one day above another,' although on the most hberal 
 principles of social expediency, moral obligation, and religious 
 advantage, a good case can be made out for the preservation and 
 protection of the Lord's Day as a day of rest and for worship. 
 
 liis own mind: an internal conviction (see iv, 21), not an 
 external command, guides the Christian. 
 
 6. The Received Text follows late authorities in inserting after 
 He tliat regardeth the day, reg-ardeth it unto the Iiord, its 
 counterpart, * He that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth 
 not regard it.' Although this addition completes the sentence 
 rhetorically it is weakly supported by MSS. 
 
 unto the Xiord. The motive of rendering God service justifies 
 observance or neglect of a day, indulgence in or abstinence from 
 food. 
 
 g'iveth God thanks. This consecrates the Christian's meal, 
 whatever he may eat. The Lord's Supper was called the Eucha- 
 rist, or thanksgiving. Did Paul think of it as accompanying and 
 consecrating every meal unto God ? 
 
 7-12. Paul now expands the thought suggested by the phrase 
 ' unto the Lord.' We all depend on, belong to, must appear 
 before the judgement-seat of, the Lord. 
 
 7. Neither our life nor our death is due to and concerns only 
 ourselves. Christ (the 'Lord 'here cannot mean anything else) 
 determines alike life and death, and as our life puts us in relation 
 to others, so our death severs these relations. The special rela- 
 tion to Christ is brought out in the next verse. 
 
 8. In life or death alike (the state of the living, or the state 
 of the dead) we are responsible to Christ, because through all 
 changes we are the possession of Christ, who has bought us 
 with a price for his own. 
 
 9. Christ's humiliation was with a view to his exaltation (cf. 
 Phil. ii. i-ii\ 
 
TO THE ROMANS 14. 10-13 279 
 
 that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 
 But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou 10 
 again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother ? for we 
 shall all stand before the judgement-seat of God. For u 
 it is written, 
 
 As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, 
 
 And every tongue shall confess to God. 
 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to 12 
 God. 
 
 Let us not therefore judge one another any more : but 13 
 
 lived. This must refer to the Resurrection, and not the 
 earthly hfe, because (i) the order is died and lived ; (2) the 
 tense in Greek expresses a single act, not a continuous process ; 
 (3") the lordship of Christ is connected with his risen, not his 
 earthly life. 
 
 dead and the living'. The order of time is here reversed to 
 agree with what is said of Christ. 
 
 10. Those who are themselves liable to judgement are not to 
 set up as judges of one another, either to despise scruples or 
 to censure laxity. 
 
 jndgfement-seat of God. It is the Father, not the Son, 
 who is here referred to, as Paul would not thus, without any 
 explanation, call Christ 'God.' But so closely are Father and 
 Son related to one another in Paul's thought, that the judgement 
 through Christ is the judgement of God, The reading ' Christ' 
 for ' God ' is due to an attempt to assimilate this verse to 2 Cor. 
 V. 10. 
 
 11. Paul's proof is drawn from Isa. xlv. 23, freely quoted 
 according to the LXX — a passage which refers to the universal 
 scope of the Messiah's rule, but which Paul applies to the 
 universality of the final judgement. Paul substitutes for one 
 form of oath another. The alternative words 'swear' and 'con- 
 fess* (or more probably in accordance with Greek usage, 'give 
 praise ') both mean ' worship ' ; a man swears by, and gives praise 
 to, the God whom he worships. 
 
 12. The conclusion drawn from God's universal sovereignty 
 over man and man's universal worship of God is man's account- 
 ability to God, and God alone. Hence judgement of others is 
 usurpation by man of God's prerogative. 
 
 (2) xiv. 13-23. Mutual tolerance and support. 
 Having proved the principle of individual moral responsibility 
 to God, Paul now turns to the other side of the question — the 
 
28o TO THE ROMANS 14. 14 
 
 judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock 
 
 r4 in his brother's way, or an occasion of faUing. I know, 
 
 and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is 
 
 unclean of itself: save that to him who accounteth 
 
 manward — and lays down the complementary principle of mutual 
 tolerance and support. (a) While no man is accountable to 
 another, yet all men are responsible for one another (13). 
 (b) While nothing is in itself morally forbidden, unless a man's 
 conscience declares it to be so, yet love for others forbids any 
 such use of freedom as will be an injury to a fellow Christian 
 (14, 15). (c) Discredit should not thus be brought on the 
 liberty of the strong, since the good to which Christians are 
 called has no connexion with any physical indulgences, but 
 only offers spiritual blessings (16, 17). {d) He that in the 
 pursuit of these blessings is the servant of Christ, will not 
 only win God's approval, but will also so order his life as 
 not to cause any discord among Christian brethren, but as to 
 promote the spiritual vigour of all (18, 19). (e) As it is wrong 
 for a man to indulge in any practice about which his conscience 
 is not clear, and as to encourage him in such wrong-doing is to 
 undo in him God's work of grace, no sacrifice of personal liberty 
 is too great on the part of the strong in faith that they may 
 respect the scruples of the weak (20-23). 
 
 13. Do not pronounce sentence on others, but pronounce on 
 yourself this sentence— that you will in no way prove a moral 
 hindrance to your brother. 
 
 occasion of falling': AV. ' scandal' ; a snare or trap. Probably 
 the thought was suggested to Paul by Jesus' words (Matt. xvi. 23, 
 xviii. 6-9). He had treated the same subject in i Cor. viii. 
 
 14. Paul re-asserts the principle of Christian liberty in matters 
 of indifference, in order that the consideration for the weak, for 
 which he appeals to the strong, may be based on the right motive 
 of love to others, not the wrong, a recognition that their scruples 
 are right in themselves. 
 
 in the Iiord Jesus. Probably Paul means that as a Pharisee, 
 apart from Christ, he did, and could not rise to this liberal position ; 
 but faith in Christ released him from all his Pharisaic scruples. 
 The spiritual life in communion with Christ, which now was his, 
 raised him far above the legal sphere, in which any such questions 
 had any importance. It is less likely that he meant, by using 
 this phrase, to base his argument on our Lord's saying (Matt. 
 XV. II ; Mark vii. 15). In such cases his formula is, ' I received 
 from the Lord.' 
 
 unclean. Paul does not mean to sweep away all moral dis- 
 
TO THE ROMANS 14. 15-17 281 
 
 anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if 15 
 because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no 
 longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom 
 Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 16 
 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but 17 
 
 tinctions except in so far as the individual conscience recognizes 
 them. He is dealing with a definite question, and all his general 
 statements are within the scope of the question. For the Jew, 
 what was common was unclean ; what the Gentile practised to 
 him was forbidden. Only of such practices as are concerned 
 with times and seasons, foods and drinks, fastings and washings, 
 does this principle hold good. There is a right or wrong in the 
 moral sphere which is independent of individual convictions. It 
 is necessary to emphasize this, as this saying of Paul's has been 
 abused to justify indecent art, literature, and amusement. 
 
 15. Paul leaves out the thought that leads from the previous 
 position to that which he is now going to establish. It is this : 
 While you do not share your weak brother's scruples, yet shew 
 consideration for him ; for if you do not, and wound and injure 
 his conscience, you are regardless of his claims on your love. 
 If Christ endured so great a sacrifice to save him, will you, by 
 leading him to do what his conscience condemns, again imperil his 
 salvation, even although no great sacrifice such as Christ's is 
 required of you, but simply an abstinence from food? The greater 
 love of Christ to each man is appealed to as a motive of the lesser 
 love, which the strong brother is urged to display ; and again the 
 worth of the soul, as measured by Christ's sacrifice, is a cogent 
 reason for avoiding anything that would involve its loss; (cf. 
 I Cor. viii. ii.) 
 
 16. Let not the good of your Christian liberty be so used as to 
 become ground of complaint on the part of your brethren (literally 
 be blasphemed). Don't give others any cause to reproach you 
 with having led some of the brethren into what to them were 
 doubtful courses to the injury of their souls. It is the good name 
 of the strong brethren within the church that is probably here 
 referred to, and not the reputation of the Christian community as 
 a whole in respect to outsiders, even although Paul desires that 
 respect be shewn even for their prejudices, sentiments, and 
 standards (see note on xii. 17). 
 
 1^. If you attach such importance to your freedom to eat and 
 drink that j'ou are willing to injure your reputation among your 
 Christian brethren, you shew very little understanding of the good 
 to which in Christ you are called. These physical indulgences 
 have no place in it, but all the blessings are spiritual. One of 
 
282 TO THE ROMANS 14. 18,19 
 
 18 righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For 
 he that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and 
 
 19 approved of men. So then let us follow after things 
 which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify 
 
 these blessings is peace, yet you are prepared to sacrifice that in 
 the church for the sake of food and drink. Another is righteous- 
 ness, and you are willing to encourage another in what to him is 
 wrong- doing. A third is joy in the now common life lived in the 
 power of the Spirit, yet you are prepared to imperil the continuance 
 of that life in your weaker brother. This is the argument implied 
 in Paul's pregnant phrases. (Cf. i Cor. viii. 8.) 
 
 the king'dom of God. This is a conception common in our 
 Lord's teaching, but rare in Paul's. It is used as an eschatological 
 conception, the state of glory (i Cor. vi. 9, xv. 50). But here 
 and in i Cor. iv. 20 ('the kingdom of God is not in word, but in 
 power') it seems to be regarded as a present reality, the state 
 of grace, the organism, so to speak, of the potencies and principles, 
 which in the future life will find their realization and manifestation, 
 but which are already in some measure operative and evident. 
 (Compare also Gal, v. 21 ; Eph. v. 5 ; Col. iv. ir ; i Thess. ii. 12 ; 
 2 Thess. i. 5; 2 Tim. iv. 18.) 
 
 eating' and drinking*. The Jewish popular expectations were 
 very materialistic. The kingdom of God even was a sensuous 
 good. If the strong laid such stress on their right to eat and 
 drink whatever they pleased now, they might reasonably be 
 charged with assenting to this notion of the future life. Thus their 
 spirituality might incur the reproach of materialism. 
 
 righteousness: not justification, but right moral relations. 
 
 peace : the harmony of the church in unity of mind. 
 
 joy in the Holy Ohost: not as an individual possession 
 merely, but as a social bond. This is the preferable way of 
 taking these terms, although one might take them as equivalent to 
 justification, reconciliation, sanctification, which the strong brother 
 may lead the weak to forfeit altogether. 
 
 18. herein : by acting righteously, by maintaining harmony, by 
 sustaining the spiritual life of the church, by, in short, living the 
 life of love, the supreme Christian principle. 
 
 serveth. The Christian freed from law is Christ's bond- 
 servant. 
 
 approved of men. He is tested, and stands the test ; his 
 good is not evil spoken of (see verse 16). 
 
 19. edify. Paul is fond of the figure of a building (cf. 
 I Cor. iii. 9, 10-16, xiv. 26; 2 Cor. vi. 16; Eph. ii. 21 ; i Thess. 
 v. 11). 
 
TO THE ROMANS 14. 20-23 283 
 
 one another. Overthrow not for meat's saks the work 20 
 of God. All things indeed are clean ; howbeit it is evil 
 for that man who eateth with offence. It is good not to 21 
 eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby 
 thy brother stumbleth. The faith which thou hast, have 22 
 thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth 
 not himself in that which he approveth. But he that 23 
 
 20. Overthrow. This keeps up the metaphor of the word 
 ' edify ' ; build up, and don't pull down, the church as the work 
 of God. 
 
 All thing's indeed are clean, &c. Cf. i Cor. x. 23. The 
 abstract moral point of view is not sufficient ; practice has to be 
 determined by consideration of all the circumstances. 
 
 that man. The reference is to either (i) the strong, who by 
 his eating causes his weak brother to offend, or is an offence to 
 his weak brother ; or (2) the weak, who offends by eating what his 
 conscience forbids. As Paul is here dealing with the strong, not 
 the weak brother, the former reference is probably better, although 
 the latter is not inadmissible, as the clause may be intended to 
 warn the strong brother that he may lead the weak brother into 
 sin by inducing him to do wrongly what he himself might do 
 rightly, apart from consideration of others. 
 
 21. There is positive excellence in making a surrender of 
 liberty to avoid offending the scruples of another, or leading 
 him to suppress these scruples. (For the phrase ' it is good ' 
 cf. T Cor. vii. i, and for an exact parallel to the thought see 
 I Cor. viii. 13.) As there was no party in Corinth objecting to 
 tlie use of meat altogether, and yet Paul expresses himself in an 
 unqualified way, we are not compelled by his words here to 
 conclude that there was in Rome ' a sect of vegetarians and total 
 abstainers.' 
 
 stumbleth. After this word one group of MSS. reads as 
 a gloss, * or is offended, or is weak'; but the best evidence is 
 against the addition. 
 
 22. The faith: that is, the faith to eat all things (as explained 
 in verse 2). This conviction of liberty is not to be paraded before 
 others to vex them, or forced on others to lead them astray, but 
 is to be maintained conscientiously as accountable to God alone. 
 
 Happy. The strong man may congratulate himself, if he 
 escapes all condemnation in his assertion of his Christian liberty, 
 if he can so maintain his conviction as not to injure another in any 
 way. 
 
 approveth : after proving, or, ' putting to the test ' (R. V. marg.) 
 
