■ ■<'iM)!''i I'ii'.i'hU'i 'V--:'*)i'S '•■''■' '.'h^-. ••'^. \ , ^iiiHl: p iii|ii: ;:i' i:;^':: in,;r I 'WM( 'i'': II'. M'.'i; /■'.;. lii'i' ■.■.:.■,. ■ ■ -• J ;»';:,{; /'!; •Kf m mmmtmMmimmM ■\m i .L27 4 1875 COMMENTARY ON THE HOLT SCEIPTUEES CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MINISTERS AND STUDENTS. BY JOHN PETEE LA^GE, D.D., . Bf COKNECTIOX WITH A. NDUBEK 09 KUIKENT SC&OPXAH DITimS, TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, AND EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS^ BY PHILIP SCHAEF, D.D., IK CONNECTION WITH AMERICAN SCHOLARS OF TARI0U3 ETANOELICAL DENOMINATIONS. VOL. V. OF THE NEW TESTAilENT: CONTAININQ THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, AIlMSTRONG^& CO., BCCCESSOBa TO CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 064 BROADWAY. 1872. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THB EOMANS. BY V J. F. LANGE, D.D., and the Eev. F. R. FAY. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY J. F. HURST, D.D., N REVISED, ENLARGED, AND EDITED BY ■p. SCHAFF, D.D., and the Rev. M. B. RIDDLE. 8E00NIK EDinOX. NEW YORK: SCEIBNER, ARMSTRONG &. CO., SUCCESSORS TO CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 654 BROADWAY. 1872. • Entkbed", according to Act of Congress, in the year 18M, by CHARLES SCRIBNER AND COMPANY, Id the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern Distriol of New York. PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. Thb' Epistle to the Romans is the Epistle of the Epistles, as the Gospel of John is the Gospel of the Gospels. It is the heart of the doctrinal portion of the New Testament. It presents in systematic order the fundamental truths of Christianity in their primitive purity, inexhaustible depth, all-conquering force, and never-failing comfort. It is the bulwark of the evangelical doctrines of sin and grace against the obscuration of the gospel, whether by judaizing bigotry or paganizing licentiousness. Addressed to the Christians at Rome, and imfolding to them the gospel as a spiritual power of Ood unto salvation far exceeding in effect, and outlasting in time, the temporal power of the Imperial City, it prophetically anticipates and positively overthrows every essential error of Roman- ism, and is to this day the best antidote against popery. No wonder that it was so highly prized by the Reformers. Luther, whom Coleridge regarded "the only fit commentator on Paul," called the Romans " the chief part of the New Testament, and the purest gospel, well worthy to be committed to memory word for word by every Christian man, and to be pondered daily and enjoyed as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be too often nor too well read and considered, and the more it is understood, the better it tastes." Those who have studied it most carefully, are most likely to fall in with the judgment of Cole- ridge, that it is " the most profound work in existence." But it is certainly also the most difficult book of the New Testament, unless we except the Gospel of John and the Revelation. Meyer, the ablest philological exegete of the age, humbly confesses, in the preface to the fourth edition of his commentary, to a growing sense of our inability to dp justice to " the grandest, the boldest, and, in all its depths and heights, the most complete composition of the greatest apostle." If St. Peter did not hesitate to state that there are " some things hard to be understood " in the Epistles of his "beloved brother Paul," we need not be surprised that even such divines as occupy the same general platform widely differ in their interpretations. The Epistle to the Romans, more than any other, is a battle-field ; and every chapter, especially the third, the fifth, the seventh, and the ninth, is contested ground. Not a few commentators deal with it aa Procrustes dealt with his victims, in adapting them to the length of his iron bedstead — either stretching out or cutting off their legs. But after all, vast progress has been made, especially within the last fifty years, toward an impartial and thorough understanding of this wonderful production of a wonderful man. PREFACE. Among the many noble contributions of German learning and industry to this end^ Dr. Lange's Commentary — which is here presented, with many additions, in an English dress — will occupy an honorable and useful position. It appeared first in 1865, and in a second edition in 1868, in a small but closely-printed volume of 289 pages, as part of his Bibelwerk. It is evidently the result of much earnest labor and profound research, and presents many new and striking views. These, however, are not always expressed with that clearness demanded by the practical common sense of the English reader ; hence th« difficult labor of translation has been occasionally supplemented by the delicate task of explanation. Dr. Lange prepared the Exegetical and Doctrinal parts, the Rev. F. R. Fay, his son-ia- law, and pastor at Crefeld, Prussia, the Homiletical sections. The English edition is the result of the combined labor of the Rev. Dr. Hurst, the Rev. M. B. Riddle, and the General Editor. Dr. Hurst is responsible for the translation (which was an unusually difficult task), and for the valuable HomUetical selections from the best English sources. The General Editor and the Rev. M. B. Riddle, besides carefully com- paring the translation with the original, prepared the text, with the Critical notes, and the additions to the Exegetical and Doctrinal sections. The initials indicate the authorship of the various additions in brackets, which increase the volume of the German edition nearly one half. Upon no other book, except Matthew and Genesis, has so much original labor been bestowed. I am responsible for the General and Special Introduction, and the first six chapters (exclusive of the last few verses of chap, vi.), which cover about one half of the volume. I examined nearly all the authorities quoted by Dr. Lange, from Chrysostom down to the latest editions of Tholuck and Meyer, and also the principal English commentators, as Stuart, Hodge, Alford, Wordsworth, Jowett, Forbes, «&c., who are sublimely ignored by continental commentators, as if exegesis had never crossed the English Channel, much less the Atlantic Ocean. The length of some of my annotations {e. g., on chaps, i., iii., and v.) may be justi- fied by the defects of the original, and the great importance of the topics for the English and American mind. I had a strong desire to complete the work, and to incorporate portions of a German Commentary on Romans which I prepared years ago in connection with my lectures aa professor of theology, as well as the results of more recent studies. But a multiplicity of engagements, and a due regard for my health, compelled me to intrust the remaining chap- ters, together with my whole apparatus, including my notes in manuscript and a printed essay on the ninth chapter, to my friend, the Rev. M. B. Riddle. As an excellent German and Biblical scholar, and as editor of the Commentaries on Galatians and Colossians in the Biblework, Mr. Riddle has all the qualifications and experience, as well as that rare and noble enthusiasm which is indispensable for the successful completion of such a difficult and responsible task. It is hoped that, by this combination of talent and labor, the Commentary on Romani has gained in variety, richness, and adaptation to the use of English students. PHILIP SCHAFF. No. 6 Bible Hocse, New Tore, April 20, 1869. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL ROMANS. INTRODUCTION. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATION. As the Epistle to the Romans is the most important and prominent of the Pauline Epistles, we must here discuss first the general preliminary questions connected with the life, doctrine, and writings of the Apostle, This introduction, therefore, divides itself into a general and a special introduction. The first connects with the general introduction of the *' Bible-Work " on Matthew [p. 20 fi". Am. ed.] for the New Testament, and on Genesis [p. 1 ff. Am. ed.] for the Old ; the second corresponds with the introductions to our commentaries on the remaining Epistles of Paul. • I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLES OF PAUL. § 1. THE PAULIKE PORTION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. The apostolic activity of the great Apostle to the Gentiles was so comprehensive and fruitful, that the greater portion of the labors of the original twelve apostles was merged into the historical current of his work. It is only the Coptic Church, and a few other isolated Oriental sects, that, as a portion of the original apostolic territory, have continued isolated from Paul's great field of labor. Since the second century, Paul's peculiar type of teaching began indeed to give way more and more to the forms of ancient and mediaeval Catholicism ; though Catholicism cannot be termed Petrine in that sense, and much less in that degree, in which the Church of Rome claims to be built on Peter. Yet Paul's spirit continued to exert its influence through the middle ages, not only in the heretical foi-m of Paulicianism and other sects, but also in the orthodox type of Augustinism, until it broke forth from the innermost life of the Church as the chief organizing power of Evangelical Protestantism.* ♦ [Dr. Lanoe {Das Apostol Zeitalter, vol. ii. p. 649) adopts Bubstantially the ingenious viev, first suggested by Joachim Floris, and recently more fully developed by tie great philosopher Schellino, and favored by eminent German divines, uch as Neandkr, Ullmann, Thiersch, that the three representative apostles, Peter, Paul, and John, are the types of three ucccssive ages of Christianity : Peter the apostle of law and Catholicism, Paul the apostle of freedom and Protestantism, John the apostle of love and the church of the future which is to harmonize authority and freedom, unity and variety. Schelling, shortly before his death, at Ragatz, Switzerland, Aug. 1854, in a very interesting conversation with the writar of this note, emphatically affirmed his unshaken belief in this view, to which he had given repeated and profound reflection. It is certainly no mere accident that Catholicism professes to be founded on Peter, while Protestantism has It all times mainly appealed to Paul, the apostle of faith, of freedom, of independence, and of progress. Even the 1 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. As far as the Pauline portion of the New Testament is concerned, it constitutes not only the greatest part of the apostolic epistles, but also a large share of the entire New Testament ; especially when we include both the writings of Luke and the E])istle to the Hebrews, which were evidently written under the influence of the Apostle of the Gentiles. An et<;rnal triumph of Christianity, an imperishable sign and pledge of its world-conquer- ing power, lies in the fact that the greatest part of the Christian Church, the greatest portion of the New Testament, and the most powerful expression of Christian doctrine, proceeded from a man who, endowed with a lofty genius and a heroic energy of will, had cast all the enthusiasm of his youth into a fanatical hatred of Christianity, and who had made it the great object of his life to exterminate that religion from the face of the earth. With the conversion of Paul, the noblest prince of Pharisteism was changed from an arch-enemy of Christ into his most active apostle and witness. This was a prelude to the world-historical change by which the eagle of the heathen power of Rome was converted from the work of a vulture that vexed the fold of Christ, into the sei"vice of a dove of peace for the nations of tlie earth. Saul became Paul. In this one word all the past triumphs of Christianity over it? foes are embraced, and all its future triumphs are described in advance. To bend or to break — that is the question ; to bend, like Paul, or to break, like Julian the Apostate. The cause of this wonderful power of conversion and of judgment lies in the universal triumjih of Christ, against whom a Paul was not too great an enemy, nor a Julian too crafty a poli- tician and emperor. Concerning the signification of Paul in the New Testament, Calmet thus speaks in the introduction to his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans : " Post sacrosancta ecangelia venerahile maxime ac ceterorum omnium pretiosissimum monumentum Pauli epistolce haltendcB sunt. Omnia in illis continentur, qtm foiinandis mwilms, site ad mysteria et religionem constituendam a Jesu Christo tradita svnt. Tamqunm s^ijyplementum et interjyretatio eorvm, quae Jesus Ckristua docuit, ac veluti alterum evnngelium Jesu Christi e mortuis redivivi jure meritoque rejmtantur.^^ [H. EwALD, the great orientalist, commences his Commentary on the Pauline Epistlea (Gottingen, 1857), with the following striking and truthful eulogy : " Considering these Epistles for themselves only, and apart from the general significance of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, we must still admit that, in the whole history of all centuries and of all nations, there is no other set of writings of similar extent, which, as creations of the fugitive moment, have proceeded from such severe troubles of the age, and such profound pains and sufferings of the author himself, and yet contain such an amount of healthfuhiess, serenity, and vigor of immortal genius, and touch with such clearness and certainty on the very highest truths of human asjiiration and action. . . . The smallest as well as the greate-t of these Epistles seem to have proceeded from the fleeting moments of this earthly life only to enchain all eternity ; they were born of anxiety and bitterness of human strife, to set forth in brighter lustre and with higher certainty their superhuman grace and beauty. The divine assurance and firmness of the old prophets of Israel, the all-transcending glory and immediate spiritual presence of the Eternal King and Lord, who had just ascended to heaven, and all the art and culture antftgonism of rrotestantii^m and Romanis-m has its typical nnteccilcnt in tho temporary collision of Paul and Peter at Aiitiocli, and the earnest protest of Paul iigainst any compromise with judair.ing principles or customs. The idea of Schel- lintc furnishes a fruitful hint for a comprehensive evangelical Catholic philosopliy of Church history. But it must ho wisely dcfliiecl and qualified, and, a« Lanife intimates, it holds (food only with regard to the elements of truth, and not to the extremes, contradictinns, and dcfecis. In the variotis hislnrlcal types of Christianity. For in the Epistles of Peter there is not the fainlCKt trace of hierarchical pretension and judaizing legalism and ritualism ; on the contriu-y, a striking Rulistantial agrcemeiit with the systom of I'aul. Nor do wo find, on the other haixl, that Paul gives the leist countcnaiioo io that unhistorical and unchurchly individualism and one-sided intoUcctualli-m Int^i which much of our modern I'rotest- uitisin has degenerated. It must also he admitted, that in no age or section of Christianity was the spirit of any of th« three leading apostles entirely wanting. There were truly oyangelicnl men and tendencies at work in the bosom of medicuval Catholici«m, and they are not wholly extinct even in the Roman church of the present day ; while the tendency to icn-.ism, formality, intolerance, and exclusivism may l>e found also in tho bosom .>f Protestantism ; and tho lovely harmonizing spirit of John is alive more or lees among true believers In all sections of Christendom. So in a simllo] way the law and the promise, the eacordotnl offlco and the prophetic spirit, accompanied the Old Testament dispcnsatiol through the stages of its development to .lohn the Baptist, tho immediate forerunner of the first advent of Christ Corap. below, p. 13, and Scuafp's llislnnj qf the Apo«t. Church, pp. C71-C;8.— P. S.] § 2. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES. HISTORY OF HIS LIFE. ft of a ripe and wonderfully excited age, seem to have joined, as it were, in bringing forth th« new creation of these Epistles of the times which were destined to last for all times." Upos the whole, St. Paul is, perhaps, the most remarkable man, and his Epistles, next to the Gos- pels, the most important literary production of all ages. Dr. Wobdsworth strongly recom mends the reading of the Pauline Epistles in their chronological order, so as to accompany the Apostle, with the help of the Acts, in his missionary career from the call at Damascus to the martyrdom in Eome, and his development of Christian doctrine from the elementary truths of the Thessalonians to the farewell instructions of the Pastoral Letters. The reader will thus trace with growing delight this spiritual river of Paradise from its fountain-head, 'ihrough Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece, to Rome, diffusing purity and health, flowing onward in a majestic and ever-widening flood, fertilizing the banks, that they may bear the flowers and trees of Christian graces, and terminating at last in the ocean of eternity. — P. S.] § 2. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE GEiNTILES. HISTORY OF HIS LIFE.* The history of the life of the Apostle Paul divides itself, according to great crises, into the following periods : I. The time of his youthful development to his conversion ; II. The time of his apostolic training, his impulsive and enthusiastic beginnings, and his purifying retreats ; III. The period of the three great missionary journeys recounted in the Scriptures, down to his capture in Jerusalem, and his transportation from Csesarea to Rome ; IV. The termination of his career to his martyrdom. A. The History of ihe Youth of Paul to his Conversion. Paul appears first before us at the place of execution of the protomartyr Stephen, under the Jewish name of Saul (^^>"ij), Acts vii. 57. He is a young man, who pursues his studies in Jerusalem in the school of the conservative Pharisee, Gamaliel (Acts xxii. 3 ; comp. Acts V. 34) ; but in consequence of his fanatical enthusiasm for the Pharisaic law, which he iden- tified with the ancestral faith (Phil. iii. 5, 6), he became, while a student, the most bitter per- secutor and disturber of the youthful Church of Christ ; for he considered that Church a fatal Jewish heresy, and one which, by virtue of the rights of zealots for the law, he designed to combat, and hoped utterly to destroy. Probably Moses, Phiuehas, and Elijah were his imaginary prototypes ; while he adjudged Christ to be the greatest of those false prophets against whom destruction was prophesied and appointed (Dent, xviii. 20). From an accom- plice who, being i^resent at the execution of Stephen, took charge of the clothes belonging to his witnesses and executioners (Acts vii. 58), he soon became a servant of the Sanhedrinf; and having become excited by the martyr-blood of Stephen, he not only continued the perse- cution, and scattered the congregation in Jerusalem, but, being clothed with extraordinary authority, he entered upon a journey to Damascus for the purpose of destroying the Christian congregation in that city. The Sanhedrin did not at that time possess authority over the life and death of the Jews (John xviii. 31), but it was nevertheless at liberty to exercise, in matters of religion, the Jewish authority to imprison, to scourge, and to arrange all the jire- liminaries of a trial for capital punishment. The execution of James the Just, as recounted by Josephus (in his Antiq. xx. 9, 1), explains the martyrdom of Stej^hen and the subse- quent threats against Paul's life (Acts xxiii. 30), and shows that a tumultuous occasion could lead to the infliction of capital punishment. (On the laws of punishment, comp. Winer, art. Bynedrium [iL 551, and Smith, iii. 1136, art. Sanhedrim,] ). J • In the follo^ng section I have borrowed considerably from my own article on Paul, in Herzoq's Seal-EncycCO' pierJie [vol. xi. 1859, pp. 239-269, — P. S.] ; but I have enlarged it according to necessity. Compare also the respective BC'Ctions in the works of Neander, Schaff, Lanoe, Thiersch, on the History of the Apostolic Church (Schaff, pp. 239- 347), and Coxtbeaee and Howson : The. Life and Epistles of Sf. Paul. London, 1S53, republished in Xew York. t [The proper spelling is not Sanhedrim, but Sanhedrin (Talm. "p'I'inzO , formed from vor of the identity of the journey of Gal. ii. 1 with that to the Apostolic Council, Acts xv., my History of the Apost. Church, p. 215 if. ; and the Commentary on Gal. ii. 1. — P. S.] ^ (The chronologists of the Apostolic Church differ in the date of the Council of Jerusalem from 47-53. Wineb, De ■Wbttb, Wieselee, Schatf, and Altoed, put it in 50 or 51 ; Olshaise.n, dieter, Ewald, in 52.— P. S.] 8 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. J the Apostle in the synagogue at Antiocb in Pisidia, the persecutions on the part of the Jewa in Autioch and Iconia, Paul's miracle at Lj'stra, and his success in Derbe : these are the prominent points of the first missionary tour. We must observe especially, 1, That the apostolic men at that time, as well as later, always directed their first attention to the Jews, and consequently entered the synagogue, although at Antioch, in Pisidia, an important crisis occurred in their zeal for Gentile missions (Acts xiii. 46) ; 2. that Paul, the younger messen- ger, appears more and more decidedly in the foreground ; 3. that on their return the societies of converts were organized into fixed congregations, especially by the appointment of elders (Acts xiv. 23) ; 4. that the free spirit with which Paul carried on the missionary work among the Gentiles produced, in all probability, that reaction of the more rigid Jewish Christiana ■which led to the first Apostolic Council, and Paul's journey to Jerugalem in connection there- with ; 5. that the enmity of the Jews against the preaching of the two men, especially of Paul, became more intense from his expulsion (in Antioch) to the attempt to stone him (in Icouium), and to his real stoning (in Lystra). On the change of Paul's name, various views have betin advanced (see Winer, article Paul; ScuAFF, History of the Apost. Church, p. 226 ; comp. Com. on Ch. i. 1.). We are of the opinion that Saul, as a Roman citizen, was already in possession of a Roman name, but that, while at Cyprus, he was induced, not only by the friendship of Sergius Paulus, but especially by his antagonism to the false proj^het who called himself Elymas the Sorcerer, the mighty magician, to term himself, as that man's conqueror in the name of the Lord, Paul the miaU man (so far as David's victory over Goliath had repeated itself here in a New Testament character) ; and particularly, also, because the Apostle, being now about to enter into active intercourse with the Grecian and Romitn world, could travel more conveniently under a Roman name. The second missionary journey passes over Asia Minor to Europe, and finds its farthest limit in Corinth. It is specially characterized by the following events : (1.) The separation of Paul and Barnabas on account of Mark, and the beginning of a sejiarate and independent mission of Paul, in which he was followed at first by Silas, and later by Timothy and Luke ; (2.) the tour of visitation into the earlier missionary field (Cyprus being jjassed over, and left to the care of Barnabas), which was changed into a new mission of colossal proportions ; (3.) the harmonization of the body of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians by means of the ethical principles established by the Church in Jerusalem (Acts xvi. 4) ; (4.) the new sta- tions : Cilicia (before the repeated visit of the elder stations), then Phrygia, Galatia, Troas ; after this in Europe : Phili])pi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth ; also the persecutions, vphicli varied in strength in jjroportion to the greater or less results of the preaching of the gospel ; (5.) the miraculous aid and manifestation of the Spirit, which led Paul to Europe (Acts xvi. 6, 7, 9) ; (6.) the contrast between the ministrations of the Apostle in Athens and in Corinth ; but we err if we suppose that Paul corrected his learned discourse in Athens by his exclusive preaching of the Cross in Corinth ; (7.) the meeting of Paul with Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth, which so greatly afi'ected his subsequent mission ; (8.) the longer stay of the Apostle in Corinth, and the importunities of the Jews against him in the presence of the deputy, Gallio ; (9.) the new journey of the Apostle to Jerusalem for the accomplishment of a vow, during which he touches at Ephesus, and there makes preparation for his mission by leaving beliind Aquila and Priscilla. The third missionary tour is so far an enlargement of the second, as that Paul at this time makes Ephesus, in Asia Minor, his great object, which city he had been ccnnpelled to pass by in his journey, and which he could only touch at on his return. Apollos was his pioneer here, and the silversmith Demetrius became his principal opponent. His victory was, on the one hand, a triumph over the nocturnal magic of this city dedicated to Diana, the goddess of the Moon ; and, on tin; other, over idolatry. This journey, which was at first supplement- ary in its design, assumed the character of a visitation ; for Paul departed from Ephesus, and again visited the congregations in Macedonia and Greece. The supposition of a third mis- aionary visit to the Corinthian church between the second and third missionary tours has § 2. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES. HISTORY OF HIS LITE. 9 been shown, in a variety of ways, to rest upon a misunderstanding (see my Apost. Age^ i p. 199). The third missionary journey is characterized by the more decided jirominence ot the missionary calculation and self-determination of the Apostle (see 1 Cor. xvi. 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 15) ; by his miraculous works, especially in Ephesus and Troas (Acts xviii. 11 ; xx. 10) ; by the establishment of a metropolis of the church of Asia Minor, which was destined to become the home of John, and the maternal city of Christian si^eculation ; by the founding of a larger association and Pauline school ; and finally, by the decided premonition of his cap- tivity which the Apostle felt, as he drew his missionary journey to a close, and entered upon his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The performance of a Nazarite vow in Jerusalem (a step counselled by James) grew, from a measure of accommodation to the narrow views of the Jewish Christians, into an offence on the part of the Jews. It led to the persecution of the Apostle in Jerusalem, his abduction and imprisonment in Csesarea, his appeal to the judgment-seat of Caesar, and his transporta- tion to Rome (in the year 63 ; according to Auger and Winer, in the spring of 61). From this captivity he was released (in the year 64), not only according to the testimony of tradition (EtJSEB., ii. 23 : \6yos e^ft, Cyrill. Hieros., Hieronymus, etc. ; see Winer), but also accord- ing to certain hints of the Scriptures, yet only, after a new journey for missions and visi- tation, to fall into a second imprisonment, and to suffer martyrdom under Nero. Observations. — 1. For a statement of relevant literature, see Reuss, 1, c, p. 54, 55, 56 sqq. [Smith, Did. of the B., art. Paul, at the close, vol. iii. 763). 2. Ananias at Damascus, a ijredecessor of Barnabas for the introduction of Paul into the Church of Christ, as Stephen had been a predecessor of Paul himself. 3. Paul's three years of instruction in the quiet solitude of Arabia, a counterpart and parallel to the three years of instruction spent by the twelve apostles in intercourse with the Lord. The latter was an external and historical communion ; that of Paul was undoubtedly of a mysterious and internal character, and kindred to the great mysterious fact of his con- version. See my Apost. Age, ii. p. 123. [Schaff, M. of tlie Ap. Ch. p. 236 ; and Com. on Gal. i, 17.] 4. The development of the Apostle's consciousness of his specific call to the Gentiles was gradual, and commensurate with the gradual definiteness of his call to the apostolic oifice in general. This may be seen from Acts ix. 15, 29 ; comp. xxii. 21 ; xiii. 46 ; xix. 9 ; xxviii. 17 sqq.; Gal. ii. But this call to the Gentiles did not exclude a purpose to convert the Jews; for not only must he first seek in the synagogues those heathen who were susceptible hearers of his message, especially the proselytes of the gate (Acts xiii. 48), but Paul also recognized the conversion of the Gentiles, apart from their personal salvation, as a means for the conver- sion of Israel (Rom. xi. 13, 14). The gradual development of his apostolic knowledge by virtue of continued revelations and illuminations, was not precluded by the Apostle's prepa- ration, derived from a historical knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and of the life of Jesus, and by his great miraculous illumination when his call occurred. 5 On the person of Barnabas ; on Cilicia, Antioch, Asia Elinor, etc., sec the relevant articles in the Biblical dictionaries. Also the introductions to the respective parts of this Commentary. On Antioch in particular, see my Apost. Age, ii. p. 158. 6. The reciprocal action between the three missionary journeys of the Apostle, and hia pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the close of each of these journeys, are in themselves sufficient to overthrow as an untenable fiction Baur's hypothesis above alluded to. 7. On the identity of the fact related in Gal. ii. with that narrated in Acts xv., see Retjss, p. 55, and Schaff's History of the Apost. Church, p. 245 ff. 8. The relation of the apostolic deliberations in Acts xv. to the so-called Noachian com- mands, is also maintained by Recss, 1. c, p. 56. See thereon my Apost. Age, ii. p. 184. Reuss maintains that Acts xv. 21 avows the validity of the law for the Jewish Christians. But the absence of all dogmatic obligation in the same passage is veiy plain from the trans- actions of the apostolic council. Yet, as far as the national and ethical validity of the same is concerned, it was in perfect harmony with the apostolic spirit that the continuance of the law should not be violently abrogated. For the relevant literature, see Reuss, p. 56. 9. For a catalogue of the friends and followers of the Apostle, see the same, p. 58. 10. The Apostle's missionary method and policy : (1.) A prudent adjustment of his uni- versal mission to the Gentile world, even to Rome, and the western limit of the Old World (Spain), tc the primitive historical trunk of Christianity in Jerusalem — that is, the incorpo- ration of the missionary spirit with the vital power of the Church. (3.) Perception of the hLstorical links for communicating the gospel to the world. Therefore he first turned hia 10 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. attention to the Jews, and rose in their synagogrues, but made full account of the prejudice* of the Jews, and the roccptibility of the heathen for Christianity. Therefore he embraced in his view, and also seized upon, the points of connection in the Gentile world (see his address at Athens on the inscription of an altar), and with equal clearness he discovered and opposed all real barriers to the truth (righteousness by works among the Jews ; luxurious life in Corinth, 1 Cor. i. 2; and the gloomy sorcery of superstition in Ephesus). (3.) M)st careful observance of Divine guidance to go forward or to hold back (Acts xvi. 6, 9 ; xxv. 10 ; Kom. i. 13, etc.). (4.) Careful consolidation of his missionary work, by instituting congregational offices, and the organization of congregations (Acts xiv. 22, 23), and promoting the inner unity of the chiu-ches by their community of prayer and love (see especially the Epistle to the Philippians). (5.) A comprehensive and free use of all chosen companions iji faith for cooperation in the form of helpers, evangelists, messengers, and pioneers in a general sense. He is surrounded by his helpers; he sends them out upon new paths; he leaves them behind in churches already organized. That they may be strengthened and encouraged, the spirits of the gospel come and go in his presence, just as the messengers come and go at the court of a prince ; he sets all the powers of faith in motion, in order to set all the workl in motion. (6.) He greatly advances the personal usefulness of himself and of his coadjutors, by his apostolical epistles. (7.) The marvellous concentration, development, and elaboration of his doctrine in a manner adajited to the necessities of the congregations, and in perfect har- mony with a most careful preservation of the fundamental character of his doctrine. The rock-like steadfiistness and adherence to the doctrine of free grace, uniteil with that most faithful development which is exhibited also in his style as a progressive creative power, pro- ducing a rich treasure of ana^ Xfyo^xtva. (8.) The supplementing of his burning activity by sacred retreats, when he sank even into the depths of visionaiT contemplation ; likewise his union of apostolic consecration to the demand of the moment (see his Eijistle to Philemon) ■with his all-embracing care for the whole Church and for its whole future. 11. On the three missionary tours and the life of the Apostle, and the particular events of the same, compare the Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, and the well-known "works of Neandek, Schaff, Thleksch, and Ewaxd, on the Apostolic Age, and the literature referred to by Reuss, p. 59 sqq. C. The Second Imprisonment and tlie Martyrdom of Paul. The second imprisonment has been lately discarded even by theologians who accept the authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles, such as W:eseler, Ebrard, Schaff, Thiersch (see my Apost. Age, ii. p. 374). Yet we still hold to the testimony of the old ecclesiastical tradition for the following reasons : (1.) Because the Acts of the Apostles concludes at the time when the first imprisonment of Paul must have come to an end, without taking any cognizance of his death; (2.) because the Apostle himself, about the end of this period, anticipated his deliverance (Phil. ii. 24) ; (3.) because the Pastoral Epistles— whose Pauline character can- not be doubted if we take into the account an advanced development of Christianity of some years' duration — cannot be comprehended in the early career of Paul down to the year 64, without great violence ; and the same is the case still more with the Apostle's stay in Crete (Tit. i.) ; (4.) because the development of the germs of Ebioniam and Judaizing Gnosticism, which are taken cognizance of in the Pastoral Epistles, is clearly indicated by the Epistles of the Apostle written some years earlier, during his imprisonment from G3 to 64, but had not gained the strength which they possessed at the time when the Pastoral Epistles ■were composed ; (5.) because the tradition of the Church distinguishes positively between the judicial execution of Peter and Paul, and the first great persecution of the Christians as a body under Nero ; (6.) the testimony of the Roman Clement (1 Cor, v.), that Paul came fni TO Ttpfia T r) s Sutrfwr Ka\ fia prv prj a at fn\ tSuv tjyov fit v a>v , having been •written in Rome, cannot refer to Rome, and supports the tradition, harmonizing with the purpose of the Apostle (Rom. xv. 24), that Paul visited Spain after his deliverance (comp, my Apost. Age, ii. p. 386).* • (Tho passage of Clctnunt of Rome, which hna given rise to different Interpretations, must ho translated thus . " Paul . . . having ome to the limit (« n i rh rcpfia, not : br/nrt llif hiijhfM Iriliuiml, u jr b tJ) ■ripu.a) of the West, and having died a martjT under the rulers (othera : hiiviii({ home witness hoforc tho rulers), he departed from the world and went to the holy place, havini; furnished tho suMimest model of endurance." The dispute aliout tho true roadinK in the pussaj^e (somcwhut ohlitcratcd)— «ir"i rb riptia or iiirb rb ripiia T^t Jtiatut— is now settled in favor of «iri hy tho testimony of Profesiiors JatousoM and TiscniuiDoaF, who hnro carefully rc-esamincd tho only extant and defective MS. of tht § 2. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES. HISTORY OF HIS LITE. H If we may judge from intimatioDs in the Pastoral Epistles, Paul hastened, after his deliv erance, first to Ejjhesus, where the Christian truth was threatened by the first development of Christian heresy. "We cannot decide whether he was permitted to visit Jerusalem onct more on this journey, as was anticipated by the Epistle to the Hebrews, and might be ex- pected from the three visits of his earlier missionary tours. From Ephesus he went to Mace- donia and Greece; then over Troas and Miletus to Crete. Afterwards he proceeded to Epirus, where he spent the winter in Nicopolis, and subsequently left Titus. He then directed his course westward, to the rt pfia ttjs Suo-ews, where he was probably seized and taken a prisoner to Rome, before being able to found another permanent organization [in Spain].* Meanwhile, Peter either came or w^as brought to Rome, and both sufiered martyrdom there together (according to Clement of Rome, Irenseus, Tertullian, etc. ; see the article Peter, in Herzog's Beal-EncydopcEdie). The Roman Church celebrates the death of Peter and Paul on the same day — the 29th of June. [The views on the year of Paul's martyrdom vary from 64 to 68. This question depends, of course, mauily on the question of the second captivity, Wieseler contends for the year 64, shortly lefore the great Neronian persecution (the only one properly authenticated by his- torical evidence), which broke out, according to Tacitus, Annul, xv. 44, in consequence of the conflagration, July 19th, 64 ; but the general tradition of the Church connects Paul's and Peter's martyrdom with this persecution, which probably gave rise to several isolated execu- tions afterwards. If we adopt the hypothesis of a second imprisonment, we may arrive at a more definite result by referring the rjyoviKvoi in the famous passage of Clemens Rom. (1 Cor. v., fxapTvprjaas (it\ tup rjyovnevcov, sui prcefectis martyrium suHens), either (with Hug, Intr. ii. 323, Hefele, Patres Ajjost., p. 61, 4th ed., and Dolllnger) to Tigellinus and Nymphidiua Sabiuus, or (with Pearson) to Helius Caesarianus and Polycletus, who in the last years of Nero, especially during his absence in Greece, a. d. 67, had charge of the government in Rome. In this case we get the year 67 or 68 for the martyrdom of Paul ; and this agree3 with the Catholic tradition based upon Eusebius and Jerome (who, in his Catal. Script., says most exjjlicity of Paul : " Hie ergo decimo quarto Neronis aimo — i. e., A. D. 68 — eodem die quo Petrus Roince pro Christo capite truncatus sepultusque est, in Via Ostiensi). The Basilica of St. Paul, in commemoration of his mai-tyrdom, now stands outside the walls of Rome {San Paolo fuori de^ muri), on the road to Ostia, and the Porta Ostiensis is called the gate of St. Paul. The traditional spot of his martyrdom, however, is a little distance from the Basi- lica, where there are three chapels, called The Three Fountains {Tre Fontane), in commemora- tion of the legend that three fresh fountains miraculously gushed forth from the blood of Paul's head as it was cut ofi" by the executioner, and leaped three times from the ground Clementine Epistle to the Corinthians in. the British Museum. See Jacobson, Patres Apost. in loc. (Oxon., new ed, 1S63), and Tisc;hendorf, Appendix codicum celeb. Sin. Vat. Alex., etc., Lips. 1867. This sets aside Wieseler's interpre- tation of Tc'pua — supreme power, highest tribunal of the West (t. e., the Emperor of Rome), Into which I myself waa betrayed in my History of the Apostolic Church, p. 342 (Am. ed.), and which I now retract. Although ripfxa in itself may mean supreme power, it can hardly do bo in connection with the geographical term Sucris. At all events iiri to Tepjuia T^5 Siio-eus murt here be rendered : to the limit of the West ; and this, in the mouth of Clement who wrote from Rome, points more naturally, though by no means necessarily, to Spain (or Gaul or Britain; than to Rome, especially in view of the fact that Paul intended to visit Spain, Rom. xv. 24 fit Clement therefore may be quoted with tolerably good reason as the first witness to the anciont tradition (first clearly stated by EusEsrus, H. E. ii. 2.5 : Adyos exei, etc.) of a second Roman captivity of Paul ; for before his first captivity there is no room for a journey to Spain. — P. S.] * [There is not the slightest historical trace of the labors of Paul in Spain, much less in Britain. The early tradition of his journey to Spain is inferred from Clement's repjuia t^s £v 22 ; Phi), ii. 2 1), then Spain by an unknown route, after about two years again returned to the East (Ephesus, Macedonia, Crete), was arrested at Nicopolis, forwarded to Rome for a second trial, probably on the charge of having instigated the Roman Christians to their supposed act of incendiarism (?) which caused the terrible persecution in 64, and sufiTered martyrdom early in June, 68, shortly before the death of Nero.— P. S.] 12 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Q'ahsdsso PauJi atpite triplici sultti sese sustoUente,^^ Acta Sanct, vol, vii., sub June 29tli.) This legend is less credible than tbe beautiful legend connected with Peter's death and per- petuated in the little church of Domine quo mdis, on the Appian Way. Corap., on Paul'g death and martyrdom, my History of the Apost. Church; Conybeare and Howsox, vol. ii, 602 S. (Lond. ed.) ; also Prudentius, PerkUjjh. Uymnm XII. ; Buxsex, Bearhreihung Boms, iii. p. 440; Alfred von RecmojsT, Gtschkhte tier Stadt Jioni (Berlin, 1867), vol. 1. p, 374 f.— P. S.] Observatioxs. — 1. On the treatises for and against the second captivity of Paul, see Winer, Jieal-Lixic, ii. p. 221, and Schaff, Hist, of the Apost. Church, § 87, pp. 328-343. Tha second captivity is also advocated by the work of L. Rcffet, Saird Ftcid; m double copticite d, Rome. Paris, 1860; and by Gams, i^as Jahr des Murtyrtodes der Apostel Petrus and Paulm, Regensburg, 1807. He puts the martyrdom of Peter in the year 65 ; tliat of Paul in the year 67. [Van Ogsterzee {Com. on 'the Pnstorrd Epistles), Ewald {History of Israel, vol. vi., or Hist, of the Apost. Age, 2d ed. of 1858), Bleek {Introd. to the X. T., 1862), Hutuer {Com. oil the Eqrp. to Timothy and Titvs in Meyer's Com., 3d ed. 1866), Conybeare and Howsox, Alford, Ellicott, Wordswortu, and most of the English coinmeutators on Paul, likewise favor the second Roman captivity. (Wordswortu, in the interest of Anglicanism, defends even Paul's journey to Britain as well as to Spain). On the other hand,C. W. Otto (in his learned and astute work. Hie historischen Verhaltnisse der Pustoralbri^fe, Lijjs. 1860), Niedxer {Kirchengeschichte, 1866, p. 114), Meyer {Itom. p. 13 tf.), and again Wiesei.er (in his learned article on the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, in the last supplementary vol. of Herzog's Eiicycl., 1866, vol. xxi. p. 276 flf.), oppose the hypothesis of a second Roman cap- tivity of Paul. Adhuc sub jiulice lis est. — P. S.] 2. Furtlier on the necessity of admitting a second captivity of Paul, see in the Bible- Work, The Pastoral Epistles, by Dr. Van Ogsterzee, 2d ed.. Introduction (Am. ed. vol. viii.), and my Ajyost. Zeitalter, ii. p. 386. Critical prejudices are often propagated, while the original motives and reasons are lost sight of, although such reasons, sprung, as they frequently are, from original misconcei^tions, have lost their apparent importance in the course of time. Foi example, the criticism against the second part of Zechariah has very clearly arisen from a mis- understanding. Thus many negations in the department of New Testament exegesis have arisen from some caprice of Schleiermacher, some fancy of De Wette, some rationalistic short-sightedness or some fixed idea of Baur, produced by the Hegelian theory of an oflBcious construction of history. [The question of the second Roman captivity of Paul is simply a historical problem, which has no doctrinal or ethical bearing, and which, in the absence of sufficient data, can never be solved with mathematical certainty. Those who, like Wieseler, Thiersch, Nied- ner. Otto, and others, hold fast to the Pauline origin of the Pastoral Ei)istles, lose nothing by denying a second caj^tivity and trial ; they save the whole extent of Paul's kuoirn labors, and only compress tliem into a smaller number of years, thus intensifying ratlier than dimin- ishing his activity. It must be admitted, however, that the hypothesis of a second captivity offers a considerable advantage in the defence and exj^osition of the Pastoral Epistles ; for it is much more difiicult to find a suitabfe place before than after the first Roman cajitivity of Paul for the composition of these epistles, and a number of historical facts therein assumed (such as a missionary journey of Paul to Crete, Tit. i. 5 ; a visit to Troas, 2 Tim. iv. 13 ; a pretty advanced state in the development of church organization, and of heresy, 1 Tim. lii.-vi.), and to understand their farewell tone and general spirit, as compared with the earlier writings of the Apostle. — P. S.] D. The Character of the Apostle. The character of the Apostle reflects itself in his work, as in his Epistles, and appears before U3 in the energetic and harmonious contrasts of a great apostolic spirit. He was as frank in his deep humility as the sincerest penitent (Phil. iii. 6), and eipially joyous in hid acclamations over the all-prevailing faith unto salvation (2 Cor. xii. 10) ; steadfast in adherence to his convictions (Gal. i. 16), and at the same time cautious, considerate, and master of the finest and purest policy (Acts xxiii. 6, 7) ; full of enthusiasm, able to speak wondrously in tongues, and to rise to visionary and ecstatic states of mind (1 Cor. xiv. 18; comp. my Apost. Zeitalter, i. p. 199 sqq.), and yet unwearied in active practical labors; specu- lative, profound, and at the same time a man of the })eople and a servant of the congrega- tion ; heroically strong and outspoken, and yet as tender and refined in feeling and taste a.s a virgin (comp. his Epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon) ; eagle-like in his universal § 2. PAUIi THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES. HISTORY OF HIS LIFE. IS view and work, but not less considerate in his regard and care for the smallest details ; an imperious and commanding character, and yet the most dutiful servant of the Church ; a cul- tivated rabbinical theologian, and at the same time a modest workman at a trade ; burning in his love for the Lord and his brethren, and for this very reason overpowering in his mora indignation and rebuke of all that was opposed to the honor of his Master ; a great Jew inflamed by a tragic sympathy with the Jewish people (Rom. ix. 2 flF., comp. 2 Cor. xii, 7), and nevertheless the most bitter opponent of all Pharisaeism, old and new ; of all the apos- tles the most hated, and yet the most beloved and popular ; the most misinterpreted and mis- conceived (by Antinomians, Marcionites, Paulicians, etc.), and at the same time the most studied and expounded. Thus Paul has developed the most magnificent life of a hero, whom the world could neither bend nor conquer, but whom Christ overcame with a miraculous glance of his glorious revelation. (Comp. Sohafp's Hist, of the Apost. Churchy p. 441 f.) Concerning the apostolic position of Paul, two points are to be observed in particular. First of all is the fact that he did not belong to the apostles of the first foundation of Chris- tianity, but that he was charged with the apostolate of the first historical growth and expan- sion of Christianity into a universal character as the religion of the whole human race. He therefore has become, in an emphatic sense, the Apostle of evangelical reform in all succeed- ing periods of the Church. Secondly, the great opposition presented by the Pauline ajDos- tolate to all external legalism and stagnation in Christianity, is expressly declared in his call. He was not of the number of the historical disciples, witnesses, and chosen ones of the his- torical Christ ; not a member of the apostolic college established by Christ during his pil- grimage on earth. Hurled down as an enemy by the risen Lord in a heavenly vision, he arose at once as a witness of faith and as one of the apostles, and received his apostolic authority only in heavenly voices from the Church (Acts ix. 15) ; in his visions (Acts xxii. 21) ; in his commisssion from Autioch, the mother church of Gentile Christianity ; in the living epistles which the Holy Spirit wrote in the form of vigorous churches of his planting (2 Cor. iii. 2 flF.) ; and in the decided recognition by the first apostles of the Lord (Acts xv. ; Gal. ii.). His apostolate remained doubtful to a great number of traditional Jewish Christians ; the most rigid Jewish Christians rejected it, and persecuted him ; and the later Ebionites loaded his memory with scorn, as an errorist and a heretic. The legalistic Christianity of the Mid- dle Ages, while professing the highest respect for the name of Paul, has persecuted his doc- trines as they have been exhibited in the principles of the Reformation, in the form of JanseU' ism, in the history of Port Royal, and in many other ways. Even in the Protestant evangelical Church there obtains a legalistic high-churchism, which, while it adheres to external legiti- macy, traditionalism, and legalism, is opposed to the principles of Christianity, and especially to the apostolate and doctrine of Paul. But, on the other hand, the antinomianism of all Christian ages has been based on a mis- understanding and misinterpretation of liis doctrines. Amid these opposite extremes, there courses the mighty stream of pure blessings with which the Lord, by His Spirit, has sealed the testimony of the great Apostle to the Gentiles, and with which He will seal it to the end of time. Thus Paul will still maintain his position with the other apostles in the Church of Christ. Yet we would not deny the measure of truth in the viow of Schelling, that, as far as the prevailing type of the Church is concerned, the Petrine Church of, the Middle Ages was fol- lowed by the Pauline Church of Protestantism, and that the perfection will hereafter appear in the Church of the Johannean type. It would be a great misunderstanding, however, to conceive of this type as a syncretism of Judaizing legalism and Pauline freedom. The higher synthesis of the genuine Petrine and the genuine Pauline theology can only be found in the deeper ideal development of the revelation of the law and the Spirit} as set forth by John. Obsertations. — 1. The natural disposition of the Apostle must be characterized as an even harmony of various temperaments and gifts in genial fulness and strength, and inspired by a heroic energy and vitality of soul. By virtue of this energetic vitality the same man could always remain consistent and true, and yet become all tMngs to all men ; he could 14 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. stand and sliine first in this and then in that pole of his wondeiful endowments; at this moment in ecstasy, at the next as a i)ractical man of action ; now reminding ns of the con- templativeness of a John, tlien of the fiery energy of a Peter ; now musically lyrical in style, then acutely dialectical even to the subtlest distinctions; though possessing a tragical national sympathy for his people in his heart — the depth where his natural melancholy waa reflected and transformed — he was as susceptible of joyous sentiments as a child, or rather as a man in Christ, in whom the freshest impulses of a sanguine temper were consecrated to God. And how powerful he was in holy indignation ane and inter- ceesion for all sorts and conditions of men {in opposition to Jewish particularisnt), chap. ii. 1-7. (c.) To the furtherance of universal custom, according to which the women should not dare to announce themselves as (Judaizing) prophetesses, vers. 8-15. ((/.) To the promotion of the true organization of the congregation. 1. The bishop, or, which is the same thing, the presbyter and his house. 2. The deacon and the deaconess. 3. The management of the house of God in general, according to its divine nature, chap. iii. («.) Jb'or the settlement and fighting of the germs of error which might ripen in the future. Gnostic errors and principles, chap. iv. 1-11. (/.) For the self-guidance of the ecclesiastical officer, chap. iv. 12-16. (g.) For the proper conduct toward every one, especially according to the distinction of old and young with reference to the service of the congregation (the men, women, and widows). Special direction on the treatment of the widows in general, especially on the employment of the old widows for the good of the congregation. Special direction on the proper treatment and distinction of the elders, as well as on the proper prudence at the appointment and ordination for offices. Care over his own deportment and health (chap. v. 24, 25, is said with reference to the trial, ver. 22). Care of the servants in the Church, chap, V. 1-vi. 2. The final statement, chap, iv, 3-5. Inferences : Doctrinal disputes, and theu worhlly motive, vers. 5-10. Renewed inculcation of the command (commission), vers. 12; 16, Concluding word, vers. 17-21, The Epistle to Titus. The commission which the Apostle gave to Titus for Crete, is differently expressed from that given to Timothy for Ephesus. His chief task was the »ppointment of presbyters in the single congregations, together with a further development § 4. THE CHARACTER OF THE PAULINE EPISTLES. 2» of the Church at Crete, chap. i. 5. Accordingly, the Apostle describes first of all tha requisites of elders, with reference, no doubt, to the new experiences at Crete, and also the intrusion of Judaizing seducers, chap. i. 6-16. Then the proper care of the congregation, and pastoral work of Titus, with reference to special relations, ages, and classes of society, chap. ii. 1-15. Finally, the guidance of Christian Cretans into proper conduct, especially in regard to the avoiding of a disturbing, quarrelsome, and passionate spirit with reference to the goodness of God in Christ, chap. iii. 1-7. The Ajjostle confirms this direction by his final tlieiiie, chap. iii. 8. It is in accordance with his statement of the requisites of the pres- byters, chap. i. 9, 10, that he forbids him from meddling with the scholastic controversies of the errorists, especially the legalists ; and admonishes him first to deal practically with secta- rian men, and then to avoid them, vers. 9-11. The concluding word : The sending of Tychi- cus, special appointments, and greetings. The introduction is an expression of the Apostle's authority, and of the authorization of Titus, The Second Epistle to Timothy was designed, as has been already said, to conduct Timothy furtlier into his official life, so that he, as the favorite spiritual son of the Apostle, might enter into the footsteps of the latter after his departure from this world. This is exj)ressed by the fundamental thought, chap. i. 6-8. The Apostle strengthens this funda mental thought, first, (a.) By God's call to be saved, vers. 9, 10. (&.) By his own call to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, vers. 11, 12. (c.) By Timothy's relation as a scholar to him, vers. 13, 14. (d.) By reference to the unfaithful and the true, vers. 15-18. He then develops the fundamental thoughts, (a.) He must be strengthened by faithful co-workers, chap. ii. 1, 2. (b.) His readiness to sufler, and his endurance, after the example of Paul in imitation of Christ, vers. 3-13. (c.) Shunning the spirit of controversy. The injurious fruits of the same must be perceived (Hymenaeus, Philetus) ; and oppositions and distinctions in God's house must be rightly understood. Timothy must avoid impure persons, and all lusts and fruitless scholastic controversies ; he must honor, instruct, and restrain in the proper spirit, chap, il 14-26. The Apostle exhibits, finally, the fundamental thought by contrasting the future condition of the errorists and that of the apostolic disciple. The latter shall stand fast in the tradition of Paul — that is, in the New Testament, and in the Holy Scriptures— that is, the Old Testament, chap. iii. The final proposition, chap. iv. 1, 2, is a solemn transfer of his commission to the beloved disciple. Exposition : The future of the errorists and of the errors requires true apostolic men. Timothy must stand firm in the critical times, because his teacher is about to depart, vers. 3-9. But Timothy must soon come to him, since he is almost isolated. Account of his condition, vers. 9-18. Concluding word, invocation of blessings, supplements, and greetings. The introduction is in harmony with the Epistle ; an expression of intimate relationship between the teacher and the disciple, and of reliance on the inner call of the latter. As a legacy in anticipation of early death, the Second Epistle to Timothy is related to the Second Epistle of Peter, The single portions of the Epistle to Philemon group themselves about the recommenda- tion that Onesimus be received again, vers. 10-12. The preceding parts are chiefly introduc- tory to this central point ; the subsequent verses are the amplification. The conclusion, like the introduction, refers to the call of Paul and the congregation at Colosse. The directness of the Apostle, which is peculiar to him as a religious and also as a truly Hebrew genius, may be regarded as resulting from an intuitive state of mind ; yet, in this respect, he stands below the festive contemplation of John, for the reason that he, being endowed with greater energy, exhibits a more fervent zeal and a more practical turn. The style of John reminds us, therefore, of the most spiritual poesy ; that of Paul, on the other hand, of the most fiery eloquence. The culture of the latter conforms to this view. Already in the school of the rabbis he had learned the rabbinical, reflective form of thought — a system of dialectics which proceeds by questions, objections, and answers, and by deductiones ad absurdum from the history of theocracy. But by his intercourse with the Greeks he had also learned the Grecian method of reasoning, which meets us, for example, in 1 Cor. xv. His own manner of expression was, however, modified by two elements, which must be taken into 26 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. proper account, if one would get rid of the unfounded prejudice concerning the alleged burdened periods and obscure abruptness of the Apostle. The first element is the liturgical, which arose in part from devotional reminiscences, and in part from prayerful attitudes of unusual depth, and from a lofty, adoring condition of hia heart. The lituro'ical form frequently transcends the historical and dialectical structure of the periods, and this, too, in consequence of that continuity of devotional feeling which moves through a succession of rhythmic pauses. "We may refer to Psalms cvii. and cxxxvi. as Bpeciuicns. The most important form of this character is the long sentence at the beginning of the Epistle to the Ephesians, vers. 3-14, which has often been misjudged by the Grecian standard, . and caused so many glosses. We read it liturgically as follows : Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ : Who bath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (things) in Christ : According as He hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world : That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love : Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself: According to the good pleasure of his will — to the praise of the glory of his grace — Wherein (in which grace) He hath made us accepted (called) in the Beloved : In whom (the Beloved) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of suis : According to the riches of his grace (—justification — ) ; Wherein (in which grace) He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence ( — the glorifica- tion on the intellectual side — ) ; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure — Which (good pleasure) He hath purposed in himself, in the dispensation of the fulness of times (epochs, KCUpoi) '. That He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which (all things) are in heaven, and which (all things) are on earth, even in Him : In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will : That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ : In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation : In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise ( — which was effective also in the Old Testament promise — ) : Which is the earnest of our inheritance ( — the common inheritance of God's people — ) until the re- demption (full liberation) of the purchased possession ( — from among the Jews and Gentiles — ) : Unto the praise of his glory ! In the exposition of the Epistle to the Komans, we shall make the observation that the difficulty in its concluding words can only be solved by viewing them as a liturgical form (already indicated in our statement of its contents) ; just as the difficulty in Rom. ix. 5 can only be explained by the assumption of a liturgical reminiscence. In the place of the burdened periods, therefore, we substitute lyrical expressions which are liturgically simple, and in place of most of the supposed anacolutha, vital and vigorous brevities. As the former arose from the religious school and sentiment of the Apostle, so the latter came from his fervid vivacity and his rapid, ecstatic feeling in the midst of his daily work. In the preceding doxology we must supply a brief statement in place of an apparent want of connection (ver. 13). Such abridged sentences are especially noticeable in the second chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, where, in vers. 28 and 29, the expressions 'lovbuws and irtpiTonii have to be repeated. Therefore, with Cocceius, in Rom. v. 12, we simply take the (Kafioiifv from ver. 11, and put it into ver. 12, in order to explain the much-discussed anaco- luthon (Sia toCto f'Xii^o^f j/) ; whereby it is to be observed that Paul used the word \a)x^avfiv emphatically in the sense of a personal, moral appropriation, to which the <0' rr T'rotestant divines, such as Bkrthoijjt, Mysster, and Thieusch (The Church in Iht Apntt. Age, '.8.'i2, p. !»7), who have endeavored to sustain it, and it Is easy to see why the Romanists of the present day return to the auppor*. o' tV.e 'eecnd (see IIaoemann, Die rOmischr Kirche, Freib., p. fi58 ff.). I On tlic untonabili'y of the hypothesis that Babylon means Rome, sec my Ai>osl. Zeilalttr, ii. p. 380. § 2. THE ROMAN CONGREGATION. 31 The tradition which transfers the Roman church back to the days of Jesus, has been carried out to an extreme in several fictions.* Yet there is an element of truth at its root, viz., the fact that the Messianic hope of the Jews in Rome was early excited, perhaps during the earthly life of Jesus, by a historical knowledge of His appearance ; for among any considerable number of Jews there were pious individuals waiting for the Messiah's coming. " It is now admitted on all hands," says Tholuck, " that the seeds of the gospel could be brought to Rome by the Jews who were present at the feast of Pentecost (Acts ii. 10), and by the Jewish Christians who were scattered in different directions after the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts viii. 1). Such an early period ia substantiated by the mention of such Christian teachers in Rome as had been converted before Paul (chap. xvi. 7) ; by what the Apostle says of the wide-spread renown of the Church (chap. i. 8), and its wide extent, since they met together in various places of the metropolis, chap, xvi. 5 ; xiv. 15 ; and finally by the probability that, in consequence of the great influx of foreigners to Rome, Christians from a distance were early found among the number." The Jewish population in Rome was one of the larger colonies, like those in Assyria, Babylon, Alexandria, etc. Its parent stock were the Jewish slaves that had been brought by Pompey to Rome. It increased from the beginning by Jewish travellers, and afterwards by numerous proselytes. The enslaved Jews had, for the most part, received theii- freedom under AuGtJSTtJS.t The Emperor Tiberius (Sueton., Tib. 36 ; Joseph., Antiq. xviii. 3, 5), and subsequently Claudius, drove them from the city (Acts xviii. 2 ; Sueton., Claicd. 25) ; but they soon returned in great numbers, and dwelt under the rule of later emperors, although severely oppressed by taxes (Sueton., Domit. 12), and, in part, miserably poor (Juvenal, iii. 14 ; vi. 642). " Under the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Nero, there were Jews even in the im- perial household ; and Popp^ea, Nero's wife, was herself attached to the Jewish faith. So great was the number of Jews in Rome, tliat the Jewish embassy sent to Augustus after the death of Herod, was joined by eight thousand Jews in Rome (Joseph., Antiq. xvii. 11, 1)." (Tho- LUCK.) On the celebrated mysterious word of Suetonius concerning a decree of the Emperor Claudius in the year 52 : " JudcBos impuUore Chresto assidue tumuUuantes Boma expulit,''^ comp. Neander, Kirchenyesch. i. p. 52.^ * See JTeandee, KirchengeschicMe, i. p. 51. Tertullian's legend of the Emperor Tiberius. [Teht., Apolog. c. 5 : Tiberiiis, cuius tempore nomen Christianum in sseciihim introMt, adnunciata sihi ex Syria Palestina, qiix illic veritatem ipsius divinilatis revelaverant, detuHt ad Senalum cum prserogativa suffragii sui. Senatus, quia non ipse probaveral, respuit, Cxsar in senlenlia mansit, comminatus periculum accusatoribus Chrislianorum. In ch. 21, Teetullian traces the knowl- edge of Tiberius to a report of Pontius Pilate, and adds that even the emperors would have believed in Christ, if either emperors were not necessary for the world, or if Christians could be emperors. Etjsebius, H. E. ii. 2, translates the former passage of Tertullian. Before him, Justin Maetyr, Apol. i. c. 35 and 48, spoke of acts of Pilate on the last days of Christ. Comp. the Gospel of Nicodcmus, and Epiphan. Hxr. L. c. 1.— P. S.] t Philo, Leg. ad Caj. On their dwelling-place in the Regio transliberina, comp. Winer, art. Rom. t [The edict of Claudius depellendis Judseis, mentioned by Suetonius, Claud, c. 25, and in Acts xviii. 2 (comp. Dios CASsrns, Bist. Rom. Ix. 6), is usually understood to embrace the (Jewish) Christians as well as the .Tews, on the ground that Chreslus is a corrupt spelling for Christus, and that himuUuant-es refers to the controversies excited by the introduction of Christianity. To this may be objected, (1.) that Suetonius (whom Pliny, Episf. x. 95, calls virnm erudilissimum) must have known the name of Christ as well as Tacitus {Annal. xv. 44), and Pliny (x. 96) ; for he called His disciples Christiani (^Xero, c. 16) ; (2.) that an internal religious controversy of the Jews would require inter se after tumtilluanles ; and (3.) that Buch a controversy would hardly have justified an edict of expulsion. Hence Meyer (ad Act. xviii. 2) and Wieseler (Chro- nology of the Apost. Age, p. 122, and art. Romerbrief in Herzog's Encyclop., vol. xx. p. 5S5) understand by Chre.'S)v t^s troAeu; elpx^rivai, ovk efijAao-e ixiv, T

article. — P. S.] t [The first edition of Tholvck's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, which appeared in 1824, when the ftuthor was but twenty-five years of age, created quite an epoch in the exegetical literature of Germany, by breaking the way for a return to a reverent treatment of the New Testament as the revealed word of God, and by reopening the exegotical treasures of the fathers and reformers. In the subsequent editions it has been repeatedly rewritten and pained in ripe scholarship. The last edition is the fifth, Ilalle, 18.56. Between the first and the fifth edition, about forty Bommentaries on the same Epistle have made their appearance. An English translation of Tuolcck by the Rev. Robkut MEKnrs was published in London, 1842, 2 vols. ; but this is superseded by the later editions of the original.— P. 8.] t [Fourth edition, 1805, improved and enlarged (by thirty pages). Dr. Lasoe ha« used the third, which appeared kn 1859. The American editor has throughout compared the last edition of this important work.— P. S.J § 8. LITERATURE ON THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 51 Bomans, Cassel, 1857 ; Seyxek, Dissert. Exeg. in Ep. P. ad Bom., c. IV., Halle, 1834 ; Greeb ou Chap. V. 1-11, Amsterd., 1855 ; K. Rothe, Neuer Versuch einer Auslegung der paulinischen Stelle, Rom. V. 12-21, Wittenberg, 1836 ; Mangold, Exeget. Versuch uber Mm. V. 11-21, Erfurt, 1841 ; KHirFPEB, Examinatur novissiTna Bretschnsideri de loco Bom. V. 12 sententia, Dresden, 1834 ; Hugenholtz, Bisp. de Cap. VI. Ep. P. ad Bom., Utreclit, 1821 ; Kohl- BRiJGGE, Das siebente Kap., etc., Leyden, 1840 ; Fischer, Ad loc. Bom. VIII. 18-34, Wit- tenberg, 1806 ; Grimm, De vocdbulo Kricm Bom. VIII. 19 commentatio, Leipzig, 1812 ; Reiche, De natura gemebunda. Bom. VIII. 19, Gottingen, 1830-32 ; Gadolln, Bom. VIII. 28-30, Helsingfors, 1834; Beck, Versuch eijier pneumatisch-herTneneutischen Entwichelung des IX. Kap., Stuttgart, 1839 ; Ranfpt, Deutliche Erkldrung des IX.-XI. Kap. der Epistel Pauli an die BiJmer, Leipzig, 1750 ; E. Krummacher, Das Dogma von der Gnadenwahl (nebst Auslegung des IX.-XI. Kap.), Duisburg, 1856 ; on the same chapters, Steudel, in the TuMnger Zeitschrift, 1836, i. ; Batjr, in the same, iii. ; Haijssert, in Pelt's Mitarleiteyi, 1838, iii. ; Meter, in the same ; Hofmajtn, Schriftbeweis, i. p. 212 [in the 2d edition, vol. i. p. 238 S. — P. S.] ; Borgek, De parte Epist. ad Bomanos parcenetica, Leyden, 1840; Phil. Schaff, Das neiinte Kapitel dea Bomerbriefs ilbersetst und erMdrt, Mercersburg, 1852 fin Schaff's Kirchenfreund, vol. v. p. 378 flF., and p. 414 flf.) ; Wangemanic, Der Brief an die Bdm,er nach Wortlaut und Qedanken- gang, Berlin, 1866 ; [W. Mangold, Der Bomerbrief, und die Anfdnge der Bdmischen Oemeinde, Marbui'g, 1866. A valuable critical essay. For a very large number of English essays and sermons on special chapters and verses of the Epistle to the Romans, see James Darling's Cyclopedia BibliograpMca, Lond. 1859, pp. 1263-1313. — P. S.] Practical Com:mentaries and Homiletical Literature.* — Among these we mention the "works on the Romans by Anton (1746), Speneb (new ed., by Schott, 1839), Storb (1823), Kbaussold (1830), Geissler (1831), Lossius (1836), Kohlbrugge (1839), Rocs (new ed., 1860), Winkel (1850), Diedrich (1856), Besser (Bibelstunden, vol. vii., 1861) ; the Bibk-WorJcs of Gerlach, Lisco, Calw., and Bttnsen (vol. viii., 1863) ; Heubner's Py-ac- tical Exposition of the N. T. ; Ortloph, Epistle to tlie Bomans, Erlangen, 1865-'66. [This list of commentaries on the Romans, by Drs. Tholuck and Lange, is almost exclu- sively Continental, and must be supplied by Anglo-Aioerican works, of which only three are mentioned by Dr. Tholuck — the commentaries of Hammond, Stuart, and Hodge. Comp. Darling's Cyclopedia Btbliographica, London, 1859, p. 1236 flf. We notice the most impor- tant : I. General English commentaries on the whole Bible : Matthew Poole {Synopsis Critico- rum, etc., 4 vols, in 5 fol., Lond. 1669-76, and Francof, ad M. 1712, 5 vols. f. ; Annotations upon the Holy Bible, 4th ed., 1700, new ed., Lond. 1840, reprinted by R. Carter in N. T.) ; Patrick, Lowth, Arnold, Whitby, and Lowman {Critical Commentary and Pa/raphrase en the Old and New Testaments, and the Apocrypha, a new ed., Philad. 1844, in 4 vols.) ; M. Henry (in many editions of 3, 4, and 6 vols., the most original, interesting, and edifying among the popular and practical commentators) ; John Gill (first ed., Lond. 1763, in 9 vols., full of rabbinical learning and ultra-Calvinism) ; Thos. Scott (several editions, in 6 vols, or less) ; A. Clarke (new ed., Lond. 1844, in 6 vols.) ; D'Oyly and R. Mant (Lond. 1845 ; gives the comments of the Anglican bishops and divines) ; Comprehensive Commentary (com' piled from Henry and Scott, and other sources, by W. Jenks, Philad, 1855, in 5 vols.). n. Commentaries on the New Testament, including the Epistle to the Romans : H. Ham- mond (4th ed., Lond. 1675) ; D. Whitby (4th ed., Lond. 1718, and often since) ; W. Burkitt (Lond. 1704, and often since ; very good for practical and homiletical use) ; P. Doddridge {Family Expositor, Lond. 1 739, in 7 vols., and often) ; Albert Barnes (Not-es Explanatory and Practical, New York and Lond. 1850, and often, 11 vols., prepared for Sunday-school teachers, and circulated in many thousands of copies) ; S. T. Bloomfield (T7ie Greek Testae ment, with Notes Critical, Philological, and Exegetical, first published in 1829, 9th ed., Lond * [We have omitted or abridged the German titles of these books.— P. S. 52 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 1855) ; H. Alford {Oreeh Testament, with a critically revised text, a digest of various read- ings, marginal references to verbal and idiomatic usage, prolegomena, and a critical and exe- getical commentary ; first published in 1849, 5th ed., Lond. 1865, in 4 vols. ; in the 5th edition, the Codex Sinaiticus has been collated. Dean Alford follows in the track of Tisch- ■ENDORF as to the text, and De Wette and Meter in the exposition, yet with independent judgment, good taste, and reverent spirit) ; Webster and Wilkinson {N. Test. Gh:, with brief grammatical and exegetical Notes, Oxon., 1851, in 2 vols.) ; Chr. Wordsworth (canon of Westminster, high-Anglican, patristic, devout, and genial, but given to excessive typologizing and allegorizing, and avoiding critical difficulties : Greek Testament, with Kotes^ 1st ed., Lond. 1856 ; 4th ed., Lond. 1866, in 2 large vols.). Of these English commentators the American editor has especially compared the latest editions of Alford and Words- "WORTH. Ellicott, who is more critical than either, has not yet reached the Romans. lU. Commentaries on the E2Jistles of St. Paul : W. Paley (Horm PauUruB, or the truth of the Scripture history of St. Paul evinced by a comparison of the Epistles which bear hia name with the Acta of the Apostles, and with one another, in many editions) ; John Fell (A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Epistles of St. Paul, 3d ed., Lond. 1703) ; John Locke {A Paraphrase and Notes on the Oalatians, Corinthians, Romans, and Ephesiajis, Lond. 1742, and in Locke's Works) ; G. Benson (Lond. 1752-'56, 2 vols.) ; James Macknight (A new literal translation, from the original Greek of all the apostolical Ejjistles, with a com- mentary, etc., Lond. 1795, and other editions of 1, 4, or 6 vols.) ; T. W. Peile {Annotations on the Apostolical Epistles, Lond. 1848-'52, 4 vols.) ; Abp. Sumner {Apostolical Preaching con- sidered in an Examination of St. PauVs Epistles, 9th ed., Lond. 1845); Conybeare and HowsoN (Life and Epistles of St. Paul, liOnd. 1852, reprinted in New York in several editions) ; B. Jowett {The Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, Oalatians, Romans, with critical notes and dissertations, Lond. 1855) ; Vaughan {The Epistles of St. Paul, for English Readers, Lond. 1864). rV. Special commentaries on the Epistle to the Romans: A. Willet {Hexapla : that is, a sixfold commentarie upon the most divine epistle of the holy Apostle St. Paul to the Romans, etc., Lond. 1620) ; Bp. Terrot (Lond. 1828) ; R. Anderson (3d ed , Lond. 1837) ; Bp. Parry (Lond. 1832) ; Moses Stuart (Congregationalist, 1st ed., Andover, 1832 ; 2d ed., 1835, 6th ed., Lond. 1857) ; Charles Hodge (O. S. Presbyterian, 1st ed., Philad. 1835, new edition, enlarged and revised, 1866) ; Thomas CnALirsRS {Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans, Glasgow, 1837, 4 vols. 12mo.) ; R. Haldane (new ed., Lond. 1842, in 3 vols.) ; Abp. Sumner {A Practical Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans and 1 Corinthians, Lond. 1843) ; W. Walford {CuroB Romance, Lond. 1846) ; W. W. Ewbank {Commentary, etc., Lond. 1850- '51, 2 vols.) ; 8. H. Turner (Episcopalian, The Epistle to the Romans, in Greek and English ; with an analysis and exegetical commentary, New York, 1853) ; Robt. Knight {A Critical Commentary/, etc., Lond. 1854) ; E. Purdue (Dublin, 1855) ; A. A. Livermore (Boston, 1855) ; John Gumming {Salibath Evening Readings on the Romans, Lond. 1857) ; John Brown {Ana- lytical Exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Edinb. 1857) ; James Ford {St. PanVi Epistle to tJte Romans, illustrated from Divines of the Church of England, Lond. 1862) ; John Forbes, LL.D. {Analytical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, tracing the train of thought hy the aid of Parallelism, Edinb. 1868). The work of Forbes is based upon the dis- cover}' that Parallelism is not confined to the poetry of the Bible, but extends also to many portions of its prose. It is not a full commentary, but an illustration of those passages alone which Parallelism seems to place in a new and clearer light, — P. 8.] SAINT PAUL. 53 [SAINT PAUL. Chbist 1 I am Christ's 1 and let the name suffice you ; Aye, for me, too, He greatly hath sufficed ; Lo, with no winning words I would entice you ; Paul has no honor and no friend but Christ. Yes, without cheer of sister or of daughter — Yes, without stay of father or of son, Lone on the land, and homeless on the water, Pass I in patience till the work be done. Yet, not in solitude, if Christ anear me Waketh Him workers for the great employ ; Oh, not in solitude, if souls that hear me Catch from my joyance the surprise of joy. Hearts I have won of sister or of brother, Quick on the earth or hidden in the sod ; Lo, every heart awaiteth me, another Friend in the blameless family of God. Yea, thro' life, death, thro' sorrow and thro' sinning. He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed ; Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning, Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ. i^m a poem hj Fbedebic W. H. Ktbbs, 180S.] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL ROMANS. THE INSCRIPTION, INTRODUCTION, AND FUNDAMENTAL THEME. Chap. I. 1-17. THE APOSTLESHIP OF PATIL, APPOINTED FOPv THE GLORY OF THE NAME OF GOD THROPGH THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, AND FOR THE REVELATION OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD FOB FAITH IN ALL THE WORLD, AMONG THE JEWS AND GENTILES, AND ESPECIALLY ALSO IN ROME. Inscription and Salutation. Chap. L 1-1* TO THE ROMANS.' 1 Paul, a seiTant of Jesus Christ,^ called to be an apostle [a called, chosen apostle, y.hjtog u7i6(jto).o/\, separated [set apart, ucfo:>Qiofitrog'\ unto the gospel of 2 God (Which he had promised afore [which he promised beforehand, nQOEntjy- yii).aTo^ by [through] his prophets in the holy Scriptures ') [«»«/< parenthesis], 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord [om/niere the words : Jesus Christ our Lord, and transfer them to the close of ver. 4], which [who] WaS made [born *] of [from, 4 ix] the seed of David according to the flesh ; And [<>mii And] declared to be [who was installed] " the Son of God with [in] power,*^ according to the Spirit of holiness, by [from, f|] ' the resurrection from [of] the dead ' [ — Jesus Christ our 5 Lord] : By [through] whom we have received [we received] grace and apostle- ship, for [imtO, eig, i. e., for the purpose of, with a view to, in order to bring about] obedicnce tO the faith [of faith] * among all [the] nations, for his name [name's sake] : 6 Among whom are ye also the called [, the chosen ones] of Jesus Christ : '* 7 To all that be in Rome," beloved of God [To all the beloved of God who are in Rome], called to be [chosen] saints : [.] " Gi-ace to you," and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 [npbs 'P(i)/xaiov« . This is the oldest and simplest title of Codd. S. (Sin.) A. B. C, .ind has been adopted by Lnchmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Lange, &c., in the place of the title of the lexlus receptus: HavAov toO airocrToAou f irpbs 'Puj|u.aiou9 etrio-roA^. For other titles, see the apparatus criticus in Tischendorf. — P. S.) * [It was thought best to separate the three distinct sections embraced in chap. i. 1-17, \iz. : I. TTie Address and Salutation, vers. 1-7. II. The Epistolary Introduction, vers. 8-15. III. The Theme of the Epistle, vers. 16, 17. Dr. Lange presents them as one whole, which, with our numerous additions, would make it too long and inconvenient foi reference. — P. S.J 56 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. .» . ■ — — ... 4 ' Ver. 1. — The readinfr 'ItjctoO Xptorou is coiifinned by most authoritiep [Codd. X. A. E. G., and adopted by Lach> mnun, Alford], a^ai tt the roaiiinj:, CUrtsl J-sus (Cod. 15., Tiscbniidorf). ' Ver. 'l.—[iv ypa<^al% ayiaif , literally iii socnd writings (without the arliole), but better, with the R V., in iht Holy Svriplui-s. ypa^ais was sufficiently defineil by ayiait to be Understood bv the readers as refeiTing to the Old Testa- ment. So is nvevixa oytiuaui-Tis, ver. 4, and nvfvfj.a aytov repeatedly without the article. Comp. Winer, Gr. i>f th, N. T., S 1», 2 b. (p. ll;5, OUi id., p. 119, 7th eJ., by Lunemanii). Meyer insists that the omission of the article (roi?) indicates that only those poitioiis or passinics of the Old Testami nt were meant here, wh eh lonlain Messianic prophecies, and he rtfirs in proof to ypai{>wv nporiTiKu>v in chap. xvi. 26 (where, however, uipii provf. .\nd then the hu'iiau recognition of the Messiahship of Christ \va- tbe result of an act of God. I'aul speaks here not of the preexisient, but of the incnnuUe Christ, of the God-Man. Under this view Christ was divinely decreed and olijcrtively./ijrerf, constituted, and inangurntrd as the Son of God in power or mnjcsty (ei* ovvaii.ei is to be connected with viou, not with the verb) at His resurrection, which implied the principle and t;enn of the resurrection of all be- lievers, and bj- which the man .lesus was exalted and made partaker of the divine glory of the Lol'Os in His prei;xistent state. Comp, I'hil. ii. i)-ll ; John xvii. 5. In a similar sense 7roiet;< is used, Acts ii. iiC : " God hath made this Jesus whom \e have crucified. Lord and Christ." Paul had probably in mind the divine decree (pn Sept. np6rti ihiicU, siili. opi'^iu. The translation of the Vulgate : qui pnedrsli nalus est Filius Dei, rests on a fiUse reading or gloss : n-poopio-fleVTos.— P. S.J • Ver. 4. — [e V dwatieL m;iy be connected adverbially with optafleVros (— rov iv Sue. op.), with power, poioerfuHy, tff.ciuitly, kr(ifl(/iich, gewillig (Luther, Olshausen, De AVette, Meyer, Alford, Jlodge), or better adjectivcly with the preceding noun viou Btov, in pmoer (Melanchtlion : " D chiratus est us. J<',lius D. i piiens," Philippi, Hofmann, Lange). In the former Kise, the words refer to the resurrection as an exhibition of the Divine power; iu the latter, tlie.v contrast the majesty and power of the risen Son of God with the weakness of His human nature, the ao-defcia, implied in (rap(. — P. S.] ' Ver. 4. — [Dr. Lange tran.slates ef von-aus, from, out, r,/, as indicating the origin, corresponding to ix e Exig. Nntn.—P. S.] '• Ver. 6.— (The E. V. and Dr. L.inge make a comma after v/icit, and regard itAip-oi 'I. Xp. as being in apposU Won to ii/icif. So also the Kew Testament of the Am. Bible Union, which, however, omits the article before called, and renders: among witirm are ye also, called of Jesus Clirist. But Lachmann, Tischendorf, Do Wette, Meyer, Alford, omit the comma and connect (cAtjtoi as the predicate with «o-t« : ^' Aiwuig whum ye also are called of Jesus C/iritt;" Meyer : " Unler we'clien audi ihr Bei-ufne Jesu Chrisli seid." Alford thinks that the assertion ammig whom arc ye, with a comma alter iintiv. would be liat and unmeaning. This, however, is not the case. See Exeg. IVnles. — P. S.) " Ver. l.—[iv 'Vionji, ver. 7, and rois iv 'Piuftj), ver. 11^, are omitted in Cod. O. Born, and Schol. Cod. 47, but this omiH.sion is too i.solated to Uive any critical weik'ht. Comp. Meyer against Reiche's inference.— P. S. | " Ver. 7. — [According to the usual consti-uction still adhered to by Wordsworth, who inakis a eoniina after ayiotf, the first seven verses form but one sentence, in which cane we would have a double subject, viz., llaiiAof and xapit (cai cipiji^ instead of xapiv kox tipTJvriv (Acyct), anil a repetit on of the persons addressed, viz., roit tv '^uitftjl and if/itV. Hut it is impos-i'de t.iut such a gross grammatical irregularity should occur not only hero, but in all the Pauline Kp stie.s its also in 1 and 2 Peter, Jude, and Apoc. i. 4. The nominative x<^PK and ciptjn), as well as the v/Jilv, cle.irly indicate that the second clause of ver. 7 (which should be divided into two versos) forms a complete sentence by itself and contains the tatutatiiiii proper, while the preceding woids form the inscnjtlion. Hence there should l>o a period before \a.pii. So Knapp-Oocs< hen, Lachmann, Tisihendorf, Theile-Stier, -Vlford, In their editions, as well as most of the niodcm com- mentators. Tholuck is wrong when he says that Fritzsche was the first to suggest this division. Be/.u already did it : " N'lVam hie pi nudum inCipm, adscripln puncln post ayioit." — P. S.] " Ver. 7. — [Grace to yuu, willnmt be, is in accordance with the Greek and the Vulg. (gratia vi>bit tl pax) and preferable. The K. V. is inconsistent, sometimes in-erting 6' and sometimes onuttlng it. The verlnil fonu to bo sui>- plicd after )^dpi.i in this case would not be the aniiUiiciative or mandatory ccrrw, he, but the optative eii), may be ; for the vdpit i/ftlv IS no* an elliptical doxolog}-, nor an authoritative betiedietioii, but a prayer or earnest wish; comp. I Petsf I. -, X'^P^^ v^iv Kai tip^i/r) 7rAi)6i/f6' is also found in several epistles of Ignatius, in the ejiistle of (pseudo-) Barnabas, ani in other ancient Christian docu- ments ; comp. Eusi-bius, B. £. v. 4; iv. 26.— P. S.] the Prince of Peace, had bought by His atoning death and triumphant resurrection (comp. John xiv. 27 ; xvi. 33 ; Matt. x. 12, 13). Combining the Grsco-Roman inscription and th« Hebrew salutation, we would have this form: '•'■Pan* to the Romans. Health and peace be with you." But Paul transforms the Greek /aifju-v and the Hebrew shalom from the prevailing idea of physical health and temporal comfort, into the deep mean- ing of the saving grace and peace of God in Christ, and comprehends in the two words /doiq and d^tt'ivri the richest blessings of the gospel ; ya()i,q being the objective cause of the Christian salvation, and ti(jtjvti its subjective effect in the soul of man. At the same time, there is, no doubt, a reference in this epistolary greeting to the Mosaic, or rather Aaronic benediction. Num. vi. 25, 26 : " The Lord make His grace shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee ( "Sn'^'l , from "jn , gratiosus fuit, hence "(n , ya.{ii,ii), the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (nibci , LXX., f;^?/r?;v)." We find this salutatory grace and peace not only in the Epistles of Paul, but also in those of Peter and of John in the Apocalypse. In the Pastoral Epistles, 1 Tim. i. 2 ; 2 Tim. i. 2, and Titus i. 4 {text, rec), Paul, with reference probably to the Greek version of the Aaronic benediction. Num. vi. 25 {ii.ftjffn, af for ^Sn^n), adds to the prayer for grace and peace that of mercy {'thoi;), which ministers of the gospel need more than any other class of men. This threefold blessing, corresponding to the threefold Aaronic benediction, we find also in 2 John 3.* In the Epistle to the Romans, where Paul, con- trary to his habit, addressed a congregation which he had not founded, or even visited, he amplifies the Grajco-Hebrew inscription and salutation still more, and inserts parenthetically some of the fundamental doctrinal ideas of the Epistle, as suggested by the mention of " the gospel of God," namely : (1.) The connection of the gospel with the Old Testament revelation, ver. 2 ; (2.) the divine-human nature of Christ, who is the subject of that gospel, vers. 3, 4 ; (3.) his call to the apostleship of all the Gentiles by Clirist, which gives him a right to address himself also to the Romans, ver. 5. In the richness of this salutation we see the overflowing fulness of Paul's mind, and the importance he attached to this Epis- tle. Calvin : JEpistola tota sic methodica est, ut ipsum quoque exordium ad rationem artis composi' turn sit. — P. S.] f Ver. 1. — Pavil. — Saul as Paul, i. e., the Small, in opposition and contrast to Bar-Jesus, Eltmas THE Sorcerer of Cyprus, Acts xiii. 8. [Saul and Paul. Paulos is the Hellenistic, Paulus the Latin form for the Hebrew Saul, though di&'ering from it in meaning. It was chosen as the nearest allusive and alliterative equivalent, and as a name already * [In post-apostolic literature, Clement of Rome wishes the Corinthians X"P'S <"" fiprivrj. Polycarp, ad Phil., in- stead of this, has cAeos (col (Lpiijvri (comp. Gal. vi. 16 : eip^vrf fir' aiiTous Kal lAeos). The Marly rium Piilycixrpi, iti its inscription, prays for lAeot, eipiivij (cat ayawr), which corresponds with the formula in Jude 2. In the epistle of the conttregations of Southern Gaul, A. D. 167 (EusebiuB, H. E. V. 1-4). we have eip^rt) koI x^P'S **' 5df a. — V. S.] t [Besides the commentaries, comp. J. B. Bittingcr: The Greelivgs if Paul, in the Am. Presb. and Theol. Me- vieiv lor Jan. and April, 1867 ; and especially J. C. Theo. Otti>: Ueher d ; comp. Acts xiii. 21)— the Apostle used among the Jews, the name Paul among the Gentiles, and in the later part of his life exclusively. The Jews and early Christians often had two names, either similar in sound and identical in meaning, as Silns and Silvanus (tiie former occurring uniformly In tiie Ai'ts thirteen times, tiie latter four times in the Epistles), Lucik and Lucanus* (Col. iv. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 11; Philem. 24); or similar in simnd but different in meaning, as Jesus and Justus (Col. iv. 11), Saul and Paul, H'tUel and Pollio ; or different in sound but identical in meaning, as Cephas (He- brew) and Peter (Greek) ; or different both in sound and meaning, as Jacob and Israd, Simon and Peter, Bartholomew and Nathanael, John and Mark (Acts xii. 12, 25), Simeon and A'ii/er (xiii. 1), Barsubas and Justus (i. 23). It is possible that the Apostle Paul, as a Roman citizen, received this name in early youtli in Tarsus (Lightfoot), or inherited it from some ancestor, who may have adopted it in becom- ing a freedman, or in acquiring the Roman citizen- ship ; Paul being the well-known cor/itotne/i of sev- eral distinguished Roman families, as the ffetis Emilia, p'a/jia, Julia, Serbia, &e. It is more prob- able, however, that he chose the name himself after he entered upon his labors among the Gentiles, as a part of his missionary policy to become a Greek to the Greeks, in order to gain them more readily to Christ (1 Cor. ix. 19-23). At all events, the name Paul is first mentioned during his first great mis- sionary Journey, wiien he, taking henceforth prece- dence of Barnabas in words and in acts, struck Ely- mas the sorcerer with blindness, and converted Ser- gius Paulus, the pro-consul of Cyprus, to the Chris- tian faith (Acts xiii. 8). After this striking fact, he is uniformly called Paul in the latter chapters of the Acts, and in all the Ei)istles. But we have no right, for this reason, to inter (with Jerome, Olshausen, Meyer, Ewald, and others) that the name J\iul was a memorial of the conversion of Sergius Paulus as his first-fruit. For (1.) he may have converted many Jews and Gentiles before that time ; (2.) pupils are called after their teachers and bunef'actors, and not vice vcrsi ; (3.) Luke gives no intimation to that effect, and connects the name Paul, not with that of the proconsul of Cyprus (xiii. 7, 12), but with tiiat of Elymas the sorcerer (ver. 8). The last circun)- stance favors the ingenious hypothesis of Dr. Lange, that the name expresses the symljolical significance of the victory of Paul, the small man of God, over Elymas, the mi.ghtji magician of the devil, as a New Testament counterpart of the victory of David over (loliatii, or of Moses over the sorcerers of Egypt. Dr. Lange, however, admits the prol)ability that Paul had his Roman name before this occasion. At all events, the change of name has nothing whatever to llo with his conversion ; and all allegorical interpre- Uitson.s of Chrysostom, Augustine, Wordsworth, and others, which go on this assumption, are merely pious fancies, which are sufficiently refuted by the fact that the Apostle is repeatedly called Saul long • [Luennu* doo« not occur in tho Orook Tostnmont, but In ocvonil Lati'i MSS. tlio thinl Qoiin-I is insorilwl : Sr'iniflium M'CU'iJum fAtcniium. The (irci-k .