284 TO THE ROMANS 15. i 
 
 doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of 
 faith ; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 
 15 Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities 
 
 23. doubtetli. The weak brother, having failed to get his 
 scruples legitimately removed, may suppress them to win the 
 strong brother's favour, or to escape his scorn, then he is guilty 
 of doing what he does not himself believe to be right. 
 
 not of faith. If he had realized the sole sufficiency of faith 
 for salvation he would have had no doubts, but his having doubts 
 shews his weakness of faith. 
 
 whatsoever is not of faith is sin. This statement has been 
 used to justify the false and wrong position, that all actions, 
 however good in themselves they may be, are sinful if done 
 before conversion. The virtues of pagans have accordingly been 
 pronounced splendid sins. The unregenerate man is declared to be 
 incapable of any good. This maxim, however, has no application 
 to unbelievers, and can be understood only in the context in which 
 it stands. It has been well paraphrased, ' All that is against con- 
 science is sin' (Aquinas). The meaning is this : If a man acts not 
 from personal conviction that what he does is right, but from weak 
 compliance with the judgement of others, then his action is sinful. 
 
 The insertion of the doxology (xvi. 25-27) at the end of this 
 chapter will be dealt with in the note on the integrity of the 
 Epistle and the authenticity of chapters xv, and xvi. 
 
 (3) XV. I -13. The unity of the church — Christ's example and 1 
 God's purpose. 
 
 There is no break in the argument at this point, but the same 
 question is continued as in the previous chapter. The example 
 of Christ is, however, for the first time in the Epistle, appealed 
 to, the value of the Holy Scriptures is asserted, and in verses 
 8-13 the plea for unity in the individual church is enforced by 
 exhibiting the purpose of God in Christ, which unites those who 
 before had been so far apart as the Jews and the Gentiles. A 
 special argument even seems to be implied in verse 8. Christ in 
 his ministry had respect to the scruples of his Jewish countrymen. 
 He lived as a Jew among Jews, so as not to excite their prejudices, 
 and make them unwilling to receive his gospel, the fulfilment of 
 God's promises to their fathers, (a) Spiritual vigour should be 
 displayed not in self-indulgence, but in assistance to those who 
 are infirm in order to secure the prosperity of the church in the 
 welfare of all its members (i, 2). {b) Of this spirit of abnegation 
 Christ himself has given us an example, and the Holy Scriptures 
 abound in encouragements to perseverance in right-doing through 
 the hope of salvation which they sustain (3, 4). (c) The Apostle's 
 
TO THE ROMANS 15, 2,3 285 
 
 of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of 2 
 us please his neighbour for that which is good, unto 
 edifying. For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is 3 
 written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell 
 
 prayer is that the believers may be inspired by God with such 
 unanimity of mind, that they may not only unite in His praise, but 
 may also shew such consideration for one another as Christ shewed 
 them (5-7). {d) In His purpose of salvation God has been regardful 
 of the difference between Jew and Gentile, that both might at last 
 unite in His praise for the fulfilment of the hope held out to all 
 nations, the hope which, the Apostle prays, may through faith 
 abound in all the believers in Rome through the power of the 
 spirit of God (8-13). 
 
 1. strong-: rather, * able,' ' powerful,' with superfluous strength, 
 themselves standing, and helping others to stand (2 Cor. xii. 10, 
 xiii. 9). 
 
 bear. Cf. Gal. vi. 2. The same word is used of bearing the 
 cross literally (John xix. i7\ or figuratively (Luke xiv. 27). The 
 meaning is this : The scruples of the weak believers, if offended by 
 the strong ones, would prove a grievous burden to them ; but if 
 the strong shew consideration for them, although they may impose 
 a burden of self-limitation on themselves, yet this will relieve the 
 strain on the others. 
 
 2. please his neigrhbour. This was Paul's own practice, as 
 I Cor. X. 33 witnesses. 
 
 that which is good, unto editying. This sets the necessary 
 limits to Christian consideration of others, distinguishing it from 
 a weak complaisance with the opinions of others, which on the 
 one hand enfeebles the strength of personal conviction, and on 
 the other encourages the opinionativeness and arrogance of others. 
 Such complaisance Paul condemns (Eph. vi. 6; i Thess. ii. 4 ; 
 Gal. i. 10). The good must not be simply what those to whom 
 this consideration is shewn may think good, but what he who so 
 pleases them believes to be their true good, their upbuilding in 
 Christian faith and character. 
 
 3. Paul has in his argument appealed to Christ's judgement 
 (xiv. 9), and his spirit, or it may be even his precept (14), and 
 now he sets before his readers his example. Probably he does not 
 here refer to Christ's life generally, but especially to his surrender 
 in Gethsemane, 'not my will, but thine be done,' a surrender 
 which, while it was Christ's meat and drink to do the Father's 
 will, was a denial of self, for while his spirit was willing, his 
 flesh was weak. 
 
 hut. as it is written. Instead of a statement of fact as to 
 
286 TO THE ROMANS 15. 4, 5 
 
 4 upon me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime 
 were written for our learning, that through patience and 
 through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. 
 
 5 Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be 
 of the same mind one with another according to Christ 
 
 what Christ did to please others, we have here a change of con- 
 struction, and a quotation of the words in which the typically 
 righteous sufferer utters his plaint in Ps. Ixix. 9. This psalm is 
 several times applied to Christ in the N.T. (Verse 4 in John xv. 
 25 ; verse 9 in John ii. 17 ; verse 21 in Matt, xxvii. 34 ; John xix. 
 29.") Verse 22 is quoted by Paul (Rom. xi. 9) in illustration of 
 the hardening of Israel ; and verse 25 is applied by Peter to the 
 case of Judas (Acts i. 20). In the words here quoted the 
 righteous sufferer addresses God ; the enmity of man to God is 
 turned against himself. As Paul uses the words, however, Christ 
 is represented as addressing man. What man ought to have 
 suffered that Christ suffers. 
 
 4. Paul justifies his quotation by asserting the permanent value 
 of all written in the Scriptures. A similar statement is found 
 in 2 Tim. iii. 16. Paul claims for the O. T. (i) its witness to 
 Christ, (2) its practical value for faith and life. 
 
 aforetime : in contrast with what is being written now. 
 
 for our learning: for our instruction, 'to teach us.' 
 
 patience . . . comfort : the endurance and consolation which 
 the Scriptures communicate. 
 
 hope : the distinctively Christian hope of a complete salvation 
 in Christ. The endurance which the Christian is enabled to dis- 
 play, and the consolation which is experienced by him in affliction, 
 confirm this hope. He has present proof of God's fidelity, and 
 so possesses a pledge for the future. The same connexion 
 between patience and hope is asserted in v. 4. The believer 
 knows that disappointment does not await him. 
 
 5. Counsel about duty is vain without God's grace, so Paul now 
 in a brief prayer seeks that grace. What he asks for is the spirit 
 of unity. If that is given there will be mutual forbearance and 
 helpfulness. 
 
 God of patience and of comfort : the God who gives patience 
 and comfort ; so God of peace (verse 33 ; Phil. iv. 9 ; i Thess. v. 
 23 ; Heb. xiii. 20), of hope (verse 13), of all comfort (a Cor. i. 3), 
 of all grace (i Pet. v. 10). 
 
 the same mind. See note on xii. 16. 
 
 accordingf to Christ Jesus: in accordance with the char- 
 acter or example of Christ Jesus (2 Cor. xi. 17 ; Col. ii. 8). 
 
TO THE ROMANS 15. 6-8 287 
 
 Jesus : that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify 6 
 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore 7 
 receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, 
 to the glory of God. For I say that Christ hath been 8 
 made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, 
 
 6. Praise to God is the necessary result of unity in the church, 
 with one accord : characteristic of the early church (Acts i. 
 
 14, ii. 46, iv. 24, V. 12, XV. 25). 
 
 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is 
 probably the correct rendering. The Father is God to the Son 
 (Matt, xxvii. 46; John xx. 17 ; Eph. i. 17 ; Heb. i. 9). Reverence 
 for Christ need not lead us to try and escape what these other 
 passages so clearly teach by the rendering ' God, even the Father 
 of cur Lord Jesus Christ,' 
 
 7. This is the summing up of the previous argument before 
 Paul passes to a wider question, the mutual tolerance of Jews and 
 Gentiles in the church. This appeal is addressed to strong and 
 weak ahke, as Christ is Saviour of both, receives both to his 
 grace. 
 
 to the glory of God. In receiving the Jews Christ displayed 
 God's faithfulness (verse 8), the Gentiles His mercy (verse 9), and 
 the display of God's character redounds to His honour and praise. 
 
 8. Possibly the strong were mainly Gentiles, and the weak 
 mainly Jews ; and so this difficulty was part of the larger problem 
 of the mutual intercourse of Jews and Gentiles in the Christian 
 Church, a problem of extren.e difficulty owing to the differences 
 that had previously divided the one from the other. But even if 
 this were not the case, the principle to be applied in the solution 
 of the larger problem was the same as that to be recognized in 
 dealing with the lesser difficulty. 
 
 a minister of the circumcision : not simply a minister of 
 the circumcised, that is, preaching to the Jews ; nor yet a minister 
 of the true circumcision, that is, bringing salvation to all Jews and 
 Gentiles aUke, who are circumcised in heart ; but a minister of the 
 covenant of grace, of which circumcision was sign and seal. He 
 was * the minister of the new covenant ' (2 Cor. iii. 6) also ; but, 
 as the new was the fulfilment of the old, he attached himself to 
 the old by being himself circumcised, and by observing the law as 
 far as possible (cf. Gal. iv. 4, 5). He limited himself to the lost 
 sheep of the house of Israel ; he avoided, as far as he could, any 
 work among Samaritans and Gentiles ; he considered Jewish 
 prejudices, and allowed Jewish exclusivencss to impose restric- 
 tions on him, in order that he might so present himself to his 
 countrymen as their Messiah, that they might find in him God's 
 
288 TO THE ROMANS 15. 9-ir 
 
 that he might confirm the promises given unto the fathers, 
 9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy ; 
 as it is written, 
 
 Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the 
 
 Gentiles, 
 And sing unto thy name. 
 
 10 And again he saith, 
 
 Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. 
 
 11 And again, 
 
 Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles ; 
 And let all the peoples praise him. 
 
 promises to the fathers fulfilled, and thus God's fidelity to His 
 word might be proved. The subsequent mission to the Gentiles 
 was a secondary result, not a primary purpose ; it illustrated God's 
 mercy, as Jesus' ministry among the Jews God's truth. 
 tlie promises given nnto the fathers : see ix. 4, 5. 
 
 9. and that the Gentiles, &c. The Greek allows the depen- 
 dence of this clause on 'for I say'; but the more probable 
 construction is that adopted in the text, where this clause is made 
 to depend on the clause ' Christ hath been made a minister of the 
 circumcision,' and is regarded as co-ordinate with the clause 'that 
 he might confirm the promises given unto the fathers.' The 
 Gentile mission as well as the Jewish ministry was a fulfilment of 
 the covenant with Abraham ; the promise was given apart from 
 the law and before circumcision, and so the Gentiles as well as 
 the Jews are children (chap. iv.). 
 
 as it is written. This point, a sore point for many Jewish 
 believers, Paul is careful to prove by several citations from the O.T., 
 an authority they could not question. 
 
 Therefore will I give praise: or, 'confess,' &c. : quoted 
 from Ps. xviii, 49, LXX. The psalmist is celebrating a victory 
 over the nations. Paul represents Christ as praising God among 
 the Gentiles, that is, along with them. 
 
 10. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, &c. Cf, Deut. xxxii. 43. The Hebrew 
 seems to mean, literally translated, ' Rejoice, O ye nations, his 
 people' (R. V. marg.), and the R.V. offers the alternative ren- 
 derings, 'Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people' (text), and 
 'Praise his people, ye nations' (marg,). Moses is represented 
 as summoning the nations to rejoice in Israel's deliverance. Paul 
 interprets the words as a call to the Gentiles *o unite with the 
 Jews in joy over a common salvation. 
 
 11. Quoted from Ps. cxvii. i, LXX. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 15. 12, 13 289 
 
 And again, Isaiah saith, 
 
 There shall be the root of Jesse, 
 
 And he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles ; 
 
 On him shall the Gentiles hope. 
 
 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in 
 
 believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of 
 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 12. Quoted from LXX of Isa. xi. lo, wliich is a paraphrase 
 of the Hebrew. As a description of the Messianic kingdom the 
 passage is here appropriately applied to Christ's reign. 
 
 13. Here Paul closes the treatise ; what follows is an epistolary 
 conclusion : and so the Apostle pauses to invoke a blessing on 
 his readers— a blessing, the terms of which are suggested by th^ 
 preceding passage (verses 4-6). 
 
 the aod of hope. The attribute is suggested by the last word 
 of the quotation. 
 
 joy and peace are results of faith in God, and where these 
 are hope has a soil, in which to grow in vigour. None of the 
 Christian graces is self sustaining. All spring out of faith, but 
 faith itself receives the grace of God as manifested in the presence 
 and power of the Spirit. 
 
 The 'Weak' and the 'Steong' in Rome (xiv. i— xv. 13}. 
 
 Many answers have been given to the question, Who are the 
 weak and the strong mentioned in this passage? and some cf 
 these claim consideration. (1^ Are they the same parties as are 
 dealt with in i Corinthians? There is no mention in Romans of 
 the meat as offered to idols, nor is anything said in i Corinthians 
 about total abstinence from flesh and wine. We have no common 
 features on which to base a conclusion. (2) While the Pythago- 
 rians and other pagan sects practised abstinence from flesh and 
 wine, there was no observance of special days among them. 
 Accordingly, we cannot assume the intrusion of any members 
 of these sects into the church at Rome. (3) The 'weak' cannot 
 represent a developed Judaism dominant in Rome, as Paul would 
 then have been more explicit in his condemnation. He does not 
 regard the 'weak' brethren as a danger to the church, else he 
 would not have pleaded for toleration for them. We see how 
 he dealt with aggressive Judaizers in Galalians. (4) While the 
 Essenes were Jew^ish and ascetic, and observed certain days, 
 yet there is no evidence that there were any Essenes out of 
 Palestine ; and the doctrines and practices of this sect were such 
 
 U 
 
290 TO THE ROMANS 15. 14 
 
 [4 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, 
 
 that we cannot suppose Paul could have dealt so gently with 
 them. (5) Probably we have before us in this passage, not the 
 description of a distinct sect with definite tenets and habits, 
 but rather a warning against dangers which Paul had met with 
 already in other churches, and which he had reason to believe 
 were also threatening Rome. He is dealing with two universal 
 and permanent tendencies in the Christian Church — the liberal 
 and the scrupulous, the * broad ' church and the * low.' In the 
 modern church such questions as, ' Should Christians use in- 
 toxicating liquors and tobacco, go to the theatre, dance, walk 
 on the Lord's Day ? ' are receiving opposed answers. While the 
 one party thinks the other narrow, this in turn thinks that lax. 
 In the Apostolic Age other questions were being agitated, and 
 Paul is here giving examples of these, and we need not assume 
 that there was anyone section combining all the features men- 
 tioned. The Christian Church of the present day inherits a 
 varied and abundant moral and religious tradition, and yet these 
 differences emerge. How much more must this have been the 
 case, when the church was treading a new and untried path, 
 when its members came from Jewish exclusiveness and pagan 
 laxity, when the one thing in common was the recognition of 
 Christ as Saviour and Lord ; when among the apostolic leaders 
 even two tendencies were represented — the liberal by Paul, 
 the scrupulous by James. Paul lays down the following great 
 principles in dealing with this ever-recurrent problem : (i) Faith 
 is alone and absolutely sufficient. (2) All such questions regarded 
 in themselves are morally and religiously indifferent. (3) It 
 must be recognized, however, that there are in the church many 
 for whom such questions are not indifferent. (4) Insistence on 
 personal liberty in these matters may inflict injury on the moral 
 and religious life of another. (5) Consideration for the scruples 
 of others imposes the obligation voluntarily to limit one's liberty. 
 (6) The question of claiming or surrendering one's liberty is 
 to be decided by the guiding conception of the peace and the 
 progress of the Church of Christ. 
 
 EPISTOLARY CONCI.USION. xv. 14— xvi. 2*7. 
 
 This writing now again assumes the character of an epistle. 
 In this conclusion Paul (i) describes the motive of his Epistle 
 (xv. 14-21) ; (2) states his plans of travel, and seeks the prayers 
 of his readers for himself (22-33) 5 (s) commends the bearer 
 of the letter (xvi. 1-2) ; (4) presents various greetings (3-16) ; 
 (5) interposes a concluding warning (17-20) ; (6) conveys the 
 greetings of his companions (21-23) J (?) concludes with a 
 doxology (24-27). 
 
TO THE ROMANS 15. 15 291 
 
 that ye yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all 
 knowledge, able also to admonish one another. But I 15 
 write the more boldly unto you in some measure, as 
 putting you again in remembrance, because of the grace 
 
 I. XV. 14-21. The motive of iJie Epistle. 
 
 (a) Although the Apostle is sure of the Christian excellence of 
 his readers and their ability to promote one another's spiritual 
 life, yet he has ventured, with not a little earnestness, to recall 
 to them familiar truths, because, as called of God to apostleship 
 among the Gentiles, he is conscious that it is his work so to care 
 for the life of the Gentile churches that they may prove a sacrifice 
 well pleasing unto God (14-16). (6) He has worked with clear 
 proofs of God's presence with and favour to him from Jerusalem 
 in the south-east to Illyricum in the north-west of a field of 
 labour, throughout the length and breadth of which he has 
 preached the gospel for the first time, as he will not carry on 
 work another has begun, or claim credit for what another has 
 accomplished (17-21). 
 
 14. And I myself. Paul apologizes, in a way, for writing 
 such plain, earnest counsels to a church over which he could 
 not claim the authority of its founder. When he commends the 
 Christian experience and character of the church, however, he 
 is not paying an empty compliment. The tone of the letter 
 throughout, as compared witli i and 2 Corinthians, and still 
 more Galatians, shews that there was little to find fault with, 
 and much to praise in the church at Rome. 
 
 g-Qodness : kindness of heart, willingness to help. 
 
 all knowledg"e : an understanding of Christian truth and duty 
 as a whole (i Cor. xiii. 2). 
 
 able also to admonish one another. Those who are able 
 to teach are willing themselves to be taught. The position of 
 Rome in the empire gave to the church there an influence and 
 authority among the other churches, for which Paul believed 
 that it possessed qualifications ; his desire is to make it as efficient 
 in service as possible. 
 
 15. more boldly: or, 'somewhat boldly.' His manner 'in 
 part* of the Epistle (in some measure) might appear more 
 authoritative than his relation to the church warranted. Such 
 passages may be vi. 12, 19, viii. 9, xi. 17, xii. 3, xiii. 3, 13, xiv, 
 XV. I. There he had warned against error and sin, urged amend- 
 ment, and commanded righteousness in very plain terms with 
 direct personal appeal. He fears that some in the church might 
 resent such dealing. 
 
 putting- you ... in remembrance. This too is an apologetic 
 plea ; he does not assume their ignorance in his counsels and 
 
 U 2 
 
292 TO THE ROMANS 15. 16-18 
 
 16 that was given me of God, that I should be a minister of 
 Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, ministering the gospel 
 of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be 
 
 t; made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. I 
 have therefore my glorying in Christ Jesus in things 
 
 18 pertaining to God. For I will not dare to speak of any 
 
 commands ; he is sure that these elementary truths and duties 
 are familiar to them ; all they need is to have their memory 
 refreshed. 
 
 because of the grace. God had shewn him favour in calling 
 him to the apostolate, and in separating him to work among the 
 Gentiles, and this is his warrant for reminding those whom it 
 had not been his privilege first to teach. 
 
 16. minister . . . ministeringr. Two distinct words are 
 used ; from the first word our word * liturgy * is derived, and 
 it means *a priest' (Heb. viii. 2). The second word means 
 definitely 'ministering in sacrifice' (R.V. marg.). It is in 
 preaching the gospel that Paul discharges his duty as priest ; 
 the sacrifice he offers is the Gentile church, purified and con- 
 secrated unto God by the Holy Spirit. In Phil. ii. 17 we have 
 similar imagery, in which the faith of the Philippians is the 
 sacrifice, and Paul's blood (he was expecting death soon) is 
 the libation poured out on this sacrifice. The same figure of 
 speech is used in the practical appeal in xii. 1,2. A contrast is 
 evidently intended between the ritual of the old and of the 
 new covenant ; the victims of the former were senseless beasts, 
 of the latter, human souls ; the sacrificing priests in the former 
 owed their position to physical descent, in the latter, to a Divine 
 call ; the sacrifices of the former must be free of physical defect, 
 of the latter, cleansed and renewed by the Holy Spirit ; in the 
 offerings of the former God no longer took delight, with those 
 of the latter He was wdll pleased. 
 
 1*7. my gflorying'. i His confidence in his position warrants 
 his tone of authority ; and for this confidence he states two 
 reasons : (i) his Divind appointment, 'the grace given' him (16, 
 17); (2) the extent arrd success of his labours, confirming the 
 Divine call (18-21). Patul often speaks of his glorying, sometimes 
 (as here) seriously, sometimes (as in 2 Corinthians) ironically, 
 although he recognizes that man has nought whereof to glory 
 before God (iii. 27% and that he that glorieth should glory in the 
 Lord (2 Cor. x. 17). 
 
 18. Instead of saying, * I will restrict myself only to the work 
 which I alone have done,' Paul says, perhaps with a view to 
 charges made against him in such terms, *I will not presume 
 
TO THE ROMANS 15. 19 293 
 
 things save those which Christ wrought through me, for 
 the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, in the 
 power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy 
 Ghost ; so that from Jerusalem, and round about even 
 unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ ; 
 
 to mention any works but those in which I myself was Christ's 
 agent for the conversion of the Gentiles.' The sentence reads 
 literally (R. V. marg.), * For I will not dare to speak of those 
 things which Christ wrought not through me.' He recognizes 
 that he is one of Christ's agents, but not the only one. 
 
 obedience of the Gentiles. Faith is an act of obedience 
 
 (i. 5). 
 
 by word and deed : * by speech and action ' ; an adverbial 
 clause qualif3-ing wroxig-ht (2 Cor. x. 11). 
 
 19. in the power of sigfns and wonders. The N. T. 1 as three 
 terms for miracles: 'powers,' indicating the energy by which 
 they are wrought ; 'signs,* expressing their significance as media 
 of revelation ; ' wonders,' describing their effect on the witnesses. 
 Paul here varies the use of the terms by using one of them as 
 descriptive of a feature of the other two (i Cor. xii. 28; 2 Cor. 
 xii. 12). The usual objection to the admission of miracles, namely, 
 that the evidence is not sufficient, and that the distinction between 
 natural and supernatural was not clearly drawn, are adequately 
 met by this personal testimony of the Apostle to his consciousr ess 
 of possessing such powers, and by the supernatural character 
 beyond doubt or question of some of the events clearly and fully 
 recorded in Acts. 
 
 the power of the Holy Ghost : or, ' Spirit of God ' (so many 
 ancient authorities read, R. V. marg.); or, 'Spirit' (as one 
 authority reads, R. V. marg.). The Holy Spirit is the Divine 
 agent .in the working of miracles, and the source of all gifts of 
 grace, which Paul claimed that he possessed in abundant measure 
 (i Cor. xiv. i8). 
 
 from Jerusalem, and round about even unto Illyricum. 
 Three questions are raised by this account of Paul's travels, (i) 
 Does 'round about' refer to the country around Jerusalem, 
 including, it maybe, even Syria (Gen. xxxv. 5, 'the cities that 
 were round about them ' ; xii. 48, * the field, which was round about 
 every city') ? The absence of the article seems to be against this 
 sense. The phrase seems to be used in a more indefinite sense, 
 'hither and thither,' 'on this side and on that,' throughout the 
 countries lying between Jerusalem on the one hand and Illyricum 
 on the other. (2) Does ' even unto Illyricum ' include or exclude 
 Illyria itself? It may mean just to the borders of lilyria. Acts 
 
294 TO THE ROMANS 15. 20,21 
 
 20 yea, making it my aim so to preach the gospel, not where 
 Christ was already named, that I might not build upon 
 
 21 another man's foundation ; but, as it is written, 
 
 They shall see, to whom no tidings of him came. 
 And they who have not heard shall understand. 
 
 does not record any ministry in Illyria, but at the time when it 
 must have taken place, if at all, the record of Paul's travels runs 
 thus, ' Paul . . . departed for to go into Macedonia, And when he 
 had gone through those parts, and had given them much exhorta- 
 tion, he came into Greece' (xx. i, 2). Illyria may be included in 
 * those parts.' In Titus iii. 12 instructions are given to Titus to 
 meet Paul at Nicopolis, where he has determined to winter ; but 
 the uncertainty about the Pastoral Epistles is such that we can 
 derive no positive evidence from such an allusion. It has been 
 pointed out that Paul, in following the Egnatian way to Thessa- 
 lonica, would see on one side of the road the mountains of Illyria. 
 This might suggest to him this description of the western limits of his 
 journeyings. (3) ' Illyria ' itself may be used either for the Roman 
 province so called, north of Macedonia and west of Thrace, 
 which was also called Dalmatia ; or for the country inhabited by 
 Illyrians, part of which lay in the Roman province of Macedonia. 
 The same question arises regarding Paul's use of * Galatian.' 
 
 fully preaclied: Gr. 'fulfilled.' The term is used geographi- 
 cally. Paul had covered all the ground between the points named. 
 He does not here claim to have visited every place in these 
 regions, but he had established churches in the great centres, from 
 which the surrounding country might be reached. (The words 
 'heathen,' a dweller on the heath, and 'pagan,' a villager, suggest 
 this as the common method of evangelization.) The labours of 
 a pioneer missionary were no longer needed ; it might be left to 
 the churches already founded to complete the work. 
 
 20. Paul qualifies his previous statement. Some places he 
 might have visited he avoided, for he made it his aim, strove 
 eagerly, or was ambitious, to be always a pioneer, not appro- 
 priating any credit for, or entering into competition with, the 
 labours of others. 
 
 named : as the object of worship. 
 
 another man's foundation. This same purpose Paul ex-' 
 presses in 2 Cor. x. 15, 16. His work he speaks of as laying 
 a foundation as a wise master-builder (i Cor. iii. 10); and he 
 describes the church as built on 'the foundation of the apostles 
 and prophets' (Eph. ii. 20). 
 
 21. as it is written. This is a quotation from Isa. Iii. 15. 
 LXX. The prophet is describing the astonishment of nations and 
 
 \ 
 
TO THE ROMANS 15. 22-24 295 
 
 Wherefore also I was hindered these many times from 22 
 coming to you : but now, having no more any place in 23 
 these regions, and having these many years a longing to 
 come unto you, whensoever I go unto Spain (for I hope 24 
 
 kings at the suffering, righteous Servant of Jehovah. Paul uses 
 the words to give a reason for his pioneer work. His aim was, 
 in accordance with the words of the prophet, to preach Christ 
 where he had been hitherto unknown. 
 
 II. XV. 22-33. PanV s plans of travel. 
 
 {a) Although prevented visiting the Roman Church before, 
 Paul's desire is as strong as ever, and his work in these regions 
 as pioneer missionary having been accomplished, he hopes to 
 enjoy the fellowship of the brethren in Rome, when on his way 
 to Spain (22-24). (^) Before this plan can be carried out, 
 however, he must once more go to Jerusalem to present in person 
 the offering for the poor members of the church there, which 
 has been collected in Macedonia and Achaia (25, 26). (c) This 
 offering is an appropriate return to the church in Jerusalem for 
 the spiritual benefit which the Gentile churches have received 
 from it (26, 27). {d) After accomplishing this task, Paul is 
 confident God will bless his visit to Rome, as he goes to Spain 
 (28, 29). {e) He seeks the prayers of the brethren (30-33). 
 