\ot>Ka« in, no doulit, a cnntnictifin of tht» L:itin Lhciiiiis, a-t SiAat is of ,sr /r.'iiMjt. Some commoiitiitors, however, identify the names tuc'Jt and Luciu* (Acta xiii. 1 ; llom. xvi. 21.)— 1'. S.] after his conversion, as in Acts ix. 25, 30 ; xii 26 ; xiii. 1, 2, 7, 9 ; and that it is said of Saul in one passage (xiii. 9), that he was " filled with the Holy Ghost."— P. 8.] * A servant of Jesus Christ. — ^'}^^, '^2? • This is not merely the general de.-ignalion of the pious man (Fritzsche : Christi cnltor, Epii. vi. 6), but the designation of his office (Tholuck) ; 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; Phil. i. 1 ; James i. 1. Reiche : The word implies unlimited obedience. Schott : " dovXot; de« notes the Christian, so far as he, in the discharge of a special Christian calling, surrenders himself completely to (iod's will, and excludes his own preference." Here the Christian call in its uni- versal character is meant, just as it appears in the apostleship, after the absolute service of the one great servant of God, Is. liii. Never- theless, there is no tautology in the addition : called to be an apostle. Calvin : Apost'dutus minislerii est species. The same office, related to Christ, makes the fjor/oc, in the absolute sense (comp. Is. liii.); but, related to the world, it makes the anomoi.o^. [A servant, literally bondsman (f)or»- ).€(;, from ()io), to bind), denotes generally, like the corresponding Hebrew n^in^ izy , a relation of de- pendence on God, and cheerful obedience to His will. Paul glories in this service, which is perfect freedom. Tlie more we feel bound by the authority of Christ, the more we are free from the bondage of men. Deo screire vera liUrtas est (Augustine). In a wide sense, the term applies to all believei-s, who are both children and servants of God (Is. Ixv. 13 ; Dan. iii. 26; Rom. vi. 22; xiv. 4; Eph. vi. 6; 1 Cor. vii. 22 ; 1 Peter ii. 16 ; Rev. xix. 2, 5) ; in a special and emphatic sense, it is used of the chosen oHice-bearers in the kingdom of God, as Moses, tiie prophets, and kings in the Old Testament (Deut. xxxiv. 5 ; Josh. i. 1 ; Is. xlix. 5 ; Jer. xxv. 4), and the ministers of the gospel in the New, particularly the apostles (so here ; Phil. i. 1 ; Tit. i. 1 ; Col. iv. 12; James i. 1 ; 2 Pet. i. 1; Rev. i. 1). Ilodge : " Servant is a general official designation, of which, in the present ease, apostle is the specific explanation." Paul " rejects all human authority in matters of faith and duty, and yet professes the most absolute sulijection of cound iis (ravAot, wniinn (seo Homer, Ifi/mn. M'icur., 28, anil Huhiiken in Inc.). (3.) To iniiicaie his clianpe and call to a new life ; fioin a Jew to a Christian ; from a persecutor to a preai'lnr of the gos- pel, (t.) But in the rlinniro much of t'le original namo was left anil ccnnmcmorafcil what he h'll been. The llro of zeal of Sai/Aof still (flowed in tie hmrt of flavAot, hut its liaino was purilieil hy '.he Holy Ghost. ('>.) llis new nume de/mted also his mVs.iii,v or en Xiy i a & ai,, as well as from xaXfZv; it denotes the Divine determimition of the historical career of the man (see Acts xvii. 26). [Meyer refers ct(f- fiarot; /lavfiii to the male line of descent, and refers both genealogies of Matthew and Luke to Joseph ; Melanchthon, on the contrary, identifies ex neminc David with ex virgine Maria ; and Wordsworth infers from tiie words that Mary, as well as Joseph, was of the lineage of David. Comp. Com. on the genealogies in Matt, i. and Luke iii. Alford : " The words tx (T7rt((/<«To; A. cast a hint back at the promise just spoken of. At the same time, in so solemn an enunciation of the dignity of the Son of God, they serve to show that, even according to the human side, His descent had been fixed in the line of him who was Israel's anointed and greatest king." -P. S.] In distinction from this appearance of Christ in human nature, the idea of the exalted Christ is expressed by the words, o (> trr & t ii; r i ii i; f o T iv dwdfin,, established as Son of God in ♦ (Orotius : " Hoe rf/f.rlur ad illud nuod prircrtsit tvay ycAiOf ; rrpliciilur ncmp'', dn qwi agul i(/<' S'rvi" buna nun- Ham." So also Calvin, Bongel, tho E. V., and all who rof?!ird vor. 2 as a parenthesis. The senno in cither cnse is the same. Chrint is tho groat subject of tho gospoL — 1*. 8.] power. The attempt to analyze and divide this one conception (for example, in Luther's German translation) has obscured the passage very much. The Son of God, in distinction from His Old Testa- ment origin, is absolutely destined {i')^i.afiivoi;, Acta X. 42) to be the Son of God in majesty, or in the majestic exercise of his power (see Phil. ii. 6 ff.) The 6^/^ftv of God constitutes the central point of all kindred conceptions — of the 6(>oi>faiai, Acts xviL 26 ; of the 7Tijoo()i^nv, Rom. viii. 29 ; and of tho d(fo(ji!^ftv, Gal. i. 15. It expresses here God's abso- lute determination or establishment concerning Christ as the centre of all the historical developments of the new world, the Head of all things (Matt, xxviii. 18 ; Eph. i. 20 ft'.). The expression refers not to the Son of God as such simply, but to the Son of God as exalted to heavenly majesty. As such, He is o(nffflf/<;, not merely 7tvoo()i,a&tii;, preedes/iuatua (Ambro.se, Augustine,-)- \ uigate, &c., according to the Greek fathers, and the gloss 7i(Joo(Ji,(Tfyivro.i). But as He is the ytvofitvoi; tx aniit naro^ Jai'fii\, his descent from David being the human and historical antecedence for his higher dignity ; so is He 6(iia&f ii; vioi; &iov ii avnardcuD^ * [So Laehmann, Tischcndorf, Alford, who, in thoii editions, omit the parenthesis, and Meyer in Inc. Comp. Winer: Onimmar y. T. p. .'liS, 7th ed. : rirU tilnffere Eintchnllungen tind nicht Parrnihrtm, tnndrrn Digrf*' tiiinrn, tn/rrn sii' riur drn Oidinikrnfnrtschrilt, nicht den Liiuf d>r Vonilruclion au/halln." — P. S.] t [A- prird. sand. c. 25. Augustine had but a stiper* flcinl knowledge of Greek, and was here, as in IlDm. v. 11 and in other passngog, milled l>y tho translation of tho Vul- gpitc, which reads : priecUttinal'ui (s-poopurfi^tTot).— P. S.] CHAPTER I. 1-7. 61 ftuQviv. The i x , according to the analogy of in a7zi(jfiaroc, cannot merely mean since the resurrec- tion, or tlirough (by) the resurrection, but it indicates the origin : out of the resurrection. The ane^/ta Javtixi is the whole genealogy, or " the root of Jesse" (ch. xv. 12), as it became manifest by the birth from the Virgin. Thus, likewise, the resur- rection is not merely the fact of the resurrection of Christ, but with the fiict of the resurrection there are brought to light the strength and root of the resurrection of the dead in tlie world, (Eph. i. 19 flf.). It is in accordance with this that Christ can say : " I am the resurrection and the life." Deep in the heart of the first world — for which Christ is the first-born of every creatxire {7TQon6rnxo<; ndari^ xriaio)i;, Col. i. 15) — there is at work the power, proceeding from the Logos, of a new world (Rom. viii. 23), for which Christ is the firs'-horti from the dead (n^onoroxoi; i/. r<~iv vfx^i'iv, Col. i, 18). And this world of the resurrec- tion, which became manifest in His personal resur- rection, continues now to operate dynamically, and will continue to do so until the flower of the new world appears in the first resurrection of the elect (1 Cor. XV. 23), and the fruit in the last general resurrection. The Apostle therefore means here the power of the resurrection as the cliristological prin- ciple of life in the world, which has become mani- fest by the resurrection of Christ, and acts and works as the historical principle of tlie universal resurrec- tion of the dead. Christ arose from his death and resurrection as the fixed and established, or insti- tuted Son of God in power. (Comp. the Messianic passage, Ps. ii. : " This day have I begotten Thee ; " which denotes the very day of the seditious rebellion against the Messiah as the grand day of his glorifi- cation). The destination which Christ had from the beginning, became inauguration or institution at His resurrection. The ofjiad-tii; therefore, does not merely mean "shown," " declaratively established " (Meyer, according to Chrysostom, dayQivToq) ; * the lit does not mean merely since or after (Theo- doret, Erasmus, and others) ;* and the araa-raffn,- vc/.Qm' does not mean merely avd(TTa(7i,q e-/. vir.qm'. And Philippi, following Melanchthon, and others, * [Comp. my textual note No. *. Chrysostom: Ti ovv i(T- Tiv opKjSsvTOi; ToO Scix^eVTO?, a7ro(^a>'9eVT09, Kpt9eVT05, onoXoyijSei'TOS Trapa Trjj anoLVTiDV yvuiixr)^ Koi t, i. e., the sensuous, susceptible, vital fulness of corporeity, as distinct from and sub- jected to the spirit, or, in a more general sense, the " earthly man," dvO^oTTot; yo'Uofi (1 Cor. xv. 4*7 ; Gen. ii.). Still less has flesh here the second mean- ing, viz., sinful sensuousness and susceptibility, as opposed to the spirit, and without it ; or, in the more general sense, the " natural man," dvO^onoq i/'c/t- >to(,- (John iii. 6 ; 1 Cor. ii. 14). But ad(jl has here its third meaning, and expresses the physical human nature under the influence of the spirit (John i. 13 ; vi. 51), yet in historical relations, or man in his his- torical finiteness, limitation, and qua.lificafion (Gal. iv. 4). For Christ's incarnation, and the growth of His physical nature, evidently involved no opposition to the " Spirit of holiness," but took place under its consecrating influence. [Flesh (o-«4i, therefore, when applied to Christ, must not be un- derstood in an Apollinarian sense, as if Christ nieiely assumed a human body with the animal soul, but not the rational soul, whose place was supplied by the divine Logos. It impUes the entire human constitu- tion, body, soul, and spirit, sin only excepted, which does not originally and necessarily belong to man. It is not the flesh, as opposed to the spirit, that is here intended, but the human, as distinct from the divine. The flesh, as an organized system of life, is the out ward tabernacle and the visible representative of the whole man to our senses. The ad(ji of Christ was the seat of a human ^n'/tj, with its affections, and of a hinnan roTg or nnviia, with its intelligence (comp. Matt, xxvii. 50 ; John xi. 33 ; xix. 30), but not of the diia(>Tla. He was subject to temptation, or temptable (Heb. ii. 18; iv. 15), but neither (7«()xtxde (Rom. vii. 14), nor xi'it/txot; (1 Cor. ii. 14). He np- peared not " in the flesh of sin," but only " in the likeness of the flesh of sin " (Rom. viii. 2). At the same time, the limitation, y.aid ad(jy.a, pl.ainly im- plies the divine nature of Christ. " Were He a mere man," says Hodge, " it had been enough to say that He was of the seed of David ; but as He ia more than man, it was necessary to limit His descent from David to His human nature." — P. S.l Ver. 4. According to the Spirit of holiness, xara nvtv fta. ay ko a vvrj i; . — We accejit, with Bengel, against Thol ick, that the dyttoffuviy if 62 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMAXa certainly distinguished from the ayiori;^ — just as tauciimoiiiit lA I'miu serst iKa\ti>/i<9a tof fiiaOov. The Clemi'ntinc ori;^n of the 8-Cond Kpiatlo to thr (Jurinthiuiu is very duubtiul.— 1'. S.] death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit,' altiiougli tills piis-sage is not exactly parallel. Meyei takes nvtvfia o/toimW'//? to mean the 'iaut a.r!}(ioy' not;, the whole inner life of Christ, which was ele- rated above all purely human spirits, filled with the Spirit of God, sinless and perfect. De Wette: "Tlie Spiritual side of the life of Christ, yet with the attriliute of holiness partly as a quiescent ciuality, partly as an efiieacious power emanating from it." Suljstitute for this : " The Divine side of Chnst'a person wi h the essential characteristic of holiness," &e., and we can adopt this explanation. If fiesh means the whole human nature, it implies a human spirit, hut not tiie nvtvfta ayio)auv^i;y which is es- sentially Divine. — P. S.] Of Jesus Chiist our Lord. — ['///(roe X^ifT ToTi ToP /.rfiini' '/,<"''»', ver. 4, in apposition witii to'/ v'lov &foT', anticiiiated in the E. V. ver. 3J. This expresses the relation of the exalted Son of God to tlie Apostle and tlie Roman Christians as the ground and bond of their union. They together aceipted Jesus as the Christ of God, and served Him as their common Master. [Alford : " Having given this de- scription of the person and dignity of the Son of God, very man and very God, he now identifies this divine person with Jesus Christ, the Lord and ILuster of Christians — the historical object of their faith, and (see words following) the Appointer of himself to the apostolic office." De Wette: "'/»;ff. A'o. bezeichnet den Sohn Gntles als hiflori-ich-kirch- liche Er-icheiiiunf/." So Tholuck, Philippi. Jesiis is the personal, Christ the official name ; the former expresses His true character and mission imd relation to the world, the latter His connection with the Old Testament and the promise of God. Jesus, i. e^ Saviour, was the Hebrew name, announced by the angel before His birth. Matt. i. 25 ; Luke i. 81, and given at His circumcision, Luke ii. 21 ; Christ, the Greek tjquivalent for the Hebrew J/cs.-fa//, /. e., the Anointed, exhibits Him as the fulfiller of all the prophecies and types of the Old Testament, as the divinely promised and anointed Prophet, Priest, and King of Israel, who had for ages been the desire of all nations and the hope of all believers. Lord is here, and often, applied to Christ in the same sense in wliich the Septuagint uses xr(>40<,- for the Hebrew ■^jiix and nin^. See the Lexica. Christ is so. calleci as tlie supreme Lord of the New Dispensation, or the sovereign Head of Christendom, to whom all believera owe allegiance and obedience. — P. S.] Ver. 6. Through wrhom we received. — After stating the common relation of believers to Christ, there follows the account of the special relation of the Apostle to Him. It is plain that neither ver. 5 nor ver. 6 can be parenthetical ; but here is prepared the whole treatment of the Epistle on the relatioa between the call of the Apostle and the call of the churcli at Rome. cVt' or. Christ is the personal means of communicating his call on God's part [or the mediatorial agent in conferring grace from (iod to man, comp. (}al. i. 1 ; 1 Cor. i. 9. — P. S.]. t).d fSontv (rccfivrd) denotes not only the free divine gift, but also the li\iiig religious and moral appropriation by faith. It is plain that the plural here has reference to the call of Paul alone (not to the apostles in general, according to Bengel), from the following signature of his apostlcshij), by which he is the Apostle to the Gentiles.* ♦ f Comp. the note of Meyer in loeo offtiinat Reiohe, and of Aliord ugaliist I'oile, who infers that the subjool of tki^ CHAPTER I. l-T. 63 Qrace [in general] and apostleship [in particu- lar. — P. S.]. Grace, as the operative call to salvation and to the full experience of salvation in justifica- tion, is the preliminary condition for every Christian cilice, and, above all, to the apostleship. The grand unfolding of his apostleship was therefore preceded by an extraordinary degree of grace [in his conver- sion]. The explanation, /ci(ji.v a/Toa-to'/.TjQ, ■ race of opos'les/iip (Heudiadys, so Chrysostom, Beza, PLi- lippi, and others), obliterates the force of that pre- liminary condition ; * but when the (/race is regarded merely as pardoning grace (Augustine, Calviu), the fundamental part is mistaken for the whole. Thus, also, the extraordinary apostolic gifts {/afjid/iara) to which Theodoret, Luther, and others refer /uquv, presuppose grace (/m^hc;) already. Meyer under- stands the expression to mean Divine grace in general ; that is, the translation into the com- mujn'on of the beloved of God. Unto obedience of faith [ft? v7ia.y.oijv Ttiarfioq, zum Glauhensgehorsam, comp. Rom. xvi. 26. — P. S.]. That is, for the purpose of estab- lishing obedience to the faith. The f t? denotes not merely the purpose, but also the operation of the apostleship ; — an instance of Pauhne conciseness. It may be asked here, whether the genitive n iar fox; indicates the object, or must be read as apposition : the faith which consists in obedience [to the Word and Will of Christ. — P. S.].f But this question is limited by the second, whether niatvi; can stand in the objective sense as fides q,vm creditur [^quod ere- dendum est, doctrina Chr.'s'iana. — P. S.] ? Meyer denies this, and asserts that niari.q, in the New Testament, is constantly subjective faith [fides qua creditur, fides credens. — P. S.], though it is often made otDJective, as here, and is regarded a power, or controlling principle. ;}: But this would give us the idea of obedience toward the faithful. The obedience here meant is either identical with faith (the obedience which consists in faith, according to Theophylact, Calvin § ), or it is obedience to faith in its objective form. The latter interpretation is sup- ported by the expressions vna/.oij tov X^ktto?, 2 Cor. X. 5 [vTzaxof] rrjq a/.>j,9-fla(;, 1 Peter i. 22], and particularly Acts vi. 7 [" a great company of priests vntj/.ovov t^ niatfi., became obedient to the faith," comp. Rom. x. 16 : vnij/.oi'aav roi ivay- yfUm.—F. S.]. Comp. 1 Peter i. 2, 14. But this Pofiev must be the same as the preceding riiJi.o>v, overlook- ing the formulary characttr of the phrase 6 kuoios iiixiav. — P. S.] * [Alford : " Keep the xapiv koX anoa-To\riv separate, and strictly consecutive, avoiding all nonsensical figures of Hendiadys, Hj-pallage, and the like. It was the general bestowtil of grace which conditioned and introduced the special bestowal (xai, as so often, coupling a specific portion to a whole) of apostleship; cf. 1 Cor. sv. 10," Augustine: " Gratinm cum omnibus jideHbus, aposlolaluin autem, non cum omnibus commuiiem hnbet." — P. S.] t [Or rather : the, obedience which consists in faith, in the act of believing.— P. S.] t [Meyer, 4th ed. 1865, p. 43 : "irio-Tit fur doctrina FiDEi zu nehmen (Beza, Tolet., Estins, Bengel, Heum., Cramer, Roscnm., Flatt, Fritzsche, Tholuck, u. M.), ist duichous grgpAi di-.n Sprachgebrauch dcs N. T., in veichem dit wiffTts sUts der sxiBJECirvE Glaube ist, ohioohl ofl, wie hier, OBjErTiviET, als Pnle.m gedaclil. Vrgl. xvi. 26; Gal. i. 23. Die irijToi and ey./.r/.roi (a paronomasia in Greek, like the German erwd/iU and auscrwahlt) are clearly dis- tinguished, Matt. XX. 16 and xxii. 14 : no/./.o'i yci(j flfnv zAijToi, o/.iyot. <\e i/.h/.roi, many are callel, hut few chosen; in the last passage they are even put in antithesis. All the members of the visible Church ore x/./jToi, though they may ultimately be lost ; but only the members of the invisible Church, or the true believers, are i/.}.ty.roi, or yJ.ijToi xara n(>6- S fOiv (Rom. viii. 28). Comp. the notes on Matt. XX. ItJ, in vol. i. p. l-')52 and 854 f. — P. S.] Ver. 7. To all that are in Rome. — The ad- dress and the silutation.f The Epistle is addressed to all Christians in Rome. Residence in Rome and connection with the body of Roman Christians are certainly presupposed (see ver. 8). But the Roman Christians are saluted according to the condition of things, as an incipient church not yet fully organ- ized, but destined to become so — an end to which this very E[)istlc was directed. The Apostle ex- presses himself otherwise in the Epistles to the Corinthians, Galatians, and Thessalonians. There he salutes the Christians as a church, or churches, [The Christians residing at Rome, whether born there or not, are viewed as one community, however imperfectly they may have been organized at the time ; but they no doubt woi-shijjped iu ditfurent parts of the city, and were thus divided into various domestic congregations, i/././.tjirlru xar oixor, xvi. 5. The population of the city of Rome at the time of Clu-ist is variously estimated from one to two mill- ions. In his earliest five epistles, Paul addresses himself ttj ixxXijaia, k.t.).. ; in all the others, tok aj'i'otc. — P. S.] Beloved of Ood, called to be saints. — The • [Alford tjiko"! 'Ij| !»i/ Jesuj Christ. But thi- call of liclifvprs Id uiiifnrmlv referred to the Futher. Alfnrd quotes .Iiilm v. 2'i iind 1 *rim. i. 12 ; but these possnges are not to tt.e point.— P. S.] t ('ITii' i-alutation commcnrea with X'M'^fi """l should form n verse hy Itxelf. The i^ — the redeeming love of God in Clirist — and of tto/jvtj — the peace with God by the reilcmption — compared with the ordinary meaning of the Greek /ai^nv and the Hebrew shaloiu, affords a striking example of the transforming power which the genius of Christianity exercised over ancient lan- guage and custom. See the General Remaiks on p. 57.— P. S.] From God our Father. — The expression of the specifically Christian consciousness of God. The experience of pardon through Christ produces the consciousness of the itoOKiici (sonsliip, ado{)- tion) as a result. And [from] the Lord. — [Ki()lov 'J. X(>. is not dependent on Uar(>6i; and parallel with r,iim; but is ruled by «;to and is coordinate with Htov ilciTitrti;. God is nowhere called " o«r rt«rf Christ's Father," and Christ never addresses God " our,'^ but " J/v Father," owing to His peculiar relationship which is rooted in the hnonirrirt, or eiiuality of essence. This fVccpient coiirdination of Christ with the Father, as equally the object of prayer and the source of spiritual blessing, implies the reeog nition of the divinity of Christ. No Heiirew mono- theist could thus associate, without blasplu'my, the eternal Jehovah with a nu're man. So also Pliilij)pi, Hodge, and others. — P. S.] Not of the Lord (Era.s- mus, (Jhkkler). Nevertheless, we would not read, with Meyer : xai itno xi (iloi; and not merely view ('hri.'it as causa niedianx, in distinction from the Father, as the causa firinci/ialix. For the dominion (if the exalted Saviour must be distinguished from the mediatorship of Christ ns causa jmdiaiis. [God the Father is the autln,>r, Christ the mediator and procurer, the Holy Spirit the upplicr or imparler, of CHAPTER I. l-T. 65 grace and peace. The Spirit takes them from Christ and shows them to the believer (comp. John xvi. 14). The hitter may be the reason why the Holy Spirit is not especially mentioned in the epistolary palutations, except 2 Cor. xiii. 13, 14 ; 1 Peter i. 2. —P. S.] DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The Epistle of the Apostle to the Romans on the righteousness of faith is still in a special sense a new message to the Romans, and a witness against Romanists. [It connects admirably with the con- cluding verses of the Acts, chap, xxviii. 30, 31, as a specimen of Paul's preaching in Rome, and to the Romans. — P. S.] 2. The significance of the Epistle to the Ro- mans : (1.) As the first of the Xew Testament Epis- tles ; (2.) in the group of the Pauline Epistles ; (3.) as an original record of the missionary activity of the Apostle, and as an example for evangelical missions ; (4.) as the central point of the Christian doctrine of salvation, and thus as the starting-point of the Western (Latin) Church, and especially of the Protestant Evangelical Church (see the Intro- duction). 3. The epistolary inscription of ancient writers contrastfed with the subscription of recent ones. The former characterizes the Epistle as a substitute for personal intercourse ; the latter has become an independent form of personal communication. Frankness predominates in the former, courtesy in the latter. 4. Servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apos- tle. The extent of one idea is determined by that of the other. — Gospel of God: glorious unity. — Connection of the Old and New Testaments. — The apostles, unlike the Pharisees, acknowledge no tra- ditions in connection with the Old Testament. — Grace and office must not be separated. — Just as lit- tle can we separate the experience of God's love and the beginning of sanctification. — Neither can grace and peace be separated ; nor the paternal authority of God and the authority of Christ. 5. The importance of the inscription of this Epistle. The importance of the salutation. The adaptation of the great Apostle of the Gentiles and of the Christian congregation of the great metropo- lis to each other. See the Exeg. Notes. 6. The antithesis : Christ born of the seed of David, and appointed (he ISon of God in majesty and honor (also over the Roman world), is an eco- nomical antithesis, at the foundation of which lies the ontological antithesis : that Christ is the tem- poral Son of David and the eternal Son of God. 7. The resurrection was historically accomplished and essentially finished in Christ. As the ideal and dynamical productive energy of the Logos, its roots and impulse pervade the whole history of the world and of man, and especially the history of the king- dom of God. The same may be said of the Spirit of holiness. See the Exeg. Notes. The Logos lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John i. 9). 8. Paul, as the ambassador of Jesus Christ, the Son of God in regal power, announces to the believ- ers of the imperial city of Rome that it is his busi- ness to call the world to obedience to the faith and to subjection to Christ. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. An apostolic salutation : 1. From whom does it come ? 2. what is its import ? 3. to whom is it addressed ? (vers. l-?). — The one gospel of God : 1. Promised by His prophets ; 2. fulfilled by Hij Son (vers. 3, 4). — The missionary preaching among the Gentiles was a preaching of obedience to tho faith for the glorifying of the name of Jesus Christ (ver. 5). — Every office is a gift of grace. The ser- vants of Christ must remember this : 1. For their humility ; 2. for their elevation and encouragement (ver. 5). — How can preachers of the gospel guard against bitterness toward the members of their con- gregation ? By considering tliat the congregation are : 1. Beloved by God ; 2. called by Jesus Christ (ver. 7). — Grace and peace : on one side different in manifestation, but, on the other, one in origin. Luther: — The Spirit of God was given after Christ's ascension, since which time He sanctifies Cliristians and glorifies Christ in all the world as the Son of God in power, in word, miracle, and sign (ver. 4). Starke : — The preachers of the gospel must preach both the law and the gospel in their respec- tive order, and especially the gospel (ver. 1). — He who does not become a saint on earth, will not be numbered among the saints in heaven (ver. 7). QoESNEL : — Every thing that comes to light is not therefore new : the oldest errors are continual novel- ties, and the newest truths are ever old. OsiANDRi Bibl. : — Christ, according to His hu- man nature, is our brother. great consolation ! (ver. 8). Cramer : — Worldly peace is a great treasure, but, after all, it is not sufficient for us. When Christ communicates His peace to us (John xiv. 27), it is grace in God ; and then have we peace with God (ver. 7). Bengkl : The Gospel of God is also the Gospel of Christ (ver. 1). — Jesus Christ is the Son of God (vers. 3, 4). This is the ground of all legitimate address of Christ to His Father and God, and of our legitimate address, through Him as our Lord, to His Father and our Father, His God and our God, who hath made us His own. He was Son of God before His humiliation ; but His Sonship was veiled during His earthly life, and not fully unveiled till after His resurrection. On this rests His justifica- tion, 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; 1 John ii. 1, and this is the ground of our justification, Rom. iv. 25. Gerlach: — According to the flesh, the Son of God belonged to the Jews alone. But by the com- pletion of His atonement, through the resurrection. He became the universal King of the human race, Lord of heaven and earth, according to the Spirit which dwelt in Him, and has perfectly pervaded Hia human nature (vers. 3, 4). Heubnee : — Prophets and apostles had one call- ing, one work (ver. 2). — The apostolic benediction — of what fulness of spiritual gifts, of what a holy heart, does it give witness ! It is grand to express such a wish for a church ; it presupposes the per- sonal possession and appreciation of these gifts, but also a serious zeai to apply them to the congregation (ver. 7). Roos : — If the theme of Paul's preaching had been only virtue, and a supreme Being whom we , call God, he-would have pleased the Greeks ; and if "> he had preached on a Messiah yet to come, and on 86 THE EriSTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. tlie works of the law, tlie Jews woiiM liave been contented with him. But he preached on the Son of Ciod. Tluit was tlie voice of lii:- gospel (ver. 4). Bkssek : — Tlie Spirit of holiiu'ss is the very force by which Christ has taken away the power of death, and has destroyed niortjility, through the triumph of His imp'.'rishahle life (ver 4). J. r. Lamjk : — How Christ exhibits His power as Iiord by the Spirit ol' sanclifieation : 1. As the Risen One ; 2. as tlie Son of (lod (vers. 1-4). — The xai/ie : Like man, like salutiition. — The joy with which the Apostle announces the majesty of Christ in imperial Rome : 1. How foolish this joy appeared ; 2. how gloriously it w.us justified ; 3. how it must be fulfilled ouce more. — The internal connection between the power of the resurrection and the Spirit of holiness in Christ. [BiiKKiTT : — Panl declares : 1. The person from whom he received authority to be an apostle, name- ly, Cinist ; 2. how free and undeserved a. favor it was ; 3. the special duty and office of an apostle ; 4. how he puts the Romans in mind of their con- dition by nature before the gospel was revealed to them and received by them ; hence it is the duty of both ministers and people to be mindful of what was their condition by nature. — ir//_v is the Holy Ghost fictwled in the sniutation of ver. 7 ? He is not ex- cluded, though He be not named ; but is necessarily implied in the forementioned gifts. Besides, in other Balutations the Holy (iliost is expressly mentioned ; 1 Cor. xiii. 13, 14. — Hk.nuy: — The Apostle de- scribes : 1. The person who writes the Epistle ; 2. the gospel itself; 3. the persons to whom it is writ- ten ; and 4. pronounces the apostolic benediction. — DoDDRiDOE : — We are called to partake of the privi- leges of God's people ; we belong to the society of those who are eminently bclove/r;//cr to aiivance that friiitfulness." But this anxiety was already expressed in ver. 10, and the fit in ver. Vi is simply /neTo/SoTKcdv. — P. S.] '■' Ver. 8. — Trepi is best suppurted in oppositio.i to vvkp. [The prepositions ircpi and vnip both occur in this connec- tion (1 Cor. i. 4 ; Col. i. 3 ; 1 Thess i. 2 ; 2 Thess. i. 3), though inrep more rarely (Eph. i. 16 ; Phil. i. 4), with sulstan- tially the same meaning; tlie difference is, that trepi, concerning, implies simply that the Eoman Christians are the suhjtcl of thanks ; whUc iiitip, for, in behalf nf, fir the sake of, gives the idi-a of intercession and aid. But jrepi has also the latter meaning. They are often confounded by the MSS., but the best codices (l!<- -A.. B. C. D*. K.) and critical editors (Orriesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford, Wordsworth) are here in favor of Trepi against the iinep of the textus rcceplus. — P. S.] " Ver. 9.— [(is differs from ort and expresses the mode or degree. Comp. Phil. i. 8; 2 Cor. viL 15; 1 Thess. ii. 10; Acts X. 28, and Meyer and Philippi i)i loe.—F. S.] * Ver. 10. — [The translation depends here upon the punctuation, which is left to critical coniecture, the ancient MSS. having no punctuation. I make a comma or semi-colon after noiov/xat, and connect ndvTOTe, k.t.A., with Seo^ei'os. So Meyer, Philippi, Alford (in his notes). Dr. Lange, however, in his version and Exeg. JVotes, follows Ti.schendorf, who makes a comma after irpoa-evf^uv p-ov, like the E. V. In this case wa-vroTe must be taken as an intensification of aSia- Aein-rois = assidue semper, assida ssime ; but this would require a different position of the words, viz., ui afiioAein-Tujt irdi'ToTe, K.T,\. As it is, navTore cttI tCiv npoiTfVf^wv pov Se6p.evoi Is better taken as an explanation of aSioiAeiTrTws p^veiav iipiav noiovp.ai, so as to mark at the same time a progress of the idea, the incessant remembrance of the Komans cul- minating in direct prayer.— P. S.] * Ver. 10. — [ci ttcos tjSij iroTe, ob etwa enrf^'c/i fi'n7na' (Meyer, Olshausen, Lange, &c.) ; Alford: if by any means before long. jrA«;^i' axpi toD Stvpo, area parenthesis, since ivo must depend upon npofOi^Tjv, &c. , It is not iiecfrts;wy on this account to take kol in the adversative sciibo, to which Fritzsche and ilcyer object. &€vpo is only here in the X. T. a particle of time, although often in Phito ami later writers.— P. S.] ■ i» Ver. 15. [Or : And so, Hence. The force of ovtus is : Since I am a debtor to all the Gentiles, &c. — P. S.] •" Ver. 15. — [oOtus to, kclt «V<> npoBvuov (fC. icm). On thi- different interi)rctations of this phrase which do not materially alter the sense, comp. Ex-g. Ti'di-s. As may be inferred from my punctuation, I connect (with tljc li. V., Calvin, Philippi, Wordsworth, Meyer, in his lust edition) to with npodviiov, and take np69vtiov as equivalent to th« substantive vpokvfiia (as to xprjixTov for ^7 xP')<'"''°"l^' "■ * > comP- to ixuipov, to dafiece';, 1 Cor. i. 25), and as the sub- ject of the sentence : This heuxj sn (oi/Tios), Ik' r,- is, mi my pail, or, as fur as I om cmariied (kot" e/i«, quanlum'ad w), a xoiUiiign ss or d'Sire (npoSvpiOi') ; or /, as mitch as in me is, am wilting (Calvin : Jloqw, iju intum in nu est, paratM iitm), Comp. Tijf Ka0' ii/10? iriiTTLV, Eph. i. 15; TMv Kad' i>/iias noiriTiov, Acls xiii. 28; 1 Cor. ill. 3; sv. 32). kot «fie is more expressive than p.ov (after npodvixov) would be ; the Apostle laying stress on his dipendence and subraLssion to a hipher power, as if to say : As fivr as it depends on mo, I am anxious to come and preach to you, but my will is subject to the vriVl of God, who may have decreed otherwise.— P. S.] EXEGETICAL AJNT) CRITICAL. Second Section. — The connecting link in the form of doxologi/, and the transition of the author to his designed argunvnt in the fundamental topic. Tlie praise of the faith of the Roman Christians known all over the world, and the desire and pur- pose of the Apostle to visit them. Ver. 8. First of aU, I thank.— De Wctte: "In all hi.s Epistles, with the exception of Galatians, 1 Tim., and Titus,* the Apostle pursues the natural coui-se of first placing himself, so to speak, in rela- tion with his readers ; and his first point of contact with them is gratitude for their participation in Christianity." [So also Alford in /of]. Comp. also 1 The-ss. i. 2; 2 Thess. i. 3 ; 1 Cor. i. 4. This means more definitely that the Apostle, in his epis- tles, with thanksgiving to God, seizes the point of coimection for his subsequent argument ; and this point of connection \s in general a recognition of what has been already attained, but it takes it« pecu- liar form from the conditon of the difterent church- es. KiiUner calls this, captatio henevolentice. Tho- luck : The Apostle opens his way to the hearts of the church by a declaration of his love. [Words- worth : " As usual, the Apostle begins with a senti- ment by which he expresses his gratitude to God, and conciliates the good will of those to whom he writes."— P. S.] According to Tholuck [De Wette] and Meyer, we would properly ex|)cct an ura di. [or 'inn-Tu ()i] after nuonitv 11 tv, but not in point of fact, since the niii'iTov niai'l equivalent. The absence of the usjial praise and tliankn(?ivinf< in the Epistle to the OalatianB, Is to bo ex- plained by their apostasy from the simplicity of the gospel. —P. 8.) al.«o Calvin, who refers to Heb. xiii. 15, Bengel, Ola- hausen, and Hodge, who justly .says that it is the clear doctrine of the Bible that, in all our approach- es to God in prayer or praise, we must come in the name of Christ as the ground of our accept;ince.^ P. S.] Meyer objects to this view as not justified by Paul's usual method, and explains that he renders thanks for what has come to pass by Christ. [Simi- larly Alford.] But what is meant by giving thanks for every thing in the name of Jesus Christ ? (Eph. V. 20.) Tlie thanksgiving, as well as jjiayer, must be sanctified by the spiritual communion with Christ, and thus come before God ; by this means, all selfish interests, and all human and passionate joy ai the obtained results are excluded. — For you all. The TZf^i and vntQ were often confoimdod or clianged by the copyists ; therefore the Receida has int^ here. Here, as at the beginning of ver. 7, the Apos- tle emphasizes the fact that he has in view all the believers in Rome, and will not appeal to or favor any partisan tendency. — That your faith is spo- ken of. Mention is made of it, and it has become famous among Christians in the whole world (see chap. X. 18 ; xvi. 19). The expression, which has the outward appearance of being hyperbolical, ac- quires its complete significance chiefly in conse- quence of the powerful position of the metropolis of Rome, by the weight which Christianity gained in all the world by the conquest of this central home of the world, and by the Apostle's views of the future of this apostolic station. See the quotations from Grotius and Calvin in Tholuck. [Meyer : " iv oha Ti'i y.oiTKi,) — a popular hyperbole, but admirably suited to the position of the congregation in tlie metropolis of the world, to which the eyes of all were directed." Remember the adage : Orbis in xirbe continetitr. — P. S.l Ver. 9. For God is my ■witness. The for establishes the foregoing. Here, therefore, the thanksgiving through Christ is also explained (Phil, i. 3 ; Col. i. 3 ; 1 Thess. i. 2). The sense of the solemn asseveration is : My declaration is before the face of God. The free asseverations of this charac- ter arise in the Apostle's case from the inner charac- ter of his work and the loftiness of his position. He cannot adduce earthly witnesses of the peculiarity of the facts which he has to assure ; they are of heavenly origin, and he calls on God as their wit- ness : that is, his whole knowledge of God, and his apo.stolic conscience, must be pledged. Piueua : " Ignotus ad ignotos scribens jurat." Against this, Meyer quotes "Phil. i. 18 [and 2 Cor. i. 23.— P. S.] as decisive. The necessities for etich strong cxpres- sions of the fervent man were indeed very difl'erent ; but one 8i)ecies of them is that adduced by Pareus. The general constraint of the Apostle to let his read- ers sometimes look into the sanctity of his inncF life, is secured by the solemn asseveration against all danger of profanation. Meyer adduces as u iiio- CHAPTER I. 8-15. 6S tive " the strange fact that he, the Apostle to the Gentiles, had not yet become active in the church at Rome, although it belonged to his school." [Ben- gel : " A pious asseveration respecting a matter necessary and hidden from men, especially from those who were remote and unknown." AUbrd : " There could be no other witness to liis practice in his secret prayers, but God : and as the assertion of a habit of incessantly praying for the Roman Chris- tians, whom he had never seen, might seem to savor of an exaggerated expression of aftection, he sol- emnly appeals to this only possible testimony. To the Ephesians, Philippians (see, however, Phil. i. 8), Colossians, Thessalonians, he gives tlie same assur- ance, but without the asseveration. The thus call- ing God to witness is no uncommon practice with Paul ; see ref. in E. V." The Apostle's frequent appeal to God (2 Cor. i. 23 ; xi. 31 ; Phil. i. 8 ; 1 Thess. ii. 6, 10 ; Gal. i. 20) is a devout recognition of God's omniscience, aiid hence an act of worship. It disproves the literal interpi-etation of Matt. v. 33 ff., which prohibits perjury, and all useless and thoughtless swearing. Comp. Tholuck, Die Ber - predif/f, p. 263 ff. (3d ed.).— P. S.] Whom I serve in my spirit. The idea of the real service of God, which so powerfully per- vades the Epistle to the Romans, first appears with the '/.arijiviit (see ver. 21 ; cliap. ii. 22 ; iii. 25 ; T. 2 ; xii. 1 ; xv. 16 ; xvi. 25-27 ; comp. Acts vii. 7). As such a ).aT(jtvii)v, he stands before God. But he serves Him in his spirit ; that is, his priest- hood is not merely external, but the living service "of God by a spuitually awakened, vital, and stead- fast consciousness.* Grotius and Reiche have found in the ). spiritual service of God, comp. John iv. 24.— P. S.] ther : in all places) praying with his mind fixed on Rome. The thought is thus defined, if, with Tisch- endorf, we place a comma after n(JO(jfi'/o)v uov. We prefer this view to that of Meyer : Alwai/s asl-- ing in my prayers. [Comp. here my Textual Note * in defence of Meyer's punctuation. — P. S.] There was, during his prayers, an ui(C : riji dvvafitriit i^icii; arijpiiai., and 2 Tliess. il. 17. — P. S.] Ver 12. That is, that I may be comforted together with you, &c. The connection of the two objects serves to explain one as well as the Other. The Apostle wisiies that the Romans be strengthened by him (the choice of the passive is not merely an exjiresslon of modesty, but also of the information that the matter Is not of human choice, but that the blessing must come from the Lord), not only in their faitii in general, but also in their particulir calling as Roman Christians in their central relation to the world. And the result therc- fi-om will be, that the Apostle will be encouraged and aided in his universal apostleship. T/ir addi- tion, that is, &e., is therefore not a sanda adulalio (Erasmus), nor a safeguard against the appearance of presumjition (Meyer),* but the statement of his whole purpose. This purpose is not to seek comfort and consolation anioi»g them, as the d rppre»ontativo8 of all nations and nil shiidcH of culture and innomnce. The Jews xhould not ht mixed in hi-rc ; the Ai)ostle siieaka simply of hi.i imlehu-d- noHs to the whole Ucntile woild without distiuction of ruM and culture.— P. S.] CHAPTER I. 8-15. 71 character in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the other PauHne Epistles. Therefore Meyer's state- ment is unsatisfactory, that Paul would only express his Gentile-apostolic obligation in its universality, and that he dues this in double merisruat c form, as well according to nationality as according to the degree of culture. The sense certainly is, that he is pledged to all Gentiles. In this relation, he is 6q>fi\irt]i; in the sense of indebtedtiesx, which he assumed at his call. See 1 Cor, ix. 10.* Ver. 15. So, as far as lies in me, I am ready. So far as it depends on him, he is not only willing, but determined ; his inclination corresponds to his indebtedness {n(j6&i'fiov = n^oOvfia). TO xar' ifti is variously explained. 1. (Ji'tox:, TO xMT ifti : nQoO-vfiQv {sc, nQo&vftla tan). 2. Oi'Twi; TO (xwT i,ue) 7i(j6&v/[tov. 3. Oiniiti; ro y.ar ifte 7T(j60 i'f(Ov {=^ to Ti^oO'i'/iov fiov). 4. Ovrux;: TO y.ax i/iE 7T(j6<9i'fiov. Be Wette and also Meyer [in the third edition of 1859, but not in the fourth. — P. S.] are for the first : As far as I am concerned, there is readiness. [This explanation connects to with y.aT «,«*) 3nd takes 7Z(j6&t'fiov as the predicate and a substantive = n(jo0iia. — P. S.] Reiche [Calvin, Philippi, Van Hengel, and Meyer, in the fourth edition of 1865, where he gives up his for- mer view. — P. S.] are for the. second : And so am I — as far as lies in me — readi Fritzsche is for the third: Mi/ readiness, or desiie, is. [zar iui in this case is taken as a mere periphrase for (for, but it has an emphasis, and expresses Paul's sense of de- pendence on a higher will. — P. S.] Tholuck is for the fourth : So, for my part, I am ready. [Tholuck, though not very decidedly, follows Beza {Qnulyuicl in me siium est, id promptum est), Grotius, Bengel, and Riickert, and takes to /«t i/ie as the subject of the sentence =t iyo), and n^oSi'/iov as an adjec- tive and as the predicate : I am ready. But Meyer objects that to y-ar Ifii is never used as a peri- phrase for the personal pronoun ; ra, vuirnja for vniTi;, and Tot «/(« for «J'"' "ot being parallel. — P. S.] I think the explanation of Reiche the correct one.f For further particulars, see De Wette, Tho- luck, and Meyer. Theodore Schott explains the oi'Tojq, under such circumstances, and translates thus : Under such circumstances it is my present inclination. But Paul has not at all spoken of cir- cumstances. He asserts that oi'toic, used absolutely, never means itaque, but always " under this con- dition, these circumstances." But as the circum- stances may be attending, so they may be causative ; comp. Rom. v. 12. — To you also ■who are in .Rome. Schott thinks that by these words are meant, not the Christians in Rome, but the Gentile inhabitants of Rome ! The natural conclusion from this view would be, that his Epistle also must have been designed for the Gentiles in Rome. Certainly he had in view from the start, besides the Christians, * [We mention, as an esegetical curiosity, that Dr. "Wordsworth finds in this passage proof of the universal gift of lansruage for preachina; the gospel : " How could St. Paul be said to owe the dfht of the gospel to oil the world, if he had not the means of paying it 1 And how could he pay it, without the coinage of intelliifible words? '' It would be hard for Dr. "Wordsworth to prove that Paul preached in the Chinese, the Sanscrit, the Teutonic, and Celtic lan- guages, to nations who understood no other, and whom he never visited. From Actsxiv. U, 14, it would seem that be did not understand the popular language of Lycaonia. The knowledge of Greek and Hebrew was sufficient for liis apostolic mission within the limitg of the whole Roman empire. — P. S. ] t IComp. my Textual Note " on ver. 15, p. 68.— P. S.] those Gentiles also who were yet to be converted [rorc; h 'F(i')f mission. Bengel and Meyer. — P. S.] DOCTEHTAIi AND ETHICAL. 1. The point of connection (ver. 8). Every Pauline Epistle has its definite point of connection. So, too, has every apostolic sermon of Peter, Paul, and John. And this is as much a vital law for prop- er Christian preaching, as for missions. See the connecting point in Acts xvii. The doxological character of this section. Without gratitude for what is given, there is no real continuance, still less any real progress. Gratitude must also be sanctified by working in Christ. 2. Asseverations, prayers, proofs of the Apos- tle's prayer. See the Exeg. Notes. 3. The difference between the longing of the Apostle for Rome, and the longing of the modern world for Rome. If the Pauline Cliristianity of the Evangelical Ciiurch were not so much paralyzed by the indifference of humanitarianism, by the hatred and ignorance of rationalism, and by the morbid literalism of confessionalism and sectarianism, it would be able to wield the weapons of the Spirit as heroically against niediteval Papal Rome — which is now besieged at so many points — as Paul, the poor tent-maker, combatted pagan, insperial Rome. Still, the gospel of God will triuin])h in the end. 4. The great missionary thought of the Apostle (vers. 11, 12). See the A'je.g'. iV^oto. Ver. 12: The Popes do not write thus to the Romans. 5. The impediments (ver. 13). Although the Apostle knew well that on the absolute height of faith all impediments are only means of advance- ment for believers (Rom. viii. 28), he yet speaks of impediments with a truly human feeling. But each of these impediments marks a point "where he sur- renders to God his desire to pa.ss beyond those sacred limits through which an enthusiast would have vio- lently broken. (5. How Paul subsequently attained ttie object of his wishes, though not according to human purposes, but according to the counsel of God ; first as a pris- oner, and last as a martyr. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. How the Apostle introduces himself to the Church at Rome : 1. As remembering it in prayer (vers. 8-10) ; 2. as desiring its personal acquaint- ance (vers. 11, 12); 3. as previously prevented from visiting it and fulfilling his obligation (vers. 13-15). — The truly Christian manner of introducing one's self to strange people. — Praise without flattery (ver. 8). — Under what circumstances can we call on God to witness? 1. When we are conscious that we serve Him ; 2. when the matter in hand is sacred (ver. 9). — We cannot always do what we would (vers. 11-13). — For what purpose should Christian friends visit each other ? 1. To give ; 2. to receive (vers. 11, 12). — Paul a debtor to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, to the wise and the unwise : 1. In what did his obligation consist ? 2. when did he ac- knowledge it ? 3. how did he desire to discharge it ! 72 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. (vera. It, 15). — The obligation of Christians to the heathen (ver. 14). SxAiiKK : We have greater occasion to thank God for spiritual than for temporal blessings (ver. 8). — We must not always be brief in prayer, but we must continue until the heart becomes warmed (ver. 10). — Com[)k'te sovereignty over auditors does not be- long to any teacher or preacher (ver. 13). — Quks- KKL : Thaukfidness is one of the most excellent, but one of the niost neglected duties. Preachers must supply this deficiency on the part of their flocks (ver. 8). — The oath may be allowed, if God's honor requires it (ver. !)). — Cramer : The presence and living voice of teachers can accomplish more than the mere reailing of their writings. Thei'eforc Chris- tians should not think that they have done enough, when they read God's word in sermons at home ; but, whenever they can, they should hear their in- structors personally, and industriously attend pul)lic worship (ver. 11). — Osiandri Bibl. : We should do no less than our cidling directs ; but we should not include therein any thing that does not belong to it, lest we trespass on the office of another (ver. 15). Lisco, on vers. 9-12 : The fruits of the (apos- tolical) sense of gratitude : (a.) Continual remem- brance of the Roman Christians in prayer ; (6.) prayer that, by the will of God (ver. 10), an open way might be made for his personal acquaintance with the church. Hecd.nkr, on ver. 8 : 1. There is an extended Christian celebrity in the estimation of others ; yet it must not be sought nor circulated designedly, but come of itself; 2. we learn that Christian churches should take knowledge of each other. Metropoli- tivn cities can exert an important influence on the whole country. So with Rome at that tima. — On ver. 9 : Sacred fidelity to one's calling is true ser- vice of God. Lange : The justification of praise : 1. So far as it corresponds to the truth ; 2. is embraced in thanks- giving ; .3. is sanctified as an incitement to greater success. — The estimation of good human conduct is not ignored by the exclusion of the merit of works, but secured against profanation. — Rome formerly a celebrated congregation of believers. — The different phases of Rome in universal history. — Tlie apostoli- cal longing for Rome : 1. An image of the longing of Christ (Luke xii. 49) ; 2. a life.-picture of hunjan destination, — The sanctification of longing. — The proper estimate of impediments in life : 1. We should distinguish between imaginary and real hin- derances ; 2. we should not become discouraged by them, but we should not stubbornly force our way through them ; 8. we should overcome them by prayer ; 4. we should transform them into helps, (The Epistle to the Romans, besides other blessings, arose from the Apostle's hinderances.) [BuKKiTT : From the Apostle's longing to see the Romans, learn : 1. That the establishment in faith and holiness is needed by the holiest and best Christians ; 2. that the presence of the ministers of Christ with their people is necessary for their estab- lishment ; 3. that the Apostle desired to be person- ally present with the Church and saints at Rome for his own benefit as well as for their advantage.^ Henry : Ver. 8. The faith of the Roman Christiana came to be talked of because of the ])rominence of Rome. That city being very conspicuous, every thing done there was talked of. Thus, they who have many eyes upon them need to walk very cir- cumspectly ; for, whether they do good or evil, it will certainly be reported. How is the purity of Rome departed ! The Epistle to the Romans is an argument ar/ainst them. — Scott : The most of us must own with shame that we are not so earnest or particular, even in our narrow circles, as Paul was in respect to his most extensive connections and multiplied engagements. We ought to long for op- portunities of usefulness, as worldly men do for a prosperous trade, or occasions of distinguishing themselves and acquiring celebrity. — Clarke : Ver. 9. Paul presents the spiritual worship of God in opposition to the external. Our religion is not one of ceremonies, but one in which the life and power of the eternal Spirit are acknowledged and experi- enced. — Barnes : 1. One efl'ect of religion is, to produce the desire of the communion of saints ; 2. nothing is better fitted to produce growth in grace than such communion ; 3. the firm faith of young converts is very much calculated to excite the feeling and strengthen the hope of Christian minis- ters ; 4. the Apostle did not disdain to be taught by the humblest Christians. — J. F. H.] m. The Fundamental Theme. Chap, I. 16, 17. 16 17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ' [omit Christ] : for it is the power of God [God's power] unto salvation to every one tliat belie veth ; to the Jew first,^ and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God [God's righteousness] revealed from faith to faith : as it is written, The just [The righteous] shall live by [of] faith (Hab. ii. 4).* 'Ver. Ifi.— The Codd. A. B. C. I)., &c., rend rb tvayyiXiov without the addition of toO Xpto-ToC. [Cod. Pin. likewipe omitH toO Xpurrov, o^ do ni-arly nil the crlticiil editors, Mill, Bonirol, Grioitbflch, r.nehinniin, Tischi'ndorf, Alford, Wordsworth, &c. The words aro fouiid in the ComplutonBian Text aud in Elzevir, and ore defended by Wet- Btoin a'jd Mat-ihuci.— P. 8.] CHAPTER I. 16, IV. 73 « Ver 17 —The wpiarov is left out by Codd. B. and G-. [not A., as Lanpe has it] ; probably because it had an offen- rive ai'pearance. [MSS. X. A. C. D. K. U. have it. Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford, and others retain it. Lachmann put* it in brackets.— P. b.] 3 Ver. 17.— [This is a free tranflation of the Hebrew (Hah. ii. 4): Tl'^^n'] ir3!lOX3 p'^'^^V lit-, the righteoui shall live in (by) his faithfulness. The Masoretic accentuation, however, connects the first two words ; The righteous ir his faith, shall live. The Hebrew H^I'OX and the Christian ttiVtis both rest on the fundamental idea of trust iu God- Paul follows in his rendering tho Septuauint, but pmperly omits the ;u.ou which these insert : 6 SUaio^ ij-ov e/c fficrretoi C^a-eTdt. YnlcMe ■ Justus in Jidc stia vivet. Most commentators connect ex Trio-Teco? with the verb ^ijo-erat. But Dr. iiaiigc, with Beza and Meyer, connects e/c wia-reiai with 6 Si/caios, and translates : He tljikt is righteous by taith, shall live. See the Exia reaches from the depths of hell to heaven. When man is truly delivered, he is always delivered from the depths of hell, and raised to the heights of heaven ; because he is saved from the condemnation of his conscience, and from the judgment of wrath, and is made a participant of salvation through the right- eousness of faith which leads to righteousness of life. The expression, blessedness, denotes the high- est effijct and the highest aim of the (Tiia. — P. S.] t [/. c, here rei per iustiumentum cjficffe pro inslru- meniii, as if we say, the knife cuts, while it is the hand of man that cuts with the knife. So it is the Holy Spirit that operates through the gospel as the instrumentality.— P. S.] t [ivvanii Oeov is not to be resolved into div'n,: power (.Jowett), but the gospel is a power in and through which God Himself works efficaciously, i. <■■, so ns to save the sin- ner by rousing him to repentance, faith,, and obedience, fleov is qi'v. autoris or rather passessivus. Comp. 1 Cor. i. 18. Alford explains : " The bare substantive &vvatm here (and 1 Cor. i. 24) carries a superlative sense : the highest and holiest vehicle of the divine power, the Swatm /car' efox^t'." Umbreit remarks that the law is never called God's power, but a light or teaching, in which man must walk.— P. S.] § [Or rather: iveri/ one, implies the universulily ; thai biiieiKlh, the subjective cfnitjitinn, of the gospel salvation ; fiiith being the apprehending and appropriating organ. Paul says not : to every one who is circumcised, or bttpfized, or r:biys the law, but, to every one that hellewlh. Without faith, sacrnments and good works avail nothing. But true saving faith is of course a living faith, including knowl- edge of the truth, assent to the truth, and trust or con- fidence in Christ ; it submits to all the ordinances of Christ, and necessarily produces good works. — P. S.] 74 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. "19 it cannot be said, on the one bund, that faith com- pletes objective sidvation, so we cannot say, on the otiier, that it is a compulsory operation of salva- tion. It is the condition of the ellicacy of salva- tion (John iii. 16, ic. ; see Gen. xv.), the causa ap- pre/itndenn. To the Jew first. Tliis priority is economical, as it rests upon the Old Testament revelation of God, and the laitli of Abraham (cliap. iv. 9) ; and as such it is: 1. The (jenetic priority. "Salvation is of the Jews" [John iv. 22]. 2. Tlie historical pri- ority (Chrysostom, and others). 3. A legal priority (as to Ibrm) of the nearest claim to the gospel in accordance with the direction given to the apos- tles. Acts i. 8 (Calov, De Wette, Tholuclv). But not- withstanding all this, the Jew had no real right to the gospel, since salvation, 1. is not a product of Judaism, but of free grace ; 2. faith is older than Judaism (chap, iv.) ; 3. faith itself is the reality and substance of which Judaism was only the symbol.* And also to the Greek. Tlie E/J.^v is here the representative of all who are not Jews. [Jew and Grc'k here refer not to the national distinction, as Greek and Barbarian, ver. 14, but to the re- liffi&us antagonism of the world at the time, so that Greik is equivalent to Gentile. " E)J.. x. Bc'tijli. is the Greek,' Joi'd. x. "E/J.. the Jewish, designation of all maukuid ; comp. Acts xiv. 1 ; 1 Cor. x. 32. — P. S.] Ver. 17. For therein is the righteousness of God. Proof of the previous proposition. The dvvaiui; Ofou *t(,' friiiTtj(jiai' is a Tzoxd/.vxpn; of the ()i,xaioavvti &fo7t, &c. [Pkei.imi.nary Philological Rkmarks on Ji- xai.o(Ti'vtj AND THK CoGNATK Tkrms. — Thesc are of primary importance in Paul's Epistles, especially the Romans and Galatians. Their root, according to Aristotle {Eth. Nic. v. 2), is i)iya = twofold; hence dtxci-fn', to divide into two equal parts, to judge ; ta(TT>,',-, judge, dispenser of justice. Others derive them from ()ixt] (the daughter of Zeus and Themis), custom, right, judgment. At all events, the funda- mental idea of dixtuonin'tj is an even relation be- tween two or more parts where each has its due, or conformity to law and custom, a normal moral condition. According to Homer, he is liixaioraroi; who best fulfils his duties to God anil men. Plato develops the idea of righteousness in his Poll'eia, and identifies it with moral goodness. In the Bible, the will of God, as expres.sed in the written law, and more fully in the perfect life of Christ, is the stand- ard both of morals and religion, which are always viewed as essentially connected. God Himself is righteous — i. e., absolutely perleet in Himself, and in all His dealings with His creatures, aivl rccpiires man to aim at this perfection (Matt. v. 48). Accord- ingly, we may define the several terms (referring to the dictionaries and concordances for passages) as follows : Aixavot;, P"'^^, conform to the law, inwardly as well as outwardly, holy, perfect. It is used in the aboolute ^ense of God, in a relative sense of man, also of things. Du Caiige : "^/txato? duitur vel de re vel de persona, in qua nee abundat aliqidd nee • ; Alford : " Not that the Jew had any prr/erfncf under tkc pospel ; only he inhirilt and ha^ a pnad' nee." Words- worth : " First, in having u prior chiiin, as the covennnled people of God : first, thuroforo, in the Bi-uson of lis oUor, but not in the condition of its rccipiouti* it/Irr itn a<;C'ei)t- nnoe." Dr. Ilodito refers wputrov merely to rtio priority In time, which ia not aulUcieut.— X'. S.l deficit, qua muneri suo par est, numeris suia aht^ lutay dixatoaiivij, niT'iS, juslUia, the normal, moral and religious condition. If used of man, it means conformity to the holy will and luw of (jod, godliness, or true piety toward God, and virtue toward man. If used of God, it is one of Hid moral attributes, essentially identical with His holi- ness and goodness, as manifested in His dealing* with His creatures, especially with men. dixaioii) (Aoyt'l'ftv n'v dixui.odi'Vfjv), p'^^SHj justificare, to put right with the law, i. e., to declare or pronounce one righteous, and to treat him accord- ingly. Etymologically, the word oug t Id mean, to make just (since the verbs in oio, derived I'rom ad- jectives of the second declension, signify, to make a person or thing what the priiuitive denotes, as rvip).oti}, dor).6iii, oo f)^6o), qart()Oii), n/.noM = rvq>).6v, &c., noi^tlr). But in Hebrew and Hellenis- tic, and often also in classical usage, it has a forensic sense, to which, however, when used of God, the ob- jective state of things, either preceding or succeed- ing, must correspond, for God's judgment can never err, and His declaration is always ett'ective. More of thi.s, ad ii. 13 and iii. 21-31. Now for the par- ticular explanation of Otxaiocri'u'^ &tov in our pas- sage. dix cc/m at^' (/.oyKT/uusnc8s, ' the righteousness of God,' but righteousness fUiwing frnm nnd ncci plitbU I" Him." Ha then suljjoias be Wette's note. Hodge : " The right/ts' (ver. 18), although the wrath is revealed in external manifestation ; for it is only by the conscience, that the facts connected therewith are first recognized as the phenomena of wrath, and it is only in the light of the New Tes- tament truth that they are recognized completely. tv nl'To). The gospel is the medium. From faith to faith. [It is connected with the verb uno xa/.i'i ttt irai, by De Wette, Meyer, Tholuck (ed. 5), Alford ; with the noun i)ixaio(Tiivtj (sc. oiaa or ytvo/dvtj) by Bengel, Philippi, Hodge, Forbes. The former agrees better with the position of the words, and with fit; nitTTiv, the latter with I/. 7Ti(TTnr(.'nre licfon- .;«.»- torn tmberi ." To this T)r. Lii-hncr, ami Wirsolcr, on Gal. ii. 16, p. 179, justly o'ljoot. Lipsius adinifH, howpvcr, that Stxeu iji I'aul mt'nu^juslum liab'i-'; only not always, nor excluaivxly. — I*. S.] t jSo also Chrj'gostom and Thcodorot. A niodiflcalion of thiH view is Tortullian's : Exfidi Ugit in Ad -^ evanaelii. -P. 8.J .^— V J nd\'ra(i rovi; niaTtvovrcti;. — P. S.]. Theophylaet^ and others: For the promotion of faith. Luther; From weak to strong faitli.* Baumgarten-Crusius : From faith as conviction to faitli as sentiment. De Wette : 1. Faith as conditional ; 2. faith as recep- tive. For other meanings, see Tholuck (also the view of Zwingli, that the second niiTTn; means the faithfulness of God). [Meyer : The revelation of righteousness proceeds from faith and aims at faith, nt fides habeainr (similarly Fritzsche, Tholuck). Bengel and Hodge connect t/. niaxHo.; tU nianv with ()i,xaio(Trvtj, and take it as intensive, like the phrase, " death unto death," " life unto life," so as to mean fidcm vieram, entirely of faith, without any works. Ewald understands ix nidTtnn; of Divine faith (?), fi'i,- niari,v of human faith, which nnist meet the former. — P. S.] It may be asked, if the key to the passage may not be sought in clrap. iii. 22, since the second half of that chapter is in gen- eral a connnentary on this passa-re. Comp. Heb. xiL 2 : " The author and finLsher of our faith." At all events, the Apostle acknowledges, like the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the difference between a degree of faith which receives the revelation pro- phetically and apostolically, in order to proclaim it, and a niore general degree of faith, which, through the agency of preaching, extends into the world. Comp. Ilel). xi. 1 ff. As it is written. The same quotation from Hab. ii. 4 is found in Gal. iii. 1 1 and Heb. x. 38. The Apos- tie will here (as in ver. 2 and chaps, iv. and x.) prove the harmony of the gospel with the Old Testament. The passage in the Prophet Habakkuk declares: The just shall live by his confidence, his faith (Is. xxviii. 16). Therefore the most of the elder expositors, and some of the recent ones (Philippi, and others), thus explained the maxim of the Apostle : The just shall live by his faith. But according to Beza, Meyer [Hodge], and others, the Apostle's expression must be construed thus : The man who is justified by faith, shall live. Meyer pr6pcrly says : Paul had a good rea.son to put this meaning into the prophetic expression : since the just man, if he would live by faith, must have been justified by faith. We read in Habakkuk two concrete definitions : " Behold, puffed up [ nbos' T^lp ], not upright is his soul [his life] within him [13 ViE? n^r^-XP]. But the just man, he shall live by his faith." That is, as the puffed-up soul is puffed up because it is not upright, and has no sound life, so is it the mark of the just man that he acquires his life by faith. The additional profundity which the New Testament gives to this Old Testament expression, does there- fore not really change even the expression, much less the sense. [I prefer the connection of ix niuTH'ti; with L.ii pel. Spener : Faith in Christ, confidence in the grace of God in Christ, is the beginning of our salvation, and will remain its instrument to the end. There- fore, faith must always endure and increase, and will thus grow from faith to faith — from one degree of light and power to another. Bengel : No one need be ashamed of what ia mighty and Divine (ver. 16). Gerlach : There is something in the gospel of i which the natural man is ashamed ; therefore the Apostle confesses that this shame is conquered in his own case. — The effective power of God is not merely in the gospel, but it is the gospel itself. It is not merely a strength, from God, but it is His own strength. He works in and through the gospel. Lisco : The gospel is a power of God ; that is, a power in which He operates Himself. Therefore L^ it is a holy, mighty, creative force, capable of saving all who believe it. On our part, faith is the con- dition that we must fulfil, the way to which we must conform, in order to obtain real salvation and de- liverance from temporal and eternal destruction by the gospel, Heubner : The danger of being ashamed of the gospel is easily incurred. Yet it is a shame which is very repreliensible ; for, 1. It is a miserable .: weakness and want of principle to be ashamed of what is best ; 2. It is the grossest contempt of God to place the world higher and fear it more than Him ; and, 3. it is the meanest ingratitude toward God. Fr. a. Wolff : The more the world boasts of its unbelief, the less should true Christians be ashamed of their faith. This is required : 1. For the honor ^ of the truth ; 2. the conversion of unbelievers ; 3. the salvation of our own souls. J. P. Lange : How sad the contrast between the 78 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. felse shame of Christians and the boldness and shame, lessness of the world. — Who should be ashamed of the gospel ? /. <'., 1. Of God's power and honor ; 2. of the deliverance of men for their final salvation ; 8. of the grand task of uniting Jews and Greeks (the law and culture) into a higher life. — The twofold confirmatory power of the gospel : 1. The first for : its Divine operation (ver. 16); 2. the second for: its Divine import (ver. 17). — The tlireefold for (vers. Ui, 17), or tlie three grounds of joyous, evan- gelizing activity. — The righteousness of faith: 1. Very old (llabakkuk) ; 2. eternally new (Paul, Lu- ther) ; 3. always confirmed by true life. [BuKKiTT : Tlie power of the gospel is not from the preachers of the gospel ; tiierefore do not idol- ize them. But they are God's instruments, and their words are the organ of the Spirit's power ; ther^'fore do not tliink meatdy of them — A justified man lives a more holy, useful, and excellent life than all oth- ers ; but the life that a justified man lives is always one of faith. — Henry (condensed) : The reason wliy the Apostle made such a bold profession was, that sinners might be saved and believers edified. — Mac. knight: The Apostle insinuates with great propriety that the gospel is not an institution like the heathen mysteries, which were concealed Irom all but tha initiated. The precepts of the gospel, being honor- able in themselves and beneficial to society, cannof be too openly published. — Hodok : The salvation of men, including the pardon of their sins and the moral renovation of tlieir hearts, can be effected by tlie gospel alone. — The power of the gospel does not lie in its pure theism, or perfect moral code, but in the cuoss — in tlie doctrine of justification by faith in a crucified Redeemer. — Whether we be wise or unwise, orthodox or iieterodox, unless we are believ- ers, and receive " the righteousness which is of God " as the ground of acceptance, we have no share in the salvation of the gospel. — Sermons on ver. 16, by B. WiiiciicoTK, John Owkn, Bishop Ward, G. EsTY, J. EasKiSK, Bishop Gilbert, Isaac Watts, Bishop Stillingflekt, Zollikofer, E. Bracken- BLRY, Geo. Burder, W E. CnASxiNG, R. McChetke, and Thomas Arnold. — J. F. H.] PART FIRST. The Doctrine of Justification by Faith as the Restoration of the true Glorification of God. CHAPTERS L-XL FIRST DIVISION". SIX AND GRACE IN THEIR FIRST ANTITHESIS, THE REALLY RELIGIOUS AND MORAL LIKE. THE ACTUAL ENTRANCE OF CORRUPTION AND SALVATION. GOD'S WRATH AT ALL HUMAN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; THAT IS, THE WORLD'S REAL CORRUPTION MATURING FOR DEATH, AND HASTENED BY THE JUDGMENT OF GOD; AND THE OPPOSING JUSTH-'ICATION OF SINNERS THROUGH THE MERCY-SEAT, OR PARDON IN CHRIST m RESPONSE TO FAITH. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. Chapters L 18-V. 11. First Section. — The bfiriinvivrf of all the real corr\ipt'wn of the world, and of the Gentiles in particular^ torjethrr with the judf/ment pronowiced on it. The verilect of the general revelation of Ood in crea- tion 1)1/ the neglect of the real worBhiji of Ood in thanksgiving and praise (chap. i. 18-21). Second Skction. — The development of Gentile corntption under God^s judicial abandonment (the de- parture of His Hpirit, and the decree of ripeness for judgment). From arhitrarg sipubolism to the worship of images ami beasts ; from theoretical /> practical corruption ; from natural to unnatural and abominable sins, to the comjiletinn of all kinds of crimes ana iniquities^ and to the demoniacal hist of evil, and even of evil maxims (chap. i. 22-32). 18 For the wrath of God [God's wrath] is revealed [in opposition to that roTointion of God's ripht* i>toT;/s"] ; so that ° they are without excuse 21 [inexcusable, uruTzoloy/izov^J. Because that, when they knew God [because, knowing God, or, although they kneAV God, dioti yvovTtg tov d^tov], they glorified hbn not as God, neither were thankful [they did not glority Jnni as God, nor give thanks to him as God^ ; but became vain in their imaginations [thoughts], and their foolish heart was darkened. 22, 23 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed [ex- changed] the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to cor- ri;ptible man [for a likeness of an image of corruptible man], and to [of] birds, and fourfooted beasts [quadrupeds], and creeping things [reptiles]. 24 Wtierefore God also " gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts [God delivered them over, in the lusts of their hearts, to micleanness], to dishonor their own bodies between themselves [so that their 25 bodies were dishonored among them]." Who changed [They who exchanged] '' the truth of God into [for] a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more 26 [leather] than the Creator,'' who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up [delivered tliem over] unto [to] vile affections [shameful passions] : '^ for even their women did change [exchanged] the natural use into 27 [foi-] that which is against nature : And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in theii* lust [lustful excitement] one toward another ; men with men working that which is unseemly [working the (well known) indeccucy, t^v aloiri[ioavviiv\, and receiving in themselves that recom- pense of their error which was meet [the due reward of their error]. 28 And even as they did not like [And as they did not deem it worthy, or worth while, ova idoxififiGuvl to retain God in theii' knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate [worthless, ddoxifiovl '^ mind, to do those things which are not con- 29 venient [becoming] ; " Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication," wick- edness [malice], covetousness, maliciousness [badness] ; full of envy, murder, 30 debate [strife, eQidog], deceit, malignity ; whisperers. Backbiters [slanderers], haters of God,'* despiteful [insolent], proud, boasters, inventors of evil things 31 [villanies], disobedient to parents. Without understanding, covenant-breakers 32 [truce-breakers], without natural affection, implacable," unmerciful : Who, know- ing [although they well know] the judgment [just decree] of God, that they which [who] commit [practice, TZQaooovTsgl such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them [approve of those who practise them^ ovvtv8oy.ovaiv loTg nQ(ca6ovoiv\. TEXTUAL. 1 Ver. 18. — [Or hinder. So Lange and Meyer : aufhnlten. This is the meaning of fcaT^x*"" here, as in 2 Thess. ii. 6, 7 ; Luke iv. 42. Comp. the Exeg. Nnteg, as also the note of Alford in Inc. — V. S.] * Ver. 19. — [SioTi, contracted from Si 0, ti, means (like 610^ originally, propter quod, quam oh rem, qua re, on account of which, wherefore, and draws an inference from the preceding sentence ; but in the N. T. it is alwiiys, and in the classics occasionally, used in the sense of fiid toCto oti. proplerea quod, quia, becuuse that, because, and assigns n riason for a preceding assertion, like yap, for. ll m:iy here give the reason why the wrath of God is revealed (Meyer), or it may expl:iin the words Toii' Tjji' oA. . . . icareijfdcTwv (De Wette, Tholuck, A'ford). i^ee Exig. Notes. Lachmann, Xischen- dorf, Meyer, Alford separate 6toTi from ver. IS simply by a comma ; Xholuck, Fritzsche, Thcile, Philippi, by a period. — P. S.] ' Ver. 19. — [r}) yvoxTTOf toS 0eov, quod notum est Dei (Vulg.). This is the sense of yvunnoi; in the N. T., the Sept., and the Apocrypha (Luke ii. 44 ; John xviii. 1 5, 16 ; Acts 1 19 ; ii. 14 ; iv. IG, iSrc), as ayi/coo-ros means unknown (Acts xvii. 23) ; while, in the classics, yvoia-ro': usually sit'iiifies knownble, erkeniibar, as distinct from ■yviuTos, Imotm (which word docs not occur in the Greek Testament). The authoxized version, therefore, is inconsistent with the liiblical (though not with the clas-ical) usage of the term, and conveys a false idea ; for the heathen did not know all tlnit may lie known of God, bxit, as clearly appears from what follows, they knew only that which ;n:iy be learned from the genLial revelation in the book of nature and reason, as distinct frnm the special revelation in the Bible and in the person of Christ. To re- tain the E. v., and to supply (with KoVdnsnn, sub vvuxtto?), without revelation, is arbitiary. Lange translates Kenntniss, knowledge ; but yvuiTTOv is objective, yvoia-ii is subjective, and does not suit (f>av€p6v icrriv iv ovrots. There is no war- rant in the usrts hiquendi for identifying the two, unless it be Gen. ii. 9, LXX. : yvcoo-Toi' koAoC koX novripov. The Apostle purposely avoided the term yvSxrit or eniyvuxrn toO 6eov, which is used in the N. T. of the true knowledge of God in Christ (comp. John xvii. :i), and chose the more general and objective term yvua-Tov, that which is patent to all men in the works of creation. — P. S.] * Ver. 19. — [<^ai'epd>' ia-rtv iv avTois, in illis (Vulg.), i.e., iv raU KopSiait avTutv, in their hearts ; comp, ii> 60 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. IS • Onl. i. 16. It refers to the inborn oonsciousnefB of God which is Inseparable from our reason, and it contains the ffem of the o'ntol')^^*!! armnncnt of AiiKflni. Dr. Lunge, however, renders, with Krasmns and others: uuUr ilmen, among them. See £xeg. N"les. Luther's version (ilmei,) ignore- the rreposition iv.—V. ».] * Ver. \i).—[e4>avipu>ihes the simple verb = dicpi^ws bpav, jptrvidtre, pKispiorvy tu «.<; clearly,— •:0.— r eTu>vU irofcrable to avrutv, and iv avroi<: to ei* eauTois, which may have arisen from imagining that "they," instead of to (rw/j^oLTa, was the subject to iTtfta^. -The genitive, roO iTt/uaf , may be taken simply as g. n. appositionis, explaining aKaOapaia, which consisted in their bodies being dishonored ; or as implying the purpose of God : in order Uial ( = «is to) ; or as denoting the consequence : so that. I prefer the last.— P. t;.] la Ver. 25. [o'tTt»'«? is used oiTtoAoyutus, quippe qui, seeing that thfy,. such as, indicating the class to which one belongs," and implying the reason of tlae preceding statement. neTri\\a(av, umtauschh n ; the compound is stronger than i^AAofaf, InuschUn ; ver. 22.— P. S.] ,,.,„.„., '=< Ver. 2.5.— [TTapo 70V KfiaavTa, hiijoiid, rather than, so as eventually to exclude the Creator altogether; comp. irop' iK€ivov, Luke xviii. 14, and napi. v?« = eroaTuy^t, tiie opposite of fleoi^tA^s. Usage is undoubted y in favor of the pas-ive ; but the connection, and the Scripture idea of God, are in favor of the active sense. The Apostle here describes the sins of the heathen, and not their/ju/iiiViHie/i/ ,• and God hates «(■«, but loves the smn'c. See the £x'flr. iVoi'S.— P. S.] . . , ^ , , ^ .r^ , , '» Ver. ai.— dffjrdf Jovs [in the I'xl. rec. after do-Topyovs] is not sufficiently sustained by Codd. C. T>., at. and sounds rather weak between these strong terms. [Omitted by N . A. B. D*. G., and cancelled by Mill, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer. Alford regards it as a gloss in margin to explain aavvOirovt ; Meyer as an insoitiou from the simi- lar catalogue, 2 Tim. iii. 3.— P. S.] Gkneral Rkmauks. — The whole section, in its progress to the entl of the chapter, relates more par- ticularly to tiie heathen world (Tholuck, Meyer). Yet it (lcscril)es the corruption iti its original lonn as a general corruption of humanity. The antithe- sis : Ilcathendom and Judaism was a subsequent development. Ver. 21, with its causality in vers. 22 and 23, constitutes the more defitiite beginning of iieatlieni.sm. Tlioluck recommends the treatise of Adam, Ezercitationca £xe(/ctic(C, 1712, pp. 501- 738, on tlie section vers. 18-32. Tlioluck remarks: "Wiiat the Apostle says of the relations of the Gen- tile world, and afterwards of the Jews, to God, natu- rally ii|ii>lics to their univcr.sality, but to individu- als oidy in a greater or less degree." We add : So that a 1 dative opi)Osition is embraced within the general j idgmeut (see chap. ii. C ff.). EXEGETICAL AND CEIXICAL. First Section, vers. 18-21. Ver. 18. For God's wrath is reveaJed. Tho (x/roxrtAi'i/'K,- of the o^iyij &to~', as the revelation which was liistorically earlier, is contrasted witii the revelation of tlie rigiiteousness of God from faith. It is therewith intimated that that righteousness denotea grace, or justifying righteousness ; but that the OQyn &tov is an exercise of penal righteousness which pre- cedes it.* The icraih of God, as an emotion of God, • [The wrnth of God is an nnthropopathic but most trufhuil expression of the punitive justice ainl holiness of God over-agalnst sin, and iierfectlj' bannonizes with Hts love, which is holy, and repels tho evil with the same enev> CHAPTER I. 18-32. 81 18 His personal displeasure at sin as aaipua, as conscious transgression, as" apostasy, as unbelief, and therefore as the limitation of His personal revelation in the world. It is a displeasure which is revealed by such decrees of penal justice as death and the terrors of death, especially in retriVjution for ob- structions placed in the way of the divine life (Exod. iv. 14, 24 ; Ps. xc. 7, 8), by a decree of blindness in retribution for the hinderances to His truth (the present passages ; Is. vi. 10 ; Rom. ix. ; 2 Cor. iii. 14 ; Malt. xiii. 14 ; John xii. 40 ; Acts xxviii. 26), by the abandonment to the lusts of the flesh in retribution for the general resistance to His Spirit (Eph. ii. 3), and finally, by a decree of reprobation and condemnation in retribution for the hinderances to salvation by apostasy and unbelief (Matt. iii. 7 ; xxii. 13 ; John iii. 36 ; Rom. v. 9). Comp, my arti- cle, Zorn Gottes, in Herzog's Realencyklopcedie. This h^yrj &fov has its anoy.d/.ru'ti; immediately, so far as it is declared to the conscience of man as God's decree from heaven ; but it becomes especially an aTToxa/.i'i/'n; by the witness of the law, and is per- fected in the light of the gospel. It is revealed in a real manner from heaven, as a message from the height of the holy, supernatural world, and from the throne of Divine government. And it is revealed in an ideal way by the light of righteousness, which, like a flame of wrath from the kingdom of the Spirit, shines down into the realm of consciously guilty human life, and explains its dark fate. The older writers understood by o^y/;, punishment alone, tak- ing metonymically the operation for the cause [»«ero- nymia caiisce pro effectu =. y.6).aai<;, Ti-uM(jia\. But we must unite both. The opposite of oQytj is not merely uyaTrrj (Tholuck), but t/.toi; (see my Positive Dogmaiik, p. 109). According to De AYette [and Alford], wrath is only an anthropopathic conception of the righteousness of God in punishment; but by this interpretation its procession an ovitavov is ob- literated. The internal aTrozaAii/'n,- of wrath in- Tolves its external qavfQoian;, but it is one-sided to confine it to the punishment which God has deter- mined for the heathen world (De Wette), or the wretched condition of the world at that time (KiJll- ner), or to the manifestation of the punishment in the conscience (Tholuck), or in the gospel (Grotius). From the beginning, the deeds of wrath have ever succeeded the d(Tifi!-i,a in its opposition to God's government and revelation. But the complete dno- xa/.i'i/'tt; thereof does not appear before the New Testament a;roz«/.i'V'tc of grace. The reason of this is, that the world's guilt reaches its climax in the crucifixion and death of Christ. The dalfifia — the rebellion of unbelief to the revelation of the divine light and life (chap. ii. 4, 5 ; viii. 6, 7) — sums up the whole idea of sin which incurs the guilt of God's wrath. The idea of the oftyt'i itself is God's abandonment of man to the judgment of death. And the idea of the dnoy.d/.(nci,(; of this o^yr] is the entire revelation of the judgment of God in the cor- ruption of the world amid the light of the gospel, gy with which it attracts the good. No man can love, who cannot hate. "Wrath, or hatred, is inverted love. But while the wrath of man is a passion, and destroys the siu- ner, God's wrath is a calm and holy energy, and restores the sinner hy destroying sm. Meyer in he. : '" Dnr Zorn Gol- tes ist die Liebe des heiligen Gotles zu allem Gulen in Hirer tntgtgeng'SttzUn Encrgie gegen altes Base." He quotes Lac- tantius, De ira Dei, v. 9 : " Si Deus non irascilur impiis et injustis, ntopios jtistosque diligit; in rebus enim diversis aut in utriimque pnrlem moveri necesse est, aul in neulram." Comp. also Tholuck on Matt. v. 22, and Harless on Eph. iii. 3.-P. S.] 6 for the conscience of humanity, especially the body of believers. The idea of the oi\;or6c; is the heav- enly world in its ideal laws, which lie also at the foundation of the earthly world, and react agains/ all abnormal conduct with punishment and death The present, dno/.a).vnrtrcu, must be empliasized , it is neitlier merely a historical reference to the mis- ery of the old world (Kidlner, and others), nor (with Chrysostom, and others) a reference to the future day of wrath. It means, rather, a progi'essive reve» laiion of the judgment in opposition to which the progressive revelation of the righteousness of salva- tion in the gospel acquires its perfect significance and clearness. The dn ol()avoTi certainly refers chiefly to dno/.ah'iTiTirai,, but it is indirectly de- clared thereby that the oi>yij Ofov is from heaven, although, as a judgment inmiaiient in life itself, it breaks forth from its internal state, or is caused by it. Special interpretations of the oijytj : The religion of the Old Testament (Bengel) ; storms and natural disasters (Pelagius) ; external and internal necessi- ties of the times (Baumgarten-Crusius). Against all ungodliness and unrighteous- ness. The d(Ttpn,a [godlessness, impiety] is the fundamental form of pergonal misconduct toward God ; but the word is more especially significant in that it describes ungodliness as the absence of rever- ence for God. See ver. 21. The ddr/.la [unright- eousness, iniquity] is the correspondent fundamental form of misconduct toward God's law in life, and therefore not toward our neighbor alone. Theo- phylact, Tholuck, and many otliers : Profanitas in Deum, injuria in proximnw. [So Hodge : dfFt/jfva, impiety toward God ; d()'ixici, injustice toward men. — P. S.] Meyer, on the contrary : Irre- ligiousness and innnorality, which is supported by the following description. ['.//(Tf,9fta is the fount- ain of d()t./.ia, but both act .".nd react upon each other. — P. S.] — Of men. Antithesis of oiiyl; &foi>. The word signifies, first, the universality of guilt ; second, the weakness of man's enmity against Al- mighty God. Who hold back the truth. Description of ythe obstructions which, as the wicked reaction against the revelation of God, cause the reaction of Divine displeasure in the form of the o^j'ij. The tt-nth is tlie revelation of God in its most general sense, as the unity and harmony of all the single Divine acts of revelation, with a special reference here to the natural revelation of God (vers. 19, 20); although the doctrines of the gospel (of which Ammon ex. plains d/.t'jOfia) must not be excluded from the gen- eral idea, nor must the natural knowledge of God be substituted for the revelation of God. The xar- iyft,v (to grasp, to hold, here with the acces- sory idea of holding back) strikingly denotes bin- derance, keeping hack (Meyer, improperly, keeping down) ; as is the case with y.ara}.c(fij3drfiv in John i. 5.* An odd explanation is this : " Who possess the truth with unrighteousness ; that is, sin against better knowledge" (Michaelis, Koppe, Banr). — In * ["Wordsworth in Joe. : " Hrilding, keeping down, the truth in ungndliness, as in a prisin-house. Men have in- carcerated the truth, and hold her a captive under resti-aiiit and durance, with the bars and bolts of a depraved will and vicious habits, so that she cannot go forth and breathe the air and see the light, and do works suitable to her own nature." The passage implies, however, that man has th€ remnants of the Divine image in liim, and that, thong' fallen in Adam, ho may fall still deeper by obscurincr a^^" suppressing the elements of truth in his reason and c{ct, science. The reference to KaroAaii-Paveiv, John i. oing questionable. But see Lange in loc. — P. S.] ImvI 82 XnE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. unrighteousness. Not adverbial (Reiche, et a!.), but iiistiimuMital (Mcyor).* The worJ must he un- derstood here in llie wide sense, according to wliicli ail sin is ni)n(la. See 1 John iii. 4. Tiie sentence must be understood, however, in its general force, thougli with special rercrenee already to the Gen- tiles. The history of this xari/nv is the history of the kingdom of darkness in humanity, wliich is con- Bummatid in the avTixflan'o^, 2 Thess. ii. 8 ; comp. especially also 2 Thess. i. 8. According to I)e Wette, the nari/nv operates so a.s not to let the truth come to appearance and development. But it also so operates as to pervert the individual elements of the truth into distortions, errors, and strong de- lusions, and thereby calls down the wiatli of God. We must observe how decidedly the Apostle here views the a/rKTr/a ethically as ctTTfiOna ; and how he derives the errors of unbelief from unrighteous- ness, and from misconduct toward the ethical laws of tiie inner life. Ver. 19. Because that which is known of God.f The iiori. in ver. 19 may be regarded as an explanation of the statement in ver. 18, with special reference to the holding back of the truth of God; the fViort in ver. 21 as the explanation of the preceiling ai'ct7ro/oy//Tois- fivat.', and the f)Kj in ver. 24, as well as the i)ia toTto in ver. 26, as the explanation of the revelation of God's wrath. Though the (Vtori of ver. 19 is not to be regarded exactly the same sxa ydQ, it does not serve specially as a proof of the motive for Divine wrath. For more particular information, see Thohu^k and Mey- er.:^ The knowledge of God.§ Tholuek distin- guishes tin-ce meanings of ynofrrov : 1. That which is known of God (Itala, Vulg., De Wette [Meyer, Philippi, Alford, Wordsworth.— P. S.] ) ; 2. what maji be known (Photitis, and many others ; Riickert); 3. know/edge [ = yvoxjK;. Fritzsche, Tho- luek, Hodge. — P. S.]. He shows that jtoxttoc, ac- cording to the classical use of the language, means, w/iat mat/ bi; knoion ; while yvmro^ means, what, in known. But in the Septuagiiit and New Testament the signification, known, is undoubted. Neverthe- less, many expositors, from the time of Origeri down to the present [Theophylact, O-k-umetuus, Erasmus, Calvin, Bcza, Grotius, Ewald], have pronounced in favor of the translation, wfial mai/ be known. But this signification does not make good sense, since it is dillicult to distinguish between what may, ami what may not be known of God, and since every thing that may be known of (Jod Wiis l)y no means re- vealed at the beginning to the nations (see Meyer). We understand wliat is known of (Jod concretely as knowledffc \_Kenntnisx, yviorrn;], tio/i/ia Jii — which should become true knowledge [J'JrkennCniss, Ini- yvwfftv] by living appropriation. Luther has made the * [Alio Alforil, who justly remarks that the preprnant iv, "ill and hi/." implies that their aiixia is the iitat\i8 wherein, and the instrument whereliy, they hold hack the truth It up in their consciences. — P. S.l t [Ver.-(. 1!), 20, as also vers. 20-2tJ, nnd ver. 27 of this chapter, an- quoted hy Hippolytus, in his reccntlv discov- ered Philiiimphumrnn, or Rr/nl. nmnium fiiri-in., lih. ix. c. B, p. 4-14, ana v. 7, p. 140, ed. Duncker nnd Srhnoldcwin.— ti. P. S.) 1 t (These two commentnt^>rs, however, differ in their ex- , Dosition of SiAti. See T(!Xt\Ml Note '. The Apostle proves ftls I'rst that men hiil the aA^fltio (I'.t, 20), and then tlint they that '. leree See TcxtUJil Noi^" ' —P. 8.' untenable distinction, that the reason of man can know that God is, but cannot know wlio or what He ia. Tholuek justly remarks that the Apostle immediately afterward speaks of a certain knowledge of the nature of God. [The book of nature is a 7r«tf)fiTf/^ is no nation on earth which is entirely destitute oi this knowledge. — P. S.] Is manifest among them.* Erasmus, Grotiu.