 22. What had hindered Paul's visit was not his ambition to do 
 only pioneer work, but the demands which his present sphere of 
 labour made upon him. We may recall the dispute at Antioch, 
 the negotiations at Jerusalem, the controversy in Galatia, the 
 dissensions in Corinth, the opportunities at Ephesus, as claims on 
 his time and strength, which hindered new enterprises. 
 
 these many times : when either the intention was more 
 definitely entertained, or when the opportunity to travel to Rome 
 again presented itself. 
 
 having" no more any place : * as I have no longer any 
 opportunity for work ' (see note on xii. 19). 
 reg"ions: ///. climates. 
 
 many years. Paul's interest in Rome may have dated from 
 his first intercourse with Aquila and Priscilla, which took place 
 about six years before the letter was written. 
 
 24. The construction is incomplete, and the Received Text seeks 
 to correct this b}^ inserting the words ' I will come unto you ' after 
 ' Spain '; but it is not probable that this is the original text. Paul's 
 mention of Spain leads him to state his plans of travel, but when 
 he is giving these he finds it needful to state the reason why he 
 cannot carry out these plans at once. The mention of the journey 
 
296 TO THE ROMANS 16. 25,26 
 
 to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way 
 thitherward by you, if first in some measure I shall have 
 
 25 been satisfied with your company) — but now, I say, I go 
 
 26 unto Jerusalem, ministering unto the saints. For it hath 
 been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make 
 
 to Jerusalem brings up the subject of the collection, with all the 
 hopes which he cherished regarding it. Thus he is led on from 
 topic to topic, and leaves his sentence incomplete. In verse 28 
 only does he again take up the broken thread of his discourse in 
 the words ' I will go on, &c. ' 
 
 Spain. Did Paul get his plan carried out ? On the assumption 
 that the Pastoral Epistles in their present form are genuine 
 Pauline letters, it is generally maintained that Paul was acquitted 
 after two years' imprisonment in Rome, was released, visited 
 some of his former spheres of labour in the East, and possibly even 
 Spain, wrote during these journeyings i Timothy and Titus, was 
 rearrested, thrown into prison, from which he wrote 2 Timoth3'', 
 was again tried, condemned, and put to death by beheading about 
 A. D. 66. The problem of the Pastoral Epistles is so involved, 
 however, that we cannot with any confidence assert as a fact 
 Paul's release, journeyings, and second imprisonment. Even if 
 we could, that would only prove the possibility of a visit to Spain. 
 The only evidence for such a visit which can be produced is a 
 reference in the Muratorian fragment, which cannot be reckoned 
 as independent testimony, and the statement of Clement of Rome 
 that Paul had gone even * to the end of the West,' a phrase 
 which it is held can mean nothing else than Spain. But this is 
 by no means obvious. Clement, as a Jew writing to the Corinthians, 
 may have so described Rome itself. Even if he referred to Spain, 
 his statement may have been an inference from this passage, not 
 resting on any distinct proof. There is no trace of any work of 
 Paul in Spain preserved in tradition, 
 
 brougrlit on my way : with prayers and good wishes, but 
 perhaps also with companions and means of support (i Cor. xvi. 
 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 16). 
 
 25. ministsring" tinto the saints. Thus Paul describes his 
 mission to present in person the contribution of the Gentile 
 churches for the relief of the poor members in Jerusalem (2 Cor. 
 viii. 4). 
 
 26. good pleasurs. Paul desires to make plain that the Jeru- 
 salem church could and did not levy a tax on the Gentile churches, 
 as the authorities of the Jewish temple required contributions 
 from the Jews settled abroad. This was a free-will offering, 
 heartily made. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 15. 27,28 297 
 
 a certain contribution for the poor among the saints that 
 are at Jerusalem. Yea, it hath been their good pleasure ; 27 
 and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have 
 been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe 
 it to them also to minister unto them in carnal things. 
 When therefore I have accomplished this, and have 28 
 
 contribution: lit. 'communion.' The giving of help to is 
 the sharing of life with another. 
 
 poor. Many of the members of the church in Jerusalem 
 belonged to the working class, and in a town where the priestly 
 influence was strong, and used against the Christian Church, these 
 men and women must often have found it hard to get employment. 
 From the very beginning, as the story in Acts shews, the church 
 had a number of poor members dependent on the bounty of the 
 rich, who responded with a generosity so great that it soon put 
 a severe strain on their resources. The church had soon to look 
 beyond its own borders to the churches being formed for help. 
 It was part of Paul's agreement with the leaders of the church in 
 Jerusalem that he should ' remember the poor,' and he is able to 
 add that this he 'was also zealous to do' (Gal. ii. lo). 
 
 27. While the gift was spontaneous it was appropriate ; for 
 the Gentiles were under spiritual obligation to the mother-church, 
 spiritual . . . carnal. The Jerusalem Church sent the 
 Gentiles the gospel, a spiritual benefit ; the Gentile churches 
 sent the Jewish Church the means of relieving bodily want, 
 a carnal benefit. 'Carnal' means here simply what belongs to 
 the body, and has no bad moral association, as in Paul's use the 
 term often has (see vii, 14). The same contrast is found in i Cor. 
 ix. II. 
 
 minister. Here again the term which is applied especially 
 to priestly service is used. 
 
 26, 27. These contributions are mentioned in Acts xxiv. 17 as 
 the reason for Paul's visit to Jerusalem. In i Cor. xvi. 1-3 Paul 
 gives instructions that, as in Galatia, so in Corinth, the collection 
 for the saints be made, and that chosen messengers be sent with 
 him to take it to Jerusalem. In 2 Cor. ix. i Paul repeats his 
 boast about the readiness of Achaia, made to the churches in 
 Macedonia, whose liberality, however, is also commended in 
 viii. I. What have been called 'the undesigned coincidences* 
 of all these passages have been used as evidence of the historicity 
 of Acts and the authenticity of the Pauline Epistles. 
 
 23. accomplished. The term is used especially of completing 
 religious rites (Hcb. ix. 6). The use of the term here, as of 
 'priestly ministering' in verse 27, shews that Paul regarded this 
 
298 TO THE ROMANS 15. 29,30 
 
 sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by you unto Spain. 
 29 And I know that, when I come unto you, I shall come 
 
 in the fulness of the blessing of Christ. 
 3D Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus 
 
 Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive 
 
 contribution as a sacred religious service, as a thank-offering to 
 God as w^ell as a kind gift to men. 
 
 sealed. The seal was a mark of ownership, Paul was going 
 formally and solemnly to make over the gifts of the Gentiles to 
 the church in Jerusalem. He by acting in this matter in person 
 attested three facts : (i) that the gospel went forth from the 
 church in Jerusalem, (2) that he himself had been the bearer 
 of the gospel, (3) that the Gentile churches had received the 
 gospel in faith, and were bringing forth the fruits of faith in their 
 interest in the welfare of the church in Jerusalem, and in the 
 return they were making for the benefits received. Paul, it is 
 evident, was on the one hand very anxious about the state of 
 feeHng to himself and the Gentile churches in Jerusalem, and 
 on the other very hopeful that, if he presented these gifts in 
 person, prejudices miglit be removed, and harmony restored, and 
 so the unity of the Christian Church, the intense passionate desire 
 of his great heart, might be realized. 
 
 29. Paul's confidence that he would visit Rome was not 
 mistaken ; but the circumstances of his visit were very different 
 from what he intended or expected. As the allusions in Philippians 
 shew, his ministry in Rome, although he was a prisoner, was in 
 ' the fulness of the blessing of Christ.' 
 
 30-33. Paul's hopes for the future are mingled with fears, and so 
 he asks prayer that his hopes may be fulfilled, and his fears may 
 vanish. His address on the way to Jerusalem at Miletus shews 
 what anxiety he was feeling about the issue of his visit, betrays 
 even a growing conviction of coming evil (Acts xx. 22, 23). He 
 was willing to be a martyr, if need be, that he might draw closer 
 the bonds of love between the Jewish and Gentile believers. Yet 
 he asks the church to pray earnestly along with him, (i) that 
 the unbelieving Jews may not be able to carry out their hostile 
 intentions against him, (2) that the church in Jerusalem may be 
 won to cordiality by the contribution which he brings, and (3) 
 that his plans to visit Rome may be carried out prosperously. 
 
 30. the love of the Spirit : the brotherly love, which is one of 
 the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22). 
 
 strive tog-ether: lit. 'agonize with' (Luke xxii. 44). Earnest 
 prayer is compared to a conflict. 
 
TO THE ROMANS, 15. 31-33 299 
 
 together with me in your prayers to God for me; that 31 
 I may be delivered from them that are disobedient in 
 Judaea, and that my ministration which / have for Jeru- 
 salem may be acceptable to the saints ; that I may come 32 
 unto you in joy through the will of God, and together 
 with you find rest. Now the God of peace be with you 33 
 all. Amen. 
 
 31. them that are disobedient. Faith is an obedience; the 
 unbelieving Jews have not submitted themselves to God's right- 
 eousness ; the disobedient are the unbelieving Jews whose hostility 
 Paul has incurred by (i) insisting on the admission of the Gentiles 
 into the church without circumcision ; (2) allowing himself a 
 freedom in intercourse with Gentile converts, which to Jewish 
 exclusiveness appeared a direct violation of Mosaic law ; (3) 
 declining to make his mission in any way a Jewish propaganda. 
 The history in Acts shews what good reason Paul had for 
 expecting this hostility. 
 
 the saints : the members of the Christian Church in Jerusalem 
 about whose feelings to himself Paul was doubtful. If we read 
 carefully the record of the reception of Paul in Jerusalem (Acts 
 xxi. 17-25), we shall be sensible of a lack of cordiality. Nothing 
 is reported about the contribution, from which Paul hoped so 
 much. James's one anxiety seems to be to disarm the hostility by 
 yielding to the prejudice of the narrowest section of the church. 
 Paul's compliance must not be regarded as prompted by a prudent 
 regard for his own safet}'. It was inspired by his intense, 
 passionate desire to remove discord and restore harmony in the 
 Christian Church. The argument from silence must be carefully 
 used, j'et it is significant that in the entire subsequent record 
 there is no trace of an act or a word of sj'mpathy with Paul on the 
 part of the Christian Church in Jerusalem. It is a relative of 
 Paul's who gives him a warning of the plot against him. 
 
 32. The value of Paul's visit to Rome, and not only the 
 possibility of it, depended on the character of his reception in 
 Jerusalem. In pra3'ing that his mission might prosper, they were 
 asking that he might not onl^' be able to come to them, but be in 
 so glad and hopeful a mood that the visit might do both him and 
 them the greatest possible good. 
 
 find rest. What Paul longed for after all his trials and strug- 
 gles was a time of quiet and peace in a friendly community, with 
 no danger to alarm him, no disputes to vex him, no lapses to dis- 
 appoint him. 
 
 33. Having asked their prayers, Paul gives them his. His 
 
300 TO THE ROMANS 16. 1,2 
 
 16 I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a 
 2 servant of the church that is at Cenchrese : that ye receive 
 
 prayer may have been suggested by his own circumstances of 
 anxiety and uncertainty, by the general condition of the Christian 
 churches, in which, as it would seem, perfect unity had not yet 
 been secured, or, if xiv. i — xv. 13 indicates not a remote possibility 
 but a present reality of discord in the church at Rome, by the 
 actual needs of the Roman Church. 
 
 III. xvi. I, 2. Introduction for PJicebe. 
 
 Phoebe, a deaconess of the church in Cenchreae, as a helper of 
 many believers, and even Paul himself, is commended to the 
 Christian welcome and good offices in all matters of the members 
 of the church in Rome. 
 
 1. commend: 'introduce with favourable recommendation.* 
 'Letters of commendation' (2 Cor. iii. i) afterwards came to 
 play an important part in the intercourse of the churches with one 
 another. As the Christians were very cordial and generous in 
 their treatment of any stranger coming among them (see notes 
 on xii. i3\ such letters came to be more and more necessary to 
 prevent imposture. 
 
 Phoebe. Nothing else is known of her, she probably was 
 the bearer of the letter to Rome. Though the name belonged to 
 a heathen deity she had retained it ev^en after her conversion and 
 baptism. 
 
 sister: not physicall}', but spiritually (see xii. io\ 
 
 servant: or, 'deaconess,' this is the only mention of the 
 office in the N. T. In i Tim. iii. 11 the reference is to the wives 
 of deacons. The widows spoken of in v. 3 cannot without further 
 evidence be regarded as deaconesses. That a want for women to 
 minister in various wa3'S to women who were kept in stricter 
 seclusion, as at baptism, in sick visiting, in poor relief, &c., must 
 soon have been felt is certain ; but how far those who dis- 
 charged such functions of ministry were organized into a definitely 
 recognized order we have no evidence in the N.T. Pliny's letter 
 to Trajan shews that such women-helpers were known in some 
 of the churches early in the second century. 
 
 church.. The term is used in three senses: (i) the local con- 
 gregation, (2) all the congregations regarded as a unity, and 
 (3) the mystical body of Christ. It is the first sense here. 
 
 CenchresB was the part of Corinth on the Saronic gulf, 
 from which there was much intercourse with Ephesus. As many 
 strangers passed through it, Phoebe would have many opportunities 
 for shewing hospitality. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 16. 3 301 
 
 her in ihe Lord, worthily of the saints, and that ye assist 
 her in whatsoever matter she may have need of you : for 
 she herself also hath been a succourer of many, and of 
 mine own self. 
 