<^ KiiUner, and Baumgarten-Crusius, adopt this expla* nation. I On tlie contrary, Tholuek, Meyer, and De Wette — with reference to chap. ii. 15 ; (ial. i. 16— strongly advocate Calvin's interpretation, cordibut inscul plum . [So also Beza : " In i/monim animis, quia hcec Dei notitia rccondita e.it in intiniin tnentia pntetralibux ; " and Hodge : " It is not of a mere external revelation of whicli the Apostle is speak- ing, but of that evidence of the being and perfec- tion of God which every man has in the constitution of his own nature, and in virtue of which he is com- petent to apprehend the manifestations of God in His works." — P. S.] But ci/roza/.i'i/af. stands in Gal. i. If) ; and in Rom. ii. 15, tiie question is God's manifestation by conscience, and not by creation. De Wette suys : If the knowledge of God had been something common among them, it would not have been suppressed {/.ur t/Qntvov).X But this ia not conclusive. We could say with more propriety : If there had been no general knowledge of God among them, there would have been no conmion guilt. We must admit, however, tliat among Ihem presupposes in i/wm, or the existence of a knowl- edge of God in their hearts. — God manifested it to them. This was not fii-st of all ano/.d/.rii'i^, but qavi()ii)(n4 — manifestation through creation. An^ thus there arose from individuals a manifest knowl. edge of God — a ijarf^or. The reference of this qavtijov to the gnosis of the philosophers (Erasnnis, (irotius) is too contracted. But there was a tradition of the knowledge of God among men which pre- ceded the development of heathenism. (It is hardly worth while to mention the explanation of Luther, Koppe, Flatt, that iv tti'Tott; is the mere dative.) [There is a threefold revelation of God : 1. An in- ternal revelation to tlie resison and conscience of every man (comp. ii. 15 ; John i. 9) ; 2. an external revelation in the creation, w^hieii ])rocl:iiiiis God's power, wisdom, and gooiiness (Rom. i. 20) ; .3. a special revelation, tlirough the Holy Scriptures, and in tlie person and work of Christ, which eonfirraa and completes the other revelations, and exhibits the justice, holiness, and love of God. The first two are here intended. — P. S.] Ver. 2(». For his invisible attributes [rot rtO(>aTrt arror]. Explanation of the declara- tion: "God manifested it to them." Meyer: '^ That mat/ not be seen of Him (scin Unschaubare.i), the in- visible attriljutes which constitute His essence, not aclioiies Dei invi.nbHr.i.'''' (Theodoret and Fritzsche: In relation to both creation and providence.) The pictures of creation, however, are also permanent • [So Ttr. Ijnnjfo translates tv avrott, unler rhnrn, amoH^ Ih'in, instead of m llirm. 8eo Text. Note *. — P. S.] t (Erismu-i nnd Orotius, with the restriction to tha superior knowIed(re of honthen philosinihors, ns P.vthapo- ras, .Siierntes, I'lato ; others in the sense that the knowledR* of (5od wan a common revelation, nccessihle to all. Dr. Lnneo takes the latter view, as aiipoors from what follows. —P. S.l t [Precisely the snino remark Ir made by Alford, whfl often follows I'te Wetto very eJo«fllv.— P. 3.1 CHAPTER I. 18-82. mcfhnes, and so far providence is at least indicated. [Tlie cco^ara is subsequently explained by dvva- fiK: and df^orfji;, and the re, tbllowed by r.ai, as Tlioluek remarks, does not annex a new idea {and also), but it partitions the «o^<«Ta into the two ideas of di'vatii^ and &fu')Ttj^. Paul has in view simply Bome of the Divine attributes, not the whole Divine being (which would rather require to dotiarov); the pagan knowledge of God is only partial and frag- mentary, though sufficient to leave those who pos- sess it witliout excuse. — P. S.] From the time of the creation of the world. Not "ut of the creation (Luther, and oth- ers). This idea is contained in rolq novriu. (De Wette). Kr/ffic, moreover, is here equal to xaTafjo/.t'i (Fritzsche). — Being understood by the things that are made.* An oxymoron, Arist., J)e mundo C. [vi.] : [ndaT] Ovijtr^ (pvan, y*j'o,«f»'oc] aO-i-DiSJ tjTOi; dn' avxiJiv tmv iyfrnv O-i-inQflrcti- 6 &i6i;.{ Meyer thus paraphrases the voov/tfva xaO^o- ^cirat. : It is beheld by being perceived with the rea- son. We might ask : Should the sentence read, The iuvisiljle becomes visible by knowledge, as the means ; or, it becomes visible as something known, percep- tible to the reason ? The latter thought is prefer- able here, since it is better adapted to the parti- ciple, and presupposes the import of the power, the thought-life of man. Philippi also limits himself to the middle form : " The invisible is seen ; an oxy- moron which is explained and qualified by the ad- dition of rooi'fifva. It is not seen by the bodily eye, but by the eye of the Spirit, the rort-, the rea- son." Our view is favored by the original sense of xa&oQciv, a conception which passes through looking down and looking over into looking at. — By the things that are made [by and in {his) works, toli; noil] aa(Ti,v^ instrumental dative. — P. S.]. These are therefore signs of the attributes of God. Schneck en burger (after Episcopius, and others) in- cludes among them the government of God in his- tory. But the conception of niysis_, creature, is against this view. Baumgarten-Crusius, following the Syriac and other versions, takes noi>]iiaschnut. Comp. Textual Note ''. — P. B.] t [Simil.ar passages are quoted from Cicero, De. Divin., ii. 72 : " E.!eslf6v, the one true God, in oppo- Biiion to the false &toi whom the heathen wor- shipped.— P. S.] They glorified him not as God. According to His divinity (John iv. 24). They were not want- ing in worship, but in worship suitable to God. Melanchtiion refers (yoi«^^^v to theoretical, and fl/cti>t(TrfTv to practical conduct toward God (as recognition and reverence); but Tholuck very justly rejects such an interpretation, and regards cJoictiTfiv as the general term for worship, and fv^- as the special designation of that species in which the feel- in"- of dependence exhibits itself in the most tender and truly human way. In our opinion, the former denotes "rather all worship, so tar as it should be preeminently the glorification of God ; the latter denotes the same worship as the grateful recog- nition of the Divine government for human wel- fare.* But became vain [ t ,11 arm, .9 ?/ ff a v ]. They became idle, foolish, in devising vanities (Is. xliv. 9), vain idols, fidraia (Acts xiv. 15). [/(aratoT//,-, b^n, va?iitas, is a characteristic term for idol-wor- ship; Dent, xxxii. 21 ; 2 Kings xvii. 5 ; Jer. ii. 5 ; Acts xiv. 15.— P. S.] " As man, so his God." The axiom may also be reversed : As his God, so man himself (Ps. cxv. 8) : They that make them are like unto them. The human mind is made dumb, wood- en, and stone-like, by dumb, wooden, and stone idols (eomp. Acts xvii. 29). But that v.anity began in the inward life. — In their imaginations [thoughts, reasonings, specitlations, rU«^. oytfT/f oti,]. Tho- luck : " We can scarcely coincide with the Vulgate, Fritzsche, Meyer, and Fhilippi, in translating ()t,a- /oyKT/tot aiinply hy cor/itata. But since the word is used usually malo xemtu, and the antithesis is more expressive, we may translate it, with Luther: 'In their imagining;' Beza: rationibns mm. We need not thinK exclusively of the reasonings and conclu- sions of the philosophers (Philippi)." Mythology was complete with its growth of ideals and images long before philosophy proper was conceived. And their foolish heart -was darkened. The supposition that "foolish" (affi'' rf roc,) is used proleptically in the sense that their heart was darkened so as to lose its underst.anding (De Wette), is not only unnecessary (Tholuck), but altogether irrelevant (Meyer : " because it destroys the cli- max ").f Positive darkness was the result of the negative neglect of the heart to regard the Divine tokens, and to weigh them understandingly. The X «()()» a, the centre of life, is lir.st darkened ; then the ()tMvota, the developed thought-life (Eph. iv. 18). Tholuck : In this section the Apostle coin- cides so fully in word and thought with the Book of Wisdom, chaps, xiii.-xv., that Nitzsch regards it " almost impossible " to ascribe perfect originality to him. Yet he himself admits that the fundamental tliought — the tracing of idolatry back to sin — was unknown to the Alexandrine author, &c. (comp. 5itzsch, DentKche Z>:itxchrift, 1850, p. 387 ; Bleek, Stud, iind KrUiken, 185.3, p. 340). ♦ [ Ben gel : "Gratias aokre (tvxap.) debemus ob bene- ficia : OLOiiiFiCAiiE (Sotai.) ophocles, Antig., ver. 93(i, for tiie same con- struction. The contrast of civ .•>«(< TO I' and «/)- ToTi sets forth the folly of such an exchange. — P.b.] Grotius : ofioimfici tly.ovoi;, Jigura, qua: apparet in simulacro. Meyer (piotcs Rev. ix. 7 in favor of this view. But the expression seems to indicate that the worship of images proceeded from an arbitrary, self- created symbolism. They believed that they wisely expressed and maintained the iiu'ici of God in the symljol or likeness of a human image. For this purpose they naturally made use of the image of the external and therefore perishable form of man. This was specially the case among the Greeks. There were also the Egyptian images of beasts : of birds ♦ [In like manner, Meyer and Alford refer the wordi not so much to the schools of philosophv, as to the assump- tion of wisdom l«y the Oreeks in poneralO Cor. i. 21), which is alwavs connected with an ulieniition from the truth of Ood. Tholuck, also, in his /{flh edition, refers the pHssagt exi)res8ly to the whole civilized heathen world which looked down upon the rest of mankind us outside borbarinns (i. 14). —P. 8.] CHAPTER I. 18-32. 85 —the bird Ibis ; of four-footed beasts — the Apis, the dog and the cat ; and of c eeping things — the crocodile and the serpent. Tholiuk : The Egyp- tian worship was at that time domesticated at Rome ; * and the expression of Paul relates as well to the adoration of the symbol, generally practised ty the cultivated classes, as to the adoration of the image itself, as a real idol, which prevailed among the great masses (see Tholuck). [The common peo- ple saw in the idols the gods themselves, the culti- vated heathen, symbolical representations, or, at best, only the organs through which the gods oper- ated. A similar difference of a gross and a more refined superstition is found in the Roman Catholic Church with regard to the images of saints. The Scriptures make no account of this distinction, and denounce all image-worshippers as idolaters. — P. S.] The Apostle traces the downward tendency of hea- thendom, by passing, first, from the likeness to the image, and, second, from the image of man to the images of creeping animals. [Wordsworth : " xal —rxai — y.ai — observe this repetition, marking suc- cessive stages of their moral and intellectual degra- dation : ending in the transmutation of the living God of heaven into the likeness of unclean reptiles crawling upon the earth ! " — P. S.] Ver. 24. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness. The Apostle evidently distin- guishes two degrees of this abandonment ; ver. 24 and ver. 26. As the unnatural sins of lust are not mentioned before ver. 26, so may we understand vei\ 24 as referring to the natural forms of sensual- ity. But lewdness is the sin common to both de- grees of corruption. That the Apostle should re- gard sins of lust as the immediate result of religious apostasy, rests : 1. On the Hebrew idea of whore- dom, .according to which religious whoredom — that is, idolatry — leads to moral whoredom as its most immediate result (Num. xxv. ; Ezek. xxiii.) ; just as, reversely, moral unchasiity leads to religious lewdness (Solomon, Henry IV. [of France] ). The heathen forms of worship are therefore connected in various ways with the practice of lust, or they are even the worship of lust. 2. On the ethical law, that moral principles stand in reciprocal connection with religious principles. The image of corruptible man is an image of the natural man, who, like Jupi- ter, indulges in love intrigues. The image of the bull likewise indicates the deification of the genera- tive power of nature. Wherefore God gave them up [;ra^£fV(.)- xfv, delivered theiit ocer\ The abandonment must not be- regarded, with the Greek expositors [since Origen], as a mere permission ■)■ {(Ti'y/(f')(ti-aii: — see Chrysostom's remarks, quoted by Tholuck [who dis- sents Jrom him] ), nor, on the other hand, as refer- ring to a Divine predestination of abandonment to the judgment of condemnation. (Tholuck, the edi- tor of Calvin's Commentaries, calls this the Calvin- istic view, according to which God is the effective author of sin ; — but this he could certainly not prove * [Tholuck quotes froiri Lucan (Phars. viii. 83) : N'lS in temp!a tuam Jinmana recipimus Isim Seinideiisque canes. — P. S.] t [jrope'StoKe = eiaire (Chrysostom), or = avvexiapyiire (Theodoret). This interpretation of the Greek fathers was followed by the rationalists, and is contrary to the mean- ing of the word (see Meyer). It explains "nothing, for if God permits the sinner to sink deeper into vice, He doen it, of course, with wise intention as a sovereign and righteous Judge.— P. S.] from Calvin's exposition of the present passage. The abandonment is rather the first stage in the ex ercise of pimitive authority (see my Positive Dog inalicx, p. 4G8). God executed this punishment o» a grand scale in the origin and growth of heathen- dom. He allowed the Gentiles to walk in their own ways (Acts xiv. 16 ; Ps. Ixxxi. lo ; cxlvii. 20). The perinittere in this punishment becomes an cjffec eve operation by God's withdiawal of His Spirit ; which measure His holiness requires.* Paul has already said that this withdrawal is retributive ; but he now makes it especially prontinent : in the lusts of their hearts, tv rai(; tnuO I'/i lait;, &.c. The IV must not be understood as instrumental [6// or ihrouijh] (Erasmus [E. V.], and others), nor like d(i (Piscat., Estius, and others) [but signifies the ele- ment or moral condition in wliich they were already when God, by a judicial act, delivered them over to a still worse condition. — P. S.]. The negative puni- tive judgment becomes positive in this, that they can no longer control the lusts of their heart after God's Spirit is withdrawn from them. It is in har- mony with God's righteousness tl.at sin should be punished by sin. — To uncleanness. The sins of thought and heart became sins of deed. The ex- pression Jilth'mess ( Unjidtherei, Meyer) seems too strong lor the beginning of the development of un- tleanness. In Gal. v. 19 (to which Meyer refers), the description passes from the grosser to the more subtle forms. So that their bodies were dishonored. De Wette and Tholuck [Meyer, Alford, «/.] maintain that atifid'CtaOai, does not occur in the middle (Erasmus, Luther [E. V.] ), but only in the pa.ssive voice. The bodies were already dishonored by natu- ral lewdness, by which they lost their dignity aa temples of God, and were degraded into instrnnienta of sensual lust (and not merely " woman ; " Tho- luck). See 1 Cor. vi. 16. — Between themselves. Three explanations : 1. The iv is instrumental (Theo- phylact, Kollner). Then the moral subject is want- ing. 2. The iv alroio, has a reciprocal signification equal to iv al'/.ij'/.oii;, reciprocal,! y (Erasmus, De Wette, Tholuck, and others). Meyer : One dishon- ors the oth.er. This construction is favored by the reciprocal sexual intercourse which disappears in the uimatural lewdness described in ver. 26. 8. Re- flexive (Vulgate, Luther, Calvin, and others). Tho- luck remarks on this, that to ihemsdves does not give clear sense. Comp., on the contrary, 1 Cor. vi. 16. We may adopt the second explanation, and yet the third need not be given up — namely, that in natural lewdness not oidy does one dishonor the other, but each dishonors himself. Ver. 25. They who exchanged the truth of God. According to Meyer and Tholuck, Paul re- * [Calov : " Traditi sunt a I>ro nnn effective, nee solum PKRMissiVE, »fc /an/Mm ex/SaTKcis, S' d St/cacTiKw? e( judicialUer." So Tholuck, Philippi, Alford ("not inert 'y permissive, but judicial"). Meyer, stioiiger : " jrapc^wice expresses the reo/ active (ibandimm'tit (die wiikliche uci^iie Pieisgehung) on the part of God." Both the Bible and daily experience teach that sin is punished by sin, as virtue is rewarded by virtue ; and this is a Divinelv instituted law in perfect hannony with our personal freedom and moral accountability ; for man's will is in every act of sin as well as of obedience, and 1 ence what is represented in one pas- sage as the woik of God, is in another passage just as prop- erly repiesentcd as the work of man, comp. Eph. iv. 19: otTii'€s iavTotx: napiBiaKav TQ aa^Kytia, k.t.X.. God liardened Pharaoh's heart, Exod. vii". 13 ; ix. 12 ; x. 1, 20, 27 ; xi. 10 ; Rom. ix. 18, but Pharaoh first hardened his own heart, Exod. viii. 15, 32 ; ix. 34, 35, so that God i>unished him bj his own ein. Comp. Doctrinal and Elkical Ko. •. — P. B.l S6 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE P.OMANS. turns expressly to the cause of the abandonment. But by this they overlook the definite pro^i-ess of thought — namely, the argument for the abandon- ment of the second degree which i'ollows in ver 26. As a punishment of the heathen (or squandering the ioia of God for the paltry sum of images, their own bodies have lost their doia. But they are further chaifjed with bartering the truth of God for the lie of idolatry, since they have served the creature naiia Tov KTiaavTa. Therefore God gave them up to a lie of sexufot'. So also Hodge : a peri- phrase for the true God — P. S.]. The i)6ia of God is God's revelation in glory, and so is God's trutii the (fuvt(j(t> the natural outliui-st of ;i lioiy iniliimation whicli ])ut« the sin of idolutry in n mom striking li^rht and hoUlx it up lo (he abhorrence of all ]iona miiui:!. t'omp. similiir tloNoluuics ix. .5 ; 1 Tim. i. 17 ; 2 Tim. iv. IS; comp. (k'H. Ix. 2(i ; xiv. 20 ; x.xiv. 27.— P. S.] t jit is in tho Uihio only Mpplied to God, while fuutaptot and the corrcspondiiii; Ilclircw ""TH'X, happy, is apjilicd lo iii'in, very rarely to God (only in two pnssiiROS of the N. T., 1 'I'ini. i.' II ; v"i. l.i). The "E. V. renders e0Ao>i|TO9 (and tvKoyr\ij.ivo^ , ahviiys iiiul properly blisteil, hut vanes in ltd Ir.unliitirtu of fiaitapio? lietween /i"W'.'/ "I>'' blessed: Using the latter in those piissiiKO-i where sitiriliml haiipiucs> er the future ulory of Siiints or the blessedness of God is iDtt-nded, as I's. i. 1 ; xxxi . I ; l.iiko I. 48; Matt. v. 3-11; 1 Tun. i 11 ; vi. 15 ; Titus u. 13.-1'. S.j CHAPTER I. 18-32. SI condition. There was first a departure from honor to simple dishonor ; then still further downward, to a passionate course of dishonor, which might almost be described as passion for vileness. The unnatural sins of lust rest upon unnatural passions, and these spring from the root of the unnatural, lying deifica- tion of creatures and images. Man is for God in a religious sense, as the man and woman are for each otlier in a moral point of view : this is the natural condition, the truth of the relations (Eph. v. 25). Therefore the perversion of nature, unnaturalness, or the lie of the service of the creature and of the idols, is punished by the perversion of nature, un- naturalness, or the lie of sexual gratification. Tho- luck praises the modest reticence of the Apostle in the expression, although his expi-ession is clear enough. He also says : " The self-degradation and eelf-condemnation of man appears most strikingly in tlie peculiarly (?) Grecian sin of pederasty {aotif- voxoirai, 1 Cor. vi. 9), which, at the time when Paul wrote, was largely practised also in Rome. After Xenophon, De Lacedcem. Repvbl.^ ii. 14, has men- tioned that this vice was forbidden by Lycurgus, he adds, that this is not beheved by some, iv noy./.ai^ ya^ r(7)v no/.fov ot vofioi' ovx ivavnovvtai, xaTs' n()6i; roix; naldai; t.jn&t'fiia.i.c. Even the most dis- tinguished men have incurred grave suspicions in this matter, some justly, others unjustly. Comp. Gessner, De pcederastia Socratis in vet. dixs. Got . ii. p. 125. Seneca, a contemporary of Paul, writes in Rome, £p. 35 : Transeo putrorum iufericii/nt greges, quos post transacta convivia alice cuhiadi contuwelice exxpeciant ; transeo ogmiiia exGletoruin per nationes coloresque descripta. The most hide- ous and yet the most accurate picture of Roman licentiousness at that time, is given by Petronius, a contemporary of the Apostle. Even women (called trihades) committed the same outrage, which was called by a smoother term after a famous predeces- sor in the crime, " Sapphic Love." [Seneca writes, Ep. 95 : " Libidine vera ne maribus quideni cedunt, pati natcB ; dii illas de(zque male perdant, adeo per- vei'sum coDimeiitce genus impudicitce viros ineunt."^* For even their 'nromen. & rj/.n,ai, and aQO fvf<;, instead of yivai/.ii; and arcJ^fc, on ac- count of the sexual reference. Reiche says errone- ously : In a contemptuous sense, for description of the bestial. The expression /^^at? is euphemis- tic for us us venereus, and therefore we must not sup- ply Tov c(ij(Tfvoq, or T/'c; tjhiac (P^ritzsche). Tlio- luck explains thus : The Apostle places the female sex first, because the abomination of the crime is most horril)le in that sex, whose noblest ornament' is modesty (1 Tim. ii. 9) [similarly Hodge], It may * [Comp. the fearful and yet trnthfal description of the horrible vice of TratSepooria among the highly civiiized Greeks, in Bollinger's learned work : H'-identhum und Jud'iilhum, 1S57, p. 684 £f. " BeA den Griechen," he says, " tritl das Luster der Pdderastie mit alien Symptomen einer grossen nulionahn Krnnklieit, gleichsam emfS ethischen Mi- asma auf ; es z-igt sick nls e.in GJuhl, das sldrl-rr und hef- tigi f wirkti', ah die Weibirlietjn 6' i andiren Volkcru, mass- loser, leideiischa/tlicker in seinen Ausbruchen war. liasende Eifersucht, unhidingle. Hingehung, siniiliche G'ulh, zdrlliclie Tdfielri, ndclithclns Wr.ihn vor der TIture dig G'!i(bten, Alles, U)i'S zur Caniclur der nalurlich>n Geschlichsliebe gehoit, fiitdi't sich dahci. Auch die e.msles/en JUoralisten waren in der Bturlheilung d>:s Verhdltnisges ho^hst nach- tichUg. m.ltinter Trnhr als nachsichtig, sit behandeiU'n die Sachr hdufig mehr mil lichlfertigrm Schcrze, und duldeten die Schuldigeii in i/irer GeseUschii/t. Jn der gauze n Lile.ra- tur der vorckristlichen Periods isl kaum cin Schriftstelhr gu finden, der sich evschieden dagigcn erkldrl lidUe, Viel- mehr war die ganze GescUschaft dnvon angesteckl, tind man athmeie dot Miasma, so su sagen, mit der Lufl ein." — P. S.] be observed, on the contrary, that the Apostle hera generally passes from the less to the more abomina ble crime. He probably alludes, in ver. 26 (as Tho« luck remarks), to the debauchery of the tribudet {/riclrices, " the Lesbian vice," /f ff,-jial'f n), where women commit abuses with women, but perliaps he included the more secret sin of onanism. This ap- pears from the antithesis in ver. 27 : Men icit/i men. This sin is referred in a two-fold way to the deifica- lion of the creature : by /(fT/j/./.a^ai- and by na^a Ver. 27. And likevrise also the men. The construction indicates that the unnatural burning {t/./.ahvTa wiiich they practised, nana aiii/.ia., all manner of immorality, is general ; the following terms are specifications. Similar catalogues of sins : 2 Cor. xii. 20 ; Gal. v. 19-21 ; Eph. V. 3 ; 1 Tim. i. 9, 10 ; 2 Tim. iii. 2-4. — P. S.] De Wette remarks that the following cata- logue of sins, like a similar one in Gal. v. 19, is un- systematic ; though «()«('« stands fii-st, as the princi- pal conception. Likewise Tholuck (against JJengel's and Gliiekler's attempts at cla.ssification) maintains that the Apostle states a *^ (TrvciO(ioi(Tii()^ [rhetorical accunmlation] of manifestations of sin," and cites the paronomasies if^florov and r/oi-oe, aorj'trori; and anrvOiTuts. But the paronomasies are no proof, and so we attempt the following construction : * L I 'tees. The chief vice, ai)i,/.ia, unright- eousness, at the head. This is divided into novij- (tla, malice [disposition to inflict evil], wicked- ness — bold form ; and into n/.fovtiia, avarice, covetousness ; xaxla, badness, malice — pusillani- mous form. On the addition of iroitrtia to the * [The classification of T)r. LanKC is certainly oriu^nal and inRcnioiLs, and decidedly profcriihlfl to any other, al- thou(;h perhaps sorai'what artiucial. The ne.\t best cliis.si- fication is that of I?(:n^,'i,'l in lloin. i. 29 : " T'da intinv ratio ordifum linh't sup'eiili in, jn-r nftnbrn noveni, in nfftclihus : dun, in ttim'ini' : tria, np'Clu Di'i, it tui, it prnximi ; rt dun, in nhiu yinndis: S'X, rispiclu nicissiticduiuin." He also remarks that aSmia, tho opposite of justitin, is put first, immm-ric'iidii last; justice hiis life, injus!icc death; vcr. 82. llu! it seems to me that the Apostle, in this catalo(fue of vices, had regard not so much to syst<'tii:itii- order, lis to rlictorical effect, with the \'iow to bring out mure slrikincly the abptolute necessity of redemption. It if a rn\ni\ iiccu- Binlatioii and risiii); climax to the crisis of the diseaHc, which was the tuminsr-point of the cure. M.in's extretnily was Ood's opportunity. Christ appeared " ii the fulness of time." just when lie w;ib most needed, and when the way for His comlntt was fully prep;iri'j (J ID fi ivo V I,- means, that every wieked person had not merely one crime. By the vices are here meant permanent and cold traits of character, in distinction from deeds ol impulse, in which the guilty persons appear as /niiToi, full and drunken. II. Evil deeds, or criminal acts. The chief sin, (fiOovo^, envy, at the head ; divided into (f,6voii, murder; t^jn,-, strife, contention; f)<>/. os', de- ceit, or fraud ; xa/.oijOn.a, malignity, treach- erous conduct. The chief source is if'Joroi;; but in all these evil deeds they appear as drunken. III. Wicked characters according to their deeds. i/'tO^r^KTTai, whisperers, backbiters [one who slanders secrelly'\ ; /. a t a /.d /. o t, slanderers, car lumniators ; &foaTryflc, haters of God, de- spisers of God, scorning God {G"ttverdi-htcr). Tho- luck : Promethean characters. In the classic litera- ture, and especially the tragic department, the woi'd occurs oidy in the passive meaning : hated by Gcd, hateful to God [see the quotations of Meyer in /oc] ; but the context plainly declares in favor of the active rendering, which has been adopted by most commentators from Thcodoret down to the present, and which alone is in harmony with the Ciiristian siiirit. Classic usage also favors the ac- cessory thought: ungodly, wicked. rp'^Kxrai, insolent, overbearing, those who perpetrate crimi- nal i'j^Vui; ; V 7t I- () t]((i avo !■ , those who are proud, self-conceited, those who conduct themselves arro- gantly above others ; a.lu'lovfi;, boasters, who do not design, like the previous class, to crush oth- ers Ijy the force of their greatness, but make a lying show of it; itfi f t' ^1 1 r al /.a/.t'iv, inventors of villanies, or crimes swindlers, and adventurers; yovtT'fuv d.TTfiO'fti;, disobedient to parents ; apostasy from the piety and affection due to parents is a fountain of corruption (see Malachi iv. (> ; Luke i. 17). [Hodge : " That such should be included in this fearful list, shows the light in which filial dis- obedience is regarded l)y the sacred writers." — P. S.] IV. (Ver. 31.) Wickel characters according to their tienti.mentx, in leading psychological types, d (T I' v f T o t , wthout understanding [or in- sight into moral things, blinded, besotted^ ; corruj^ited intellirjence ; a a r v f) f t o i , according to Philii)pi, and others, quarrelsome, implacable ; according to Meyer, covenant-breakers [perfidious] ; we construe the expression psychologically : uimlatde, unreliable — cnrniiited will. aa t o (< j'o t, desti- tute of affection, heartless ; wanting even in natu- ral feeling and natural love — corrupted feeling, {dan o I' .'/ o (. , implacable, irreconeilal )le. Proba- bly an insertion), ri »■ f / f /; .// o i-f -:, unmerciful, without pity and compassion : a^ totally corrupted state of feeling (.Mati. xxv. 31 ft'.). V. Wicked iniixitnt (ver. 32). Demoniacal pleas- ure in wickedness on the part of those who are con- scious of the deadly guilt of sin (for example, hea- then philosophers, magistrates, judges, etc.) ; and who not oidy commit sins worthy of death, lint also approve them in others l)y their endorsement and principles. — The o/rn-ft,- amioimces a new ele- ment, a new degree. This degree was of course not reached or thoroughly accomplished by all, but the generality were guilty to this ilcgree — a fact which is shown by the crucifixion of Christ. Gro- tins ha.s alluded to the defence of many crimes by the philosophers [e. g., the defence of hatred, re- venge, even pederasty and sodomy] ; and Ileumaur [and Ewald] to lax criminal justice. The Jixa* CHAPTER \. 18-32. 8S V /A,a of God in the knowledge of the Gentiles is in part the institution of law and in part God's puni- tive dealing, so far as the latter is referred by the heathen conscience to Divine justice. [ () t z a «' «) /< a (comp. Luke i. 6 ; Rom. ii. 26 ; viii. 4 ; Apoc. iv. 6, m the Septuagint often for the Hebrew pn , npn , n^S^ ) is here the righteous decree or sentence of God as the Lawgiver and Judge, de- claring what is right and wrong, and connecting death with sin, and life with righteousness. Mejer: MecJitsbestimmung ; Lange : Kevhfsurtheil ; Alford : sentence ; W^ordsworth and Hodge : decree. This decree is inscribed not only on the revealed law of the Old Testament, but also on the conscience or moral sense of every man. The latter is here meant. — P. S.] Ver. 82. Are worthy of death. Photius : According to the Mosaic law. The Socinians : Civil punishment by death. Meyer : Eternal death, by which Paul has in mind the heathen notion of the state of punishment in Hades.* Fritzsche and De Wette : The misery of sin, and similar results. But the meaning is the general idea of death in the Gen- tile consciousness of guilt, as the punishment of the most varied forms of sin. [Alford : Odvaroi;, a general term for the fatal consequence of sin ; that such courses lead to ruin. Hodge : All evil inflicted for the Satisfaction of justice. Tiiis passage shows that the judicial abandonment of God does not de- stroy the free agency or responsibiUty of men. The stream which carries them away is not without, but within ; it is their own corrupt nature. Umbreit : Life and death are ever set over against, one another in the Old and Xew Testaments, the one as including all good, the other as all evil. — P. S.] The n^da- fff tv is a stronger expression. [It brings out more clearly the idea of repetition and continuance of action than nonlv. — P. S.] The progress is very apparent from wicked pas- sions to wicked acts ; from tliese, to wicked charac- ters, according to the positive methods of action ; from these, to wicked characters in whom the incli- nation for what is good is extinguished ; and from these, finally, to wicked maxims. Tins progress is also expressed by the change of the forms. The same sins are not described throughout these differ- ent categories. According to the fundamental con- ception of unrighteousness, the first category may be regarded as the general category. Tlie second describes sins against our fellow-men in their indi- vidual relation ; the third, those against human soci- ety ; the fourth passes on to settle the character of self-corruption in its psychological forms of senti- ment ; and the fifth, to the complete demoniacal consciousness and approval of sin. [This dark picture of heathen corruption (which does not exclude honorable exceptions ; comp. Rom. ii. 14, 26) is by no means overdrawn, and can be fully verified by testimonies from the first writers of the classical age of ancient Greece and Rome, such as Thucydides (iii. 82-84, on the moral state of Greece during the Peloponnesian war), Aris- topiiiines, Horace, Catullus, Juvenal, Persius, Sal- lust, Seneca, Tacitus, Suetonius. Comp. my Church Histori/, vol. i. p. 302 ff., and the works quoted there. I shall only refer to a passage from Seneca, the philosopher and contemporary of Paul, De Ira, * (Philippi likewise refers to the lieathen myth of Hades with its puaiphments, and quotes from ^Kscliylus, Eume- nid. w. 259-265.— P. S.] ii. 8 : " All is full of crime and vice ; there is mor* committed than can be healed by punishment. A monstrous prize contest of wickedr.ess is going on. Tiie desire to sin increases, and shj».me decreases daj by day. . . . Vice is no longer practised secretly, but in open view. Vileness gains in every street and in every breast to such an extent, that inno- cence has become not only rare, but has ceased to exist." It is true, the history of Christian countriea often presents a similar picture of moral corruption (with tlie exception of those unnatural vic<^-i de- scribed vers. 26 and 27, which have almost disap- peared, or greatly diminished within the pale of Christian civilization). Think of the sl<»,tc of the Latin Christians in the fitth century a? described by the priest Salvianus, who charges them with every vice, and puts them, in a moral point of view, beneath the barbarians ; of the condition of Catholic France un- der Louis XIV. and XV. ; and of the large capitals of Europe and America in our days. Yea, in somo respects the most diabolical forms of sin are brought out by contrast under the Christian dispensation, and apostasy from Christianity is worse than heathenism (comp. 2 Tim. iii. 1-9). But there remains this radical ditt'erence : the heatlien corruptions were produced and sanctioned by the heathen mythology and idola- try ; while Christian nations are corrupt in spite of and in direct opposition to Christianity, which raises the highest standard of virtue, and acts continually on the world as a purifving and sanctifying power.— P. S.] DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The revelation of God's salvation is at the same time a revelation of God\s zcrath. One con- ception is eclipsed by the other. It is a vain delu- sion to imagine that we can separate the doctrine of redemption from that of wrath. The conception of wrath is the conception of the absolute and personal enerfi}! of the Divine government of love in puni- tive righteousness. Redeeming love is the absolute and personal enei-gy of Divine rigliteousness in the saving exercise of love. Can a soul enjoy the expe« rience of salvation by faith, without passing through an internal judgment, and feeling of Divine displeas- ure ? For further information, see the Exeg. Notes ; Tlioluck, pp. 56, 57 ; Meyer, p. 49 ; the article Zorn Gottes, in Heizog's Reatcncyklopadie [vol. xviii. p. 657 ft".], together with the literature on the subject enumerated there [especially the monograph on the Wrath of God by Ferdinand Weber, with prole- gomena on the doctrine of the atonement by Franz Delitzsch, Erlangen, 1862.— P. S.] 2. The essential characteristic of all forms of unbeiief consists in men's holding back or hindering the truth in unrighteousness. " Modern culture " attempts to separate the ideas dnvaTia and dnuOfi-a utterly from each other. But the biblical view will not allow such a separation. Unbelief is miscon- duct toward the moral claims within the horizon of the internal life. This misconduct has its degrees. The germ and principle is sin as transgression {naQcijiaffii:) in general. The definite determina- tion is apostasy, which manifests itself also as oppo- sition to Divine truth. Therefore the two funda- mental forms of specific unbelief are : apostasy, and hostile attack. The third degree is hardness of heart. But the measure of power in human obsta. cles to the revelation of God is related to the powei 90 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. of Divine reaction against these obstacles, just as the power of man (as weakness) is related to the omnipo- tence oF God. 3. The idea of the revelation of God bif nature pervades the entire Bible. See Ps. viii., xix., civ., and others ; Isa, xl. According to Schneckenburger {JBeitrdge zur Einleituny in^s Keue Ttxtaineiit, 10th essay : Paid^s Natural Theology, and its Sources), Philo was Paul's source. See thereon, Tholuck, p. 64. The pamphlet of Hebart also belongs here : Die xatiir- liche Tlieologic des Apostels Faulus (Niirnb., 18G0) ; likewise Zockler's Theologia Naturaiis, or Entwurf einer systematisclten Naturlheoloyie. [Frankfurt a. M., 1800, 2 vols.] The latter has viewed natural theology in a more primitive than usual sense. We must bear in mind that natural theology, since the revelation of salvation, has assumed a dillerent form from what it had before the revelation of salvation, and especially as the basis of the original revelation. The symbolical natural religion which prevailed down to Abraham is distinguished from the revelation of salvation herein, that God revealed Himself there specially by symbols and signs, but here by the Word. See also the article Raymond of Sabunde, in Herzog's ReaUcncyklopddle [vol. xii. p. 571 J. 4. According to Paul, as according to all the Holy Scriptures, humanity has fallen from its original ideal height ; but according to the majority of those who set themselves up as the advocates of " modern culture," it has risen from a rough, beast-like state. Wherefore Reiche also (p. 157) has expressed the opinion that the Apostle has here expressed only a cotemporary opinion of the Jews. The testimony of history is against the view of " modern culture." It proves the gradual decay of the Hindus, the Ara- bians, the Ethiopians, the Indians, and, finally, even of the Greco-lloman world, with all its relative glory. 5. It is improper to regard the description of the Apostle as a description only of the corruption of the heathen world. It shows us first how the Gentile world arose, and then what became of it; but it does not commence with a Gentile world. Therefore it goes back, fundamentally, to the genesis of sin in the fall of man ; but then it shows how the fall of man in its second form (with the self-boasting of man after the flood) became the genesis of real hea- thendom. The corruption arose from the original symbolical religion which prevailed from Adam down to Abralium. For men magnilicd the simple sym- bolism of nature — wliich (iod had given — by tiieir own arbitrary symbolizations, and then mytldcized the symbols ; that is, they deified them. Thus my- thology arose from symbolism, and idolatry and then image-worship aro.se from the symbolical view of nature. Recent research htis commenced to exhume from the ruins of myths the gold of the original symbolism. Comp. my treatise On the Relation between General and Ecclesiastical Symbolism, in the Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Christliche Wissenschaft, kc, 1855, Nos. 4-6 ; and the recent writings on heathen- dom by Wuttke [Geschic/ite des Jleidcnth.ums, 1852 fF.], Dollinger [Jleidenthum und Jwlenthum, 1851], Stiefelhagen, Lasaulx, and others. [Sclielling, Philo- aophie d'T Mytholo'/ie, 1857 ; Fabri, Die Etitittehuuff des HeiilenJhums, 1859; Niigelsbach on the Jlmneric, and Post-Homeric Thfolngy, 1840, 1857 ; Gladstone, Studies on Homer, 1858 ;' W. S. Tyler, The Theology of the Greek Poets, 1867. — P. S.] 6. The description of the original form of natu- ral religion does not justify the conclusion that the tv.velation of God in Glnist would not have occurred under the presupposition of human righteousness, But it leads us to conclude that the progress from the one to the other would have been effected iu th< form of a historical continuity. 7. The explanation of Gentile corruption from the great peccatum omissionis. " They have not honored and thanked God" (ver. 21); this is a penetrating glance which sheds its light also upon the first fall, as well as upon every genesis of sin. On the significance of this passage for the whole Epistle, see the Introduction and the Ej:eg. Notes. 8. God's positive government, which impels evil through trial and temptation into the process of de- velopment /row righteous judgment (sin punished by sin) and to righteous judgment (Rom. xi. .32), cor- responds with God's negative abandonment, in which the first ground for the punishment is revealed, not only because God, as the Holy One, must witlidraw His Spirit from the consciousness of sinful man, but also because He regards man in his freedom, and leaves him to its action (see my Positive Dogmatics^ p. 468). [Sin punished by sin. The Rabbinical tract, Pirkf Aboth, c. 2, ver. 1, says: "Festina ad prceceptum levetanquam ad grave, et fuge transgressionem ; pr(e- ceptMH cnim trahit prceccpAuni, et transgressio trans- gressio7iem ; quia merces prcecepti prieceptum est, et transgressionis transgressio.^ Seneca (Ep. 16): "The first and greatest punishment of any connni.-;tiion of sin is the sin itself which is committed." De Wette, ad Rom. i. 24 : " This view (that sin is punished by sin) is no mere Jewish doctrine, but it is univei-sally true from the absolute standpoint of religion." Schiller : " This is the very curse of evil deed, That of new evil it becomes the seed." But this judicial punishment of sin with sin does not make God the author of sin in any sense. Dr. South (Serm. ii. on 2 Thess. ii. 11) says: " God may make one sin the punishment of another, though it still is to be remembered that it is one thing for God to give a tnan over to sin, and quite another for God to cause him to sin ; the former importing in it no more than God's providential ordering 'of a man's circum.stances, so tliat he shall find no check or hin- derance in the course of his sin ; but the latter im- plying also a positive efficiency toward the commis- sion or production of a sinful act; which God never does, nor can do ; but the other He both may, and, in a judicial way, very often does. ... In all which God is not at all the author of sin, but only pursues the great work and righteous ends of His provi- dence, in disposiTig of things or objects in them- selves good or indifferent, toward the coTupassing of tlie same ; howbeit, through the jioison of men's vicious affections, they are turned into the opportu- nities and fuel of sin, and rrn^e the occa.sion of their' final destructi(m; ix. 17, 22." Dr. Hodge: "God often punishes one sin by abandoning the sinner to the commission of others. Paul repeats this idea three times, vers. 24, 26, 28. This judicial aliandon- ment is consistent with the holiness of God and the free agency of man. God does not impel or entice to evil. He cea.ses to restrain. He says of the sin- ner. Let him alone ; vers. 21-28." — P. S.] 9. The deep truth in the proof of the connection between religious aTid moral corruption. 10. The intimate connection between the denial of the (Vdjct of God and the degrailation of the f)oJa of the human form by whoredom, and between the CHAPTER I. 18-32. 91 denial of the truth of God and the degradation of the true relations of human nature, as represented by Paul, has not been properly observed. See Exeg. Jiotes. 11. Other enumerations of sins and crimes in the Scriptures : see 2 Cor. xii. 20 ; Gal. v. 19 ; Eph. v. 8 ; 1 Tim. i, 9 ; 2 Tim. iii. 2. 12. Sin reaches its chmax in wiclied maxims and principles. They are demoniacal in their character, and the intellectual side of the service of the devil, which may be known not only in its gross foi-ms, but also in the subtle form of cowardly idolatry of what is base, and which in this shape is widely diffused. [Yet, even in the most reprobate sinner, the voice of conscience cannot be entirely extinguished (" know- ing the jtiAgment of God,'''' ver. 32). It malies him uneasy and miserable on eai-th, and will be his con- demnation in the other world. — P. S.] 13. While the Apostle has here described the dark side of heathendom, the second chapter shows that the whole of heathendom does not appear to him under this dark aspect. In the first chapter he describes the prevailing Antinomian tendency of heathendom, in opposition to the prevailing legalis- tic tendency of Judaism. HOMELETICAL AND PEACTICAL. Vees. 18-21. In what does the beginning of all the real sinful corruption of the woild, and of the Gentiles in par- ticular, consist ? 1. In the neglect of the general manifestations of God by creation ; 2. in neglect to worship God by praise and thanksgiving. — Against what will God's wrath be sent from heaven ? 1. Against all ungodliness ; 2. against all unrighteous- ness of men who hold back the truth in unrighteous- ness (ver. 18). The revelation of wrath, and the revelation of love, as they, 1. Are opposed to each other ; 2. are closely connected with each other. — The revelation of God in nature is a revelation of His invisible na- ture — that is, of His eternal power and Godhead (vers. 19, 20). — He who knows God, should praise and thank Him. — The knowledge and worship of God. — Neglect of the worship of God leads to ob- scuring the knowledge of God (ver. 21). Luther : Where there is no faith, reason falls from one depth to another, until it is totally blinded in its speculations, as is the case with all self-con- ceited and heated brains (ver. 21). Starke : Even after the fall, every man has a natural knowledge of the nature and works of God ; yet this is not sufficient to lead him to salvation (ver. 19). — God esteems our knowledge according to the means we have of obtJning it. Thus He demands more knowledge from the Jews than from the Gen- tiles, and still more from us Christians (ver. 21). — As God is a living God, so must our knowledge of Him also be vital, and express itself in praise and tlianks (ver. 21). — Langii Op. Bibl. : Whoever de- nies the wrath of God, and describes God alone ac- cording to mere love, thereby obscures also the greatness of the grace and love of God, and leads others to despise this grace and love (ver. 18). — Hedinoer : God does not leave Himself without a witness among the heathen. , All creatures eloquent- ly testify to His might and wisdom (ver. 20). From Qdesnel : Hugo ds Area : Omnia creatura tribus vocibus nobis loquitur : prima est famulantis, accipi beneficium ; secunda admonentis, redde debitum ser vitium ; tertia comminantis, fuge suppliciwn (ver, 20). Bengel : Whatever is under heaven, and not under the gospel, is under the wrath (ver. 18). — The heart of man conforms to its thoughts (ver. 21). Gerlach : The sin against which God's wrath ia directed shows itself in the double form of ungodli- ness and unrighteousness, according as man sins more directly against God, or against himself and hia neighbor (ver. 18). — As soon as man ceases to direct himself to the holy and gracious God, he woi'shipa only God's power and beauty (?), and makes Nature his God (ver. 21). Heubn er : The denial of God can never be ex- cused, for man can know God (ver. 19). The Pericope for the 11th Sunday after Trinity (vers. 16-20). — Heubner: The joy of the Christian in the confession of faith : 1. Disposition ; 2. neces- sity ; 3. how are we fitted for it ? — How shall we learn to estimate properly the value of the gospel ? 1. When we experience its power in our own hearts; 2. when we perceive properly the wretched condition of the human race without Christianity — its religioua as well as its moral condition ; 3. when we learn the insufficiency of natural religion, which reveals God's existence and power, but not His mercy toward sinners. — The relation of natural and revealed re- ligion : 1. Harmony ; 2. difference ; 3. inferences. Lange : For the wrath of God. Wrath a proof of the gospel : 1. Of its necessity ; 2. its truth ; 3. its glory. — On the difference between the knowledge and perception of God. — The general manifestation of God, or the relation between natural religion and revealed religion in its narrower sense. — The begin- ning of all sin is always at bottom a sin of neglect. — The two sides of piety : to praise God, and to thank Him. [TiLLOTSON : Vers. 18, 19. If it were only the wrath and displeasure of men that the sinner were exposed to, there might be reason enough for fear ; but the wrath and vengeance of men bears no com- parison with the wrath of God. Their arm is short, and their power small ; they may shoot their most poisonous arrows at us, and at last kill us ; but they cannot pursue us into the other world. But the wrath of God has none of these limits. — The fear of God^s wrath : Men may harden their foreheads, and conquer all sense of shame ; but they cannot perfectly stifle and subdue their fears. They can hardly so extinguish the fear of hell, but that some sparks of that fire will ever and anon be flying about in their consciences. — Sotjth (sermon on Natural Keligion without Revelation, sufficient to render a sinner inexcui^able (ver. 20) : I heartily wish that all young persons would lodge this one observation deep in their minds : That God and nature have joined wisdom and virtue by such a near cognation, or, rather, such an inseparable connection, that a wise, prudent, and honorable old age is seldom or never found but as the reward and effect of a sober, virtuous, and well-spent youth. — Scott : Even to this day, if any nations seem to be sunk into so entire a stupidity as to have no notions of a God remaining among them, this still more clearly proves, not man's want of rational powers, but his canial enmity to God and religion, through which he be- comes more and more the besotted and blind slave of Satan. — Clarke : Paul's purpose is to ^how : 1. That all the heathen nations are utterly corrupt, and 92 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. deserving of punishment; 2. that the Jews, not- withstanding the greatness of their privilege, were no better tiian the Gentiles. — Hodge : The folly and darkness of which the Apostle here speaks are ex- pressive of want of Divine knowledge, whieh is but the ell'ect and cause of moral depravity. — J. F. H.] Vebs. 22-32. Abandonment of the Gentile world : 1. Why did God abandon them ? a. Because they changed His glory into something transitory and corruptible ; 0. liis truth into a lie. 2. In what respect did God abandon them ? a. In pollution of the flesh and spirit; 0. in utter hardness of heart (vers. 22-32). — How dreadful to be abandoned by God ! Because 1. His Spirit departs ; 2. sin becomes punishment. — Has Paul described the moral pollution of the Gen- tile world in too dark colors ? No. For what tiie Apostle says is corroborated by witnesses from its very midst. 1. Of ancient times (Aristophanes, Horace, Juvenal) ; 2. of the present day (modern Hindu literature, &c.). — He who would describe sin, must be strengthened by looking up to God (ver. 25).— The heathen world of the present day is the name as that at the time of Paul, and therefore can be converted only by the same means (the gospel). — He who knows how to do good, and does not do it, sins (ver. 32). — What men are hardened ? Those who (1) know God's righteousness, (2) yet do what deserves death, and (3) are not contented to have pleasure in those who do it (ver. 32). LuTHKR : The real Epicureans are those who live as if there were no God ; who boast much, and •would have others boast of them that they are some- thing extraordinary, when they really are not (ver. 30). Starkk : It was a crime of pride, when they said, We are not so foolish (ver. 22). — To consider one's self wise and shrewd, and yet to possess foolish priiwipia^ is the greatest folly ; especially when ex- hibited by the world's wise men in published writings (ver. 22). — The wisest and most learned are often also the most perverted. — It is absolutely unreason- able to worship God under the image of a beast ; fur what king, prince, and honorable mifti would per- mit himself to be represented in the form of an ox, or hog (!). How much less can God be treated thus (ver. 23). — He who forsakes God, will be forsaken also by God (ver. 24). — The most direct path to athe- ism, is to regard God unworthy to l)e known (ver. 28). — Cxoodness goes gently, but evil goes violentlj', and will be host in the house. It foams and fer- ments like new wine (ver. 29). — Hedingkr : Sin is sometimes the punishment of sin (ver. 24). — Osian- DEii liihl. : Teachers and preachers must be careful to speak of sins against God and nature in such a way that those sins be prevented and guarded against, rather than learned and committed (ver. 20). — Cka- MKii : Altliough the neglect to know (Jod is regarded bj the world aa no sin, or, if a sin, the least of all, it is really a fountain of all sin, and, finally, of all the penalties consequent upon sin (ver. 28). Heubner : The ruin of the Gentile world is a warning for Christians : Aposttisy from the word of God induces similar aberrations at all times — a new though more refined heathenism (ver. 22).— God for- sakes only those who will not hear Him (ver. 24). — A wicked state of heart leads to absolute pleasure in wickedness itself (ver. 32). Besser : Unnaturalness follows from the deifica- tion of nature (ver. 27). Lange : The connection between religious and moral ruin is exhibited also in the world at the pres- ent time. — The barbarous disregard of the human person in all sexual sins, as often concealed beneath the most refined masks of culture, is closely con- nected with the irreligious disregard of the personal- ity of God and man. — A fundamental sanctification of the sexual relations can arise only from the vital knowledge of the dignity of personal life. — Sin tak. ing on the form of the devilish nature in wicked maxims. [Scott : Religion moderates and regulates natu- ral affections, but excess of depravity extinguishes them. It is a proof of more determined impiety for men to take pleasure in the company of the enemies of God, than to commit many crimes whilst the heart and conscience protest against them. — Clarke : We see what the world was, and what it would ever have been, had not God sent a divine revelation of His will, and established a public ministry to proclaim it. Were man left to the power and infiuence of his fallen nature, he would always be what tlie Apostle here describes as the condition of the Gentile world. — Comprehensive Comm. : No wickedness so hein- ous, but a reprobate mind will comply. Hodge (condensed) : 1. It is the very nature of sin to be inexcusable, and worthy of punishment ; 2. as the works of God reveal His eternal power and Godhead, we should accustom ourselves to see in them the manifestations of His perfections ; 3. the human intellect is as erring as the human heart ; 4. as the light of nature is insufficient to lead the hea- then to God and holiness, it is our obvious and urgent duty to send them the light of the Bible ; 5. sins of uncleanness are peculiarly debasing and de- moralizing ; 6. to take pleasure in those who do good, makes us better; as to delight in those who do evil, is the surest way to become even more de- graded than they are themselves. — Compare two ser- mons by R. South on llie Heinous Guilt of Taking Pleasure in Other Meu^s Sins ; and sermon by C. GiRni.ESTONE on Pleasure in the SiglU of Sin {^Paro- chial Sermons'). — J. F. H.] [Ver. 32. South (Sermon on the text): That sin (which sympathizes with and patronizes the sin- ner) is a pitch beyond all other sins, and such »n one as must nonplus the devil himself to proceed farther. It is the very extremity, the fulness, and the eon- eluding period of sin ; the last line and finishint stroke of the devil's image, drawn upon the soul of man. — P. S.J CHAPTER II. 1-16. 9S Third Section. — Gradual transition from the corrvption of the Gentiles to that of the Jews. The unt- versality of the corruption, and, with the universality of guilt, that worst con-uplion, the judgment of others. This ju:Igment is likewise judged by the continuance of a universal antagonism, within the univei-sal corruptioii, between piotis, earnest men, and obstinate rebels, both among Gentiles and Jews, in view of the righteous, impartial government of God by virtue of the coniinuat^ce of the universal legislation of God in the conscience. The revelation of the antagonism of loyal Gentiles and disloyal Jews on the day of the proclamation of the gospel. Chap. H. 1-16. 1 Therefore [Wherefore] thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest : for wherein thou judgest another [the other, thy neighbor, rov frf()OJ'], thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2 But we ai-e sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them 3 which [those who] commit such things. And [But] thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do [those who practise] such things, and doest the 4 same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering ; not knowing [not considering] that the goodness of God leadeth [is leading] thee to repentance ? 5 But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto [for] thyself N wrath against [in] the day of wrath * and revelation ' of the righteous judgment of God ; 6, 7 Who will render to every man according to his deeds : To them [those] who by patient continuance in well-doing [by endurance in good work] seek for glory and honour and immortality [^rfii he render, djroSoio-et, ver. e], eternal life : ^ 8 But unto them that [to those who] are contentious [self-seeking, or partisans], and do not obey [disobey] the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [shall be rendered] 9 indignation and wrath [wrath and indignation],* Tribulation and anguish, \omit ,] upon every soul of man that doeth evil [is working out to the end the evil, lov X a r eQya^ofi8i'ov to x«xoj'], of the Jew firsi, and also of the Gentile; 10 [Greek.] But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good [is working the good, ro) fQyatonho^ to dya&ov]., to the Jew first, and also to the 11 Gentile [Greek]. For there is no respect of persons' with [before] God. 12 For as many as have [omit have] sinned without law shall [will] also perish without law ; and as many as have [omit have] sinned in [under] the law shall 13 [will] be judged by the law ; [.] (For not the hearers of the law ° [of law] are just [righteous] before God, but the doers of the law [of law] shall [will] 14 be justified [declared righteous]. For when [whenever] the [omit the] ' Gentiles, which have not the law [Gentiles having no law, t&vi] ra fuj t6[iov f'xorrci], do ' by nature the things contained in the law [the things of the law, t« rov rofiov, i. e., the things pertaining to, or required by, the law], these, having not the laW [not having 15 (the) law, i>6fiov fitj fxavreg],^ are a law imto [to] themselves : Which [Who] shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another ;) [their thoughts between one another, or alternately, [leta^v dXh'p.ojv^ 16 accusing or also, ^ xaJ, excusing.] '" In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by [through] Jesus Christ according to my gospel. 1 Ver. 5.-r[e V iiiiipa opy^s, i. e., wrath which will he revealed in the day of wrath. It belongs to hpyfiv, not to >»)(ravpt'^ei?. The E. V. confounds iv with «is, which is inadmisgible, unless we take it as a conslructio in-eqnans, so that ev includes eij.— P. S.] ^ tr 7 ' Ver. 5.— (c ai after iiroKaXvyjieait is nowise sustained either by the Codd. or by the connection. [Probably inserted to relieve the number of geiiitives. Meyer : The (cot would make the sense : the appearance 0/ God and His righieoaa judgment. But the term aTroKdKvJiK toO 6tov is unusual. Paul speaks only of the anoK. Xai » 3 Ver. 7.— [On the different constructions see the Exeg. JVoles.—T. S.] * Ver. 8.— The rec. Bviib^ ttal bpyi}. [The reverse order is intrinsically preferable and sustained by t(. A. B. P ,• G': ,Vulg. Syr., &c., and adopted by the critical editors. The change in tiie construction from the » tcusativt 4rpof ^ and ir.— P. S.] * A'er. 13. — The article [before voijlov in both cases, which is found in the iext. rtrj] is 'wanting in A. B. D. E. [and in Cod. Sin., and is i>robably inserted to indicate tliat the written law of Moses is meant here. Nevertheless the article before low may be properly retained in the E. V. Alford proposes to omit the article before hearers, and ilners, since <>■ In both cases is generic, ot aKpoaToi vo/nov and ot woiT/Tal i-o/liov form properly one word : Gcselzishorcr, GisilzeslUdler, law-hearers, law-doers. — P. S.] ' Ver. 14. — [edvri, not ra e9vr). The omission of the article is important to avoid the appearance of conBiot with the general moral depravity of the heathen, as taught i. 22 ff. — P. S.] * Ver. 1-1. — [Dr. Lange translates . 'Yion '//"ti, and so renders the force of the subjunctive n o n"i j ex. ; the first denies the possession of the low, the second the ^-ossession of ihe law. This difference can perhaps best be rendered in English by : lioving nn law, and, 7wl havivg llie /at?. — P. S.l '" Ver. la. — [The inward monitor of the heathen condemns or acquits their moral conduct. The xai after jj is con- cessive, and implies that thi' acquittal is the CJ.ception, the condemnation the rule, /nerafu aAA^Aiov must not be separated, and ixerafu is to be tikon not as adverb, as in the E. V., but as preposition, inhr .te, between one another, iiixnrem, allernalehj ; comp. Acts xv. 9 : SieVptve ij.eTa(u r]ij.C>v re koX avrdv ; Slatt. xviii. l.i : fierofu aou xal auToO. The aAA^A(oi< may ri'fcr either to the edvT], as the pioneding ainiav (Meyer, Lange), or to the following riiv iioAoyKr^wi', i. «., thought against thought in inner strife.' See Exyg. Xntes. Omit the parenthesis vers. 13, 14, and 15 (E. V'.), or of 14 and 1.) (Lachmann, Meyer), which only disturbs the connection. See Excg. JS'oies on ver. 16. — P. S.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Summari/. — These are the parts of this highly important section : 1. Every judgment pronouticcd on another becomes the self-condemnation of tlie one judging ; for he is in the same condemnation with the one who is judged by him. Herein the sin of the Jews is already presupposed (vers. 1-5). 2. The righteousness of God is exalted above all par- tial righteousness ; and in its retribution it distin- guishes between men who earnestly long after right- eousness, and those who obstinately resist ; between men who constantly look toward things eternal, and those whose princii)le of life is contentioti and party spirit (vers. 6-11). This opposition constitutes a higher ideal and dynamic opposition between pious and ungodly people above the historical antagonism of Jews and Gentiles, and independently of it, so that, on the day of the declaration of the gospel, Jews may appear as Gentiles, and Gentiles as Jews (vers. 12-16). First Paraoeaph, vers. 1-5. Ver. 1. Wherefore thou art inexcusable. It maybe asked, To what docs r) k'i , wherefore, refer? 1. To the fundamental thought of the whole section of chap. i. 18-32 (Meyer, and others). 2. i)i.6 refers back to the (iixnlntiia in ver. 32 (Dc Wettc, Phili|)pi I Alford, Hodgi;]). 3. iVio points y)rolepti- cally to the sins of the Jews (Hengel, Tholuck). We need hardly mention BuUinger's explanation : It is coutiniialiimis parfa-uln ; prcvtn-ea. We here find a definite reference to chap. i. 32. The otnvn;. indi- cates diielly the climax of Gentile corruption ; but Gentile and Jewish corruption meet together at this climax. Getitile corru|)iii)n culminates in the ap- proval of evil, and Jewisii in judging. But their common corruption is the perfect moral self-contra- diction : sin against better knowleilge and conscience. Therefore « i' an n ).o y tjT n i , inexcusable, are not merely those wIk) contriliute aid to evil-doers, but those al.-o who pronounce sentence on tluni. In Other words, not the (Ko, but ver. 32 is proleptic, especially in connection with the avthiifiovn; in ver. 31. ' O man, whosoever thou art. To whom is thin address directed 'i 1 To the GtntilfS. csDecially Gentile authorities (Chrysostom) ; their better-mind- ed ones (Olshausen, Melanchtlion) ; their philoso- phers (Clericus). 2. The Jews (De Wette, Kiickert, and others). Meyer : " Judging the Gentiles as rejected by God {Midr. TiUin 'f. 6, 3 ; Vhdubb. f. 3, 2. &c.) was a characferisticmn of the Jews. [Alford: The Jew is not yet named, but hinted at. — P. S.] 3. All men, without distinction (Beza, Calovius). 4. All men, but with a special reference to the Jews (Tholuck).* The last interpretation must be ren- dered more definite by the consideration that the merciless among Jews and Gentiles are meant. But, in reality, every one is meant who makes him.self gtiilty of condemnatory judgment (for this is the sense of x^x'rfu', here, as in Matt. vii. 1 ; xxv. 35). See vt!rs. 9, 10. The Gentiles, too, were heartless judges. We need call to mind only Roman politics. Tholuck recalls the corruption of Jewish life at that time imder Ilerod, and even among their scribes. — '/?!' i<) , ■wherein, is explained in ver. 21 .sqq., and hence must not be understood as instrumental, by which mrans, wherebi/ ; still less eodem tempore quo, at the time when (Kollner), but in that wherein, in the matter in whieh (Luther [E. Y., ^leyer, Alford], and others). [Thou that judgest doest the same things, Trt yci(t avrn niinctan^i; o x(iiviov. rncliaritable judging is itself a grave olfence against the law wiiicl) enjoins humility and charity as the very soul of virtue and piety. Besides, even the most moral men carry in themselves tlie seed of all vices, and if kept from open transgression, it is either by the grace of God j)reventing them, or by (Pimri- saie arid Stoic) pride, which is itself a sin against God, the sin of Satan and the fallen angels. — P. S.] Tlie addition of 6 -/.(jiviov, "with reproachful ex- pression " (.Meyer). Ver. 2. But we are sure, Ou^antv. Who? 1. The Jews, as knowers of the law (Rosenmiiller, and others). f 2. Universal human knowledge (Riick- * [.'Similarly TTodpc : Though from what follows it ia plain that tlie Jews are here intended, yet the proposition IS made treneral. Wordsworth : I'aul uses d»'9p;)', a(f'{y. ; and ttixoTau with LMtjv aiMviov [i. e., " Who will give glory, honor, and immortality to those who, by patience in good works, seek eternal The good only are saved, and the wicked only are con- demned. * * * The wicked will be punished on account of their works, and according to their works ; the ritrhteoue will be rewarded, not on account vi, but according to their works. Good works are to them the evidence of their be- longing to that class to whom, for Christ's sake, eternal life is graciously awarded ; and they are in some sense and to some extent, the measure of that reward. But it is more pertinent to remark, in the second place, that the Apostle is not here teaching the method of justification, but is lay- ing down those general principles of justice, according to which, irrespective of the got-pel. all men are to be judged, lie is expounding the law, not the gospel. Anil as the law not only says that death is the wages of sin, but also that those who keep its precepts shall live by them, so the Apos- tle says, that God will punish the T\'icked and reward the righteous. This is perfectly consistent with what he after- wards teaches, that there are none righteous; that there are none who so obey the law as to be entitled to the life which it promises ; and that foi' such the gospel provides a plan of justification without works, a plan for saving those whom the law condenms. He is here combating the false hopes of the Jews, who, though trusting to the law, were by the principles of the law exposed to condemnation. This he does to drive them from this false dependence, and to show them that neither Jew nor Gentile can be justified before the bar of that God, who, while He promises eternal life to the obedient, has revealed His purpose to punish the dis- obedient. All, therefore, that this passage teaches is, that irrespective of the gospel, to those who either never heard of it, or who having heard, reject it, the jirinciple ef judg- ment will be law." This is a combination of the interpre- tation of Tholuck with that of Olshausen, eniunerated above as Nos. 1 and 2. Stuart : " There is some real goodness in the works of the sanctified ; and this will be rewarded, im- perfect as it is, not on the ground of law, but on the ground of grace." Very unsatisfactory. T)r. Wordsworth says not a word on this difficulty, but gives a long extract from Je- rome's work against Pelagius in explanation of ver. ^4 — P. S.] 98 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. life] ; 2. Reiche [Ewald] : rou; /liv [to the one] xa'/ vTtoiiovriV loyor ayaO-ov Aoinv xai Tt/f^ft' nat aif ftafjfjiav (ctnof^iiicfn) — ^^/Torffn' t^oi^/v aldh viov ["ZiiTmrtiv as ai)positioii to Tofg /<«']. 3. Ben- gel [Kritzsclie] and others: toTi;,- //ti' /.a^f vnoft. i^>ynv «j'«.9-or (ocffn'), i)6;av, &C. u/Torffu' — '^lo/jv aio'iriov {a7io<)<>i(Tn.) [i. e., to those who pei"severe in good work, seeking glory, &e., He mill give eternal lift;] ). Beza suggests still another and very dog- matic construction : Qui secundum pnlienlem cxsptc- tationem quceritnt boni operis gluriam. Our con- struction has most expositors in its favor [Vulgate, Calvin, (-rrotius, Tholuck, Olshauscn, De Wette, Mey- er, Pliilippi, Alford, Hodge, &c.] ; also the clear- ness of the parallel, in conseqnence of which, right- eous retribution constitutes the conclusion both times. — 'Ynofiovt'i, not patience, but jursevera/i- tia (Erasmus). "Efiyov, not collectively (Tholuck [Hodge] ), but dynamically. [The singular indicates the general course and habit of life, or the moral character as a unit, as distinct from isolated resolu- tions and actions, comp. Gal. vi. 4 ; 1 Thess. i. 3 ; James i. 4, &c. The E. V., palient continuance in well-doing, though not literal, is well expressed. — P. S.] y/6i«, tint], a(fi 0-a(>tTici, are the phases of the manifestation of the L.i,)fj aim'ioi; for those who liave from afar been striving for salvation. The matter is inverted in the case of believers : Power of life, worth of life, glory of life* Tholuck's re- mark is strange, that " the Apostle characterized here the striving of the better class of unbelievers in such a manner as he could hardly expect to find it by any possibility among them." But Paul had become ac(iuaintcd with such men as Gamaliel, Ser- gius Paulus, Gallio, and others. Ver. 8. But to those vrho are self-seeking partisans. f [Literally, t/iose of self-seeking — a periplirase of the subject, indicating the origin {ix, out of as from a root) and moral character ; comp. ot Ix voitor, the legalists ; oi ix nimKix;, the be- lievers ; oi ix TTf^iiro,"/^,-, the circumcised, &c., and the cognate use of v'uti and ri/.va. — P. S.]. On iQi,&tin, compare Tholuck and Meyer. We must not, with the elder commentators, derive it from i^itirt or t()t<; [from which it is distinguished, 2 Cor. xii. 20 ; Gal. v. 20. — P. S.], and therefore not iden- tify it with qii/.nvuxia, '■ontenfinusness (Vulgate : Qui sunt ex contcniinnc, die Slreitsiir/itigen) ; but it comes from iVn.9o?, a hhreling ; i(ti,Stv(», to work for wa les, to act selfislily. Its first meaning is greediness, then trickerii, partisanship. Aristotle, Polit. V. 2, 3, &c. ; see Fritzsclie, Excursus on Rom. ii.J Meyer : " The latter signification [Rdnkesucht, • [Tholuck makes B6(a the condition, ri^iij the reco(!7ii- tion, a'f>dap(7(a the unbroken continunnci^ of the blessed- ness of the saints. Hodge : The maniffsted excidlenco or splendor of the future oondifion is expressed by 5o£a, the honor due such excellence by rifi^, and the endless nature of bleoscdnesj tiy a.4i9ap/ . The histori- cal form of the judgment pronounced on the self- seeking party sjiirit is therewith intimated ; ofiyn and Oviioi; of the party 8[)irit are judged by o^^yi; and {yi'/io.; of an opposite kind ; and therein the oQyi^ and Or/ioi; of the Lord are revealed. (See the history of the destruction of Jerusalem, Matt, xviii. 33, 34). — [The majority of philologists and commentators make ooyt; express the permanent feeling and settled disijosition (comp. John iii. 36 ; the wrath of (Jod ahideth on him) ; O^riio';, the mo- mentary impulse or actual outbreak of wrath on the day of judgment. Ammon. : Oiuo^ 7T(JO(Txai(iOi;, 6(>yii TTo/.i/fjorim;. O^rnoi; {Gcniiilh) is the mind as the seat oi' the emotions, and hence denotes vehe- ment affection, anger, fury. According to the cor- rect reading, it fitly follows after OQy'h "•"' ''* execu- tion and outbreak ; irce excandcscentia (Cicero, Tusc, same meaning as fpis, party-strife, faction, conietUum.— P. S.) • [The chance of construction is a delicate adjustment in the Greek, to express the nice distinction that (iod is di- rectly the Author aud (liver of eterniil life, Imt not strictly and primiinly of etcrniil ]>UMishment, which is the necessary rcsvut of the sinner's own conduct. A simibir distinrtion is intended by the chanije of construction from the lutiva nporfToinajjtv to the piussive KarripTKru^va, )lom. ix. '21, 23 : The vessels of nu-rcv Ood Himself lnvl ft./.u-c pr-pirrd unto fflory, but the vessefs of wrath ii if _/!//<•>/, orhiive fitted tbem< selves, for perdition. Comp. Texlual ^olc *.— P. 3.] CHAPTER II. 1-16. 99 W. 9). " oQyt'i is the heat of the fire ; &viii6<; is the bursting forth of the fame." — P. S.] Ver 9. Tribulation and angiiish (5;.^^/'^c,• reel (Trfvo/u)^in). Vers. 9 and 10 repeat the same thouglit of retribution, but in greater precision and increased force : 1. The retribution of evil and good does not merely stand as the limit at the close, but it is ordained from the beginning, and follows man like a shadow ; 2. it does not only overtake all in general, but will visit every individual ; 3. it reaches to the soul ; 4. it comes also as punitive retribution, first to the Jews, and then to the Gen- tiles. The same may be said also of the reward of the righteous. Punishment goes from without in- wardly ; the external tribvilation, or oppression, becomes an internal angiiish, or agony, from which the burdened soul knows no escape.* — Every soul of man [ DTX ttJE?"b3]. Wn/tj is not merely a circumlocution of av9-(io>noi; (according to Grotius, Fritzsche). [It expresses the idea that the soul, and not the body, is to suffer the penalty, according to Riickert, Meyer, Fritzsche. But xi'v/i^ rather de- notes the whole person, as in chap. xiii. 1. — P. S.] That worketh out the evil. The narfQ- yai^o/drov must be regarded as a strong form. It is the consistent consummation. [Alford : " y.arfo- ydLotiai, to conimit, is more naturally used of evil, while i(jyd^ofiai,, to work, is used indiff'erently of both good and evil." But xaTf^ydi^Kiflai, is also used of the good ; v. 3 ; xv. 18 ; Phil. ii. 12. As distinct from the simple i()'/d^i:(TOat,, it signifies, to work onf, to bring to an end, to consummate. Comp. Meyer on Rom. i. 27 (p. 77).— P. S.] Ver. 10. But glory and honor and peace. Instead of d6 of the German, p. 85 of the Amer. ed.l. Even the punishment, ac- cording to the classical use of the term, becomes a bixfuovv, because the punished one, by punishment, becomes again conformable to the ()<'x»/. According to Meyer, the Apostle has here only set forth the fundamental law of God judging in righteousness. According to Fhilippi, the tic itjrni Tor rd/ioi' are here only placed sis the true rule, in opposition to the false rule of the Jews, that the cixooaTai Tor j'o/ioi' should be just before God, apart from the ipiestion whether there are such 7Joi,rjai ; but » the whole argument of the Epistle to the Romans proves, that no man is by nature such a 7roi.»;T/;(,- rov voitov. This construction does not coincide with vers. 14 and 15. We should rather observe here the deeper idea of nmnv [t(<}'cci.'f(Tflat to ayct!)ov'\ in ver. 10, and of vo/ini; in ver. 14 ; and, at the same time, with Tersleegen's view of God's different tribunals, we must acknowledge that the Apostle can also use here the dixaioTv in the wider sense. Comp. 1 Cor. iv. 4. The connection of this passage with the fol- lowing verses cannot be destroyed by a dogmatizing exegesis.* • [On the mcaningof the terms Sucax6a>, SiKaioKrn, 8iui.v. 2. I'hilippi : The Apostle refers to the first half of ver. 13. "Not the hearers of the law are just before God, for the Gentiles have also a law ; the Gentiles are also a>!(*octTrtt Tor vofior." But this was not the ciise in the opinion of the Ajiostle. 3. According to Meyer, he refers to the second half of ver. 13. " The Gen- tiles possess a certain substitute for the Mosiiic law. Therefore they are also subject to the rule : o» Tioi-t-T. roft. (yi.xaKi).9v;ffoi'Tfa." But the fundamen- tal rule is adduced only hypothctically by tiie Apos- tle, and not in the sense that the Gentiles actually are doers of the law. The deduction of vers. 14 and 15 will evidently establish the proposition of ver. 10, " But glory, honor," &c., and " also to tht Greek," after vers. 12 and 13 have established the proposition of ver. 9. 77ie fundamental thouriht ia, that also the Gentiles can obta'n eternal life; for it was not necessary that he should first prove this in reference to the Jews. This thought is mediated neither by the first half of ver. 13 alone, nor by the second alone, but by the whole rule : Not the hear- ers of the law are already just before God, but the doei-s of the law, in the sense of ver. 7. The LtjToTvTfi;, as poor in spirit, who are penitent, shall be justified in the new economy of salvation. — ^Tor when. oTMV "supposes a case whose fVeiiuent occurrence is possible : in case when, whenever, as often as" (Meyer [who refers to Kiihner, ii. p. 635 f., and Matthias p. 1105]). — Gentiles, t/yvtj, without the article. The rule might refer, as hypo- thelically expressed, to the whole body of the Gen- tiles (according to De Wette, Reiche [Philippi, Al- ford, Hodge], and others) ; but iis it is too evident from the first chapter that this case did not really occur, there is very properly no article ; and the supposition that there is really " an election " of inifly ; that is, are declared to bo free from coudemnatlon, and entitled to the favor of Ood. In obvious allasion to the opii.ion, that heiuR a Jew wa.f cnoiiKh to Bccure admis- sion to lienveii, the .Apostle says, It is n.)t the hearers but thr liners of llir Inw that are justified. Ho Is not speaking of the method of justiflcatiim available for sinneis, as re- vealed in the Kospel, Imt of the principles of justice which will be applied to all who look to tlio law for justification. If men rely on works, they must have works; they must bo doors of the law; they must satisfy its demaiuU, if thoy nro to he justified by It. For Ood is just and impartial ; ]{« will, OS a judce adniiniHteriiip; the law, judpo every man, not nccoidinif to his privilenes, but BccordiiiR to his works and the knowledge of duty which Iio has possessed. On thofla principles, it Is his verv desijtn to show that no flesh li\'ing can be justified." Similarly Melanchthon : " Hiex- dftcriptit fsl jiisliliir lf(ji.<. rnitr nihil imprilil iilin ilictii ilr jiiililiit fiiUi." But the real (lilllciilty consist.s in the apparent contlict of I'aul's iliiclrine of ju.stiflcation by j-race alone through faith, and his iloctrine oil judKiuont by works, as taught not only hero from the staiKlpoiiiO .)f the law, but elsewhero from th« stJiudpoint of tho cospcl aa well, 2 Cor. v. 10 ; llom. xiv. 10 j Oal. vi. 7 ; Eph. vi. 8 ; Col. ili. 21, 25 ; Matt. xii. 36; xxv. 31 -4() ; Jotrn v. 20. Comp. tho oomments on ver. 6, p. S6 ff -v. S.l CHAPTER II. 1-16. 101 such Gentiles thereby gains greater probability. [Conip. Meyer m loc, and Hofmann, Sc/iriftbeweis, i. p. bGl, who likewise press the absence of the arti- cle, and justly reject the reference to iii. 29 ; ix. 30 ; 1 Cor. i. 23 (quoted by De Wette, Alford, and Hodge, in favor of the other view). On the other hand, tO^v^ is not identical with if)ri.y.ni, but indi- cates a species or class of Gentiles. — P. S.] Who have no law, r a /< ij vofiov iyovta. The absence of the article means not only that they have not the Mosaic law, but that they have no re- vealed religious law whatever. — Do perchance by- nature. By nature {(pvan,) must not, with Bengel and Usteri, be referred to the preceding. For also the Jews do not have the law 6,y nature. Nature is here the original nature, as it proves itself active, especially in the noble few — in the impulse or ten- dency toward the noble. — The things of the law. It is the material substance of the leligious and moral law, apart from tlie formal definitions of the Mosaic code. The exposition of Beza and others is dogmatizing: Quae lex facit {J ex juhet, coniimc/f, dainnat, puiiit ; hoc ipsuni facit et ethnicus^i &c. ; Cappell). [Hodge : " There are two misinterpreta- tions of the phrase ra rov vofov novtiv. The one is, that it means, to fulfil the law ; the other, to do the office of the law — i. e., to command and forbid. The former is unnecessary, and is in direct opposition to the express and repeated declaration of the Apos- tle, that none, whether Jew or Gentile, have ever fulfilled the law. To do the things of the law, is indeed to do what the law prescribes (comp. x. 5 ; Gal. iii. 12) ; but whether complete or partial obedi- ence is intended, depends upon the contest. The man who pays his debts, honors his parents, is kind to the poor, does the things of the law, for these are things which the law prescribes. And this is all the argument of the Apostle requires, or his known doc- trine allows us to understand by the phrase, in the present instance. This being the case, there is no need of resorting to the second interpretation men- tioned above, which was proposed by Beza, and adopted by Wetstein, Flatt, and others. Though TiouJv to. rov voflov might mean to do what the law does, prescribe what is good, and forbid what is evil, it certainly has not that sense elsewhere in Paul's writings — see x. 5 ; Gal. iii. 12 — and is espe- cially out of place here, in immediate connection with the phrase noitjrai toP i6,((oi', in the sense of the doers of the law." — P. S.] These, not having (the) law, are a law to themselves, ovtoi, is emphatic with approba- tion, voiiov fi'tj I'/orTfc;, in distinction from uri vo.iiov 'd/ovra, indicates want. Meyer : Their own moral nature supplies in them tlie place of the revealed law (see the classical parallels in Meyer). Philippi distinguishes between rov v6/tov nouiv [ver. 13, or tov vo/iov Tfblr, ver. 27] and ra rov vofiov novnv. They perform what belongs to the law ; they observe only simile outward commands of the law^, one man this, another that. " Therefore they do not observe the law in its spirituality or deep inner meaning." * An utter perversion of the proper relation. Without knowing the laws of Moses, they observe the essential part of the law, ra (iixauoftara Tof' v6/iov. Ver. 26, rov v6/wv riXovvrft;, that is, performing it according to its defined purpose, ver. 27. • * [Fcibes, p. 148, fully adopts this distinction of Philippi, and (hinks it essential to the proper undcrstaudiEg of the wholi passage. — P. S.] Ver. 15. Who shew, &c. Oirtrft; is no " exjilaining or proving," but ernphnsizinff, recorn' / mending (see the antithesis in ver. 1). WJiat and how do these prominent Gentiles show ? They show, or exhibit, the w^ork of the law ; that is, the woik required by the law. Not the law itself (Wolf. Koppe, &c.) ; for the Ten Commandments are not formally written in their heart, but the essential meaning of their requirement. Meyer: "The con. duct currcupoiidinci to the law." More pioperly ex. pressed, the conduct ititendedhy \i. Luther: Tht contents of the law ; likewise Seller and Baur. Ac- cording to Meyer and Tholuck, the singular stands collectively instead of ifjya. " As ver. 7 " (Tho- lu(tk). But ver. 7 rather means that the i(jya are only good when they proceed from the unity of a vTTo/iorij tiiyov ayaOov. In the higher aspiration of the Gentile there was this analogy to Christian faith : that it consisted really in the unity and con- sistency of sentiment and life. Written in their hearts. The adjective yqanrov (supply or) is .stronger than the parti- ciple yhy(JUfiiiivov. [It implies the idea of perma- nency.] Evidently a contrast to the Mosaic record ^ of the law on the tables of stone. See 2 Cor. iii. 7 ; Jcr. xxxi. 33. Therefore a higher order of Judaism, similar to the New Testament life, is exhibited in ita essential features in these chosen Gentiles (see the history of the Centurion at Capernaum). [The Greek poet Sopliocles speaks of " the unwritten and indeli- •ble laws of the gods" in the hearts of men ; and the , Platonic philosopher Plutarch speaks of " a law which is not outwardly written in books, but im- planted in the heart of man." — P. S.] Who shew, ivSi-lxvvvrai,. And how do they exhibit or prove this ? (see chap. ix. 17, 22.) 1. By the doing of the law (Zwingli, Grotius, and the majority of recent commentators ; De Wette, Meyer). 2. By the mark of their better flv ia neither equal to /ia(jrr()nv (Grotius, Tholuck), nor wia tistari, with reference to the novflv ra rov voft. (Meyer, Fritzsche, &c.). But the avr, like con in con. teie the witnesses; the object of the zar/yj-fi^^n'i', or ci/To/oyf r, jl »r tw xomrio 'iorfVarot,-. lie says tnni — not merely the Gentilix — because the gospel, according to chaps, ix.-xi., mnnifests (Jod's judgment not only on the (ieiitiles, l)Ut also on the .lews; and this is a judg- ment pronoinueil on their internal good conduct or misconduct toward tho internal nature and spirit of * (Wordswortli also ailopts this connection with ver. 15, nnd (|U"tos liiiin Bisho]! IViirson (.\rt. VII. on tho Crcii): " Conxcifncc is ii witness liounil over to k\\v testimony for or aK:iinst us at sonic judgment after this life to pnsH upon U.S." — 1'. .'^ 1 t (So do tho editioiig of Orieshach and Knupp ond th« E. v., who parenthesize vers. Vi, 14, 19.— P. S.J CHAPTER II. 1-16. 108 the law. In this relation the gospel of the Apostle was the real medium and measure of the judgment (sec 1 Cor. i. 18); and Jesus Christ was the real judicial authority. See John iii. 16 ; Acts xvii. 30, 31 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5, and other places. — On the day of the promulgation of the gospel the better Gentiles manifested their ordination to salvation, just as the majority of the Jews made manifest their hardness of lieart. [According to my gospel. The /lov is to be either understood, ratione ministerii (Calvin, Meyer), or better, the gospel oi free grace for the uncircumcision , which was especially committed to Paul, as the gospel for the circumcision was to Peter, Gal. ii. 7. The same expression occurs Rom. xvi. 25, 26. — Through Jesus Christ, as the ap- pointed Judge of the world ; Acts xvii. 30, 31 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5 ; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; Matt. xxv. 31 ; John v. 27, &c. While y.arcc to fvayyihov fiov favors Dr. Lange's interpretation of iv rjni^a, the di,a ^ItjO. Xq. seems to refer rather to the future judgment ; yet Christ has His hand in all the preparatory judg- ments of the history of the Church. — P. S.] DOCTRrNAL KST> ETHICAL. 1. The common characteristic in the condem- nable condition of the Gentiles and Jews is their religious and moral self-contradiction. In this self- contradiction Paul (chap. i. 21) discovers the be- ginning of the offence of the Gentiles, whom he represents as inexcusable («)'a;7o/.oy;/Toi't,). The same self-contradiction is consummated, on one side, in the man who approves sin against better knowl- edge and conscience (chap. i. 32,), and, on the other side, in the man who condemns the sinner, and yet is guilty of weighty offences liimself (chap. ii. 1). Therefore the expression inexcusable {avunoloytj- Toc) is also repeated here. The judgment of God is ever also a self-judgment of man. See Matt. xii. 37 ; xviii. 23 ; xxv. 26, 27. In the one who judges, the self-contradiction is completed as falsehood of the inner life in the very strongest degree. The sincere man, on the other hand (we can by no means speak of sincerity as absolute, but yet as gradually pre- dominating), by looking into his own heart and life, arrives at that /la/.Qo&vftia, in relation to human sin and misery, which is akin to compassion, and points not to the judgment of condemnation, but to the saving judgment of the gospel. 2. The condemnatory judgment pronounced by the sinner on the sinner does not only condemn him in form, but transposes him al-so actually to a con- dition similar to condemnation. Fanaticism is never more unhappy than when it would compel, by meas- ures of deceit and violence, those who think differ- ently to adopt its pretended forms of happiness (James ii. 13). 3. The one who judges, says Paul (vers. 3, 4), has always a false idea of God. He either regards himself as the favorite of a partial God, on account of His conformity to theocratical, ecclesiastical, or legal forms, or he is inwardly vicious and wicked, and despises the real manifestations of God (see Ps. 1. 16-21). An atheistic element is common to both classes. 4. The long-suffering of God, or the forbearance of God's justice toward the sinner, stands in recipro- cal action with the wrath of God. Both denote the polar antagonism in the government of absolute jus- tice, which is no rule of abstract law, but has a liy ing, pedagogic form corresponding to the relation o) the Divine personality to the human personality See vay Positive IJoymatics,^. 119. God's forbear ance and clemency, no less than His wrathful judg- ment, looks to the working of repentance. 5. The unbeliever and hardened one, by his owt deeds, transforms the works of God's fbibearanoe and goodness into the preliminary conditions of Hia wrathful judgment, and accumulates for himself, out of the riches of God which he has experienced, a store of destruction. 6. The day of the rejected gospel is to man a day of inward judgment, as is proved by the de- struction of Jerusalem. See the Exey, Notes on ver. 5. But all judgments are prophecies and pre- ludes of the last day of wrath. It is a nari-ow view, to suppose that the conception of historical peiiods excludes epochs, or that single epochs exclude the final catastrophe. This may also be applied to the idea of judgments. Just because the world's history is the world's judgment, the former pursues its course toward the latter. 7. The embarrassments of commentators on the sense of vers. 6-10 give evidence of timid and nar- row views on the doctrine of justifcation. The passage gains its true light from the biblical doc- trine that there is a gratia prteveniens over the Gen- tile world, which even Augustine did not yet wholly ignore, but which, through his influence, was loat siglit of in the orthodox theology of the Middle Ages, and, indeed, of more recent times. The seek- ers who are portrayed in vers. 7 and 10 will never think seriously of relying upon their works before God, because they are in a gravitation toward the Eternal, which will find rest only when they see God in Christ, either in this or the other world. But the opposite class — whose principle of life is party spirit, and reliance upon temporal association — will ever place their confidence in their own achievements, even when they vigorously reject the doctrine of the meritoriousness of good works. For, besides the righteousness of works ( Werkgerecfttigkeit), there is also a righteousness of doctrine, of orthodoxy {ZeJir- gerechtigkeit), a righteousness of the letter [Biich- stabevge echiigkeit), a righteousness of negation and protest {Negationsgvrechtigkeit), which have, in com- mon with the righteousness of works, the fimda- mental characteristic of party righteousness {Fartei- gerechiigkeii), and may be the more dangerous forms as they are the more subtle. On the salvation of the heathen, comp. Tholuck, Comm., pp. 92 ff. — The doctrine of justification cannot conflict with the doc- trine of God's righteousness, by virtue of which He will reward every man according to his works. 8. Glory and honor and immortality — precious pearls ; eternal life — the goodly pearl. See Matt, xiii. 45, 46. 9. It is the character of all party spirit to be a rebel upwardly against the royal right of truth, and, on the other hand, a slave downwardly to the tyran nical and terrifying spirit of party. 10. Because God, as the Righteous One, looks at the substance of personal life. He does not regard the person according to its external and civil concep- tion, nor according to its external appearance and estimate. 11. In ver. 12, different degrees of punishment are evidently indicated. See the Uxeg. NoUs. 12. On jytzatorv, comp. the Exeg. Notes on ver. 13 [also i. 17, and iii. 21-31]. Likewise th< 104 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Bible- ]\'orfi: ou James ii. 20 ff. Since 6\y.aio'n', even accordinfj to the idea of iiuikifuf jun/, can only mean to diclare just, because the (|Ucstioii is always con- cemiiig jiisiiticatiou in some lejial tribunal, the sup- posed exceptions where lytxaiori- in the Scriptures is made to signify fo make Jusf, should be investi- gated anew. The passage, Isa. liii. 2, can really not Otherwise be explained, than that He will, by virtue of his knowledge as the righteous servant of God, declare many just ; and this because He shall bear their ini'juities. The passage in Daniel, chap. xii. 3, must by all means be explained thus : Tliat the sub- ject is tlie judgment of the worhl, in which, accord- ing to the biblical representation, the righteous shall t;ike part (1 Cor. vi. 2) ; and even if ■'i;?"'