 Salute Prisca and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ 3 
 
 2. wortMly of the saints: both such as saints should give her, 
 and such as she as a saint deserves. 
 
 whatsoever matter. Probably Phoebe had been obliged to 
 visit Rome on important legal business, in which the more in- 
 timate local knowledge of the members of the church might be 
 useful to her. It was not any material assistance on account of 
 poverty that she needed. 
 
 succourer: the Greek term corresponds to the Latin patron, 
 'the legal representative of the foreigner.' Among the Jews it 
 meant as well the wealthy patron, in the sense we now use the 
 term, of a Jewish community, as, for instance, the Roman centurion 
 who built a synagogue for the Jews in Capernaum (Luke vii. 5). 
 The term was also applied to an office-bearer in a heathen re- 
 ligious association.' Phoebe may, therefore, have been a lady of 
 rank and wealth, who could help not only financially, but even 
 socially and politically, her fellow believers. 
 
 auiue own self: possibly in time of illness (as Gal. iv. 13-15). 
 
 IV. xvi. 3-16. Personal greetings. 
 
 Paul sends various greetings, with in some cases brief commen- 
 datory or affectionate descriptions, to the members of the Roman 
 Church, whom he personally knows. 
 
 3. Prisca and Aquila. In Acts the wife is named Priscilla, 
 and we are told the following facts about this couple. Paul first 
 met them in Corinth on his first visit there. Although a Jew of 
 Pontus, Aquila and his wife had been resident in Rome, and had 
 been forced to leave it on account of a recent expulsion of Jews 
 (see Introduction, p. ii). As they were of the same trade as 
 Paul himself, weavers of tent-cloth, Paul lodged and worked 
 along with them (xviii. 1-3). They left Corinth with him, but 
 stayed behind in Ephesus (18, 19), where in Paul's absence they 
 met Apollos, and instructed him (26). When Paul again visited 
 Ephesus they were still there, and a church met in their house, 
 as the greeting which Paul sends in i Cor. xvi. 19 shews. As 
 this first Corinthian epistle was written from Ephesus almost two 
 years before Romans, they must soon after Paul's departure from 
 Ephesus have left for Rome. A greeting is sent to them in 2 Tim. 
 iv. 19. As this letter is generally supposed to have been written 
 eight years after Romans, and to have been addressed to Ephesus, 
 
302 TO THE ROMANS 16. 4 
 
 4 Jesus, who for my life laid down their own necks ; unto 
 
 they must again have returned to Ephesus from Rome. Is this 
 record of travel and change of abode in itself improbable? Some 
 have thought so, and have based on the improbability an argu- 
 ment against the integrity of Romans. There is something that 
 can be urged against such a conclusion. The Jews did travel 
 about a great deal for purposes of trade or business. After the 
 conversion of this couple, may not their travels have been due to 
 another motive as well? In the interests of the gospel they may 
 have gone where their trade connexions might be helpful to them. 
 Even as they went to Ephesus with Paul from Corinth, and 
 became in Ephesus a centre of Christian life, so they may have 
 gone to Rome to prepare for Paul's visit, their previous sojourn 
 there making them more useful for such a purpose than entire 
 strangers would have been. It is not at all unlikely that Paul 
 owed much of his knowledge about Rome to them ; and if they 
 were thoroughly convinced of the truth of the Pauline gospel, 
 and as ready to instruct others in Rome as they had shewn them- 
 selves in the case of Apollos in Ephesus, they may have had some 
 discussions with Christians in Rome who still felt some objection 
 to Paul's doctrine. Some of these objections they may have com- 
 municated to Paul, and in his questions we may have not merely 
 a rhetorical device, but simply a statement of what he had been 
 asked by Aquila and Priscilla to explain, so as to enable them 
 effectually to meet objections. Some archaeological evidence has 
 been produced in order to connect Aquila and Priscilla with 
 Rome ; but it is far from convincing. It is not improbable, 
 however, that as Prisca, or Priscilla, was a name common among 
 the women of the Acilian gens, to which Acilius Glabrio, consul 
 in A.D. 91, who died a Christian, belonged, this Jewish couple 
 may both have been freed slaves of this family, and to them may 
 have been due the Christian influence in it. It has been pointed 
 out that in four of the six places where this couple is mentioned 
 the wife's name precedes her husband's. From this it has been 
 concluded that the husband alone was a Jew, and the wife a noble 
 Roman lady. While it is possible that a Roman lady, having 
 become a proselyte to Judaism, might marry a Jew, it is not at all 
 probable that she would travel about with him and engage in so 
 humble a trade. Whether they were already Christians when Paul 
 met them, or are to be numbered among his converts, is uncertain. 
 Recently the bold suggestion has been hazarded by a great 
 scholar, that Priscilla with Aquila wrote the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, but her name was early suppressed owing to the objec- 
 tion felt to admitting a woman's work among apostolic writings. 
 
 4. laid down their own necks. It is uncertain whether we 
 must take the phrase literally, * ran the risk of public execution, ' 
 
TO THE ROMANS 16. 5-7 303 
 
 whom not only I give thanks, but also all tlie churches 
 of the Gentiles : and salute the church that is in their 5 
 house. Salute Epaenetus my beloved, who is the first- 
 fruits of Asia unto Christ. Salute Mary, who bestowed 6 
 much labour on you. Salute Andronicus and Junias, my 7 
 
 or figuratively, * exposed themselves even to danger of their hfe,' 
 as the circumstances which are alluded to are otherwise quite 
 unknown to us. Paul's life was in danger far oftener than we 
 have any record, and on some such occasion this devoted Christian 
 couple saved his life at the risk of their own. 
 
 all the churches of the Gentiles. The preservation of his 
 life Paul knew to be a benefit to all the Gentile churches. 
 
 5. the church that is in their house. Not till the third 
 century have we any proofs of the existence of buildings set 
 apart for Christian worship. Not only were most of the churches 
 too poor to build meeting-places, but, until Christianity became 
 the religion of the empire, the privacy and secrecy possible in a 
 meeting held in a dwelling-house were important considera- 
 tions. The wealthier members of a church seem to have put one 
 of their rooms at the disposal of the brethren for this purpose. 
 First comes the Upper Room, in which our Lord held his Last 
 Supper with his disciples (Matt. xxvi. 18), and then the house of 
 Mary in Jerusalem (Acts xii. 12), although this may have been the 
 same place. In Ephesus the house of Aquila and Priscilla was 
 a meeting-place (i Cor. xvi. 19), as it was in Rome also. At 
 Laodicea the church met in the house of Nymphas (Col. iv. 15), 
 and at Colosse in the house of Philemon (verse 2). Although 
 there may have been in Rome one house in which the whole 
 body of Christians met, yet it would seem that it was usual to 
 hold meetings in a number of houses. The phrases, * and the 
 brethren that are with them' (verse 14), and 'all the saints that 
 are with them' (15), seem to imply separate groups of believers. 
 
 Upaenetus. No more is known of him, although the name is 
 familiar in inscriptions both in Asia Minor and Rome ; probably 
 he was one of the first converts in the Roman province of Asia, 
 even as Stephanas was of Achaia (i Cor. xvi. 15). He was very 
 dear to Paul. 
 
 6. SSary. The Greek reading here is either * Marian ' or 
 ' Mariam.' While the latter is Jewish, the former may be 
 Roman. Paul usually in these salutations makes mention of 
 Jewish extraction, and the absence of any such allusion here is 
 rather in favour of regarding this woman as a Gentile convert. 
 
 you. Another reading (less probable) is *us.' If the latter 
 reading were correct, she would be one of Paul's friends who had 
 
304 TO THE ROMANS 16. 8, 9 
 
 kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note 
 
 among the apostles, who also have been in Christ before 
 
 9 me. Salute Ampliatus my beloved in the Lord. Salute 
 
 found her way to Rome. But if the former is right, Paul's words 
 are not information for the church in Rome, but commendation 
 for the person to whom the salutation is sent. 
 
 7. Andronicus : *a Greek name found among the members of 
 the imperial household. ' 
 
 Junias: or, *Junia.' The Greek word is 'Junian,* the 
 accusative case of either the masculine name Junias, a contraction 
 of Junianus, or the feminine Junia. If the name is a woman's, then 
 probably she was the wife of Andronicus ; but if Andronicus and 
 Junias are both called apostles (see below), then the name is more 
 probably a man's. 
 
 kinsmen : probably fellow countrymen, not relations (so ix. 
 3). It is not likely Paul would have so many relatives in Rome 
 (verses 7 and 11) and in Corinth (verse 21), at least in the 
 membership of the church. Paul has been led by the contents of 
 his letter to lay emphasis on his Jewish patriotism, and it was 
 appropriate that he should thus mark out his Jewish friends in 
 this Gentile Church. 
 
 fellow-prisoners. They may have been imprisoned with 
 Paul at the same time and place ; but all the phrase may mean is 
 that they too had suffered imprisonment in Christ's cause. 
 
 of note amongf the apostles. The words mean either (i) 
 well known to the apostles, or (2) noted among the apostles. 
 Considering that these two persons are so fully described, (r) as 
 Jews, (2) as sufferers in Christ's service, (3) as early converts, the 
 second is the more probable rendering. It is adopted by all 
 patristic commentators ; it suits better the words used ; and it is 
 justified by the wide sense of the term apostle, which was not 
 restricted to the Twelve and Paul, but included others who were 
 engaged in pioneer mis^iion work (see i. i). They may have been 
 the first bearers of the gospel to Rome, either after Pentecost or, 
 more probably, after the dispersion which followed Stephen's death. 
 
 in Christ before me: earlier converts than Paul himself. 
 The Revisers, with rather slavish adherence to their rule about 
 rendering Greek tenses, render 'have been* here, where 'were' 
 would be more idiomatic. 
 
 3. Ampliatus: or, 'Amplias' (a contracted form of the same 
 name). A common slave name found in the imperial household. 
 A tomb in the Catacombs, in the cemetery of Domitilla (a noble 
 Roman lady who suffered punishment for her Christian faith 
 towards the end of the first century), bears this name, and this 
 suggests (i) that the slave bearing this name was a prominent 
 
TO THE ROMANS 16. 10-13 305 
 
 Urbanus our fellow-worker in Christ, and Stachys my 
 beloved. Salute Apelles the approved in Christ. Salute 10 
 them which are of the household of Aristobulus. Salute n 
 Herodion my kinsman. Salute them of the /^^z^^^^^/^ of 
 Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Tryphaena and 1 2 
 Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute Persis the 
 beloved, which laboured much in the Lord. Salute Rufus 13 
 
 person in the church, (a") that through him Christianity may have 
 entered a second great Roman family. 
 
 9. TJrbanus. The same holds good of this name. 
 
 our fellow- worker. When Paul speaks of personal associates 
 he uses * my ' ; * our ' is a less definite term. 
 
 Stachys : a rare Greek name, but found in imperial household. 
 my beloved : an intimate associate of the Apostle. 
 
 10. Apelles: a name commonly borne by Jews, as is shewn by 
 Horace's contemptuous words, ' Let the Jew Apelles believe, not I.' 
 A famous tragic actor bore it, and it is also found in imperial 
 household. 
 
 approved: a well-tried Christian (i Cor. xi. 19 ; 2 Cor. x. 18, 
 xiii. 7). 
 
 the household of Arlstohulns. 'The younger Aristobulus 
 was a grandson of Herod the Great, who apparently lived and died 
 in Rome in a private station ; he was a friend and adherent of the 
 Emperor Claudius.' His household would probably include many 
 Jews, and other slaves from the East, and among them not a few 
 Christians. As he was probably dead at this time, his slaves 
 would be added to the emperor's household, but would as a body 
 be still known by the name of their former master. 
 
 11. Herodion: a Jew bearing a name connecting him with 
 the family of Herod, possibly one of the household of Aristobulus 
 singled out for mention. 
 
 household of Karcissns. This was a name common among 
 slaves and freedmen. Three or four years before this date a well- 
 known freedman of this name had been put to death by Agrippina. 
 His slaves may here be referred to, and probably after his death 
 they had been added to the imperial household. 
 
 12. Tryphsena . . . Tryphosa: two sisters probably, the names 
 being found in inscriptions. The common part of these names is 
 a word meaning * delicate,' ' dainty,' and Paul plays on the meaning 
 of their names when he speaks of their labouring in the Lord. It 
 was to their honour that they belied their names. 
 
 Persis : the name of a freedwoman on an inscription. 
 
 13. Bufas. Although this is a very common slave name, yet, 
 
 X 
 
3o6 TO THE ROMANS 16. 14-16 
 
 14 the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Salute 
 Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the 
 
 15 brethren that are with them. Salute Philologus and Julia, 
 Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints 
 
 16 that are with them. Salute one another with a holy kiss. 
 All the churches of Christ salute you. 
 
 as Mark probably wrote from Rome, the Rufus he mentions in his 
 description of Simon of Cyrene as the father of Alexander and 
 Rufus (xv. 21) may be the same person as is here saluted by 
 Paul. 
 
 chosen in the Lord: the eminent Christian. 
 
 and mine. She had been to him as a mother, and so he felt 
 to her as a son ; but when or where we know not. 
 
 14. Asyncritns : a freedman of Augustus was so called. 
 Phlegmon : a name borne by an historian of the second century 
 
 who knew something about the Christians. 
 
 Hermes : a common name among the emperor's slaves. 
 
 Patrobas: a shortening of the name ' Patrobius,' borne by 
 the freedman of Nero, who was killed by Galba. 
 
 Hermas : a contraction of several names * Hermagoras,' 
 ' Hermerus,' ' Hermodorus,' ' Hermogenes,' common among slaves. 
 The identification with the author of The Shepherd is certainly 
 wrong. 
 
 the brethren. This indicates a separate group of Christians, 
 probably meeting in one house. 
 