^ST? refers to this life, it no more means one who makes just, than CS^Sw'S means one who makes wise. The reading, dixuniiOi'iTiii, Rev. xxii. 11, cannot be sustained against the more strongly credited render- ing, i)i.y.ato(ri'vtjv TToK/ffaTo). See more on this sub- ject ad chap. iii. 26. 13. On the occurrence of a fnljihient of the law atno)tf/ the Gentiles, see Tlioluek, pp. 101, 102. The author, following the older theologians, very justly opposes Flacianism [i. c, that .sin is a substance, a revival of the old Maniehaian heresy, by Flacius lUyricus, the editor of the Magdeburg Centuries, and a Lutheran controversialist of the 16th century. — P. S.]. To speak of virtues of the heathen, is liable to misunderstanding, unless we mean thereby a search after the Infinite. As heathen virtues, they can only be virtues of progress toward poverty in spirit (Matt. v. 3), under the guidance of the r/rutia prcBuenieiis, or fundamental forms of the develop- ment of a desire after salvation. The attempt, in Rothe's Etliik, part ii. p. 398 [1st ed.], to explain this class of virtues, is not very clear. 14. The three objective forms of seeking higher attainments in the (fentUc world are : The state, as the expression of the search after righteousness in the conscience, or in the will ; philosophy, as the expression of the search for an intelligent comprc- hension of the truth ; and art, as the expression of the search for ideal contemplation, and the represen- tation of life by means of the sentiments. 15. The three subjective forms of search for hiffher aitainments in the Gentile world are : 1. Wnrks of maffiuinimiti/. 2. The conscience, espe- cially the dieerful impulses of the moral conscious- nes-s. " When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." 3. An intercourse of m rnl jttdgine -fs, of either an excusing or accusing charac- ter. [Bishop Sanderson, as quoted by Wordswortii : Paul teaches here (ver. 15) tliat even/ man, however unholy, has a conscience, though depraved ; and that, at the fall of man, conscience itself was not lost, but its rectitude and integrity were impaired ; and that, when we are bom again in baptism, we do not receive the infusion of another conscience, but our conscience, which was before unclean, is wa.shed hy the blood of Christ, and is cleansed by faith, and is enliglitened by the Holy Sjjirit, in order that it may pleime (Jod. — P. S.] 16. On the day of the crisis which the goSpel brings to pass, it will appear that many fientiles are really Jews, and that many Jews are really Gentiles. Likewise, many Christians of the Middle Agi'S were essentially believers of evangelical truth, while many ao-called evangelical persons whose righteousness OODsisls of works, and others whose righteousness consists of doctrines, and still others whose right- eousness consists of their Protestantism, are, after all, only Roman Catholics at heart. Ideal dynamica. antitheses, which the day of the Lord will bring to light, predominate over the hi.-!torical antitheses, which possess very great significance. Ou the daj mentioned here, see the Sjceg. Notes. nOMILETICAI, AND PRACTICAL. God's impaitial righteousness is shown : 1. He does not give preference to the Jews, although they possess the law ; 2. He is not prejudiced against the Gentiles, although they are without the law ; but, 3. of one, just as of the other. He asks whether they have done good or evil (vers. 1-16). — Because oth- ers are black, we do not become white (ver. 1).^ Judging our neighbor is the worst depravity, be- cause : 1. We are blind toward ourselves ; 2. we are unjust toward our fellow-men (ver. 1). — By our judgment of otlier?^ we fall under the judgment of God pronounced on ourselves (ver. 3). — Wliat does the celebration of a day of fa.sting and prayer re- quire us to do ? 1. Not to de-spise the riches of God's goodness, patience, and forbearance ; but rather, 2. to remember that His goodness should lead us to repentance (ver. 4). — God's goodness re- garded as tiie pure source of reiieiitanee (ver. 4). — Treasure not up unto thyself wi'ath against the day of wrath (ver. 5). — Dies irce, dies ilia, solvit scecla in favilla (vers. 5, 6). — What will God give to every man according to his works? 1. To some, glory and honor and immortality, together with precious peace ; 2. to otiiers, indignation and wrath, tribula- tion and anguish (vers. 6-11). — What it is to continue patientli/ in roell-doinq for eternal life (ver. 7). — God's indignation! 1. Not unmerited, but de.*erved ; 2. not temporary, but eternal (ver. 8). — God's wrath : holy displeasure, not unholy anger. — No one is without law. For, 1. God has given His law to the Jews by Moses ; 2. he has written the substance of it upon the hearts of the Gentiles (vers. 12-16). — The uni- versal revelation of God in the conscience (vers. 14, 15). — The conscience, and human thouglits in their relation to each other. This relation is such, that, 1. The witness of the former testifies of the work of the law ; 2. the latter, in the presence of such witness, accuse or excuse one another (vers. 14, 15). — Iinpo-isibility of preaching the gospel among the heathen, if they were dej)rived of conscience. — The revelation of God in tlie conseit-nee, on the one hanil, not to be despised ; and, on the other, not to be overvalued. — Con.>epovTa, see the Exeg. A'otes. Lange (with Tholuck, Fritzsche, Eoiche, Kiiekert, Pliilippi, Alford) translates : Du heiirtheihsl die widerstreitenden Dinge. 'Iholuck : J)u prUfst das Unlersthiedine. Tyndale : Hasl experience of good and bad. Conybeare aid Howson : Gives! jtidgihcni vpon good or evil. Eobeit Young, too literally : Dost approve the distinctions. But the versions of Cranmer, Geneva, James, j^heims, and Am. Bible Union agree substantially with the Latin Vulg. : Probas uliliora. So also Meyer, who translates: Da bilUgsl das Vnrzi'igliehe. Wordsworth: Thou discernest the things that are more excellent. The same phrase occurs, Phil. i. 10, where the E. V. renders it in the same way. Grammatically, both interpretations are correct, and hence the connection must decide. So/ct/ua^eti' means first to ixamine, to try. to prove (1 Cor. iii. 13 ; 1 Peter i. 7) ; and then, as the result of examination and trial, to discern, to disti)igni.-h, and to aprrove (I Cor. xvi. 3 ; Pom. xiv. 22). 6ia- ^epeiv is : (1.) To differ; (2.) to differ to advantage, to excel. Hence ra Siatpepovra : (1.) The difference between right and wrong, good ;ind bad ; (2.) the excellent things, lUilia. — P. S.] ■•Ver. 22.— [Alford translates : Thou who ahhorrest idols, dost thou rob Iheir lemp.lesf To maintain the contrast, he refers (with Chrysostom, Mejur, Tholuck, and others) kpoervAeis to the robbing of idfd temples (ciiwAa) ; but this was n« sacrilege in the eyes of the Jew ; and hence others refer it to the temple of God iu Jerusalem. See Exrg. Notes. — P. S.] * Ver. 23.— [Lange and Meyer take this verse as a categorical charge, resulting from the preceding questions which the Jew could not deny. This view is supported by the following yap. napa^avn , in the sis other passages of th« N. T. where it occurs, ie uniformly translated transgression m the E. V, — P. S.] 108 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. The connection with the foregoing is explained by Tlioluck [p. 110] thus: " Tlie Jew was already humliled by the proof that tlie Gentile was also in possession of the law. But it is Cuither charged upon him that kix possession of the law has become a dishonor to Him who gave it to him." We have seen already that the connection consists in a sharp antithesis: a Gentile who is a Jew at heart; a Jew who, according to the spirit of the law, is the most wanton Gentile. [Estius justly calls the following apostrophe, '' ontiio Hplcndnla ac vihcmciiK.''''^ Ver. 17. But il thou art named a Jew. There BCCMis to be an anacoluthon in the following verses, which it was probably intended to remove by the reading Hi. Tholuck : " The apodosis appears to be wanting to the protasis, vers. 17-20." But we may explain without an anacoluthon (Meyer) : " But if thou art called a Jew, &c. . . . thou tiiercfore {pvv, ver. 21, in consequence of what has been said, who teachest another, teache.st thou not thyself?" We would find an easier solution, if we could read the verbs i/ioroftd'^r^ and tnavanavri as conjunctives for the formation of a hypothetical protasis ; the fol- lowing indicatives would then constitute the apo- dosis. But the uv is wanting to the d. [See Textual Note '.] — Named. Jew was the designation of the Hebrew according to his religion ; therefore the theocratic name of honor, which is also contained in the etymology of the word itself* ' E 7Tovoiin'Zr\ is translated cognomiitaris by the Vulgate and Ben- gel. [Wordsworth : in — ovofiaZi], thou hast a title in mldittoii t" {i/ri) that which other men possess. — P. S.] But the compound verb is also used in the sen.se of the simple ovo/id'^nv, and the name 'Joc- dftioi; was not a surname, although it might become a surname for the false Jew. Tholuck [Meyer, Phi- lippi, Hodge; comp. LXX. Gen. iv. 17, 25, 26, and the cla-e- lone to thl covenant people of God selected for His praise. -P. S 1 t [Kavxacai (also in 1 Cor. iv. 7), \Wq KaTajeavxa.;«/.ri/'i.v iO^i'i'w, in Isa. xlix. 6, means the Jews; i'»y;rtoi, tiie pro.^elytes (see Tholuck). Ver. 20. Form (pattern) of knowledge. II 6 p (•) (T k; — cla.'^sically, mioii loim ; Hcsydiius : (T/y/rtrKT/iog. [In the New Testament it occurs only once more — 2 Tim. ii. 5 — where it is opposed • (So does Ilodfre : "To approve of what la rlRht, i« a hiijhor nttninment thnn merely to dincriminato between tfood nnd i-vil." Hut there Is a illfferenre between an in- Htinctive and an intelliirent approval of what is ripht. The latter is the result of reHection and discrimination, resting on superior knowledge, which was tho nectiliar advantage of the Jew hdvine the touchstone of the written law and tho continual instruction of the Scriptures. What imme- diately follow* nirrecH l>eltcr with trie interpretation of Lani;e. Ooinp. 'I'rxliial Sole '.— !'. 8.) t [ HJ^B , to distinguish, clearly to discern, also to separate. From this the tenn Phuriste (Pi'rishin, th« Aram.iio foi-m of tho Hebrew PaiusAini, " separated") il derived.— r. S.) CHAPTER n. 17-24. lOS to Svvafiu;, and means the mere outward form or appearance. Here, ou the contrary, it is the real representation or expression, exemplar, effigiea. Grotius : forma qnce rem expriinit. — P. S.] Ac- cording to Meyer, the doctrines and commandments of the law itself are the form of knowledge and truth. We are nearer right when we remember the didactic impression of the Old Testament revelation of the law in the rabbinical tradition from which the Talmud subsequently arose ; for the Apostle speaks of a uo^qoxnq t;]? yvoxytoii;, which should be indi- rectly fioijqt. tTj^ a/.tjdilui; iv- tw vofto). (Ecume- nius and Olshausen, without cause, think of the typi- cal character of the Old Testament ; others (with Theophylact) of the mere phantom of truth. The question is concerning an object of which the Jew boasts. His /.lootinxnii is indeed the gloomy anti- type of the personal incarnation of the truth in Christ, as in Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 25 (23) we read of the aocfia becoming a book in the Thora. All these are now the characteristics of the Jew's pretensions. There now follow the proofs of the contradiction in which he stands to himself. Ver 21. Thou, then, that teachest another. [The virtual apodosis of ver. 17. The several clauses are more lively and forcible if read inter- rogatively, so as to challenge the Jew to deny the charge, if he dare. — P. S.] The analogy of the fol- lowing charges to the Apostle's judgment on the Gentiles lies herein : the Jews, by their pride of the law and by their legal orthodoxy, were led into the way of ruin, just as the Gentiles had been by their intellectual conceit indulging in symbols and myths. The first charge is general : Teachest thou not thyself? Ps. 1. 16. After this, three specific charges follow in strong gradation. Meyer ; " The following infinitives [iiij xUTirf^v, //f/ ftot/evfi-vl do not include in themselves the idea of dnv or itcTvai,, but are explained by the idea of command which is implied in the finite verbs" [viz., y.Unrn^, /stheti- cally. The self-contradiction of the Jew, on the other hatid, developed itself thus: he, the pretended teacher of the nations, becomes an Antinoniian blasphemer, by the perversion of his religion of revelation and law, while he teaches others, and not himself, and, by a succession of transgressions of the law, goes so far as to prof me sacred things, by abusing and rob- bing the temples (see Matt. xxi. 13). To the prof- anation of the temple was added that of the high- priesthood, which reached its climax in Caiaphas. Likewise the ministry of the Jew was thoroughly profaned by proselytism and falsification of the law, and his religiousness was converted into a cloak for hypocrisy. 3. The fiinatic grows ever more profane by the consistency of his course of conduct — a despiser of the sutistantial possessions of religion. Church his- tory furnishes numerous examples, how fanatics of the churchly as well as unchurchly type become at last, out of pretended saints, profaners and robbers of the temple. 4. Priests and preachers have certainly corrupted religion as often as philosophere have corrupted wis- dom, politicians the State, jurists the law, &c. 5. The dogmatic and legalistic spirit of the Mid- dle Ages, too, which, in a better form, was really a " teacher of the blind," has finally gone so far as to present the greatest variety of religious and moral hindrances to modern Gentiles. It is not without serious significance, therefore, that the Epistle to the Romans contains this very section. nOMrLETICAL AND TRACTICAL. The false z^^al for the law practised by the Jews a.'? occasion for blaspheming the name of (Jod by the Gentiles: so far as, 1. such false zeal knows (lod's will ; but, 2. wantonly transgresses it (vers. 17-24). — Tin; mere name of Christianity goes no further than the name of Judaism (vers. 17-24). — Do not depend upon your orthodoxy, if you do not act right by faith (vers. 17-24). — Notwithstanding brilliant knowledge, one is a bad teacher if he docs not do what he knows (vers. 17-24). — Blasphemy of the nainc of God (ver. 24). — God's name has already been often blasphiMned among the heathen (and Mo- hammedans) because of Christians. Proof: 1. From the outrages of pei-sons professing Christianity in the Middle Ages (Charlemagne, and the Saxons, the Brethren of the Sword, the Spaniards in America, &c.) ; 2. from the abuses in trade in the present time (the olavc trade, opium trade, .sandal-wood trade). Starke : When one does any thing which hai ever so good appearance, it is sin if it does not come from faith (ver. 18). — Theological learning is by na means enough for a teacher, when he is not taught in the school of the Holy Spirit (ver. 20). — That teacher cannot be an example of good works who can only say of himself: "Judge according to my words, and not according to my deeds" (ver. 21). — Boasting and vain-glory — the manner, alas, of many Christians! (ver. 28.) — Cuamkr: The titles and names of honor that we may possess should be to us a continual reminder to conduct ourselves in har- mony with such titles (ver. 17). — Nova Uibl. Tub.: Oh, how many external privileges a soul can have I Communion in the true Chureli, knowledge of God and His word, of His will and His works, the best instruction, a skilful sense of the difference between good and evil ; and yet, in spite of all this, it can be at fault, and quite removed from the inner fellow- ship with God (ver. 17). — Look, teacher ! You must commence with yourself; you must first be your own teacher, guide, and chastiser ; first preach to your own self, first break your own will, and perform what you preach. But to desire to guide, discipline, . and control others, and yet steal and conniiit adultery yourself, &c. — that will enter in judgment against you. Oh, how great is this corruption ! (ver. 20.) — QuESNKL : Oh, how rare a thing it is to be learned without being proud I (ver. 19). Hklbneu : There is a fiilse and a true boasting on the part of a believer in revelation. He does it falsely when he imagines, 1. that he thereby makes himself more acceptable to God ; 2. that merely hav- ing and knowing are sufficient, without practice ; 3. when, at the same time, he despi;;es others. He boasts properly when, 1. he gives God all the glory; 2. makes use of the revealed truth ; 3. does not de- spise others (ver. 17). — It is a great grace when God gives a tender conscience (ver. 18). — To know the right, is in the power of every Chi-istian ; and sin does not consist in ignorance or misunderstanding, but has its root in the will (ver. 19). — Melancholy contradic- tion between knowledge and deeds (vers. 21-23).^ Tlie honor of Christianity is dependent upon us. — A holy life is the final vindication of faith (ver. 24). Besseu : Legalists, who woidd be righteous by their works, deprive the law of its spiritual clear- ness (ver. 17). Lange : The internal self-contradiction between knowledge and disposition extends to external life : 1. As self-contradiction between word and deed ; 2. between the vocation and the discharge of it ; 3. between destination to the welfare of the world, and degi'ueration, on the contrary, to the misery of the world. — The teacher of the law in olden times, and the (religious) teacher of the law in recent days — the olVence of modern Gentiles. [BiiiKiTT: Yer.s. 17-20. Learn: 1. That per- .sons are very prone to l)e proud of church privi- leges, glorying in the letter of the law, but not eon- formed to its spirituality either in heart or life ; and 2. that gifts, duties, and supposed graces, are the stay anil staff which hypocrites lean on. The duliea which Christ has ai)[)(>inte(l, are the trust and rest of the hyi)()erite ; but Christ Himself is the trust and rest of the upright. — Vers. 21-24. 1. It is much easier to instruct and teach others, than to be instructed ourselves ; 2. it is both sinful anil shame- ful to teach others the right way, and to go in tha wrong ourselves. While this is a double fault in 9 private person, it is inexcusable in the teacher CHAPTER n. 25-29— m. 1-20. m S. the name of God suffers by none so much as by I ter of the law and the gospel, and with the solemn those who preach and press the duties of Christian- j tokens of a covenant relation to God, transgress His ity upon others, but do not practise them them- [ precepts, and violate our engagements to Him, s« selves. The sins of teachers are teaching sins. I turning the means of goodness and happiness into Lord, let all that administer unto Thee in holy things consider that they have not only their own sins to account for, but also the sins of their people, if committed by their profligate example. — Matthew Hexry : Tlie greatest obstructors of the success of the Word, are those whose bad lives contradict their good doctrine ; who in the pulpit preach so well, that it is a pity they should ever come out ; and out of the pulpit live so ill, that it is a pity they should ever come in. — Doddridge : We pity the Gentiles, and we have reason to do it ; for they are lamenta- bly blind and dissolute : but let us take heed lest those appearances of virtue which are to be found among some of them condemn us, who, with the let- the occasion of more aggravated guilt and misery.- Clarke : Ver. 17. It is the highest honor to be called to know God's name, and be employed in Hia service. — Hodge (condensed) : The sins of the pro- fessing people of God are peculiarly oftensive to Him, and injurious to our fellow-men. — The sins and refuges of men are alike in all ages. — Were it ever so certain that the church to which we belong is the true, apostolic, universal Church, it remains no less certain, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. — Barnes: It matters little what a man'a speculative opinions may be ; his practice may do far more to disgrace religion, than his profession doea to honor it. — J. F. H.] Chapter II. 25-29.— III. 1-20. Fifth Section. — The external Judmsm of the letter, and the internal Judaism of the spirit. The OBJECTIVE advantage of historical Judaism. The subjective equaU'y of Jews and Gentiles before the law of God, according to the purpose of the law itself — to bring about the knowledge of sin. {The utility of circurncisiou ; — an accommodation to the need of salvation bg the knowledge of sin. The circumcision which becomes uncircumcision , and the uncircumcision which becomes circumcision ; or, the external Jew possibly an internal Gentile, while the external Gentile may be an internal Jew, Not the mere possession of the law, but fidelity to the law, is of avail, llie latter does not create pride of the law, but knoioledge of sin — that is, the need of salvation. The advantage of circumcision there' fore consists in this, that to the Jew were committed the oracles of God — that laio by which all men are represented m the guilt of sin. Sin, as acknowledged guilt, represented in contrast with the law.) Chap. U. 25-29. 25 For circumcision verily [indeed] profiteth, if thou keep [keepest] the law : but if thou be [art] a breaker [transgressor] of the law, thy circumcision is made [has 26 become, or, is turned into] uncircumcision. Therefore, if the uncircumcision [so called, i. e., the nncircumcised] keep the rightcousncss [dccrecs, Commandments, moral requirements, brMumfiatci] of the law, shall [will] not his uncircumcision be 27 counted for circumcision ? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by ' the letter and circumcision dost trans- gress the law ? [He who is nncircumcised by nature, if he fulfils the law, will even judge thee, who, with the letter and circumcision, dost transgress the 28 law.] ^ For he is not a Jew, which [who] is one outwardly ; neither is that 29 circumcision, which is outward in the flesh : But he is a Jew, which [who] is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and [omit and] not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Chap. III. 1-20. 1 "What advantage then hath [What, then, is the advantage of] the Jew? 2 or what profit is there [Avhat is the benefit] of circumcision ? Much every way : chiefly, [First, indeed,] ' because that unto them were committed [they 3 — 1. «., the Jews — were entrusted with, miortvd^riGav] the oracles of God. For what [What, then,] * if some did not believe [were faithless] ? shall their un- belief [faithlessness, or, unfaithfulness] make the faith of God without effect 4 [destroy, or, nullify the faithfulness of God] ? ' God forbid : [Let it not be !] * yea, let God be true, but every man a liar ; as it is written, " That thou might* est [mayest] be justified in thy sayings, and mightest [mayest] overcome when 5 thou art judged " ^ [ps. ii. 4]. But if our unrighteousness commend [dotlj 112 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. establish] ' the righteousness of God, what shall we say ? Is God unrighteouH who taketh vengeance [who is inflicting, or, bringing doMTi, the wrath, 6 iTitq^Qoov Ti^y ooyi,!] ? ° (I s])eak as a man [after the manner of men, y.((za uiOna):Toi].) 6 God forbid : [Let it not be !] for then how shall God judge the world ? V For [But] if" the truth [covenant-faithfuincsB] of God hath more abounded through mj lie [was made the more conspicuous by means of my falsehood, unfaithful^ ness] unto his glory [chap. v. 20] ; why yet [still, any longer] am I also juiged as 8 a sinner ? And not rather, (as we be [are] slanderously [blasphemousiy] re ported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come ? ' whose damnation [condemnation, Judgment] '^ is just. 9 What then ? are we better than they ? " No, in no wise [Not at allj • for we have before proved [charged] both Jews and Gentiles, that they are 10 [to be] all imder sin ; As it is written, " There is none righteous, no, not one : 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable ; there 13 is none that doeth good, no, not one " [ps. sir. 1-3].'* " Their throat is an open sepulchre ; " Avith their tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of asps is 14 under their lips" [rs. v. 9; cxi. 3].'° "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitter- 15, 16 ness " [I's. X. 7] : " "Their feet are swift to shed blood: Desmxction and 17 misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known" 18 [isa, lix. 7, 8] : '« " There is no fear of God before their eyes " [rs. xxxvi. 1]." 19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to tliem who are under the law : that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may 20 become guilty before God. [,] Therefore [because] by "° the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified [by works of the law no flesh (i'. t., no person) shall (can) be declared righteous] in his sight : °' for [. For] by the law is the knowledge of sin \comes a knowledge of sin]. TEXTPAL. ' Yer. 27. — [The E. V. here, as often, follows Beza, who translates hiA, per, wliich is its fundamental meaning when It roles the genitive. But hen* it expresses the state or the circumstances under whicli the transpressioij takes place — i. f., with or in .'pile nf, notwilhstnruling, the Tixiltcn law and circumcision ; comi>. Si iirronoviii, with patience ; Si oKpo- fivr., Lachmann, omit it. npuirov, first, in the firsi pictre, is not followed by ucomlly, i&c. ; comjp. irpi>Tov itev, i. 8. To avoid the anacoluthon, Calvin translates : prxcipuc ; Beza : primaiium illud est. So also the K. V. and Dr. Lange.— P. S.] * Ver. o.— [Ti yap ; a phrase used to start an objection for the purpose of answering it, or to vindicate a prcvioua assertion; coinp. Phil. i. 18.— r. S.) * Ver. 3.— (i^irio-TTjo-ai'- ojTio-Tta — nC) ye'voiTO, is an expression of strong denial or pious horror, corresponding to the Hebrew nb'^bn (Gen. xliv. 17 ; Jos. xsii. 29 ; 1 Sam. xx. 2), and occurs fourteen times in Paul's Epistles— ten times in £oman8 (lil. 4, 6, 31 ; vi. 2, 15 ; vii. 7, 13; Ix. 14 ; xi. 1, II), three times in Oalatians (ii. 17 ; iii. 21 ; \i. 14), and once in 1 Cor. vi. 15 ; but elsewhere in the X. T. only Luke xx. 1'.«. 'ne quotation is from the penitential Pdulm ol David, composed after his double crime of adultory uid murder, and reads in Hebrew thua : UWaUy: T|aEai3 nsTpi "To Thee, Thee only, I have sinned. And done the evil in Tliine cyos. In order that Thou mayest be just in Thy speaking And pure in Tliy judging." CHAPTER n. 25-III. 20. 113 Paul follows the translation of the Septuagint, which renders p'nSPl hy SiKauaSjj^ (that Thou mayest he justified— i. e.. be accounted, declared just), suhstitutes viKrjtrjii (that Thou mayest conquer, prevail judicially in Thy ca\iBe) for HSTH (be clear, pure), and takes the active riUEfw^ in the passive, or more probably in the middle seuse, ei' tw KpiviaOai at. Tlie sentiment is not materially altered.' The apostles, in their citations, frequently depart from the letter of tha llehrew, being careful only to give the iiiiud of the Holy Spirit.— P. S.] ' Ver. 5. — [2uvi'(7-njM.i, to make grand with, to place logi-llur (coiisliluo, collocn) • and thence of persons, to intrnduce, to commend by letter (svi. 1; 2 Cor. iii. 1); trop., to set forth, to moke consxtieuous, to prove ; so here, and Eom. v. 8, miviaTqai Tr)v . . . aya.Trr]V ; 2 Cor. vi. 4, o-vvi.VTi% eauToiij o)S 8tov Siaxovoi ; GaL ii. 18, irapojSdn)!/ ijjLavTov irvviavepiZ ['lov- Caiosl 'lovSaios [ev to! KpVTrrw, or, aATj^iTOs] etrriv, oiiSe r) iv T<3 ' from tlie preceding) is circumcision of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. We nmst therefore supply 'jordatoc; after a/J.cc, and nfoiTonin after y.al. — A Jew in secret, tv y.Qvmui JovdaZoq. The true theocratic disposition — that is, the direc- tion of legality to heartiness, truth, and reality, and thus to the New Testament. This is not quite equal in degree to 6 y.Qvnrb'; t^c; x«^f)/ac; av&^oinoi; (1 Peter iii. 4). Circumcision of the heart; see Deut. X. 16, &c. ; Philo : av/ipolov tj()ovoiv ix- To/itjq. Circumcision of the heart does not mean " the separation of every thing immoral from the inner life " (Meyer), but the mortification or break- ing of the natural selfish principle of life, by faith, as the principle of theocratic consecration and direc- tion. [Even the Old Testament plainly teaches the spiritual import of circumcision, and demands the circumcision of the heart, without which the exter- nal ceremony is worthless; Deut. x. 16 ; xxx. 6; Jer. iv. 4 ; ix. 29 ; Ezek. xliv. 9 ; comp. Col. ii. 11 ; Phil. iii. 2. The same may be applied to baptism, the sign and seal of regeneration. — P. S.] — In the spirit. Explanations : 1. In the Holy Spirit (Mey- er, Fritzsche, Philippi [Hodge] ). Incorrect, since the question is not yet concerning the Christian new birth. 2. In the spirit of mati ((Ecumenius, Eras- mus, Beza, Reiche, and others). [Wordsworth : the inner man as opposed to the fle,«h. — P. S.] 3. The Ifivine spirit, as chap. vii. 6 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6 ; the spirit which fills the heart of the true Jew (Calvin, De Wette ; the true spirit of the Jewish Church com- ing from God ; Tholuck). 4. The new principle of life wrought by God in man (Riickert), 5. When 7ivfv,ua is placed in antithesis to y(jcifi/:i|)ositiou of pious Jews and Gentiles is far exalted ahove every praise from below, and enjoys the a|)proljation of God, but also that its honor comes from God, and will therefore be sanctioned by God by a judicial act — whicli can at last be nothing else but justification by faith. To Judah it was said, as tiie explanation of his name: "Tliou art he whom thy brethren siiall praise." But God Himself will praise this genuine spuitual Judah. Second Pahaorafh, Chap. ill. 1-8. Ver. 1. What then is the advantage of the Jew [ Ti or)' TO y7 f O t fj (T 6 »' T O T' '7 O I") « (' O I' ] ? After the Apo.stlc has shown tiiat not only the Jews are included in the same corruption with tiie Gen- tiles, but that pious Gentiles liave even an advantage over ungodly Jews, he comes to the question wiiich would naturally be presented to him — whether, then, Israel hius any peculiar prerogative, and, if so, in wliat it consists. He does not ask in the name of a Gentile Christian (Seb. Schmid), or of the Judaist, although he must take from these every occasion for accusation, but from tlie standpoint of the true the- ocracy. The advantiif/e in the sense of profit (De Wette). — Or \7hat is the benefit of circumcis- ion {rit; t] Mifiikfia rtji; ti f (» t t o /i ^ <; ) ? The second question does not relate merely to circum- cision as a single means of grace (De Wette). It makes the first question more precise, so far as for the Aposile tlie Jewish economy is different from the Old Testament in general (chap. iv. ; Gal. iii.). Ver. 2. Much every vray. First of all, namely. [7in).v refers to both nffiiaaov and OKft/.iia; Meyer. x. arct ndvra r(>6nov, under every moral and religious aspect, wliichever way you look at it ; tlie opposite is hut oi'()iiva t(<6- jxov. — P. S.] All that he could have in mind he shows in chap. ix. 4. But from the outset, apart from his train of thought and purpose, he had a further object than to show the advantage thai to them the Aoyict Tor (•Jtov were committed. We therefore accept, with Theodoret, Calvin, Bengel, and others, that nooiTov means here pr(ec unity of these elements lay chiefly in the patriarchal promises ; and as the peojile of Israel were made a covenant people, these were commixed to them a# the oracles of God establishing the covenant, which Israel, as the servant of God, should proclaim to the nations at the jiroper time. [The Apostle, in calling the Old Teatanicnt Scriptures the oracles of God, clearly recognizes them as divinely in.spired books. The Jewish Church was the trustee and guardian of these oracles till the coining of Clirist Now, the ycri|)tures of the Old and New Testament are committed to the guardianship of the Christian Church. — P. S.] 'EnttTTH'O rjtjav. They icon entrusted with, //tcrrf rfn- nvi ri in the passive ; comp. Winer, § 40, 1 [§ 39, 1, p. 244, 7th ed. ; alsc Gal. ii. 7 ; 1 Cor. ix. 17. — P. S.J They were federally entrusted by the faithfulness of God {niaTu, ver. 3) with God's promises, or were autheiUicaled in their faith in order that they might exercise it with fi.eU ity to faith. Ver. 3. What then ? If some were faithless, &c. In these words the Apostle intimates that the Jews, in the main, still have the advantage just men- tioned. The statement is therefore neither an objec- tion nor a proof, but it establishes the previous point against doubt. In view of the certain fulfilment of the Divine promise, even the mass of the apostate people is only a poor crowd of individuals, some; though these some may grammatically be many. Meyer, taking ground against Tholuek and Philippi, disputes the contemptuous and ironical character of the expression rn't',-. The contempt and irony lies, of course, not in the word, but in the idea. Un- belief has scattered and divided Israel. According to De Wette and Fritzsche, the expression has an alleviating character. Since the great mass of the unbelievers was known to the readers, the expres- sion has rather a palpable sharpness. Meyer's trans- lation : "If many did refuse to believe {Glaube\ their unbelief ( f/wf/ZawAf) will not annul the credi- bility [Glaubhaftigkcil) of God," expresses the cor- respondence of the different designations, but it is not .satisfactory to the sense. The Apostle forces us, by the niari-i; (-Jtov, to bring into promi- nence here the moral force of a.'itaria ; and the assertion of Meyer, that amartif and aTTidxia mean always, in the New Testament, unbdief not un- faithfulness, rests upon a false alternative.* KiilU ner refers the (i/narin to the unfaithfulness of the Jews in the ante-Christian time. De Wette like- wise : " They have been unfaithful in keeping the covenant (Theodoret, CEcumenius, Calvin, and oth- ers) ; not, they have been unbelieving toward the promises and the gospel (Tholuck, Olsliausen, Mey- er)." This view is very .strange, since he correctly observes that in the word dTnaTtlv there lie two meanings ; as niirTu; is at the same time fidelity and /'(((//(. Meyer's objection to De Wette is equally strange : " Ttvit; would be altogether unsuited, for the very reason that it would not be true. All were disobedient and unfaithful." This is against history ifnd the declarations of the Bible (see the discoui-se of Stephen, Acts vii.). If we distinguish between the ideas, to be a sirmer and to be an apot- * [Hodgo : That aniartiv may Iiavo the scnso to b« unfiixllifnl, is plain from 2 Tim. ii. 13, »nd from the «cnM of airurria, in lloh. iii. I'J, 19, :ind of airt<7Tot, In Luko xii. 40; lljfTar here, they have become unbelieving, not, they have been. The niarn; of God is His fidelity ; His fidelity to the covenant certainly in- volves " credibility." (2 Tim. ii. 13 ; m-aroii 6 0(6%, 1 Cor. i. 9 ; x. 13, &c.) Ver. 4. Let it not be, // /; yevoi,ro. [Comp. Textual Note ^] This expression of impassioned repulsion [solemn and intense deprecation], also common to tlie later Greeks, is, in the mouth of the Hebrew (rti5">bn, ad profana), at the same time an expression of a religious or moral repug- nance or aversion. Therefore the Apostle repels the thought, as if the rn't'i; could annul the nianii of God, and therefore also nullify the realization of the eternal covenant of grace in the lieart of Israel and in a New Testament people of God. — But let it be : God (is) true, but every man £alse. [Lange : So abcr .sei's ; Gott ist wahrka/tiff, je !er Menscli aber falsch.'] Since yivoi-zQ relates to one sentence, the antitlietical Ywia&m must re- late to the sentence which offsets it, and must be marked, as announcing a declaration, by a colon. Ac- cording to Meyer and De Wette, it means logice qavt- QoinOoi, or a.7TO(Ui/.viff0o) (Theophylact). [Tho- luck prefers OfO/.oyfiaOin as equivalent.] But then the term would have been unfitly chosen. Koppe explains : Muck ra her lei it be (viehhnehr so sei es). Meyer objects that in this case we should expect roi'To or TO as article before the whole sentence, and remarks, that Paul did not design to introduce any sentence from the Old Testament. But Paul can nevertheless make use of a sentence of his own on the future of Israel, and the want of the to does not outweigh the consideration that the yn'tafiM, as the antithesis of fdj yiroiro, requires a formal dec- laration. Moreover, Ps. cxvi. 11 (all men are liars) furnished already one half, and the connection the other half of the declaration. This point was to be unfolded in all its amplitude in the history of the New Testament. See 2 Tim. ii. 13. [I prefer to connect yi,vt plicated in the grossest self-contradictious (see chap, ii. 21-23). Unbelief is not only a characteristic of apostates, but also a tendency and manifold fault of believers ; and so far all men are liars through unbelief Whenever the covenant between God and man is shaken or broken, absolute faithful- ness is always foimd on God's side ; He is a rock (Deut. xxxii. 31, '?5 licre, and often, like lira and orifx; in tlie New Testament, of the e^ect or consequence (ix^^aTi^xoK) = so that. Hut "iTIlb and iva grammatically always, or nearly always, in- dicate the dc'sign or pur|)ose (see Gesen., Thes., s. 1'., and Winer, Gramm., p. 426 ff'., 7th cd.) ; and where this seems inapplicable, as lieie, we must assume a logical rather than a granunatical latitude. Design and effect often coincide. The Bible no doubt teaches the absolute sovereignty of God, yet never in a fatalistic or pantiieistio sense so as to ex- clude the personal freedom and responsibility of man. Hence it represents, for instance, the harden- ing of Pliaraoh's lieart, as tlie judicial act and pun- ishment of God (Exod. iv. 21 ; vii. 3), and at the same time as Pharaoh's own act and guilt (ix. 34). David certainly could not mean to say that he sinned with tlie intention of glorifying (Jod — whicli would have destroyed the sincerity of Ids repentance, and exposed him to tiic just condemnation of Paul in ver. 8 — but that his sin was overruled by God for the greater manifestation of His justice. God never does evil, nor wills any man to do evil, in order that good may come out of it, but He exercises His power, wisdom, and love in overruling all evil for good. It is not the sinner who glorifies God through his sin, but God wlio glorifies Himself tln-ough tlie sinner. Comp. also the remarks of Huidcld and Hengstenberg on Ps. li. (j. — P. S.] Ver. o. But if our unrighteousness, &c. [A new objection wiiicli migiit be su;:ge.-.ted by the o;rfi)s' in ver. 4 ; namely, if man's sin redounds to the glory of God, and sets His righteousness in a clearer light (a5 in the ciu-ic of David), it is a means to a good end, and hence it ought not to be pun- ished. Paul admits tlie premise, but denies tiie con- clusion, ver. I). — P. S.] Meyer lakes here tiiKxirt in a very general and coniprehensive sense, without regard to the legal element contained in it, and ex- plains: "an aimormal ethical disposition."* By this definition the wicked, the unholy, the bad, can be denoted ; but unriijhtcouxuexx is misconduct in oppo- sition to the law ami tiie right. On (TrvtffTavat, see tiie Lexica ; also Kom. v. 8 ; 2 Cor. vii. 11, &c. [iilso Textual Xote "■]. What shaU we say? 7't ii>o'ies. [8ee Tho- luek.] Tlie sentence, if our unrighteousntsi^ kc, is true, but the following conclusion is rejected as false. The Apostle certainly assumes tliat an unbelieving Jew could raise this olijeetion, but he makes it him- self. Tliis is evident, first, iVom the interrogative form ; second, from the position of the question in such a manner that a negative answer is expect- ed ; f third, from the addition : humanly speak- ing, xara uvO()iii7iov /.iyio. Tiiis expression is common among the rabbis, " as men speak " (see Tholuek) ; the term ctvO(Jif)/iirioi; /.a/.nv [humane loqui\ also occurs in the classics [see the examples quoted by Tiioluck]. The expression y.aTo. arfyo., resting on tlie antitliesis between God and man, de- notes, with Paul, now the opposition betweim the common sinful conduct and opinions of men, and the conduct and opinions in the light of revelation ; and now the opposition between common human rights and customs and the theocratic rights (GaL iii. 15, and other places). Prom this addition it does not follow that the question, /i/y o()izoc, must be regarded as affirmative (see Aleyer, against Plii- lippi). [Tiie plirase y.uTa avO(>(o7Tov proves nothing against inspiration. The Apostle here puts himself into the place of otlier hkhi, using their thouglits and arguments, but expressly rejecting theiiK— P. S.] Ver. 6. For then how shall God judge the ■world ? This does not mean : God would then not be al)le to judge the world ; but, according to the usual explanation : Since it is universally agreed among religious people that God will be the Judge of the world, the conclusion alluded to must be rejected. Tlie argument is therefore a reduclio ad ahsnrdiim.\ (RUckert : tlie jiroof is weak !) Coc- ceius [Reiehe], t)lsliauseu, and others, refer /.ofTiioq (according to rabbinical usage of language) to the Gentile world, and the proof is thus conceived : Even Gentile idolatry must bring to light the glory of the true God ; and yet God will judge the Gen- tile world. Therefore the unlielief of some Jews cannot escape the judgment, even though tlieir un- rigliieousness corroborates the rigliteoiisness of God. But there is no ]»roper foundation for this explana- tion in the text ; and besides, it would only remove a smaller ditliculty by a greater one, and in a way that woulii commend itself only to Jewjsli jirejudice. The New Testament idea of the general judgment is universal. Even the antithesis of zofTiio,- and, -7a- aUfia, jov fe/for cannot be applied here. With the t [ M >) o5iitot 6 9t6% ; in nrgnlivr interro^ntions uri (m^'W )lm-h tiichi f) is used when a nepitive, ou {imnni^ when a ))Os)tivo :iiis»'i'r is expected. See Winer, p. 470 ; lliirtung, Piirlik. ii. 88; nnd Meyer in Inc.; npfiiist HQckort and Pliilippi. Tiiul does not !ii«k : Is unl (3oiI uiijunt I but, Is Ood unjust ? expentiiiir » niCiitivc reply ; nnd he apolo- gizes even for pU'tiiiR the qurstioii in this foiin. — 1'. .S.j } iCiilvin : " Snmil oi-gumrntum ub ipsiiis Dii iiffirin quo priihtl id efft impiiitsibili' ; jnilinihil I) us hnnc miinjum, ergn iiijuflus esse nun pntefl." So. sulwtnntiallv, Oiotius, Tholuek, De Wetfe, P.a.kert, Knllner, Meyei, Uxlite. It seem- tlml the Apostle here iis-.unii's the very tiling lio is to prove. Hut lie reasons from iicknowledvjod premises: Ood in universally conceived as the Jud|;e uf nil niiinliind ; this iiei'essiirily Implies thiit He is ,jusi. The ojij^o-ite it inconsistent with tlie idea of Ood us Judge, and with lh« nature of the judgment.— I*. S.] CHAPTER III. 1-20. 119 usual explanation (Tholuck, Meyer, and others) it may nevertheless be asked, whether a sentence which has been dismissed with / to xda/ioc (ver. 6) should be read, according to Philippi, parenthetically, as a pre- liminary outburst of apostolic indignation. By this means, the dialectics assume the shape of an in- volved controversy, in which the Apostle prema- turely interrupts the opponent. Tholuck believes that he can produce similar examples in proof of this (chap. vii. 25, and Gal. iii. 3, 4). (2.) Meyer : "The inn mTit; /.(Jivfl 6 Otoe; t'ov /.oatiov (ver. 6) is now confirmed thus : The fact already considered (ver. 4 f.), that God's truth is glorified by the lie of man, removes every ground for supposing that an unrighteous God (sic .'), who is to judge the world, will judge man as a sinner," &c. Apart from the quaint construction of the thought, the true state- ment in ver. 5 would be treated as untrue. [De "Wette, Alford, Hodge, though differing somewliat in detail, likewise regard vers. 7 and 8 as the ampli- fication and confirmation of the answer given in ver. 6 to the objection stated in ver. 5. If this olijec- tion be valid, then not only may every sinner claim exemption, but it would follow that it is right to do evil that good may come. This is certainly a more easy and natural connection than the one under (1.), and best explains the yaq. But if we read ti di, we must regard ver. 7 as introducing a new ob- jection, as in a dialogue between the Apostle and an interlocutor — an objection which is indignantly resented by Paul as a blasphemous slander. But see the remarks under the next heads. — P. S.] (3.) Even if we find here, according to Thodoret, the language of a Jew in dispute with the Apostle, the sentence does not appear to be the continuation of the thought of ver. 5. Then the Jew has first drawn the conclusion from ver. 5 that God is unjust if He punish sins by which He is gloiified. Here he would deduce the conclusion, from ver. 4, that the man, who by his \('tt(jfiau contributes to the glory of God, is neither a sinner, nor punishable ; rather, that he may do evil that good may come. Thus two cases, which would constitute a parallel to chap. ii. 3, 4 — the first case denoting fanaticism, the other, antinoniianism. But there are considera- tions presented by the text itself against this view. First, the yd(j at the beginning of ver. 7 ; which, for this reason, has been removed by many Codd. (B. D., &c., the Vulgate, &c.) as an impediment to the proper understanding of the passage. Then the aorist, i.nf()iann'af%', which Meyer thinks should be understood from the standpoint of the general judgment (Tholuck regards it as present, with Lu- ther). Further, Meyer must interpolate a ti before the uTi in ver. 8 (rt firi, quidnl?). Also, if Paul be not permitted to speak in the name of the un- believing Jew and interrupt himself, an ijunii must stand before fi/.ci(T(f>jf(orfi f&a. We are therefore of the opinion that the hypothesis of the interlocu- tion of the obstinate Jew is not correct. (4.) Our explanation is contauied already in the translation. [See Textual Notes '" and '\] The Apostle says first, God does not declare wrath on all who havt glorified his failhfulness by their unfaithfulness. Granted that His covenant faithfulness has, by meann of my unfaithfulness, shown itself more -powerful and conspicuous to His glory (chap. v. 8), that is, that I have finally become a believer — how ? am I also still judged as a sinner? Answer : No. And therefore we would by no means continue in un- belief, as those rn't'i,- in ver. 3, in order, by wicked conduct, to accomplish a good purpose, God's glory — which is the principle laid by some to our charge. Men who act thus (and the Tivii; do act thus) are justly condemned. Here the ay.i'jOfia of God is the agent, and ^'fZafia is the object. In ver. 5 there was the reverse, the adixia of man being the agent, and God's righteousness the object. In ver. 7 the question is concerning the predominance or conquest (see V. 20) on the side of the ah'j&na for the honor of God ; in ver. 5, the question is merely concern- ing the bringing of the truth to light. The solution of the difliculty lies in the tnftJtaan'Gfv. — On the different explanations of xaj-oi, see Tholuck. I as well as others [De Wette, Alford] ; even I, a Jew [Bengel] ; even I, a Gentile [Coccej., 01s- hausen] ; even I, Paul [Fritzsche] ; even I, who have added to the glorification of God [De Wette, Tholuck]. Ver. 8. [As we are blasphemously (not, slan- derously) reported. The blasphemy refers not only to Paul, but in the last instance to God, whose holy and righteous character is outraged by the im- pious maxinj, to do evil that good may come.] — In reference to the oTt, we must obscl've that, in con- sequence of attraction, the noutjaio/t fv is united with ?.iyfi,v. — The y.aOoic j] '/.aa (fr, ^( ov f tOa leads us to conclude that the Jews charged the Apostle, or the Christians in general, with the alleged principle : The end sanctifies the means (Tholuck, Calvin). Usual acceptation : the doctrine of superabounding mercy (chap. v. 20) is meant (see Tholuck). Meyer : " The labors of the Apostle among the Gentiles could occasion such slanders on the part of the Jews." According to the view of the Jews, the Christians converted the Gentile world to Monotheism, by betraying and corrupting the covenant of the Jews. — Whose condemnation is just. The (')v does not refer directly to the slan- derers as such, since this is an accessory notion, but to the principle, let us do evil that good may come, and to the fact lying at its root, the hardness of the Jews in unfaihfulncss, as they more clearly showed the covenant faithfulness of God. But, indirectly, the charge of those slanderers is also answered at the same time. Ver. 7 favors our explanation, [dv refers to the subject in 7rot»/ff "»/'"'> to those who speak and act according to this pernicious and blas- phemous maxim. — P. S.] Thibd Paragkaph, vehs. 9-20. The transition of the covenant of law to th« covenant of grace is already indicated in the preced- ing paragraph. This is brought to pass in part by the constant unfliithfulness of individuals, and in part by the transitory unfaithfulness of others. In every case Israel's sin is manifested in this covenant. Ver. 9. What then ? It must not be read, with fficumenius [Koppe, Hofmann, Th. Schott], ri oiV 7i(Jor/6iiida [omitting the interrogation siga 120 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. after orr] ; against which is the ok The introduc- tion of the result refers to the foregoing section jnder tlie point of view that Israel certainly lias advantages on tiie objective side, but none on the subjective. This is now extended further. II(>oi- j( 6 lit Oct. Explanations: L The middle voice here has tlie signification of the active : Have we [the Jews] the ])reference ? do we excel ? have we an advantage? (Tlicophylact, (Ecumenius, the old com- mentators in general.) Also De Wette, who says : This is the only suitable sense.* Theiefore the read- ing n(>oxaTi/oftfv. Meyer urges against this view : (a.) Tne us;ige of langujige ; f (6) the previous ad- mission of Israel's advantage [ver. 2, no/.'u xara TtdvTu TiioTToi', which seems to conflict with ov ndvTci^, vcr. 9. — P. S.]. 2. The middle voice in the signitieation of: to hold before, to hold for one's protection. Hemsterlmys, Venenia, &c. (Fritzsche, figuratively: Do we need a pretext y) Meyer: Have we a protection ? That is, have we something with which to defend or screen ourselves? Agiunst this, Tholuck raises the oljjection that the verb, in this case, should have an accu.sative. [Have we atti/ iAa< (a-'coniinc; to Liieliiiiiinn ; while 'I'isrliendorf reiulH th.' ac-tive); .JaracH iv. '2 f., atT«rT« and aiTt'iTOt ; ActH xvi. 16, iraptlxt ; xix. 24, iraptiyfTo, piiriiiihat. Com'p. Winer, 0-"m„i., p. '.>40 f., 7th ed. IIi.t'' is, it is true, no rxiimple of till' iioiive use of npoixonat. Jiut the luidille voice may havcheon preferred here to the active, hecause the Apostle iipoakH of 11 iiuperiority wliirh the .Iowh claimed for them- selves, for ihir b'ni-fij ; com)>. aeoMTov iraptxoiitvot Tviroi-, Titus ii.7. Thii", then, comes to ihe interpretation of T,ani!e, rub Xn. 4. The reading of Cod. H lemcr : n'poKaT/;^oMa. Namely, in the previous part of the Einstle [i. 18 H'., with reference to the Gentiles ; ii. 1 ff., with reference to the Jews. — P. S.]. The 7T^oai.Ti,a(T0ai [from atria, motive, reaxon, and in a forensic sense, charge^ ground of accnsition] is a compound word without example.* — Under sin [i'"/' d/iaiiriav u'cat]. Not merely, are sinners (Fritzsche). Meyer: are gov- erned by sin. He denies, against Hofmann, that the question here is eonccrning the punishal)leness or guilt of sin [which is to be infh-red afterwards from the fact of v(p diia^jriav tirctt]. But this is implied in ixlrMdOcu. The atria is the ground of the charge. Vers. 10-19. As it is TO-ritten. [y iyi^ian' rat, occurs nineteen times in this Epistle. — P, S.l Paul had [ji-eviously proved the guilt of the Jews from their Uving experience, with only a general allusion to the Scriptures ; he now confirms his declaration in the strongest way by Scripture proofs. Under the presupposition of exact knowledge of the Old Testament, ral)binical writers also connect various testimonies without specifying the place where they may be found. At the head there stands Ps. xiv. 1-3, from ver. 10 to ver. 12, where we have a de- scription of universal sinfulness as well of the Jewa as of the Gentiles. There then follows a combina- tion from Ps. V. i) and cxl. 3 and Ps. x. 7, in vers. 13, 14, as a description of sins of the tongue. Then Lsa. lix. 7, 8, quoted in vers. 16, 17, as a delineation of sins of commi-ssion. Finally, Ps. xxxvi. 1, in ver. 18, as a characterization of the want of the fear of God lying at the root of all.f The quotations are free recollections and applications from the Sep- tnagint [yet with several deviations]. Finally, in ver. 19, there follows the explanation that these charges were throughout just as applicable to the Jews as to the Gentiles, and indeed chictly to the Jews. [The passages quoted describe the moral corruption of the times of David and the prophets, but indirectly of all times, since human nature is es- sentially the same always and everywhere. In Ps. xiv. the general application is most obvious, and hence it is quoteii first. — P. S.] Ver. 10. There is none righteous. [Paul uses Ai/.at,oi; for 21i:"n'l"- , LXX. : ttohTiv /(irjrTTo- Ttjra, do'T of good.] Refers the ;TonTiy /(it-nrortira of the Si'ptuagint to the law. I'/ic want of right- eous7iess is the inscription of Uie whole ; not as Paul's word (KiJllncr, &c.), but as free quotation from Ps. xiv. Ver. 11. There in none that nnderstandeth. While 6 afviuivX represents the >vachmann; or wvimv, as Alford nci-cnfuates. It is tlie usual fonn Id the Septuapnt for I a ], (destruction the cause, miser;/ the re- sult) are, as the ways of war of all against all, contrasted with the one v^ay of peace [6t)6r li^ ijvtji^^ By this we must undoubtedly under- stand not merely a way in which they should enjoy peace (Meyer), but an objective way of peace in which they should become the children of peace. [The way that leads to peace, in opposition to the ways which lead to ruin and misery.] Oh/, eyvo)- aav, Grotius: Hebrceis nescire aliqnis dicitur, quod non curat (Jer. iv. 22). [Ver. 18. This quotation from Ps. xxxvi. 1 goes back to the fountain of the various sins enumerated. The fear of God, or piety, is the beginning of wis- dom and the mother of virtue ; the want of that fear, or impiety, is the beginning of folly and the mother of vice. — P. S.] Ver. 19. Now we know. The Jews, indeed, would not readily admit this, but were inclined to refer such declarations exclusively to the Gentiles. [But the passages above quoted from the Psalms and the Prophets, speak not of heathen as heathen, but of fallen men as such, and therefore are ajiplica- ble to Jews as well. — P. S.] — The law. Tliis is the Old Testament, especially in its legal relation [as a norm or rule to which they should conform their faith and conduct ; John x. 34, where our Lord quotes a Psalm as in " the law," and other pas- sages]. — Who are under the law. That is, the Jews ; also particularly from the legal standpoint. Cilov and others have understood, by the law, the * [An Alexandrian and Hellenistic form for i5o\iovv ; see Suirz, D:aK A'ux., p. Gl, and Winer, p. 74, where simi- lar examp'es are quoted : as tlxoaixv for eix""! ^^i-^odyoe spirilu ct lilera ad Marcelliiunn, cap. 8: "Nee aiuHunl quiid leguiit : ' quia non juslificabiUir (x Ige omnii cam coram Deo'' (Rom. iii. 20). Potest rnim fieri coram homuubus, non oulem coram iUo qui cordis ipsius et intimm voluniatis insjieclor est. . . . Ac ne qnisquam putarcl hie apiislolum ex lege dixisse neminem juxtificari, qux in sacra- mentis velenhus ntulta ointinetfigurala prxcepUi, unde eliam ipsa est circumcisio carnis . . . conlinuo snbjunxil quum legem dixerit, el ait : ' Per legem enim cgnitiii peccati ' (Rom. iii. 20)." Augustine agrees with the Peformers in the doc- trine of total depravity and salvation by fi-ee grace ivithout works, but agrees ■n'ith the Roman Catholic view of the meaning of juftificat inn, as being a coi linuous processes sentially identical with sanctification.— P. S.J J 22 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. previous verse, of the guilt of all men before the law. 3. De Wette accepts it as merely the moral law, and not also the ritual law. Tiie works of the law, as they were perforiiied by the Jews, and would also have been performed by the Gentiles, if they had been placed under the law (Kiickert). 4. The law in a deeper and more general sense, as it was written not only on the Decalogue, but also in the heart of the Gentiles, and embracing moral deeds of both Gentiles and Jews (Tholuck [also Storr, Flatt, Stuart] ). Certainly it is plain from the context, that the Jewish vouo^ here represents a universal legislation. [Tlie Apostle includes the Gentiles as well as the Jews under the sentence of condemnation, because they do not come up to their own standard of virtue, as required by their inner law of conscience; ii. 15. — P. S.] But what are 'works of the law [ e (» y a ro^oc] ? Explanations : 1. Works produced by the law, without the im- pulse of the Iloly Spirit [ro.ooi' && genctivus audorh or caux(e'\. So especially Roman Catholic exposi- tors, as Bellarmiue [Augustine, Thomas Aquinits] ; and also some Protestants, as Usteri, Neander, Phi- lippi [Olshausen, Hofmann, even Luther ; see Tho- luck, p. 137]. Philippi : " Not the works whicli the law commnnds — for he who does these is reuUi/ riglUeous (ii. 13) — but those which the law effects (or which the man who is under the law is able by its aid to Ijring forth)." The deeds of the law are ioya vfx(jd (lleb. vi. 1); the vouoi; cannot t^oionooTj- aai, [Gal. iii. 21], although it is complete iu its method and destination. On Luther's distinction between doing the works of the law and fuljilliug the law itself, see Tholuck. 2. The deeds required or prescribed by the law. Protestant expositors, e, g., Gerliard, who includes also the bona opera ralione obj^'cti. [So iilso Me- lanchthon, Calvin, Beza, Riickert, Fritzsehe, De Wette, Meyer, llodge. In this view, the i^jya vo/iov include all good works, those after regeneration as well as those before. Even Abraham, the friend of God, was not justified by his works, ijut by faith. The law of the Old Testament is holy, just, and good, and demands perfect conformity to the will of God, which is true holiness. But even our best works, done under the gospel and under the influ- ence of Divine grace, are imiierfect, and can there- fore be no ground of justification. Ilenee the most holy men of all ages and churches never depend on their own works, but on the work and merits of Christ, for final acceptance with God. — P. S.] 3. Tholuck combines the two explanations [p. 140] : " The Apostle includes both meanings, so that, in some passages, the meaning of the deeds required by the law, and, in others, that of the deeds produced by the law, appears more prominent." But, from the very nature of the case, the deeds required by the law, and those produced by the law, correspond to each other on the legal stand])oint. The unity of both are the works of the legal stiind- point, )LS it may be found also among the heathen (e. g.^ Creon in the Antigone of Sophocles). The law is, for thoxe subjected to it, an analytical letter, which is related to the external work ; but, on the contrary, for those, who seek God, it is a synthetical Bynil)()l, wliicli is related to the ilis[)osition of the heart. Tlie former meaning ap|)lies certainly to every man, but only to introduce him to the uiuler- Btauding of its second signiQcatitu Those who know it only in the former meaning, always seek justification tx ru/9 TU'rt, to do any one xnxov, hiirm) ; that is, to do any one justice. It is used in this sense especially of a judge, and signifies, to determine justice gen- erally ; or more specially, according to the result of the judging, on the one hand, to condemn and putu ish, as with peculiar frecpieiicy in the profane writ, era ; or also cither to declare guiltless of the charge, • [ Meyor says this in view of the principle : cinK cim fully comply with tbo luw : that tb« liiw onlv miiko!) U8 luoro conscious of our moial iinpcrfoo- tions.— "p. S.i CHAPTER m. 1-20. 123 or to acknowledfje, in the case of any one, the claims of right, which he has ; only that the favorable or unfavorable judgment^ in this fundamental significa- tion, is always conceived as his dtjtatoi', as de- served by him. "(2.) diy.atov noiilv Tt, or riva, to make a thing or person righteous; that is, either to ac- count and declare righteous, or to transfer into the rlglit condition ; for the verbs in 6oj express also a bringing out into effect that from which the verb is derived ; comp. Sov'/.ob), tik^Ioo} = doTlov and Ti'^iAov TTOiilv. So does (Jmator'j' T^ accordingly signify, to account any thing right and equitable, to approve, wish, require ; equivalent to ai,i,ovv. "The biblical usus loquendi of di,/.ai,ovv at- taches itself to the Hebrew p^'^,'^T] (or p^^J ), of which it is commonly the translation in the LXX. This, now, for the most part signifies to declare righteous (judicially, or in common life); but, to make righteous^, or, to lead to righteousness, only in Dan. xii. 3 ; Isa. liii. 11. "Even so (ii,y.aiovv, in the Septuagint, fre- quently signifies, to declare righteous judiciallr/ ; Ps. Ixxxii. 3 ; Exod. xxiii. 7 ; Deut. xxv. 1 ; 1 Kings viii. 32 ; and in common life also, to acknowledge as righteous, or, to represimt as righteoua ; Ezek. xvi. 51, 52 ; and is interchanged in this sense with anoqni- viiv ()ixai.ov; Job xxxii. 2; xxvii. 5. On the other hand, it is used with extreme infrequency in the sense, to make righteous^ to transfer into the con- dition of rif/hteoiisness ; Ps. Ixxiii. 13 ; Is. liii. 11 ; Su". xviii. 22. " Thus far our examination has afforded the re- sult, that Hvy.aiQvv can, it is true, signify also, to make righteous, as well in profane Greek (in this, according to the second fundamental signification), as in the LXX., but that this signification has, in the use of the language, receded decidedly into the back- ground in comparison with the forensic and judicial. " To still less advantage does the signification, to make righteous, appear in the New Tedament use. Leaving out of view the passages in question, where a di,y.ai,ova&ai eJ t^yo)v vofiov, or dt,a nia- TKoi;, is spoken of, there does not occur a single passage in which the signification to make right- eous is found. (Besides the passages mentioned above, the verb occurs Matt. xi. 19 ; Luke vii. 29, 35; X. 29; Rom. iii. 4; 1 Tim. iii, 16; Rev. xxii. 11.*) This fact cannot but be most unfavorable to the assumption of tlie signification, to make right- eous, in the remaining passages." — P. S.] For by the lavr (comes) a knowledge of sin. Tholuck would supply only (no more than) a knowledge; but tnlyvoxrui; is exact, living, in- creasing knowledge. The antithesis laid down by Chrysostom — that the law, far from being able to take away sin, only first brings it to knowledge — needs still the supplementary thought, that it is just this knowledge which is the preliminary condition for the removal of sin. [The law, being the revela- tion of the holy and perfect will of God, exhibits, by contrast, our own sinfulness, and awakens the desire after salvation. This sentence of Paul, together with his declaration that the law is a naidayioyo^ to lead to Christ (Gal. iii. 24, 25), contains the whole phi- losophy of the law, as a moral educator, and is the best and deepest thing that can be said of it. Ewald justly remarks of our passage : "Mit diesen Worten * [If 5tKotu)9r)Ti In should be the true readinsr, against which, see, however, Lachmann and Tischendorf. — P. S.J t^-ifft Paidus den tiefsten Kern der Sache ;" i. e. with these words Paul liits the nail on the head, and penetrates to the inmost marrow of the thing, ydo is well explained by Calvin : "^ contrario ratiocu natur . , . quando ex eadem scatebra non prodeunl vita et mors." — ^P. S.] DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAI/. 1. Chap. ii. 25-29. The elder theology has properly regarded circumcision as a federal sacra- ment of the Old Testament, and as the preliminary analogue or type of New Testament baptism ; just as the Passover feast was an Old Testament type of the Lord's Supper. And thus far did tlie TTf^tTo/^jJ represent the whole of Judaism, which is proved by the fact that Paul used this term to designate the Jews (see also Gal. v. 3). But it is easy to go astray on the biblical meaning of circumcision, as on the law of the Sabbath, if we do not bear in mind that we have to deal with institutions which comprehend many points of view. Thus, the Sabbatic law is first a religious and moral command of God among the Ten Commandments (Exod. xx. 8 ff.). But it is likewise a religious and liturgical, or Levitical command on worship (according to Lev. xxiii. 3), In the latter sense, it is abrogated as a mere Old Testament form, as far as Christians are concerned ; or, rather, it has been supplanted by the divin&. human creation of a new day " of the gi'eat congre- gation" — the Lord's Day. But the religious and ethical command of the Sabbath in the Decalogue has become a religious and ethical principle, which, in its educating and legal form, has connected itself with Sunday. In the same way is circumcision a synthesis. The foundation of it was a very old, sporadic, oriental custom (Epistle of Barnabas, chap, ix.*). It was made to Abraham, according to chap, iv. 11, a symbolical seal of his faith; which is cer- tainly the sacrament of the covenant of promise. But then Moses also made it, in a more definite sense, an obligation of the law (Exod. iv. 25 ; Jos. V. 2 ff.). The law was the explication of circum- cision, and circumcision was the concentration of the law. While, therefore, the law was annulled in re- gard to Christians by faith, circumcision was also annulled ; or, rather, the New Testament symbol took its place, and the fulfilment of the Abrahamic promise — the new birth of faith — was connected with it. Tholuck thinks (p. 114) it is a contradiction, that, according to the elder theology,! faith in the Messiah was the condition of the Divine promise in circumcision ; while, according to Paul, the fulfil- ment of the law was this condition. But Paul cer- tainly knew of no other fulfilment of the law than that in the Messianic faith, which became, finally, faith in the vjlessiah. On p. 117, Tholuck himself refers to the inward character of the requirements of Judaism. 2. The great importance which the Apostle at- ♦ [Pseudo-Bam.abas says, I. c. : " Thou (addressing the Jew) wilt say, ' Yea, verily the people are circumcised for a seal.' But so also is evei-y Syrian and Arab, and all the prit'sts of idols : are these, then, also wdthin the bond of this covenant (or, according to the reading of Cod. Sin. : their covenant)? Yea, the Egyptians also practise circum- cision."' — P. S.J t [Tholuck means " the old Liilhrran conception of cir- cumcision," and refers to Gerhard (Lor. Tlieol., vol. ix., pp. 12, 30), wlio teaches that circumcision was a sacrament of gt-acf, in which the verhalr limehlnm of Divine promise was connected with the material element. — P. S.J 124 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. taches to what is within — to the sentiment of the heart — is plain from iiia bold antitiieses. Notwith- standing iiis uncircuaicision, tiie Gentile, by virtue of hid state of niiud, ean beeouie a Jew, and vice versa. 3. Tlie witnesses adduced by the Apostle on the univertiality of corruption in Israel, neither preclude the antitliesis in chap. ii. 7, 8, nor the degrees on botli sides. 4. On chap. iii. 3. The covenant of God is always pi-rfect according to its stage of develop- ment. H' it generally fails to become apparent, the fault always turns out to be man's. Tiie covenant of God is surely no coidrat Social — no agreement between equal parties. It is the free institution of God's grace. But this institution is that of a true covenant, of a personal and etiiical mutual lelation ; and whenever the hierarchy, or a Komaniziiig view of the ministry obliterate the ethical obligation on the part of man in order to make the sacraments magical operations, their course leads to the desecra- tion and weakening of the covenant acts. 5. Chap. iii. 4. For our consti'uction of the pas- sage in Ps. Ii. 4 f , see the Ej-eij. Xotex on chap. iii. 4. For another view, .see Pliilippi, p. 81, witii refer- ence to Hengstenbcrg, Pnaiina, vol. iii., p. 19. [Both take K*^3, oTti'ii;, in the usual strict sense {rth- tu't^y not £>!/?aTtx(7»,-), as does also Gesenius, 7'hes.. p. 1052 : " eum in Jinetn peccavi, ut illustretur justitia tua ; " and they make the old distinction between the matter of sin, which is man's work, and the form of .sin, which is in the hands of God. — P. S.] Hupfeld also rel'ers the passage to the holy interest of God's government in human offences, but at the same time has definitely distinguished the relative divine and human parts. Without contending against the thougiit per se, we would refer the on on; not to sin itself, but to the perception and knowledge of sin. Hence we infer the proposition : All want of a proper knowlcilge of sin on the part of man obscures the word of God, and leads to the miscon- ception of His judgments (as in the talk about fanat- ical ideas of revelation, gloomy destiny, &c.). 6. On the truth of God, see the Exeg. Notes on ver. 4. 7. On iii. 20. By the law is the knowlcdr/e of iin (see Gal. iii. 24). This purpose of the law ex- cludes neither its u-^u.t primm nor the «.sm.s' tertius* But the three uhuk mark the developing progress of the law from without inwardly, as well in a historical as in a psychological view. The first stage [iisu.i politicii-t] has also its promise. The Jew who lived accorintuali-/.ation, impel him, if he be upright, further to the pajdagogieal standpoint, which looks to Christ. Anffciis (leading to a knowledge of sin and misery); .1. umis iliilaitiritf, or tinrmiUiviif (roifulating the llf.- of the believer). Comp. the F'lrmnhi C'/nronlim, p. MH sq. Sim- ilar to this is the Qormm sontenre, that tno law is Zugrl, Spi'd'l, and Ri-ad, a restraint, a mirror, and a rule— F. 8.1 parts of tfie law (morals, worship, polity) too fal from each other, at present the idea of the law as a unit is often so strongly emphasized as to lose sighl of the fact that, both in the Old Testament as well as in the New, cognizance is taken of the difference of the parts (see Matt. xix. 17 ; Kom. vii. 7). The view to the unity of the law, however, prevails in the Mosaic and legal understanding of the Old Tes- tament revelation, as represented by the letters of the two tables. 9. The incapacity of the law to make man right- eous lies chiefly in this : First, it is a demand on the work of the incapable man, who is flesh (no flesh shall be justified); but it is not a Divine promise and work for establishing a new relation. Then it meets man as a foreign will, another law ; by which means his false autonomy is inclined to resistance, because he is alien to himself and to the concurring law within his inward nature. Finally, it meets him in analytical form and separateness. Man only be- comes susceptible of Divine influences: 1. As they are founded in the grace and gift of God ; 2. in the spontaneous action of voluntary love ; 'S. iu syn* thetical concentration. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. (From Chap. ii. 25 to Chip. ni. 20.) Either, or. As this applied to the Jew accord- ing to his position in the Old Testament, so does It apply to the Christian according to his position in the New (ver. 25). — It is not the external po.ssession of a saving means that produces blessings, but faith- fulness in its application (vers. 25-29). — How the fact, that the Jew becomes a Gentile, and the Gen- tile a Jew, can be repeated in our time in various contrasts (vers. 25-27). — The Jew, proud of the let- ter and of circumcision, below the condemnatory sentence pronounced on the illegal and tmcircura- cised (ientile — a warning for evangelical Christians (ver. 27). — Inner life in religion ; already the prin- cipal thing in Judaism, and much more in Christian- ity (vers. 28, 29). — He who is inwardly [lious, re- ceives praise, not of men, but of (Jod. — (lod's pleasure or j)raise of inward faithfulness in piety. Herewith it must be seen : 1. How this praise can be aer|uired ; 2. In what does it consist? (ver. 29).^ The i)raise of men and the praise of (lod (ver. 29). What advantage have the Jews ? This question, and its answer, exhibit to us the inttnitely great blessing of Christianity (chap. iii. 1—1). — How Paul never iguorcs the historical significance of his peo- ple, but triumphantly defends it against every charge (comp. chap. ix. 4, 5). — The historical feeling of the Apostle Paul (vcr.s. 1—4). On chap. iii. 2. (Jod lia.s shown His word to Jacob, his statutes and judgments unto Israel (Ps. cxivii. 19). H7(V ha.s God spoken to Israel* 1. Be- cause He chose this j)eople, out of voluntary com- piuwioti, for His inheritance; 2. Because by this peo- ple, specially appointed by Him for the purpose. He designed to prepare salvation for all the nations of the earth. — Do not complain too much at the un- belief of the world ! For, 1. The unltelievers alway. ligion ! No man with this feeling coidd be a Uni- versalist for a moment ; and none could be an in* fidel. [On chap. ii. 29, see Wkblbt's sermon Tlie Cir- CHAPTER III. 21-31. 121 ettmciaion of the Heart; on chap. iii. 1, 2, Pay- son's sermon on The Oracles of God; Mklville's on The Advantages resulting from the Possession of the Scr'qdures ; and Canon Wordsworth's Hulsean Lecture on What is the Foundation of the Canon of the New Testament? On chap. iii. 4, see Dwight's sermon on God to be Believed rather than Man ; and C. J. Vaughan's on The One Necessity. On chap, iii. 9-19, see Chalmers' sermon on The Importanct of Civil Government to Society. — J. F. H.] Sixth Section. — The revelation of God^s righteousness ivithout the law by faith in Christ for all sinnei\ without distinction, by the represetitation of Christ as the Propitiator {'^mercy-seat"). The right- eouKness of God in Christ as justifying righteousness. Chapter III, 21-26. Seventh Section. — The annulling of man's vain-glory (self-praise) by the law of faith. Justification by faith WITHOUT THE DEEDS OF THE LAW. First pr 00 f i FROM EXPERIENCE : God is the God of the Gen- tiles as well as of the Jetvs — proved by the actual faith of the Gentiles. True renewal of the law by faith. Verses 2*7-31. 21 But now tte righteousness of God without the law is manifested [But now, apart from the law,' the righteousness of God hath been made manifest °], being 22 witnessed [testified to, attested] by the law and the prophets ; Even^ the right- eousness of God icJtich is by [by means of, through] faith of Jesus Christ 23 imto all and upon all * them that believe ; for there is no difference : For all have sinned [all sinned, r. c, they are aii sinners],^ and come [fall] short [yatdQovvrai, 24 in the present tense] of the glory of God ; Being justified freely by his grace 25 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus : Whom God hath \jniit hath] set forth [nQot&ero] to be a propitiation [mercy-seat] " through [the '] faith [,] in his blood, to declai-e [for a manifestation (exhibition) of, Hig trdtihv z7ig 8i'/..'\ his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past [because of the prsetei mis- sion (non-visitation, passing by) of the former sins, 8ia tijv (not t/~c) naQeoiv (not acpeoiv) rmv nQny^yovorow a^iaQTrniaxav^ ^ through [in, tV] the forbearance 26 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 [v/ith a view to the manifestation (exhibition, nQog tijv' ndti^iv) of his righteousness at this present time, in order that he may be (shown and seen to be) just and (yet at the same time) be justifying him who is of the faith of (in) Jesus, elg ro thai avxov Sixaiov y.ai Sr/.aiovvta top va nioremg '///(Tov].'" 27 Where is [the] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? \^By the 28 Imo] of works ? Nay ; but by the law of faith. Therefore [For] " we con- chicle [judge] that a man is justified by faith '^ without the deeds [without 29 Avorks] of the law.'^ [Or, ?/] Is he the God of the Jews only? '* is lie not also 30 of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also : Seeing '* it is one God, which shall [who will] justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircuracision through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : [Far be it !] yea, we establish " the law. TEXTUAL. 1 Ver. 21.— [Or: ind<'p(vder\Uy of the law. Lxither : ohne Zulhnn des Gesetzes. x^P'* vrffi-ov, opposed to 6tik v6/iiou, ver. 20, is emphatically put fiist and belongs to the verb. The transposition in the E. V. obscures this conneo" tion nnd'flestroys the parrtllelism.— P. S.l 2 Ver. 21.— [Trec^avepcoTai. The perfect has its appropriate force and sets forth this revelation of rightcousnesj as an accomplished and still continued fact. Comp. the aTroKaAvTrreTot, i. 17. Meyer : " isl offerihor getriar/il, zii Togi gelrff'. .<■" dmsitjedem zur Erkenntniss sich darstdlt; das Pracstns der vodendeten Sandbuig, Heb. ix. 26. Bernl.ardj", p. 37S.'"— P. S.] ' ' Ver. '22.—[E\jen (or, I say, inquam, und zwar) is the best renderinsj of fi e here, since it is not strictly adversative, but expltiuatory and reassutnptive (if I may coin this teim for epannleptic), as in ix. 30 ; Phil. ii. 8. The coutrast is not between the riphteousness of Ood and the righteousness of iiuni (Wordsworth), but between the general idea of the righteousness of God and the specific idea of righteousness through faith now introduced. — P. S.] * Ver. 22.— [Koi tjr! ttovtos, text, rec, D. F. K. L. jS'., Syr., Vulg. ; omitted by N>. A. B. C, Griesbach, Lach- 128 THE El'ISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. nann. Alford brackets, and says : " Possibly from homoeotel. ; on the other hand, the longer tcrt may be the junction of two readings." Lauge retiins the received text without remark. It is redundant, but not superlluous. Kiphteoufl- neKs is represoKted aa a flDod extending unto all (cis Trayrai) and overall («jri ndvrai). Kwald : '• beslimmt /ur allt und koiniii'iKt ubT alh." — P. S.J ' Ver. 23.— [Theaorist Jj^iapToj', not the perfect tj^iapr^Kacri. Luther: Sit rind all zumal Sunder. Rurkcrt, in hi4 ridiculously presumptuous pvoclivity to criticise the Apostle's gniminar and logic, calls the use of the aorist hen- an inuci-uracy. Jiengol, OInhausen, and Wordsworth refer it to the ori>,'inal fall of the race in Adam. Meyer in loc. : " Tin Biniiini; oi' i-acli m.iii is presented as a histDrieiil fact of the past, whereby the sinful status is brought about." So aUo ThoUaU, I'bilippi, I^iuge. See £j.p. i\'o^«.— P. S.) • Ver. ib. — [ i Aoo'Tijpioi', i xpialorium (a neuter noun from the adjective iXaa-njpiot, propiliatory, rxpiatnry, from tlie verb iAa^KO/iat, to oppiafe,to cunciliale), may mean Suhwpfur (iA. Bv/xa), expiatoiy sacrijlix; or SuliiimitUl ( = iAacr/tof), irpiaioit, pidpiliatiun ; or Suliinlrrkul (tA. iiriSey-a, or (jriOimo) mircy-sritl (cover of the aik). Dr. L^mgo adopts t:i.- la.-.t, and translates Ver. 26.— The addition 'It)o-oC is found in Codd. A. B. C. K. [and Sin.l, Lachmann [Alford. Omitted by F. O. 52, It., Fritzschc, Meyer, Tischendorf ; while other authorities read XpurTou 'lri'' Ver. 28. — The rcadinu S iKaiovaBai dvBp. nicTei. [The recfpta Tvaia irio-rei before 5 iicoio0' Ver. ^9. — Lachmann, with Codd. A. C. F. [Sin.l, and many others, declare for iJi6vov. Tischendorf, with B. ana ancient fathers, favor fioviov. [This is too poorly supported and can easily be accounted for by the preceding 'lovSaCu>v. — P. 8.] '* Ver. 30.- «7reiTr«p [recfp? is better supported by A. B. C. I)'. Sin'., &c., and preferred by Alford.— P. S.] " Ver. 31.— [i(rTu>fiavipu>Tai, MapTvpou/xfVj) iiiri) tou fo/iiou icat rCiv npov, 22. AixaiocrvfT) Si 0coO Sid niirTeiot 'IrjooD XptoroO, Eis jrai'To? Ka'i eirl ndvTat Toiit ni)( airoAuTpiuatut t>)t (V XpioTip 'IigvoAi 25. \'Ov npoiBt-ro o ©eb« lAao'Tijpioi' a Aici irtVrcuf iv T?, bt/ means of, throvgh ; not Siol m/e< on ira.vrt<; fniapoi' iti vor. 12. — 1*. S ] t fTliirt would 1)0 cxprossed rnther by (caii^'jo'i?, or kou- XT)Mo ; vor. 27 ; iv. 2 ; 1 Cor. v. 0, &c.— 1*. S.] J (Til )liic-k (p. Hi) cxplnins : Di' vni 0i, dm S nnf nneh dir Gi'riehlrrk'drung, and quotps from S<;lilichtiii)r : "hue hun iignifir.iil enm yltirinm, qtciini f) Id liomiifm piimfinrint juxliim." — P. S.] I (Only the honor which proc<'eelon'.rs to Ood, n« His own attritaite, likr tho SiKaioa-vyri. Kwnid : the ^t^a whirh man had through creation, I's. viii. 8, liiit wliirli Ii.. lost through sin.— 1*. S.J ^ [WordHworth liivs slrosK on the prrsml tense, as in- dicrtl■ does not merely come to sui^ily the want of glory (according to Luther's translation : and are justified [Peshito, Fritzsche, — xui {iixa.^ ori'Tat] ), but by the i)i,xai,ol(rOxu, tlie fact of that vrjTf(toriTOcii. becomes perfectly apjiarent. The in- dividual judgment and the individual deliverance are, in fact, joined into one : repentance and faith ; hunger and tliirst after righteousness, and fulness. [Note ox the Scripture meaning of i)i,xat6(ii.— //(.>!«to i'/( f rot depends grammatically on iVt*- (lovi'Tcii,, but contains in fact the main idea : ut qui j udijicentur (Beza, Tlioluck, Meyer). This is the lociis classtciis of the doctrine of justification by free grace through faith in Christ, in its inseparable con- nection with the atonement, as its objective basis. The verb dtxatoi;) occurs forty times in the New Testament (twice in Matthew, five times in Luke, twice in Acts, twenty-seven times in Paul's Epistles, three times in James, once in the Aiiocalypse. In the Gospel and Ejiistles of John, as also in Peter and James, the verb never occurs, although they repeatedly use the noun (Jiznttorrriv; and the adjec- tive c)t'zatos). It must be taken iiere, as nearly always in the Biide, in the declaratory, foreusic op judicial sense, as distinct from, though by no means opposed to, or abstractly separated from, a mere executive act of pardoning, and an efficient act of making just inwardly or sanct'/i/ing. It denotes an act of jurisdiction, the pronouncing of a sentence, not the infusion of a quality. This is the prevail- ing Hellenistic usage, corresponding to the Hebrew p"'^sn . Coinp., for the Old Testament, the Septuv gint in Gen. xxxviii. 26 ; xliv. 16 ; Ex. xxiii. 7 {ov ()i.y.aui'irTfK; rov aai. nana no fhitji iv vuiiM, Gal. iii. 11 (or t; i'liymv voiior, Gal. iii. 10), or ivo'i mo y arroT-, Rom. iii. 20 ; i. e., to be justified in the sight or in the judgment of (Jod ; (2.) from the term /.oyHlnv f(\- thxaiorTi'rtjr, to account for righteous, which is used in the same sense as (Itxnt- oi^r, Rom. iv. 3, 5, 9, 23, 24 ; Gal. iii. 6 ; James iL 23, and is almost equivalent with am^ny, to save feoinp. Rom. v. 9, 10; x. 9, 10, 13 ; Eph. ii. 6 ff.); (3.) from the use of the opposite word lo condemn^ CHAPTER m. 21-31. 131 f, g., Prov. xvii. 15 : " He that justifieth ( p'''^sa , LXX. : diy.(xt.ov x(>lvfi,) the wicked, and he that con- demneth ( S''i:J«Ti; ) the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord," in the translation of the Vulgate : " Qui justijicat impimti et qiti candernnat justiim, ahonnnahiUe: est uienjue apnd Deum." He who would implant, righteousness in a wicked man, or lead liim into the way of righteousness, would doubtless be acceptable to God. So also Matt. xii. 87 : " By thy words shalt thou be justified (fVtKwto)- S-ijiTfi), and by thy words thou shalt be condemned {KaTa<)i,xaiTl}t'jtTii). The corresponding noun, (ii,KaimffiQ (which occurs only twice in the New Testament, viz., Rom. iv. 25 ; V. 18), justificatinn {Rechtfertigung\ is tlie opposite of /.ardx^tfia, condemnation ; comp. Matt, xii. 37 ; Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34 ; hence the antithesis of x(jT,i(a fit; f%/.aiiii(nv and x/jtim fit; xaTcixQifta, Rom. V. 16, 18. Justification implies, negatively, the remission of sins {liqeffit; rm' a/iaiiTiAv), and, posi- tively, the imputatitm of Christ's righteousness, or the adoption (iioflfff/a, Gal. iv. 5 ; Eph. i. 5). No human being can so keep the law of God, which demands perfect love to Him and to our neigli- bor, that on the ground of his own works he could ever be declared righteous before the tribunal of a holy God. He can only be so justified freelg, with- out any merit, of his own, on the objective ground of the perfect righteousness of Christ, as apprehended, and thus made subjective by a living faith, or life- union with Him. This justifying grace precedes every truly good work on our part, but is at the same time the actual beginning of all good works. There is no true holiness except on the ground of the atonement and the remission of sin, and the holi- ness of the Christian is but a manifestation of love and gr?titude for the boundless mercy of God already received and constantly experienced. This I take to be the true evangelical or Pauline view of justification, in opposition to the interpreta- tion of. Roman Catholics and Rationalists, who, from opposite standpoints, agree in taking {)i.xai,6i(Tt,i;. The grace of God is marked as the causality of this anohWQoxTic. This is therefore to be regard- ed here as the most general view of the fact of redemption, as is also plain from the addition, t^? iv X.'J. [t?i Christ, not tlirongh Christ; comp. Eph. i. 7 ; iv ID e/oiifv rijv ano/.iTQiixni' dt.a toT' ai/anru)iici.- T(')i'] ; Col. i. 14; Heb. ii. 17: freedom from the guilt of sin. 3. aTro/rT^fifftt; in the narrower sense, Rom. v. 17 ; vi. 2 ; vi. 18, 22; viii. 2, 21 ; Gal. v. 1 ; Titus ii. 14; Heb. ii. 15 ; ver. 18 : freedom from * [Literally, release or delivrnnce of prisoners of wnr or others /mm (an-d) a state of miPcry or d.iupcr by" the pay- ment of a ransi.m, (AiiTpof. or a.vTi\vTpov) as an equiva.ent; the ransom in our case is the life or blood of Christ, Matt. XX. 28 ; Eph. i. 7 ; 1 Tim. ii. 6 ; Titus ii. 14 ; 1 Peter i. 18 ; ii. 24. The synonymous veibs, ayopa^eii', 1 Cor. vi. 20; vii. 23 ; efayopd^cif, Gal. iii. 13 ; irepiiroielaSai, Acts XX. 28: AvTpouo-flat, Titus it. 14, all imply the payment of « price.— P. S.] 132 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TEE ROMANS. tlie dominion of sin. Tlie sume a.To/.i'Toi.xTK, viewed iu its ultiiiKite aim and cttect, means the transpo- sition from the condition of the mihtant to the tri- umphant Cliurch : Luke xxi. 28 [" the day of re- demption drawetii nigli "j ; Kom. viii. 23 ; Eph. i. 7, 14 ; iv. 3iJ. Tiie i/.«(T,»o,- is justly represented here as tlie central saving agency of the whole «/To/.rr^>ri(fTii,'. [llodgc: Redemption from the »/"aoTintiiii..\ 3. Publicly set forth (Vul- gate, Luther, Beza, Bengel, De Wette, Pliilippi, Meyer, Tholuck [E. V., Alford, Hodge; also De- litzsch, Comin. on Ht'b.^ ix. 5] ). Meyer : " Tliis eignificati'jn of n()OTiO-tj,in, well known from the Greek usage (Herod., iii. 1-48 ; vi. 21 ; Plato's JVuedr., p. 115, E., «Scc.), must be decidedly accepted, because of the correlation to ti^ ii'()fti'n'." § The peculiar interest of God is indicated by the middle voice. It was manifested through tiie crucifixion ; comi)are the discourse of Jesus, in John, where He com|)ares Himself with the serpent of Moses ; John iii. II This explanation acquires its full weight by the following l/.uar t'l^tov, a suijstantive of neuter form, made from tlie adjective i/.aiTTti(>toi;, which relates to expiatory acts ; see the Lexicons. In the Septuagint especially it is the designation of tlie mercy-seat, or the lid or cover of the ark, n"iQS , which w;is sprinkled by the high-priest with tiie blood of the sin-otfering once a year, on the great day of atonement [and over which appeared the shekinah, or c)d;« ror y.i'itiof, Lev. xvi. 13-16; Ex. xxv. 17-22. Comp Biihr : Sinidinlik dex inomischen C'uUus, 1837, vol. i., p. 379 ft., 387 ff., and Lundius, ♦ [Olshausen calls this verse the " Acropolis of the Christian faith." Among English commentators Woids- wipitli and IIoy fiKiiiy important passages without a word of explanation, and dw(dling upon otiiers with disproixjitioimto K'ngth. Ilodip is much more symmetrical, but cipLilly d<)l.^n:lti<■,•^l. Of (iennan commentators, comp. Olshausen, Tholuck, I'hi- lilil)i, Meyer.— I'. S.J + ( Wlierc TTpoTifljiAii is used of Ood's eternal purpose. In the third passagi^ wlicre Paul employs this verb, Rom. i. 13, he means his own jiurpose. The E. V. translates coirectly, Uiiitli) ft f'liUi, l)Ut BiiBTgests in the margin, /o/fo/v/ai/ierf. This interpretation woubl not necessarily require, as Meyer nsserts, the i ■fiiiitive elvai (qwm issr viliiil D'ii<), comp. irpoopi^eii', iK\dytavipuiTai,, ver. 21, and tit fv6t^{l.v, ver. 25.— P. 8.) ; [Kypkc quotes Euripides, Iphig. Anl., 1502; but iu this passage irpovdrjic( moans cither simply : Diana set forth (t CO sacrificial animal), or she preferred. See Meyer. — V. 9.1 $ [Meyer adds examples from Euripides, Thncydides, Demosthenes, and also from the LXX., and romarlis, in a U'lte, that the Oreekg use it(iori9rtli something as his ewn to others. Comp. J. Chr. K. v. Uuhnann : Dtr Schri/I- b W'i', ii. I, J). 337 (2d ciL) : " >Vi'c/// bins ehi Jnlcrexu, hat 0>i't iliibei (Meyer, achmid), .ioiidi:rn si in ist uml von ihin Ifimntl e.r, dvn ir hinstellt, und iT maclU ihii zu dcm, ah vaat er iliti hiiutelU."—r. 8.] JuJ. HeVigthumer, Humb. 1711, p. 33 If.— P. S.]. ' Besides, the settle, or lower platform [ '"TitJ ] of the altar of burnt-olfering [Ezek. xliil. 14, 17, 20] waa so named [because tiie Asnm/i, like tlie C'applanation. Comp. also the analognns tenns xopi)pior and eiip^apicTT^pioi', Ihtiik-nff.ring, Ka0aprqpi.ov, fwrijiiium pro xnhi'e {Heilnj-f^r). The" sense then is this : God set forth Jesus Christ, in the sight of the iutcUigenl univcrec, as a propitiatory sacrifloa for the sins of the world. The choice lies between this and the third view ; the second having no support in thfc use ol language, besides being too alis;ract. ~i)r. Jjaiige has made the third interi)retalion (mercy-seat) more plausible than any other ciiminentator. See liolow. Comp also Philippi, p. 105 f., and Forbes, p. 16G, for the same view. — P. S.l t [So also Ilofmann, /. c, i. 1, p. .'UO. He takes l\i:1 of God [ ]"U. J/o.s'., p. 608 ; comp. Jose- phu!^, Anf/q. iii. 6, 5. — P. S.]. Meyer [admits that this interpretation agrees with the usage of the word, especially in the LXX., and gives good sense by representing Christ as the anti- tj'pical Cajipordk, or mercy-seat ; but, nevertheless, he] urges against it the following objections : f (a.) That D.aarijijvov is without the article. But this would exclude the antitype, the Old Testament i/.c.aTij()iov. The requisite articulation is here in iv rui uiiTor cci/(aTo. [With more reason we might miss a'/.iiOvrov or ij/tiin'. Christ may be called our pascha, or the true pascha, or the tkue merci/-yeaf^ rather than simply pascha or mercn-seat. Yet this is by no means conclusive. — P. S.] (6.) The name, in its application to Christ, is too abrupt. Answer : Since there must be a place of expiation for every expiatory offering, the conceptions of places and offerings of expiation must have been quite familiar to the readers, not merely to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, although here the idea is connected with the Old Testament symbol, (e.) If Christ should be conceived as Capporeth^ then the il^i ritu:il, for the object and intent of sacrifice. If tte word were foimed from the Kal, it would be r~S3. "The golden liJ was called mE3, not because it covered the open ark, but because it subservtd the act of expiation which was here performed " (Biihr, Si/mbolik des JUo.<. Cul- iiis, i., p. 381). The Capjionth was the cenire of the pres- ence and revelation of God, and His t'lory dwelt over it between tlie two cherubim which ovei shadowed the ark, and represented the creation. Hence the Holy of holies was called p-i'ssr ni3 (lChrou.xxviii.il). The Pe- Bhito and Vulgate (^pnipiiDlnrhim) have followed the LXX. Comp. also Tholuck. Rom., 5tli ed., p. 157, note ; and Ewald, AHerlh.,Tp. \G6. But Ewald and Meyer derve T" 53 from ^S3 in the sense of scabere, to rub off. In forgive ; against which Tholuck protests in favor of the usual derivation from 133 . Ewald (/. c, p. 165, 3d ed. of 1866) maintains that Cnpjjnrrlh cannot mean the plain cover, as if the ark had no olhsr, but a second cover or a separate settle (the footstool of Jehovah), which was even more important than pi'ia- tion (diis siiOJic'ive Anetgiiuugsiiiiiler), the latter the means of the objective exhiliition {dus ohjiclive D'irslcUiuigsmithI) of Christ as a propitiatory sacrifice. So also Alford, wh« geems to follow He Wette (at least in the Romaius) mora than any other commentator. — P. S.] 134 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. \u'^ forth 8treiims tlirougli tlic ehaiiiiel of faith to wash away the guilty 8t;iiiis i)f sui. — P. S.] For the demon-stration of his righteous- ness [ f 1 1; t y t) 1 1 i I V T /^ (,• d I. X a I, o (T I' V // c a r - T I) I ]. In order to i)erfectly rev^'ul and cstabHsh it. Tlie divergent interpretations of the word dixai- (TV VII indieate iiow ditHuuIt it has been for tiie- oh)gy to regard God's righteousnests as grace which produces righteousness. Trutiifuhiess [contrary to tlie meaning of i)i,/.cti,oavvii'\, (Ambrose, Beza [Tur- retin, Hammond], and otliers) ; goodness (Theodo- ret, Grotiu-s [Koppe, Relche, Tittniann], and others); holiness (Neander, Fritzsehe [Lipsius] ) ; judicial righteousness (Meyer* [I)e Wctte, Tholuck, Phi- hp|)i, Alford, Wordswortli, Hodge] ) ; justifying, or sin-torgiving righteousness (Cln-ysostom, Augustine, and others) ; tlie ■ rigliteousness whicii God gives [which would be a superfluous ntpetition of ver. 21, and inconsistent with ver. 20,] (Luther, and others); [Stuart, and others : God's method of justification, which (Uz«io(T/'r/y never means. — P. S.]. It is rather the riiikttoiisiicxs of God in the fulness of Us revela- tion, as it proceeds from God, requires and accom- plishes through Christ tiie e.\])iation of the law, and institutes the righteousness of faith by justification iis the principle of the righteousness of the new life.f For the righteousness of God, like His truth, om- nipotence, and love, forms an unbrolcen and direct beam from His lieart, until it appears in renewed humanity. Because of (or, on account of) the prae-. termission (passing over), [i. e., because He had allowi'd the sins of the race which were committed before Christ's death to pass by unpunished, whereby His righteousness was obscured, and hence the need of a demonstration or manifestation in the atoning sacrifice, that fully jusiified the demands of right- eousness, and at the same time eflected a complete remission of sins, and justification of the sinner. — P. S.]. Tlu! nd{>Kji.i; must not be confounded with the ciqifffni. as Coceeiiis has proved in a spe- cial treati.se, JJe utililale distinction's inter ttuokti-v el a(inri,v (0pp. t. vii.). [Coinj). Textual Note ".'] The judicial government of (iod was not administered in the ante-Chri.stian period, cither by the sacrificial fire of the Israelitish theocracy, or by the nianifestations of wrath to the old world, i)oth Jews and Gentiles, as a jierfect and general judgment. Notwithstand- ing all the relative [)unishment3 and propitiation.s, God allowed sin, in its full mea.sure, esi)ecially in its inward character, to pa.ss unpunished in the prelimi- nary stages of expiation and judgment, until the day of the eoiii|)leti'ii revelation of His righteousness. For this rea.son, the time of the nuifffnt; is denoted as the time of the «»'o///. God permitted the Gentiles to walk in their own ways (Ps. l.\xxi. 12 ; cxivii. 20 ; Acts xiv. 10) ; He overlooked, or winked at, the times of this ignorance (Acts xvii. 30). But among ♦ [Mevnr, p. 146 (4th ed.) : " In the etrict soniic, the jii- dlciiil (morn pnrtlcularly the punilivr) rinhlmii.mets, which di-m.aiiil.-il n ho'y !j;itinfiictif>ii, and secured it in the atoiiinu B irrince of Christ." Do Wi-tin (and, after him, Alford) : "This iile.i alone suits the JucatoOi', wliich in liki'wlso jii- diciul. A Biii-oir(!rini; I'xoitcs, on the om- Hhnd. tho feeling of Kuilt. and i.s expiation ; on tlie other, it proJucos piiidon and ))rMne ; aii.l thus Chrisi'M death i.s not only ii proof of Ood's nmoe, hut also of [lis judicial righteousness, which requires puni-lunent and I'xpi.itlon (-2 Cor. v. il). Hero is a If.iindni.ri for the An-elinie tlicorv of siiti-slaction, but not for it-" ifrossly anthn-popathii; execution."— P. S. ) t {KorlH-s, p. ir.S: " (Jod's jiidieial li^'hfeousness in hnth its osju'cts, of sin-condeinniug and siu-forgiviDg righteous- neds."— 1'. S.] the Jews, one of the two goats which was let loose in the wilderness on the great day of atonement, represented symbolically the ttuokji^ (Lev. xvi. 10). This is not only a transcendent fact, but one that is also immanent in the world. The fact that the ad- niinistrators of the theocracy, in connection with the Gentile world, have crucified Ciirist, proves the in- ability of the theocracy to afford a fundamental re- lief of the world from guilt.* — Of sins previ- ously committed. The sins of the whole world are meant, but as an aggregate of individual sins ; because righteousness does not punish sin until it has become manifest and mature in actual individual sins. [Comp. the similar expression, Heb. ix. 16 : Hi; uno).ii<>(Ti,v nor iTzl rfj n(>ii)Tii dial) i-z.ii 7ru(ia- [jdanitv. This parallel passage, as well as tlic words IV TO) vrv xaioi't, in ver. 20, plainly show that the TTiJoytyovoTa a/ia(iTi^iiata are not the sins of each man which precede his conversion (Calov., Mehring, and others), but the sins of all men before the ad- vent, or, more correctly speaking, before the atoning death of Christ. Comp. also Acts xv. 30 : Tnii; /l>6voi% Ttj^ ayro/at,- v7Tf(ji,i)i7iv 6 Oto;. Philippi confines the expression to the sins of the Jewish people, in strict conformity to Ueb. ix. Ih ; but here the Apostle had just proven the universal sinfulness and guilt, and now speaks of the universal redemp- tion of Christ.— P. S.] Vers. 25, 20. Under the forbearance of God for the demonstration [ Un/er dir Gcdnkl Gotta zu der Erwcinuinj, iv r i^ dvo/ii ror •Ofor, &c.]. Construction : 1. (LVumeuiu.-*^ Luther [Kiick- crt, Ewald, HodgcJ, and others, refer the dvuxri to 7i(Joyfyov6Tii)v [i. e., committed durinff the for- bearance of God ; comp. Acta xvii. 20. This gives good sense, but would recpiire, as ^eyer .says, a dif- ferent position of the words, viz., nrn- ci/'rt^»T. Twf 7T{toytyov. Iv ttj dv. t. 0. — P. S.]. 2. Meyer re- fers the forbearance to jidiiKn,':, in consetjumce of indulgence or toleration, as the ground of the pass- ing over. [So also Philippi]. 3. Reichc : tt; ev- (Vftjtr T^i,' ()i,xaioavvti<; ; the t%xai,o(T. liaving been manifested partly in the forgiveness of sins, and * (Ilr. IIod^'o, from fear of Romanizing inferences, takes iropeo-ts in the sense of d(/)«o-iv, and adoptB the false transla- tion of the WviXpnXc pinpu ,■ ti misximiem, " because God had overlooked or pardoned nin from ihe lietrinnintr." . . . "To say Ood did no> punish sins un^ler the Old Dispensation, ia only a difl'orcnt way of naying that lie prirdoned them. So, ' no"t to impute iniquity,' is the nepitive statement of ju.s- tiflcation." Comp. against this, Txiunl SVof- 8. Hodge g)C.s on to sny (p. 150): "This passage is one of the few which the Ilomanists quote in supiH>rt of the r doc- trine t nr there was no reol pardon, jusiiticniion, or sal- vation before the advent of Christ. The ancient be- lievers, at death, according to their doctrine, did not pass into heaven, but into the limbiis pilrum. where ihey con- tinued in a scini-conscious stale until Christ's (/<•.«■. H.VMX n,i inferos for their ilelivenince. The modern tninscendontal theoloL'ians of (iermaiiy, who apjaoach Konvinism in bc m my other points [?], aaive with the I'aiu.sts also here Thus Olshausen sayn, ' Under the Old Testament there was no real, hut only a symholical forgiveness of Hinn.' Our Lord, however, sjieaks of Alirahnm as in heaven; and the I'salins are filled with petitioiiH and thanksgiving for Ood'g pardoning mercy." But how will Dr. IIod);e oo his theory exp ain the Old Testament do( trine of Sheol or Hades be- fore ChrlHt's resurrection, and such passages as Hob. ix. 15; xi. 39, 40; Acis xiii. 3», which likewise plainly teach the incompleteness of the Old Testament salvation before tho advent of Clirist? There certainly can he no remission of sin without the sacrifice of Christ ;' and whatever remis- sion there was under the Old r>ispen.sation, wius cranted and enjoyed only by reason of the retrospective ellicacv , and in trustful anticipation of that sacritiee. Hut aiitieiiiatioi. fallD far Bhort of tho actual reality. Tholuck CJiIls thi- atonemcnl of Christ not unaptly " the Divine theodicy for tho past h.» tory of the world."— r. 8.1 CHAPTER III, 21-31. 1^ partly in the delajiof punishment. [Tliis implies a wrong view of dia and di-xai-oa. ; Meyer. — P. S.] 4. We eonnect the dvo//j with the following n^bi; T^v trdniiv (ver. 26) into one idea,* and suppose here a brief form of expression, by whieh 7T(Joytyo- voron must be again supplied before avo/ij. Tlie ndiJKSi,^ must by all means be conueeted with the dvo/j] ; but it is not operative by virtue of this rtlone. The dvo/i'i denotes the old time as the period of God's prevailing forbearanee, to the end that He may reveal His perfeet righteousness in the future decisive time. The nd(tf(ji,i;, on the con- trary, appeared at that time as the supplement of the propitiatory and retributive judgments whieh had already commenced as preliminaries. For this reason, the fit; Vvrfftin' (ver. 25) is not tlie same as n()6(; ri]V f rrfttit-r (ver. 26). The first %v- Sfi.ii.c, as the judicial righteousness revealing itself in the blood of Christ, has supplemented the ndi^KjiQ. The second J'reJftiK,- is the purpose of the ciro/^, the fully accomplished 'hr()n,ii,c, which branches oft' in penal righteousness, and in justifying righteousness to him who "is of the faith of Jesus, and draws faith from His fountain of faith." The tU should there- fore not be confounded with the 7ri}Qi; (Meyer). f Ver. 26. [At this present time, Iv nZ vvv xaiQiT), not opposed to Iv rf] dvo/jj (Bengel, Hodge), but ratlier to 7T(j6 in tt^oj'? j-ororoir, and added emphatically. The time of Christ is a time of critical decision, when the nd^nai^q is at an end, and man must either accept the fuU reuiission (ai^'ffTtc) of sin, or expose himself to the judgment of a righteous God. — P. S.] — That He may be just and the justifier, &c. [ft<; to t tvav avzQV diy.cti,ov y.ai d t, x a t, ov vr a, rbv £>t TtiffTfoii; 'J ijffoT'. The iii; expresses not merely the result, but the design of God in exhibiting Christ to the world as the mercy-seat. — P. S.] We emphasize avrov, 07ie and the some {nn and dersieVje).X That He may be — that is, that He may plainly appear [and be recognized by men in this twofold character as the Just One and the Justifier of the sinner]. The righteousness of God in the death of Christ has fully revealed that which the human view of the early and later times found so difficult to grasp ; namely, righteousness and forbearance or love in one spirit, condemnation and deliverance in one act, kilHng and giving new life in one operation. [Bengel: '■'■ Suinmurii hi.c'Jiobdur paradoxon evav- gdicum; nam lu leae conspicitur Dcuh Justus et C07i- demnans, in evan'/elio ju-itus ipse et justijicans pecca- torem.^^ This apparent contradiction is solved, ob- jectively, in the love of God, which is the beginning and the end of his ways ; and, subjectively, in faith (tov fx TTtffrfr.jc), by which the sinner becomes one with Christ. In the death of Christ, God punished * [Hence Dr. Lange, in his translation, makes a period after a.ijLapTt)fj.aTMv. I prefer the construction of Meyer and Pnilippi ;is beins more natural. The avoxrj must not be confou (led with X"P^5 • the former suspends and puts off the judgment by nipea-is, the latter abolishes the guilt of ein by dijbecris. — P. 3.] t [McycT : "Trpbs tjji' evSei.(iv, Wiederau/nahme 4ek €1? evSe ifiv, ver. 25, mid zwar ohne Si, ver. 22, tBoOei eis niil ttcm g/eiclibrdeu'eiid''» irpo^ absichlslos ver- ta*:ch:il isf. iliT Artikel abcr de.r Vorstcllung tier bislimm- len, g'-scliichilich gegihawn evSfifi^ diciit, vxis drm F'lrt- gchn'lle der Darnlellxiiig eiihprirlil." So also Tholuck and Philippi. The latter commentator explains tlie exchange of TTpos for eis from euphony, to avoid the threefold repe- tition of eis (eis evS.., ver. '35 ; ei? to ilvai, ver. 2G'). — P. S.] X [Meyer takes avrds simply as the pronoun of the third person. It evidently belongs both to Sixaioi' and iixot- ovi^ra. — P. S.] sin and saved the sinner, and Divine justice was vin. dicated in the fullest display and triumph of redeem- ing love. Not that the Father poured the vials ol His wrath upon His innocent and beloved Son (as tiie doctrine is sometimes caricatured), but the Son vohmtarily, in infinite love, asid by the eternal coun sel and with the consent of the holy and merciful Father, assumed the whole curse of sin, and, as the representative head of the human family, in its stead and for its benefit. He iully satisfied the demands of Divine justice by His perfect, active and passive obe- dience. His saciitice, as the sacrifice of the eternal Son of God in union with hiunan nature, without «n is of infinite value botii as to extent and duration while the Old Testament sacrifices were merely an ticipatory, preparatory, and temporary. Justification is here represented as the inmiediate effect of Christ's atoning death. On (ii/.aioiit, comp. the Exer). Notes (m ver. 24, and also Doctrinal, below. No. 5. Wordsworth has a long note here on the doctrine of justification. He likewise maintains that dv/.aioio (and p'^ijri ) in the LXX. and in the New Testament means, not to nial-e righteous, but to account and declare righteous, and to rer/ard and triat as such, in opposition to condemning and ■pronowiciiig ffuilti/. But he insists also, that we are actually made righteous by our union, with Christ, and that Goii's righteousness is not only imputed, but also imjiarted to us in Hira who is " the Lord our Righteousness." This work of infu.sion of grace, however, is not properly called ju\tJicatioii, but sanctijicat on. Comp. vi. 22 : " Being freed from sin, and made servants unto God — i. e., being justified — ye have your fruit unto holiness " — this is sauctification. — P. S.J SEtoND Paeagkaph (vers. 27-31). Ver. 27. Where, then, is the boasting? This announces the great conclusion from the foregoing. The lively expression of the paragraph arises from the triumphant confidence of the Apostle. [Ben- gel : Tcov, particula victoriosa.~\ The y. a v / tj a i, <; [gloriatio] is certainly not the same as /.ai/ijfict [gloriandi materia], subject of boasting (Reiche) ; but yet it is not exactly bragging (Meyer), since in many persons boasting of the law arose from dog- matic error. Jewish boasting is especially meant here,* but not exclusively, for the general conclu- sion is here drawn in reference to the righteousness of the Jews and Gentiles (see ver. 19). With the negation of the y.a>'-/i.nic, the y.av/>ifia is also de- nied at the same time. — It is excluded. Perhaps the expression is here chosen with reference to the limits of tlie court of justice. The law excludes unqualified plaintiffs and defendants. — By what law ? (By the law) of works ? Since the Mosaic law was a law of works in form only, and not in spirit (see chap. vii. 7), the question presup. poses that there is no such law of works ; tlie spirit of the law is the law of faith. But the meaning of the question itself is : the law, as such, erroneously made a mere law of works, is too imperfectly de- veloped in its operation to exclude boasting (see * [Hence the article 17, which seems to refer to the' Kavx^Jt^i? already spoken of in chap. ii. 17; iii. 19, comp. below, ver. 29. So Claysostom, Theodoret (to in/zijAov to)i» 'lovSaCiav 4)p6vT)na), Bengel, Kuckert, Tholuck, Philippi, Jteyer, Alford ; while Fritzsche, Hodge, and othei-s, take it in a general sense of the boasting of the sinner before God; which, of course, includes the boasting of the Jewi over the Gentiles. — P. S.l 13G THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Matt. xix. 20. — By the law of faith. According to Meyer, tlie Apostle apeaks of tlie law of faitli because the gospel ]jre.scribes fuitli as tiie condition of salvation. According to Tiioluck and De Wette, the word ro/ios' I'^is li^-'''e the idea of a religions rule (/(«)•;//«).* But, according to vcr. 31, the Apostle will coni|)letely establish the same law, for the U'laicing void of which the Jew charged him. The same revealed law which, in its analytical char- acter — that is, in its single commandments — bears the ajjpearauce of a law of single works, is, in its synthetical character, recognized as one, a law of faith (Ucut. vi. 4, 5 ; Mark xii. 29 ; James ii. 10) ; because, as our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, it leads to faith, and in Him first comes to man as tlie objective [irinciple of faith, and then, as the subjec- tive principle of faith, it becomes tiic law of the new life. [With vo/ioi; nifTTmx:, comp. vnay.oi] nicfTK'U^ i. 5; voiioi; rov nvtviiarw; rtji; t^oi'jt;, viii. 2; tvi'uiioi; X(ji.(TToT; 1 Cor. ix. 21; voiioi; rilnoi; TJ^s" l/.n'Ot(ilu^, James i. 25; ii. 12 — all going to show that tlie liberty of ttie gospel has notliing to do witli license and airtinomianisui. — P. S.] Ver. 28. Therefore L^O"^] '^^ judge. Ao- yt^o/(f.9-a [ceiisonus, comp. ii. 3; viii. 18; 2 Cor. xi. 5j, is not, we infer, nor merely, we think, reckon (Tholuck [AUbrd, Hodge] ), which, with the read- ing ycci), would not even make good sense. The ex- pression, " For we lltink^'' would be an odd method of demonstration. It is not the subjective fact of justification which establishes the olyective economy of salvation already described ; but it is tliis objec- tive economy which, on the one hand, excludes false justification, namely, tliat which is by woi'ks ; and, on the other hand, establishes real justification, tiiat which is by faitii. We must consider also that the Apostle lays down the statement of ver. 28 as tiie principal proposition to the entire following ai-gu- ment, but will not apply it as ])roof for the negative statement, that man is not justified by works. — By faith [;rt'(7Tft = (Vtot nifrrmti;, instrumental cause]. Lutiier's addition of alone [jliirch den Gluuben- allki.n] is defended by Tholuck (the Nuremberg edition of the Bible of 1483 also reads, onlij by faith). Meyer properly remarks : It does not be- long to the translation, but it is justified by the con- text as ail explanation.]- — Without works of the ♦ iSo :il8o Afford anil Ilodpo: ^' v6ixo<; is not used hero in its ordin;iry souse, 'file ■jeneral idea, however, of a rule of ml inn is retained."— P. S.| t (Tliis ic very true. TJuther's nllf.in id correct in sub- stance, aii//). Kven Erasmus defended Luther in this case, and aiid: " Vnx sola lul cUlinnribiix liip.ilnlii hue iir.ulo in L'llliero, revirenlfr in P.itr bus [!) .tn-Jihir." Comp. Wolf, Koppe, Tholucli, nnd riiilippi in liico. Novortheless, the insertion of the "snln" in the tninslation was unnecessjiry and iinwi-i-, :ind, In the even of Kotimni.sts, it pave some iilanslhility to the unjusl onnrRo of filsifyinif the .Scriptures. It bron(;ht I'aiil into direct verbil (though no reil) (■(inlllct with Jiime-, when he saf s fhiit by " work-" man is jiistifled, and mi' byfiii'h only " (ou« Ik itiartia^ iiovov, ii. 24). The do^inatio foi-milla, snia fi'U (hcnci' the term nolifi'lininum), has l>ecome a watch- word of evnnt'olii'al rrotesluntism, and, rightly iinder- Ktood — <■. anil 'oiiai'ia alone. The ^t^P't ipyutv iVov mu.st bo connected law. This naturally refers to AixatoTa&ai, but not to faith. In the process of justijicalion, the works of the law do not come into coiiperiition. [Hodge : "To be justitici without works, is to be justified without any thing in ourselves to merit justification. The works of the law must be the works of the moral law, because the jn-oposition is general, em- bracing Gentiles as woU as Jews. . . . The Apostle excludes every thing subjective. He places the ground of justification out of ourselves." Yet faith is something subjective, by which the olyective ground of justification is personally appropriated, and made available for our beneiit. — P. S.] Ver. 21), Or is he the God of the Jews only? [Or, in case that what was said in ver. 28 should be called in doubt. Vers. 29, 3U furnish an additional striking proof for ver. 28 ; Meyer. — P. S.] ftVat Tiroc, to belling to some one. The Rabbinical, and subsequently the Talmudic Jew.s, certainly as- sumed that God was merely the God of the Jews (see Tholuck, p. 102. .Meyer refers to Eisenmcng- cr's Entdccktci Jwlenihnm, i. p. 587). — Paul can de- clare, without further proof: Yes, of the Gentiles also. The Apostle does not have here in mind chiefly the utterances of the prophets, as Tiioluck supposes, but the same fact of Christian experience to which Peter refers. Acts x. 46 flf. ; xv. 9 ; and to which he himself refers in (Jal. iii. 5. The Old Tes- tament witnesses were explained and eonlirmed by the fact of the salvation of the (Jentiles by liiiili, by which fact also his apostleship to the tieiitiles was first completely sealed (see 1 Cor. ix. 2). [God is not a national, but a universal God, and offers salva^ tion to (Jentiles and Jews on precisely the same terms. Hodge : " These sublime truths are so famil- iar to our minds, that they have, in a measure, lost their power; but as to the Jew, enthralled all his life in his narrow national and religious prejudices, they must have expanded his whole soul with unwonted emotions of wonder, gratitude, and joy." — P. S.] Vcr. 30. Seeing it is one God. The tntintQ, since [altdlewcil, introducing something that can- not be doubted]. According to Meyer, tlie weight with the verb, not with irt'crrei. The Bible never says : "faith justifies," hut, " we are justified by faith (n-ioret)," because faith comes into view here simplv ;is a mcan^, or as the opyoLvov k-qitTiKov which apprehemls and appropri- ates Christ ; and hence it is by faith, without the eoiiprra- tion of works, that we are justified, liut faith is neverthe- less the fruitful source of all pood works. " Ful-s mla juslifical, al nrc est, ner manfl snla : in/rinxeius npfrnlur tt extrinserim." Tho more full and correct formula would be : Ornlla sola jusl^ficnninr perjlliin qrnt Chrisli jnslilinm iipprelifiiilil it pi-r cnrilnlnn operntur (ttiVtis 5i ayairifi ivtpyovfi.(vi\)^ or salvation by prace alone us apprehendol by a living faith. Justifying f.iith purifies tlio heart, over- comes the world, and abounds in fruits of riphtcoiisness. Ills inipos,s!ble truly to nelii ve in Christ, without partak- ing i>f the i)owor of ills holy life. Wordsworth in lite, hits the point, when he says : "Thoupli it is by faith we are justifiid, ii'id by faitli onl;/. yet not by such a faith as ba« no works snrinpinir out of it. Every such faith is a dead faith. And yet it is not from tho works that spring out of faitli, bul from the f litli which is the root of works, that all are justified." In otlior words, it is not by faitli as na active or working, 1)ut by faith as a receptive or approjiriating principle, by which weare justlfled ; yet that which faith re- ceives, is a power of life which must at once manifest itself in ffood works. It is but just to laithorto add, that he taught mo"t dearly and forcibly this ln«epar.il)le connection between faith and works. I shall iiiiote but ono iiassage from his ad- mirable preface to the Epi.stle to the Romans : " O <•.< iV tin hbewlig, ffi'mhi'if'ig, t/iillig, mdelihg Ding urn ilfn Glmibi-n, ilitgs IS nnnii'H/lirIt i.il, iliiss tr nichi nhnr Vnlfrlixss snille Q\tlrt witkm. Er frngf nwh nii/il, ub gnlf. Werkf Mu Ihun sindf .wndrrn elie mnn J'lagt, hiil rr sir grjhan, iind ist immir im Tliiin. , , . Ahi> (Inn iinini'iffliih i.-t, Wrrk vnm Gtiinbcn MU tihriilen ; jn, to unm/iglirh, a!s hrrnnen und Imihlrn vom Ftucr mug getchiedcn wf.rUcn." Comp. p. 140, No. 9. — P. 8,1 CHAPTER ni. 21-31. IS] of the proof rests on the unity of God, Monothe- ism ; but the context puts the weight upon the fact that tlie justification of the Jews and Gentiles as one divine fact — which therefore appears to be divided into two parts — must be traced to one and the same God. — The future dixattoafu is certainly not used for the present i)i,/.ai,ob (Grotius [»io?'e Htbrceorwnl^, and others), still less does it refer to the universal judgment (Beza, Fritzsehe) ; but it assumes the ex- perience thai Jews and Gentiles are already justified, ill order to give prominence to the future estabiisiied by it ; namely, that Jews and Gentiles will be jus- tified. [The future (= prcescns futurabile) ex- presses the permanent purpose and continued power of justification in every case that may occur; comp. the future in ver. 20 and v. 19. Erasmus : '■'■ Respexit ad eos qui udhuc easent in Judaismo seu pac/anis- mo." — P. S.] — Circumcision by faith. It is remarkable that there is not only a change of the prepositions eV. and ()i.d, but also that tlie article stands with the latter, but not with the former. Meyer regards the change of prepositions, as well as the disappearance of the article from tx, as a matter of indifference.* Calvin observes in the change of the prepositions ty. and dod a certain irony : " Si qnis vult habere differentiai)i gentilis a Judceo, liauc ha- beat, quod ille per Jidem, h c vero ex Jide justUlam couseqnitur^^ (from Tholuck, p. 162). Meyer prop- erly regards this explanation as strange. But indif- ference as to the form of expression would be equal- ly strange. There seems in reality to be a double form of breviloquence here : He will justify the cir- cumcision (which is a. circumcision by faith) by faitli ; for the real Jew has alreadi/ a germinat- ing faith ; and He will justify the uncircuracision (that whicli through faith has become circumcision) s with mpi.Toii.rtv, he circumcision which is hy ftn'lh, and thereby destroys the correspondence' to the other member. Green (Gr., p. 300, ae quoted by Alford) refers Sia r^s TT-t'o-xeajs to TriVTeco? just mentioned, hy thu iiiitlruiiirntitlHy of ihr, identical fnilh which opirntes in the case of the cii-cumcised. Bengel : '• Jadsef prukm in fide fuerant ; gentiles fidem ab illis recens niicli cmn'V—V. S.I t [Very similar is the interpretation of "Wordsworth : The Jews, or children of Abraham, are justified rmi of or jium (Jk) the f lith whioh Abraham their father had, and which they are supposed to have in him, being already in ;he covenant with God in Christ. The Gentiles, oi efio, must enter that do»r of the faith of Abraham, and piiss Ihro.igh it {Sia), in order to be justified. There is but one Church from tlie icginning. Abraham and his seed are in the household of faith in Chr st, but they must live and ect from its spirit ; the heathen must m/er the house through the door of that faith in Him.— P. S.] ably to Theodoret, Pelagius) has been maintained b,^ Semler, and otiiers, and by De Wette and Meyer According to Meyer, the Apostle, from chap. iii. 31 to iv. 25, proves the harmony of the doctrine of ju* tifieation by faith with the law, by what has been said in the law about Abraham's justification. Meye* urges against the former view, that then tl)Js very important sentence appears merely as an at)rupt cate- gorical assertion ; and Philippi's reply, that chap, viii. 1 continues it further, certainly does not relieve the matter. But Tholuck justly remarks against the second view, that theti a yith obliges men t< new depieeti of love and (rralitiide to God, &c., &c. But tliose are all siili- ordin'ito points. — In one sense the law is abolished, as ii type and shadow of thini{s to come; a.s a killing letter, with its curse ; corap. Kph.ii.25; (ial. iii. K); hut as to icsmrnil con- tents, as the expression of the holy will of Ood, iis a rule of oonduct, it was iiurfcctly fulfilled by Christ, and I" 'onstantly fulfilled by every believer in love toOod anu .n.fc lOtiur neiifh- bor. Thi' doailoifue is a national code in /oiin, a universal X)de 'n ipirit and aim. This applies to ail the Ten Coin- nnndments, from which we cannot take out one (say the seO'iad, or the fourtli) without m»' ^k the beauty, har- li),ony, and Cf)mpleteno»8 of th<» » - . o. Christ has settled that question in His interpretation of the law, by the fui.- damenial pratciple of the iiia)rna oh irta of the kingdom of heaven, um laid down Matt. v. 17 If. — 1*. 8.] plan of salvation. The connection between the fitxau.jffK,- — which grace effects in every believef after the x/./^ffi,- — and the i/air.KOi,-, consi.sts in this : tiiat Christ, as the perfect dkAaimiia, is, by the gospel, offered to men, that He is set forth aa i).aarin)i.Qv. (Lipsius, in a monograph entitled Th« Pauline Doctrine of Justijicalion, '853, iiolda that the (hxKtoni'oy is the condition of righteousness, and that every one is t)iy.aio<; who is just what Wis de^ tination recjuircs he should be. The author's con- clusion is, that Paul, in no single passage, compels us to divide the divine operation — the result of which is the (preliminary) human ()i/t«u)(Ti''r// — into two distinct and separate acts, the actus (fficlevs and the actus declaratorlus, in such a manner that the lat- ter only may be called t)ixat,o7v.) — The way for the Protestant doctrine of justification was i)rei)ared by the sound productions of the mysticism of the Mid- dle Ages ; for example, in " German Tlie(ilo<;y." * This book contrasts sdfdoni, or egoism, with entire self-surrender to God and His will, and thereby indi(!ates the deepest ground for the sinner's justifi- cation by faith. Justification, as the a])pro])riation of Christ's (Uxft/i/jna, makes the gospel, through the power of the Holy Ghost, an individual and special absolution from tiie guilt of sin, which the believer experiences in peace of conscience and freedom. It makes the objective fyi.xc<(«)/, one year before the commenc'Ricnt of the Ueforniaiioii. P^'cent clltions by I'fi'iffer, ls,Vi, nnd Rol- fpnialli, lSii:i. Thi'ie is also an Kii); ish translation bj Susanna Winkworlh, with introductions by lliinsrn anq Kiuk'sley, I-/a vo.KOi; for the reading is y(t>^i(; 't(jyit>v v6fousness at this (present) time; 2. Why ? Because in time past He could pass over sin CHAPTER ni. 21-31. 141 by His Divine forbearance, and thereby shake faith in His justice (vers. 25, 26). — Divine forbearance (ver. 25). — God the only just One, and therefore the only Justifier (ver. 21). Luther : " All have sinned," &c. This is the chief portion and central part of this Epistle, and of the whole Scripture. Therefore understand this text well, for the merit and glory of all works, — as he himself says, — are done away with, and God's grace and glory alone i-emain (ver. 23). — Sin could be removed neither by laws nor by any good works ; that must be done by Christ and His forgiveness (ver. 25). — Faith fulfils all laws, but works cannot fulfil a single tittle of the law (ver. 31). Starke : There is only one kind of justification in the Old and New Testaments ; namely, that wliich is by faith in Christ (ver. 21). — To have a believing heart, is to hunger and thirst after the grace of God in Christ, and to appropriate the righteousness of Christ for our spiritual satisfaction and refreshment (ver. 22). — Do not make a wrong use of this passage against active Christianity, for God's image nmst be restored in us in the order of the new birth and daily renewal (ver. 23). — Grace and righteousness are the two principal attributes of God which are proved in the work of our salvation. Therefore one cannot be separated from the other, either in the cause or order of our salvation (ver. 24). — The faith which appropriates the blood of Jesus Christ and His expiatory death, and presents them to God the Lord, is the only means by which Christ becomes also our mercy-seat (ver. 25). — If you are ever so distinguislied and wealthy, and are deficient in true and living faith, you can neither be justified nor saved (ver. 26). OsiANPER : No doctrine must be accepted in the Church of God to which God's word does not bear witness (ver. 21). — Lasge : The merit of the blood of Christ is not only the object which faith grasps, but also the foundation on which it firmly rests (ver. 25). — Hedinoer : Christ our righteousness! Oh, Jhe glorious consolation, which screens us from the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and eternal death ! No work, no perfection out of Christ ; but faith alone makes us dear children of God — right- eous, holy, and blessed (ver. 25). Besgel : Under the law, God appears just and condemning ; under the gospel, just, and yet justi- fying the guilty sinner. Lisco : The nature of evangelical righteousness is, that it is obtained by faith in Jesus Christ ; and it comes to cdl and upon all who believe in Him. Like a flood of grace it flows to all, and even so overflows as to reach even the heathen. It is there- fore a righteousness by faith, and not a righteousness by works. — In the work of redemption, God's holi- ness and grace, justice and forbearance, are revealed (vers. 25, 26). Helbn'er : The difficult question is now solved : " How can the sinner find redemption from his sins ? " Christianity replies ; Believe in Chriat (ver. 22). — How is the righteousness which God accepts testified by the law and the prophets ? 1. By this means : all forgiveness, all redemption, is every- where described in the Scriptures as the free work »f God's grace ; neither the oifering, nor man's own merit, was sufficient for this end ; 2. In the em- phatic prophecies of a future Redeemer (ver. 21). — Unworthiness before God is universal. This is the first prostrating word of revelation : Know that thou art a sinner, a poor sinner; that is, who hast nothing. and must get something from God (ver. 23). — Christ's redemption is : 1. A ransom (Matt. xx. 28) Irom the guilt of sin (Eph. i. 7) ; 2. A ransom from the puTu isJwieiit of sin (Rom. v. 9) ; 3. A ran-som from the dominion of sin (1 Peter i. 18 ; ver. 23). — The sub- jective condition of redemption is faitli as a faitb of the heart, which reposes its confidence on Christ'a sacrificial death — a faith that Christ died for vie. This Jor me is the great thing ! (ver. 26.) — On vers. 23-25, Reixhard preached his celebrated Reforma» '] tion Sermon (ii. 270) in the year 1800 : " The great reason why our Church should never forget that it owes its existeiKie to the renewal of the doctrine of God's free grace in Christ." Besser : The law impels toward righteousness, but it does not confer it. — There are not two ordera of salvation, one for Jews and honorable people, and the other for heathen and publicans ; but there is only one for all. — We are justified : 1. Without merit ; 2. By God's grace ; 3. Through the re- demption that is in Christ Jesus (ver. 24). — The highest declaration of God's grace is at the same time the highest declaration of His justice. J. P. Lange : The fact of salvation is also a mi- raculous work of God (ver. 21). — Redemption as the second and higher world of miracle in relation to the natural world of miracle. — Golgotha is more ex- alted than Sinai in respect also to God's justice.— The lightning-flash of New Testament justice : 1. Killing ; 2. Slaking alive. [BuRKiTT : Vers. 24-26. We see here : 1. A glorious privilege for believers, justification ; 2. Its efficient cause, God; 3. The moving or impulsive cause, free grace ; 4. The meritorious cause, the blood-shedding and death of Christ ; 5. Tlie final cause, the declaration of His righteousness ; 6. The instrumental cause, /az7A. — Oh, glorious and all-wise contrivance, whereby God made sufficient provision for the reparation of His honor, for the vindication of His holiness, for the manifestation of His truth and faithfulness, and for the present consolation and eternal salvation of all repenting and believing sin- ners to the end of the world ! — Matthew Henry : Ver. 25. Christ is the propitiation — there is the healing plaster provided. Faith is the applying of this plaster to the wounded soul. — ^Faith is the bunch of hj'ssop, and the blood of Christ is the blood of sprinkling. — Dwight devotes six sermons to the sub- ' jecf of Justification, in which he treats of its nature, source, and means ; duty of believing ; nature of faith ; influence of faith on justification ; reconcilia- tion of Paul and James on justification ; influence of works on justification ; and justification by faith no diminution of motives to obedience {Theology, l vol. ii., pp. 515-605).— -Clarke : vers. 23-24. Aa God is no respecter of persons, all human creaiurea being equally His offspring, and there being no rea- son why one should be preferred before another, therefore His mercy has embraced all. — The redemp- tion of Christ comprehends whatsoever He taught, did, or suff'ered, in order to free men from evil. — Hodge : As the cardinal doctrine of the Bible ia justification by faith, so the turning-point in the soul's history, the saving act, is the reception of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins. — All modes of preaching must be erroneous, which do not lead sinners to feel that the great thing to be done, and done first, is to receive the Lord Jesua Christ, and to turn unto God through Him. And all religious experience must be defective, which does not embrace distinctly a sense of the justio< 142 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. of our condemnation, and a conviction of the suffi- ciency of tlie work of Christ, and an exclusive reli- ance upon it as such. — J. F. H.] On Chap. m. Q7-31. The exclusion of man's self-glorification. Its re- Bults : 1. Not by the law of works ; but, 2. By the law of fiiith (ver. 27). — Hdw are we justified? 1. Not by the works of the law ; but, 2. By faith alone (ver. 28). — "Only by faith" — Lutiiku's watciiword, and also the watchword of tiie evangelical church of the present day (ver. 28). — The righteousne.-vs of the law and the rigliteousness of faith (ver. 28). — God, a God of all people, because He is only one God (vers. 29, 30). — Faitii in the one God consid- ered as tiie source of the true kind of universalisra (vers. 29, 30). — The popuhir saying of religious in- differentisMi : " We all believe in one God," is only true wlien we also believe tiiat tl)is God also justifies those wiio believe (vers. 29, 30). — The proof that the law is not made void through faith, but estab- lished, is supplied by both the deeds and doctrine : 1. Of the Lord ; 2. Of His apostles, and especially of Paul (ver. 31). Ll-thek: Faith keeps all the laws, while works keep no point of the law (James ii. 10). — [A passage in the preface to the E[)istle to tlie Romans is also in place here : Faith is not that human folly and dream which some take for fiiith. But faith is a divine work in us, which changes us and creates us anew in God, &c.] SiAUKE: J'aith alone justifies and saves; but you must not take away works from faitli in order to beautify your sinfid life, or it will become imbe- lief — There are many forms of arbitrary will on earth, and yet liut one way to salvation. God would save all men, and yet by only one way. Heiunokr; Cliristi.iniiy, with its doctrine of fuith, opens no dttor for sin, but shows how we can be obotiient to the law with a filial spirit for God's Bake (chap. iii. 31). — Quksnei. : The more faith in a Boul tiie less pride there is in it. Geiilacif, from CnuYS()sro>f : What is the law of faith y Salvation by grace. Herein God's power is declared, not only in delivering men, but also in justifying tlicm and raising them to glor}' ; for God did not stand in need of works, but sought faith alone. — True, the word a!ont; is not in the text lit- erally, but yet it is there in sense, as it is expressly dcclaicd in Gal. ii. H>, 17 ; without faith, nothing can justify. Hechner: Christianity unites humanity by one God, by one Father, who is the Saviour of all. — The unity of faith in grace should also establish the unity of hearts. Spem- u : Looking at the subject in its true light, faith is not that which itself justifies man — for its strength would be far too small for this work — Init faith only accepts the n)ost powerful grace of (Jod as a protfercd gift, and thus permits man to be saved by it, instead of its really justifying and saving him. This is the great doctrine of this Epistle, on which every thing rest,s, and from which every thing must 6e derived. Lanoe: Therefore we judge, &e., and thus it Rtantis (ver. 2S). True salvation of the inner life a witness: 1. Of the true faith; 2. Of the true gos- Del ; 3. Of the true God. [Bcrkitt: Ver. 31. The moral, not the cere- monial law. The moral law is established by th« gospel ; Christ has relaxed ihe law in point of dan- ger, but not in point of duty. — IIexuv : Ver. 27. If we were saved by our own works, we might put the crown upon our own heads. But the law of faith, the way of justification by faith, duth forever exclude boasting ; for faith is a depending, self- empf^•ing, self-denying grace, and casts every crown before the throne : therefore it is most for God's glory, that thus we should be justified. — Mack.night: Ver. 28. Faith in God and Christ necessarily leads those who possess it to believe every thing made known to them by God and by Christ, and to do every thing which they have enjoined ; so that it terminates in the sincere belief of the doctrines of religion, and in the constant practice of its duties, as far as they are made known to the believer.— Clarke: Whi/ did not G9; vol. v. 37-442; vol. vi. B-195 ; vol. vii, 47. — The I'eriodical Nomi/ctical Literature on the same subject is very abundant. We give the prin- cipal artif'es: JiLitificution bi/ Faith (R. W. Lanius), Amcr. liibl. Rcjiositon/, x\. 4Xi ; (I). Curry) ^flth. Quart, h'ci'., iv. 5 ; v. 5; (C. D. Pidgeon) Lit. and The,,!. Rev., vi. 621 ; Princeton /vVi-;, xii. 208, 561 ; Justijication by Works. — J. F. H.j CHAPTER IV. 1-25. I43 Eighth Section. — Second proof of the riffhfeousness of. faith : from the Scriptc res, and particularly from the history of the faith of Abraham, the ancestor of the Jews. Abraham is the father of faith to the Gentiles as xcell as the Jews, because he was justified in uncircumcision as a Gentile, and because he received circumcision as the seal of the righteousness of faith. David is also a witness of the right- eousness of faith. {He is particularly so, since his justification was that of a great sinner.) Abra- ham, by his faith in the woi-d of the personal God of revelation, and particularly in the promise of Isaac, is a type of believers in the saving miracle of the resurrection. Chap. IV. 1-25. 1 What [, then,] shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining tc 2 the flesh, hath found [found according to the flesh] ? ' ' For if Abraham wer« [wn?] justified by works [as is assumed by the Jews], he hath tohereof to glory [he 3 hath ground of boasting] ; "^ but not before God. For what saith the Scripture ? Abraham believed God, and it was counted [reckoned] unto [to] him for right- 4 eousness [oen. xv. e]. Now to him that worketh [to the workman] ' is the reward not reckoned of [according to, or, as a matter of] grace, but of 5 [according to, as a] debt. But to him that worketh not," but believeth on him 6 that justitieth the ungodly, liis faith is counted [reckoned] for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness [happiness] " of the man, imto whom God 7 imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed [Happy] are they whose 8 iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered [atoned for]. Blessed [Happy] is the man to whom the Lord will not impute [leckon] sin [rs. xxxa 1, 2].' 9 Cometh this blessedness [happiness] then upon the circumcision only, or [also] upon the uncircumcision also ? For Ave say that faith was reckoned to 10 Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned ? when he was in cir- cumcision, or in uncircumcision ? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 And he received [cen. xvii. 2] the [a] sign of circumcision,' [as ?] a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised [of the faith in the uncircumcision, ri,^ Trcarecog t^\,' iv rij uy-QO^vaxla, or, of the faith wliich he had while in uncircumcision] : that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised [while yet in uncircumcision] ; that 12 righteousness might be imputed [reckoned also] unto them also : " And the fiither of circumcision to them who are not of the cii'cumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised [which he had while in uncircumcision].* 13 For the promise, that he should be the heii- of the world, was not to Abra- ham, or to his seed, through the law [For not through (the) law is the promise to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be heir of the world], but through 14 the righteousness of faith. For if they which [who] are of the law [«/ r/. roiiov] be heii's, faith is made void, and the promise made of none [no] eifect [ren- 15 dered pow^erless] : Because the law worketh wrath : for whei-e " no law is, there 16 is no transgression [but where there is no law, neither is there transgression of the hiw]. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace ; to the end [in order that] the 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 17 father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations [A father of many nations have I set thee ; Ocn. xvii 5],) before him Avhom he believed," even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those tldngs which be [are] not as though they were : 18 Who against hope "believed in hope, that he might become the [mnit the] father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be 19 [Gen. XV. s]. And being not weak in faith, he considered not '' his own body now [already] '' dead, when he was [being] about a hundred years old, neither 20 yet the deadness of Sarah's womb : He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief [But with regard to the promise of God he wavered, or doubted not ia unbelief] ; but was [made] strong in faith, giving glory to God 144 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. ?1 And '* being fully persuaded, that what he had [hath] promised, he was [is] S.2 able also to perform. And therefore [Wherefore also] " it was imputed [reck- oned] to him for righteousness. 2? Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed [reckoned] 24- to him ; But for us also, to whom it shall be imj)Uted [reckoned], if Ave believe 25 on him that [who] raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered [up] for our offences, and was raised again [omit again] for our justitication.'* » Ver. 1. — Tlie readinc in Lachmiinn, tiprfKivai 'APp. rhv ir poiraropa finCtv, is not only mostly authenti- cated (A. B. C, &c.)i but, ii well understood, it also (rives the best Ktnse ; and we ie;rard the opposite readins, which is now (enerally favored, as an cxplanitoiy tr:in>;piisiti.)n. See the Exir/. SVn'rs. [The lex', nc. puts *A^paa/i t'ov irarepa (not »po7raTopa) rifxCtv bi-fori: eiipijxeVai. Cod. Sin. nuolains the readi g of Lachinann, which in also aduplc'i liy Alfo!-.!, who, however, liracUets ei>p^K«Vai as being of doubtful authority, since it i.s omitted l.y the Vatican Cod. (sre TLselu-ndorf s edi- tion, p. H48). Hut It is indii-pensable, and aliundantly sustained by the other uncial MSS. Meyer admits the weij^hl of exienial authority in favor of Lachmann's reading, but is dispose' itarepa ij/nttii-. The E. V., following the lixl. nc, adopts this cnnnection, and Dr. Lange defends it in the JCxeg. Aolis. Jlut with the majoritj' of modciTi commentators, including Meyer, AUbrd, Hodge, I piefer to join Kara aapxa with eiipijicei'at. This is indeed necessary, if we follow the lrc:io ruipUt, and it is perfectly allowable, thougli not so natural, if we adopt the reailiiig of Lachmann. In this ease we must translate: W7iii/, till II, shall wi' .vay that Ahroham inir fa'lur {/onftil/n r) finind (or, ynhvd, aUainrd) accarding to (i/ii) fl'sh lor, m the wny of the jUxh) — I. f ., through his own natural etibrts as distinct from the gT:ico of God. Grotius : prop'riis vnbus ; De Wette, and others : iiach nin mtnschliclnr Wiisr. Meyer takes cap^ here as the weak, unspiritual, finfiil himian nature. Abraham did indeed attain righteousness, but by faith, not by works. Ccdd. SC. A. B. C*. sustain -irpo-naTopa /or the iraTtpa of the Ji'C.—l'. S.] ' Ver. :'.— [Lange translates : er hat Euhm, glonj. Ka.vxy)t>-o. (as also »caux>) Ver. l."). — o5 ii is probably a;i oxeg(;tieal rorrection ; though strongly attested by A. IJ. C, Oriesbach, Lach- mann. [The text. rcc. reads oC yap, roa where, which i* supported by N*. I). F. K. L., while SC'. favors o5 &i, but vherc.-V. S.] " Ver. 17. — « Trio- T., &c. [and thrown out by Fritzsohc and Tischendorfl but sustained by ^•. A. C. I). K. L. Lachmann and Alford bracket it.— P. S.] '• Ver. 21.— The k a i is suslaiued by A. B. C, Sec, Lachmann. [Cod. Sin. likewise favors kiu, and Alford retains it.— P. S.l '» Ver. 22.— [The Kal after 6i6 ie omitted by B. D>. F., but inserted by JC. A 0. D». K. L.. Lachmann and Alford br-icket it.— P. S.] '• Ver. 2.5. — [Luther, to whom above all others the Christian world is indebted for a lucid and forcible exposition c/ Paul's doctrine of iustification by faith, has miule a strange mistake hero by translating SiKatoKriv: Qrrethti'jkeit (righteousue.>«<), instead of: Ji'ch^firl'gnnfj (ju.stiflcation). Aiistructio7i, : It may be asked, first, whether the question should be read as one question, or two? Grotius and others have placed an interrogation mark after E^>o'i/(fv, and thus made two questions out of the sentence. Then (hy.aioavvtjv is supplied to f ('(jtjxivat,. — If the e vjjtj/.ivai, be taken abso- lutely in the sense of the Grecian philosophy, this division could be made more easily. Yet the chief question here is not, what should be said, but what is Abraham's advantage? — It may further be asked, whether xarci ad^/.a relates to tz q ondroiia {nar i^a) or to fiqrjy.ivai,. Lachmann's read- ing : Ti oin' t!J0Vfi(v tvi)tjy.ivai, '^^fjQ, &c., [see Textual Note '], is the one most favored by the Codd. (A. C. D., &c., and also the Sin.). " The sus- picion that the transposition of the y.ara adf^y.a [of fvfjrjy.ivai, rather. — P. S.] is to be laid to the charge of the copyist, is strengthened when we see that such expositors as Chrysostom, Theophylact, Gen- nadius in Qilcumenius, who read fi''(>>/ztr«t y.ura, ad(j/.a, nevertheless connect the latter with nartjQ !if(,7iv" (Tholuck, p. 167). De Wette, Meyer [Tho- luck, Alfbrd, Wordsworth, Hodge], and most com- mentators, with the Peshito, connect xarri (rd^y.a, with fVQfjy.tvao, and not (according to Origen, Ambrose, Calvin,* &c.) with nariQa rjuwv. But in ver. 9 ff., the subject is circumcision ; while in vers. 1-8, it is only the contrast between righteous- ness by works and righteousness by faith. There- fore, according to Meyer's construction, y.ar a, adgxa should correspond to the el e^yfov, yet not so that the two ideas should be identical, but that works should be embraced in the more general idea of y.aTcc. ads)y.a. The o-a^J, in antithesis to the divine nvfr/ia, should then denote huma;iity given up to itself. Pelagius, Ambrose, and othtvs, refer y.axd ad^/.a to circumcision. Riickert un- derstands the word as embracing both circumcisioa and t(iya. While Tholuck consents to the now cus- tomary connection of the /.ard adi)/.a with iVQij- y.ivai,, he does not grant that the works of faithful Abraham were 'ifiya y.md adq/.a ; although Flacius would include likewise the opera renati, as performed by men and not imputed by God, in the opera carnis ; and Bullinger and others would make rra^jj equal te * [Hodge quotes Calvin for the opposite view, explain- ing Kara aapKa in tlie sense vnturoJiltr, ex scipso. But Calvin goen on to say : " frnbabile lama) rsl rpUhrti loci Patri cotijungi," and gives the preference to the construo tion with narepa. — P. S.] 146 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Jigya. Tholuck therefore arrives at the conclusion, that Paul (lid not clesig;n to apply Chri^^tian justifica- tion in all its conseciuunccs to the patriarch. But bow couUl lie re[)resent him here as tiie father of the faithful, if he would belittle or limit liis justi- fication ? We go ujjon the supposition that, in ac- cordance witli the best Codd., "J-/,-;^«/( 6 TTfiondrutq fjiiiov y.uTu (Tciiixa (ver. 1) is an antithesis to arroi; nari,p TtdvTinv ri'iv TTi^fTTft'ovTuiv, &c. (ver. 11), and to bs' iarw nar'r^(> ndvToiv tjinTii' (ver. 16). The principal subject is, tliercfore, Abraham, tlie natural ancestor of the Jews; and if it be itsked, What hath he found? tlie cmpliasis rests on ri, and this refers to the i)t/.a.i.oriT{yai, tt'ktth. ytitijii; sijyiov vofiov (chap, iii. 28), and especially to ver. 29 also. As God is a God of the Jews and Gentiles, Abraham, the n^w- ndri»() of the Jews, has become a narrm of Jews and (ientiles. Ver. 2. For if Abraham was justified [f'()t- TtaKoO-tj^ by works [in the opinion of tlie Jews]. The answer assimies that the view that Abraham was justified by the works of the law, was already denied in the ((uestion. Yet this very thing was be- lieved by the legalistic Jew. " In the Talmud it was even deduced from Gen. xxvi. 5, that Abraham ob- served the whole Mosaic law" (Meyer).* The an- swer does not therefore assume an oidiv [omitted before tl y«(>] or an oi'()otio7'V (Tholuck), because xard rrdfixa [ver. 1] does not stand in connection with (t'(jtj/.irni., [? comp. Trxtual Note '. — P. S.] To the question. Which of the two kinds of right- eousness ? it assumes the conclusion, that it was not the imaginary righteousness of woiks, but the true righteousness of faith. The supposition is so plain, that the Apostle proceeds at once lo the proof — Was Justified by works. The sense can be : if he sfiould be so justified, it could only be at a human tribunal, and not at the tribunal of (iod — as ha.s been already described. But it can also be understood thus : if Abraham, according to the national prejudice of tlie Jews, has been really jus- tified /)// iror/iS. This is the more ol)vious view. ■Conceding this kind of justification, Al)raliam has a .xai'/ri/ict {malcnam r/'oruiidi), but not before (iod. ■Not before God, first, because no flesh is justified by works in His sight (chap. iii. 2(»); second, because we know definitely from the Scriptures that Abra- ham was justified in God's sight, or at His trit)unal, by faith. The t():.xcatfp>rihit8 jiit- lijlcnliu eti. la mrmhinm illud, ' Sd nun i , and lie follows him, with Theudoret, in explaining thus : " For if Abraham has been justified by God through wiuks, he has certainly received — the perfect fulfilment of the law being granted, — glory, but not a divine glory, so far as such glory could not be traced back to God's grace." This explanation contradicts the previous sujipositions : 1. Tliat no fiesh can b* justified by the deeds of the law (chaj). iii. 20) ; 2. Tliat no extenial fulfilment of the law in the sense of I'o/ioi," i'(>yiK (x" «<"'X')'"' "P^* ^'"' Seo>'- I'ilt it certiiinly u'ivec pnod sense and f.alls in host with the yap in ver. 3. "We (•x|>laiii thns: It' Aluaham, as the Jews sup- pose, was juslifieil hy works, ho has reason to (ilory liefore Ood (for then he can claim juslificjition as a just reward for his merits, leaviui; nn room forthe display cf tioil's men'v) ; but, acroidilic to the Scripture, he has no pround to irloi-y before (iod, ./'or (ver. 3) the Scripture derives his justifica- tion from faith in God or ft-om somethin); outside of him, and not from works of his own. Meyer, in his former edi- tions, defended the untenable view that ei . . . iSiKaiui9rf was a question, and f^" • • • ^"^'' *''C newitive an'^wer ; but, in his last eilitiniis, he returns, with Tholuck and Wordsworth, to the Inteqiretation of the Greek f.ithcrs (Theorioret, Chryso»tom, Theopbvlact), which would re- quire in ver. 3, aAAa, Instead of yap. — 1'. S.] • [If ver. 3 oonlaiiied the refutat'on of the inference, ver. 2, we wotdd i-ntherexpect aAAa ti, instead of ti yap. Hut If the refutation is contained in aAA' ov npix; Odn' («vft Kau;(T)/[ia), the yap is in its jilace and (jives the proof for llio answer from (ten. xv. (i, showing: that justini-ation pro- eeeiled not from any worlt which Ahrahnin performed, but from God In whom he nnt his trust. See note nn p. Meyer, holding; the old Greek inter]'retation of ver._2, thm tries to explain the yap: ".Mil Unht soi/e ich : ou 7rp6| Tbr SkSc, d-iin r./m Gi.AfUK^, nirbl von d'H Wkrkicm Ahmhim'tlrilrtdif Schii/l iiUfilrHHIich srin'- Ii'Clilfrrti{f itnff h'-r, nnil twiir als ilwns durch ZtTnECHNCNO Enifffan^ enci."—i'. S.J CHAPTER rV. 1-25. 147 n-oversy whether Abraham was justified per fidem (through the instrumentality of faith), as the Protes- tants rightly teach, or propter j^(/e//( (on account of tlie merit of his faith), as tlie Romanists assert ; compare the remariis of Tholuck, p. 173 ^'. ; also the note of Alford in he. Hodge enters here into a lengtin' discussion of tlie doctrine of imputation, pp. 164-175, partly polemical against Olshausen. — P. S.] The quotation of Gen. xv. 6, is from the Seputagint wliich has changed the active verb nniZ-'n^" into the passive iloyiafyri. Paul uses the more prominent expression ()& instead of the xal of tlie Septuagint. DiH'ereiit explanations: 1. Riickert : Paul incorrectly used the passage for his purpose. 2. Roman Catholic expositors (and Bucer): Abraham submitted to the authority of God's word, and that gave value to his faith. 3. Faith in the promise of a large posterity was, in view of its object, fiiith in the promise of the Messiah who was to come Ibrth from his posterity (A Lapide, Calvin, Gerhard, Calov., and others). 4. Implicit faith in tlie Divine promise (Bullinger, and others). Tho- luck adopts this view, though with hesitation. " De- litzsch, on Gen. xv. 5, having more regard for the historical interpretation, says : ' Every thing was contained in the person of Jehovah and in the prom- ise of a numerous posterity to Abraham, which was separately disclosed and fulfilled in the New Testa- ment time of redemption.' But faith in a numer- ous posterity cannot effect the same noxa ohedientia as faith in a Chrhtua satispatiens and satisfaciens can effect." [Tholuck, p. 173.] Further particulars on the nova ohedientia of Abraham may be read in Gen. xxii. According to Tholuck, we should not introduce into the faith of Abraham the faith in the Messiah. But yet we must not reject it. According to the promise in Gen. xii. 3, the question in Gen. XV. 5 — the passage here in mind — could not be the promise of a merely natural posterity. It is cer- tainly consistent with the principles of historical interpretation, when we are considering later decis- ions, to look back at the earlier ones which lie at their root. Meyer [p. 161] more appropriately remarks : " In the TTifTTfifn' r('> Ofo) on the part of Abraham, Paul has perceived nothing really different from Christian niffTi-q ; since Abraham's faith referred to the Divine promise, and indeed to the promise which he — one who was the friend of God, and illuminated by Him — has perceived to be the promise which em- braced the future Messiah (John viii. 56)." Yet, under the supposition of the substantial identity between the faith of Abraham and that of Christians, we shall need to lay stress on the differ- ence in form : The faith of Abraham is the essential beginning of the specific fiiith of salvation in the Old Testament ; the faith of Paul and his compan- ions is the completion of the same in the New. Faith in general, as well as in each of its particular parts, undergoes a great metamorphosis in its pas- sage from that initial point to this terminal point. But it remains the same faith in substance. And the peculiarity of this substance is, that the Divine object, and its human organic reception, constitute an indissoluble christological synthesis. The objec- tive parts are : a. The personal God of revelation in His revelation ; and especially as the creative, wonder-working God, who can call forth new salva- tion and life ; b. His word of promise ; c. The import of His word of promise — the future salvation of the nations with the seed of Abraham. Corre- sponding with these, are the subjective parts : a. Th« living knowledge, perception, and reception of tht revealed God ; b. Confident submis.sion to the word? of promise, against all the contradiction of sense and worldly appearance; c. The ajipropriation of th« object of the promise as the principle and energy oi the renewed life. The operations correspond to this harmony of object and subject : 1. Justification. Freedom of conscience before God, according to the measure of the conilemnation of con.science. The peace of God, Gen. XV. 2. The sacramental, symbolical seal. Gen. xvii., see ver. 11. 3. Confidence, and acquirement of new life from condemnation to death, or even from death itself— internal death. All these separate parts exist as germs in Abra- ham's faith. De Wette, after an ill-founded remark on the Apostle's arbitrary dialectics and scriptural application, admirably says : " When the Apostle in this way unites the climax of religious development with the historical point of connection — for the de- veloping series commenced with Abraham — he givc-a evidence of great historical penetration." Comp. the Commentary on Genesis, xv. 1-12. Ver. 4. Now to the workman [tw Sk EQ yato ft ev m , Lange : Detn ab-12). Justification applies also to the Gentiles. It is a justification for all. Ver. 9. (Is) this blessedness [5 /4axap» t t o /( ^ ;; f ]. Genitive of apposition [i. c, a sign wliieh consisted in circumcision. Van Hengel and Ilofmann, prefer- ring the reading TTfoiToiiijv to ;rfolTo/(^^•, explain: As a sign he received circumcision, as a seal (agpo- yWa in apposition to atj/inov). Meyer objects that thus : " ITow art thou riRhteons before God ? Answer : Only by tiuo faith in .lesus Christ. That is : although my conscience awuse me, that I liave prievously sinned ai;ainst all the commamlments of (lod, nnd have never kept any of thorn, and that 1 am slill prone always to nil evil, yet God, without nny merit of mine, of mere" pmcc, ffr'iiiln and iniputis In me Ih'. ptr/ert snth/aciiun, ri!jlitiniisii(,'jv, jught to have the article, and explains: jEin Zeichen mit luekliem er durch die Bexehneidang versehen ivard, cmpfinff er als Slegel — i. c, a sign, with which he was provided in circumcision, lie received as seal. But the article is sometimes omitted where the refer- ence is specific, and where there is no danger of mis- take ; comp. Winer, p. 118 f. aijjiflov, sign, token, symbol, nix . Circumcision was the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham, Gen. xvii. 11 ; God, on His part, promising the Messianic y.'/.tj- Qoroiiia (Gen. xv. 6, 18), and Abraham, on his part, exercising the obedience of faith which was reck- oned to him for righteousness (Gen. xv. 6). Hence Paul represents it as a seal of the righteousness of faith. Tliis was not only a " legitimate dogmatic inference " (Meyer), but, as Tlioluck remarks, a his- torie^il necessity, since the sic/n of the covenant was granted in consequence of the faith previously shown. — P. S.] — The seal. The seal denotes here the symbolical and sacramental sealing ; from this, the real sealing of Abraham, which was given him after the offering of Isaac, Gen. xxii. 1, is still to be dis- tinguished (see the Biblework on Genesis xxii.). " It is also represented in the Talmud as the sign and seal of the covenant. See Schottgen and Wet- stein in. he. These words belonged to the formula of circumcision : ' Benedictus sit, qui sanciijicavit dileduia ab ufero, et signum ( rix ) posuit in came, et filios suos sigiUavit ( crin ) signo fvederis sanctl ; ' Beracoth, f. xiii. 1." Meyer [foot-note]. Christian writers \^Acta ThomcB, § 26 ; Grabe, Spicikg. Pair. i., p. 333] speak in tlie same way of the water of baptism as a seal [c/ aritjayii; toTi ).ovriioTi. A seal here means a mark of Divine ratification of a justi- fication ah'eady received, a " signaculum rei acice," not a " pignus rei agendce ; " comp. 1 Cor. ix. 2 ; 2 Tim. ii. 19. We have here an intimation of the true idea of sacraments: they are signs, seals, and means of grace, but not the grace itself. Circum- cision is not the covenant, neither is baptism regen- eration. A sign and seal can never be the substi- tute fur the thing signed and sealed, nor should it be made a ground of confidence and hope ; but it is all-important as a Divine ratification, and gives, so to say, legal validity to our claims, as the govern- mental seal to a written instrument. Without the seal of circumcision, Abraham would have had no certain guarantee of the Divine favor ; and if justi- fication by fiiith is abstractly separated from the church and the means of grace, it becomes a subjec- tive fiction of man. — P. S.] — That he might be the father. The spiritual father is meant here. Abraham is the father of faith. " The conception of author, founder, is also contained in that of father; comp. Job. xxxviii. 28 ; Gen. iv. 21 ; 1 Mace, ii. 54 ; " Tholuck. — On the idea of Abraham's spiritual children, see Matt. iii. 9 ; John viii. 37, 38. Gal. iii. 8, 29, is a parallel.— That righteous- ness might be reckoned also to them. This means tlie sense in which Abraham, as a believing Gentile, has become the father of believing Gen- tiles. Ver. 12. And the father of circumcision. Prominence is here given to the life of faith, the proof of faith, in connection with circumcisionfor faith. We remark on the language : 1. ?»'<,■ to tlvai, ai'Tov must be mentally repeated after y.ai. 2. roTc, the datiue commo Ii [for those'], comes in the place of faith. 3. Instead of aV.a xai TOti,' aroi/orai', we should expect a)J.a y.ai arovyoTei, without tha article. Tholuck : "The y.ai rol<; is an unexampled solecism in the Apostle's language." Tlieodoret, Hervreus, Luther, and others, have assumed a trans- position : Torc ov/., instead of ov toTl,-. Meyer and Tlioluck reject this. Ruckert defends the supposi tion of a transposition ; Fritzsche excuses the ar tide; Reiche defends it [so does Stuart; both regard it as a resumption of the sentence begun with the preceding ToTt;, and interrupted by the ovy. iy. nffj.- ro/iTji: fiovov, cO.^.a y.ai. — P. S.] It may be asked, whether ol ovy. ix nf^iro/iTi^ fiovov, a)J.cc y.ai o« (rrov/ovvTii; could be said. And this would cer- tainly be practicable, if we could place oviti; after fiovov. They are not only the people of the cn-cum- cision, but also those who walk, &c. The fiiith of the real Jews is not only here made prominent, but also their life of faith ; no doubt with rei'erence to the fact that these believing Jews, like Abraham, should be the humane publishers of salvation to the Gentiles, [rotq i/vkti,, the dative after li; xii. !•»; Matt. v. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 12. — P. S.] — By the righteousness of faith. Tills was the fumlamental gift by which the promise of the world was conditioned. Meyer thinks that, because of the date of the justification. Gen. xv [i. e.y after the promise had been given; Gen. xii. 3, 7; xiii. 15, 1(5. — P. S.], Paul must have here in mind only later passages [xv. 18 ; xvii. 8, whci'C the prom- ise is repeated. — P. S.]. But, according to (Sen. xii., Abraham's life of faith had begun at tlie time of his emigration. [The faith of Abraham covered the whole period of the promise, which was made and repeatedly confirmed to his faith. — P. S.] Ver. 14. For if they who are of the law. Proof tluit Abraham's believing children, but not they who, in contnist with them, rely on the law and its deeds, shall inlierit the world. The roiio-;, ac- cording to Flatt, the moral law ; according to Meyer, the Mosaic law ; both, according to Tholuck. The Apostle is certainly not concerned here exclusively with the idea of the Mosaic ro/ioi;, as such, but rather with the idea of the legal standpoint, or of the law, considered abstractly in itself, and in con- trast with the promise. And it may be said of the natural moral law, too, that it worketii wrath. ()l If. v6/iov are not people wlu> are still under the law as such, but whose life-principle is the law, and who wisli to be justified by the law. [oi tx vofior, those of law = adherents of the law, legal- ists. This periphrase is of frequent occurrence ; comp. 01 ti 1(11.0 tiaii, those of self-seeking = self- seeking partisans; ii. 8; oi ix /Tfiunid/'.:, the cir- cumcised ; iv. 12 ; Tit. i. 10 ; Acts x. 43 ; xi. 2 ; oi ix niarniK, the believers ; Gal. iii. 7, 9 ; Rom. iv. 16; ot t'i ' J(T(>at'j/., the Israelites; Rom. ix. 6, &c. ; comp. Xenoph., Anab. i. 2, 18, oi ix tTii; ayoiiii';, the market people. The pro|K>sition tx (out of) indi<'ates here the origin and eliaracter. — 1'. S] — Be heirs, faith is made void. At the lime when this decisive word was uttered, it had not only a great spiritual, but also a great prophetical meaning. Judging from external signs, it wils more ])robalile that tlie Jews, rather than the Christians, would inherit the earth. They had a powerful promi- nence, wide dis.seminalion, and synagogues all over the worlil. But the .\ito>tle wius sure of his cause, and wished clearly to distinguish the future of faith from the future of that ilarkeneil legalism. Yet his thought is not : if the legalists are heii-8, believcra cannot be; but, if the legalists are heirs, there will be no inheritance of the promise at all. Faith is made void — that is, it loses il.s import, the right- eousness of fail Ii — l>y wrath in the conscience ; tho promise is mad<' p<>werli'ss liy the wrath of histori- cal judgments, because it \v:is only iiileiiiied I'nr fMilh. Ver. 15. Because the law worketh wrathi CHAPTER IV. 1-25. 151 The operation of the law is to reveal sin and to represent it as transgression, as well in the con- science as in the life itself. Therefore it produces wrath, which, according to the Divine sentence and government, bursts forth from the internal and ex- ternal life as tiie severe judgment of dissolution and of death. For -where there is no law, neither is there transgression (of the law) ; and wlicre there is no transgression, there is no wrath. But inversely, the law fully reveals transgression, and, ■with transgression, wrath and condemnation to death. The proof that the law worketh wrath, is therefore negative. This operation is meant to apply first of all to the Mosaic law, as is proved by Rom. v. 13, 14, particularly by the distinction between a/ia^Tia and na^di'iaffi.i; (see 1 Tim. ii. 14 ; Gal. iii. 19). Tholuck quotes Augustine : " Sine lege potest esse quiH iidquus, sed non prcevaricator,^^ and says that "this difference has generally been observed ever since. But where it has not been observed, such 7ia^f(j,u>jVtlai, have arisen, as with Luther (on Gal. iii. 19), who introduces, from chap. vii. 5; v. 20, the thought that the lust of sin is dormant without the law." Tholuck also properly remarks, that the axiom of chap. v. 13, a,iia(jria dt ovy. i/.'/Myi-liai, (.ifi tii'Toc ro/itor, can be understood only relatively of a less quantity of guilt, as is proved by the judg- ment of the Deluge, and other judgments. He quotes Thomas Aquinas : " Et tamen omne peccalian potest did prcevaricatio, in quantum legem naturalerntrans- greditury [But Thomas adds : '■'■ Gravius tcunm est transgredi simul legem naluralem et legem scriptam, quam solmn legem naturae. Et idea lege data crevit prcevaricatio et tnajorern iram promei'uit.'"] Yet the iXloyntai, of chap. v. 13 is to be emphasized so as to denote God's real reckoning with the sinner by His law, which first causes the natural punishment of the sinner to assume the clear blaze of wrath. Man can obtain salvation only by this pa.ssage through the judgment of death. For this reason the Apos- tle does not deny the necessity of the law ; but with him it is a means for an end, and constitutes the pedagogic point of transition for the pious under the law (vno v6/iiov, chap. vi. 14, 15). But people of the law (oi ix vofiov), who seek justification ii t(jyo)v (chap. iv. 'Z) because they are in feeling ti i(ji,Ovtai; (chap. ii. 8), make the means an end. They seek their life in the single precepts and observance of the law, in pride in the possession of the law, and in the settlement of their account with God ; and by this course they find their existence in the fire of wratli, but, unlike the salamander, they find no com- fort in the fire. They do not make the law their preparation for faith, but the antithesis of faith ; and they endeavor, by the fire of their fanaticism, to en- tice from a joyous and bright life those who are happy in faith, and to draw them into their own gloomy heat. For other explanations of o^^yc/, see Tholuck. Cocceius : The ceremonial law is the ema- nation of wrath ; J. Miiller : 6(>yt'i must be under- stood subjectively — the consciousness of wrath ; Me- lanchthon : The o^ytj is the sinner's wrath toward the avenging God. Ver. 1(3. Therefore it is of faith. The infer- ence from vers. 14, 15. That cannot be ; therefore this must stand true. 'Ex nlarfioq. Supply: ly K/.riQovonia yivfTau (Beza, Bengel) ; tj inayyikia. tui yifiQ- latk y.ai tiji rs7ii(Ji.i.arif oti'Tor (Grotius, Fritzsclie, Tholuck in earlier editions, and others) ; Sixaioai'vij (Luther) ; or, better, ot zz/y^oro/foi tial (Meyer, De Wette, and Tholuck, referring to ver. 14, where ix niatfox; and ix v6f(ov appear as an? titheses). This last seems the most appropriate ; ye; in ver. 14 we read not ol x^>;^ord/(ot, but ol ix vo/wv — y.}.ri(jov6fiot.; and further on it is oi In TTtaTtioi;. Therefore, we must merely supply either y./.>i^ovaft:iiHl l)y the expression : lie is tiie fatlier of us all bflore (ioj 'i The ideii of a substitution by Aiira- hiini, wliieh nii<,'ht easily be inferred from the lan- guuf^f, would be foreign to the Apostle. 4. We supi)ly iyivt-ro [before y.arivavit], and explain thus : As it is written, " I have made thee a father of many nations ; " it took place in the presence of (iod, or, it eaine to pass there, in the place where he stood bilievinj^ before God, that he was made the father of many nations ; before Him, namely, God, &c. He who is justified, who receives God's prom- ise, stands before God. [Philippi, without paren- thesizing >;«.'>(7»,- — fff, supplies after this quotation : And a-s such — viz., as father of uatious — he stands in the sight of God, &;e.— P. S.] FouETH Paeaobaph (vers. 17-25). X.—Alraham's Faillt (vers. 17-22). Ver. 17. Bafore him wrhom he believed, even God. Kx|)lanatious of c<»- r i' r o s' and ■/. « /. o r v r o t; is used to indicate the continued nianifestatioti of God's crea- tive power in every physical and in every spiritual liirtli. — P. S.] "The Li'^mronlv toi'i; vty.{>o\ ; Ezek. xxxvii. 1 If; Hosea xiii. 14; Dan. xii. 1,2; C'imp. Book of Wisdom, xvi. 13 ; Tobit xiii. 2 ; John V. 21 ; 2 Cor. i. 9 ; 1 Tim. vi. 13). The .Vpos- tle, with i)rofound penetration, sees this miraculous jiower which raises the dead to life, foreshadowed ulready in the promise of Lsaac. For he does not have in view the offering of Isaac (according to Erasmus, (Jrotius, Baumgarten-Crusius), although th<' stronger expression seems tf) have been selected also with ret'erenee to that last lidieving act of Abra- ham. Neither ia the awakening of the spiritually dead chiefly meant (according to Origen, Anseim and others). Nevertlielcss, we would not, with Mey- er, altogether reject these explanations as falu ; for the external awakenings stand in the most intimate reciprocal relation with the internal. In fact, the former are generally conditioned by the latter ; as we see that Abraham had to believe first in the promise given to him. And calleth those things, which are not, as though they were [literally, calling things not being, as being, ■/. a / o vvtu^ t « /( // ovxa. (!)(,• orra. 7 a /< »/ 6 rra differs from ra o r it oi'ra in that it presents the non-existence as conditional : if they are not ; or )is relative only, inasmuch afl all things preexist ideally and subjectively in the Divine mind before they are created and set forth objectively. — P. S.]. Two explanations:* 1. Ref- erence to the creative agency of God (Tholuek, and most expositors). Kcuilv often denotes God's creative call, to .summon into being, into exist- ence (Isa. xli. 4 ; xlviii. 13 ; 2 Kings viii. 1 ; Book of Wisdom, xi. 25 ; comp. Ps. xxxiii. 9). Philo [I)e crcat. ]>rliic., p. 728 B.] : ra /lij ijvTci r/.ui.nrtv Hi; TO flvai,. This explanation admits of several modifications : a. Tiie first creative act is thought of (Estius). b. God's continued creation is in mind (Kidlner ; reference to the particip. prces.). j. A constant attribute of God is denoted (Tholuek). Meyer holds that this whole interpretation is de- stroyed by the lo^ oira ; for, in the New Testament, (.'),,• is nowhere tiie same as tu. Yet Tholuek adduces proof in favor of the .signification fU to tlvai. ox; ovTa. [Ho refers to 1 Cor. i. 8 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6 ; 1 Thess. V. 23 ; Jude 24. Conip. Phil. iii. 21, where the accusative (Ti'j- the 11. ily Spirit, mill explains: "God calls to be llitt children those who were not children," is entirely foreiim to the context. It is strange lliiit oven the ration.ili.-itie Fritzschc explains : " liDiniiiis it'iHditm ill Incrm iihtus liniiqunm etlilns iia vilnm irliriinm iiivilnl." The eicAoyij and npoyvoKriv of God pre» oeiles the birth, but the icAncnt only refers to living men. — r. s.] t [Tholuek doubts that KoXeiv, X">p , ever menns, to commund, to dispose of; but comp. I's. 1. 1; Isa. xl. 26; xlv. 3; xlviii. 3, Meyer and I'hi'ippi ()iiotc two ntriking panillol pnKs:i(je9 from I'hilo, /)c Jns., p. .'>44, C, whei-o Lo ^pcaks of the ini:igi"iitii>n as fonning ra fit) oiTa «us oiTa, and Artemidor, i. .^3, where it is sriid of the pninler that he represents ra fii) ovra cut otnra. To these ((uotuiiuns I may add the fmious lines of Sli:ikespeare on the creative power of the poet's genius (Miitsuiiimer-Aij/IU's Draim, Act ▼. Scene 1): " The poet's eye, in ii fine frenzy rolling, Doth Klnnre fmni lieiivi'n to earth, from cwiih. to hoaveni y\iid, as iMiii);iii.'iti(in bodies forth The forms of thinpt unknown, the poet's pen Turns thi-m to shapes, iind ifives to airy nothing A local hubitution and a name." — 1*. ^.\ CHAPTER IV. 1-25. 153 of Abraham. But Abraham's Aiith undoubtedly pre- supposed earlier deeds of omnipotence. The ele- ments of God's creative power, and of His renewing power, are comprehended together in the conception of His miraculous power. The creative word is a symbol and pledge of every new creative word which is spoken subsequently. Ver. IS. Who against hope believed in hope [ 1; 7T « ^ ' i).n ida t n i).ni()i, in I a- r* I'fff v]. Faith in miracles, which is itself a mira- cle, corresponds to the gracious God who worketh" miracles. Established on the ground of hope, he believed against the appearance of hope. Meyer solves the oxymoron incorrectly : Abraham's faith was against hrpe in an objedire relation, and yet it was established on hope in a suhjedive relation. Tholuck's view is better : His faith is a " Yea " established on the word of God, in opposition to the "No" in the sphere of finite causes. "En' ilni(%, 1 Cor. ix. 10. [en" iXnldi, is not adverbial = conjidenthi, but ini signifies the subjective ground of his faith. Faith is the organ of the supernatural, and holds fast to the Invisible as if it saw Him. Hope is faith itself, as directed to the future. — P. S.]. That he might become. Three explanations of f 4- : 1. Of the result — so that he might be- come (Flatt, Fritzsche, and others). 2. He believed that he should be. That is, hq to yfv. is the object of lni.(TT. (Beza, Reiche, and others). 8. It con- tains the purpose of the iniar. ordained by God (Meyer, and others). This is favored by the follow- ing y.aTa TO f((j;//(£j'oj'. [So also Alford, Hodge: He believed, iu order that, agreeal)ly to the purpose of God, he might become the father of many na- tions.] — According to that •which vras spoken. See, in Gen. xv. 5, the reference to the stars of heav- en. Codd. F. and G. insert the comparison : as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the sea-shore (the latter from Gen. xxii. 17). Ver. 19. And being not weak in faith. A meiosis [iicuoaic, diminution], according to Theo- phylact and Beza [i. e., the negative form for the positive : beinff strong. So also Tholuck and Mey- er.] The sense is rather that, in the long trial, his faith did not grow weary, but stronger, in spite of the difficulties in his path. — He considered [not, o('], y.anvorjan-. Tholuck says: "The omis- sion of the oh in important MSS., such as A. C. [to which must be added Cod. Sin. and B. — P. S.], the Syriac Version, and others, was occasioned by hav- ing regard to Gen. xvii. 17, where Abraham does certainly reflect upon finite causes. For this reason tlie sense was thought to be, that he reflected with- out being weak in faith. But Paul had in view only Gen. XV. 5, 6, according to which Abraham accepted the promise at once without hesitation." [So also Meyer.] But Paul means plainly a steadfast faith, which became more vigorous by the trial of many years of w-aiting, and whose strength was augmented by the temptations occurring in the meantime.* — * [Stunrt, HodRC, and "Wordsworth take no notice of this important difference of reading. Alford brackets ou, but prefers it as being better suited to the context ; the object being to extol Abraham's faith. Omitting ov, the Bcnse will be: "And not lieing weak in the fath, he was iiid ed well aware of," &c., " but (S4) did not stagger at the promise," &c. ; or, "although he was aware of," &c., "yet did he not." This agrees better with Se in ver. 20; but we miss in this case fieV :ifter Karevoriae. The dog- iratic idea of ihe passage is well brought nut by Cnlvin, who is followed by Philippi and Tlodge. A similar obstruc- tion of faith, as the one recorded of Abraham, Gen. xvii. 17, occurred ia the life of John the Baptist ; Matt. xi. 2 il— P. S.] His own body now dead. Abraham was nior« than ninety-nine years old when the promise was fulfilled (after the circumcision, Gen. xvii. 24), and Sarah was more than ninety years old. The terms vfvix^iofiivov and vix^oxriq, in reference to gcnPrative death (Heb. xi. 12), must not be taken absolutely, but be considered according to the meas- ure of experience and the usual course of nature. Bengel : " Post iSeunnn (Shem) nemo centum annormn geri n 71 T oi /i m n fj ii iTi r ^ >iY^l!^1 '^'" T »; r di x ft i oiffi i' iifii'tv, tlie neg- ative (iifKjiii and the positive (U/rtioifXi,] is difticult. Tholuek (p. 194] : "This separation, as also that in chap. X. 10, is generally tiiken as a rhetorical /(»^mt« ♦ [Rishop Horsley, as quot<-d by Alford and Vi'ords- worth, tjike.i iia, in the second clause, in the sense that ( hrlst was raised because our justification had ulnttily bren r^fcifil by the sacrifice of His death. Itut thi-i Is incon* Bistcnt with 1 Cor. xv. 17. Newman explains : because on? justification is bv the Second Comforter, whom the resui* rection brouglit down from heaven."— P. 8.1 CHAPTER IV. 1-25. 155 ftocif separating that which is in substance indivisi- ble. Yet, in the contemplation of the Apostle, the «)tj{atwo"K certainly is more nearly related to the resurrection of Christ than to His death, as is shown by the climax of Rom. viii. 34, and by the ttoA/w /nct/./.ov of chap. V. 10 ; comp. 2 Cor. xiii. 4." But tlie passages cited do not contain the same antithe- sis. According to Roman Catholic interpretation, c)<.y.aiwort:iiice of the sentiment, " He gave God tlie glory." See the h'j-cff. ^Vo/ts on ver. 20. [In. On ver. 2.5. Tliis important and comjjre- hensive pa-^sage clearly sliows tlie inseiiambte con- nedion between ChrisC^ death and Cnrii^Cs resur- rec'hn, as also the connection between tlie reinis- tion of sins and jiintijicatioii to a new life (comp. T. 10 ; vi. 4). IJy His atoning death Clirist lias abolirilied the guilt of sin (iii. 25), and secured our pardon and peace ; and iience it is generally repre- sented ;is the ground of our justification ((Vi/tce/iDixti;) — i. <"., the non-imputation of sin, and tlie imputa- tion of Clirist's merits ; comp. iii. 24, 25 ; v. 9 ; 2 Cor. V. 21 ; Eph. i. 7 ; 1 Jolin i. 7. But, without the resurrection, tlie death of Christ would he of no avail, and His grave would be the grave of all our hopes, as the Apostle clearly says, 1 Cor. xv. 17. A gospel of a ilead Saviour would be a miseraljle failure atid delusion. The resurrection is the vic- tory of righteousness and life over sin and death. It is by the fact of the resurrection that Christ's deatli was shown to be the death of tlie innocent and righteous One for foreign guilt, and that it vvas accepted by God as a full satisfaction for the sins of the world. If man had not sinned, Christ would not have died ; if Clirist had sinned, He would not have been raised again. In the next place, as the resurrection is the actual triumph of Christ, so it is also the necessary condition of the appropriation of the benefits of His death. It is only the risen Saviour who could plead our cause at the mercy- seat, and send the Holy Spirit to reveal Him, and to apply the benefits of the atonement to believers. Just as little as ilie death and the resurrection, can we S('[)arate the cffi'cta of both — the remission of sins and the new life of Christ. The sinner cannot be buried with Clirist, without rising with Him as a new creature ; the death of the old Adam is the birth of the new, and the life of the new presup- poses the death of the old. — P. S.] IIOMILETlCAIi AND PUACTICAL. Vers. 1-8. Abraham and David as examples of the righteousness of faith : 1. Abraliani ; 2. David. — What hath father Abraham found ? 1. No re- ward by works ; but, 2. Righteousness by faith (vers. 1-5). — .Abraham not only the natural, but also the spiritual father of his people (vers. 1-5). — Glory before God is better than the glory of works (ver. 2). — If the reward is reckoned of debt, man loses ; but if it is reckoned of grace, he gains (vers. 4, 5). — How blessed is the man to whom God ini- puteth not sin, but righteousness ! (vers. 6-8). — Two beatitudes from tlie moutli of David (vers. 0-8). Vers. 9-12. Why must even the Jews acknowl- edge the Gentiles' righteousness of faith V An- swer : Hecause, 1. Faitli was not counted to Abra- ham for righteousness while in circumcision ; but, 2. His faith had already been counted to him for righteousness. — .\s the sign of circumcision wa.1 to the Jews a seal of the righteousness of faith, so are the signs of i{a|)tisni and of the Lord's Siijiper seals to Christians of tin; righteousness of faith. — .Vlu'a- hani, a father of all believers : 1. From among the Gentiles; 2. From among the Jews (vers. 11, 12).— Walking in the footsteps of Abraham (ver. 12).— • The promise to Abraham of the inheritance of tha world is, first, obscure, as a germ-like word. But, second, it is of infinitely rich meaning; for, in addi- tion to the redemption of the world, it also em- braces the renewal of the world and the heavenly inheritance. — To what extent does the law work wrath? (ver. 15). — It is only by faith that the prom ise holds good lor all (ver. l(j). Vers. 18-22. The strength of Abraham's faith. It is shown : 1. In his believing in hope, where there was nothing to hope ; 2. In holding fast to this hope against external evidence ; 3. He did not doubt, but trusted unconditionally in the words of promise. — Believing in lioiic, when there is nothing to hope (ver. 18). — We must not grow weak in faith, even if it be long before our hopes are real- ized (ver. 19). — The worst doubt is doubting the promises of God (ver. 20). — How precious it is to know to a perfect certainty that God can perform what He has promised (ver. 21). Vers. 23-25. As Abraham believed that life would come from death, so do we believe in the same miracle : 1. Because God has given us a pledge in the resurrection of Christ ; 2. Because this (iod is a living and true God, who will keep His promises for ever. — Our faith in the Lord Jesua Christ is a faith in the Redeemer, who : 1. Was de- livered for our offences ; and, 2. Was raised for our justification (vers. 24, 25). Lutiikk: Faith fulfils all laws; but works can- not fulfil a tittle of tlie law (James ii. 10). A pas- sage from the preface to the Epistle to the Romans is in place here : " Faith is not the human delusion and dream which some mistake for faith. . . . But faith is a Divine work in us, which changes us. and gives us the new birth from God (John 1. \Z) ; which slays the old Adam, and makes us altogether diH'crent men in heart, spirit, feeling, and strength ; and which brings with it the Holy Spirit. Oh, faith is a living, creative, active power, which of neces- sity is incessantly doing good ! It also does not iisk whether there arc good works to perform ; but, be- fore the question is asked, it has already done thein, and is continually doing them," &c. — He who be- lieves God, will give Him the glory, that He is truth- ful, omnipotent, wise, and good. Therefore faith fulfils the first three (four) commandments, and justi- fies man before God. It is, then, the true worship of God (chap. iv. 20). Staukk : The Holy Scriptures must not he read superficially, but with deliberation, and with careful reference to their order and chronology (clui]). iv. 10). — The holy sacraments assure believers of God's grace, and forgiveness of sins and eternal .salvation (chap. iv. 11). — It is vain to boast of pious ancestry, if you do not walk in the footsteps of their faith (chap. iv. 12). — God has His special gracious gifts and reward.s, which He communicates to one of Mis believers instead of another (chap. iv. 17). — We should rely on and believe in God's W(U'd, more than in all the arguments in the world. It should be enough for us to know, "Thus .saitli the Lord" (chap. iv. 18). — The heart can be established by no other means than by grace. But there can be no grace in the heart except l>y faith, which brings in Christ, the source of all grace (chap. iv. 21). — Blessed are they who only believe, though they see not (ehap. iv. 22). — The Epistle to the Romans w:us also written for us, and it has been preserved until our day, and CHAPTER IV. 1-25. 