 15. PhilologTis: lit. ' lover of wisdom,' a common slave name ; 
 probably the brother or the husband of Julia, the commonest 
 female name, especially among the slaves in the emperor's house- 
 hold. If Philologus and Julia were husband and wife, then 
 Xrereus, his sister (probably called * Nerias '), and Olsrmpas : a 
 contraction of * Olympiodorus ') were probably their children. 
 The saints with them would be either other members of the house- 
 hold, or the Christian believers who gathered for worship in their 
 house. The name 'Nereus' appears in a later legend of the Roman 
 Church.but theuseofthe name in this probably rests on some monu- 
 mental evidence of the connexion of a Nereus with the church. 
 
 16. a holy kiss. Cf. i Cor. xvi, ao ; 2 Cor. xiii, 12 ; i Thess. v. 
 26. It is called also 'a kiss of love' (i Pet. v. 14). J ustirf Martyr, 
 about the middle of the second century, refers to it as a regular 
 part of the service. 
 
 All the churches of Christ : this phrase is not found elsewhere 
 in the N. T. The position of Rome would make the church there 
 an object of interest to the churches in the provinces, and Paul 
 could feel himself warranted in expressing so universal an interest. 
 
TO THE ROMANS 16. 17,18 307 
 
 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which are 17 
 causing the divisions and occasions of stumbh'ng, contrary 
 to the doctrine which ye learned : and turn away from 
 them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Christ, iS 
 but their own belly ; and by their smooth and fair speech 
 
 Elsewhere he claims to speak for all the churches (xvi. 4 ; i Cor. 
 vii. 17, xiv. 33 ; 2 Cor. viii. 18, xi. 28). 
 
 V. xvi. 17-20. Warning agciiust false teachers. 
 
 It is a surprise to find such a warning thrust in so suddenly and 
 abruptly just at the end of the letter. It may be that Paul had just 
 heard that this danger threatened Rome, or tidings may have 
 reached him of an attack on another church. His own anxiety 
 for the church, repressed throughout the letter, may have burst 
 bounds and sought relief in expression before he closed. We 
 have a similar outburst in Phil. iii. i, where he takes up his 
 pen again to write a solemn, earnest warning. The persons 
 referred to here are not Judaizers, as in Phil. iii. 18, nor 'the 
 strong ' dealt with in xiv, xv, but probably Antinomians, whose 
 suggestion is refuted in vi. (a) The Apostle warns the believers in 
 Rome to take heed of and turn from false teachers, who cause 
 division and introduce error into the churches (17). {b) Although 
 they are not seeking Christ's glory, but their own advantage, yet, 
 by their persuasion and flattery, they can turn aside and lead astray 
 the unsuspecting (18). (c) Those who have approved their fidelity 
 to the truth of Christ should grow in their understandingof it, but 
 should know nothing about this false teaching, and then God, who 
 desires concord in the church, will give them victory over error 
 (19, 20). 
 
 1*7. majrk: 'that ye may avoid ' (Phil. iii. 17). The same word 
 is used in the sense ' mark that ye may follow.' 
 
 divisions : placed in Gal. v. 20 between factions and heresies, 
 or parties, in the list of the works of the flesh ; they are the results 
 of 'jealousies and wraths.' 
 
 occasions of sttimbling' : lit. 'scandals,' 'snares or traps.' 
 doctrine: or, ' teaching.' Not Paul's distinctive gospel, but the 
 truth commonly taught in the Christian churches, with which Paul 
 knew himself to be in fundamental agreement. 
 
 18. their own belly. Paul does not charge these teachers 
 with being sensual and licentious, but with base motives and 
 low aims (Phil. iii. 17-21 ; Col. ii. 20— iii. 4). 
 
 smooth and fair speech : lit. ' sweet and smooth,' persuasive 
 and flattering. 
 
 X 2 
 
3o8 TO THE ROMANS 16. 19-21 
 
 T9 they beguile the hearts of the innocent. For your 
 obedience is come abroad unto all men. I rejoice 
 therefore over you : but I would have you wise unto that 
 
 20 which is good, and simple unto that which is evil. And 
 the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet 
 shortly. 
 
 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 
 
 21 Timothy my fellow-worker saluteth you; and Lucius 
 
 19. your obedience. The church must, in Paul's view, have 
 had an adequate conception of Christianity, and at the same time 
 have been free of erroneous tendencies, else he could not have 
 used these words. 
 
 I would have you. The anxiety for them, rather than their 
 danger, prompts the warning. Cf. Matt. x. 16, * Be ye therefore 
 wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.* 
 
 simple : unmixed, uncontaminated by evil ; not the simplicity 
 of innocence, but of resistant and triumphant goodness. 
 
 20. God of peace. See note on xv. 13. 
 
 bruise . . . under your feet : ' throw him under your feet that 
 j'ou may trample upon him ' (cf Gen. iii. 15). 
 
 Satan. Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15. If the church by God's 
 grace remain united, and allow these disturbers of the peace 
 no entrance, in defeating his representatives and agents they 
 will overthow ' Satan ' at the present time. Paul's views on 
 demonology were those of his age, but are not an essential 
 part of his gospel. 
 
 The grace. A salutation ends the warning, such as is found 
 at the end of some of the Epistles. 
 
 VI. xvi. 21-23. Greetings from Paul's companions. 
 Paul sends greetings from companions and other believers, and 
 his scribe oifers greeting in his own name. 
 
 21. Timothy was the son of a Greek father and Jewish mother, 
 belonged to Lystra, was probably converted at Paul's first visit, 
 and circumcised at Paul's second. Chosen as his travelling com- 
 panion (Acts xvi. i), he was left behind at Bercea (xvii. 14), 
 rejoined Paul at Athens, was sent back to Thessalonica (i Thess. 
 iii. 2), was with Paul again in Corinth (xviii. 5) when 2 Thessa- 
 lonians was written (2 Thess. i. i). On Paul's third journey he 
 was sent from Ephesus to Macedonia (xix. 22), and as far as 
 Corinth (i Cor. iv. 17, xvi. io\ met Paul again in Macedonia 
 (2 Cor. i. 1), left Corinth with Paul and travelled with him as far 
 as Asia on his last journey to Jerusalem (xx. 4). Paul addressed 
 
TO THE ROMANS 16. 22, 23 309 
 
 and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. I Tertius, who 22 
 write the epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius my host, 23 
 
 a letter to him at Ephesus (i Tim. i. i), and another some time 
 later (2 Tim. i. r) ; but we find him with Paul in Rome, when 
 Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians were written, as Paul 
 associates his name with his own in the salutation. Owing to 
 the uncertainty about the Pastorals, we cannot assert anything 
 definitely about his later travels and labours. He was much 
 loved, highly trusted, and often used by Paul in his communica- 
 tions with the churches. From the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 (xiii. 23) we learn that he had been set at liberty after an 
 imprisonment. Neither he nor Titus was appointed a bishop 
 by Paul, as is sometimes alleged. His functions in the churches 
 he visited were special and temporary. 
 
 laucius may be the Lucius of Cyrene connected with 
 Antioch (Acts xiii. i\ 
 
 Jason : possibly Paul's host at Thessalonica (Acts xvii. 5). 
 
 Sosipater may be the 'Sopater' of Bercea, who accom- 
 panied Paul from Corinth to Asia (Acts xx. 4). These were all 
 Jews, as Paul calls them 'kinsmen.' Probably he lodged with 
 them. Either they were his regular companions, or were on a 
 visit to him. 
 
 22. Tertius. Paul did not write his letters in his own hand, 
 except a closing salutation (2 Thess. iii. 17, 'The salutation of 
 me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle : 
 so I write ') as a protection against forgery, either because of 
 his weak sight (Gal. vi. 1 1, ' See with how large letters I have 
 written unto 3'ou with mine own hand'), or because he was not 
 so thoroughly familiar with Greek as to write rapidly and easily 
 (cf. I Cor. xvi. 21 ; Col. iv. i8\ It is an interesting question which 
 has not been yet thoroughly investigated, how far the vocabu- 
 lary and style of the letters have been determined by the greater 
 or less freedom Paul may have allowed his scribe in writing. 
 Sometimes there may have been dictation of every word, but 
 possibly too the scribe may have expanded brief pregnant notes. 
 
 who write the epistle, salute you in the Iiord : or, ' who 
 write the epistle in the Lord, salute you.' In the former case 
 it is a Christian greeting he offers, and his being a Christian 
 warrants his ofiering it to strangers. In the latter case, the 
 humble task of writing to dictation is nevertheless prized as a 
 service of Christ. 
 
 23. Gaius. The name occurs in four other places in the N. T. 
 Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, are seized by the 
 mob in Ephesus (Acts xix. 29). Among Paul's companions from 
 Corinth to Asia is a Gaius of Derbe (xx. 4). Crispus and Gaius 
 
3IO TO THE ROMANS 16. 25 
 
 and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the 
 treasurer of the city saluteth you, and Quartus the brother. 
 25 Now to him that is able to stablish you according to 
 my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according 
 to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in 
 
 were the only believers baptized by Paul in Corinth (i Cor. i. 14^ 
 The Third Epistle of John is addressed to * the well-beloved 
 Gains' (verse i). The person here mentioned is probably the 
 same as is refered to in i Corinthians. Possibly he is called 
 • host of the whole church ' because the meetings of the church 
 were held at his house. 
 
 Erastus. The same name is mentioned in Acts xix. 22 and 
 2 Tim. iv. 20 ; but a person holding so influential a position (the 
 treasurer of the city) was not likely to become a travelling 
 companion or messenger of Paul's. 
 
 VII. xvi. 25-27. The concluding doxology. 
 
 Paul does not usually end his Epistles with a doxology, although 
 doxologies do occur in them (Gal. i. 5 ; Rom. xi. 36). This 
 doxology is, however, longer than is at all usual ; but still in 
 Eph. iii. 20; Phil. iv. 20; i Tim. i. 17, there are doxologies 
 approaching this in complexity. The genuineness of this doxology 
 is discussed in the special note at the end of the chapter. Paul 
 offers his praise through Jesus Christ to the only wise God, who 
 is able to make the Roman believers stand firm and strong in the 
 truth about Jesus, as preached by Paul — a truth long hidden, but 
 now. after having been foretold by the prophets, made known in 
 obedience to God's will among all peoples, that they may be 
 brought to believe. 
 
 25. able to stablisli you. Cf. i. 11, 16, xiv. 4; Eph. iii. 20. 
 according^ to my g-ospel. Cf. ii. 16; 2 Tim. ii. 8. This gospel 
 Paul had sought to expound in the Epistle, as the best means 
 of establishing the church by removing misunderstanding and 
 estrangement, and so making it strong in unity and peace. 
 
 the preachingf of Jesus Christ. The proclamation of Jesus 
 as the Messiah (x. 8-12) : the work to which he had given his 
 life, and of which he often speaks. 
 
 according- to the revelation. This clause is not co-ordinate 
 with the preceding, but subordinate to it. The strengthening of 
 the Roman believers was to take place in accordance with Paul's 
 gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ; not two distinct 
 standards, but one. This standard itself, however, conformed to 
 a higher rule, the revelation lately made. 
 
 the revelation of the mystery. Cf. i Cor. ii. 6, 7. Paul 
 
 i 
 
TO THE ROMANS 16. 26,27 311 
 
 silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, 26 
 and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the 
 commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto 
 all the nations unto obedience of faith ; to the only wise 27 
 
 had tried to 'rede the riddle of this painful world.' As Greek 
 philosophy had tried to find mind or wisdom in the Universe, so 
 Paul had meditated on the problems of human life, sin and sorrow, 
 death and doom ; and now God's plan in all was becoming clear 
 to him. He has sketched it in outline in ix-xi, and sums it up in 
 the pregnant sentence, * God hath shut up all unto disobedience, 
 that he might have mercy upon all.' In the period of disobedience 
 the purpose was necessarily hidden ; man could not discern nor 
 discover it; but now in the period of mercy the mystery of salvation 
 in Christ tlirough faith for all is being revealed. Paul, if we may 
 so express the contrast, already in i Coiinthians, still more in 
 Romans, has worked his way in thought to this comprehensive 
 survey of God's ways. In the later Epistles, especially Ephesians, 
 he takes it for granted (Eph. iii. 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 ; Col. i. 26 ; Titus i. 
 a, 3 ; 2 Tim. i. 9, 10). 
 
 ke^it in silence. God, so to speak, gave no sign of what He 
 was doing for mankind. 
 
 times eternal : lit. ' periods of ages '; the ages that, reaching 
 back to the bounds of time, had preceded the coming of Christ to 
 the world. 
 
 26. manifested. The coming of Christ into, and the work of 
 the Spirit in, the world manifest God's mj^stery. 
 
 by (or ' through ') the scriptures of the prophets. Paul's use 
 of the O. T. rests on the assumption that it witnesses to the 
 gospel. Christ's coming (i. i, 2' , salvation by laith apart from 
 works (iii. 21), the rejection of the Jews, and the call of the 
 Gentiles (ix-xi), all are shewn to be in accord with O. T. 
 prophecy. 
 
 accordingf to the commandment of the eternal God. As 
 the prophets were called of God, so are all the messengers of the 
 gospel (x. 15), and Paul himself was conscious of a special 
 commission to preach to all the Gentiles (i. 1,5, 14 : cf. i Tim. 
 i. I ; Titus i. 3). 
 
 eternal God. As God endures through all ages, so He has all 
 at His disposal for silence or speech, for mystery or manifestation, 
 for shutting up to disobedience, or for shewing mercy (cf. i Tim. 
 i. 17). 
 
 unto obedience of faith: preferable to the rendering in 
 margin, * obedience to the faith.' Faith is obedience (i. 5). Tlie 
 characteristic Pauline ideas appear in this yerse : (i) the testimony 
 
312 TO THE ROMANS 16. 27 
 
 God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for 
 ever. Amen. 
 
 of the Holy Scriptures to the gospel, (2) the Divine commission 
 of its messengers, (3^ the universality of its appeal, (4) the 
 condition of its acceptance — faith. 
 
 27. the only wise God. (i Tim. i. 17 ; although ' wise ' is there 
 a doubtful reading, and may have been inserted to assimilate the 
 original phrase, ' the only God,' to the phrase here.) God's wisdom, 
 as transcending all human thought, and so solitary, is referred to 
 in xi. 33, 34. 
 
 to whom, (i) * Some ancient authorities omit " to whom " ' 
 (R. V. marg.). This would greatly simplify the construction as 
 'to whom' is grammatically redundant, but as on the one hand 
 it is easy to understand the omission of the relative, when it is 
 clearly out of place, and on the other difficult to explain its 
 insertion, the rule of preferring the more difficult to the more 
 simple reading would lead us to retain the word. In the complex 
 structure of his sentence Paul may have lost hold of the gram- 
 matical connexions, and so fallen back at the end on a common 
 formula in doxologies (Gal. i. 5 ; 2 Tim. iv. 18 ; Heb. xiii. 21). 
 (ii) But if the relative be retained, what is its antecedent? 'The 
 only wise God' is suggested by the whole context, but the 
 immediately preceding words are ' Jesus Christ.' (i) It has been 
 maintained that Paul intended to end the passage with an ascription 
 of praise to God through Jesus Christ, as the channel of the 
 Christian's communion with God ; but that the mention of the 
 name reminds him that Jesas Christ is the channel of all Divine 
 blessings for men. and so he, as it were, diverted his praise from 
 the ultimate source of salvation, God the Father, to the proximate 
 channel, Jesus Christ. While this explanation would partly save 
 the grammatical construction of the sentence, and while there is 
 no antecedent improbability in Paul's addressing a doxology to 
 Christ (see on ix. 5), yet on the other hand the phrase *to the 
 only wise God ' would be left without any point of attachment, 
 unless we mentally supplied some such words as ' we give 
 thanks,* a somewhat violent device to get rid of a difficulty : and 
 what seems the fatal objection to this interpretation, Paul is 
 represented as constructing with great care (one pregnant phrase 
 having been added to another) a doxology to God the Father, 
 and he is turned aside at a word from :his purpose, and leaves it 
 incomplete. While Paul's style is sometimes very abrupt, and he 
 does allow himself to be turned aside from his straight course, yet 
 this explanation would assume an instability in thinking and 
 writing which is simply incredible. The whole contents of the 
 passage necessitate the ascription of the praise to God, whose 
 exclusive wisdom is revealed in the mystery now at last 
 
TO THE ROMANS 16. 27 313 
 
 manifested. (2) But if the relative be referred to * the only wise 
 God,' what can be made of the phrase 'through Jesus Christ'? 
 (a) We can get no clear meaning by attaching it to the epithet 
 * wise.' God, it is true, reveals His wisdom through Christ, but it 
 is not His revelation, but possession of wisdom that the epithet 
 affirms ; and Paul never did or could say that the Father is wise 
 through the Son. (6) Again, although ' to whom through Jesus 
 Christ be the glory' would make good sense, yet we cannot thus 
 thrust into the relative clause words that stand outside, (iii) We 
 are then forced to the conclusion, that had the phrase ' through 
 Jesus Christ' been absent, we might have retained the relative 
 'to whom' (one single letter in Greek), and explained it as an 
 irregularity, such as is not uncommon in Paul's letters ; yet, as 
 with the relative and the phrase ' through Jesus Christ,' we can 
 get no tolerable sense, and as there is some evidence for the 
 omission of the relative, we must reject it. Possibly the relative 
 was not intruded at a later date, but was a mistake made by Paul's 
 scribe Tertius. 
 
 the g-lory : honour, praise, adoration, thanksgiving. 
 
 for ever : or, ' unto the ages,' an interminable succession of 
 periods of time used to conceive and express the negation of all 
 time limitations. In this doxology Paul brings together many of 
 the thoughts of his Epistle. God is represented as the author of 
 salvation. His eternal purpose is gradually fulfilled, first in the 
 Hebrew, then in the Christian religion. In Christ is the fulfilment 
 of prophecy. The gospel is to be preached to all nations. The 
 condition of salvation is the obedience of faith. The continuance 
 as the commencement of the Christian life is of God. The Apostle 
 is conscious of a Divine commission in his ministry. The issue of 
 the whole process is to manifest and magnify the power and the 
 wisdom of God. 
 
THE INTEGRITY OF THE EPISTLE ; THE 
 AUTHENTICITY OF CHAPTERS XV AND XVI. 
 
 The commentary on the two last chapters having been com- 
 pleted, the question of the authenticity of these, or the integrity 
 of the whole Epistle, can be considered with greater knowledge 
 and clearer understanding. 
 
 (i) The textual phenomena of these two chapters first of all 
 need to be stated, and with these we must associate a variation 
 of reading in chap. i. (i) A MS. written both in Greek and 
 Latin omits in both texts the words 'in Rome' in verses i and 
 15 of the first chapter. Standing alone, this variation would be 
 unimportant, but it gains some significance from textual variations 
 in the two last chapters. (2) The final doxology (xvi. 25-27) is 
 found in different places in the MSS. In the most trustworthy 
 it is found at the end of the Epistle. In a few it is found at the 
 end of chap, xiv, and there alone ; and this variation may possibly 
 be earlier than the time of Origen at the end of the second 
 century. Some MSS. give the doxology at both places, and others 
 omit it altogether, but the omission can probably be traced to 
 Marcion. (3) There is a good deal of evidence that Marcion, 
 who about the middle of the second century made the first 
 collection (as far as we know) of Pauline letters, left out altogether 
 chaps. XV and xvi. (4) But there are some other indications 
 that there were early M.SS. in existence that omitted these 
 chapters, (a) Irenaeus, TertuUian, Cyprian (second and third 
 centuries), never quote them, but that may be because they found 
 nothing in them suitable for their purposes to quote, (b) The 
 chapter headings in some MSS. of the Latin version appear to 
 shew that the doxology followed chap, xiv, as there is nothing 
 found among them that could describe the contents of chaps, xv 
 and xvi ; but that may be explained by the fact that these 
 chapters, as mainly personal, ma}' have been passed over in the 
 public reading of the Epistle. (5) At the end of chap, xv there 
 is a prayer which might represent the conclusion of the Epistle, 
 but on the other hand no Epistle of Paul's ends in this way, and 
 a prayer of the same kind is found elsewhere in the body of an 
 Epistle. (6) In the Received Text there are two apparent conclu- 
 sions to the Epistle, at verses 20 and 24 ; but the explanation of 
 this strange fact seems to be this, that some MSS. which had no 
 
 I 
 
TO THE ROMANS 315 
 
 concluding doxology moved the benediction, which stood originally 
 at verse 20, to the end of the Epistle at verse 24 ; then later MSS., 
 finding the benediction sometimes at verse 20 and sometimes 
 at verse 24, inserted it at both places. This explanation, while 
 it deprives the variation in the Received Text of any significance, 
 yet affords a farther proof of the existence at an early date of MSS. 
 omitting the doxology. 
 
 (ii) As these textual phenomena have been explained by denying 
 the authenticity of these chapters in whole or part, it will be 
 necessary, before stating any of the other explanations, to indicate 
 briefly the arguments in favour of the genuineness of the several 
 passages composing them, (^i) The first thirteen verses of the 
 fifteenth chapter continue the argument of the fourteenth chapter, 
 and contain no statement that can be justly characterized as non- 
 Pauline in style or content. The words ' Christ hath been made 
 a minister of the circumcision' have been suspected; but Paul 
 expressly says in Galatians (iv. 4, 5) that * God sent forth his 
 Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem 
 them which were under the law,' and as a fact, as has been 
 shewn in the notes, Jesus as far as possible did conform to the 
 law. (2) The next eight verses (14-21) offer Paul's apology for 
 his earnest admonition on the ground of his apostleship to the 
 Gentiles, and his fidelity in preaching the gospel as a pioneer ; 
 and all we know of his character and ministry confirms the trust- 
 worthiness of this passage. Verses 19-21 have specially been 
 objected to, (a) because Paul had never preached in Jerusalem — 
 but Acts expressly afiirms that he did (ix. 28, zg), and Paul here 
 lays no stress on his preaching in Jerusalem, which he mentions 
 only as the Eastern limit of the region in which he laboured ; 
 {b) because he never preached in Illyricum — but this has already 
 been explained ; (c) because he had not actually preached the 
 gospel everywhere in the region described — but the note on * fully 
 preached * in verse 19 explaijis the statement ; {d) because, if he 
 was not building on another's foundation, how could he wish to 
 go to Rome ? — but no apostle had been in Rome, and he expressly 
 distinguishes his visit to Rome as a brief sojourn by the way not 
 to found a church, but confirm faith. (3) In the remainder of this 
 chapter (22, 33) he unfolds his plans ; and the coincidences with 
 Acts, and the allusions to the collections in i and 2 Corinthians, 
 prove the correctness of this statement ; while the absence of 
 direct evidence for the visit to Spain, and the difference in the 
 mode of the visit to Rome as it actually took place, and as it was 
 intended, forbid the assumption that a later writer inserted this 
 passage, thus ascribing to the Apostle unfulfilled intentions. 
 (4) The commendation of Phoebe in the first two verses of the 
 sixteenth chapter presents no difficulty. There is no inherent 
 improbability in the intention of an evidently wealthy member of 
 
3i6 TO THE ROMANS 
 
 the church in Cenchrese to visit Rome on business, in which the 
 members of the church there might be useful to her. That 
 Cenchreae was the seaport of Corinth for travellers to Ephesus 
 rather than Rome does not prove that Phoebe must have been 
 going to Ephesus, and could not have been going to Rome. The 
 passage does not state that she was sailing for Rome from her 
 native town. (5) To the personal greetings in verses 3-16 
 no suspicion necessarily attaches. Aquila and Priscilla, as has 
 already been shewn, may have moved about freely not only in the 
 interests of their business, but even in the service of the gospel. 
 Another greeting is addressed to Epaenetus, the first convert from 
 Asia ; but whether he belonged to Ephesus or not we cannot tell. 
 Intercourse with Rome from all parts of the empire was so 
 common that the presence of an Asian convert in Rome at this 
 time need not cause any surprise nor raise any question. These 
 are the only persons mentioned whose residence in Ephesus is at 
 all certain ; and so small a number does not justify the assumption 
 that this part of the letter must have been addressed to Ephesus 
 rather than Rome. As regards the other persons named, some 
 bear Latin, some Greek, and a few Jewish names. Most of the 
 names, however, have been found in inscriptions in Rome, as 
 having been borne by members of the imperial household (see the 
 notes for particulars). It would be rash to identify any of the 
 persons named with those mentioned in the inscriptions, but this 
 monumental evidence proves the presence in Rome of numbers of 
 Greeks and Jews. It is very much more likely then, that in Rome 
 a greater number of Paul's friends, converts, or fellow workers 
 would be found at any one time than in any other city. It may 
 be added that, if Paul had been writing a letter to a church he 
 himself had founded, with many of the members of which he had 
 had close personal relations, it would have been unwise for him 
 to select such a list for special mention, whereas in writing to 
 a church, most of the members of which were quite unknown to 
 him, it was only right and fit that he should mention those whom 
 he knew. (6) The warning against false teachers in verses 17-20 
 comes in as an afterthought, but we have the very same feature 
 in the letter to the Philippians (iii. i). There is nothing at all in 
 the letter to the Romans to forbid the assumption that either 
 Paul had just heard, when he was closing his letter, of the arrival 
 in Rome of such false teachers, or some tidings from elsewhere 
 had suggested to his mind the possibility of such a danger in 
 Rome. (7) No reasonable exception can be taken to the greetings 
 from Paul's companions in verses 21-23. (8) The final doxology 
 in verses 25-27 reads, it must be ac!:nowledged, as if it were an 
 elaborate composition, into which a number of Pauline phrases, 
 found elsewhere, had been laboriously worked by a later writer. 
 The style at least is unlike that of the rest of Romans, and 
 
TO THE ROMANS 317 
 
 presents greater likeness to the language in Ephesians. While it 
 is true there is not only no idea in the doxology inconsistent with 
 the mental standpoint of the whole Epistle, but even its character- 
 istic ideas are reproduced, yet the impression left on the mind is, 
 that if Paul himself wrote the doxology, it was not at the same 
 time as the rest of the Epistle. We may conclude then from the 
 survey of the contents of these two chapters that there is no 
 sufficient reason to doubt or deny their genuineness in whole 
 or part. But the varying position of the doxology, its peculiarities, 
 as well as the absence of these two chapters from some MSS., 
 while not justifying a solution of the problem of so extreme 
 a character, yet calls for explanation. 
 