151 given to us as a precious treasure by Divine Provi- dence. — If Christ lias been raised from tlie dead by tlie glory of the Father, His death is truly a suffi- cient ofl'ering and ruusom for our sins (cliap. iv. 25). — Heoinger : Away with the leaven of Pharisaic delusion, that our own righteousness must build a ladder to heaven ! God will glorify His compassion to publicans and sinners, but not to proud saints. — Faith is in its highest degree, strength, and adorn- ment, wlien it beholds nothing but heaven and water, God and despair, and yet believes that all will be well, glorious, and happy (chap. iv. 18). QuESNEL : The more faith in a soul, the less pride there is in it (chap. iii. 27). — Ye magistrates, fathers, and mothers, if you set an example of faith, fear of God, love, righteousness, and other virtues, before those committed to you, you will truly be- come their fatiiers, just as Abraham became the father of the faithful by his faith (chap. iv. 11). — He who malves a parade of himself, may easily despair afterwards because of his insufficiency in every re- spect ; but he who trusts in the omnipotent God, gets strength and consolation from his own nothing- ness (chap. iv. 18). — Cramer : The sacraments do not help for the work's sake ; otherwise Abraham would have been iunnediately justified and saved on account of circumcision (chap. iv. 10). — All prom- ises spring from the fountain of eternal grace (chap. iv. 13). — Nova Bibl. Tub. : The laws of nature are set by God for nature, but they are not binding on God Himself. Faitli looks beyond them (chap. iv. 19). — Lange : As sin, because of its magnitude and multiplicity, is denoted by different words, so is jus- tification, as something great and important, ex- plained by three words : to forgive, to cover, and not to impute (chap. iv. V). — The creation and resur- rection of the dead are those great works of God which confirm and explain each other. Therefore he who believes in creation will find it easy to believe in the resurrection of the dead (chap. iv. 17). Ben-gel : The divine promise is always the best support of faith and confidence (ver. 20). — Why do we believe in God ? Because He has raised Christ (ver. 25). Gerlach : Abraham only received the promise that his seed should possess the land of Canaan ; but beyond the earthly, there lies the heavenly Canaan — the renewed world — which he and his real children, the believers, shall possess in Christ, his seed. The earthly Canaan was the propiietic type of this heavenly Canaan ; it was the external shell which enclosed the kernel — the bud which bore and enclosed the still tender flower (chap. iv. 13). — By the clearer knowledge of the commandment sin be- comes more sinful, destruction appears more promi- nently, lust is not subdued but becomes more vio- lently inflamed ; therefore transgression increases (chap. iv. 15). — If Abraham's clear eye of faith could penetrate the veil with so much certainty of God's majesty, how powerfully should we — to whom God has spoken by His own Son — be kindled by this love to raise our idle hands and to strengthen our weary knees (chap. iv. 23). Lisco : Abraham's faith is an example worthy of our imitation by faith in Christ (chap. iv. 18-25). — The resurrection of Jesus was a testimony and proof of what His death has accomplished for us (for, with- out the resurrection, He could not have been con- sidered the Messiah, and IHis death could not have been deemed a propitiatory sacrifice for the blotting out of our sins), Isa. liii. 10 ff. ; chap. iv. 26. Heubner : The appeal to Abraham's example is 1. Right in itself; 2. Was important for the Jewg (chap. iv. 1-6). — Why docs Paul cite Abraham's circumcision, and not rather the ofll-ring of Isaac? Answer : 1. Circumcision was tiie real sign which Abraham received by the command of God Himself; 2. It was that which all the Jews, equally with Aliraham, bore in their own person, and on which they founded their likeness to Abraham and their glory (chap. iv. 1). — David's feeling in the Psalms is humble, and was exalted only by grace. — The uni- versal confession of God's children is, We are saved by grace (chap. iv. 6-8). — In the historical statement of ver. 10 there is an application to us ; namely, that justification by faith must precede all good works, because no good wxirk is possible without the attain- ■ ment of grace. — The preaching of the law alone with the threatened penalty repels our heart from God ; and when carried to excess, it makes man angry with God, because he is driven to despair (chap. iv. 15). — Yea, if every thing were brought to us cmte oculos pedesque, there would be no room for faith (chap, iv. 18). — Abraham is an example of a holy paternal blessing, of holy paternal hopes, and the founder of the most blessed family among men (chap. iv. 18). Draseke : Easter ; the Amen of God, the Halle- lujah of men. — Our faith must be preserved, and grow amid temptations (chap. iv. 20). — The object of his faith is just as certain to the believer, as a demonstration is to the mathematician (chap. iv. 21, 22). — All the history of the Old Testament is appli- cable to us. The circumstances are different, but there are the same conflicts, and it is internally and fundamentally the same faith which is engaged in the struggle (chap. iv. 23, 24). — Similarity of the Christian's faith to that of Abraham. Besser : Luther calls ver. 25 a little covenant in which all Christianity is comprehended. J. P. Lange : Abraham, the original, but ever-new witness of faith : 1. As witness of the living God of revelation and miracle ; 2. As witness of the perfect confidence and divine strength of a believing reliance 07i Gocfn word ; 3. As witness to the bless- ed operation of faith — righteousness through grace. — The life of faith not dependent : 1. On natural ancestry ; 2. On works of the law ; 3. On visible natural appearances. — Justification and sealing. — All faith, in its inmost nature, is similar to that of Abra- ham : 1. As faith before God in His word ; 2. As faith in miracles ; 3. As faith in the renewal of youth ; 4. As faith in the rejuvenation of life from righteousness as the root. — The glorious operation of Christ's resurrection. [Bdrkitt : We must bring credentials from our sanctification to bear witness to the truth of our justification. — On the sacraments in general, and circumcision in particulur. There is a fourfold word requisite to a sacrament — a word of institu- tion, command, promise, and blessing. The ele- ments are ciphers ; it is the institution that makes them figures. Circumcision was a sign : 1. Repre- sentative of Abraham's faith ; 2. Demonstrative of original sin ; 3. Discriminating and distinguishing of the true church ; 4. Initiating for admission to the commonwealth of Israel ; and 5. Prefigurative of baptism. — On faith. It has a threefold excel- lency : 1. Assenting to the truths of God, though never so improbable ; 2. Putting men on duties though seemingly unreasonable ; and 3. Enabhng tc endure sufferings, be they never so afflictive. — DoD' 158 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROifANS. DRiDOR : We are saved by a pchcme that allows us not to mention any works of our own, as if we had whereof to glory before God, but teaclies us to ascribe our salvation to believing on Him who jiisti- fieth the ungoilly. lie who has promised, is able to perform ; for with Ilim all tilings are possible. Al- ready He liatii done for us that for whieh we had Mueh less reason to expect, than we now have to hope for any thing tliat remains. He delivered His own Son Jesus tor our offenecs. — Hknry : It is the holy wisdom and policy of faith to fasten jiarticular- ly on that in God whieh is accommodated to the difticulties wherewith it is to wrestle, and will most ett(!ctu,illy answer the objections. It is faith indeed to build upon the all-sutticiency of God for the accomplishment of that which is impossible to any thing but that all-sufficiency. — Ci.akke : Ver. 18. The faith of Abraham bore an exact correspon- dence to the power and never-failing faithfulness of God. Hodgf: 1. The renunciation of a legal self-righte- ou.s .«pirit is the first rc(iuisite of the gospel ; 2. The more intimately we are actiuainted with our own heart.i, and with the character of God, the more ready shall we l)e to renounce our own righteousness, ami to trust in His mercy ; 3. Only those are happy and secure wlio, under a sense of helplessness, ca^t themselves on the mercy of God ; 4. A means I of grace should never be a ground of dependence ; 5. Tliere is no hope for those who take refuge in a ' law, and forsake God's mercy ; 6. All things ara ours, if we are Christ's; 7. The way to get your faith strengthened, is, not to consider the difficulties in the way of the thing promised, but the charaetei and resources of (Jod who has made the promise ; 8. It is as possible for faith to l)e strong when the thing promised is most improbable, as when it is I probable ; 9. Unbelief is a very great sin, as it implies a doubt of the veracity and power of God ; 10. The two great truths of the gospel are, that Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins, and that He rose again for our justification ; 11. The denial of the propitiatory death of Christ, or of His resurrec- tion from the dead, is a denial of the gospel.— Barnes : On tlie resurrectioji of Christ (ver, 26). If it be asked how it contributes to our acceptance with God, we may answer ; 1. It rendered Christ's work compliie ; 2. It was a proof that His work was accepted by the Father ; 3. It is the mainspring of all our hopes, and of all our eflbrts to be saved. There is no higher motive that can be presented to induce man to seek salvation, than the fact that he may be raised up from death and the grave, and made immortal. There is no satisfactory proof that man can be thus raised up, but by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. — J. F. H.] Ninth SKcrroN. — Tlic fruit of justification : Peace vith God, and the dne. The new worship of Christians : They hctve the free access to gract into the Holi/ of holies. Therefore they rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and of the revelation of the real Shekinah of God in the real Holy of holies. They even glory in tribulation also, by which this hope is consummated. The love of God in Christ as security for the realization of Christian hope; ChrisCs death our reconciliation ; ChrisCs life our salvation. The bloom of Christian hope : The solemn joy that God is our God. Chap. V. 1-11. 1 Tlierefore being justified by faith, we have ' peace with God throiioh our 2 Lord Jesus Christ : By [Tlirouch] whom also we have [liave had the] " access by faith ' [^r nmu by faith] into this giace wherein we stand, and rejoice [tri- 3 ninpli] * in [the] '' hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory ttriiunjjh]" in tribulations also; knowing tliat tribulation worketh patience constancy];' And i)atience [constancy], experience [api)rov:il] ;' and expe- 5 rience [approval], hope : And hope niaketh not ashamed ; because the love of God [Gods love] is shed abroad [has been jioured out] in our hearts by [by means of] the Holy Ghost which is [who was] given unto us, 6 For when we were yet ' without strength, in due time [xutu x«jpo>', at the 7 proper time] Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet ])eradventure for a good man some would even dare to die 8 [though, for the; good man, ]K'rha|)8 some one may even dare to die]. But God" commendeth [doth establish] his love toward ns, in that, while we were 9 yet sinners, Clnist died for us. ISluch more then [therefore], being nowjusti* tied" by [m] his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him [or, through 10 him from the wrath]. For if, when we were [being] " enemies, we were recon- ciled to God by [through, dai] the de.ith of his Son ; mueh more, being recon- 11 ciled, w(; sliall be saved by [in, n] his life. i\nd not only so. but we also joy [ .Vnd not only that — '. <■, rrconriua — but also triumpliing] " in (iod through our r.,ord Jesus Christ, by [through] whom we have now . received the atonement [the reconciliation].'* CHAPTER V. 1-11. 159 TEXTUAL, > V. O.I)'. F.) is even stronger than for the first. But this repetition has bei n deemed unnecessary, and many critical editors have therefore rejected the second In. (So ^cc, Meyer, Lange apparcntlx.) The insertion is explained as a displacemeat growing out of the fact, that an ecclesiastical portion began with Xpio-rbs k.t.A. But the uncial authority is too strong to warrant its rejection. Alford justly remarks : "'We must cither repeat cti, . . . or adopt the reading of B." He takes the latter alternative; it seems safer, with Grieebach, Lachmann, Wordsworth, to take the former. In that case, crt may either be regarded as repeated for emphasis (see Exiy. A'olen), or Wordsworth's view be adopted : Besides, when we were yet weak. The former is preferable. — R.] '» Ver. 8.— ['O Seds is wanting in B. Its position varies in other MSS. j . A. C. K. insert it after ets rjixcii (so Hec.) ; D. F. L. before (so Tischendorf, Meyer). Alford rejects it, mainly on account of this variation in position. It is far more likely to have been omitted, because it was tnought that Christ should be the subject. The mo>t probable view is, that the Aiiostle intended to emphasize the fact that God thus showed JHis (cduroO) love; hence the position at the end of the clause. This not being uuderstood, it was moved forward and then rejected. — R.] " Ver. 9. — [Literally: having been then justified. The E. V. means to convey this thought. It should be noticed that € / follows (E. v., hy). The idea of instrumentality is not prominent ; the sense seems to he pregnant. So also in ver. 10: iv tj5 ^ajjj, hy his ///>.— R.] ^"^ Ver. 10.— [The parallelism is marred in the E. V. — R.] 1' Ver. 11. — iRec: Kavx>>>f^^6a, poorly attested. Nearly all MSS. read KavxiatJ-evoL, which is adopted by modem critical editors. On the meaning, and for jn.stification of the above emendation, sae Exeg. Antes. — R.] '* Ver. 11. —[Alniiemeiil is a correct rendering etymolo^ically, but not theologically. Reconciliation is preferable aleo on the ground that it corresponds with rtconcile (ver. 10), as the Greek noun. does with the preceding verb. — R.] EXEGBTICAL AJS'D CRITICAL. General Survky. — 1. Peace with God arising from justification, as hope of the gloiy of God (vers. 1, 2). 2. The continuance in, and increase of, this peace, even by tribulations, amid the experience of the love of God (vers. 3-5). 8. The proof of the continual increase of the peace, and the certainty of Balvation of Christians (vers. 6-9). ' 4. Reconcilia- tion as the pledge of deliverance (salvation), and, as the appropriated atonement, the fountain of blessed- ness. On vers. 1-8, Winzer, Cominenfat., Leipzig, 1832. [Ciiap. V. 1-12 and chap. viii. describe the effect of justification upon the feelings, or tlie emo- tional man ; chap, vi., the effect upon the will, or the inoro.l man. It produces peace in the heart and holiness in the character of the believer. — P. S.l Ver. 1. Therefore, being justified by faith [/t i,y.ai,M fyivT tq ovv Ix 7r t (TTf oit;]. The oi"')' expresses the conclusion tii'at arises from the pre- ceding establishment of the truth of the <)i.xaiiiff)a, vers. 2, 3, likewise in the subjunctive mood ; and , thus the whole passage, instead of being, as usually / understood, a statement of the blessed effects of jus- tification upon the heart, becomes an cxhortntion to go on from peace to peace and from glory to glory, on the ground of the accomplished fact of justifi- cation. DiH'ereut e.xplanations, however, may be given to t/iomv. (1.) T\ni de/iLeratice sense: shall we have f ^ut tliedeliberative subjunctive is only usftii in^doubnuf yucaBLons, as Mark xii. 14: dmin'v r fill ')''».'" I' JKoni. vi. 1: i/ii,iitvm/niv rfi auctiJTin; (2.) The conceitniv^-^imasc : we may have, it i} our vrivilefje tq'Jt(u:e. This would" give excellent sense. But sucha jlse^f the Greek subjunctive approach- ing the flTpmnng- 3f ^-^e Tuture, thougii easily de- rived from the general principle that the subjunc- tive mood signities what is ohjcctivchj posaiule, as the indicative expresses what is actual, and the optative what is desirable or subjectivel fi possible, js^ Bonifiwhat doubtful, and not mentioned by Winer (p. 2tJ8, 7th ed.), who, in independent sentences, adnaits only the conjunctivus adhorlatimis and the conj itncfiinis deliberativus ; comp. Kiihner, §§ 403, 464, and Jelf, § 415. (3.) There remains', there- fore, only tlie A*«4o(Tnyctyn''i;, sequester, the media- tor or interpreter, who introduces persons to sove- * I By Pa]ic (Lex) and ^feyer, who quotes paRsages ftom Xenophon, Thucydides, I'lutai-ch, &e., and explains : " Wir /iab''ii DURCH CiiitisTi'.M uiK Hi.vzupCnuu.vo ritilir Oiiadt u.f.w.,iffJinbl, ihiiUirrh ndmtiih (lusn £•■ trlh^t (1 Peter iii. 18) v.rmiye sem'S ilni Z'nn O'lt-s tiUirnilen Suhn«]ifi-rs unttf irpofa-yuycvf ff wnnlen ill, lulr.r, wie rs t'/iii/s. trrffrni iiusilrficL-l : iiaxpav Ofxaf npoKrjyayt ." Cump. 1Ih]> less (p. ifin.-md ]lni\iiie, on Kph. ii. 18. Chrysoslom dls- tin'/uishcs. Kph. ii. IS, npo^ayioyq and irp6iolio^ : ovk tlntt np6ioSov, aAAa irpotayuiyiji'. Hut irpdfojot, in classic (Ircckj has ))otli the aciivo and pa.«give uieanmg. Uc.^ychlus de- fines irpotriiyuyii : " irpof Aevtrit, rr.c'r : .\Cvi;.*,sio, n-iiij>^. aB UEORVM AU.vs, arrri.icATio." The word occurs only thre« times In the Xcw Testament— here, and Eph. ii. 18, and iU. VI, where the Intransitive meaning, accesi is the most nata ral.— P. 8.] CHAPTER V. ItII. 161 reigns, Lamprid. ia Alex. Sev. 4. — P. S.] is secured here by dl' or, which does not well suit this inter- pretation. 2. Access. [Vulg. : accessjim; 7i()6i;odo(;, tii;o(hi;.] The view of CEcunienius, and most ex- positors [Pliilippi, Ewald, Stuart, Hodge, Alford] ; see Eph. ii. 18 ; iii. 12. (Tiioluck finally decides for the active sense.) The image, at bottom, is plain- ly not that of a worldly audience with an Eastern king, but the type of tlie entrance of the high-priest into the Holy of Holies (see 1 Peter iii. 18 : Xtivaroq tna&fv,n'a ?jfia<; n(jo(;aydyri rm Ofiji; Heb. X. 19 : e/ovrti; t/jv nao^rjaiav fn; rijv fi'codov rmv ciyio)v iv rtj) aifiari. 'Jij(ToT). Tliis view is also in harmony with the idea of the Epistle, by which Christianity is the true worship restored, or rather first realized ; and in tliis connection the doia 5fO(i has reference to the Shekinah of the Holy of Ho- lies. — Obtained (erlangt haben). Tholuck justly re- gards it as pedantic prudery in Meyer (after Eritzsche) to hold that ia/rj/.afifv docs not mean nacti sumus et habnnus, but habuimus (when we became Chris- tians). Meyer more appropriately says : "The divine grace in which the justified participate is represent- ed as a spacial compass." But he has not made good this remark. We have free access into the real Holy of Holies, which is grace ; and hope to behold in it the real Shekinah, the fJoJa of God ; and, looking at it, to participate of it. — Into this grace. [The rainrjv is emphatic — such a glorious grace. — P. S.] Those who adhere to the reading T'^ TTtcjTfi. in ver. 2 [see Textual Note ^] connect therewith ili; rtjv )(d{>t,v (a connection which Meyer properly rejects, nlaTiq fit; Tt/v /a^m-!), and under- stand Tr^offaj'foj'jy absolntely : access to God.* But the niJoaayu)yi'i can refer only to /d()i,q (Meyer, and others), and, indeed, to grace as justifying grace; and does not,denote saving favor in general (Chry- sostom), atthough that central idea of grace com- prehends all. For other untenable explanations ; the gospel (Fritzsche) ; hope of blessedness (Beza) ; apostleship (Semler) ; see De Wette. The access to this grace is more particularly explained by the addition, wherein [iv ji refers to /a^n', not to the doubtful niarti,. — P! S.] we stand, or into which we have entered. The tar i] xa.fi (v there- fore does not denote here, standing fost (Tholuck, Meyer), either in the sense of subjective activity (Beausobre),f or of objective, secure possession (Cal- vin ).:j: It refers back to the act of the di^/.aioxrti;, with which the introduction into the /ct^*^ has be- gun, and accordingly the 7i(>o(rayi>}ytj denotes the free and permanent access of all believers into the Xd^i<;, in contrast with the once yearly entrance of the high-priest into the Holy of Holies. We need hardly mention that this permanent access is effected ond conditioned by the life of prayer, and especially by dailv purification, in the comfort of the atone- ment (Heh. X. 22, 23). And triumph (glory) in the hope of the glory of God [/.at xar/o'iiui&a in D.niiii * [This is not necessary, tjj wiorei and iv rfj Trt'o-Tci, whetner jremiine or not, can be taken as explanatory of the method of access to the throne of grace. The phrase " faith on praci' " nowhere occurs in the Bible. — P. S.] t ['^ Demeurer ferme signifie comballre courageusement." -P. S.l J [" . . . lit Jirma stabilisque salus nobis maneat: quo sJffiii^cnf, pprseverantiam non in virtu'e inrluslriarii'. nostra, sed in Ckristo /tindalam rsst." So also Philippi (ft'slslelten, blcih''n(l vrhnrren), and Hodge : " We arc firnriy and im- movably established." Comp. John viii. 44, where it is said of Satan that he stood not (ovx earijiceK) in the truth ; 1 Cor. xv. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 24.— P. S.) 11 rtjq ()'6if]c; roil &fovJ. The verb y.ai ■(do/icu [usually with iv, also with inl, l'ni(i, and with tha accusative of the object] denotes the expression of a joyous consciousness of blessedness with reference to the objective ground of blessedness ; in which true glorying is distinctly contrasted with its carica- ture, vain boasting in a vain state of njind, and from a vain ground or occasion. Reiche emphasize! the rejokiiici, Meyer the glorying. The ini, ex- plained as jjrsijiter (by Meyer), denotes more defi- nitely the basis on which Christians establish their glorying.* Tlie ground of the glorying of Chris* tians in their present state is not the do'ia dfoTi itself, hnt Ihejtope p/t/ie ^(jlorj/ ojti God, as one con- ception ; indeed, the whole Christianity of this life is a joyous anticipation of beholding tlie glory* Tholuck : " fJoJa" flfoT' is not, as Origen holds, the genitive of object, the hope of bcholdhig this glory, which would need to have been expressed more defi- nitely ; still less is Chrysostom's view right, that it is the hope that God will glorify Himself in lis. Neither are Luther, Grotius, Calixtus, Reiche, cor- rect in calling it the genitive of author, the glory to be bestowed by God ; but it is the genitive of pos- session, participation in the glory possessed by God ; comp. 1 Thess. ii. 12." But more account should be made of beholding, as the means of appropria- tion. Toiiehold God's glory, means also, to become glorious. This is definitely typified in the history of Moses (2 Cor. iii. 13 ; Exod. xxxiv. 33). Tho- luck also remarks : " The duo^nv rijv <)6iav rov J^Qiarov, John xvii. 24, is the participation in the doia Ofor, the avy/.).ri()o%'Ofi tlv, the aviipacn-hvuv, and (nivi)ota(jf)Tivau no JV^kttw ; Rom. viii. 17 ; 2 Tim. ii. 11. Cocceius : ^ JJac est gloriatio Jidcliwriy quod persuasum Juibent, fore, ut Deus gloriosus et adinirah'lis in ipsis Jiat illuiiiinando, sunctijir.ando, Ice'ificando, glorificando in ipsis ; 2 Thess. i. 10.' " As the seeing of man on God's side perfects the vision of man, according to 1 Cor. xiii. 12, it is the beholding of the glory of the Lord on man's side by which he shall become perfectly conformed to the Lord, and thus an object of perfect good pleasure, according to 1 John iii. 2 ; Matt. v. 8 ; comp. 2 Peter i. 4. The goal of this reciprocal dold^fv%' and f)oiauo■l9^a^ is, in a conditional sense, the removal to the inheritance of glory in the future world ; 2 Cor. V. 1 ; and, in the absolute sense, the time of the second coming of Christ ; Rev. xx. [This triumphant assurance of faith is incom patible with the Romish doctrine of the uncertainty of salvation. A distinction should be made, how- ever, between assurance of a present state of grace, which is necessarily implied in true faith, as a per- sonal apprehension of Christ with all His benefits, and assurance of future redemption, which is an article of hope (hence in i/.nltii,), and must be ac- companied with constant watchfulness. Christ will lose none of those whom the Father has given Him (John xvii. 12; x. 28, 29); but God alone knows His own, and to whom He chooses to reveal it. We must give diligence to make our calling and election * [So also Philippi: "ejr' ikiriSi, propter spem. enC mil rlem Dative dient bei den Verbis dcr Affecte zur Angahe, dcs Grundes. So yeAav, /A^ya povelv , piai veo'Oai, ayavaKTelv inC Tivt." — P. S.] t I The reading of the Vulu'ate : glurix filinrum Dei, is, according to Meyer, a gloss which admirably hits the ncnse. But Sofa Beov is more expressive in this connection. It ia the gloiy wliich God Himself has (gen. possessionis), tntl in which believers shall once share; comp. John xvii. 2i; ; 1 Thess. ii. 12; Apoc. xxi. 11 ; 1 John iii. 2.— P. S.1 162 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Bure to ourselves (2 Peter i. 10), and work out our own sjilvntion with fear and trembling, because God workeih in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (I'hil. ii. 12, 13). The possibility of ulti- mate fiiilure was a powerful motive and stimulus to faithfuluet-s and lioliness even in the life of an apos- tle, wlio exereised severe self-diseipline, lest, having preaehed to others, he might himself at last be re- jected, and lose the incorruptible crown of the Christian race (1 Cor. ix. 27). IIow much more, then, should ordinary Christians, who stand, fcike heed lest they full (1 "Cor. x. 12) !— P. S.] Ver. 3. And not only so [.v., do we triumph in the ho|)e of glory ; comp. tlie parallels in Meyer]. Tholuek appropriately says : " This hope of the Christian — sure of its triumph — seems to be put to Bcorii by the present condition, as those first Chris- tians had to bear the scorn of the (icntiles by con- trasting their gloomy present with tlieir abundant hope. [(Quotations from Minucius Felix, Arnobius, and Melanehthon.] But the Apostle's lofty mind shows how that doiot-ii* not^auouitward^accident, but a_mor al glorjlica tTon, having itd.rooi_uHhiA_^.i,q iv yjihal aov. Alford (after 01s- hausen) : " iv may be taken pregnantly, i/./.i/. fi<; /.ai /livfu iv — or better, denotes the locality where the outpouring takes place — the heart being the seat of our love, and of appreciation and sym- pathy with God's love."— P. S.]— By means of the Holy Spirit who was given unto us [(Ucc n V I v /( (XT o(; aylov roTi d'oOevrnq tjiiiv^. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the causality of the experience of the love of God. Chap. viii. 15, Ifi ; Gal. iv. 6. [The Holy Spirit mediates all the gifts of grace to us, and glorifies Christ in us. Olshausen and Alford refer the aorist participle to the pente- costal effusion of the Spirit. But this could not * [Similnrly Olshaiisen : " Dif Go'fcah'ehe ztim Menschen, dii abrr in. ihm die. GfgcnlirhK lorckl. (1 John iv. 19), iind ty.i'r iiiclil die Gegcnlithe mit den hloss nalurlichcn Kraflen, iondvrn mil den hohnrnt Kidfteii des gdHlirhi'n Gristi'S." Forbes: "The love here spoken of is not God's love, as merely ontivardly shoM'n to us, biit as shed abroad in our heaits ns a gift, and it is placed in connection with other Christian (;;-afes — patience and hope." — P. S.] ■■ [Meyer: "Der S griff des Itcichlichcn Kept scTwn in ier sinnliclien Vfirstelhiiig des Ausschu'tenn, Icunn ohnr auck wie Tit. iii. 6 tiock besonders ausgediuckl werden." — P. S.] apply to Paul, who was called afterwards. Hence it must be referred to the time of regeneration, when the Pentecostal fact is repeated in the individual. — ■ P.S] Ver. 6. For Christ, when w^e were yet ["Eri yot^ A' (J KT T 6 v ovrinv rfiwv, y..r.). On the different readings, trt j'ci^, for yet, or sti'l, with a second 'iri, alter affDtvmv (^t), nyf, if in.' deed, with the second 'itt. (B.), irt, ya-Q, without tha second eVt {text, rec), tlq ri yen; ((D-. P.), d ydq, d di, see 2'extnal Note ^ — P. S.] The ert [lufit ad/iucl, according to the sense, belongs to ovtoiVj &c. [Comp. Matt. xii. 46 : iVi. atTor' ).a}.o7i(Tr6i:]. The result was, that it was partly removed, partly doubled, and partly cor- rected. We hold that the twofold eVt, which Lach- mann reads [and which Cod. Sin. sustains] has a good meaning as emphasis. Ver. 7. When w^e ^xrere yet weak, or, with- out (spiritual) strength [oi'to)i' t)fnT)v daOf' v<7)v £Ti.]. The state of sin is here represented aa weakness or sickness in reference to the divine life, and consequently as helplessness, in order to de- clare that, at that time, believers could not do the least toward establishing the ground of their hope. [Comp. Isa. liii. 4, Septuagint : rdq d/ia(jTia(; tlfnov fli;, ungodly, in order to express the thought that we, as sinners, could not add any thing to the saving act of Christ, but did our utmost to aggravate the work of Christ. Sinfulness is rep- resented, therefore, not merely as " the need of help," and thus '' as the motive of God's love inter- vening for salvation " (Meyer), but as the starting- point of redemption, where the love of God accom- plished the great act of salvation without any co- operation of sinners— yea, in «pite of their greatest opposition. At the proper time (or, in due season). Kara x«^(Jor. Two* connections of the xaroi r..: 1. It is united to ovrmv, &c. We were ircak according to the time [pro temporuni rat/one], in the sense of excuse (Erasmus) ; in the sense ot the general corruption (according to Calvin, Luther, Hofmann). Against this are both the position of xaiQac, and its .signification. 2. It is referred to aTTiOavfv, but in different ways. Origen : at that time, when He suffered. Abelard : held awhile in death. [Kypke, Reiche, Philippi, Alford, Hodge: at the appointed time, foretold by the prophets.— P. S.] Meyer : As it was the full time [proper • [Or three, rather ; for the words have also been con« nected by some with in = en rort, adhuc eo tempore, at ItU time of our weakness. — P. S.] 164 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. time] for the deliverance of those who lived at that time. Butter : It was the Jit tune in the history of huiiianiti/. Tills by no means weakens the prineipal thought," wliicli nilher reiiuiics the delinite statement that "the saeritieial death of Christ was aeeonling to Divine wisdom ; sinee tlie uecesiuty for salvation and the capacity for salvation were decided with the ful- ness of natural corruption. The highest heroism of the solf-sacrifice does not exclude its reasonableness. See Rom. xvi. 25; Gal. iv. 4; Eph. i. 10; 1 Tim. ii. 6; Titus i. 3. [xarci )iai,()6v is =: ii> xcufjij), ft's" xaijiov, ini xaifjor, xaifjiioi;, tempore op/ior- tuno ; in opposition to nai>a xat^ior, tempore alietio, vniimely. Here it is essentially the same with the 7T/.t'j(i<»fta Ttov xaifjt'n; Eph. i. 10, and the /r/./j^yo/ia Tor /fiovor, Gal. iv. 4; comp. Mark i. 15. Cluist appeared when all the preparations for Uis coming and His kingdom in the Jewish and Gentile world were completed, and when the disea.se of sin had reached tlie crisis. This was God's own appointed time, aud the most, or rather the only, appropriate time. Christ could not have appeared with divine fitness and propriety, nor with due effect, at any other time, nor in any other race or country. We cannot conceive of His advent at the time of Noah, or Abraham, or in China, or among the savage tribes of America. History is a unit, and a gradual un- folding of a Divine plan of infinite wisdom. Christ is the turning-point and centre of history, the end of the old and the beginning of the new humanity — n truth which is conre.*sed, wittingly or unwittingly, by everv date from A. D. throughout the civilized world.— r. S.] For the ungodly. vntQ, for, for the good of. It is a fuller conception than the idea instead of, avri, if we remember that, wiiere the ques- tion is concerning a dying for those who are worthy of death, the conception naturally involves a well- understood ocvri. See Matt. xx. 28. The terms !mio and nfol [which Paul uses synonymously. Gal. i. 4J are more ct)mprehcnsive ; but the expres- sion avri is the most definite one. [Meyer con- tends that I'Tiiii aud ntiii always mean for, in be- half of , for the benefit of and not avti, in the place of loco, although, in the case of Christ, His death for the benefit of sinners was a vicarious .«acrifiee ; iii. 25 ; Eph. v. 2 ; 1 Tim. ii. (1. Sometimes the vnio, like tlie English preposition for, according to the context, nece.-*surilv involves the arri, as in 2 Cor. V. 15, 20, 21 ; Gal." iii. Vi ; Phileni. 13. The Apostle says i'<7ii(> aat{iuiv, instead of Inif} iintirv, in order to bring out more fully, by this strong antithesis, the amazing love of Ciirist. — P. S.] Ver. 7. For scarcely for a righteous man •will one die, though, for the good man, per- haps some one may even dare to die [ M i> / 1^- ydu I'iTi^i (Kza/or (witliout the article) ti.,- u/xo- O-avtit ai,' rni(> y«(' (the second y(i() seems to be exceptive, and introduces a correction of the preceding with reference to /lokn;: with ditficully, I say, for it is a fact that) roTi nyaOoT' (with the article) rd/a th; xai to?, ft a. uno I) avtlv. — P. S.]. The difliculty of this ver.se has led to vari- ous conjectures.* The Peshito reads Inin ctiVtxov (unrighteous), instead of Into t)ixnioi' ; Erasmus, Luther, Melanchtlion, &c., read rVtxrd'oc and ciyaflor •3 neuter words ; Hol'mann [formerly, not now. — P. B.] : at least the latter is neuter; Origen, on the con- * [Jororno, Ep. 121 »(<,•, bj which the question is generally concerning a dying for persons. [()i.xa»oi', without the article, must be masculine — a righteous pn-son (not the right , TO dixciiov); but toT dyaDoT; witii the article may, grammatically, be taken as neuter = suminun boHuin (the country, or any good cause or noble principle for which martyrs have died in ancient and modern times). Yet, in this case, the anlithesii would be lost, sinee Christ likewise died for the highest good, the salvation of the world. The an- tithesis is evidently between mtm who scarcely are found to die for a i)ixaio^, though occasionally per- haps for 6 (their) dynOoi;, and Christ who died for datfifii;, ver. G ; or d/tnoTot/.oi, ver. 8 ; and even for i/OfJoi (the very opposite of dyaOo^), ver. 10, In both eases, the death for peisons, not for a cause, is meant. — P. S.] Explanations of the masculines : (1.) There is no material ditlerenco between fy/zaioi; and dyaiyo^. " After Paul has said that scarcely for a ' righteous ' man will one die, he will add, by way of establishing his assertion, that there might occur instances of the undertaking of such a death." Meyer, in harmony with Chrysostom, Theo- doret, Erasmus, Calvin,* &c. But <)('xaiog is noC dynO^ot;, and fiohi; {scarcely) is not rct/a (possibly). (2.) 6 dyaOoi; is the benefactor. KnachtbuU [Atiimadv. in libros X. T., 1C59, p. 120], Estius" [Cocceius, Hammond], and many othei-s ; Reiche_ Tholuck : The Friend of Man. This is too special. (3.) The dyaOoi; stands above the merely right, eous or just one. Ambrosiaster : the noble one, the dyaOo^ by nature ; Bengel : homo innorius txeinpU gratia, &c. [" Jtx., indefinitely, implies a harmless (guiltless) man; 6 cij-oflo,-, one perfect in all that piety demands, excellent, bounteous, princely, bles» ed — for example, the father of his country." — P. S.l Meyer regards all these as " subtle distinctions." [He quotes, for the essential identity of (i/xcttot; and ciyaOoc, Matt. v. 45 ; Luke xxiii. 50 ; Rom. vii. 12, where both are connected. — P. S.] Then the differ- ence between the Old and New Testament would also be a subtle drawing of distinctions. The Old Testament, even in its later period, scarcely produced one kind of martyrdom ; but the New Testament has a rich martyrdom. Yet we would understand the n;'«.9o(; in a more general sense. The ttlxa^nq in- stills respect, but he does not establish, as such, a communion and exchange of life ; but the dya06<; inspires. Paul's acknowledgment here, which was supported by heathen examples, is a proof of his apostolic considerateiiess, and of his elevation above ail slavery to the letter. An ecclesiastical rhetorician would have suppressed the concession. The selec- tion of the expression with rd/a and rof./i^ is ad- mirable ; such self-sacrifices are always made head- long in the ecstiusy of sympathetic generosity. • [Ciilvin: " Rarissimum Mne inter Jiominft txftnplum exslttf, ut pro jualii quia mirri siislinrol: qiuimqwim illwi tKiiiiiiinqwim nrciiUre patsil." Tho exception ostabljshp* the nilo. Fritaschc, Ilofmiinn fin tho feconri oilition of hit Schnflbnof.ii, ii. 1, p. 318), imd Moycr (Itli od.) liave ro- tumi'd to this view. In tlio 1st cd. (which llndRo, p. 214, sccma alone to liavo consulted), Meyer took roi dyaSov, on account of tho article, iiH neuter (iis did Jerome, Eraamujt, l,uilnr, ^[elanchthon, UQckert, and Iloftnann in thcjirrf edition of his Hhnftbrwdf), and rendered the latter clauM of the verse inlerroKiitively : "iktin uxr wagt's auch Icichlr lich/Hr lUit OuU (U »Urbcnt—V. 8.] CHAPTER V. 1-11. 165 4. It is hardly necessary to mention the view [maintained by Meyer in the first edition, but now given up by him. — P. S.], that the second member of the sentence is interrogative : for who would dare to die readily eve?i for the good? [I can see no material difference between inter- pretations 2 and 3. The princijial point in both is tlie distinction made between (V/jiatoc (talien in a narrower sense) and 6 aya-Ooc, corresponding to our distinction between just and kind. Such a distinc- tion is made by Cerdo in Irenaeus Adv. hcer. i. 27, quoted also by Eusebius, H. E., iv. 11 : rov /liv diy.auov, rov i)k ayaObv v7ia(jyji,v, alteram quidem justum, alterum antein bonum esse ; and by Cicero, Dc offic., iii. 15 : " Si vir bonus is est. qui prodest quibus potest, nocet nemini, recte (certe) jus- tum virum, bonum non facile reperiemtos" (but some editions read: ^^ eerie istum virttm boiium").* The righteous man, who does all that the law or justice requires, commands oiu- respect and admiration ; the good man, the benefactor, who is governed by love, inspires us with love and gratitude. Then we would have the following sense : " It is hardly to be ex- pected that any one would die for a righteous man, though for the good man (i. e., for a kind benefactor or intimate friend), this self-denial miglit possibly be exercised, and does occasicmally o;roi ; comp. also Ontarvyhli;, i. 13, and ri/.va 6^yT,Q, Eph. ii. 3. — P. S.] has been cited. The passive inter- pretation has been supported by Calvin, Reiche, Fritzsche, Tholuck, Krehl, Baumgarten-Crusius, De Wette, Philippi, Meyer [Alford, Hodge], and the active or subjective interpretation by* Spener, Titt- mann, Usteri, and Riickert [among English commen- tators, by Turner]. Meyer says in favor of the first view : 1. " Clu'ist's death did not destroy the enmity of men toward God ; but, by effecting their pardon on the part of God, it destroyed the enmity of God toward men, whence the cessation of man's enmity toward God follows as a moral consequence, brought about by faith. 2. And how could Paul have been able to infer properly his noXh'i fia/.kov, &c., since the certainty of the (jMOr^(T()uf-ba rests on the fact that we stand in a friendly relation (grace) to God, and not on our being friendly tow-aid God ? " These tW'O arguments have a very orthodox sound, but are without a vital grasp of the fact of the atonement, and here without force. For, first of all, the death of Christ is as well a witness and seal of God's love, which overcomes man's enmity and distrust, as it is an offering of reconciliation, which removes the o^jyij Oio~< in His government and in the conscience of man. This element constitutes the principal motive force in the living preacliing of the gospel ; for ex- ample, among the Moravians. In the next place, if we look away from God's work in man, we have no ground for assuming an increase \_7To).hJi /ic'/./or] in God's love and grace in itself. God is unchangeable ; man is changeable. The changed relation of man to God is indeed conditioned by a changed relation of God to him ; but it is by virtue of God's unchange- ableness that the work of God, which has begun in man, bears the pledge of completion. See Phil. i. 6. The sealing signifies, not a sealing of God, but of man by God's grace. It is not biblical to say, that Christ, by His death, has removed God's ennjity toward us. And yet the Apostle is alleged to say that here, just after he has said : But God sets forth and commends His love, &c. Then the odd sense would be : We ♦ [The oriffinal, by mistake, mentions here Tholuck, who holds the opposite view, at least in the fifthand last edition of his Camm., p. 210, and says that the opyr) Scou necessarily implies also an ix^P"- ^eoO, although both are to be taken in a relative sense only, as the wrath and enmity of a fulher toward his children. He quotes th« sentence of Hupo of St. Victor: " yim quia reconciliavit amavit, sed quia amavit recunciliavil." — P. S.] 166 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIE ROMANS. have been even reconciled when we were not yet '•ecoiicilfd ! We were reconciled to God [/.arrjlXd- Y >; II !■ V T lo i-t nj> \. [Soiue prc'limiiiiiry philological remarks on this imporwiit term, which occurs here for the fir:5t time, may be found useful. The verbs di-aXuaaitt, kutu- XdtjfTci, ixTioxaTa/.daai'i, arva/.daan) (from d/.da- am, to c.'iniic/c), express the general idea of a change of relation of two parties at enmity into a relation of peace, or the idea of reconciliation ( Versdhuuug, Ausxo .7tung), with a slight modification, indicated by the prepositions — xard, in relation to ; ()i.a, be- tween ; dno, from ; avv, with, but without refer- ence to the question whetlier the enmity be mutual, or on one side only — wliicli must be decided by the connection. The noun ()(.«/./.«;'/; is more frequently used in the classics than xuTu/./.cty/i, but nowhere in the New Testament ; tlie verb dutldaad), or dt,a- XdzTii) occurs only once; in tlie pass. aor. 2 imperat.. Matt. V. 24 : dia/.z-dytjOi. roi di)f/.qiji aov, be recon- ciled to thy brother. The noun xara/./xiyij is used four times in the New Testament; Kom. v. 11 (E. v., atonement); xi. 15 (the reconciling); 2 Cor. v. 18, 19 (reconciliation, twice); the corresponding verb yMTaldaao) occurs six times — Rom. v. 10 (twice); 1 Cor. vii. 11 ; 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, 20— and is always rendered in our E. V. to reconcile. The ti'anslation atonement, at the close of Rom. v. 11, is etymologically correct (at-one-ment = reconcilia- tion), but theologically wrong in the present use of the term =: pro/iitiatl.on, expiation (which corre- sponds to the Greek t).a(Tii6i;; 1 John ii. 2 ; iv. lo). The y.aTa)J.ayr'i, in tlie Christian sense, signifies the great change in the relation bctwen God and man, brought about by the voluntary atoning sacrifice of Christ, whereby God's wrath has been removed, Ilis justice .satisfied, and man reunited to Him as His loving and reconciled Father. Some confine the word sin)i)ly to a rec(jnciliation of man to God, on the ground that no change can take place in God, or that (lod never hated the simier. Others forget that the d(!ath of Christ is itself the most amazing ex- hibition of God's love, wliereby He attracts the sin- ner to Him. The two sides must not i)e abstractly separated. It is God who, in His infinite love, es- tablishes a new relation between Himself and man- kind through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, and removes all h.'gal ol)structions which s<'parated us from Him ; and on the ground of ihi." objective and accomplished exjiiation (i/rtff/ios) and reconciliation (xHTd/./.ixyt'i), we are called upon to be reconciled to Him {xara/./.dyrjTf r O'no ; 2 Cor. v. 20 ; comp. aiitD^tjTf dn'u, z.t./.., Acts ii. 40), i. e., to lay aside all enmity and distrust, and to turn in love and grati- tuile to Hitn wlio first loveil us. Hoih sides are beautifully connected in 2 Cor. v. 18-20 (which is often one-sidedly and wrongly quoted against the doctrine of the vicarious .sacrifice), viz., the reconcili- ation effected once for all l)y God Himself through i the death of His Son, having the world for its ol». jeet and remission of sins for its effect ; and the ' reconciliation of men to (lod as a moral jiroeess, \ in whicii men are exliorted to take part. The first I is a finished act of infinite mercy on the part of ; God in Christ ; the second, a change of feeling and j a constant duty of man in eonse<|uence of what has ! been done for him. Comp. Kling and Wing on tlie pa.ssiige in LaTige on 2 Cor., p. 98 f., Anier. edition. | Archbishop Trench (Si/noni/ofn of' the Xew TeKln. \ tnent, Second Part, p. 137 f.) gives the foUowmg j judicious explanation of the term: "The Cliristiai xaralXnyt'i has two sides. It Is first a reconciliiu tion, * (jiia iJeus 7iox nibi recuncilini it,'' laid aside His holy anger against our sins, and received ui into favor — a reconciliation effected once for ail for us by Christ upon His cross; so 2 ('or. v. 18, 19; Rom. v. 10; in which last passage xaT«>U i.daaKjOai, is a pure passive, ' (/6 y liubiiiiion nA KaraXay»/. The effect is, that much more, as being juiftiped (negatively), we shall be saved from the o^jv/ which will finally come upon the world. All this is D.aafioi;, expiating destruc- tion of the guilt of sin. 2. The Son of God of- fered death while we were enemies. Through wis death we are reconciled to God. The effect is, that much more, as being reconciled (positively), we shall be delivered in the mighty power and rule of His life. xara/J.ayfj is all this. [In {i. e., in vital union with) his life, iv ttj Coj'Jj avTov, in antithesis to dtd (through, by means of) rov &avdTov. If even the death of Christ has such a saving efficacy, how much more His risen life, which triumphed over the realm of death and hell, ascended to the right hand of God Almighty, is clothed with all power in heaven and earth, and which, being communicated by tlie Holy Ghost to the believer, will conquer in him all oppo- sition, and bring the work of salvation commenced here to a final and glorious consummation. Comp. John xiv. 19 : " Because I live, ye shall live also ; " Rom. viii. 11 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; 1 Cor. xv. 23 ; Heb. vii. 25. Salvation is effected by the death of Christ, but actually applied by His life ; or His death is the meritorious, His life the efficacious cause of our sal- Taton. Hodge : " There is, therefore, most abundant ground for confidence for the final blessedness of be- hevcrs, not only in the amazing love of God, by which, though sinners and enemies, they have been justified and reconciled by the death of His Son, but also in the consideration that this same Saviour that died for them still lives, and ever lives, to sanc- tify, protect, and save them." — P. S.] Ver. 11. And not only that, but also triumph- ing in Qod \^0v i^iovov dk, a.).).a y.ai y.av/M- fiivoi. (which is the correct reading, instead of the red^x a V X (J) iLi f a , see Textual Note '') iv nji 0fw]. Explanations: 1. The participle xav/o'- fifvoi, stands for the finite verb ; therefore we must supply ta/niv (hence the readings xavydiittOa, y.av/M/ii-v). Riickert, Tholuck. Only aioOtjao/nOa must be supplied to /.tovov ^L The construction then runs tlms, according to De Wette : We have not only ike hope of escaping from the wrath of God, but \re also glory in God. 2. The participle cannot stand for the finite verb (see, on the con- trary, the discussions with Meyer, in Tholuck). But even here ffoiOfjaoftfOa only is to be supplied. The sense, tlien, is this : but not only shall we be saved by His life, but so that with this (ju'ilktOw we shall also glory in God. [Alford : " Not only shall we be saved, but that in a triumphant manner and frame of mind."] 3. KaraD-ayivrfq must be supplied. Not Only reconciled, but also glorying. Thus for- merly Fritzsche, Kiillner, Glockler, Baumgarten- Crusius, and Meyer in his earlier editions. This ex- planation is proved to be relatively the most cor- rect, as the (TMZft^ai, deiiotes not a mere degree of salvation, but comprises salvation to the pc#nt of completion, and as /.ax allay ivrn; is repeated in di ov vvv rijv xar allay ijv eldfioftfv. Our view is, however, that we have here an antithesis of climaxes. Ov /lovor aoiO^ricrofifOa — /.arallayivrfi; ev rfi Utt'!] A'piffTor — alia xal xav/dmtvni' tv n'> ■&foj d'M roTi xiifjiov rj/.i(j)v I^aav X^.a^pi', The rising climax is the following : 1. We are delivered from the wrath. 2. We are safely harbored in the life of Christ. 3. God, in His love, has become, througii Christ, our God, in whom we glory. We glory not only in the hope of the data of God, and not only conditionally in tribulation.*, &c., but we glory absolutely in God as our God ; see chap. viii. Through whom w^e have now. Eeflrence to the future glory, as it is grounded in the experi. ence of the present salvation, and ever develops itself from this base. — Have appropriated [ta/v xarallayijv ildfl Ojufv]. So we translate the lid fio/ufv {angerigiiet haben), to emphasize the fact of the ethical appropriation, whicli is very im portant for the beginning of the following section. [It is safe to infer from ildfioiAtv that y.arallayr^ primarily means here a new relation of God to us^ which He has brought about and which we receive, not a new relation of man to Gad, or a moral change in us, although this is a necessary moral consequence of the former, and inseparable from it. Hence y.ar allay ivrii;, in Rom. v. 10, is parallel with d ixai(i) Q ivr 1 1;, ver. 9: diy-avoiOivrn; amOtiao- fifOa — y.a-rallayivrn; aiDiOtjdofifOa. The article before y.ar allay /] i> indicates the well-known, the only possible reconciiiaUoii, that which was brought about by the atoning sacrifice of Christ. The E. V. here exceptionally renders y.ar. by atonement, which, in its old sense (= at-one-mcnt), meant reconcilia- tion, but is now equivalent to expiation, pr< pitio' tion, satix/ac ion. The expiation of Christ {llaa/uoi;, ilaarrjiiiov, the German VersUhnung) is the ground and condition of the uconciiiatiov of God and man [xarallayr], Versohiiung). Bengel says, on Rom. iii. 24 : " Frojiitiation (tlaaiuoi;) takes away the offence against God ; reconciliation (xatallaytj) haa two sides {ext <)lnlfi'^Oi;) : it removes («.) God's in- dignation against us; 2 Cor. v. 19; (6.) om- aliena- tion from God ; 2 Cor. v. 20." In the same place Bengel distinguishes between y.arallayt'j and ano- li'TQiixn^ (redemption, Erldsiiny), by referring the former to God, the latter to enemies — i. e., sin and Satan. He remarks, however, that llaff/wi; and d7ioli'nce between the D.aafioi; and the KC(Ta/./.ccyt';, see the Exeff. Xotcs [p. 106]. [Bishop Horsley (Sorm. on Rom. iv. 25) on the atonement and reconciliation : " Those who speak of t/ie wrath of God as appeased by Christ's suffer- ings, speak, it must be confessed, a figurative lan- guage. The Scriptures speak figuratively when they ascribe wrath to God. The Divine nature is insus- ceptible of tlie perturbations of passion, and, when it is said that God Is angry, it is a figure, which conveys this useful warning to mankind, that God will be determined by His wisdom, and by His providential care of His creation, to deal with the wicked, as a prince in anger deals with rebellious subjects. It is an extension of ihe figure when it is said tliat God's wrath is appeased by the suffer- ings of Christ. It is not to be supposed that the sins of men excite in God an appetite of vengeance, whicli could not be diverted from its purpose of punishment till it had found its gratification in the sufferings of a righteous persou. This, indeed, were a view of our redemption founded on a false and unworthy notion of the Divine character. But nothing hinders but that the sufferings of Christ, which could only, in a figurative sense, be an ap- peasement or satisfaction of God's wrath, might be, in the most literal meaning of the words, a satisfac- tion to His justice. It is easy to understand that the interests of God's government, the peace and order of the great kingdom, over which He rules the whole world of moral agents, might require that His disapprobation of sin should be solemnly declared and testified in His manner of forgiving it. It is easy to understand that the exaction of vicarious sufferings on the part of Him, who under- took to be the intercessor for a rebelliobus race, amounted to such a declaration. These sufferings, by which the end of punishment might be answered, being once sustained, it is easy to perceive that the same principle of wisdom, the same providential care of His creation, wliich must have determined the Deity to inflict punishment, had no atonement been made, would now determine Him to spare. Thus, to speak figuratively. His anger was ap- peased ; but His justice was literally satisfied, and the sins of men, no longer calling for punishment, when the ends of punishment were secured, were literally expiated. The person sustaining the suf- erings, in consideration of which the guilit of others may, consistently with the principles of good policy, be remitted, was, in the literal sense of the word — so literally, as no other victim ever was — a sacrifice, and His blood shed for the remission of sin was literally the matter of expiation."] 13. This section contains, in narrow compass, a sketch of i/ie whole development of Christian, salva- tion, in which its principial perfection * is made emphatic at the beginning as well as at the conclu- sion, in order that the perlphericnl imperfection of the state of faith in this world may not be regarded in an Ebionitic way as a principial one. We must observe that, in Rom. viii., this designation is further elaborated under a new point of view, and that there, too, the Kuhjerfive and objective certainty of salvation can be distinguished. 14. The idea of the real worship of God reap- * [PrixcIpieilt! VnlUcommevheit, perfpction as a princi- ple. The word principinl (from privcipinm), in the sense of initial, elementary, /un'lameiilnl, thoutth now obsolete, is used by Bacon. In German, the word is almost inciia- ren«ible.— P. S.] pears definitely here in the beginning as well as at the end of the section. HOMILETICAIi AND PRACTICAL. The fruits of the righteousness of faith. Thej- are : 1. Peace with God through our Lord Jesui Christ (ver. 1) ; 2. Hope of future glory in the tribuhitions of the present time (vers. 2-5) ; 3. Con- fidence of salvation establisiied on the love of God for us as made known in the propitiatory death of Christ (vers. 6-11). — Peace with God: 1. In what does it consist ? 2. By whom do we obtain it ? (ver. 1). — The peace of heart with God is the source of all other peace : 1. In homes ; 2. In churches ; 3. In natidhs. — By Christ we have obtained access to the grace of justification. In this are comprised : 1. A strong consolation (we are no more rejected from God's face ; the door is opened ; we can come in) ; 2. A serious admonition (we should not disre- gard this access, but make use of it ; and 3. We should often come with all our burdens.). — In what should and can we glory as Christians ? 1. In the future glory which God shall give; 2. But also in the tribulations which He sends us (vers. 2-5) ; 3. In God Himself as our God. — Why should we, as Christians, glory also in tribulations ? Because we know : 1. That tribulation worketh patience (endur- ance) ; 2. Patience (endurance) worketh experience (strictly, approval) ; comp. 2 Cor. ii. 9 ; ix. 13 ; James i. 3) ; [ ,8. Experience (approval) worketh hope ; and iYHiTpe maketh not ashan)ed (vers. 2-5). — Why does Christian hope prevent shame? 1. Because it is not a fiilse hope ; but, 2. It has its ground in the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (ver. 5). — In what respect does God commend (prove) His love toward us ? 1. In Christ's di^inff at the appointed time for us ; 2. But still more in His dying for us. when we were yet sinners (vers. 6-8). — It is nohle to die for a benefactor, but it is divine to die for evil-doers (ver. 7). — The importance of Christ's life and death for men : 1. His death brings reconciliation when we are enemies ; 2. His life brings salvation when we are reconciled (vers. 9-11). — Christ's life our salvation (ver. 10). — Salvation by the life of Christ is necessary for Christians of the present time. — Let us speak of Christ's death, but let us also speak continually of His life (ver. 10). LcTHER : One has experience when he has been well tempted, and can therefore speak of it as hav- ing been in it himself (ver. 4). — God is our God, and we are His people, and we have all good things in common from Him and with Him, in all confidence (ver. 11). Starke : Ver. 2. Future glory is connected with justification by an indissoluble chain ; chap. viii. 18, 30, 32. — Ver. 2. Nothing can make so happy as the hope of the incorruptible, undefiled, and imper- ishable inheritance which is reserved in heaven ; 1 Peter i. 4. — Ver. 5. He who has the Holy Spirit, is the only one who is certain that God's love is slied abroad in his heart. — Ver. 10. The death of Christ is the principal agency toward our reconciliation ; but His resurrection is the seal and assurance that we are truly reconciled to God. — Ver. 10. Christ's resurrection is the ark of life and royal city of our salvation. — Ver. 11. No one can glory in God but he who has Christ ; for He is the way by which we come to the enjoyment of God ; John xiv. 6. He, 170 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. therefore, who does not have Him, is also without [ God in tlie world; Eph. ii. 12. — Hkdingkr: To be i certain of the forgiveness of sin, id the fountain of i all joy and consolation (ver. 1). — Beware of the hypocrite's hope, which destroys ! The believer i clings to God's love in Christ as an anchor to the rock ; Heb. vi. 19. Would to God we understood | this well ! If we did, nothing could grieve and '■ aflBii:t us (ver. 5). — A Ciiriscian must regard the suf- fering of Ciirist not only as a mirror ot wrath, but also as a mirror of love (ver. 8). — Wiiat a gloty ! God's child, and in good favor with Ilim ! How in- comprehensible, how glorious, and how blessed ! (ver. II). — Cramkr: If we are justified by faith, we have free access to God, so that we do not need any patron or saint to prepare the way for us (ver. 2). — The suffering of Cliristians is their glory ; for they suffer without guilt, and for Clirist's glory (ver. 3). — OsiANiiKK : The cross and tribulation make us humble and patient ; they are therefore the most precious gems and best ornament of the children of God (ver. 3).— Nova Bill. Tub. : Oli, how blessed is the cross ! Though it paiu the flesh, it brings eternal good. We are better purified by it, tiian gold is by fire ; our hope is strengthened, and the love of God is slied abroad in the lieart (ver. 6). — Love is rare among men, yet there are remarkable examples of some wlio liave given up their lives for their feilow-oitizens and brethren. But there is no comparison between ail this and the love of Christ (ver. 7). — Who would not love in return a God so full of love, and prefer fellowship with Ilira to that of ail others ? (ver. 10). Gerlach : Justification by faith not only gives free access to God's grace at the present time, but it also confers the certainty of future glory (ver. 2). — In justification the believer receives the first germ of tiie wliole new life. But since the germ grows into a tree, and the tree ever becomes more firmly rooted amid storms, all that the believer had at tlie beginning is renewed and estalilislied at every new stage of trial (ver. 5). — Since God has performed for tinners and vncmiex the greatest service, He will cer- tainly not leave unfinished for the reconciled and rxjhleoHx the much smaller remaining |)art of His work (ver. 9). — The Apostle begins to indicate liere what he treats more at length in chap. vi. : Faith so transposes us into Christ, that His life, death, resur- rection, and glory, become ours. Each circumstance from His history becomes the history of mankind believing in Him, as well as of each individual be- liever (ver. 10). Lisco : The saving fruits of the righteousness acquired by faith in Jesus Christ (vers. 1-11). — The fruit of this righteousness (vers. l-o). — The most certiin sign of the love of God toward us just men- tioned, is the redem[)tion made by Christ (vers. G-8). — The blessi'd result of this love of (Jod and Christ, is the certain hope of the eternal duration of this love, and, finally, of our attainment of glory (vers. 9-11). llKunsEn: Paul here strikes the note of the trium[)hal sr)ng of the justified. Listen : His read- ers should participate in his joy; we are reconciled, wc are pardoned. — Without justification, there is no joy, no love, no happiness in life ; without it, noth- ing can m.ike us h.''.pi)y — neither nature, nor the love of men (ver. 1). — firace is ])repiiriMi, and ofli-red to all. Many accept it, but all do not remain steadfast (ver. 2). — He on whom God has placed many bur- ieus, has much entrusted to him ; God haa made him an object of distinction. Therefore, the highei and more joyous the Christian's spirit is in suffer- ing, the greater will be the increase of his joy and strength in conflict (ver. 3). — What influence does suffering exert on the Christian V (ver. 3). — The sacrel hope of the Christian maketli not ashamed ; it is holy in its object and ground. — Faith in the love of God is the ground of all hope (ver. 5). — The helplessness of the unimproved heart is followed by the saddest results of sin ; just as severe sickness ia succeeded by weakness (ver. 6). — God's holy love of His enemies (ver. 8). — The greatest misery of a crciUed being, is, to bear the wrath of God (ver. 9). — God's love of us is a i)revenient love (vei-. 10). — Christ's life is the ground of our salvation (ver. 10). Bksser : The salvation of those who are justi- fied by faith. It is: 1. A present salvation ; 2. Also a future one (vers. 1-11). — Tribulation is praisewor- thy, because the evergreen of hope is sprinkled with the tears of tribulation (vers. 3-5). — God's wr:uh is not human ; God is love, and Divine wrath is con- nected with the love which takes no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but is an ardent, compassionate desire to save the sinner. lieconciliation is the exe- cution of this loving determination of God by means of the atonement through the death of Jlis Son (ver. 10). — God unites in the Church with pardoned sin- ners — who have faith in Jesus, and glory in God as their God — more intimately and gloriously than in Paradise with innocent man (ver. 11). ScnLEiKRMACiiEit, On vcrs. 7, 8 : The death of Christ is the highest glorification of God's love toward us. 1. God imposed death on our Redeemer as the most perfect proof of obedience ; 2. Many are jus- tified by this obedience. Spener : 1. The fruits of justification : (a.) Peace ; {h.) Access to God ; (c.) The joy of future hope; ((/.) Victorv in tribulation and the cross; (e.) The gift of the Holy Ghost. 2. The cau.ses of justification (vers. 1-11). [BnuKiTT : One grace generates and begets an- otlier ; graces have a generation one from another, though they all have one generation from the Spirit of God. — He that does not seek reconciliation with God, is an enemy of his soul ; and he that rejoices not in that reconciliation, is an enemy to his own comfort. — Lor. A.N (sermon on Jesus Christ hying for Sinners, Rom. v. 7, 8) : The greatest trial and exercise of virtue is when an innocent man submits to the imputation of a crime, that others may be free from the punishment. This Christ did. He was be- trayed like an impostor by one of His own disciples, apprehended like a robber l)y a band of soldiei-s, led like a malefactor through the streets of Jerusalem, nailed like a murderer to the accursed tree, and, in the sight of all Israel, died the death of a traitor and a slave, that he might atone for the real guilt of men. — Coutp. Ui>vim. : He that ])uts himself to the charge of iiurcha.sing our Siilvation, will iKjt ilecline the trouble of applying it. — IIodok : As the love of (lod in the gift of Ills Son, and the love of Christ in dying for us, are the peculiar characteristics of the gospel, no one can be a true Christian cm whom these truths do n(jt exert a governing influence. — Aiinot. I'araiinrjih liible : (Jod estal)lishcs His love toward man by demonstraticm ; it is a love worthy of Himself, and which none but Himself can feel. Com]). CnitTsosToM, De Gloria in Tribulation- ihus ; Aitcniiisnoi" I'siikr, Four Sermons, Worku, vol. xiii. 22ft; Jons Howk, lufuenceof ][i,pe, \\\irkii, vol. vi. 277 ; Bishop Mant, The Love of God tht CHAPTER V. 12-VIII. 39. 171 Jfotive to Manh Salvation, Sermons^ vol. i. 115 ; Jonathan Edwards, 3fen naturally God 's Enemies, Works, vol. ii. 130. — On the Section vers. 1-5, see Nath. Hornes, The Bracelet of Pearl of Sanctify- ing Gracts, Works, 207 ; Richard Baxter, Short Meditations, Works, vol. iviii. 503 ; C. Simeon, Binefits arising from a Justifying Faith, Works vol. XV. 116; J. Morgan, The Hidden Life Dis- closed in Rom. v. 1-5, an Exposition, Belfast, 1856 —J. F. H.] SECOND DIVISION. SIN AND GRACE IN THEIR SECOND ANTITHESIS (AS IN THEIR SECOND POTENCY): ACCORDING TO THEIR NATURAL EFFECTS IN HUMAN NATURE, AND IN NATURE IN GENERAL. THE SINFUL CORRUPTION OF THE WORLD, PROCEEDING FROM ADAM, AND INHERITED IN COMMON BY ALL MEN, AND THE LIFE OF CHRIST AS THB INWARD LIVING PRINCIPLE OF THE NEW BIRTH TO NEW LIFE IN INDIVIDUAL BELIEVERS, IN ALL MANKIND, AND IN THE WHOLE CREATED WORLD. (THE PRINCIPLE OF DEATH IN SIN, AND THE PRINCIPLE OF THE NEW LIFE; AS WELL AS THE GLORIFICATION OF THE NEW LLFE, AND OF ALL NATURE, IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.) Chapters V. 12-VIII. 39. First Section. — Adam^s sin as the powerful principle of death, and God 's grace in Christ as the more powerful principle of the new life in the nature of individual men, and in mankind collectively. The law as the direct medium of the complete manifestation of sin for the indirect mediation of tht completed and glorious revelation of grace. Chap. V. 12-21. 12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death ' passed upon all men, for that {Iq! qj, i. e., on the ground that, because] 13 all have [omit have] sinned : ( [omu parenthesis] * For until the law sin was in the world : but sin is not imputed when there is no law [where the law is not]. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned [those that sinned not] ' after the similitude [likeness] of Adam's trans- gression, Avho is the figure [a type] of him that was to come [the coming one, 16 i- e., the second Adam]. But uot as the offence [fall, transgression],* so also is the free gift : for if through the offence [transgression] of [the] one [the] many be dead [died], much more [did] ^ the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man [the gitl by the grace of the one man], Jesus Christ, hath 16 abounded [abound] unto [the] many. And not as it icas {omit it icas^ by [the] one that sinned," so [omit so\ is the gift ; for the judgment icas [came] by [f|, of] one {fall) to condemnation, but the free gift is [came] of many offences [falls, transgressions] unto justification [5fx«<'cojW«, sentence of acquittal, 17 righteous decree, or, righteous act]. For if by one man's offence [by one trans- gression, or, by the transgression of the one] '' death reigned by [through the] one ; much moie they which [who] receive [the] abundance of [the] grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by [the] one, Jesus Christ.) 18 {omit parenthesis.] Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life [So then, as through the transgression of one, or, one transgression, it came upon all men to condemnation ; so also through the 8iy.ut(a^iurog, righteous act of one, or, one righteous act, it came 19 upon all men imto justification of life].* For as by one man's disobedience [through the disobedience of the one man] [the] many were made [consti- tuted] " sinners, so [also, ovrctig nui'] by the obedience of [the] one shall [the] 20 many be made [constituted] righteous. Moreover the law entered [came in besides]," that the offence [transgression] might abound [multiply]. But where 172 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 21 sin abounded [mnltii'liedj, grace did much more [exceedingly]" abound: That as sin hath ["""> hatli] reigned unto [h\ in] death, even so [so also] might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by [through] Jesus Cliriat our Lord. TEXTUAL. > Vcr. 12.— ['O BavaTOi {Rfc.) is found In N. B. C. K. Ii , some vereions and futhcrB ; is adopted by Lachmann, Meyer, 'Wordsworth, and Lniigo. Tischendorf ;ind Alford oinit it, on the authority of D. E. F. G., and many fiitjicrs Alf'ird coa^i lers it a marginal jrloss, to define the subject of Siri^Otv. But the external authority for it is suUicieiit to overcome the doubt ari.'-ing from the variation in position found in some nuthorities, especially as the ondssion may have readily arisen from the transcriber's mistaking -ous, which precedes, for the close of the word he was about to write: -Tos (Meyer). ■■' Ver. 13. — [On thr pnrenlhfsis of the E. V. This is to be omitted ; for, altliough it might be a help to the ordinary reader, it is inserted on the view that ver. 18 is strictly resumptive, ■which is not in accordance with Lanjfc's exe- gesis. Even were it the case, vers. 13-17 comprise an argument so important, that it does not deserve the subordination implied in a parenthesis. The E. V. is frequently unfortunate in this regard : e. g.. Gal. i. 7, where the very theme of the Epistle is put in parenthesis. 5 Ver. 14.— [Some cursives and fathers omit fiij. This probably arose from a wish to make this verse correspond with ver. 12, the meaning of which was misunderstood. There is lo question as to the correctness of its insertion. — The pluperfect of the E. V. is to be changed to the simple past : sinned, as a more correct rendering of the aorist participle. The other emendations are not absolutely necessary, but are ofifered a,smore literal, and perhaps preferable for otner reasons. * Ver. 15. —[The word TrapaTrroi^a, occurring five times in this section, is rendered off- nee in the E. V. ; by the Amer. Bible Union: Irtspiss. Both are etymologically correct, but more modem usage compels u.s to reject offfiice. T/vx/XLv*- would be prrferable to /i-Krt.-Y^n.ssiV;)/, on the ground that n apd^aan (ver. 14) must also be rendered by the latter word; yet Irespuxx has at present a technical meaning, which is legal, tniDs^rtfSKin being more theological. The veiy slight distinction between irapa/Sao-is and Trapan-Tw/iia is suflicienily implied in the clauses where the word* occur. Lange renders the latter : Suml' nfull, /'ill, to distinguish it from irapd^aaii, U'boirelnni/, ver. 14. * Ver. 15.— (^The aorist, e jrepia treuo-e v, is to be rendered (//(/ nhound, and the auxiliary (/I'rf placed after much more, as indicitiiiir more pla nly that mtnh mure is rather quantitative than logiail.— Tlie articles are unfortunately omitted throughout in the E. V. ; Ihc one, the many, express the definitencss of the Greek. * Ver. 16.— [Lange adopts the reading ofiopTi^/n oto? (D. E. F. G., some fatliers, cursives, and versions, Gries- bach), urging that it is required as an antithesis to TrapaTrTw/noTioi'. But this is the very reason for deeming it a gloxs. 'A/xapT^ Vcr. 20.— [ napeij^Affei', only Gal. ii. 4; there, in malam partem. The above rendering is literal and exact. Lange translates : came in betwrin. See Exeg. Notes. " Ver. JO.— [Alfoid suggests that words compounded with vitip have a sHp^'r/a/irc, not a comparative force.— Fht change ir. the first verb in English is to indicate that two ditferent words are used in Greek.— R.] (The following is the Greek text of this section, in parallelistic arrangement, from Forbes : 12. ('nanep 5i' tvh^ avdpiawov I 19 anapria €19 toi' Koa/iov (l in the comparlBon Z> ( stated in vers. 15, 16, 17. 18. f ( 'Apa ovv in Si ivhi irapairrufiaro« J ci; iraCTat avBpuiiTOV^ tit (caTaxpt/ua, Justification. ) ourw; xal 61* ivh^ fiiKaiuj^taroc l^ ctf ndvrai avSpJinovi (if SiKoiuaiv ^uirji' 19. C f ioirntp yap fia Tri<; 7rapouco>)f ToO ivbt dvOputnov \ a/xapTu>Aol KaTtaraff-qtrav 01 iroAAoi, Sanctiflcation. J ovrutx xai Sid t^s iiiroxo^t ToO ivb<; (_ SiKaioi KaTa'r\v aiuiviov ^jid 'lijcrov CHAPTER V. 12-21. 173 EXEGETICAIi AND CBITICAIi. [Special Literature on Chap. V. 12-21.— S. J. Battm- OAKTEN, De. ivtpittotione peccati Adnmitici posteris facta, 1742. S. ScHOTT, 02>iiscuia, i. p. 313 sqq. C. F. Schmid, Vtbirr Rom. V. 12 ff., in the Tubing. Zeilschrifl for ISoO, No. IV. p. 161 ft". (A very able and sound discussion. Comp. the same author's Bi'bl. Thtolngie des N. T., vol. ii. pp. 2.>6-'26-2.) KiCH. KoTHE (died 1868), N'Wr Versiuh '■iaa- Audeguiig der Paidiii. Sidle Mdni. V. 12-21, "Wittenberg, 1836. (A masterpiece of e.\egetical acuteness and finesse.) I. Chh. K. v. Hofmann, D

' cu Travrej fj/napToi/) auf Geund dessen dass, d. h., weil alle sCndigten, ■ndm- lich {prach'e den momenlanen Sinn des Aor.) als durch den Einen die Sundc in die Well einlral. Weil, als Adam .sfln- diglr, ALLE Mnsc/ien in und mil Hun, dem Verlrcter der giinzen Mrnsehheil (nicht : ' exbmplo .4AnH/,' Pelag.), ge- sundigl hah' n, ist der Tad, welcher durch die in die Well ge- kommene SUnde in die Welt knm, vermoge dieses ursdchliehen Zusammr nliangcs der durch Adam in''s Vorhandrnsein gelre- tenen Sunde und des Todrs auf alle verhreilet warden. Alle warden durch Adam's Fall s'crb'ich, wed dieses Ge- sund'glhaben Adam's ein Gesioidig.'hahen Aller war, mil- Jiin Tip ToG ivoi n ap an Till p. atTL ot TroAAot dffe- Oavov, ver. 15. Sa isl es aUerdings in Adam bcgrundel, dass Alle sirrben {ev Tco 'A Si p. TTai'Tes a.no6vrig t'-Tt to mark the end, or consequence, to which B uiiing came. (Venema, Schiuid, Glijckler, and Ewaid [formerly, not now]. ) * Meyer observes, that tliis telle view implies a uecessaiy, tliough not intended ettect, in accordance with tiie idea of fate. ^^IL)fmann: L'lider whose (death's) dominion they .Mimed. This view might l)e belter sup))orted by tlie thouglit in Hel^. ii. la, than by the language in Ucli ix. 15. Yet it is untt'iialde.f C|J)Tliomnsius ; Under which relation (namely, thatsm and death ciuue into the world by one man) all sinned, &c. It is evident that the most of these explanations are attempts, from doctrinal considerations, to avoid the idea of individual personal guilt, and by this means a relation, clear enough in itself, is obscured. The Apostle's assumption is the priority of sin in relation to death, and the causal connection of the two. Accordingly, the meaning is, since sin came into the world as an abnormal ethical jjrinciple, death came into the world with it as the correspond- ing abnormal physiological priuei|)le. Therefore the propagation of the abnormal priMci|)le of death pre- 6up])0ses the ])reeediiig propagation of tlie principle of sin in the real sinning of all. It arises from the unity and solidarity of humanity, that certain cases — for example, children born dead, or dying [and idiots] — do not here come into consideration. The definition of the A^' at, uiahr the presitfipositiou thul, is therefore tin; most natural. In view of the death of iniKJcent children, we may assume difl'erent degrees of guilt and death : "in proportion as," or "in what measure, they all sinned." Ver. 13. For until the law, &c. ["--//(< i ydt(» vofiov, — i. e., fiom Adam to the Mosaic legislation, comp. ver. H — «/(«(»Tta ;/ r iv x(KT/ii». Alford : " IIow, consistently with chap. iv. l.T, could all men sin, brfore tfie law( This is now explained." Hut iv. 1.5 is too far off, and treats of 7TanH{lu(Tiii, not of niia(tTicc. yu(i connects this verse with nrivrn; il/ia()Tov, ver. 12. — P. S.] The Apostle did not need to show first that the death of • fin his J'lhrhwhfr der bibl. Whgenschnfl, ii. p. 171, Ewnld explniiu'il, with the rejection of the second 6 6ava- T0« : " null an zii allrn Meiixclfn diirchdnivg dah, woit.M'F- Hi» ALLE BrNDioTEjf," "and 80 pa>sed upon all men Unit unto ichi'h all sinned." viz., deatn, which in Oen. ii. 17 is decreed as tlie puniHhment of Bin, so that whosoever hini«, fins unto death— i. <•., must die. Itut Bubspquentlv, iu his Coinm. on the I'uu ino Kpistles (1857, p. 327), Kwald trans- lated ; "soFKHN iilli' yUiiiliylin," '^ iinismiich as nil ninued," and remarks (in a f>iot-noto on p. 373) that this meaning of i^' ^ (;is u coiijunctian) is niiiiilar to the precodinj? ovrmi, sliowing death to he the consequence of sin. — 1'. S. j t [Iloriiuinn, fkhriflbiweis, vol. i. p. 529, 2d ed., takes ivi as a preposiliou of t mo, and refers tw to the preceding facarot (which is wanting in several MJlS.) in the sense: 6' I it' sum V'lrhniid' n^i-ni, i. e., during llf >■• ign nf druHi :\\\ uiniiol. lie (|notesT in support, llcb. ix. 15 : aX rirt rj) vptvrg Sia9i)K|7 napafiairtii. liut this siuijtle and almiir-l triviiil ide.i cMUlrl h:ive lieen exiirpsscil mncti mi>ro deiirly. The inter|iretati')n uf 'riidinii-ius (sul) 8) resenihles that of Ilofm.inn, except that he takes y as neuter: b'lm Vnrhnn- dUnM'in wliitt' Vcihiilini<.y Adam could not occur in the pe- riod designated (notwithstanding many analogies : Cain, the Cainites, Ilam, Ishmael, Esau). Even the transgression again made manifest by the Mosaic law does not remove the great antagonism ijy whicii, in principle, sin and death proceeded from Adam, the type of Christ, the antitype, from whom, iu prin- ciple, righteousness and life preceded. Meyer sup- poses the Apostle to say : " The death of iudividu- als, which pa.ssed also U])on those who have not sinned, as Adam did, against a positive command- ment, cannot be derived from sin connnitted before the law, because, the law not being present, the im- putation was wanting [absolutely ''] ; and the con- elu.sion which Paul draws therefrom, is, that it Ls by i Adam's sin (not by individual sins) that death has been produced" (!). Now, how does this agree with the history of the Deluge, and of Sodom and Go- morrah ? Here, definite death is everywhere traced to definite offences. Tholuek's view of the connec- tion [p. 238 ff.] is similar to Meyer's. The most of the later commentjitors, on tlie contrary, properly regard vers. 13 and 14 as an argument for navTn; i'jiia(iTov (Riiekeit, De Wette, Neander, and others; and formerly Diodorus, Calvin, and others). Calov. has correctly concluded : Since they were punished because of sin, they must have had some law.* But sin is not imputed [reckoned, /« Bic/i. intng f/i'l>rac/it, '..-/ n ni> t i a o !■ x t / /. o j' f Tt « t ]. (Pliilem. ver. 18 [tcxi. in:] is the only other place).f Meyer exjilains : Is brought to account by God for l>unishment [ji-ird in Rchming f/cbracht, viz., zur Bestrii/iini/]. His citation (chap. iv. 15) is suflicicnt to correct him. It is with the id/>oc-, and the con- sciousness of it, that the f<./(«()T«'rt (which is also transgression, according to the measure of the natu- ral conscience) first receives the imi)ressed charac- ter of consciotis transgression, na(i(x;jniTti;, and there- with tiie oifyi'i is first finished by the xctrfiiyn<>af>ai of the rd,/M»v. Therefore even the sin of the gen- orations before the Hood was not yet definitely set- tle(l by its overthrow (1 Peter iii. 20; iv. 0); there- fore the people of Sodom and (iomorrah were guilty of less sin than the contemiK)r;iries of Jesus. The ii.loytiv of sin constitutes therefore the reverse side of the }.oyi^nrf)ni. f(\- i)i.xcui>fTi't; from /(ft/.j/oc, etymo- logically, denotes primarily extension, or length of time ; a/ft, from a/.i>oc, point of tin.e. — P. S.] Even over those, &c. [/at iniX toi'i,- ^7 • [Origen : " Videtiir Jp. mortem describere vclul lyranni aJwijiis iiigressuin." — P. S.] t [Beiigol : " M'trti arlscribitvr regntjm, id hobtie, Heb. ii. 14. Sine vix ullus rex lot subdilos huh't, quat vel n'ges mors ab-slulit. Immane regiium. Ndii eM Hhraisinus. Ini- peral p- C'dtum : impeiat juMlia." — P. S.J J [Baj ^ n a (J a [j d v. The cniniiiit one (ror /i t /. /. o i'Toc ) is not to be referred to the second coming of Christ (Fritzsche, De Wette), but to the first. Paul speaks from the historical stiUidpoiut of the first Adam. — P. S.] SECOtir Paraobaph (vers. 15-19). Tholuck remarks on the train of thouglit to ver, 19 : In the explanations of the elder expositors there is no attemitt to trace the connection and prog- ress of thought to ver. 19 ; many of the later ones doubt altogetlier the possiiiility of such a proof. Morus says : " I)e hac dlsiiinilUudine af/'dur jam per quinqui: versus ila, ut gui'iquifn idem ilbid rcpetatur, V'triaiis quldem lurltis^ at re mnnente xcmper eadem" KiiUner and Riickert similarly ; against whom, see Rothe. According to Tholuck, the train of thouglit is a.s follows : In ver. 1 .">, the (pianHtalive " more " on the side of the operation proceeding from Christ; in vers. 16, 17, the f/ua/ltniv "more;" in wrs. 18, 19, resumption of the parallel, including the dif- ferences pointed out. Our construction is given above. [Vers. 15-17 occupy an intermediate position between ver. 12 and vers. 18 and 19 ; and as vers. i:{ an'*(,• TO 7C n (J a m 0) /I a , o ii t (» i; y. ai to /dffKTfia]. We hold that the Apostle, in his brief and pregnant expressions in vers. 15 and 16, lays down axioms in negative construction. Meyer translates ver. 15: "Not as the trespass, so also the gift of grace;" and quite unintelligibly ver. IC : " And not as by one who sinned is the gift." The niiiiunriitfict is eroc, the /d(tt(T/(a fvoi;. As prin- ciples which enter humanity and permeate it, Adam and Christ are alike ; ■ but in the nature of their effects they constitute contrasts. — Rosenmiiller, and others, would neutralize the negation by regarding orz as interrogative ; but this, as Meyer remarks, is forbidden by the contrasting character of the con- tents. We .see no reason for taking the 7Tu(>d7rTii)/ict, contrary to its most natural signification, as " offence ;" it denotes, with sin, a fall, an ethical defeat ; yea, the fall as a medium of the fall, just as the /d(iKrfia of Christ is not merely /«('is, hot a meilium of the •/diii^. [I iHodnTittna, from 7raoanirtrtdjhi(n<;\ the act of disobedience (/T«oaxo/;) by which Adam fell ; comp. vers. 16, 18, 19, and Book of Wisdom X. 1, where it is likewise used of the fall, to /«• SI. a II a. and ii ydfiK; mean nearly the same as ij iitotd in this verse, to itio(tiiiia, ver. lt'>, (Viza/iiifTn Liiitj.;, ver. 18, but they emphasize the idea that sal. vation is of free grace. Forbes ingeniously refers TO /rt/;/i«, the Gift of righteousness, anti- thetically to Sin, which it removes and supersedes ; the one is mainly the grace that justifies, the other the grace that smirlifie.i. See his noi(>, p. 248 f. — P. S.] Tholuek thiliks that we shouhi exjieet Ai- xaioi/ia [i rrnxotj would correspond better. — P. S.] • (Or, " bv the one that sinni-d," if we road inapn^aav- TO*. See T'Tu.il y„l,- *, and Erg. A'-l< Ix-low.— 1'. S.) t (Tui row it^i napavTuifiaTi, the reading of Cod. Sin., I^uchmann, Alford, ami tlie lix'. irr. Lange prefers, with Meyer, the reading: iv iv'i napawTutnari., " liv one fall." •See Tixwi! Xmr ', and Ernj. .\o, .« Iielow.— P. S.] J [According t ml'/ O JWI S6n- tlrnfiill iil.«i mit ilnii Giinilrnfjiil (v,r^..r»...»iV*.n (.■».,;..„,-/.- iJl' .(".■). Alfonl Irnnslaten : Iliil ntti (in uU joint-^) "* tbt act qf Irantffittiioii, ut also it Uie gifl nak'/.ov the ex- pression of a logical plus, that is, of an inference ( [Chrysostoro, no).).m ya^ roTro fi/.oyn'iTfiJini^ Theodoret, Philippi [Fritzsche, Hodge, Stuart], and others), or of a real plus, a comparison (Calvin [Bengel*], Rothe [Alford : much more abundant], &c.). [In^other words, does no'u.iii nuu.ov express a stronger degree of evidence, as an arffumeuium a minorc ad inajns (here a pejori ad melius), as it cer- tainly does vers. 9 and 10, or a higher degree of efficacy? — P. S.] Meyer: TJtiis latter is contrary to ver. 17. This is so far right as death, viewed abso- lutely, is an absolute negation, and a real plus [a higher degree of abundance] is comprised already in nf^i(j(Tfrii,v. But the logical pliis involves also a real pAus. [So also Tholuck.] It rests on the following antitheses: 1. The fit; introduced here without name, and opposite to him, 6 5 tot; and 6 fl^ avd^ioTTOc J ijaoi'i; X^iaroq; 2. na(jd7Trii)/ta, and the opposite fj y,cnii,c y.ai rj dt»(ifci iv /a^^T^ ; 3. i7Tf(ii(Tan(Tfv, in opposition to the simple fact, ani&avov. The /a ()(.(; Tor Ofor is the source and spirit of the universal and personal charisma, which is Christ himself ; the ()(i)^fa iv /ct^tTt, &c., is its form and appearance, tlie positive gilt of Divine adoption, with the Divine inheritance, in the pardon of sin. Both must not be resolved into an 'iv did dVoti' (Rosenmiiller, and others). According to Rothe, Tholuck, and others, iv •/d()i.ri, must be connected with d //,« a. The aorist indicates an event which had already taken place. Ver. 16. And not as by one transgression I Kal 01'/ (')(; fVt eroi; «,« a(*T;//( arot;, which Lange renders Verschuldung, transgression accom- panied fvith guilt. — P. S.]. We must first of all eubstltu '.e the reading duaQx tiu aroi; oftheCodd. D. E. F. G., and of the Itala [Vulg. : Et non sicut per unu/n peccatum'] for dina()Tt';(TavT0^ [by one that transffressed], although the latter has better * [" Adamus et Chn'sliis, secundum rationes cuntrarias, tonveniunt, in posiUvo ; differunt, in comparalivo." — P. S.] authority.* The reason lies in the text ; ver. If contains only definitions of things, not persons. The opposite of diid(jTtjfia is nafjaTtro'ifiara ; be- sides, we have do'i(jijfia, x^lfia, xcitdy.()i,i.](javtoc., propose diflferent supplements : Grotius, and others, Odvaroq ftcT:).f>fv [after d/ia^' Ti'jfj ] ; Bengel [Webster and Wilkinson, Stuart, Hodge], and others, to y.^l/iu ; Reiche, after Theo- pliylact, TO y.ardy.^i,/ia ; Fritzsche, and others, na- (idnroifia ; Beza, and others [after wo], to (De Vv'ette : and not like that uhich resulted from one who sinned, is the gilt).;}: Rothe, Tholuck, and Meyer, supply merely igtI [after ?)(.)(/;;/(«] ; Phi- lippi, iyivtro [after d/ia^Ti'ia., and iarl after rJoi- ()ijfic<. — P. S.]. This [which? iari, or iyiv^ro'i — P. S.] is sufficient with ufidfjrrj/ia, which means more than duaftrla, and expresses the idea of guilt ( Verschulduiiq) in connection with sin (see Maik iii. 28; Luke iv.'lS, &c.). For the judgment (passes) from one (trans- gression) to condemnation [to /(ir }'«(; y.i>l- f< a ii iv 6g ttq xardy-^L/ia. Lange supplies, from the preceding clause, d /t « ^ t vJ /i aro y aftet ti n'Oi,-, and translates it, in both cases, Verschid- dunft. — P. S.] Here, too, the verb is wanting. Meyer supplies iyivtro, or resulted; De Wette, turned out. But the verb is indicated by the ti<; ; Hi; requires the idea of progress, development. (For the antithesis, Rothe has attempted to substitute an untenable division, to fiev, rb (ii). The y.fitfta might mean judgment in general (Meyer),§ if it did not refer to diid(irrj/ia, by which it becomes judg- ment to punishment. Explanations : reatus (Beza, ♦ [The Codex Sinaiticus, in the octavo edition of Tisch- endoif (186;), reads aij.apTriua.vroi, but this is a cuiTCftion by a socoh'I or third h:ind. In the original MS. and the hirpre uncial cditio;i V. e word is broken by the line, and readf, AMAPTH-T02, which may be a mistake for anapT^- /uaTos, as well as for i/u-apT^o-ai/Tos. The absence f the article before evd? is in favor of Ijance's preference for a/uopT7)fiaTos, for Paul always uses the article when evds refers to a person, except in ver. 12, where it is first intro- duced :ind connected with avOpujTrov. — P. S.] t [ileyer : "£.-■ i^t damU nvht so, al.i wtnn ex Si.' ivhs ajx.apTri /.nTct/.ouia : 1. Frilzsche : The threat of punishment, (ien. ii., and the sentence of punish- ment, Cien. iii. ; similarly Tholuck. Reiche : the senteuee of [)unishmeut pronounced on Adam, and that on ills posterity. 2. Riickert : the Divine sen- tence and its result, death, was declared against the one who had sinned ; but from him the sentence has extended to all. Plainly, tlie y.ijtiia, as the princi- ple of judgment, proceeds from the one «/(«oT;y/(« of Adam, and pa.-jses through gratlations of judg- ment to the •AUTa.t'.i^ii-Kct, which is conii)loted ideally as the sentence of fitness for condemnation by tlie appearance of the gosi)el, and will be actually com- pleted as real judgment to condemnation at the end of the worhl. Yet the antithesis here does not pa.ss beyond the ideal judgment to condenmation. The antithe.-is of tlie one Adam and of the whole race, whieli IJaumgarten-Criisius finds here, is only pre- sumed ; the numerical antitht'sis, rather, in this pas- sage is e'l' ctticiitTt^tia, 7io)J.a natiamoiiiaTa. It must be borne in minil that the expression nai>a- TTTif'iiiaTa is mucii stronger than aiiaiiTtjiia.Ta, and denotes the gradations of the one fall by numy new apostasies (see the Second Connuandment). But the gift of grace (passes) from many falls (lapses) unto the good of justification [ r o i) i y a i> i(T II a i /. no /. >. '» v n h o «. m in n d - Tiiiv (t,- dixaiiiifta, which Lange translates : lUui Onadeuijut aber gekf von vielen Sundcn/dl/en aus fort bin zuin Rcchff'ertii/unffsi/iit ; or, in the Exeg. Notc'iy 'Rechtfertitiniifixiiiittid. — P. S.]. The personal charisma is Christ himself (see ver. 15), the source of all s|)i'cial gd'ts of grace (see Titus ii. 11). — From many falls, or lapses {Siiudeii/dllni). Caused by ihem. As the -/.(Ji/ia of Adam has become the uni- versiil xrirdx^niia of humanity^so has the •/({(ti.rriiu of Christ grown to be the univer.sal and ab.solute i)i,xniMiia. As Christ, as the Jiisen One, has come forth I/. vfA^imv, 80 has He, as the Just One, the ])er.sonal ()ix«((')i<«, come forth from the place of the nunanrmfiara. It was thus with the advent of Christ on CJirth ; btit the finished nciiinTTTiDiin was the same crucifixion by which He was perfected as (hxaiiDiia. The usual ex[)lanations rest mostly on u misconception. Meyer : Since God declared .sin- ners righteous. Augustine: Quia non xoluin illnd tiiitim Hiilvit, ijuod nriginaliter trah (ur, sed iliam i^iice ill lino qunqne. /lominr. molu propriir voluntntiii addnnlur. Better He Wette [and Alford] : " The gift of grace became, by occasi(m of many trans- gression-, justiticaiion." Philipiii : " From out of many lapses." The (hxaim/ia is neither the con- dition of righteousne.ss (that would be i)txai.ufTri'ij ; Luther, Tholuck, anil others), nor the dechinition of (ii)d by which He executes the i)ixali>i(n<; (.Meyer), but, according to Riickert and | .Vdeliiert] Maier, the ineuns or medium of justification [h'ri:/d/irtig- uugxinitt'l), which is in harmony with the form of the word. Meyer iisks for the empirical proof; it Ilea riglit before us: Were Jixtttoi/ia the real justi- fication of mankind, xardx()iu(i would be its rea. condemnation, and that would be a contradiction. Comp. also ver. 18, where the dixuiM/ia is the pre* supjjosition of the, liixaiioai^. (The explanation of Rothe, after Calvin : legal compensation in the sense of satinfactio is partly too general, and jiartly im- pinges very much on dtxaiuxrit;). An elaborate dis- cussion see in Tholuck, p. 258. [.-/tz«((.)/(«, in Hellenistic usage, means usually xiatutuin, ordinance, a righteous decree, or rigfUtoua jiidifincnt {J\ec/i/s/ici will be a sentence of acquittal. This, in fact, amounts tojuslijication." Hodge : " It means justification, which is a righteous judgment, or decision of a judge, pronomicing one to l>e just.") Rothe (p. 103) calls this interpretation a piece of " exegetical levity;" and it is evident that, in ver. 18, (>(Xrt((.)//a is distinguished from dr/.ttlftiru. He goes back (with Parens, J. Gerhard, Calov, Wolf, B. Carpzov) to classical usage, quoting a passage from .\ristotle {Eth. Xi.com. v. 1(>), who defines dtxaici/ia to be TO t7Tcir6(jO Ill/in tot difixtjiiftro^, the amend- ment of att evil deed* Rothe consecpiently trans- lates it, fu// sittiiifaclion of justice, legal adjustment {Reclitxerfii/lfing, Rechtsgutmachimg, Rechtsuuxgleich- ung). This meaning suits admirably here, and in • (Tliin passnpo iiirords a sfriUin(» parallel, anil hn» some licai-inc on tlio (lucstlon whetlior Paul wan aojiuuintcd with the works of the pi-e;it Stii'jirito (which, from a ninofe rc- Fcmlilimce of style, the raoile of close, diiilectic reasoninfr, from Paul's eihicationil advantages in TnrsUH, from his ii<; aSiKTjfxa xai rb aiiKOv fcat rb StKaiutfxa koX t6 6i«aio»' • aiiKOf flit' yap iiia, not, as ill ver. 16, to x.ard/.iJt,fia), and does not mateiiallj differ from the explanation of Lauge. In ver. 18, (St,/.aiMna, being the opposite of na(id- nTO)fia, and essentially equivalent to tiTtuxot}, in ver. 19, must denote tlie ri hteous deed., i. e., the perfect obedien.e of Christ, and is so understood by Calvin, Este, Grotius, and Bengel. As it is not likely that the same word should be used in one brcatli in two diSereut senses, it is safe to explain diy.alaifia in ver. IG from its more obvious meaning in ver. IS. I prefer this (with Lange) to the other alternative chosen by Meyer {liechtferticfwu/ssprudi), Ewald {Gerech/sspruch), Van Hengel, Umbreit, who give it in both verses the meaning, righteous decree. I quote, in addition, the excellent note of Bengel on di-y.aliofia in ver. 18, which throws light on its mean ing in ver. 16: " z/ty. a((»;/< a est quasi materia dixai,(!)(jit, {jusliJiratio7ii) aiibstrtita, obcdientla^ justitia prcestita. Justikicamkjjtum liceat ajipellare, ut id(i alot n a denoted Jirmamenfum, evdv/iia ves^ t/menium, i tz 1(1 krj /i cc addiiaitieiitum, fiiaa/ia hiquinanientum., 6 / 1' (> w /< a munimentum, tt f ^ «. - y.dO a (J /t a purgamentum., nffJiri'rj jn a rainerdum, ay.inaa/ia tcgicmttdum, cr r t ^ i o) /i a Jirmamen- tiiin, vTToi^tj/ia calceamcrdum, qfjovij/ta ScntU ijiciduiJi, Gall, sentij/ient. Aridot. I. v. J£th. c. 10 opposita utatnit ci(ll/.ijfia et di^xauo/ia, atgue hoc describit to inavd^ 0-o)fi a tov ddi.y.7'i f< a- Toi;, id quod tantundem est atque satisfactio, vo- cabidum tSocinianis immerito invi.suyn. Exquisitam verborum proprietatem schematistnus exhibei : A. B. C. D. Ver. 16, y.^Tfta, xaTd/.Qi,f(a' /a(H(T/(a, 6i-xal(i)iiia. A. B. C. D. Ver. 18. na^dm oi/ta, xardy.^i,fia' Sixaiittfta, 6i,y.aio)ai,i; tw^? In utroque versu A et B avaTot/fi, itemque C et D, sed A et 0, dvTiaroi,yi:l, itemque B et D. Versu 16 dexcribitur uegotinm ex parte Dei : ver. 18 describitur ex parte Adami et Chrinti : idqiie in ceconomia peccati minore verborum, varietate, quam in oeeonomi I. gratke. d i,y.aio>(n,q toiTjq est clecla- ratio divina ilia., qua peccator, mortis reus., vitce ad- Judicaiur, idque jure." — P. S.] B. The contrast of potential, prospective effects. 1. The contrast between the enslavement and negation of all personal life by personified death, and of the future glory of pardoned j:)ersons in the new life (ver. 17). 2. The contrast in all its ideal magnitude: owing to the power of the fall of one, judgment and con- demnation came upon all men ; all men can attain to justification of life (that is, not merely of faith) by the Justifying righteousness of one (ver. 18). Ver. 17. For if by one man's fall, &c. ['£(• ydq Tw rov iroq na() a n no /i ar i-, x.t./.]. This verse (which Rotlie has improperly treated as a parenthesis,* and which Er. Sclimid has even con- ceived to be the contradiction of an opponent) is, in form, first of all a proof of the <)y/.cii(i)/ia and /.ard- x(jt,/ia in ver. 16 ; but it develops the consequence of the (hy.auofia, as of the zardx'n/fa, to a new and glorious contrast. Here, now, the personal ele- ment in ver. 15 is united with the material one in ver. 16 ; yet the personal predominates. From one by nature or by order (ordinance). But -the very same thmg wliich, when done, is an unjust act, is not t-o befure it is done, but it is unjust. The same may be said of a jii.'it ad. Kut the common term is ratbcr o ilcml justly done (S<.KaiOTrpa.yriiJ.a) ; but the correction of an unjust act is a jus( rov ivo^ TrapaTTTui^iaTt 6 flavaros e/3a(T., TToAAoJ iJiaWoy oi rriv n-cpurcreiav Tr)5 x.dpLTO'; K. Tij? £u)pea9 Trjs 5iKaiO(7uVr)« 5(d TOU ivOi 'hjU. XpMTToO, /C.T.A. — P. S J proceeded, through one offence, the tendency toward destruction ; death tyrannized over and defaced the personal life, and threatened to extinguish it ; but much more shall believers become by the one Christ, on the ground of the di/.ai-oavri], the [Saavhiovrn;, the ruling, royal personalities in eternal life. The point of the antithesis is therefore i[Iaai).fva(v and paai,Xf vaovcrw. The no). km /laAAov is also here a logical conclusion, which involves the higlier degree of real powder, as brought out in the antitheses : iv na^dnroi/ia, and the opposite vy 7it(}L(j(jna r~,c ya(ji,7oq, y.al rTjc <)owfdc tT^i; i^kxai- oai'Vfji; ; to which is yet added the /.a/i/JdvorTtt; in contrast with the bondage of the former slaves of death (Heb. ii. 14) ; then again, the nameless ft? and the one Jesus Christ ; and finally, to a certain extent, 6 Odraroc, and // uu?/. Meyer well remarks: " Bear in mind tliat Paul does not say in the parado- sis, in conformity with the protasis : ?/ uoij [JuaUfv- (Tfv tnl Tore . . . /.a/ifidrovTaq, but, in harmony with the matter in question, and corresponding to the active nature of the relation, he places the subjects in the active first." This is the chief point just here. (Menochius : " SKOvius et glorio.sus sovat.") Tholuck : " To be ruled, is a bound and passive con- dition, while, on the other hand, the quality of free movement lies in life. The escliatological idea of a ruling in the finished kingdom of God, was brought over by Christ in a more profound sense from Juda- ism (Matt. xix. 28 ; Luke xxii. 29). Paul has espe- cially appropriated it (1 Cor. iv. 8 ; vi. 2 ; 2 Tim. ii. 12)." Tholuck questions the right to make promi- nent, according to Thomas Aquinas, Grotius, Stier, and others, the element of subjective spontaneous- ness, here, " where the whole weight falls on the Divine work of grace." But the Apostle speaks of the self-active appropriation of the work of grace in the life of believers. Ver. 18. Therefore, as through the fall of one, &c. [Better : through one fall {trot; in the neu- ter),"u4(ja ovv oii; ()t> tvbi; nafjanTo')// aroi fii; ndvraQ dv S(jiii ttoik; fli; xarciy.(}i/u a, oi'Tw xal (Vi.' trot; (ii,xai,(>')/n aroc; ni; ndv- raq dvd(>ii)nov(; ti<; Sixctioiaw t,w^i,].* * [The Greek is here, like an exclamation, as brief and concise as possible, and cannot be ii.telligibly rendered without supplying some words. The E. V. supplies, be* 180 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Tliis verse is, as Meyer and others remark, a re- Bumptiou of the prccuding contrasts compressed in one senti-nce ((rr/./.oj'<'l'*ra<. tvTuTOa to Tiav, Theo- dore of Mupsvcstiii). lint we must not overlook the new contrast brought out here. (On the use of a^a oin; see Meyer.)* As far as the verb that is want- ing is concerned, De Wette remarks : It is usuid to supply here (likewise llUekert and Fritzsche), in the first niember, to x(tiiia iytimu, and in the second, TO ■/c't(i'.ait(x iytvtro ; but bettor, something indeli- uite, as iyiitro (thus Meyer and Tholuck) ; Winer, oL/iifjf; We Vail up the pregnant expressions in chap. ii. 28, 29, and repeat accordingly natid- nxt'iiia after 7icn>anru>iiaTo<;, and di/.uio)/(a after dixato'ifiaroi;. ani[hj is sufficiently contained in *«<;. The contrast in that ease is simply this : The fall of one mail came ideally and dynamically as a fall upo7i all )/un unto comkmnation ; that is, by the common fall, all men would, withoui redemption, be subject to condemnation ; on the other hand, the dt/.aimna of one came ideally and dynamically as di/.uiiitfia upon all men unto justification of life in the last judgment ; that is, the dixaiiofia of Christ is sutBciently powerful to justify and perfect all men. Meyer [with Uotiie, Ewald, Alford, Wordsworth. — P. S.] construes ()(.' ti-os' here both times as neuter (one tresp;iss, one sentence of justification), which Tholuck has pro[)erly rejected. The Greek writers, Tlieodo- ret and Theoi)hylaet [as also Erasmus, Luther, Cal- vin, E. v., Bengel, Fritzsehe, Philippi, Hodge. — P. S.], have taken it as masculine, f Ilere, as in ■ides the verb came, two nouns, viz., judgment (xpliia) and free gift (xopihen isl)." Rothc t:\lies iv6<; in both clauses not in the m:isculine, but in the neuter ven- dor, and supjilios only tlic verb cmw : " W'ie. is durch Eiiie U' biriri lung fiir allc Minschen znr Virdnvimnlss (hmiml), in ebe.n de.rsclb'n We.ise (knmmt »•.«) nitrh diinh Eine Ji'Chfs- genuglhuuiig fur alle, Menscheu zur R'llU/i rligung d's Lc- bin.i." Jfeyor : " Wir e.s (il./ vieans of one righlious act it cnmo upon all men unto juslifi- calioii of life." Wordsworth like\vi.se takes tpos liere na neuter, nnd trinKlutuS : " Therefore, as Ihrnugh one trans- gression the sentence was un/o all men to cond' innntion, so through one stale if acceptance with (iod (so he interprets {ucouufia), the sentence now is unto all men to juslifiaition or life." Ewald mont litrniUy : "Also denn—wie durch ilinen F'hllrill f&r alle. if.jiAcA'/i zitr VerurtheHung, so luu h durch Einen O-rcch'spruih fUr alle M' n^chen znr Rich'- ferlignng von Lihen." Dr. Ilodpo adopts the translation of the K. v., from which he vei-y sildora departn. The now version of the Amcr. Bible Union likewise niirecs with the K. V. in supplying /"'///mc/ii r(ini<', and free gift, but more correctly renders ii ivo^ iropajrr., through one trespass, uml iC ivh^ £i>caiw/xaTOf, through one righlenns ac'. — P. S.] • [Meyer siiys : ^' apa ouf is oonclusivo : drmnnrh rtnn (iirrordinghj then, so then, Iherifore now) ; it is of friMiueiit oconiTpnce in i'nul (vii, H, 25 ; viii. 12; ix. l(i, 18; xiv. 1 ', It; O.il. vi 10; Kph. ii. 1!) at.), and, contniry to clasHical UBaore (Hci-m. od Anilg. CW, ad Vig.r. p. HiS), at the be- pinninK of the Hcntencc." Klotz distiniruishes l)etween •pa !ind oSk, in that the former '^ ad inlernam jm'insransnni tpec'n', " tYi'- latter " mngis ad exUrnam." The ratiocliin- tlve force of apa. is wenkcT. and is supported by tlu) collec- tive power cf ovv. See Kllicott on (liil. vi. 10. — I'. 8.1 1 [The antithesis tit irdiTaf, and the analopy of vers. 12, 1.^, 17, 10, where toC ivoi is miusuuline, arc in favor of Irfinze's view, wliich is also that of the traimlntors of the E. V. ; but the absence of the article bcfori' ivoi is almost conclusive aijrniiist it ; for in all the eittht eases of this sec- lion, where it is indisputably masculine, it lias uniformly ver. 16, Meyer makes the dmaiuifiu to mean judg« nient of justification {liechlfirt gungssfrmch), and rejects the translations: fulfiliuenl of the right i^licchtscrfiillung, Ilothe and Philippi); dted of jus- tification (Kec/iifirtigungsfhut, Tholuck) ; virtuouS' 7ies8 {Tugendha/tigkiit, Haumgarten-Crusius) ; obe- dience (Gehorxatit, De Wette) ; the recte factum of Christ (Fritzsehe). It is simply the same every- where. If it be said that Christ is our righteous- ness, it is the same as saying that Christ is the per- sonal medium of our justification. [Comp. the remarks on p. 184 f — P. S.] The future anofJijatrai sii|)pliod by Winer and Philippi in the apodosis, is sulliciently implied in «'(,• dLxaimaiv ^id^s. W'e hold that the Apostle here means the final diy.aiii>an;, jiustification, which, in the general judgment, constitutes the an- tithesis of the Kardy.(ji/ia, condemiuition. The dtxai- (iiiia is ofl'ered to all men, and the {Jizai'diatc; 'C«iTj(; is its purpose ; but the realization of the pur[)ose takes place merely according to the measure of faitlu The Roman Catholic expositors assert that justifica- tion of faith itself is denoted here as justification of life [i. e., progressive justification = sanetifiea- tion. — P. S.] According to Calvin, and others, it ia the justification whose result is life. Tholuck : The ()i,y.aiiiiaii; with the effect of the future completion of life. Augustine likewise. Thomas Aquinas de- scribes correctly the ideal universality of the dixai- (iifta : " Quainvis ponsit did, quod justificntio Christi transit in justificaiionem omniuw, ad slfficien- TiAM, licet quantum ad efficikntiam procedU in so- los fidcles.^' [lldvrn; avd(io)noi are, in both clauses, all men without exception, as in ver. 12 ; but this does not justify a Uiiiversalist inference, for Paul speaks of the objective sufficiency and intention of Chi'ist's tUt-xaioiiia, not of its subjective application to individ- uals, which depends upon the Mi/ifkirnv of faith, as intimated in ver. 17. The distinction drawn by Ilofniann and Lechler between ndi'Tf^ dvO(>io- TToi, all men without distinction, and ndi'Tf^ o» «>■- Oliionoi,, all, without exception, lacks proof (Meyer calls it, rein erdichtet). More of tiiis in ver. 19.— P. S.] C. The Contrast of the Final Ejects. Yer. 19. For as through the disobedience of the one man, &c. ["J la it to ■/(((> i),n r/"? 7r«^j « X o /"c,- Tor ti'Os ct y f)^ (I o> TT o r c'iiia(iT(ii- ).oi xm t a T (t (y >;a uv o i tt o'/.'/.oi , o i' t «» ^ xni , x.t./.. According to Meyer, ver. 19 furnishes only a grand and conclusive elucidation of ver. 18 (j'ci^i). Tholuck likewise, in harmony witli Calvin. Rut this contrast denote:* the final antitiiesis of the jiulgment and of ju.-!tification as made untnifcxt by the gospel (.see chaji. ii. Iti). The sense is : As, in consetiuence of the disoljedii'iice of the one man Adam, the many (ns many a.s there are) have been presented in the light of the gospel as sinners suliject to condeinna- lion, HO, in consequence of the oliedienee of the one man Christ, shall the many (as many as believe) bo the article (ver. Mi, Tip toO ivht irapairrufiaTi . . . t^ toO ivhf av6pu>nov ; ver. 17, three tiuK"* ; \rr. lit, twice), exceul In ver. I'J, wliere it is connected with a noun (Si «»4f avBputnov), and therefore uniii'ce.ssiiry ; while in vir. Irt, when' if «i'(K must be neuter, in opposition to noKkuv napairTiofiaTiov, it is, as here, without the article. The Apostle Is thrri'fore quite CJiieful nnd c*)nsislent. The ol>- jection that the cnniparisoii is between Adam and Christ, rather than between tin- fall i>f one and the riarhtcousnoM of another, ilors not hold, for it is clearly a comparison of liotli persons and etVeets. The K. V. has much ohst ured the force of thiv sciton by oniittini; the article throughout before tU, as also before iroAAot. — P. S.] CHAPTER V. 12-21. 187 presented in the same light as just. It is self-evi- dent that the effect of the gospel is included in the second clause ; but from vers. 20 and 21 we must infer that it is presumed also in the first clause. It is only through the gospel that this ideal general judgment is brought to pass, by which all men are piesented and exposed as condemned sinners in con- sequence of their connection with the sin of Adam (see John xvi. 8, 9 ; comp. Ps. li. 5, 6). We are authorized by the language in maintaining that xa- diGTOivm possesses here the full idea of setting down, exhibiting, making to appear as what one is. [See below.] [Through the disobedience of the one man, (li,n Ttji; n a(i a/.oTjt; rov ivhi; av f) (j lonov . The trespass, or fall, of Adam, to na^jdnnofia, is here definitely described as an act of disobdieuce, which is the mother of sin, as obedience to the Di- vine will is the mother of virtue ; for disobedience is essentially selfishness in actual exercise, the re- bellion of the human will against the Divine, the false self-iissertion or independence in opposition to God, to whom we owe life and all, and whose service is true freedom. — P. S.]* The many were constituted sinners [ a |t a ^ - twXoi xarKTidOrjciavW Meyer: "Accord- ing to ver. 12, they were, through Adam's disobe- dience, actually placed in the category of sinners, because they sinned in and with Adam's fall." This is Augustinian dogmatics, but no exegesis warranted by the context. [ ? see below. — P. S.] Tholuck : Were made, bccaine. In this sense, according to his account, certain commentators have found the impu- tutio forensis expressed ; others, a real becoming, in which the element of spontaneity is included. On the further complications which have arisen between Romish and Protestant commentators on the suppo- sition of realltj becoming, see Tholuck, p. 268. The nafyay.ori of Adam himself has certainly set forth the many as sinners, hut only because it has come into the light of the law, and finally of the gospel, and so far as it has now become clear: 1. As an ethico-physical causality, but not as a purely ph3si- cal fatality ; 2. So far as the offence of Adam has becbme the clear type of the sinfulness and sin of every man ; 3. So far as the judgment of the finished revelation comprehends the many as in one. So by the obedience of one shall the many be made (constituted) righteous [ o i' t oi t; y.a.1 ()(.« T^t; V 7T a y. o 7j i; rov kvoi; diY.avoi, y.a- raaxad- riaovrai, oi TToAAot]. That is, not merely by the death [the passive obedience] of Christ, but also by the [active] obedience of His * [Tholuck quotes here the quaint and pointed remark of Luther : '• WuhJ xe'zt Akim seiiien Znhii in eiiien Ap/el, aher in Wahrheit si tzt er ihii, in ei.nen Slachel, lorlcJier ist lot xarfard&?j' atxv (passive Aor. I.) and di/.ai,oi, naraatax) ?}• (TovTui, has been much embarrassed and obscured by preconceived dogmatic theories. KaOiaTijfn (also y.adi^ardo) and y.a&i.) means : (1.) to sef down, to place (this would give good sense here : to be set down in the rank of sinners ; but see below) ; (2.) to appoint, to elect (this is inapplicable here, as it would make God directly the author of sin) ; (3.) to ciin.stitute, to cau.ie to be, to make (rcddere aliqueni aliquid) ; hence the passive : to be rendere I, to be- come ; (4.) to comlnct, to accompany on a journey (only once in the New Testament). Reiche has spent much learning to establish a fifth meaning : /() shou', to exhibit ; but this is somewhat doubtlul. The verb occurs twenty-two times in the New Testa- ment, three times only in Paul (twice here, and once in Titus i. 5). In sixteen of these cases (including Titus i. 5) it clearly refers to oflicial appointment , in one it means, to accompany (Acts xvii. 15) ; in the remaining five, viz., Rom. v. 19 (twice); James iii. 6 ; iv. 4 ; 2 Peter i. 8, it is, to constitute, to ren- der. So it is taken in this verse by nearly all the recent commentators.f But in what sense ? Figu- ratively, or really ? Chrysostom, and the Greek comnjentators who did not believe in original sin, started the figurative or metonymic interpretation, which was subsequently more fully developed by the Arminians and Socinians (Grotius, Limborch, Wet- stein, Sociims, Crell), and advocated also by Storr and Flatt, of the school of the older German super- naturalism, namely, that y-artardDrjaav d/ia^roiXoi means : they were only apparently made sinners, or iicconnted, regnrded, and treated as sinners — i. e., ex- posed to the punishment of sin, without actually being sinners.\ The same view has been strenu- * [Meyer refers vnajeoTJ, as the opposite of Adam's wa- pa-Kori, specifically to the expiatory death of Christ, which was KttT i^oxw^ His obedience to the will of God ; Phil. ii. 8. But Lcchler, Hofmann, Stuart, Barnes, and others, agree n-ith Lnnge. — P. S.] t [Philippi doubts the meaning reddere, facere, in the N. T., and Insists upon the fundamental meaning (1.) lo si'l down, sislere, cunslitw.rr, hinsl'Hen, eiiise'zin, and tr:ins- laies: in die Kutignrie von Sundirn gesilzt werden. But also in this ease the setting ddwn or the imputation must be basfd on the fact that they really are sinners, and so it is taken by Philippi.— P S.] t [Chrysostom is generally set down as the first advo- cate of this interpretation, but it should be remembered that he puts the metonymy not in the verb KaTiaraOyfuav but in the noun o.\j.apru>Koi, which he makes to mean ob« noxious to punishment and condetnr.cj to death, Kara- Se&LKaa-ixevoi, davdrw. lie says that the Apostle designed merely to state the fact, that all bec:imc mortal through Adam, but not the why and wherefore. {Hoin. x. 'J"om. ix., p. 523, ed. Bened.) It is unneeossary to prove thaj 188 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. ously advocated even by so sound and orthodox a commentator as Dr. Hodge, but from the very oppo- site Joctriiial btaudpoint, and in the interest of im- mediate forensic inipiitatiouism. He takes zcct*- aTaOiirrai; like )\iiui^7uv, ver. 12, in a purelj^ legal and forensic sense: they were regarded as sinners independently of, and antecedently to, tiieir being sinnei-s, simply on the ground of the sin of Adam, their federal representative ; as, on the other hand, Uiey are regarded iis righteous solely on the ground of Cbri.-t's righteousness, without any personal right- eousness of tlicii- own.* Tliis interpretation, though less artificial than the corresponding passive render- ing of 'I'lfiaiiTov, ver. 12, is not supported by a sin- gle passage of the New Testament where /.abimrjiii, occurs, and conflicts with the connection For ver. 19 gives tile reason (;'«^) for the statement in ver. 18, why "judgment came upon all men to condem- nation," and it would be sheer tautology to say : they were condemned because " they were regard- ed and tretited as sinners." The phrase, then, can be taken only in the real sense, like ///(w^Tor in ver. aiiapriaKoi, in the N. T., means a real sinner, and nothing else. Urotius oxphiins Rom. v. 19 : " Here again is a me- tonymy. Tlicy were no treated as though they had actu- ally sinned; that i-;, they were subjcel to death. So the Word 's nnor' is used in 1 Kings i. 21, and elsewhere." So al«i> Whitby, one of the best English commentatoi-s of tlie Arminiau school. — P. S.] ♦ [Dr. Hedge, thouu'h otherwise a strict Cnlvinist, re- jects the realistic Angnstinian view of a fall of the whole race in Adam, and yet mikes all the disceiidants of Adum legally responsible f;)r hio mil. To mainlain this ground of an excla-^iv(^ly forensic imputation, he must rcFoi-t to this forced interpretation of ruiapTov :ind KaTeo-rdSrjcroi'. " Kaeiarriixi.," he s.-iys (p. 271), "never [!] in the N. T. means to ninlci; in the sense of effecting or causing a per- son or thing lo ]>c in its cliaractcr or n iturc other than it was before. KaSurToi/ot tlvo. a^apTwAdf does net meat, lO make one sinful, but to set him down as such, to regard or appoint him to lie of that class." [T'l regard, and ti> np- p,>,n' arc two vcr\- different things. — P. S.] " Thus, when Christ is said to Lave been ' constituted the Son of God,' He was not made Son, hut declared to be such." (But in this passage, Rom. i. 4, opiafle'n-os is u-ed, not KaraarTo.- 0«Kro9, and even that means more than d'cUirid; see 7' 2.'- uitl No'e • on p. 56.] " ' Who eonntituted thee a ruler or judge?' — I. c. Who appulnied thee to that olJRce? So, ' Whom his lord made ruler.' " fThe^c two passaiics, Matt. xxiv. 43 ; Acts vii 35, imjily that ncillior was a ruler beforo being '77i<.rf, and thi'y would lo.-!0 their force, were we to substitute regard' d for C'lnylitiilid ] " When, therefore, the Apostle says that the many were constituted (KareoTa- 8r] many thereby were rendered sinful, but that his disobedience w:is the ground of their being placed in the category of sinners. It constituted a good and sulli- cienl ri-a.son for so regarding and treating them. The same remark applie*!, of course, to the other clause of tliis verse : tiVaioi (caTa(rTa#>j(7oiTai ot iroWoi. This cannot mean, that by tlie obedienee of one the many .shall be made holy. It can only mean, that the obodii'uce of ('hrist was the ground on which the ina^y are to lie placed in the category of the righteoiLS — i. e., shall be so regarded and treated. It is not o\ir per-onal righteousness which makes us rigliteous, but the imputation of the obedienee of Christ. And the sen.se in wh'ch we are here declared to he sinners, is ' ot that we are such personally (which indeed is true), but by the im- putation of Adam's disobedience." With the same assur- nnco, as in ver. 12 (see p. 178), Dr. Hodge claims that this dogmatic*' <i (a high-church Lutheran) is the only one who npjrn-inily favors It by pros.s iig the nicaixing, tn nl down, as distinct fc-om rrd^lerc, fuce.rf., but he does so in the rriili^ir Auprustinian sense, which ho expressly vindi- cates in the interprnlation of i\ixaLprov (•i!y- Ofjooiv, see Wetstein, Keielie, Fritzsclie), it alwayi presupposes actual being: they were made to ap. pear in their true character as sinners, or what they really wore.* Comp. Lange above. f This is very different from : they were regarded and treated as sinners, without being such. The metonymic in- terpretation confounds the effect with the cau-^c, or reverses tiie proper order that death follows sin. We are regarded and treated as sinners bectiuse wo are sinners in fact and by practice. So, on the other liJiml, di/.ai,oi /.aTanTaO^t-rsovTcu is more than the declaratory i)iy.caiiiO i]fsovTai., and meai.s, that by Christ's merits we shall be actually made righteous, and appear as such before His judgment seat. It denotes the righteousness of Uj\\ as a consequence of justification by faith (comp. tlii (J'txa/r.iffn' i^w^e, ver. 18). Luther saj's: '■^ W'ie Adatii's Sumle uimere EiGEXK fjewordcn id^ also auch Cliristi Gcrt.c/Uiff' k( it ; " as Adam's sin has become our oim^ so also Christ's righteousness. Calvin correctly translates : '''' peccatores con stituti sunt, . . . jimii cotisiitucntur" and remarks in loc. : " Uude sequitur, jusiitice qua i- f litem esse in Christo : sed nobis acceptum fen'i, quod illi propriiaii est." David l^areus, one of the ablest among the older Reformed commentators, ex- plains fii'xrtiot xaTciiTT. : " multo plus est, quani jiislificahaidnr. Nam justiticari est a coiideinuO' tione absohi justi/ia iniputala ; juslmn coustitui est etlam jiistilia habituali saiictificari , hoc est, simul juslificatlonis et sanctijicationis benefieium complec' titnr." Bengel in loc. : " Apostolus taleui juste- rum cossTiruTiONEM videtur prcedicare, quee jus- tiji.riilionis nctinn subscqiiatur, et verbo iNVK.Nilll i'ne/u'/l'nr (Phil. iii. 9; cnlJ. Gal. ii. 17);" i. e., the Apostle sei.'ins to set forth such a condituiiiig of men as rigliteous, as may follow upon the act of justification, and as is includeil in the expressibn, bihifi fiiund. Alford : '■^ be niade rig/iteous, not by imputation merely, anymore than in the other case; but, ' shall be made really and actually righteous, as completely so as the others were made really and actually sinners.' When we say that man has 110 righteousness 0/ his own, we speak of him as out of Christ: but in Christ, and united to Him, he is made righteous, not by a fiction or imputalion onti/ of Christ's righteousness, but liy a real and living spiritual union with a righteous head, as a righteous member, righteous bi/ tmans of, as an elVect of, the righteousness of thtit head, but not merely right eons Ity transference of the righteousness of that head ; just a.s, in his natural state, he is united to a sinful head as a sinful member, sinful by means of, • [TlioliicU, p. 207 : " St) npicbf tirh denn fUr d-i» Pii.ig nirht die BedriUun// : 'dirff'S'rlH werd'ti' I'lii S'lme rf>n * Bitscni'lNKN AIB ETWAs, loiis limn nichl isl,' ioiulern * OB- MACIIT WKUDKM, Wl-.Kni'..S." — T. S.J . t [Tho latest couunentiitor of Rom. v., Ad. Stilltlng in'ilrdg'- tiir Exgrse d-r r9ij f v . Xot be^dex, • thereto (Meyer) ; * nor ituljintrai'it (Vulg.) ; f nor iiic>ei), iind must bo either derived from the c mtcxt, as in Oiil. 11. 4 (the oily p.issaso in the New Textainent wli'M'C tho verb occurs t>esides our own), or be expressed by Katpa. In our passage such an ideri would be ineon'i. He thus comtdnes tho idea of the incidentul coming in of the law with that of It* mo-l."—V. S.) §[lv4tius: " fj T, firolfln-ns peerii/um, mrilio tanpore intfr AiUim cl C7i/"i« uin tubinjrusa ett," — P. 8. J (merely tr.flari.xun;, with Chrysostom [orx atrtoAo* )'(«(,•, cti.a tA[]dani)i; ; Estius : " non Jinalcm causaiit denotat, sed eventum." — P. S.], Koppe, Reiche [Stu. art, Barnes]), is likewise unsatisfactory; yet the Apostle has certainly inferred from the result the design and intention in the Ira.* Gal. iii. 19 does not serve as an elucidation of this passage, as Meyei would have it ; and Ron), vii. 14 proves that, by tho law, the knowledge of sin comes ; while 1 Tim. i. 9 shows that the law constitutes a weapon against tho ungodly. Reiche has called the telic cotistructioi: blasphemous; in reply to which, comp. Meyer [p 224J. He properly remarks, that sin had to reach its culminating point, where it will be outdone by grace, (hdy liiis culminating point should not bo merely objective, but subjective also, in accordance with the sentence quoted from Augustine, on Ps. cii. : " JVon crude/iler hoc fecit Deus, sed consilio inedicince / . . . augetur morbus, crcscit tnalitia, qnceriiur medieus et tofiim sanattir." It is a fact both that the misunderstood law, according to God's decree, induced the crucifixion of Christ — the clima.x of the world's guilt — and that the same law, well understood, prepared the way for the saving faith of the New Testament. For this reason there is truth in Rothe's explanation : All sin should ever stand out more complete under the form of the naiidTTTioiia. Tholuck also takes ground with Ols- hausen, De Wette, and Neander, in favor of the telic rendering. Reasons: 1. Nitinnir in vetitutn ; 2. Thomas: "When the passions dare not manifest themselves, they become more intense." Does this apply here ? Sin, even in the form of anti-Chris- tianity, undoubtedly becomes more intense in oppo- sition to the gospel, but still this is mostly ecbatic conse(|uence ; 3. Luther : The accusing and con- dcmning law awakens cmnity to God. For this rea- son, Judaism, like all fanaticism, is angrg at (iod. It is a prime consideration that here the law is s|)e- cifically understood as the law of the letter, as de- signed to finish, both objectively and subjectively, the sinful process of the old world. Therefore the second iV« in ver. 21, as Tholuck well remarks, takes the sting from the first. [In other words, the first (V« indicates the mediate, tiie second (V« the ultimate end and purpose. — P. S.] Philippi under- stands by TTHjjdTTTifiiia merely the ;T«oct/Tr. of Adam inhering in sinners. But it denotes here rather the completiche, St.'dting] ), hut spacial (Meyer, Tholuck} — iH'rliai)s botli ; tiiue bi'iiig considered as an expansion — [Q-race exceedingly abounded (not, much more, E. V.), Inttitnt- I IT IT f r T f V ij /f<(/ls']. !■ n f (I f 7r t (I iTIT fV nv [supra modiiin redmid irit] is superlative [not com* parative ; comp. !'nn):T/.nird'Sio, iinnin/.dKi, Irrtii- I'iroi'i, i'';rf(i/.«Vf the finite, and a necessary stage in the development of character ; it consequently destroys the radical antagonism between good and evil, and places itself outside of the Christian system. ItYJ iere there is no ^^1 ''", fiber" i=iH£ !.^om for redemption . (2.) The .P^lag7a>; heresy denies original sin, and resolves tlie^^felTof Adam into an isolated and comparatively trivial childish act of disobedience, which indeed set a bad example, but left his charac- ter and moral faculties essentially unimpaired, so that every child is born into the world as innocent and perfect, though as fallible, as Adam was created. It offers no explanation of the undeniable fact of the nniversid dominion of sin, which embraces every human being with the one solitary exception of Jesua of Xazareth. It rests on an atomistic anthropology and hamartiology, and is as anti-scripturul as the op- posite extreme of pantheism. Sociiiianism. Unita - .uanisnLajidRatJ0jialidi^^ sin atid guiTTintTTeproper sense" of the teiinr~' (3.) The assumption of a jrk-Aiv amic fall of . all men, eithe r in time — i. e., in astatlTol individual preexIstence~arTlre-8«ul prior to its connection with 192 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. the body (as Origen held it), or timeless and tran- Bcende.ital (so Dr. Jul. Miiller : ein ansscrzeitlic/ter Urzustand und b'rfalJ). Tliis is a mere hypothesis, without support in human consciousness, and incon- sistent with the plain sense of Rom. v. 12, which, in barnioiiy witii Gen. iii., derives sin from the one his- torirp4^Aiiani. /fT ^riio AcGUSTixiAX or HEAMSTic theory of a reiff'iinTu^li impcisonal and UllUUnsuiuiiy |jai'iiL'ii)a- tion of the whole human race in the fall of Adam, as their natural head, wlio by his individual trans- gression sitialed the generic human nature, and transmitted it in tliis corrupt and guilty state to his descendants hy physical generation. As an individ- ual act, Adam's sin and guilt was his own exclusive- ly, and is not transferable to any otiier individual ; but as the act of mankind in their collective, undis- tributed, and unindividualized form of existence, it was, virtually or potentially, the act of all who were gerniiually or seminally contained in their first pa- rent, us Levi was in the loins of Abraham (ilcb. vii. 9, 10). Persona corrumjtit naturain, natura cor- riimpit personam. Li other words : Adam's indi- Tidual transgression residted in a sinful nature ; while, in the case of his descendants, the sinful na- ture or depraved will results in individual transgres- Bions. See tlie passages from Augustine quoted on p. 178, third foot-note. His view rests on his deep religious experience and his interpretation of Rom. v., but it presupposes, as a necessary prerequisite, the original organic unity of the human race, a dis- tinction between person and nature (which must be njade also in the doctrine of the Trinity and the In- carmition), and may be philosophically supported by the Platonico-Aristotelian realism concerning the doctrine of the general conceptions, as the original types of individual things. TMjis realistic view uf the fall of the race in Adam bccaine tlic ortlioilox aoctrme ot tiic Laim't.'liu it'ft. chODlmeii, Anselm, iiina IL W!bi dL'feijilei l l)y the^ I'e t er ilie Lomnard, xUuuiaZ! a material modification of Augustine's conception of original sin and guilt, which scholastic theology made to consist only in the loss of original righteousness ; ■viewing it more as a wgatiie state of j)rivation than as positive corruption). It was even more earnestly and vigorously maintained by the Reformers, botli Lutheran and Calvinistic (who advocated afresh the Augustinian view of hereditary sin and guilt in all its severity). The various writings of Luther, Me- lanchthon, Calvin, and tlie symbolical books of the sixteenth century, abound with quotations and remi- niscences from Augustine on the doctrines of Sin and Grace. P"t ffi*'"" *'■? Aaj yistinian aystqm diff erent views of iiitpntdtin'i were developed, especially \ \\ \ S'-"", i,;"'" fJia/e and m rduttc* con- joincd and insejiarable. Tins makesJ llni JJirtlt of Adam's first sin imputed, any Turrotiii (Instil., Pars I. p. 556, Ix)cuh IX. do pcooato, Qii. X.) to Joshua de la riac"!, of .Sauiiiure nSM-lfiS')), who was charj^rd with in- voDlinc it to ov:\do the fnrcc of the Hj-nodical decision of Charci ton, 1015. Aumistino and the "Reformers did not tiKe it, and benco there lia« been 8omu diHputo as to the iide on which to place them.] of imputation. Native corruption is itself sin, and likewise punishmeiit for guilt incurred in Adara'e sin. Hereditary guilt coexists with hereditary sin: man is condemned, both on account of the act of disobedience which he connnitted in the loins of Adam, and for hereditary depravity. Here we must distinguish again a minor differ- ence relating to the order of the two kinds of im putation : {aa.) Some put immediate imputation bifore m» diate in the order of things. So Augustine and his strict followers in the Catholic Cinn-ch, and the Calvinists of the Montauban school, David Pa- rens, Andrew Rivet,* the elder Turretin,f and Hei- degger ; ^ — with this difference, that the Dutch and French Calvinists of the seventeenth century com- bined, with the Augustinian theory of participation, the federal theory of representation (see below, No. 5) ; and, while still holding to both kinds of impu- tation, t.'icy laid the chief stress upon immediate im- putation — thus preparing the way lor exclusive im- mediate imputationism. (66.) Others give mediate imputation, or the im- putation of inherent depravity, the logical priority, so that Adam's sin is imputed to us only because it becomes our own by propagation (to which some add, by actual transgression). Here belong, in ^11 probability, Anselm among the schoolmen, g Calvin,| * ■[In opposition to Placseus, and in vindicntion of the decree of the Synod of Ch:irenton, the diytinKuishcd Pro- fessor Kivct, of Lcydcn, made a collpction of piussajies on im))ut:ition from the Reformed and Luthuian Confessions, and prominent divines, as Cidvin, Beza, liullin;;er, Wolf- eans Musculus, Viret, Bucanus, Peter Martyr, Wolleb, Whittaker, Davenant, Zanchius, Olevianus, Ursinus, Pa- rous, I'lswtor, L. Crocius, Melanchthon, Chemnitz, iluTl- nius, and many others (including; also Roman Catholics). But these testimonies arc to a preat extent pcneral, and make no distinction bctv»-een immediate and mediate impu- tation. The collection of Kivct is translated in part in the Pri melon Riview, vol. xi. (183!t>, pp. 55:i-o79.] f ['I'uiTetin (1. c. Pars 1. p. 557) defines imi)utation thus: " Tiiipiialio vii est HEs auknx, vel pkopuije. AHquando inipiitaliir nnbis ill quod tios'rum est prrsonulili r, qun xensu Dtus impufiil picciila piccaloiibun, quos pruptir propria criminii puiiit, ft in bonis dicilur ziilui Phmcir illi impula- Itis ad jit.ili'iam (Ps. cvi. 3l) ; aliquando impnlatiir id quod est EXTKA xo.s, ni'c a niibis -st prm.-'Hliim, quomodo Justilia Christi dicilur nobis impulari, et pecaila tioftnt ipsi impu- laulur, licet nee ipse pcccatum in se Jiaby MeidisTRCr ol Zurich, at the solicitation of TurVetin of Geneva, and Gem* ler of Ilascl, in opposition partly to the mediate imputa- tionism of La Place, asserts that the impulnlio culpm is not the consequence, but the cause of the ix-opng.dio vitiosiUi' lis, or the corrtipHo hmdHaria, and cotidemns the doctrine of those who "sub iinpulaliouis nicdialie ft consequenlil vomiiif, von iiiiputatioiicin duntaxal primi prrcali tollunt, Sfd hereditariir rliain corrupt ionis assrrlionrm ffrovi pi'riculo obiiciunt." Arts. x.-xii. (in Xiemeyer's C'llfc'., p. 733). The same Confffsion teaches also a limited atonement, and verbal, even punetual inspiration; but it soon Install an- thnrity. Ebrard {Kirch' ti- utul D'ffnirni/f.'rh.clilr-, iii. p. 55ti) calls it, rather too severely, the " ridiculous aftcr-birOx of a symbolical book."] § [.\nselm (De cone, virg., c. 7) says wo ore not con- demned because "we ourselves sinned iti Adam, as we did not yet exim, but because we were to descend from him (.>■«(/ quia lie illo fuhiri (ramtis)."] n iCalvin, on Itoni. v. 17 : " We are condemned for the sin of Adam not bv imputation alone, as if tl.e ]iuni.'iequevces of Aiiani's sin, and this sin is therefore the cause of our native cor- ruption ; but it is not our personal gidlt independ- ently of this corruption, and our assent to it. (b.) Mi'iiafe or consequent imputation makes in- herent depravity derived from Adam, and this alone, the ground of condemnation. " Viiiositas prcecedit imputaiionem." So the Reformed school of Saumur, in France, especially Joshua Placaeus (La Place), who denied that the imputation of Adam's sin was prior to, and independent of, inherent depravity, but who claimed to be in full harmony with the teaching of Calvin on tliis subject. This view, " so far as it re- Btricts the nature of original sin to the mere heredi- tary corruption of Adam's posterity, excluding the imputation of the first sin by which he fell," was condemned by the French Reformed Synod at Cha- renton, near Paris, in 1045, yet without mentioning the name of Placajus, who contended that he was not touched by this decree, since he admitted a me- diate imputation of Adam's sin, consequent and de- pendent on corruption. (c.) Immediate or antecedent imputation as op- posed to mediate imputation, makes, on purely legal grounds, the sin of Adam, as the sin of the federal us by gTat;utnus imputation {gratuitam jus/ilia imputa- tinnem). Ebrard (Dogmalik, i., p. 512 f.) and Hodge (on Romans, p. L';)4) represent Calvin as a. mediate imputntion- ist ; the former assenting, the latter disscntii g. Calvin and the Reforrafid Confessions draw no line of demarcation between original sin impiited and originiil sii inherent. Calvin always guards against the supposition that we aie condemned by an arbitrary imputation of a foreign act personal to Adam.] ♦ [Ebrard says, 1. c. i. p. 513 : " Bullinger knows of such a reatitf only which takes place in consequence of the cor- ruptio or v.liostia!:, but not of a ?•(■ov67Tliv()ov) contract or covenant of the sovereign Creator with the first man, called the covenant of works (foediis operum, fcedus naturcB), as distinct from the covenant of grace {foedus c/ratiee), to the effect that Adam should stand a moral probation on behalf of all his de- scendants, so that his act of obedience or disobedi- ence, with all its consequences, should be jtidicially imputed to them, or accounted theirs in law. Adam's position is compared to the I'elation of a representa- tive to ]iis_constituents, or rather of a guardian to his wards,»3ince in this case the wards were not con- sulted, and did not even exist at tlie time of his appointment^.- The transaction must be resolved at last into the sovereign pleasure of God.* Here again we must .distinguish two schools : (rt.) Tlie AuguHlino-federal school is a combina- tion, and superadds the federal scheme on the real- istic basis of participation, so that imputation is made to rest on moral as well as legal grounds. This was the view of the founders and chief advo- cates of the federal theory, Cocceius (originally John Koch, or Cook, born at Bremen, 1603, died as pro- fessor at Leyden, 1G69), Burmann, "Witsius, and is taught by the Westminster standards,! and even in the Consensus Helveticus, although in this the Au- gustinian idea of participation is almost absorbed by the idea of the covenant. | (&.) The pure!)/ federal school (from nominal- istic premises, according to which the general con- ceptions are mere names, not things, subjective ab- stractions, not objective realities) denies the Adamic unity of the race in the realistic sense, consequently also all participation of Adam's descendants in the * [See the different definitions of this foedus npn-itm from the writings of Cocceius, 'Witsius, Heidegger, &c., in Heppc's Dogmalik, pp. 204 ff. It is called /«-/»« /xovo- jrAeupov, quia uiiii'S tantum partis dii^pnsiHone et pro- missiour constat, as distinct from a, foedus muluiim or Si- Trkevpov. There is no Scripture proof whatever for such a primal covenant. The solitary passage quoted, Hosea vi. 7: "For they" (Ephraim and Judah) "like men" (not, " like Adam") " have transcrressed the covenant," refers to the Mosaic covenant. Even Turretin (lusl. thcol. ilen'ltlicie. Pars I. p. 519, of the Edinb. and N. Y. ed., 1S47) admits that it is inconclu.sive, and may be explained of the incon- stancy of men, " ut dicantur trausgressi foedus sicul homi- lies facere soJent, qui sua natura vani, levi'sque sunt et Mein siepc fallunt."] „.,„.,. „ t [On the Westminster divines, see Baird, Etohim Rn- veajrd, pp. 39 ff., and especially the learned articles of Dr. Landis in the Da7willr R-vinv for 18G1-6C.] t [Art. X. ; " Sicut Dens foedu^typerum cum Adamo inivil non tantum pro ipso, sed ctiam in ipso, ut capitb I't stirfe, cum toto genrre humnnn, . . . Ha Adamus Iristi prolopsu, non s-if>i duntaxat srd loli eliam humano generi, . . . bona in fccleri' )iromissa prrdidi>." Comp. also the passage* quoted by Heppe, 1. c. pp. 228 f.l 194 TEE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. »ct of the primal apostasy ; yet it holds that, by virtue of his federal headship on tiie ground of a sovereign arrangement, his sin and guilt are justly, direetly, and immediately imputed to them. The impuiJiiion of Adam's sin, anil in tl>e same way also the imputation of Christ's righteousness or justifica- tion, is thus made a |)urely forensic process, which affects our legal relation, but by no means our moral character. This forensic theory of imputation, which ex- eludes participation in Adam's sin, dates from the time of Turretin, in the latter part of the seven- teenth century,* and is upheld by a number of Cal- vinisiic divines in England and America, but has no advocate of note, as far as I know, among modern Continental divines.f Legal rejiresentation seemed to offer an easier vindication of Divine justice tlian the Augustinian ♦ [Turretin, Uke IIcidoKfror, holds indeed to a double unity of tlie racf with Adam, a natural or real, and a feileral or forena c, but he evidently liivi* the chief stress upon the latter, and prepares tlie way for fjiviiii? up the former. He Bays (in his Iiwlilu'es, first published in 16S8, Pars 1. p. 537, Qu. XI.): " A' lam us duplici vincuOi nobiscum jundux <«'.• (1.) Natural!, qiuilenn.i pnter is', el nos ijiis Jilii ; {'!.) Po- litico «c FOEESSI, qiMlcnux /tiit priiwps cl caput re//rese»- Uilivum liitius generis hwnaiii. t'unilumenluin ergo iiiijni- taliimis non est tnnlum comntutiio nnturtilix, qme nobis cum Adiimo intircedit — nlins omnin ijisius p''rnilit drb'.reiit nobis impu'ari — sed prjecipuk .mobalis el fceoeralis, per quttm fitclum est, tU Deus cum illo, u' cum noslro capid , foetus pepifjfril. UmU Adamus se hnbiiil in illo picctlo, tion ut FEBSONA PRIVATA, Sed ut PVBMCA el EEPRESENT.VTIV.^ quiB OTKwe? SUO.< posleron in uelinite ill' rejirrrspnliuiil, cujus pra- inde demerilum ad nmnrs pertiiic'." In Qu. XII. he quotes with approbation from Auijustine, " in illi> uno mu'ti unus hom'ieranl," adding, by wayofe.xplamtion, " iinilat" non spr- eiji/'dvel numerica, sra parlim unitate orioinis, quia ojnuex ex uno sunt sanguine, partim cxiTArE REPBiESEXTATiONirt, ?ui»i iinus omnium personam repiie:i.At { pec at um utiqwKl actuate, iilque jirm'erilum), which can bo ni other than the sin of Adam nie\({qu'd n'lu p'ifesi aliwt e' if, with Au^rustin, in quo (viz., Adamo), while Hod;;e, more correct -y, takes it as a conjunetion.] t [Dr.-i. Itidgelv, Doddridiro, Watts, and Cunniniihnm, of Scotland (in lii.s'/7-y''<./c(/ Tlno'ogi/, Edmb., ISli.i, vol. i., p. 515, and in hiH R' formers and the Tlnotogi/ if tlv R fn- malion, Uilinb., 1862, pp. .'(71 ft'.), are counti'd on this Hide. Dr. Hoilge, of Princeton, is tl o ablest advocito of imm";- diate forensic imputationism. He stales it (on Romans, p. 279) as follows: "The doctrine of impntatijii is clearly tanifht in this passa-.?!- (Rom. v.). This doetrino docs not Include the idea of a mysterious identity i>f Adnm and his race, nor that of a transfer of the moral turjiilude of his sin to his descendants. It does not teao.li that his otfeiico was personally or properly the sin of all men, or that his act was, in any invt'torious sen e, the act of his posterity. Neither does it implv, in referenec to the riuhi- eoasuess of Clirlst, that His richleoasne-s l)ceomes person- ally and inherently ours, or that His momi excellence is in any way transforre>n, representative ami natural, between .\dam and his posterity, bis sin i-> the ground of their condemnation — that ih, of their subjection to penal tvlls -iind that, in virtue of the u lion between Christ and i His \ eopln. His riKhtf ousne^s Is the (jround of their justili- eation. Thi- doctrine is taueht almost m so many wonls in I vors. \i, 15-19. It Is BO clearly stated, so often repeated or | BBsamed, and ho formally provoii, th.it very few rommrnta- tors of any clas^i fail to acUnowledne, in one form or an- i other, that it is the doetrine of the AposHo." The l:u)t is a mi-t'ike, as wo have shown in the Ex^g. Notes. Hr. Hodge's hoBtillty to the realistic Augustinian view pro- J view.* It involves, undoubtedly, an element of truth, but, if detached from the idea of moral par« ticipation, it resolves itself into a mere legal fiction, and greatly enhances the dillicuity of the problem by removing the best reason for imputation. For how can an infinitely just and holy (iod punish countless millions of human beings simply and sole- ly for the sin of another, in which they had no part whatever? The passage, Ezek. xviii. 1—1, where God rebukes the Israelites for using the proverb oi the sour grapes, which Julian of Eclanum and hia sympathizers have quoted ad nnunean against the Augustinian theory, returns here with double force. The analogy of forensic justification is not to the point, for the righteousness of Christ is not imputed to the impenitent sinner, but only on tlie subjective condition of faith, by which Christ is apprehended and made our own. Justification prcsn])poses re- generation, or an action of the Holy Si)irit, by which He creates repentance of our sins and trust in Jesus Christ, and makes us one with Him. By " being in Christ " is meant, not merely a nominal, putative, or constructive relation, but a real, substantial union ; so also om- " being in Adam," by which the other relation is illustrated, is real and vital. This anal- ogy, therefore, leads to the opposite conclusion, that moral participation, either potential or persoiuU, or both, must be the ground of the imputation of. Ad am's sin. (Jfi^^ The Now School Calvinists of New England (since the days of the younger Edwards), in radical 0])position to Princeton, reject imputation altogetiier; but maintain that the sinfulness of the descendants of Adam results with infallible certaintt/ (though not with necessity) from his transgression ; the one class holding to hereditary depravity, prior to sinful choice, the other cla.ss teaching (with I)r. N. W. Taylor, of New Haven) that the first moral choice of all is uni- versally sinful, yet with the power of contrary choice. This is a peculiar modification of the Pelagian con- ception of libcriim arbUrium, but differs from it in making a nice distinction between natural ability and monil inability. f Q^ The semi-Pklaoian, and the cognate Armin- lAiC^U'ories (of wliich the forim'r, since the fifth cen- tury, has gained large influence in the Latin, the lat- ter, since the seventeenth century, in a considerable portion of the Reformed Churches, and was adopted by the Wcsleyun Methodists), tlnuigh by no means explicit and unifoi'in on this point, agree in that they admit the Adamic unity, and the disastrous cffecta of the primal apostasy upon the whole posterity of Adam, but regard the native or hereditary corrup- tion in)t properly as sin and guilt exposing us to just punishment, hut only as an eril, an infirmity, mala- dy, iitid mislortune, lor which tlie most benevolent God j)rovios.';ibie and absurd, unless wo bold it in the form of preOxisteuco, which Aumisline expn'sslv rejects.] • [Wiitts, as quoted by" Prof. Fisher, 1. c. p. 5or>, naively confesses that he would R'adlv renounce this theory if h< could find anv other way to vindicate Providence, 1 • [Coiiip. Stuart and Itarnes on Rom. v. ; Prof. Ooo. P Kisher, "The Princeton Rview on the Theoloiry of Dr. N. W. Taylor," in the New Eaglandir for April, 1808.] CHAPTER V. 12-21. 195 ism and Augustinianism ; Arminianism wavers be- tween semi-Pelagianism and Calvinism ; both may, according to the elastic nature of compromises, lean now more to the one, now to the other extreme ; employing at times the Augustinian phraseology, but putting, after all, a dift'erent interpretation upon it. The stationary anthropology and hamartiology of the Greek Church occupies a similar position, but it . never passed through the mill of Western contro- versies, and remains to this day theologically incom- plete. Most evangelical divines of the present day are di- vided between the Augustinian or realistic, the federal or forensic, and the Arminiau theories, or they look for a still more satisfactory solution of the difficult problem by a future Augustine, who may be able to advance, from a deeper study of the Scriptures, the knowledge of the Church, and reconcile what now seem to be irreconcilable contradictions. It should be remembered that the main difficulty lies in ih^ fact itself^ — tlie undeniable, stubborn, terrible fact — of the universal dominion of sin and death over the entire race, infants as well as full-grown sinners. No sys- tem of philosophy has ever given a more satisfactory explanation than the great divines of the Church. Outside of the Christian redemption, the fall, with its moral desolation and ruin, remains an impenetra- ble mystery. But immediately after the fall appears, in the promise of the serpent-bruiser, the second Adam, and throws a bright ray of hope into the gloom of despair. In the fulness of the time, accord- ing to God's own counsel. He appeared in our nature, to repair the loss, and to replace the temporary reign of sin by the everlasting reign of superabounding grace, winch never could have been revealed in all its power without the fall.* The person and work of the second Adam are the one glorious solution of the problem of the first, and the triumpiiant vindi- cation of Divine justice and mercy. This is the main point for all practical purposes, and in this, at least, ali true Christians are agreed. — P. S.] 3. [In Lange, No. 2.] Criticism of the Auc/nn- tininn doctri.ie of Sin and Grace. Augustine, in his controversy with Pelagius, has undoubtedly ex- pressed and defended the Church's sense of religious truth, and thereby become a rich source of blessing to Western Christendom. It cannot be denied, however, that the theologico-dogmatical expression of his sense of truth — especially his doctrine of original sin — far transcends the Scrij^tural bounds, and has done harm by its erroneous features. Au- gustine has not only supported, but also obstructed the Reformation. His explanation of ici nnoii a, as the sin wliich resulted \n a. /all ; nn n(jT ij ii a, as a slartini/'/ioiiit of many sins ; nci(inxoii, as (//,i- o/iiilicncr to the kiiowu will of God. These designa- tions anil statements set aside such theories on the origin of sin as thai of J. Miiller (that there was a previoas or timeless fall of the human .souls), and that of \{. llothc (that sin was the original, abnormal condition of humanity proceeding from their mate- rial constitution). 7. The relation of sin Co death. Sin ?« death, • frcl.Teiuo, in his aupi'rfloinl commontnry on Romans, rro»i'rvi'il in Hio works ot Jerome nnd Au(ru«tiiip, oxplnins Br tvot avBjMnov : "jttr unain lu>mintin jKoam."— P. 8. J says John (I John iii. 14, 15); sin bringeth forth death, says James (chap. i. 15); sin ha.s, as its wages or punishment, death as a consequence, says Paul (Rom. vi. 23). This is all the same relation, but from ditt'ereut points of view. The physical dying of the creature in itself is not thereby meant, but the perishableness of the creature is incre;ised by ethical or spiritual death (Rom. viii.) ; and the origi. nal transformation destined for man (2 Cor. v. 1 Vl.) has, by sin, become fearful death, in eonnection with; corruption and the gloom of Sheol. ThereJort Death itself is conquered by the death of Christ, be- cause its sting Ls taken from it (1 Cor. xv. 51, £6). The ethical character of death and the salvation of the redeemed from death are brought to light not onlj in the resurrection, but also in the revelation of the original transformation at the end of the world (1 Cor. XV. 51) ; while the ungodly, in spite of the gen- eral resurrection, are subject to the second death (Rev. ii. 11; xx. 6, &c.). 8. In the period between Adam and Moses, death appeared to be merely the order of nature, because the paradisaical law had disappeared from knowledge by the fall, and ihe Mosaic law iiad not yet appeared. Nevertheless, sin was also at that time the causality of death, but not as transgression in the light of leg;d knowledge. The concealed sin against the law dwell- "iug in all men (chap. ii. 14, 15) was, indeed, attest- eti by the manifest, tyrannical, and terrible dominion of death. Sin, says Paul, is not imputed where there is no law — that is, not fully settled until the law. ]3ut since it is with the gospel that the full significance of the law becomes clear, it follows that condemnation can only come with iinal hardening of the heart against the gospel. 9. Adim and ChriM appear here as principles of the old and new humanity, of the first and second aeon, so far as their posterity is determined by their life. Yet it is not Adam in himself who is the prin- ciple of sin and death, l)ut Adam in his deed — his disobedience. From the nature of sin, the disobe- dience {naiiaxoi]) cannot coincide in him with per- sonality. In Christ, on the contrary, pei-sonality and the obedience [vTrn-Aot]) arc one. In reference ti; personal issue, Adam is the natural ancestor of the whole human race. Christ is the spiritual found- er of the whole human race. Both constitute to- gether a harmonious antithesis in historical conse- quence (1 Cor. XV. 45). Rut they represent the principal antithesis in so far as sin anil death pro- ceeded from one (through him), and righteousness and life from the other. The Apostle sets forth these antitheses in a aeries of parallels, in which, first, their homogeneousness comes into considera- tion (the throuf/li oiv, the organic development), and second, the dLs-similarity (the m ch more on Christ's part) ; then the removal of sin by grace, and the triumi)h of the new principle (so far as by means of the law it makes sin itself .serviceable to its glory). On the construction of these antitheses, compare the general groundwork of the E.rcg. Notes. 10. While doctrinal theology has ascribed to the law a threcfolil use or pur|)ose (bar or bridle, mirror, rule — Xi't'ifl, Sj>iff/el, Riijil), the Apostle seems hero to add a iixus i/u(trlus, or rather primus, in so far na he says that the law must have brought sin to full manifestation and development. This thought is not altogether ineluy the spiritual life of the new bitih, n-igning kings ovi-r sin on earth, as they sliail also be fellow-kings in the heaven of glory (ver. 17). — universal graee of God, by wliieh all niuy be saved by Ohiist ! 1 Tim. ii. 4 ; Acts xvii. 80, 31 (ver. 18). — A small drop of grace can calm and engulf the raging waves of corruption (ver. 2i)). — Ckamkk: As no one can deny that he is mortal, BO also must no one say that he is not sinful (ver. 14). — Xova Bibl. Tub.: Sin has a mighty kingdom and dominion. Let nobody regard it as small and coniemptible 1 Yet the kingdom of grace is much more mighty. The purpose of the latter is to de- stroy the former; where the kingdom of grace in- creases, the kingdom of sin declines. The former brings life, the latter death. Gkklach : There is this great difference between the elfeets ot the fdl and of redeni|)lion : the elfeets of tlie former consist in a strongly legal judgment, which must ensure condemnation in consequence of a single tran.sgression ; but the effects of the latter art! a free gif'i, which made amends not merely for one sin, but for all the repetitions of Adam's trans- gression that have arisen from that first one ; and it has made amentls so completely, that it has really etfeeted in fallen men the lighteousness re(piired by the law (ver. Ki). — So powerfidly does graee operate on those who have received its fidness, that they, by grace, become rulers in life through Jesus Christ (ver. 17). Lisco : Mankind is united in Adam and Christ ; therefoie the sin of Adam i)eeanie the sin of all, and Christ's offering became the propitiation for all. As every leaf of the tree suffers by disease of the root, HO does every one recover by its restoration ; thus it is with mankind in Adam and Christ (vers. 12-21). — Death is the great evil tiiat was begotten by sin (ver. 12). — As Adam's sin has become our.s, so has Ciirisi's righteousness become ours (ver. 19). KiK.OKK : This little passage is as the pillar of Are in the wilderness; dark ami threatening toward llie Kgyptians and impenitent, but bright ami clear toward the Isr.ielites. This pa.xsage lightens ami thniidi'rs against hard simiers, wiio treat every thing lightly ; but it shines with thi; lovely sphnidor of grace upon penitent and an.xious souls (ver. 2 world is not (lod's work, but man's guilt. — 'I'he universality of corruption should not comfort, t)ut humiliate us: 1. We should each be asliamed bef(jre all the rest ; 2. We .should be tishamed before the inhabitants of other worlds, who perhaps do not know any thing about sin ; 3. We should so much the more bear in mind, that, amid the universal sinfulness, we shall not l)e th(! only puri; ones ; 4. We must therefore Work out oin- salvation the more earnestly by j)rayer, and faith in Christ (ver. 12). — .Vdam is the natural, Christ is the spiritual ancestor; the former is the transgressor of the Divine commandment, the latter the fulliller of thi" whole Divii\e law ; the former is the cause of death and hiiinun corruption, the latter the author of Ife, redemption, and holiness (ver. 14)- — '''"■ real ground why the operaticni of Divine praee is as imiversal as the sinful corruption from Adam, is this : that i/nin: knows no other limits than those which man himself .sets l)y unbelief (ver. 17). — Thi! more man is pervaded by the knowledge of his sin, the richer will be his reception of grace (Luke vii. 47). ^ liKssKK : By one upon all (vers. 12-21). — Tha saving counsel of God lias always been one aiul the same to all men, not only to the children of Abra- ham, but to all the sons of Adam (ver. 12). — Death, having once stepped its foot into the world, haa forced its way to all men (ver. 12). — Sin hiis become a natural jxiwer over persons, which cannot be dis- lodged by the blows of any club ; but grace — which does not enter with compulsory jjower, but with the evangelical drawing of the word of God — is so powerful that it breaks the power of natme (ver. 12). — JJett/h riiffiuJ. Well for us that this is said as of a ruler who is dead (ver. 17). — The new de- cree, " You shall live," which is warranted by the empty grave of Jesus Christ, is higher and stronger than the old decree, " You must die," which is con- firmed by millions of graves (ver. 17). — The Apostle once more recapitulates the abundance of doctrine which he has demonstrated all along from ver. 12 : Siii^ ill a /(, (/riirr, ri(//i/r,,usmns, life. The.se five stand thus : grace rises highest in the middle ; the two conquering giants, Sin and Death, at the left ; the double prize of victory, Kighteousness and Life, at the right ; and over the buried name of Adam the glory of the name of Jesus blooms (ver. 21). Sriii.KiKKMACiiER, on ver. 19: The effects of the death of the Kedeemer, so far as it was a work of His obedience. — Deicukkt: Has the Christ who died for us become the Christ within us y — How much more blessed to live under grace than under the law ! Lange: Adam and Christ in the internal and historical life of mankind. — As all men are compre- hended in the fidl of A Vpr. 1.— (The readlnp of the R'C. ((VijuKfoS/xef) is poorlv supported. A. H. C. D. F. read imiiivmiitv : adopted by Oncsb.-ich, Lnrhmann, Tisolicndorf, M in ihe socond. Yet tlic rrndenuK : fT-' Ih'il iliid hns breii jun'iJUd fntm tin (Amer. Itible Uiiion) dors not convey its meaning iiioperly. Thi'imii-it icfi'i-H to somethinc antecedent to the perfect, while the perfect states what continues lo be true; beiiee, in ]. ■.li-l, we iiiu>t invert, rendering the aorint bv hux iliiii, Ihe perft'Ct by m (nqiiilliil. The Apostle is stating a general priii"i-nion, which is not tbe, Col. ii. 20 ; comp. Gal. ii. 19, v6/iii) dnifiavov; Rom. vii. 4. The act of dying refers to the time of baptism, ver. 3 (Bengel, Meyer, Plulip[)i, Alford, Wordsworth), which, in the Apos- tolic Church, usually coincided with conversion and justification, and implied a giving up of the former life of sin, and the beginning of a new life of holi- ness. The remission of sin, which is divinely assured and sealed by baptism, is the death of sin. Sin for- given is hated, sin unforgiven is cherished. This, too, shows the inseparable connection between justi- fication and sanctification ; and yet they are kept distinct: the justified is sanctified, not vice versd ; first we are freed from the ffuilt (reafus) of sin, then .'rom the dominion of sin ; and we are freed from the one in order to b& freed from the other, t-^ [ThoUick quotes from Rungius : ^' Signifcot -non vwdo vutffinein quan'finn (ibxliuiiitinm a propufilo pe'canr/i, sed quiindani ai'TiTrafleiac, qualis est inter mortuos el vivos." — S.J ¥ diia^jTia, as far as regards sin; it is the dative of reference, as Gal. ii. 19 ; 1 Peter ii. 24 ; while in Col. ii. 20 Paul uses dno with the genitive in the same sense. A similar phrase is aTcu ftq &dvaTov; Gal. iii. 27: fit; X(Jia' Toi' ifjanTt(T9 tjTe ; Matt, xxviii. 19 : nq to ovu/ia. Alford : " ' Into participation of,' ' into union with' Christ, in His capacity of spiritual Mastership, Head- ship, and Pattern of conformity." — P. S.] The ex- planation of Meyer [accepted by Hodge], that it never means any thing else than to baptize in refer' ence to, with relaiian to, and that the more specific definitions must arise from the context, fails to do justice to this original meaning. [Comp. Lange and Schaff on Jfotthew, pp. 555 {Textual Note *), 557, 558, 560. — P. S.] But the baptizing into the full, living fellowship of Christ, is, as the Ap^tetle remarks, a baptism into the fellow.ship of His death. And there is implied here, according to the idea of a covenant, the Divine adjudication of this saving fellowship on the one hand, and the human obliga- tion for an ethical continuance of the fellowship on the other. The explanation of Grotius and other.s, the idea of imitation, is digressive, and weakens tii« sense. See Gal. iii. 27 ; Col. ii. 11 ; Titus iii. 5. Ver. 4. Therefore w^e were bxiried with him \_avvirdqjrj^iiv o vv aurw did t oZ 202 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. ^ pant ia nat Qi; tli; tov & dvarov. To be buried is a stronger expression than to die, for the burial oonfirius death and raises it beyond doubt ; it witlidraws the dead from our sight, and annihilates him, as it were. The same figure in Col. ii. 12. The mystic (n' ii) v di,d riji; doitj^ toTi llax^oi;, x.t./.]. The * (aU commentatorB of note (except Stuart and Hedge) expressly admit or take it lor granted that in this verse, especially in T)iJLev and ifyipd-i), the ancient prevail- ing mole of baptism hy immersion aiul emersion is implied, SB giving additional force to the idea of the going down of the Old and the rising up of the new man. Chrysostom on John iii., ir)m. xxv. (al. xxiv., Op/-., torn. viii. p. 151) : Kada7r«p iv nvi Ta.'pro, Tw v5aTt KaradvovTiuv ijfxutv Ta? #C€- (^oAac, 6 TroAAatbf avdpoiiTO^ 9dnTCTai, Kai KaToSuv KaTut KpvTTTtTac oAujc KaBdna^ ' cira dvavevoi'Twv i]fjiwv, 6 Kat-uo^ dfcicrt TToAii'. Ill' tlien quotes t'ol. ii. 12; Horn. vi. (i. liloomfii-ld : "There is a plain allusion to tl'C ancient mode of baptism by immersion ; on which, see Suieer's Tlies. and Uingliam's Anbqnitiis." Birneg : " It is altogotlier proba- ble that the A])ostlo has allusion to the custom of bajitiziiig by immorsion." Conybeare and Howson : "This passage Ciinnot be understood, unless it be borne in mind that the primitive baptism was by immersion." Webster and AVil- Kinson : "Uoublless there is an allusion to immersion, as the uriual mnde of baptism, introduced to show that bap- ti.sTn symboliEod also our spiritual resurrection, utircp mip^'X." Comp. also Hengel, Uiickeri, Tholuek, Meyer. ITie objection of Philippi (whn, however, himself rcgiirds this ailusion probable in ver. 4), that in this c;ise tho. Apos- tle would have expressly mentioned the symbolic act, lias no force in view of the daily practice of baptism. But im- morsionists, on the other hand, make an unwarranted use of this passage. It should be remembered, that immiMsinn ia not coinfnandi'd here, but simply alluded to, and that the immiriiiiti, or Karafvatt, is only one part of the baptismal act, symbolizing the going down of the old man of sin ; and tnat the einirxiim, or ai'dSucrit, of the new man of nghteou.iiios.i, is just as essential to complete the idea. Hence, in-espeolivo of other considerations, the substitu- tion of the onesided and secular term imm. rsimi for bnp- tirni, in a revision of the Englinh Bible, would give a mere- ly negative view of the meaning of the sacrainent. ilnp- tvsra, and the corresponding verb, which have long sbico become naturalized In the Kngli-h language, as much 9l, apiiflh-, iiiifjtl, &{;., arc the only terms to rxpress properly the use of water foi tacrnl, surfnvn ntal purposes, ami the Idea of resurrection as well as of death and burial with (Miiist. Immersion is undoubtedly a more expressive form tlian sprinklinu' ; y<'t the eincacy of the sacrament does not ili'pend upon the (ju-antity or quality of Water, nor upon He muUo of its appllcution. — i;*. S.J purpose of dying with Christ. The power that raised our Lord was the (Voja of the Father. Thus the resurrection of Christ is traced back to the highest Cause. God is the Father, as Origin and Author of the spiritual world comprehended in Christ, liefijre the Father's name the creature-world ascends into the spiritual world, and the spiritual world is con joined in the Son. The glory of the Father is th* concentrated revelation of all the attributes of the Father in their unity, especially of His omnipotence (1 Cor. vi. 14; Eph. i. 19), wisdom, and goodness; or of His omnipotent love in its faithfulness, and of His personality in its most glorious deed.* Before the glory of the Father the whole living world goes to ruin, is doomed to death, in order that the dead Christ may be made alive as Prince of the resurrec- tion. Applications of the duia to the divinity of Christ (Theodoret [fj olxtia Otortjc'], and others); in gloriam palrin (Beza [inadmissible on account of di,d with the genitive] ) ; in paterna gloria re- surrcx't (Castalio). From the dead, ly. viy.{)ii)v. The world of the dead is regarded as a connected sphere. Also antithesis to tli; Ouvutov. So vre also should walk in newness of life [o!/T(i>(,- y.ai /jfifti; iv xaivoTfjTi, tmtjq nt- (t I, n nr t'j ail) ft.(v'\. In newness of life ; that is, in a new kind and form of life, which is subsequently denoted as incorruptibility, and therefore also by implication as continual newness and perpetual re- newal of existence. Consequently, more than uo/; y.ai,%'ti (Grotius).f [Meyer, Alford : " Not ' a new life ; ' — nor are such expressions ever to be diluted away thus." — P. S.] Walk gives prominence to the practical proof of this newness in new, free condtict of life. Ver. 5. For if we have grown together [il YCi(i ail fi qi I' TO !■ yi-yova/ifv^. The ex- pression a i'fi <{> i'Tot;, denoting originally inborn [innate] ; born with [congenital, connate], means here the same as at'/iq^i'/ji;, grown together bji nature. [Grotius : coaluimus ; Tholuek, Philippi, Meyer: ZHsanun'-ngewac/men, vei'waclisen init, coHcretiis ; Stu- art : become homogeneous ; Alford : intimnteli/ and prugressit'elji united. — P. S.] The expression com- plantati (Vulgate, Luther [E. V.: planted toiethfr'\) goes too far, and is not justified by the language ; \ while the interpretation grafted iido (Era.-iiiius [Cal- vin, Estius, Conybeare aiul Howson], atid others) does not express enough here [and would require f/ii/i'TfrTo^, insititiii^. — P. S.] The figure denotes believers as a unity of dilVeient branches in one root or one trunk. These characters, which are utiited in one spirit, as the grapes of a chister, have siirung from one gos|)el or new principle of life. Thus be- lievers have grown into an image or analogue of the death of Jesus {t(7> 6/i omi/i «Tt, dative of direc- tion), but not with such an analogue (Meyer, Tho- * [ J6(a and ivvaixLt arc closely related ; comp. the He- brew "(5, and ri> Kpdrot t^« £<>(>)«, Col. i. 11. Meyer ex» iilains Wfa, dir glorvtichi: Oesainmlvullkuiiimiiih'it GotUt. — i'. S.) t [fo \\.\*n Koppe, Keiche, Stuart : " Kaxv&niri t^c fc ^ I regard as a Hebraistic funn, in which the tirst noun sup- plies tlie place of the adjectiA-e." Agiiinst tills dilution, comp. Winer, y. '.'11, Meyer and -Vlfurd m <■»■. The ab- stract noun Kat.v6-ni% gives greater jiromin'Mice to the qual- ity of ;irio/H»<, which is the chief point hero ; eomp. % ThesH. u. II ; 1 Tim. vi. 17.-1'. S.] J |Tot is not derived from ^vTctiw, tn pUi'xl (^vrtv- rot, used bv I'lito), but from ^liw, or (/)uo>»rt<, '" prmo. Comp. on ih<- dillcieiit meanings of o-bfi^i/re.< llcich^ Fritttcbe, and i'hilippi in luc.—i!. S.] CHAPTER VI. 1-11. 203 luck), with which we cannot connect any clear thought. [Philippi and Meyer explain : grown to- gether, or, intimately connected with the likeness of His death ; the ofiouo/na being spiritual death, so that the meaning is : If we are spritually dead to sin, as Christ was physically dead, &c. So in the other clause our spiritual resurrection is the 6/ioiu)/ia of the bodily resurrection of Christ. — P. S.] Nei- ther can rtZ on 1,(1) fiat I, be the dative of instru- ment : We have grown together with Christ [tw A'^MTTw being understood as in ver. 6] through the resemblance of His death-baptism, the likeness of His death (Enismus [Beza, Grotius], Fritzsche, Baur [Van Hengel], and most others). For [this would require ahtiTi after at'niqivroi, and] believers are not grown together by the likeness of the death of Christ, but by His death itself in a religious sense, as cause (through the medium of the gospel), in order that, as an organism, they should now exhibit as a copy His death in the ethical sense. We shall be also with his resurrection [«AAa xal rrc; avaaTafTioii; tao/iif&a^. The antithesis is strengthened by aX/.d [which is used sometimes also by the classics for the rapid and emphatic introduction of the antithetical idea in the apodosis after a hypothetical protasis ; see Meyer in I'lC, and Hartung, Partikellchre, ii. p. 40. — P. S.]. We shall also be grown together with Him into the likeness of His resurrection (Beza, Grotius, Meyer, Ptiilppi ; Tholuck : " abbreviated comparative "). Kot (rvfiqivroi, t7j<; dvaardanoi; (Erasmus, Calvin, Olshausen, and others).* The reference of the ex- pression to the resurrection of the body (by Tertul- lian, and others) is not in harmony with tlie context (see ver. 4) ; yet is altogether authorized by ver. 9, if we regard the new life as C(mtinuing to the bodily resurrection (therefore an ethical and physical resurrecticm, which Meyer and Tholuck oppose). The future, trrofnOa, is indeed not imperative (Keiche [Olshausen, Stuart : expressive of obliga- tion] ) ; nor does it denote willingness (Fritzsche), but the certainty of the result, the necessary conse- quence of dying together with Christ [Tholuck, Meyer, Hodge], if we understand tiiereby not merely a natural consequence, but an etliical one, which in- volves an ever-new willingness. Tliis is likev\'ise in- dicated by what immediately follows. Ver. 6. Knowing this. That objective rela- tion of the resurrection is not only confirmed by the subjective consciousness (Meyer), but it is also con- ditioned by it. That our old man [6 n a).av6c; ij n mv a V f)- (i lit n i;'\. Meyer: our old eria. Tiiis is liable to misunderstanding, and expresses too much. Meyer f\irther explains : " Personification of the entire state of sinfulness before the nahyyfrfcrla (John iii. 3 ; Titus iii. 5 ; Eph. iv. 22; ; Col. iii. 9)." Tiiis expresses too little. The old man is tiie whole sin- fulness of man, which, proceeding from Adam, and pervading the old world and making it old, lias be- come, in the concrete human image, the pseudo- plasmatic phantom of human nature and the human form f (see cliap. viii. 3). Tholuck's explanation is ♦ [Grammatinally, this is not impossible, since vToi is consiructed with the genitive as well as with the Jative ; but TTJ aicKTrdrTfL would have been more natural in this case ; hence it is better to supply vTot. tu! 6/[io(.co|iiaTt, BO that T^9 avao-Tcio-eius depends upon t. o^iouojuari. — P. S.] t [One of Lange's hardest sentences: " />■;■ .iHc J/j««7j ist die tiiihiillich Suiiilh'\fiigkKii dex Meii^dien, trie sie van Adam aiisffihend, die aik Wilt durchziehend und zur alien macliend in dein coiicreUn Menschenbilde tuim pseiukmlasma- almost unintelligible : " Indication of the ego of th* earlier personality ; as in tao) civ&Qoinoi;, 6 y.(JV7z^ Toy iv ri] y.ctii^ia avQ^otno';, 1 Peter iii. 4.* Was [not is, as in the E. V.] crucified with him [avvtaravQMdii, comp. Gal. ii. 20: A'()kt- tip ai'VfaxaT'QiD^ai, ' tw dk orxtxi. tyo), t-.'J] dt tv i/tol A'^/tffToq]. " Namely, at the time when we were baptized," says Meyer [referring to vers. 3, 4]. But this is rather a superficial view. Baptism haa actually and individually realized a connection which r had already been realized potentially and generally in the death on the cross; see 2 Cor. v. 14, 16; Gal. ii. 19; Col. iii. 1, Tholuck: " Calovius says very properly against Grotius : avv no7i. similitudinem notat^ verum simultatem, ut ita dicam, et commu- NioNEM. The accessory idea of pain, or of gradual death [advocated by Grotius, Stuart, Barnes], could hardly have been thought of in this connection by the Apostle." Yet we are also reminded of the violence and efiFective energy of the death on the cross by the following : in order that the body of sin might be destroyed. The destructive power of the death on the cross involves not merely pain and sor- row, but also the ignominy of the cross of Christ. According to Meyer, Paul only made use of the ex- pression because Christ had died on the cross. In order that the body of sin might be destroyed [iVa x ar a (j y tj S^ri to aoi/ia xfji; afia^riac;; comp. to awfia t^i; ffa^zdt;, Col. ii. 11, and TO ao)/>a to? Savdrov toi'toi', Rom. vii. . 24]. It is self-evident, from Paul and tlie whole ' Bible, that there is not the slightest reference here to a [literal] distruction of the body [«. e., of this physical organism which is only dissolved in physi- cal death, and which, instead of being annihilated, is to be sanctified; comp. 1 Cor. vi. 20; 1 Thess. v. 23 ; Rom. xiii. 14. — P. S.]. As " the old man " is the pseudo-plasmatic phantom of man, so is " the body of sin " the phantom of a body in man consisting of his whole sinfulness ; and so, further on, is the body of death (chap. vii. 24) the phantom of a cor- poreal power of death encompassing man. It is re- markable that most of the later expositors (with the exception of Philippi, p. 210 ff.) reject the construc- tions that are most nearly correct, to substitute for them others which are dualistic. 1. Figurative explnin&tions. Sin under the j^^fwr* of a body. a. The totality of sin (Origen, Grotius). [Chry- sostom : /} 6?.6yJ.?i^0i; d/nafJTia. Calvin ; " Corpus tisehen Scheinbilde der Mfnscherwalur uvd Menfchevgrstall gewrirden ist." In like manner he explains "the body of death," vii. 24, and " the law m the members," vii. 23, with reference to the physiological and mcdic:il docti-ine of plasma and pseudo-plasma, as if Paul had by intuition anticipated modern science.— P. S.l * [The TToAaibi ai/flpuTros is the <7ap{ personified, or the eya> 3." The Christian idea of the TroAiyyei/^o-ioi of course, is far deeper." — P. S.] 204 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. pfecati non earnem et ossa, xed massam desiffnat." More accurately : Sin is personified as a living organ- ism with ni;my inenilicrs (vices), which may be put to lieath. So riiilippi : " Z>t> jla.i.^e ikr Siiml' al.i gegliederier Ortfanixmui." lUooniiiukl : " 7'e aUnta tTs aituuTin^ is tlie same with 6 nahu'o^ avOfjoi- TTos", anif means that sin is a body consisting of many particuhir members or vices, an imperiuin in impe- no."— 1'. S.] 6. Tlie nature or substance of sin (Schiittgen). c. Tlie figure of sin with reference to the figure of the crucitLxion (Calov., Wolf, and others). d. " The tendency of alienation from God and oonformitv to tlie [ileasures of the world " (J. Miiller, and others; Tholuck, p. 290). e. More strongly : The whole man in his de- parture from God ; the nntund man (Augiistin, Luther, Calvin [Hodge : " Tlie body of sin " is only another name for " the old man," or rather for its concrete form] ). f. Ueduced to a minimum : Bad habit (Pelagius). 2. Literal explanations : (I. The flesh as flesh of sin, '/r;Ori, as: evacuarefnr, might be made inoperative and power- less. [Tertullian, Augii-itin; also Stuart and IJarnes: might lie deprived of elKciencv, power, life. Alford : rendered powerless, annulled, as far as regards ener- gy and activity. — P. S.] That henceforth we should not be slaves to sin. [C.il\"in: "/i/i'-)« ahntilionix /i«/a<."] Sin is regarded as the C'liitrolling jiowcr (sec ver. IC)) ; John viii. -14. If this power is to be broken, the body of sin must be crucified. The reason for this is given in what follows. [toTi iifixtn Aoi'ltrnv tjiiuii tri nnruiTirc is a more concrete expression of the aim than the preceding clause, i-'i-re xara^jytjOfi, K.T.;.. See Winer, p. r)69.— P. S.l Ver. 7. For he that hath died is acquitted from sin. ['(} yno n ;t o ') n r mv <) i i) i x ,• ; eomp. 1 Peter i v. 1: on 6 nnfyiov fv (Trtoxi, ninai'Tui umtitrid^. The in- t>rpretations of this passage ilejieml upon the mean- ing of n7Tof>afii>v, whether it Ls to be tiken in a • [Tholu'-k takoH VM/xa In tho lifornl (i<>nHo. Imt viewed VI thf f'-'i/ anil iiiffiii of < for n bihlioo-p»yoholo(fii«l ('xcur-tus on aap(, <7w^a, ^X^' •^''*> r^i/fM, til chnp. vii. Suo below.— I*. ^.J physical, or in a moral (legal), or in a .spiritual (mys- tic) sense — P. S.] The chief and only question here is not ethical dying, or tiying with Christ (Enis- mus, Calvin, Cocceius, bengel, Olshausen [De Wette, Philippi], and others. And the reason for this is, first, becau.se justification must not be regarded as the consequence, but the cause of the ethical dying with Christ. Secmui, because not merely the being justified or freed from sin should be pnjved, in and of itself, but the being justified or freed from sin by death. An Ciirlier, already present, universal, moral, and theocratical law of life is thus used to illustrate the new, religious, and ethical law of life in Cliiis- tianity, in the same way that chap. viL 1-6 has refer- ence to such a law. Tiie univer>al principle which the Apostle makes his groundwork here in the figura- tive expression, is the word in ver. 23 : The najet of sin is death. The Grecian and Roman form of this antithesis was : by execution the offender is jus- tified and separated from his crime (Aletha-us, Wolf, and others). The theocratic form was the same decree of death for sin, according to Gen. ii. 17 ; ix. G ; Lev. xxiii. 1 fl". The sinner who was made a curse-otl'ering, Clierem, was morally destroyed in a symbolical sense, but, at the same time, his guilt also, as well as his life of sin, was destroyed in a symbolical sense. According to Gen. ii. 17, the same thing held good of natural death, not so far as it, as a momentary power, put an end to the sinner's present life (Chrysostom, and others), but rather be- cause it made a penal sull'ering extending into eternity (Slieol) the punishment of sin. All these modifica. tions are grouped in the primitive law : death is the wages of sin ; and this is the law which the Apostle makes the image of the Christian law of life. The Christian dies to sin by being crucified with Christ. Now, the being justified does not mean here justifica- tion by faith in itself (although d\=ihg with Christ is connected therewith), but justification as a release from sin by the death of the sinner himself Be- cause Meyer ignores the comjilete Old Testament idea of death, he attacks the statute of Jewish the- ology : death, as the punishment of sin, atones for the guilt of sin. He explains the Apostle's decla- ration thus : " He is made a t)ixaio^ by death, not as if he were nosv free from the guilt of his sins committed in life, but so far as he sins no more." The explanation of ethical death with C'hrist (Rothe, Phili|ipi, and others already mentioned) heie makes what is to be proved the proof itself (as Meyer prop- erly remarks). Meyer refers the passage to physical death as exit from the present life — a view in wliicli regard is not paid to penal suftVring.* Better than this is the view : As activity ceases in the dead, and sin with it, so should it also be with you who havo died with Christ (Theodoret, MeLanchthon, (Jrotius). l{ut there is the same iiiadequateness of the com- parison. Tholuck's exposition is utterly untenable (with reference to Calvin, Bengel, Spener, and oth- ers), that sin .iliould hei'c be regarded as a credittir who has just claims on man, &c. ; for, while a debtor is relca.sed by death from his creiiitor, there is by no I means a diKantvaOai, of the debtor from his debuf ♦ 1 Meyer's view U. that lie wlio is pbysiciilly dead is free \ from nin, biTna-iih Cli.isl i.i freed honi the tniilt and punishnienl of fin by justification. Sfuaii and Harncs : The .\jio!T<'a] seems to require a similar rendering. Yet we must not merely bring out prominently the repulsiveness of sin to the life of Jesus, but rather the repulsiveness of His life to sin — which repulsiveness was consummated in Hia death. Both together constitute the absolute sepa- ration. Once [tiy«7ra|]. Once for all. [The one sacrifice on the cross, as the sacrifice of the infinite Son of God, has infinite value both as to extent and time, and hence excludes repetition ; comp. Heb. vii. 27; ix. 12, 26, 28; x. 10; 1 Pet. iii. 18.— P. S.] But in that he liveth, or, the Life that he Jiveth [o (5fc ct], tfj rm &ff)]. All His life, His whole glorious life', is for God. As His death consisted wholly in the ethical reaction against sin, so His life consists wholly in consecration to God, His honor, and His kingdom. [Christ's life on earth was also a life for God, but in conflict with sin and death, over which He triumphed in the resurrection. — P. S.] Theophylact's view is wrong : by the power of God. Ver. 11. Thus reckon ye also yourselves (account yourselves) dead indeed unto sin [Ol'iTO)? v.ai VftfTi; loy 1^.(0 St iavtovi; vf- y.Qovt; fiev rfj a/ta^r/a]. A loyitiaOai, of Christ does not stand as a parallel to '/.oyi'daOi (which is imperative, and not indicative, as Bengel would have it).f It should rather be derived from the meaning of the death of Christ, according to ver. 10. But alive unto God in Christ Jesus [hv Xq. '7;;r7.]. That is, in fellowship, or living union with Him (not merely through Him).;]: It refers not simply to living to God (Riickeit, De Wette [Al- ford] ), but also to being dead to sin [Reiche, Mcy. er]. The loyi^KjO-t requirus of Christians that they should understand what they are as Christians, as members of Christ, according to the duties of com- mon fellowship (Tholuck, Philippi) ; but not that they should attain to this condition by moral effort * [The dative of reference or relation ; in point of fact, in the case ol a/otapria it is the Dolivus incnmwodi, or dtlri- maiti ; while in the next clause tu 9ea> ie the Dat. com' modi.— P. S.] t [The indicative would rather require : ou'tco koI iinels \oyii6iJ.i9a, instead of the second person. Alford is quits mistaken, when he says : "Meyer only holds it to be iii' dica'.ivi'." Meyer, on the coi trary, takes XoyiieaOi to be the imperative, in harmony with the hortative character ol' what follows.— P. S.l X [Meyer : ev X. 'I. is not per Christum (Grotius, Fritzsche, o/.), but denotes the element in wlu'ch the being dead and being alive holds. Comp. Winer, Gramm., p. 361 -P. S.] ^ 206 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. (Baur). That is, Christian life proceeds upon the believing piesuppositiou of our completion in Christ ; but this completion is not, reversely, brought to pass by a moral eflbrt. Of course, tiie telic completion then meets the principial completion as the goal of effort. DOCTBINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. Pee the Preliminari/ 7?c»inrAs on chaps, vi.- viii., and the inscription to tlie present section, chap, vi. 1-11. 2. On chap. vi. 1. The false conclusion which anomianisin has ever derived from the fact that sin, in its complete development, occasions a still more glorious revelation of grace, rests on the erroneous supposition tiiat the ethical and organic relation on both sides is a purely natural relation, which justifies to an altogether passive conduct in religions and moral things. This anomianism appears in Inilian heatliendom, as well as in modern liumaTiitarianism, chiefly in a pantheistic form. Ihit in Christian re- ligiousness it appears only sporadically in this form ; yet mostly, on the other hand, in dualistic forms. This is as much as to say, tliat if the flosli be in- dulged in its sphere, the spirit will likewise maintain the iuscendency in its sphere ; or, grace will over- come sin, and the like. But in every form this ano- mianism is to the Apostle an object of religious and moral abhorrence, wiiich he expresses by /lij yirmrn. He o|>po3es this false conclusion t)y the truth of the relation according to which the whole of Christianity is rooted in a thoroughly religious and moral act — the deatli of Jesus. 3. Baptism, in its full meaning, is a dying with Christ, which is potentially groimded in the dynamic meaning of His dying for all (2 Cor. v. 14), and is actually realized in the dynamical genesis of faith. It follows from this that it is not only a ])artial puri- fication of the living sinner, but his fundamental purification by a spiritual death and burial ; tliiit, further, it not merely represents sensibly an