 (iii) Such an explanation is attempted in the theory that Romans 
 was a circular letter which was sent in different forms to at least 
 four churches : to Rome, i-xi, xv ; to Ephesus, i-xiv, xvi. 1-20 ; 
 to Thessalonica, i-xiv, xvi. 21-24 ; to an unknown church, i-xiv, 
 xvi. 25-27. It is alleged that this theory accounts for (i) the 
 variations in regard to the words * in Rome * in i. 1 and 15 ; 
 
 (2) the four endings of the Epistle at xv. 33, xvi. 20, 24, 25-27 ; 
 
 (3) the Ephesian names in xvi. 1-20; (4) the Macedonian names 
 in xvi. 21-24. I' has already been shewn that the prayer at the end 
 of chap. XV does not necessarily mark the close of an epistle, 
 that the benedictions at verses ao and 24 in chap, xvi are 
 explicable by the history of the text, that the Ephesian and 
 Macedonian names can be explained without any such assumption, 
 that chap, xv continues the argument of xiv. While this theory 
 as a whole has received little support, one part of it has found 
 more general acceptance, namely, that in xvi. 1-20 we have part 
 of a letter addressed to Ephesus ; but it has already been shewn 
 that it is quite probable that three persons from Ephesus had found 
 their way to Rome, and that Paul knew in Rome about a score of 
 persons. The inscriptions justify our connecting most of the names 
 with Rome, 
 
 (iv) English scholars have offered several solutions, (i) Bishop 
 Lightfoot sought to explain the problem presented by the text by 
 assuming that Paul at first wrote the letter as we have it, all 
 except the final doxology ; that, after a time, recognizing its fitness 
 to be read among other churches, he cut off xv and xvi as more 
 directly local in interest, and so changed the letter into a circular 
 epistle; that he omitted the words 'in Rome' from the first 
 chapter, and added the doxology. One difficulty, however, this 
 view presents, and it is this, that the argument of chap, xiv is 
 carried on to verse 13 of chap, xv without any distinct break : 
 and it is therefore improbable that Paul himself would have closed 
 the argument in the circular letter at end of chap, xiv, as the 
 personal matter begins only at verse 14 in chap. xv. (2) Dr. 
 Hort suggested that the last two chapters were omitted as 
 
3i8 TO THE ROMANS 
 
 less suitable for public reading, that the doxology was read at the 
 end of chap, xiv, that its omission in some MSS. was due to 
 Marcion, who, however, may not have removed it wilfully, but 
 may have found a copy in which the last part had been lost by 
 some accident. This view still leaves the difficulty of the separation 
 of XV. 1-13 from xiv. (3) The latest critical commentary (Sanday 
 and Headlam) explains this difficulty as follows. Marcion rejected 
 the authority of the O. T. for the Christian Church, These thirteen 
 verses of chap, xv contain a number of quotations from the O. T., 
 and in verse 8 Christ is described as a 'minister of the circumcision 
 for the truth of God.' Accordingly it was natural for Marcion to 
 omit these verses, although concluding the previous argument, as 
 well as the remainder of chap, xv and the whole of xvi; for 
 the personal matter had no special interest for him, as he had 
 a distinctly dogmatic purpose in his collection of Pauline letters. 
 There is reason to believe that he had considerable influence in 
 the formation of the N. T. text, and accordingly the variations 
 needing to be explained are probably to be traced ultimately to 
 the text to which he gave currency. Whether this explanation 
 removes all the difficulties or not, need not be settled ; but 
 even should no altogether satisfactory explanation of the textual 
 phenomena be discovered, yet the contents of the chapters warrant 
 the conclusion, that we have the Epistle substantially as it left 
 Paul's hands. That he seems again and again to be drawing to 
 a close in the last chapters, and then adds something more, is very 
 easily explained. The fertility of his thought on the one hand, 
 and the intensity of his feeling on the other, account for his 
 reluctance to write the last words of a letter to which, we have 
 cause to believe, he ascribed so great importance, although as he 
 drew to a close he cannot have realized that he was sending forth 
 into the world a writing which Christianity may reckon as one 
 of its greatest treasures in its exposure of human sin, in its 
 exposition of Divine grace, in its justification of the ways of God 
 to man, in its application of the holiest truths to the humblest 
 duties. 
 
INDEX 
 
 [7%* Numerals refer to the Pages.'] 
 
 Abba, 191. 
 
 Abraham, 13, 22, 28, 31, 34, 
 
 136, 211. 
 Abyss, 232. 
 Achaia, 17, 
 
 Adam, 13, 22, 32, 153, 156. 
 Adoption, 191, 196, 207. 
 Alexander, 38. 
 Ampliatus, 304. 
 Anathema, 207. 
 Andronicus, 304. 
 Angels, 204. 
 Antioch, 18. 
 Apelles, 305. 
 Apostle, 82, 304. 
 Aquila, 11, 20, 301, 316. 
 Aquinas, 284. 
 Aristides, 24. 
 Aristobulus, 305. 
 Asyncritus, 306. 
 Augustine, 274. 
 Augustus, 10. 
 
 Baal, 240. 
 Baptism, 161, 163. 
 Barbarians, 89. 
 Benjamin, 239. 
 Blood, 132. 
 
 Caesar, 10. 
 Caligula, 11. 
 Canon (Jewish), 122. 
 Carnal, 177, 297. 
 
 Cenchreae, 300, 316. 
 
 Christ's appearance to Paul, 5. 
 
 life, 8, 151, 165. 
 
 Messiahship, 5. 
 
 person, 35, 83, 185, 209. 
 
 relation to Adam, 151. 
 
 law, 5, 229. 
 
 resurrection, 5, 145, 164, 
 189. 
 
 sacrifice, 5, 8, 22, 127-132, 
 149, 162, 203. 
 
 second coming, 273. 
 
 spirit, 22, 188. 
 
 union with believers, 5, 
 161. 
 Church, 300, 303, 306. 
 Circumcision, 32, 113, 139, 287. 
 Claudius, 11. 
 Clement, 24. 
 Collections, 18, 297. 
 Colossians, 35, 
 Commentaries, 40. 
 Conscience, 109. 
 Corinth, 17, 18. 
 Corinthians II, 19. 
 Covenants, 208. 
 Cyprian, 314. 
 
 Damascus, 5. 
 David, 26, 83, 138. 
 Day of wrath, 103. 
 Death from Adam, 158. 
 Deuteronomy, 28. 
 Doxology to Christ, 209. 
 
320 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Elect, 203, 241, 250. 
 
 Election, 8, 23, 32, 205, 213, 
 
 221. 
 Elijah, 29, 239. 
 Enemies, 150, 250. 
 Epaenetus, 303. 
 Ephesus, 17, 316, 317. 
 Ephesians, 35. 
 Erastus, 17, 310. 
 Esau, 28, 29, 213. 
 Eternal life, 105. 
 Eucharist, 278. 
 Exodus, 28. 
 
 Faith, 86, 94, ir6, 125, 159, 
 
 284. 
 Fathers, 33, 208, 251. 
 Firstfruit, 245. 
 Flesh, 83, 123, 169, 178, 185, 
 
 187. 
 Foreknowledge, 200. 
 Fullness {Pleroma), 243, 249. 
 
 Gaius, 17, 309. 
 
 Galatia, 18. 
 
 Galatians, 7, 26, 34. 
 
 Gamaliel, 3. 
 
 Genesis, 28. 
 
 Gentiles, 86, loi, 108, 243. 
 
 Glory, 126, 194, 208. 
 
 God's freedom, 210. 
 
 judgement, 102, 118, 279. 
 
 kingdom, 282. 
 
 love, 148, 205. 
 
 righteousness, 91, 117, 
 125. 
 
 wrath, 96. 
 Gospel, 82. 
 Grace, 85, 142, 147. 
 Greek, 89, 91. 
 Greek wisdom, 4. 
 
 Habakkuk, 28, 29, 31, 95. 
 Headlam, 318. 
 Hebrews, 3, no. 
 Hebrews, Epistle to, 24. 
 Heirs, 192. 
 
 Hermas, 306. 
 Hermes, 306. 
 Herodion, 305. 
 Hippolytus, 24. 
 Holy Ghost, 149, 207. 
 Holy Scriptures, 83. 
 Hort, 317. 
 Hosea, 29. 
 
 Idolatry, 30, 98, 112. 
 Ignatius, 24. 
 lUyricum, i8, 293, 315. 
 Intercession, 199. 
 Irenseus, 314. 
 Isaac, 13, 28, 211. 
 Isaiah, 26, 29. 
 Israel, 210, 237, 250. 
 Israelite, in, 207. 
 
 Jacob, 28, 29, 213. 
 
 James, Epistle of, 24. 
 
 Jason, 309. 
 
 Jerusalem, 3, 12, 17, 18, 299. 
 
 'Jesus Christ our Lord,' 85. 
 
 Jew, 91, 103, no, 114. 
 
 Jewish literature, 30. 
 
 Jews* failure, no, 225. 
 
 Job, 29, 
 
 Joel, 29. 
 
 Judah, 115. 
 
 Judaism in Rome, 10. 
 
 Judaistic controversy, 34. 
 
 Judaizers in Rome, 16, 289, 307. 
 
 Judgement, 102, 118, 279. 
 
 Junias, 304. 
 
 Justification, 8, 22, 34, 95, 108, 
 
 126, 145, 150, 155, 165. 
 Justin Martyr, 24. 
 
 Kingdom of God, 282. 
 Kings, 29. 
 
 Law, 106, in, 122, 141, 170, 
 
 181, 208, 226. 
 Letter, 114, 115, 173. 
 Leviticus, 28, 29. 
 Libertines, 10. 
 
INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 Life, 105, 188. 
 Lightfoot, 317. 
 Love of God, 148, 205. 
 — to God, 199. 
 
 man, 263, 273. 
 
 Lucius, 309. 
 
 Maccabees I, 31. 
 
 Macedonia, 17. 
 
 Malachi, 29. 
 
 Marcion, 24, 314, 318. 
 
 Mar3% 303. 
 
 McGiffert, 17. 
 
 Messianic hope, 28, 32, 141, 
 
 192, 208. 
 Moses, 26, 28, 106, 154, 215, 
 
 237. 
 Mystery, 249, 310. 
 
 Narcissus, 305. 
 Nature, 193, 194. 
 Nero, 9. 
 
 Old Testament, 26, 286. 
 Olive, 246. 
 Oracles, 116. 
 Origen, 314. 
 
 Patrobas, 306. 
 Paul's conflict, 173. 
 
 controversy, 7, 8, 34. 
 
 conversion, 4, 5. 
 
 convictions, 5, 6. 
 
 Gentile ministry, 6, 244, 
 292. 
 
 Greek environment, 4. 
 
 Jewish nationality, 3. 
 
 — patriotism, 13, 206, 252. 
 literary style, 38. 
 
 logical method, 35. 
 name, 82. 
 
 personal experience, 25. 
 plans, 18, 295. 
 Rabbinic training, 3, 26-34. 
 religious genius, 34. 
 Roman citizenship, 3, 270. 
 use of Old Testament, 26. 
 
 — Jewish literature, 30. 
 
 Peace, 87, 147, 188. 
 
 Pentateuch, 122. 
 
 Pentecost, 12. 
 
 Persis, 305. 
 
 Peter, 12. 
 
 Peter, First Epistle of, 23. 
 
 Pharaoh, 28, 215. 
 
 Pharisee, 3, 4, 174, 181. 
 
 Philippi, 17. 
 
 Philippians, 12, 35. 
 
 Philo, 31. 
 
 Philologus, 306. 
 
 Phlegon, 306. 
 
 Phoebe, 300, 315. 
 
 Polycarp, 24. 
 
 Pompey, 10. 
 
 Poor, 297. 
 
 Poppsea Sabina, 10. 
 
 Potter (and clay\ 217. 
 
 Prisca or Priscilla 11, 20, 301, 
 
 316. 
 Promises, 116, 141, 208. 
 Prophets, 83, 
 Propitiation, 131. 
 Proverbs, 29. 
 Psalms, 29. 
 
 Quartus, 310. 
 
 Rabbinic method, 26. 
 Reckoned, 137. 
 Reconciliation, 151. 
 Redemption, 129, 196. 
 Resurrection, 85, 145. 
 Righteousness, 168. 
 
 — of faith, 141, 226, 230. 
 
 — of God, 91, 117, 125. 
 Roman Christianit}', com- 
 position, 16. 
 
 origin, 12. 
 
 tendency, 13. 
 
 — Empire, 9, 10. 
 
 — Judaism, lo, ii. 
 Romans, argument, 22. 
 
 — authenticity, 23. 
 
 — character, 19. 
 
 — constituents, 24. 
 
322 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 Romans, integrity, 25, 314-318. 
 
 — occasion, 17. 
 
 — purpose, 18. 
 Rufus, 305 
 
 Sabaoth, aai. 
 
 Sabbatarianism, 278. 
 Sacrifice, 127-132, 256. 
 Saints, 86, 299. 
 Salvation, 91, 273. 
 Sanctification, 8, 22, 159, 169, 
 
 256. 
 Sanday, 318, 
 Satan, 308. 
 Saul, 81. 
 Septuagint, 26. 
 Sergius Paulus, 82. 
 Servant, 82, 168, 300. 
 Sin, 96, 120, 153. 
 Son of God, 84, 151, 185. 
 Sons of God, 191. 
 Sosipater, 309. 
 Spain, 18, 296. 
 Spirit, 115, 173, 184, 187, 188. 
 
 — of holiness, 84, 
 Spiritual, 177, 297. 
 
 — gifts, 88, 259, 262. 
 Stachys, 305. 
 State, the, 268. 
 Stoic philosophy, 10. 
 ' Stone,' 227. 
 
 ' Strong,* 276, 289. 
 Succourer, 301. 
 Suetonius, 11. 
 
 Tarsus, 4. 
 Tertius, 309. 
 Tertullian, 314, 
 
 Testament of the Twelve Pa- 
 triarchs, the, 24. 
 Thessalonians, 35. 
 Timothy, 17, 308. 
 Transgression, 142. 
 Trespass, 154. 
 Trinity, 87. 
 Tryphaena, 305. 
 Tryphosa, 305. 
 Turner, 17. 
 
 Union v(7ith Christ, 159, 184. 
 Urbanus, 305. 
 
 ' Weak,' 276, 289. 
 * Whole world,' 88. 
 Wisdom of Solomon, 30. 
 Wisdom, God's, 254. 
 Worship, 257. 
 Wrath of God, 96. 
 
 Zeal of Jews, 228. 
 
 oxford: HORACE HART 
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BS491 .N53 45 
 Romans : introduction. 
 
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