;((Oi'i,' /(iv T-Jj a/iafiTin, ver. 11 ; the positive part, a/./a /ic(()a(Trt'i(TaTf, vcr. 13, answers to LMVTctt; ()e riT> &n7). So Meyer, Philippi, Alford, Hodge, &c. — P. S.] In a didactic respect he teaches that believ- ers, by their transition from a state under the law to a state under grace, a^e first properly qualified and pledged to the service of righteousness, but are not free for the service of sin. That is, tlie true eman- cipation from outward legalism leads to ait inward and free legalism, but not to Antinomianism. The ovv indicates that ver. 11 shall be elaborated. But as the previous section has shown wliat is conform- able to the sfate of grace in itself, the present section dhows what is according to freedom from the hard service of sin, which was presupposed by bondage under the law. Let not sin now reign (imp.). The true sovereign command of grace is opposed to the fahe sovereign command of sin, which is still pres- ent as a broken power (Luther : Observe that holy people still have evil lusts in the flesh, which they do not follow). Tholuck : " Philippi and Meyer correctly remark, that the Apostle does not express- ly make any concessions to the conciipuceidia [t/rt- •fliyd'an;] ; yet his admonition does not extend any farther than that lust must not become a deed. Sin is represented as ruler in the body, which ruler is served by the fiO.ri as organs." Tliat is, however, as the one who has been the ruler ; and the methods are at the same time given for destroyuig the lusts of the flesh, that they — by the life in the Spirit, ■which also changes the members into instruments of righteousness — should not only be continually ignored, but also annulled. [Alford, in opposition to Chrysostom, who lays stress on ^aathvino, says: " It is no matter of comparison between reigning and indwelling mei-eli/, but between reigning and bein/f deposed.'''' — P. S.] In your mortal body [Iv rm &vi^roi r /< i'l v a 0) /I art,}. The ai7)/(a. as QvrjTov must be distin- guished, on the one hand, from the ai7)fia t^c; «//a^- t/ck; of ver. 6, and, on the other, from the am/ict vfy.oov of chap. viii. 10. The ami>a r'ji; ci/iaQr. is the pseudo-plastic apparent body of the old man, 14 and, a-s the sensual aide of all sinfulness, is devoted witli it to destruction. The body is a am/ia riy.^ov so far as it no more asserts itself as a second prin- ciple of life with, or even superior to, the principle of the Spirit, but yields itself purely to the service of the Spirit. But a ai7i/ia OviiTov is the body so far as it, as the sensual organism of the eartldy ex- istence, has living organs, which shall be purified from the former service of sin and transferred to the service of righteousness. The cw/'ct as a false prin- ciple is destroyed ; the (ji7uict as a secondary prin- ciple is dead, absolutely helpless ; and the am/ia as the organ of the spiritual principle is transformed into instruments of righteousness. It is cnlled mor- t J, because its earthly propensity is toward sin and death, and it must be compulsorily brought into the service of righteousness, ar.d exercised as for a spiritual military service in antithesis to the body of the resurrection, which will be the pure power and excellence of righteousness. Meyer is therefore cor- rect in rejecting the interpretation, that ^iv/ror is the same as vi/.(j6v (dead to sin ; Turretin, Ernesti, and others). But it may be asked, For what purpose is the adjective flvijTov? 1. Calvin : per contemptum vocat mcrtaJe \ui doceat iotam hominis naturam ai mortem d ezitium inclinare']. Kollner : It is dishonorable to make the spirit subject to this frail body. 2. Grotius : De vita altera cogitandum, nee for' midaniios lahores hand sane dinturnos. [Chrysos- tom, Theodoret, Reiche, likewise suppose that the word reminds us of the other life, and of the short- ness of the conflict. — P. S.] 3. Flatt : Reminder of the brevity of sensual pleasure. [Comp. Theophylact]. 4. Meyer, obscurely : It is absurd to make sin reign in the mortal body, if the Christian is dead to sin and alive to God. 5. Philippi : To call to mind that the wages of sin is death. [Philippi takes (7w/(« '^^ opposition to nvfvfia.^ 6. Tlioluek, with Bullinger and Calixtus : Be. cause sensual enticements are regarded as insepara- ble from the present sensuous organism, &c. [7. Photius, Turretin, Ernesti : Svtjrov is figui. tively = dead ; i. e., corrupt (in which sense vfx^io? is often used).] In all these definitions the relative dignity and estimate of the " mortal body," which are definitely declared in ver. 13, are not regarded ; the '^»m« 210 THE EPISTLE OF TAUL TO THE ROMANS. members, which until then had been instruments of unrightcoiiBness, honcefDrth being in.struments of righteousness. Tiie organism of earthly existence and action, wiiieh has become mortal by sin, is natu- rally an organism for tlie service of the spirit. By the dominion of sin in it, its morality became still more intense ; but by the normal sulyection of sin to the service of the Spirit, it shall be brought with it on the course toward everlasting life (ver. 22). That ye should obey the lusts thereof [ii'i; TO I' 7ia/.ii rn-v rait; i n t. ') i'/( iat.i; ar- Tor]. According to the sense, we must supply i'.««s to I'TTaxoi'ti-v To the end that ye obey its lusts. Even if the body were holy, its impulses would have to be subject to the dominion of the spirit ; much more must they be subject to the spirit, Bince they are diseased, irritable, excitable, and in- clined to self-assertion and demoniacal self-distrac- tion. Ver. 13. Nor render your members \_Mfi 7if(>t.(TTa.vtTt TO, fii'/.t] vfti')v\ Without doubt na{)i.(JTuvnv has reference here to enlistment or de- livery for military service. The Apostle is writing to Rome, the metropolis of military all'airs, and there- fore derives his figure from Roman customs (comi). chap. xiii. 12); just as he admonishes the Corinthi- ans by expressions that call up the Isthmian games (1 Cor. ix. 24), and speaks to the spiritual city of Ephesus concerning the battle with spirits (Ei)h. vi. 11, 12). Sin is already distinguished as the false fianihi'.:, who causes the false summons to be pi'o- Uiulgated that the members shall be ordered into his warfare against righteousness. — Your members. If the body hiis ceased to be an independent prin- ciple, only its members come into consideration (in the good sense of the principle : Divide ct iin era). According to Enismus, Philippi, and others, the in- tellectual forces and activities (perception, will, uii- derstiinding) are included in the term. According to Meyer, only the physical members are meant (the tongue, hand, foot, eye, &c.), " for which, however, intellectual action is a necessary supposition. The physical members are plainly meant as organs ami symbols of ethical conduct (dilferent from the [)seudo- pla.smatic members ; Col. iii. 5). As weapons [or instruments] of unright- eousness [tin '/.a « (W X / rt (,■ ]. >ieyer says, of immoru/iti/. But, in war, jx'ople contend for the right or the wrong ; therefore the expression «r)tx/a must be strictly retained. — "''07r/a, according to the Vulgate, Tlieod(jret, Luther, Calvin, Hengel, and Meyer: weapons. Calixtus and I)e Weite [Stuart, Reicho, Ilodge, Ewald, Alford], on the other iiand : instruments. The former construction can by no means be favored by appealing to the fact that the (Jarri/'.ivn.v suggest.s warriors in service, for the trope is already obliterated (V) in that term ; but it is favored by the consideration that the Apostle also claewliere — when he uses o/r/.a in the ethical sense — ctnplovs it in tiie meaning of 'weapons; ' Rom. xiii. 12 ; 2' Cor. vi. 7 ; x. 4 " (Tlioluek). [Meyer insists that i'l/rht, while so frecpicntly used in the sense of inttrument-i by classical authors, is never thus used In the New Testament. — R.] To sin [t^ a/ia(tTi(t']. Personified a.s the prcsuir.|nively false ruler (see chap, v. 12 If.). But render yourselves [ ri / / « nn^ianTt':- oixTf / ft I'T <) I'l; ). We must observe here a double antithesis; first, iJie aorixt. nH(iT In y«(i !'ft<7iv or xriiifr- an]. The future, according to Melanehthon : (/«/- cixsiina consolaiio ; erroneously regarded by Roseiv miiller, Flatt, and others, as imperative. If we were to distinguish between the expression of confident supposition (Calov. and De Wettc) and consoling prondse (Chrysoston), Grotius, and Tholuck), wo would prefer the former meaning, since the predomi. ♦ [The Oeiinan commentators jrcncrnlly take the second Tiil>t(' llie second ohiuse is hut n particulnrization of the flrst| to airr)- out tho antithesis. Comp. Stuart,— R.] CHAPTER VI, 12-23. 211 nant train of thought throughout is didactic ; yet the latter is also included. For ye are not undei \avr [01/ yuQ iffxf VTTo i'b/(Ov]. Notwithstanding the preceding declaration in chap. v. 20, the expression continues to be an oxymoron, since the law is recognized as a Darrier to sin. The sense is : freedom from the law gives you so little freedom to sin, that it is only by the exercise of grace upon you that your freedom from sin has begun. [Meyer : " Were they under the law, Paul could not have given this promise {i. e., in the preceding clause), for the law is the strength of sin (1 Cor. xv. 56), multiplies sin (v. 20), in which aspect he intends to explain it furtner in chap, vii." Laiv is here used in its widest significa- tion. See Hodge. — R.] Under the dominion of grace [vno /d^iv^, which operates as an inward and new principle of life ; while the law, as such, confronted the inward life only as an outward demand — threatening, arous- ing, and casting down ; and in this form it presup- posed the dominion of sin. Bondage under the law betokened bondage under sin, without being able to remove it ; but it is removed by the dominion of grace, which has become an inward law of life. [The general idea undoubtedly is : " Ye are not under a hyal dispensation, but a pracious one " (Stuart) ; yet the whole context forbids the ex- clusive reference to the method of justification. " Grace " is here used in its widest sense ; " the Di- vine grace, shown in Christ, is the power under which ye stand " (Meyer), and which assures that ye shall not be under the dominion of sin. — " Gratia non solum peccaia diluit, sed ut non peccetnus facit " (Augustine). — R.] _ Ver. 15. What then? May we sin [Tl ovvf ait a(iT?'j IT (I) fifv . See Textual JVoie^. — R.]. According to Riickert, Meyer, and others, a new sec- tion should commence here ; which Tholuck is right in opposing. The unity of the following with the foregoing is the fundamental thought : freedom from sin. Also the reference to the members continues throughout what follows (ver. 19). There is, however, a modification. Down to ver. 14 the antithesis was rather an ethical demand ; but now a religious con- firmation predominates. There, the new life was contrasted witii the old as a vohmtary entrance into the military serin.ce of righteousness over against the wicked, mercenary service of sin ; here, the Apostle (speaking according to human analogy) pre- sents the ol)ligation of a new service in contrast with the old service. In the present verse Paul therefore brings out prominently the fearful consequence of the impure Antinomian view of the state of grace, in order to condemn it forthwith. To this earnest rejection of a horrible consequence, arising so fre- quently in ancient and modern times, the conjunc- tive afia()rii(7if>fifv corresponds better than the future. [Dr. Hodge well remarks : "Such has been the objection to the doctrines of grace in all ages. And the fact that this objection was made to Paul's teachings, proves that his doctrine is the same with tliat against which the same objection is still urged." This couf-ideration should also prevent any limitation of " grace " to justification. — On /> ij' yiroiro, see iii. 4, Textiuill^ote ^, p. 112 ; comp. C'omtn. Gal., p. 49, foot-note. — R.] Ver. 16. To whom ye yield yourselves. With the know ye not,* the Apostle points to the * [Stuart : " I take it for granted that ye know and analogy of a principle of civil law ; but he gives the application in the same sentence with it. To whow you once voluntarily gave and pledged yourselves foi obedience [with a view to obedience ; Alford] aa servants (slaves), his servants ye are, and him ye obey ; be it a.s servants of sin unto death, &c. Thug the two services preclude each other, since the mas. ters deny each other (Matt. vi. 24). According to De Wette, Philippi, and Tholuck, the emphasis rests on t'« Tw fduTt, x.T./..]. It may be asked, whether the first proj)osition is a mere introduction to the .second afi the principal pr(>i)osition, so tliat the tliank.igiving refers nicrily to obedience ((Jrotius, Estius, and otli- ere) ; or whether the tiianksgiving refers to both propositions (Meyer, Tholuek).|; Tholuck says, in favor of the latter view : " Since Tjjf precedes, and fiiv is wanting, tjrt must be read with all the more emphasis ; as 1 Cor. vi. 11 : y.ai T«rTa t/'v.%- /^tj ; Eph. v. 8 : Irt ydii noTf (TxoTOi; ; and tlie imme- diate oijject of tliiUiksgiving is that this time of the bondage to sin is past." Eviosiiive. But ye obeyed from the heart [vnTixov- auTf «)t ix >!«of)('ft;Tf.^ E-xjilanations : 1. Christian doctrine in general (the most com- mon). Meyer says properly to the contrary : By this the expression rvrroq would not be explained. Bezn, indeed, exidains it : A seal under which we are placed to receive its impression, j 2. The doctrinal form of the gospel according to Paul, in opposition to anti-Paulinism (De Wette, Meyer, and others).^ 3. O-k-umenius, Calvin, and others, have taken the word in the sense of the ideal which the doctrine holds up. For a still more untenable explanation by Von Hengel, see Meyer. * [I'rot Stuart here also confounds fiifcaiooTinj with 4i- Koiucrtc, and unfortunately paraphriisrs : ob'duiv'- which i.i viilii jii-i'ficiilinii. Th s is open to Icxirnl as well as tlu-o- loipcal objections. At*, is Buojective (IJoflRe). — H.) t [ITioluok airrees with Meyer, who takes ver. 16 as the mnjor, ver. 17 ns the miunr, but ropird.s the coiicliisiim tm Bclf-cvi'lcnt, ami hence not l!xpres^od. -R.I I (So I'hilipjii, Hodjrf, AlionI, nnd modpm commenta- tors L't-nernlly, takinK the fir?t clnuse a* mi-nninK : ihni il »'« nvT. Wonisworlli, however, flmls here "a mode of •''pcakiiii^, where a bad thine; i* repre«enti-d as rumparn- bvcly good, so tliat the euperiority of what is rcmtrafti'd with it may appear more clear." Thia seems totally irrelo- raiit.— K.l i [Stuart prefers to 6nd no attraction, since vncueovtiv poveriis the nccusalive, >iut there seem." to be a raodiflra- tion of the meaning in such cases. (>n the fa°ammatlcal difliculty, se«' Meyer in loco, Winer, p. 15.'>. — U.] 1 [Wordsworth thus cairies out the metaphor of the vorso : " You readilv obeyed the mould of ("liristiMn Faith nnd rractice, into wLich, at your baptism, you were poiirol, Bs it were, like soft, ductile and fluent metal, in order to he cant, and take its form. You obt>yed fliis mould ; you were sot riirid uml (ibstinato, but were plastic and pliant, and n-isumed it readily." — R| 1 [AdoptiiiK this view in the main, wo prefer teiching to dinlrine. The latter is more al)stract, tmt the ref-rcneo here Rcems to be to definite forms of iiutructlon.— K.J Tholuck first repudiates the presumption of anti> Paulinism. Yet it does, indeed, come into consider, ation, so far as it judaistieally oljscured the PAuliuo doctrine of free grace. Tlioluck is then in< lined to accept the exj)lanation of Btza, and says " that it id by no means a common expression ' to be delivered to a doctrine,' even if, with Chrysostom and Olshau- sen, we consider at the .«ame time the giddance of God as the active factor." But the Apostle say.-, in Gal. i. 6, what he holds concerning this t\pe of doc- trine in opposition to its obscurations. God himself has committed them to this school of faith. y/a((f flofljjTf is not middle (Fritzsche), but passive. [Winer, p. 245, seems to justify the change to the active form which the E. V. adopts, but there is a good reason for the choice of the pa.^sive, viz., the activity of God in committing them to this type of teaching. This thonglit api)roin'iately lolhiwg " Thanks to God." So Meyer, com{). I'hilippi. — R.] It follows, from what has been said, that tlie Church was already won over by the Apostle's Iriends to the Pauline form of the gospel. But here the matter treated of is the essential element ; the true euergj of freedom from the law is the true energy of life in obedience unto righteousness. Ver. 18. And being made free from sin [i).f V ly utii} ivr k; i)i an 6 t^i; d/ia^iTtai;, Aorist pariicii)le, referring to the definite act ot de- liverance. The clause stands in close connection with ver. 17, not as a conclusion (since ori' would occur in that case), but rather as an expansion. — R.], The ()i leads us to emphasize the expression: ye are enslaved, or made servants, &c. From the na- ture of tlie case, they knew the negative past — /re". from sill — earlier and better than this full conse- quence : ye became the servants of right- eousness. Ver. 19. I speak after the manner of men. The nrOiiwTTiroi' is analdgous to the y.ar df>'l(iii> nor in chap. iii. 5.* By slavery, which wa.s in full bloom in ]\ome, the Apostle clearly explains to them the absolute force of the new ])rinei]ple of life. Because of the infirmity of your flesh [(Krt T/jv drrOivfinv T/^s" ffafixoi; i/ii'ir^. The flesh, or the sensuous ami susceptible fulnes^i of tlie body, is not only negatively weak, but also jiosi- tively diseased and disturbed, both of which facts are expressed by the daflttna. It may be asked, however, whether the Apostle means here the weak- ness ot intelligence arising from this infirmity, by which he was compelled to represent to them the highest liberty under the figure of servitude (Ben- gel, Meyer, and De Wette, with reference to 1 Cor. iii. 1); or whether he meant their practical infirm- ity. The first view — that is, the reference to intelli- gence — ajijiears also in the intimation that the Apos- tle announces a popular explanation (Vatal»le, Er- nesti, and Rosenmiillcr). The latter view is favored by Origen, Chrysostom, Thcodoret, Calvin, &c. : " I require nothing which your fleshly weakness could not do," or the like. The thought here could not be unintelligible to the Roman Christians ; therefore the practiial reference by all means prejiondcrates ; but not in the sense already given : " I require of you nothing too diflicult ; I require only the degre* of obedience which you formerly rendered to sin.** • [Hodge: "The former characterizes as human th« thing said, and the other the manner of euying it." Comp. Meyer, however.— Tlils apologetic foini of exiiressior. con« corns the description of " true freedom " as a iovAcia.— U.I CHAPTER VI. 12-23. 213 The Ipoatle's thought can rather be explained by what follows : ''Yield your members srvants,'''' &.c. That is, even if, in your spiritual life, you feel that you are as freemen, you must nevertheless restmin your menibnrs strictly in discipline and obedience on account of the infirmity of your flesh. With all freedom, the question in reference to the bodily members is an appropriate ascetic discipline, such as the Apostle exercised in reference to his own body (1 Cor. ix 27 ; comp. Gal. v. 24); and therefore the figurative form of his expression does not merely correspond to the antithesis as denoting an unlimited obedience, but is e^tablished in a more special sense as the requirement of a strict discipline. This view obviates Meyer's reminder: j.iyo) cannot mean require. The Apostle does not express a require- ment, but a principle ; by which analogy the Chris- tian, in his freedom, has to make his bodily life ab- solutely subject. Lachmann [apparently Oishausen] and Fritzsche unjustifiably make a parenthesis of this clause, a.vn(JMnivov, /..t.'/.. [Witli Bengel, Oishausen, De Wette, Hodge, Al- ford, and many others, I am disposed to give a de- cided preference to the first view, viz., that this clause refers to what precedes. Commentators differ as to the force of the terms, but the following posi- tions seem most tenable, hifirmlty means intellect- ual weakness, growing out of their carnal con- dition (aia has especial reference to the heathen portion (according to chap, i.), and to in- iquity, dvoitia, on the contrary, to the Jewish portion (according to chap. ii.). Meyer makes this distinction : dxaO-. is sin as ethically defiling man ; and dvofi. is sin as violation of the Divine law. Speuer, De Wette, and others, distinguish tims : Uncleanness us defilement of themselves and of sin toward others. Tholuck considers d/.ad- as apeciex.^ and dvonia as the generalizing genus of sin. But the genus is declared in what follows. The d./.a9-., or fleshly sin in the narrower sense, and the dvodia, or violations of the law in the narrower sense, con- verge in the dvonia in the wider sense in guilt and condemnation before the law — -which constitute the antit'iiesis to dyiatri^oc. Therefore the explanation of unto iniquity,* ilt; Trjv dro/i., as from one sin to others, is incorrect (CEcumenius, Erasmus, Luther, and Grotius). The duality of the service of sin is worthy of note : a service in part to unclean- ness and in part to insubordination. This could not be the case (according to the axiom that no man can serve two masters) if both were not connected. Even so now^ render your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification * [A (juestioE. arises as to the exact meaiiiiig of the phrase ei? ttji' ivofiCav . It may mean, for the pur- posed iniriiiity— ('. /'., in order to work iniquity (Stuart, Hodso, Meyer), in order that this shall be actualtv present- ed, or issuicjr in iniquity, av. indicating tlie resultant state (Thoinck, Ts Wette, Alford, Lange). The latter is prefcr- a'de, beeause the word seems to refer to a state rather than an act. besides, its antithesis is e'n ayiacr/uoi', which indicates the re.'^ult, as \re infer from its ise in ver. '^2. — 11.] [oi'toj? vT'V Tta^aarijtraxf id fiikri {ifiUit d or ?.a T ^ d I, y. a I, a r V ri i ti; dyt^ctafiov^. Righteousness, as the new principle of life, should bear unconditional sway over the members ; holi- ness should be the end and result. Meyer translate, uyuirruo.:, holiness. To present holiness. Even Tho- luck does not understand the word to mean an ettbrt to be holy. He refers to ver. 22 ; but there dyi,a(y- //o.,- is still distinct from the ri/.oq as movement toward the ri/.nc. He then quotes Heb. xii. 1-4. But this passage does not decide positively for th« expression holiness. For completed holiness is nol the preliminary condition for beholding the Lord, but its fruit. But, according to this very passage, aj'taiTdOs' cannot mean a striving; otherwise we would have to translate: strive after the striving of holiness. Tiie expressions quoted by Tholuck from Basil and CEcumenius do not btjth prove the same thing. tEcumenius understands by the word, abso- lute purity ; Basil, thorough consecration to the holy God. And this is the sense. '_-/j't«o'/(d-- means, fir?t of all, the act of consecration ("According to Bleek, on Heb. xii. 14, it does not occur among the classics ; but Dion. Halic, i. 21, as in the Sept., has it of acts of consecration ; " Tholuck), then the ctm- dition of being consecrated, or of holiness — an idea which does not perfectly coincide with the idea of completed holiness, and in which there is at once ex- pressed the constant ethical movement, rather than a substantial and quiescent condition. [On the lexical grounds Lange advances, sanctifi- cation is the preferable meaning — one which accords with the context. The issue (not, the end ; the use of the phrase in ver. 22 is against this) is sanctifica- tion, which indeed results in perfect holiness, but comes into view here rather as a progressive state than as an ultimate one. Undoubtedly ririhteousness describes the principle, and dyi,. the actual condition (Philippi), but in the sense given by Lange above. Meyer says the word always means holiness — never sanctification — in the New Testament. Compare, on the contrary, Bengel, Rom. i. 4. — R.] Ver. 20. For when ye were servants of sin [or? ydjj ()ov).oi. tjTf t^<; a/(a^T(ac]. According to Fritzsche, the yd^i indicates the elu- cidation of ver. 19 ; but according to Meyer and Tholuck, it announces the establishing of it. It is, however, rather a continued elucidation of the pre- ceding than an establishment of what follows.* The Apostle answers the question : wherefore should the service of righteousnefs be a bond-service ? An- swer : because ye, who were formerly the servants of sin, became free in relation to righteousness. They were not tlie freemen of righteousness, aa though it had made them free, but in relation to it ; therefore the dative. The argument lies in the ne- cessity of the complete reversion of the earlier rebi- tion. Since sin and righteou.sness preclude each other, they were free in relation to righteousness, because they were the bondmen of sin. Therefore, since they have now become free from sin, they * [The difficult connection of the verse is satisfactorily explained in Webster and Wilkinson: "yap restates the view given of theur former condition in respect to sin and righteousness, in prepriration for the final and most accu- rate statement of their present spiritual condition (ver. 2J)." Meyer (who has chanced his views), in 4lh ed., also finds in this verse a preparation for the full statement of a motive for obcyint' t!ic precept of ver. 19. He groups vers, 20-2.: as one in thought, calling attention, however, to th« somewhat tragical force of our verse, with its emphatifl words in the parallel clauses. — E.] 214 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. must be the bon'lmea of rigliteou3nes3. The fearful expression, free as regaids righteousness [t/.t r - &tfjai, ijTt Ti* dixaioaii'ij, dulive of refer- ence], lioof! not niuau that righteousiiesa had no claims upon you (Tholuok), but tliat it had no part in you.* According to Koppe and Keiehe, tiiis is ironical ; a position opposed by Meyer, and now also by Tiiohick. There is ceruiidy nothing ironical in the sentence, but there is in tlie word thrOfi>oi. For we cjin no more accept it in a strict sense, than that they should be the slaves of righteousness. As tliis hitter bondage is not oidy freedom, but also spontaneity, so was that freedom the deepest shivery. [That was a sorrowful freedom ! Why find irony, tlien V— R.] Ver. 'Jl. What fruit had ye then therefore? Things whereof ye are novr ashamed [t('i'« I' I' y. a (J 71 u V f i / f r i t d t j^ ; i (t' o t s' '' '*' v inai^ff/i'VurO^f. See Textual Note '". — R.]. Here are two divergent constructions : 1. The question closes witii roTf. Tlien fol- lows tlie answer. (Thus the Pesh., Theodore of Mopsvestia, Theodoret, Enisinus, Luther, and many Othei-s, down to De ^Velte, Lachmann, Tisciiendort, and Philippi.) [So Alford, Webster and Wilkin- son.] 2. The question continues to inat-a/vvtaOf. What fruit had ye then in those tilings whereof ye are now asliamed '? Answer : None ; for the final result of tliem (these things) is deatli (tlius Chrysos- toni, (Ecumenius, Beza, Caiov., Grotius, &c. ; Ben- gel, .Meyer). [So Stuart, Ilodge, Word.swarth.] 3. Reiche, in conjunction witli the latter con- struction, explains tlms : Wiuit deeds, of which ye are now a.sliained, proceeded from your service of sin (namely, your bringing forth fruit) ? This third construction is utterly untenable ; y.nfjnoi; would then recur as plural in tV ott,-, and xa()7T. i/n,v would mean : to bring forth fruit. Tiiei-e are the following reasons against Meyer's ex|)lanation : 1. First of all, he must insert an ixtiviitv before tip oli;, and introiiuee a negation into the question, in order to explain the form of the answer, to yon>, kc. 2. The (juestion is. What fruit had ye then ? not. What will ye have finally ? 3. After the antithesis, it should be made emphatic thit t ley had formerly no fruit, but rather pernicious and horrible deceptions, but that now tliey bring forth their fr\iit. 4. Hy .Meyer's cmislruction, ti/' oti; vrv inavn ■/ i'VKt (Yi would be converted into an enervating remark. Meyer .say.s, against ex- planation No. 1 : 1. According to ver. 22, the ques- tion, in antithesis to ver. 21, is the haviuri the fruit, and not the (piality of it. This is wrong : the x«/<- TTflv is <|ualified, >«,■ ayiannnv. 2. I'aul must have ■written t»'i'«,- zno/ror,-, or i

re- sented in a variety of things. 3. Paul never ascribes xa()7Tin'(; to immorality ; he attributes i'oyn to it (Gal. v. 1ft); he predicates xa^j/roi; of onlv what is good (Gal. V. 22; Eph. v. 9 ; Piiil. i. 11)"; indeed, hi- even designates the loyn rnv a/.urniK; as axaoTia. But till" A|)i)slle says the same thing here, wlien he aiiks, What fruit had ye then ? He even denies that they had real fruit — the true gain of life. On the other hand, they reaped, in-Jtcad of true fruit, ba.se deceptions, things of which they are now ashamed, and in which their future death is announced. Comp. • I Stuart : "counted youriaoWes froo." This Is an Im- plied Irony, and ol>jectionablo, for it Is not strictly true— R.J Gal. vi. 8. Tholuck thinks that between the tw« constructions there is no demonstrative decision. For the end of those things is death [to /(£!' yct.(i Tt/.Oi; i/.tiviitv flciraTo,]. Death must be understood here in its complete and com- prehensive meaning ; not eternal death exclusively (Meyer). Meyer, with Lachmann, accepts /tiai;]. The evil relation has been completely reversed by faith. — And become ser- vants to God [duvXni ivrn; i)i r iji & nZ . Notice the definiteness of theaorist participles. — R.]. (lod himself here takes the place of dt^xuioaiivti, for their relation is now one of personal love.— Ye have your fruit unto sanctification [i/fn Tor xaoTTov luoiv fi^ dyi^nauov. The pres- ent indicates fruit already. The sense : have your reward, seems unjustifiable here. Eii; is consecu- tive here (Meyer), as I hold it to be in ver. 19 also. 'yiytarr ft 6vf satictifi'-alion, as above, a progressive state, tlie immediate i.ssue of the fruit of their per- sonal relation to God, tiie final issue follows. — R.] They have fruit already in this new relation. Meyer: the nottrorc/i; ^cj^i,-, ver. 4. — Or the ptitce, chap. v. 1. But as, in the Old Testament, the firstlings served for the a;'t«tr,((d^, so, in the New Testament, this is done by the whole fruit of the life of faith. Tho- luck translates here also : holhwxs [without exclud- ing the idea of sanctification, however. — R.] And the end everlasting life [ r d ») e riXoi; llintjv « t (li rto )']. That is, ye have evei'lasting life. Meyer says, this po.ssession is still an ideal one. It is rather an essential one ; John iii. 30 ; Matt. v. 8 ; Ileb. xii. 14 ; 1 John iii. 2. [We must take *' life " here in its Tuost extended sen.se, as " death " in ver. 21. Meyer's dilHculty arises Irom his limit- ing the meaning of these two words throughout. We have already eternal life in germ ; in its ful- ness it is the Tf'/oi; of all our fruit and fruitfulness. Not, however, by natural, inherent laws of develop- ment. The next verse sets forth anew the two ends, and the inherent dilVerenee. — R.] Ver. 23. For the wages of sin is death [ t « y aq o >/' "» r t ft T // s a // « (> t 1 ft i,- f) c't v n t o t; ]. Tholuck: "'Oi/'olnor, and in the ])lural di/'i.ina, wages of the servant and tiie soldier; therefore pos- sibly, though not necessarily, a continuation of the figure of military service ; comp. on/.ct, ver. 13. Uniier thii supposition, (Jrotius, Bengel, and Wct- stein made /donTiin to mean the donationmn milu tare. Vet tlie technical wonl for such a gift is « fni<)n(Ti^ (Kiilzsche)." The figurative character of the antithesis lies in the fact that sin pays its soldiers and slaves miserable wages (Erasmus : oitciria, vi/« virbuin), namely, diatli ; but '<''IJ^<^y see v. 15 ff. — The antithesis is differ- ent here, yet rolated — there, fall, trsjisgression ; here, wages, hut of sin — E.] 4. Ver. 13. If the real Christian should again serve sin, his conduct would be a voluntary, coward, ly, and inexcusable surrender of his arms to a hos. tile power already overthrown. But, according to the Apostle's view, the whole life of humanity is a moral struggle of the spirit between righteousness and unrighteousness, in which all the human mem- bers are arms that contend for either righteousness or unrighteousness. Man, physiologically regarded, is born nidied, without weapons or arms ; ethically considered, he is " armed to the teeth ; " his mem- bers have throughout the significance of moral arms. 5. The conclusion made by non-legal impurity, that sin is made free, because we are not under law, but under grace, is reversed by Paul, who says that, for this reason, sin is to be regarded as abrogated and excluded. The law does not make sinners, but it suits sinners ; bondage under the law corresponds to bondage under sin, and the law cannot annul this bondage. To him who stands under the law, his own inmost nature is still a strange form ; for the inmost nature, in its living character, signifies the inwardness of the law, freedom from the letter of the law, liberty. To be estranged from one's self is, therefore, to be still in the bondage of sin, and there- fore under that of the law also, as the foreign form of the inmost norms of life. But in grace, man has become at once free from sin and the law, because by grace he has come to himself (Luke xv. 15), and because it has written the law, as the word of the Spirit, on his heart.* On the power of sin, see Tho- luck, p. 313 ; on the vova obedietUia, p. 314. 0. On ver. 1(>. Life is throughout a consequence of an established principle, either for death or for life, whether man may have made this principle — his self-determination — more or less clear to himself. Christianity is a thoroughly synthetical view of life — a view of life in its grand, complete, and funda- mental relations. Adam, Christ — the state of bond age, the state of freedom, &c. 7. On ver. 17. When the Apostle thanks God that the Romans have not merely become Christians in a general sense, but have become obedient to the doctrinal form of the freedom of the gospel from the law, the application of this to the evangelical confession lies very near. The Apostle speaks here of definite doctrinal types, not so much in the for- mal as in the material sense. The antithesis is juda- izing Christianity. 8. On vers. 19, 20. That the members should be servants to righteousness, is not merely a figura- tive expression ai'ising from the antithesis that they were enslaved to sin. Rather, this is a demand which follows from the fact that, in consequence of serving sin, they are afflicted with weakness of the flesh ; and therefore, notwithstanding the freedom of the Christian spirit — yea, by virtue of it — the morbid and blunted natural forces, the animal na- * [Stuart : •' Christians are placed in a condition ol which g'ince is the prominent feature: grace to sanctify as well as grace to renew the heart ; grace to purify the evil affections ; grace to forgive otiences though often repeated, and thus to save from despair, and to excite to new efforts of obedience. Viewed in this light, there is abundaut rea- son for Asserting that Christi.ins, under a system of grace, w'ill much more efiVctually throw off the dominion of sin, than they would do if under a mere law dispensation." Tet, if there be one point where there is most obscurity in the minds of the majority of professing Christians, it is here. That it has largely arisen from an obscuration of the doc- trine of sanctification by grace, or rather the unwise sun- dering of .iustific:i''nn and sanctificaton in discussicg thij Epistle, is painfully true— R.] 316 THE EriSTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. turcs, niu-st be subjected, watched over, and con- trolled. Au<;u.stine tenches that tlje little tree, which baa grown crooked on one side, is thereljy stretched BO that it can be bent a little toward the other side. y. The fruit of the service of sin is fiist of all represented in bitter disjippointnients, confusion, dis- grace, and shame ; finallv, in death. The reward of ein is, from its very nature, the low wages for slavish or niiliiarv service, and in addition to this, further Coiiteinptilile pay, viz., deatli. How glorious does the honorable gill of eternal life appear in compari- son with this wretched reward ! See the Exef/. Kolen. We nnist here reject the exaggerations of the idea of gracious retribution, as well on the side of arbitrary authority as on the side of reward. In human relations, gaiu is a lower form than merit ; but the donation goes far beyond the merit, since it, as the gilt of personal magnanimity, will more than outweigli the work of personal worth. Everywhere in the kingdom of love, to say nothing of the king- dom of grace, all idea of nterit falls to the ground ; but the api)ropriateness of the reward to the dignity of the chilli and the worthiness of the servant, which are bestowed by God and religiously and morally a|>propriated, do not fall to the ground. Grace is not thereby so glorifieil that it is absolved from jus- tice.* On the w(i)// aui'ivio^, see Connn. on the Gos- pel of John, iii. 15. HOMILETICAL AXD PRACTICAL. The well-established apostolical admonition to a moral course of life: 1. To whom is it diiected ? 2. What does it require ? 3. By what is it estab- lished y — Our body is mortal (ver. 12). — In whose service should our members be? 1. Not in the ser- vice of unrighteousness ; but, 2. In the servee of righteousness (ver. I'H). — In which service do our Weapons hold out better? 1. Many believe in the service of unrigliteousness ; but there they are de- stroyed ; 2. Christian experience teaches, on the Other hand, that it is in the service of righteousness, for there they remain untouched (ver. l:^). — Under the law there is di-ath, but imder grace there is life (ver. 14). — Law and grace. SliouM we sin, since we are not under the law, but under grace ? (Jod forl)id ! Because freedom from the law is (1.) not lawlessness, but (2.) obedi- ence to righteousness [com[). Luther's work on the Freedom of a Christian Man], (vers. 15-23). — What is it to be obedient in heart to the form of doctrine with which we are connected ? 1. Not only to be orthodox, but also believing (ver. 17). — The form of at)ostolical doctrine. 1. What must we imder- stami thereby? (The Apostle Paul's doctrine of ju-(fifieation by faith.) 2. How far is this form of imf)nrtance for us? (ver. 17). — Christian (ireachers should never forget to .so speak after the manner of men that everybody can understand, chap. iii. 5 (Ver. l'.>). — The fruits of serving sin and serving r,-)d: 1. The fruit of the former is death; 2. The Iniit of the; latter is eternal life (ver. 21). — What is the fruit of sin? 1. A fruit of which one nnist be ashamed; 2. One whose end is death (ver. 21). — What is the fruit of righteousness ? 1. One of holi- K 11CB8 ; 2. One whose end is eternal life. — The pre- • [Tt in wpII to note here the sayliiij of Ati(ni«tino : Orin- ])ulsory service ; a willing heart is the l)est otfering; in the weak flesh a willing spirit, in the small work a great will; Ps. ex. 3 (ver. 19). — He who is free from righteousness has no y)art in Christ (ver. 20). — As the fruit grows from the seed, so does ignominy grow from sin, outwardly before the world and in- wardly in the conscience before (iod (see ver. 21). Si'KNER : Earnest and true Christianity consists herein : although sin is present, it does not reign (ver. 12). — We dare not think, that though the wages of sin is death, Christ has redeemetl us from death, so that it will not finally injure tis. For the . redem|ition wrought by Christ will not help us any, if we do not become obedient to Him (ver. 23). G.SKi.Acii : The body, with its impulses and mem- bers, is like a house full of arms or im|)lemenls, for war or every kind of labor. In the service of sin, these members, the sinful impulses, then become themselves nn-mbers unto sin (ver. 13). — The servi- tude of obedience is also true freedom (ver. 17).— Since, by the gospel, man becomes a servant as well as a freeman, license is just as much excluded af CHAPTER VII. 1-6. 217 slavish obcdieuce to a foreign power (ver. 18). — If righteousness, so rules in us that all our members become its instruments, they will work together for the increase of our holiness (ver. 19). — A single glance at the fruit and the reward of sin must fill the Christfau with shame, and therefore with abhorrence of the false freedom which abuses grace (ver. 21). — The perfect sanetiiication of man in body and soul is also his true, eternal life ; for by the perfect com- munion of his whole nature with the Fountain of all life, God himself pervades him spiritually and bodily with the lulness of everlasting life (ver. 22). Lisco : Earnest admonition to holiness of life (vers. 12-23): 1. Its import (vers. 12-14); 2. The impulse to a more zealous sanctificatiou is the grace of redemption (vers. 15-23). Hecbnkr : Freedom from the law is not liberty to sin, or lawlessness (ver. 15). — In Christianity, the law of the letter, with its worldly power, does not rule, but the free law of love (ver. 15). — Obedience, the practice of God's will, awakens in us increasingly the spiritual power of life, and obtains spiritual health (ver. 16). — Purity and beauty of soul arist. only from .'^inlessness (ver. 19). — The remembrance of earlier sins never becomes wholly effaced, but, 1. It keeps the converted person humble and watch- ful ; it awakens, 2. thankfulness for the love and grace of God ; 3. sympathy for others. Besser : Believers are servants cf righteous- ness (vers. 12-23). — Unrighteousness is a tyrannical master, who does not release his slaves according to their pleasure, but drives them ever farther from God's commandments (ver. 19). — SerV'Huvi Dei sui/una iibtrlas (ver. 19.) — The wages of sin is as manifold as the wages with which a general rewards his soldiers (bread, clothing, money) ; but its sum is death, empty death. La.nge : The service of sin, at first apparently a voluntary life of warfare, but afterwards plainly a mercenary condition, and finally a state of slavery. — The fearful self-deception in surrendering one's self to sin : 1. At the outset, slavery instead of free- dom ; 2. In continuance, always backward instead of forward ; 3. Finally, death instead of life. — Vol- untary return to bondage is the deepest guilt of sin. — Real death is explained by its opposite. It is not contrasted with the present, but with eternal life.— ^ Etei'ual life as the fruit of the true service of Goa in righteousness : 1. As redemption ; 2. As gift. [Tii.LoTSo.v : Sin is the blindness of our minds, the perverseness and crookedness of our wills, and the monstrous irregularity and disorder of our affec- tions and appetites, the misplacing of our powera and faculties, and the setting of our wills and pas- sions above our reason ; all which is ugly and un- natural ; and, if we were truly sensible of it, a mat- ter of great shame and reproach to us. — Burkitt : Sin, as a raging and commanding king, has the sin- ner's heart tor its throne, the members of the body for its service, the world, the flesh, and the devil for its grand council, lusts and temptations for its weap- ons and armory ; and its fortifications are ignorance, sensuality, and fleshly reasonmgs. — Death, as the punishment of sin, is the end of the work, though not the end of the worker. — Grotius : It is the na- ture of all vices to grow upon a person by repetition. — Clarkk : Let God have your hearts, and, with them, your heads, your hands, and your feet. Think and devise what is pure ; speak what is true, edify- ing, just, and good ; and walk steadily in the way that leads to everlasting felicity. — Every sinner has a daily pay, and this pay is death. — The sinner has a hell in his own bosom ; all is confusion and disorder where God does not reign. If men were as much in earnest to get their souls saved as they are to pre pare them for perdition, heaven would be highly peopled ; and devils would have to be their own companions. — Hodge : The motive to obedience is now love, and its aim the glory of God. — When a man is the slave of sin, he commonly thinks himself free ; and, when most degraded, is often the most proud. When truly free, he feels himself most strongly bound to God, and when most elevated, is most humble. — J. F. H.] FomTH Section. — The transition, in principle and reality, of Christians from the service of the letter under the law into the service of the Spirit uyider grace, by virtue of the death of Christ. Believers should live in the consciousness that they are dead to the law. — Tholcck : " Your marriage with Christ, having taken the place of the dominion of the law, necessarily leads to such a dominioii of God in a new life." Chap. VII. 1-6. Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that [those who] know the law), how \omit how] that the law hath dominion over a man as long [/qd' ooov ■/Qovov., for as long time] as he liveth ? For the woman which hath a hus- band [the married woman] ' is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth [to the living husband] ; but if the husband be dead [have died],^ she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, hhe shall be called an adulteress : but if her husband be dead [liave died], she is free from that law ; so that she is no [not an] ' adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore Accordingly], my biethren, ye also are become [were made] * dead to the law by throngli] the body of Christ ; [,] that [in order that] ' ye should be married to another, even to him who is [was] raised from the dead, that we should bring 218 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. forth fruit unto [to]° God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions [pas- sions] ' of sins, which were by [by means of] the law, did work [iyt^QytizOy tcere efficient, wrought] in our members to brmg forth fiuit unto [to] death. But now we are [have been] delivered from the law, that being dead [having died to that] ' wherein we were held ; that we should serve [so that we serve] ness of spirit [the Spirit],'" and not i?i the oldness of the letter. m aew- TKXTUAL. > Ver. 2. — [The E. V. renders viravSpoi : whkh hath a htisband ; which is less forcible than the srn^ls word morriid. It is true th:it neither renJeiings convey the exact sense of the original, so well as : ilai dem Minne unter- thdnig'- Wei/) (L:inf;c) ; yet, as the idea of su'njeetion, expressed in the Greek, is still, to some extent, implied in marrii'd, it is the best rendering that caa be given. — Ihe periphrasis: so long as he Uveth,is altogether unnecess;try ; the living hiisb'iiid, is both more forcible and more exact. ■■< Ver. 2.— [The active verb r/iV should be substituted for be dead. The question arises, How can we best expiess the delicate shade of the Greek conditional proposition : edc 5e awoBivj). Al ford gives : /lave died ; Wordsworth: nhnll liaredi'd; Amcr. Bible Uninn : die. The first seems preferable; the second is strictly literal, since the aorisi implies soniettiing which takes plaee antecedent to what is affirmed in the apodosis, but is not so ele({ant ; the lust is that bald Conditional form, which should be reserved for tlie equivalent Greek form («i with the optative or indicative). These remarks apply to the same clause, as it occurs in ver 3. ' Ver. 3. — [The negatrve belongs to the verb, and is joined to the noun, at the expense of forcibleness. Forbes remiirks, that here the E. V. destroys the regularity of the parallelism. The first, second, and third lines iu the original <«rrespond exactly to the fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively. 'Apa oiv (divroi rov avSpot fioixoAif Xpjj/iaTi'o-et, €av ■yeVrjTat avSpi €Te'p(j> " «ai' Si anoBoLvj) 6 avrip, i\ev6epa. farlv arrb toO v6p.ov, toD fiT) elvau, axrrifv fjioixoAifo, yeyopLtvrjv aySpl irtpt^. So then, as long as her husband liveth, She shall be called an adulteress, If she be married to another man ; But if her husband be dead, She is free from the law so as to bo no adulteress, Though she be married to another man. * Ver. 4. — [Were made dead (Amer. Bible Union), though not very elegant, is perhaps the best rendering of j0af aTui07)Te. Mnrlifi/, would be ambiguous here. W>re slain, is preferred by A Iford, because the more violent Greek verb is used, recalling the violent death of Christ ; but this would point to the act of killing, rather than to the fa't of being deprived of life, which is ilie prominent thought here. * Ver. 4.— [Both clauses are final, though ditfei-ing in form. By changing the first that of the E. V. into in order that, the force of the Greek is preserved, and its varied foi-m in a merisure reprodueeil. ' • Ver. 4.— [.\8 unto 0<>d is the usual rendering of e'n rov Oeoy, to Go't will serve to represent the simple dative : Tip OtC. The meaning seems to be : In theg'nnj of God. — The dative, TmdavaTw is also found at the close of ver. 5. ' Ver. 5. — [The K. V. usually renders iraBritiar a, sufferings. Here, passions (Wordsworth, and others; Lange : Leid'-nscluiflen) is ctymologiftilly exact, and, on the whole, preferable to motions, emotions (Amer. Bible Union), stirrings (Alford). " Ver. 6. — [The Rerepta reads anoOavovr o v \ a conjecture of Beza's, arising from a misunderstanding of the text, having no uncial support. 1). K. F. G. (Vulgate, and some Latin authorities) read toO Oavorov; a gloss, to get rid of Ihe particiiile, which was regarded as disturMng the structure of the sentence (Meyer). N. A. B. C. K. L., many ver- Bons and fathers, warrant the correctness of a.iroSa.v6vTt<;, which is now almost universally adopted. (The English text is ememled to correspond.) • Ver. 6. — [The clause is ecbatic and present : Siart iovXtvuv. " Ver. 6. — \\i the reference be to the Holy .Spirit, the above emendation is necessary. If not (as Dr. Lange holds), the clause should read : in nrwmts of spirit and not in oldness of UUer. See Exig. Sotcs on both views. — K.] EXEOETICAL AJS'D CRITICAL. Summary.* — a. The figure of marriage and the law of marriage to descritje the reliitions of believers ti) ihn law (vers. 1-3); h. The iipijlieatioii of the fig- ure : the marriage did not remain [jure, because sin, who.-o, so long as man lives, the dominion of the rd^os ovei him remains." Of course, this means previjos to the deatk to the law (ver. 4).— R.] ^zo THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS self u3 the dead part ? Clearly, because of the sec- ond marriage. Tliis exphmatiun of Fritzsclie and Meyer (conci unity) is established by the Apostle, aad also rendered eiuphatio by his language. As the woman is not dead, but is killed in respect to hei marriage relation, or is situated as dead, by the natural deatii of her husband, so believers have not died a natural death, but are made dead to the law, gince they are crucitied to the law with Ciirist. The idea, deaU in a tnarriat/e relation, is therefore the tei'tiuin coiiiparafioitis. The OavaToi'aOcu in ver. 4 is therefore like the xaTctiiYtlaOai, of a wulow, in which also a death-like orphanage is indicated. That the law itself is also dead, as a letter, by its statu- tory application to tlie crucifixion of Christ, follows, without any thing further, from what Iuls been said. Tlioluck, not being satisfied with Meyer's removal of the dilHculty, seems desirous of placing himself on the side of those who give an allegorical interpreta- tion to the passage commencing with ver. 2. Ex- planations: 1. The wife is the soul, the husband is sin ; sin dies in the fellowship of believers with Christ's death (Augustine, and others ; Olshausen). t. (July the vonoi; can be regarded as the hus- band (Origeu, Chrysostom, Calvin, Pliilippi). Like- wise, with special reference to the sense of guilt (Luther); with special reference to sin (Spener). De Wette and Meyer have properly rejected the introduction of allegory in vers. 2, 3 ; it destro_vs all legal evidence of the figure. The Apostle did not avoid .saying iOavuru'ift^ti 6 rono;,- because he wi.shed to give a more pregnant e.xpre.-^sion to tlie thought, and to include in one the other side also, but because Oai'aTiji'(T,0ai. is different from a simijle anoOv)]- axfn', and because the retroactive inference from the act which the adnrinistration of the law has com- mitted on the body of Christ is proximate to the dying of the law (according to Heb. viii. 18 ; de- cayed and wa.xed old). The gospel is eternally new, because it refers to only eteinal relations. The law grows old from the beginning, because, in its out- ward and national character, it relates to transitory and ever-changing relations. Application to Catholi- cism and Protestantism. (All they that take the Bword, &e.) " i' /T a i'() o o^•, viro ttuhjccta ; the wife Lad no right to sejiarate herself* But if the husband have died, she is loosed from the law of her husband [tccv fie utto- & a. V 71 6 ci V tj (t , y. ctr t'j I) y >i T ai: a 7i o t ov vouiiv ToT' av()(;os. On the conditional clause, Bee Tcj-tiial Note ". On the verb, comp. Gal. v. 4, ^•ange's ('oinm., p. 127. The genitive is one of ref. erence, of the ol)Ject respecting which, see Winer, p. 177. — R.] That is, which relates to her husband. On the relationship of the expression x « r jy (i ■/ t/rat to the inavuToinijTf, comp. Meyer's translation : " She has become undone, and thereby free and ab- solved from the law which related to her iiu.sband (united her to him)." (See Gal. v. 4.) Ver. 3. She shall be called an adulteress. She receives the name in a furnial and legal way. And therewith she is .-ubjeet to the severest punish- ment of the law — stoning. [Levit. xxi. 10 ; comp. John viii. 5.] [She ia free from that Isivr, tkf v &i(ia * [She Is bound to him by tlio law— i. *., the Mntinic biw —which miiilo no provision lorhrs«!'f (in Dout. xxiv. 2 it was the power o I' the hu-lumd, not tlie wife, to ri'puiliute the rehition). llore the Ipw it no longer cpoUcn •)f Haur.itivLly.-H.) iariv oltto tou v6/tov. The article showj that the reference is to the law of the huxband, hence the E. V. : lh.it /nw, is correct. — K.] So that she is not an adulteress. Meyer in- sists upon the idea of design : in order that she be no adulteress ; and declares this to be the design of the Divine legal ordinance — which Tholuck there pedantically finds. Yet the ex()rcssion here might certainly have been chosen with reference to this application. The Judaists assuredly charged the believing Jews with apostasy, and therefore with religious adultery. Hence Paul says fiyai. instead of /(jiiiictTi^K-; * and Fritzsclie has strikingly made the ToTi n't} urai, dependent on i /.t c i (j a. [All these views are alike grammatical. That of Fritzsche is harsh, however, while Meyer's seems to be adopted more to prepare the way for the parallel he makes (ver. 4) : m order thnt ye should be mar- ried to another. It is not necessary to press the figure to this extent, however. — R.] Ver. 4. Accordingly, my brethren, ["/iffr* , see Winer, p. 283. — H.] The ex()lanation follows here first ; tiiis is not al/ei/orieaJ, but si/nibo/icol, because marriage represents, in the external sphere of life, what religion does in the inward and higher (Eph. V. 32). — Ye also, as the widowed wife. — Were made dead to the law f [i & avar tO' i>//Tf Tw v6fio>. See Textual Note *. The verb is aorist, referring to a definite act in the pa.st, viz., the release from the law at justification. — R.l Tiiat is, in relation to the marriage-covenant. The ex- pression i (tavat lit (y tj T t is chosen, not merely because Christ's death was a violent one, but also because it describes the death of Christians to the law as a death incurred by virtue of the administia- tion of the. law. Through the body of Christ [ rV t a r oT> a lit II « T o s' TO r A" (* I fT T o r ]. In, and, at the same time, with Ilim, ;is lie was put to death. The atoning effect of the sacrificial death cannot, at all events, be the premise here, although it is included. [The aorist shows that the reference is definite ; the proiiosition indicates the means of the death to the law. Two opinions prevail: (1.) That it refei-s to the atoning death of Christ as the ground of justifi- cation. So Ilodge, and ottiers. It may be urged in favor of this, that this is the means or ground of justification, and that thus the antithesis to " was raised " is preserved. But the Apostle generally speaks of the death of Christ in plain terms, when he refers to it. Col. i. 22, which Hodge (piotes as an instance of " His body," meaning His death, adds the qualifving phrases, " of His flesh," " through deatli." (2.) With Thi.luck, Meyer, Lange, and others, it may be referred to the fellowship with Christ in His death. This view accords better with the point which the Apostle has reached in his urgu- ment, as well as the idea of union with Christ under- lying this pa.s-sage. This does not deny, but implies the atoning_ efficacy of llis death, which is always latent, if not patent, in the A])ostle's argument. It has been the fault of some commentato:«, to insi.st * [That l8, they mi.'ht ho iind were so callal, but yet iperf nnl iruillv of reliinous adulter)'. — U.] t I Dr. Ilodtce nt some lenjrth conibals the view, th.it th« Mosnic law (or nither the .Iowl.-)h economy) i" alone referred to thrnuprhoiit this piissnpre. Ho riarhtly siirs : " I'aul here mennn by the liiw, the will of Uod, ns ii rule of duty, how« over revealed." 8<'e on iii. 20, p. Hi (ul.-io Gil'itums, ii. Ill, pp. V.I, 52). The most untenable of all views Is thnt whieh limita y6iiot to the ritunlistic JewUh olMerrauoeai -Kl CHAPTER VII. 1-6. 231 on finding an expression of it, where it is only im- plied.— R.] Christians are dead, buried (chap, vi.), and risen (Col. iii. 1) with Christ ; indeed, they are even, in principle, transported to heaven (Phil. iii. 20). But since they are dead with Him, they are, like Him, dead " to the law through the law " (Gal. ii. 19). [Comp. Coimnentary bt loco, pp. 50, 51. — R.] Cal- vin, Grotius, Koppe, and others, have explained, that the iOavaTo'iOrj toi vo/k/i is a milder expres- sion for 6 v6,u. iOavarioOtj, omiOaviv v/itv. This explanation does not regard the difference between natural and violent death, nor self-destruction. The law could not be dead ; this would have been revo- lution. As a Divine form of revelation, it had to grow old and vanish away (Heb. viii. 13) ; but as a human ordinance it has itself inflicted death. There- fore the law still retained its former historical and ethical (not religious and essential) force toward those who were not dead to it by the fellowsliip of Christ. ITirough the body of C/irint, &« rov amfiaro: S-c(vc(r'j a b) fi f V r ly & f ly . Final clause (so Tholuck, Meyer, De Wette, Alford). The dative is dat. commodi apparently. — R.] The fig- ure of marriage leads to that of the fruit of mar- riage (Theodoret, Erasmus, Meyer, and others). Tholuck, on the contrary : " Since a reference to xafjno'; (chap. vi. 22) occurs, and since y.a^nbv TZoifTv; qiquv, and even xaQnoifiOQnv (Mark iv. 20 ; Luke viii. 15 ; Col. L 10), frequently occur in a metonyme derived from the fruits of the field, as a technical Christian phrase for the practical effects of the life of faith, and the allusion recurs in ver. 6, where the figure is not that of marriage, it seems very unsafe to accept the figure of the fruit of chil dren." Reiche and Fritzsche have even rejected this interpretation, because an undignified allegory arises ; they have therefore construed the figure aa referring to the field, or fruits of tiie field. PhiLippi likewise ; De Wette, on the contrary, accepts the former view. But the allegory of an unfruitful roar riage cannot be more dignified than that of a fruit ful one. Yet the spiritual fruit of righteousness, in accordance with its supersensuous nature, is pro- duced for God, for glorifying God. [The figure must not be so pressed as to make the fruit of the marriage to God, as Father ; to His glory, is the meaning. — R.] Yer. 5. For when we were in the flesh [oTf yctQ 7j/ifv iv T^ ffcc^/ci. Meyer: "The positive and characterizing expression for the nega- tive : when we were not yet made dead to the law." Alford : " Virtually = ' under the law.' " Hodge : " When in your unrenewed and legal state." For a more thorough discussion, see the Excursus in the next section. — R.] The antithesis of ver. 5 should serve to explain tlie last conclusion in ver. 4. The yoLQ tells us : According as we were situated in our fleshly tendency, we must now also be situated in the Divine tendency. The flvai denotes the stand point of personality ; the outward tendency of life from a definite principle. Here, therefore, the ten- dency of life is from the principle of the flesh. Ex- planations : 1. Meyer : The ad^i, the humanity in us (what, then, would not be human in us ?),* in its opposition to the Divine will ; the element of life in which we exist. The opposite to the a/roSuvorTfi; of ver. 6. 2. Theodoret, (Ecumenius : In the xaTo. vofiov nohrda. The flesh is the material and ex- ternal part of the body and the life. Therefore, since we stood in this external tendency, which, as an external and analytical form of fife (dependent on the individual ini&i'fuai,), also in its better form, took the law as a combination of external and ana- lytical precepts. [Of these, (1.) is much to be pre- ferred. Dr. Lange does not make it clear whether he adopts the view oi flesh, given immediately above. There are very strong objections to it in any case. -R.] The passions of sins [ra na&ti urtza r lov dfia^Ti, (7) v ]. According to Meyer and Tho- luck, the genitive of object. " From which the sins arose." Tholuck cites James i. 15 as proof. We hold, however, that sins are here denominated pro- ducers of the passions. For the passions, 7Ta&., are not, as Tholuck holds, the same as the ETn-Oi'/nlat (according to which Luther translates lusts), but they are the imdi'fuai, enhanced by the impulse of the law. Then, in the case of sins arising as conse- quences of the naOrj/t., the idea would follow that abortions to death have been produced from the marriage-bond of the law itself with man. The connection with the law assumes, therefore, at the same time, a connection with the aua^JTict (see chap. vi. 13), and this, in the isolation of individual afiag- ■rial, was operative as producer by the sinful pas- sions excited by the law in the members. The law itself did not bring forth the fruit of death ; but it stirred up sin, so that the latter made the tindv/uiat into n a, & t'l ft ar a , and thus into productive forces. [Either view is preferable to the Hendiadys : sinful ♦ [To this interpolation it may be rejoined : What, then, would not be t'. llaOtjiiara is pas- sive (coinp. Gal. V. 24), and hence it is pciliai)S bet- ter to take the genitive, as tliat of the object (which led to sins), so as to accord with what is predicated in tvtjoyilTo. — R.] Which were by means of the lavr. T« diei Tor ro/iov. (Jrotius supplies ; (* ;' f r T o ]. Middle. Were effi- cient in a fruitful nianiior. In oiir members [ti' roTq n().iai,v fjfiutv. Ilodge weakens the force, by making this almost = in us. — R.] Single productions between individual passions and individual nieml)ers, in which the cen- tral consciousness was enslaved for the production of iixlividual miscarriages. To bring forth fruit to death [tli; to X n o 7T o 1^ o I) tj fT a I, x ijt 0- a v d t o . This clause expresses not merely the residt (Ilodge), but the final object of the energizing (Meyer, Alford,), being parallel to the last clause of ver. 4. — R.] Meyer : To tend a life terni'Tiatinj hi death. Expressing but little, almost nothing, here. That false fruit, aborr tions, or miscarriages, might arise (wherefore the subst. xnQTTo:: itself must i)e avoideil). Erasmus : ex infelici matrimonio infflices fcetax sunttttiwus^ quidqiiid nascerctur morti erA'ioipie f/i(/}ientcs. Lu- ther : ^Vhere the law rules over people, they are in- deed not idle ; they bring fortii and train up many children, but they are mere bastards, who do not belong to a free mother. Meyer would also iiere limit death to the idea of eternal death ; see above. [He also carries out the figure of progeny, which Lange retains here, so far as to make "death " here a personification. This is less justifiable than the reference to eternal death, whicii conveys a truth, and forms a fitting antithesis to no O-nZ (ver. 4). — R.] Ver. fi. Bat now 'we have been delivered from the law [vi«i'0)'ro<,-, sec the Critical No!e on the Text ; also Tholuck, p. 330.) Having died to that wherein we w^ere held I ft -T o !) n )■ o )■ T f c f i' ") /. (ct t t / n n r '>({]. Wc must unilcrstand to<''t«i before t c oi . Meyer explains: in which we were confined as in a pri.son. More ill harmony with the former view is this : wlicp-by we were ehaineil as by a legal and even mntriiiionial obligation. Wherefore wc certainly do not ni'i'd to refer I v m merely to voim^ (with Ori- gt-n, Koppe, De W(;tti', Philippi [Ilodge], and oth- ers). Tholuck : " The law, therefore, is regardetl as mmtyutv, as a chain, auMlogriusly to the t'li^ioronv- fttOu (TiyxtK/.n(T/iivoi, Oal. iii. 23, so far as it holds its subjects in rfoeAf/a (Rom. viii. 16 ; 2 Tim. i. 7), The direct reference of the iv oi to sin (according to Clirysostom, U-Icumenius, and others) is too strong on the opposite side." — Tlie cause of the chaining of man by sin on one side, as well as by the law on the other, was the totality of the tiiai. iv rfj (Tct^xi, as it expressed itself in mere divisions of lust and legality. This is clear from what follows : in tht oldtiess of the letter. So that we serve [warf rToiiA?t'»tv fjnaq. The clause is not final, as the E. V. indicates ; tha service is a present state, already resulting from the accomplished fact of deliverance fi'om and death to the law. Serve God, is the meaning, the omission of &n7i being due to tiie self-evident difference of reference in the two phrases which follow. The consciousness of the readers would tell them that the old service was one to sin, the new one to God (so Meyer). — R.] The dorln' ri n u nr m;. Not = iild littn- (Ilodge), nor yet — wn./.t the lrrj<;, according to the nature of the rela- tion in whicii the y(idfi/(a stands to the principle of sin in man, was necessarily sinful (see ver. 7 ft'.), as, on the otiier hand, the xairortji; must be necessarily moral in consequence of the vitally influencing nvufia. [The service which resulted from the rule of the letter, was not merely their old service, but a service having in it an element of decay. The ser- vice under the law, precisely the written law (when viewed as the y^a////a), was a killing yoke, is still, when the service is in the oldness of the letter. Meyer evidently means, that a law with external pre- cepts, of the letter, necessarily so acts upon man's sinfulness, that the very service he attempts to ren- der is sinful. The letter killeth (2 Cor. iii. 6).— Such a characterization of the service under the law forms a fitting warning against a return to legalism — an appropriate conclusion to this section, and a point of connection with ver, 7. — R.] DOCTKINAL AA^D ETHICAIi. 1. The connection with sin, according to chap, vi. 12-23, was a slavish state •; the connection w'ith the law, on the other hand, according to the present section, was comparable to an eaithly marriage-state. The connection of believers with Clirist now appears, in comparison with this, as a super-terrestrial mar- riage^covenant (see Eph. v. 32). 2. It is only by keeping tlie figure of the law of marriage free from an allegorical interpretation, and by distinguishing between the figure itself and its historical application, that the evidence clearly ap- pears which the argumentation of the Apostle con- templated, and particularly for the Jewish Ciiristians. But this evidence still continues in force. The standpoint of external legality, and that of living faith, cannot be confused as religious principles. Both standpoints are sundered by the death of Christ. Where they seem to be united, the confes- sion of the law, or the legal confession of faith, is the dominant religious principle ; while the opposite principle has the meaning only of a historical and etliical custom, which, from its nature as a legiU cus- tom, as much limits the Catholic man of faith, as it, in the character of an evangelical custom, burdens the legal, Romanizing Protestant. 3. Tholuck : " The law is annulled in relation to believers, not in its moral import, but, as .Calovius remni'ks, quoad rigorem exactionix, quoad malnVic- tioti'm, et quoad servilem coactiotiem." According to the Sermon on the Mount, as well as according to Paul, it is done away so far as it is fulfilled ; it is annulled in a negative sense so far as it is annulled in Christian principle, the law of the Spirit. An in- ward principle has come from the external precept ; an inward rule from the external form ; an inward tendency from the external law ; a unity from multi- plicity ; a synthesis from the analysis ; and from the ordinance, " Do this .and live," the order, " Live and do this." It must be borne in mind, that Paul here speaks of the finite, formal character of the law, and not of the law as a type of the New Testament, as it has become transformed into the law of the Spirit. [Comp. Doctrinal ^iTotes on Galatians, iii. 19-29, pp. 88, 89.— R.] 4. The figure of marriage, which extends through the Old Testament in typical forms, is here employed in reference to the relation between Christ and the whole body of believers. The individual believer participates freely in the marriage-bond of this body, yet not in a mystical, separatistic isolation of his re- lation to Christ. 6. In ver. 5 Paul speaks especially concerning the passions of sitis, which are excited and occa- sioned by the law ; and there is no reason for under- standing among them the abnormal forms of pas- sionate excitement. The history of Pharisaism, and of fanaticism in general, from the crucifixion of Clirist down to the present day, teaches us how very much additional weight is also added by the normal forms. In this direction there has arisen the odium generis Immani, as well as the increasingly strong warfare of hierarchical or ecclesiastical party-law against the eternal moral laws of humanity, in which the nature of God himself is represented, while in the statute only the distorted apparent image of the Church, and not its eternal pith, is reflected. 6. The abortions of ordinances at enmity with the gospel and humanity reached the centre of their manifestation in the crucifixion of Christ ; but they everywhere reappear, where Christ is again crucified, in a grosser or more refined sense. And this not only occurs where the written revealed law is per- verted into fanatical ordinances, but also where the ideals of the natural law (Rom. ii. 14) are distorted to fanatical caricatures, as is shown in the history of the Revolution of 1848. Y. On ver. 6. Tholuck : " yQci/Kfia, nvfv/ict (chap. ii. 29). The former is chiefly a designation of the external principle ; the latter, of the inward- ly operative principle. And this inwardly operative principle is the gracious spirit produced by God's gracious act. Calvin : Spiritum liiteree opponit, quia antequam ad dei voluntatem voluntas vostra jjer spiritum sanctum forrnata sit, non hahemus in lege nisi exiernam litteram,, quce froenum quidern exteri.ia nostril actionibus injicit, concupixcentice avtem nos- trcB fxirorem minime cohibet. And Melanchthon : Idea dicitur littera, quia non est verus et viviifi tnotus animi, sed est otiosa imitatio interior vcl exterior, nee ibi potest esse vera invocatio, ubi cor non apprehen- dit remissiohem ) eccatorian.'''' 8. How the law, in its letter or finite relation, began to grow old immediately after the beginning of legislation, is shown to us clearly by the history of the Israelites ; and Deuteronomy even gives the canonical type of this truth. The history of the Christian Church teaches, on the other hand, how the newness of the spiritual life becomes constantly newer in its power of renewal. But the same an- tithesis is again manifested in the continual obsoles- cence of the Church in the Middle Ages, and in the continued rejuvenating of the evangelical Church. H03d:rLETICAIi AND PEACTICAIk On Chap. vii. 1-6. As Christians, we belong no more to the law, but to Christ. 1. Because we are dead to the law by Jesus, who abolished the power of the law ; 2. Be- cause we are united to Him by the same fact, in order to bring forth fruit to God (vers. 1-6). — 5Iar. riage as a type of spiritual relations : 1. As a type of our relation to the law ; 2. As a type of our re. lation to Christ (vers. 1-6). — As the relation of man 224 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. to Christ is altogether different from that to the law, 80 is Christian marriage, on tiie other hand, alto- gether (iillerent from that of the Old Testament ivers. 1-0). — How death divides, but also unites ver. 4). — Union of heart witli Christ the Risen One is the eondititin of tiie liappy union of human hearts with eaeh oilier so as to bring forth fruit unto God (ver. 4). — How miserable it was to live under the law in the ilesh ; how happifying it is to live under grace in the Spirit ! Proof: 1. Description of the elate under tiie law : a. we were in bondage ; b. sin- ful lust? worked in our niembei-s to bring forth fruit unto deatii ; c. we served tlie letter. 2. Descrip- tion of the condition under grace : a. we are free ; b. the newness of the Spirit incites us to bring forth fruit unto (iod ; c. we serve the S|)irit, and not the letter any more (vers. 5, 0). Starke : As a thistle-hush is full of thistles, so are uneonverteil and carnal men full of the fruits of the flesh (ver. 5). — Christ frees us from the burden of tlie law, that we may take His yoke upon us (ver. 6). — Heuinokr: Wo are free from the law, not as a precept of duty — which remains perpelually — but in its condemnation, compulsion, and sharp- ness (ver. 1). — Where there is not a heart and ready will, there is only external labor and weariness ; where conversion of the life and spiritual increase are not exhibited in the inner man, it is lost work and tlie service of the letter, even if one sliould wear out tlie temple-fioor with his knees, give his body to be burned, and become a beggar aud a her- }nit ! Spe.ner ; Our perverted nature is such, that, ■when any thing is forbidden, we have all the greater desire to have it. ^Ve have often seen children think less of, and have no desire lor, a certain thing, for which they liave all the more desire when for- bidden. So, when tlie law forbids this and that, we are prompted toward it by our wicked nature (ver. 6). — We are not so free tliat we do not have to se.'ve any more ; only the kind of service is differ- ent. Formerly it was compulsory, now it is ren- A>*'ed witli a joyful will ; then it was the letter, now it is the spirit (ver. 6). — Roos : The trutii which Paul here portrays (vers. 1-4) is this : that nothing but death annuls the dominion of the law. Lisco : The complete freedom of man from the law promotes his true sanctification (vers. 1-6). — The relation of man to the law. — Application of this relation to believers (ver. 4).— Advantages of the new state above the old one under the law (vers. 6,6). JIecdner : The Christian is free from the co- ercion of the law (vers. 1-6). — The death of Christ became freedom from the compulsory power and curse of the law : 1. As abrogation of tlie Levitical eacrificial system ; 2. As inducement toward free and thankful love toward Goil (ver. 4). — Irreligious Doliticians express only their ignoble and servile manner of thinking, when they ileem all religion to be only of servii'c as a bridle for the people (ver, 4). — The nature of the Christian is spirit : 1. In refer- ence to faith ; 2. In reference to action. The lat- ter stands in contrast with this spirii in tlicsc same respects (ver. 6). Bksser : Here, for the first time since chap. i. 13, Paul addresses the saints at Rome as bnthrenr-* breiliren "in Christ Jesus our Lord" (ver. 1).— " But now " — iiis now is an evangelical key-note of the Epistle to tlie Romans; couip. chap. iii. 21, and other places (ver. 6). L\.NOK : The death of Christ a serious boundary between the legal and the evangelical, believing, standpoints: 1. The meaning of this boundary itself; 2. The application: no religious confiisiona of the two standpoints. By a customary connection of them, one is made to mean only a moral limita. tion, which, after all, is not in conformity with the internal relations. — The sensuous power and spirit- ual weakness of legalism consists in its being an earthly rehitioi-, confined to this life, though in tlie fear of (iod (in this life the head, the city of God, the apparent image of the kingdom, &c.). — Tiie mar- riage-bond of the free Churcli of God is a super- terrestrial relation, and therefore the power of the renewal of the earthly life : a. Christ in tlie next life and in tliis one ; b. Faith also ; c. The Church as well. — The reci|)rocal action between the law and sin unto death, a counterpart to the reciprocity be- tween the Spirit of Christ and faith unto new life. — The contrast between the Old and New Testament in its lull meaning : 1. Tlie Old Testament growing old and making old from the beginning ; 2. The New Testament renewing itself and the world from the beginning. — But a New Testament is in the essetice of the Old, as well as an Old is in the inanifcstaiion of the New. [Bdrkitt : All the wisdom of the heathen, and of the wisest persons in the world, was never able to discover the first sinful motions arising from our rebellious natures ; only the holy law of God makes them known, and discovers them to be sin. Such is the holiness of the law of God, that it requires not only the purity of our actions, but also the integrity of all our faculties. — Scott : Self-righteous |)ride and anlinomian licentiousness are two fatal rocks on which immense multitudes are continually wrecked, and between which none but the Holy Spirit can pilot us ; and the greatest objections of ojien ene- mies to the doctrines of grace derive their greatest jilausibility from the unholy lives of many professed friends. — Clauke : Tlie law is only the means of discloshtii our sinful projiensity, not ij( iirodminp it; as a bright beam of the sun introduced into a roonc shows millions of motes in all directions — but these were not introduced by the light, but were there be- fore, only there was not light enough to make them manifest — so the evil propensity was in the heart before, but there was not light sufficient to discover it. Literatitre, chiefly Homiletical, on the 7th Chapter of Romans: Arminhs, Dinacrtationon the True and Oeiiuine Scn.te of Jioiuntis I'//., Works, 2, 471 ; E. Ei.TON, Complaint of a Snnrtifial Sinner Answered, or Explanation of the Ith i'hnpler of Romans, Lomlon, 1618 ; J. Stafforp, Scripture Doe- trine of Siu Conxidired, in Twentii-five JHsroumes on liowanx VII., London, 1772; J. Glas, The Flesh and the Spirit, Worics, 3, 142 ; J. Fraser, Seripturt Doctrine of Sanctification ; A. Kxox, Letter to J. 8. Hur/nrd, Exq.y on th'' Seventh Chapter to the Ro- moM, Remains, 8, 409.— J. F. H.] CHAPTER VII. 7-26. 225 Fifth Section. — Si/tiopsis : The law, in its holy design, by the feeling of death, to lead to the new life in grace. The development of the law from extirnality to inwardness. The experience of Paul a sketch from life of the conflict under tlie latv, as well as of the transition from the old life in the law to the neu life in the Spirit. Chap. VII. 7-25. 1 What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid. [Let it not be !] Nay, [but] I had not known [i. e., recognized] sin, tut by [except through] the laAV : for I had not known lust [evil desire],' except the law had [if the law 8 had not] said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion [,] by the com- mandment, [omu comma'j wrought in me all mannei" of concupiscence [evil desire]. 9 For without the law sin teas [is] dead. For [Now] I was alive without the law once : but when the commandment came, sin revived [sprang into life], and 10 I died. And the commandment, which vxis ordained to [teas unto]" life, I 11 found [the same, or, this, was found by me] to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion [,] by the commandment, \omit comma] deceived me, and by it slew 7ve. 12 Wherefore [So that] the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 13 Was [Did] then that which is good made [become] ' death unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in [to] me by [through] tliat which is good ; [,] that sin by [through] the commandment might become exceeding [exceedingly] sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual : but I am carnal,* sold under sin. 15 For that which I do [perform],^ I allow [know] not : for what I would, that do I not [not what I wish," that I practise] ; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not [But if what I wish not, tliat I do], I 17 consent unto [I agree with] the law that it is good. Now then it is no more 18 [longer] I that do [perform] it, but sin that dwelleth [dwelling] in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing [good doth not dwell] : for to will [wish] is present with me ; but hoio [omu how] to perform 19 that which is good I find not ['^, is not].' For the good that I would [wish], 20 I do not: but "the evil which I would [wish] not, that I do [practise]. Now [But] if I do that I* would [wish] not, it is no more [longer] I that do 21 [perform] it, but sin that dwelleth [dwelling] in me. I find then a [the] law% 22 that, when I w^ould [wish to] do good, evil "is present with me. For I delight 23 in the law of God after the inward, man : But I see another law in iny mem- bers, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to" the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this 25 death [or, this body of death] ? '" I thank God [or, Thanks to God] " through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself [I myself with the mind] "^ serve the law of God ; but with the flesh the law of sin. 1 Ver. 7.— [The E. V. renders fniBvixCav here hint, in ver. 8, concnpiscnce, and the verb ETriSufi^o-tis, covet. In order to preserve the correspondence, the Amer. BiWe Union translates the noun covelinffin both places. We are forced to retain covt in rendering the viTb, but it seems better to give the noun a more exact translation, even at tho cost of variation from the verb. Lust is too specific, conciipiscnce too rare, desire would he indefinite without tho adjective eviJ. " The misfortune is that we have no English noun that corresponds well to the generic sense of the verb covd " (Stuart). . , . 2 Ver. 10.— [The italics of the E. V. are virtually a gloss. Was only need be supplied. For is a favorite emenda- tion, hut unio brings out the telic force of e c s quite as well.— The passive form of the Greek is restored m the second clansv. , , . i , J, , 3 Ver. 13.— [\. A. B. C. D. E., Lachmann, Meyer, Alford, Wordsworth, Tregelles, read eyevtro instead of yevov* (Jfec, K. L.). The coiTection probably arose fioni not underst:niding the historical aorist (Alford). The Amer. Dibk Union follows the latter reading, which is now considered incorrect. ♦ V.'r. 14.— [N'. A. B. C. B. E. F. G., Griesbach, Laclimaim, Scholz, Tischeiidorf, Meyer, Wji^.6Wor;h, '/regelles, and Lange, read crapKivos instead of o-apxtKo? (iZ-'/-., N^ K. L.) ; the latter being very naturally ELbstituted to correspond with nvev/xaTiKOi . It was also more familiar. On the meaning, see Exfff. jyoles. » Ver. 15— [Three Greek verbs of kindred signification : Karepvi^oiaoi, TrpdrTia, iroieco, occur in this verse, recurring throughout the section. The E. V. renders all three, do, except in ver. 18, where the first verb is translated, per/iirm. It is better to retain this throughout, and render jrpdTTU) , practise, as etymologically exact. Alford dcnici any distinction between the last two verbs. 15 2v;o THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. • Ver. 15. — I Would (E. V.) is an inexact lendcrij g of SiXia. The choice lies between will and with. Tl e former If to be prcferreJ, if the idea of simple, !-pontanc"us \olition is doomed the prominent one ; the latter is favored by tli* presence of >inTii, Indic-itin? nn emotional fenluie ir. the volition, ^c Exig. Aole.'. ^ Ver 18. — (X. A. li. C, many versions and fathers, LachmanL., Tischendorf, Alford, Trepelles, omit tvpiaxm . It Is Inserted in I), i'. K. L., li'C, "oy many fathers, Meyer, Wordsworth, Lanfie, and others. Meyer deems the omission due to the transcriber's liaslily passini: over from ov)( to ov at the bepinninp of ver. 19. Lange holds that cvpttrxM would disappear, as soon as the sententious antithesis (To will is immediately present, but the carrying out of that which is good 1 can never find) was no longer understood. » Ver. 20.- [N. A. K. L., insert eyiu aftei 6i\u). Meyer, Alford, TreL'elle?, and others, follow B. C. D. F. in emit* ting it. The analogr^- of vers. 15, 18 is atJHinst it. liut Lanpe deems it important to mark a propiess in the thought. • Ver. 23.— [X. fi. D. F. K., and si'mo cursives, insert iv before T

, whicli is adopted by Lachmann, Tischcndoif, Alford, Tregelles, Lange. We find also: i) x<>P'f tou #toD ana tow' Kvplou. Meyei contends for the reading of the lieopla, wTiicli certainly has the best MSS. support, "i \er. 25.— [Forbes : 'Apa ovv ovTO? iyui TuJ ixiv vol Sov\evui vofitf @coC, Tjj St capKi, i/o/xu anapriat. So then I myself With my iniiid serve the law of God, But With my flesh the law of sin. Lange, however, seems to take ntv , , . Si an = either . . . or. See Exeg. Xoles.—'R.'\ A. — Tlie development of life under the law as de- velopment of the knoichdge of sin. SiDiunari/.—l. The law in relation to sin ; vers. 12, 13. a. The holiness of tlie law in its rehition to the sinfulness of man; vers. 7-12. b. Tiie effect of the law in hamiony with its design : Disclosure of the deadly effect of .-^in, in causing it to complete itself as well in facts as in the consciousness ; ver. l.S. — 2, The sinner in relation to the law ; vers. 14-23. a. The revelation of man's carnal nature or tendency in general under the si)irituality of the law ; ver. 14. b. The disclosure of the sinful ol)- Bcuration of the understanding ; or the dispute of knowledge; vers. 15, 16. c. The disclosure of the sinful obscuration of the will ; or the di.spute of the will ; ver.^. 17, 18. d. Di.«closure of tiie sinful ob- scuration of feeling ; or of the unconscious ground of life; vers. 19, 20. e. Disclosure of the darken- ing of the whole human consciousness by the oppo- sition of God's law and a mere seeming law ; or the deadly rent in the wiiole man; vers. 21-23. — 3. The unliappy pieinonition of death, in the sense of the entangl'-ment by the (seeming) body of death, and the rclciise from it ; ver. 24. 4. Th<' transition from death to life ; ver. 25. a. The redenii)tion, in the former hidf of the verse, b. Conclusion in relation to the starting-point of the new life ; second half of ver. 25. B. — T/ie same development as transition from the lain to the Gospel, from iicin to .salvation. (E|)ii. V. 13 : " Hut all things tiiat are reproved are made manifest by the light : for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.") a. Tiie holy design of the law to discover the root of sin, and with tlie sense of guilt to awaken the sense of death ; vers. 7-12. — h. The wholcsomeness of this comi)lcti' unma.sking of sin in its absolute sinfulness; ver. 13. — c. View of tlie conflict between the spiritual and divine character of tiie law, and the carnal character of the sinner ; ver. 14. — d. Conaeiousness of the want of clo?riios9 and su|iremacy of understanding ; vers. 15, iCi. — e. Consciousness of the want of firmness ind energy of will; vers. 17, 18. — /'. Consciousness of the weakness of the nobler sentiments, and the superior power of the lower ; vers. 19, 20. — :rc in another. Thus the Greek fathers applie«l the passage to the fall of Adam, or of the human race (Tholuek : " By way of exam[)le, the introduction of man into the para- disaical condition "). — Others believed the Jewish peojdc before and under the law denoted (Chrysos- tom, Turretin, Wetstein, Reiche). The view of the Socinians and Arniinians (Grotius, and others) was a modification of this one, that the homities pleriqtie are meant, who, under the legal economy, have sur- rctidered themselves to a gross life of sin. But the Apostle evidently speaks of a human condition of soul, in which the inward ccmilict of life is very ear- nest and great ; ami the language of his own expe- rience is unmistakable. Even if he spoke of the human race in gcnei-al, or of the Lsraelitish people in ])articular, he could not speak of a mere fitrna- /^iinTttTiinL; which would be excluded from the organic connection by the Apostle's theological view. But since the Apostle uses the most forcible lan- guage of his own experience, his expression is ifiin*- (Tn; (xoM'o.ToiirVt) ; that is, he exjjresses in his expe- rience a universal human experience of the relation of man to the law (Mi'yer, and others).* For it ia self-evident that the .\postle could have no occasion to describe a special experience concerning himself alone. But now the second qtiestion arises : What state of the soul has the .\poslle portrayed ? Does this • [Wordnworth, leso correctly, snyo: "By the pronoun 7. the holy Apostle personifies itumnn Nature, and iden- tifies it with himself, and savs, in his own name and person, ' what he menus to be Mpplled to Mankind geneniUy, m their I unregenerate H'nte." This author follows his urumI patri.s- : tic bent, in implyine that this is a description, not of what ' !#•(#«, but iiiiffhl hire been I'aul's experience. This leal foj I the honor of " the holy Apostle " ia undoubtedly at the ex« I penao of Lis siucerity.'— K.] CHAPTER VII. 7-25. 227 passage refer to tlie condition of the unregenerate, or of the regenerate ? Vieii'S.-^l. The unrer/enerote : The Greek fathers, Augustine before his controversy with the Pelagians {prop. 44 in Ep. ad Rom.); also Jerome, Abehird (to a certain extent), and Thomas Aquinas ; then Erasmus, Bucer, Musculus, Oohino, Faustus Socinus, Anninius (on Affehnan, see Tlioluck, p. 328) ; the Spener school (according to tlie suggestions of Spe- ner) ; and later exegetical writers. [Among tliese, Julius Miiller, Neander, Nitzscii, Hahn, Tholuck, Krehl, Hengstenberg, Riickert, De Wette, Ewald, Sfier, Stuart, Ernesti, Jlessner, Schmid, Lechler, Kahnis, and Meyer (most decidedly). Some of these, however, really support the modified view up- held below (4).— R.]. 2. The ri generate: Methodius in the Origenianis (see Tlioluck, p. 386) ; Augustine in the controversy with the Pelagians (on account of vers. 17, 18, 22, 2o ; Retract, i. 23, &c.) ; * Jerome, Luther, Calvin, P>eza, the orthodox school ; recently Kohlbriigge, Dn!< 7te Kapitel des Briefer an die Edmer (1839). 3. The first section, from vers. 7-13, treats of the unregenerate ; vers. 14-25, of the regenerate : Philippi [whose careful and thorough discussion {Comm., pp. 249-258) is one of the ablest in favor of this reference. — R.]. The identity of the subject Is against this view. Hofmann, Sc/iriftbeu'eis, i. p. 469 : '• The Apostle does, indeed, speak of his pres- ent condition, but apart from the moral ability to which he had grown in Christ." According to Mey- er, this is the earlier Augustininn view (of the unre- generate); but it seems to be scarcely an intelligible one. [This view (referring only vers. 14-25 to the regenerate) is that of most Scotch expositors (latterly Brown, Haldane, Forbes) ; of Delitzsch (Bibl. F-e of sin Metonymically, the operation named, instead of th* cause, as 2 Kings iv. 4t> ; Micah v. 1 : Samaria is si^ for Jacob. On the other hand, De Wette and Meyei say ; Is the law sinful, immoral ? Alter what pre- cedes, it may well mean : Is it the real cause of sin, and, as such, itself sinful V [Bengel: ^' cimsii peC' cati /i(craiiii?io.ia." "'O »'0/; y ivo it o. Nay, but. The a ). /. d is taken by some in the sense of a/j.dyf : but certahdi/. He rejids the thought that the law is sin, but yet he firmly holds that it brought injury (Stuart, Kidlner, and others ; Meyer, Ilofmann). Tholuck, on the other hand (with Theodore of Mojjsvestia, Abelard, and others), sees, in what is here said, the expression of the op- posite, viz., that the law first brought sin to con- sciousness. It may be asked whether this alterna- tive is a real one. If the law be really holy, because it hns driven sin from its concealment and brought it fully to manifestation, then there is no alternative here. [This seems decisive against Stuart's view. Meyer (4th ed.) renders dlXd, sondern. The law is not sin, hit its actual relation to sin is that of (//«- coverer of sin. This is much .simpler than Alford's view : / say not that, tnit tvfiat I iiuan is that. The objection that this implies a praise of the law (De AVette) is without force. He might well praise it as leading toward ver. 25 ; viii. 1. — R.] But it may be askeil, in connection with this view. How are the words, I had not known sin [rijv d fi a I) T i a V o !• n Eyvwv], to be ex- plained ? According to Cyril, Winzer, De Wette, Philippi, and Tholuck, this refers to the knowledge of sin alone ; but, according to Meyer, and others, it refers to the becoming acquainted with sin by ex- jierience. Meyer: "The principle of sin in man, with which we first become experimentally acquaint- ed by the law, and which would have remained un- known to us without the law, because then it would not have' become active by the excitement of desires for what is forliidden, in opposition to the law." This explanation lays too much stress upon the sec- ond jKiiiit of view. According to chaji. v. 20, vi. 15, and ver. 8 of this chajiter, it is, however, not d(uii)t- ful that the Apostle has here in mind not only the knowledge of sin, but also the excitement of sin. But he does not have it in mind as the increase of sin in itself, but as the promotion of its manifesta- tion and form for the jtidgincnt. Except through the law [ti /i ij i denotes the external impulse or occasion, in opposition to the inner. [Not mirely opparhmity ; " it indicates the furnishing the mate- rial and ground ot attack, the vhcreivith and v/i./nce to attack " (Alford). Its position is emphatic, though the whole phrase is probably thus rendered piomi- nent. — R.] The /.a/ifidn-iv in /.aj-iuTaa, as free, moral activity, must be made emphatic here. There- fore Reiche says, incorrectly: it receiv'd occasion. By the commandment ■wrought in me [(J'ta r 7/ 1; ivTo'/.Tji; /. arr^ (j ydacxTO iv f/ioi']. The ()i.a t // <,■ tvro).. must be connected with y.ciTtj^iy. (Riickert, Tholuck, Meyer), and not with uqoij/i. /.afi. (Luther, Olshausen, ThohKk).-f The sentence contains the declaration how sin took an occasion for itself. It operated just by (he cm- mandment [the single precept referred to ver, 7], since it regarded the categorical commandment as a hostile power, and struggled and rebelled against it. The immediate design of the commandment in itself was the subjection of the sinner; but the pros- pective result was the rising of sin, and this result should bring sin clearly to the light in order to ca- pacitate the sinner for deliverance. Meyer saya ambiguously : " Concupiscence is also without law in man, but yet it is not concupiscence for what is for- bidden." Certainly the positive prohibition first ap- pears with the law ; but the variance of the s nner with the iimer law of life is already perfectly pres- ent. But now refractoriness toward the poj^itive command makes its appearance, and enhances and consummates sin. All manner of evil desire \^7i dcr av im,- i9 t'l // ^ a r ]. The tmfliftia was already present; but it now first unfoUled and extended itself to the contrast. Zwingli, and others, interpret this as the l-n-whdye of lust ; Luther, Calovius, Philippi, and others, interpret it properly as the exciietnehi of lust. Tholuck : " According to ver. 11, sin deceives, as ia exhibited in the history of the fiill of man ; to man every thing forbidden appears as a desirable bless- ing ; but yet, as it is forbidden, he feels that his freedom is limited, and now his lust rages more vio- lently, like the waves against the dyke ; " see 1 Cor. XV. 46. [Philippi well says of this : " An immova- bly certain psychological fact, which man can more easily reason away and dispute away, than do away.''"' \ — R.] * [Stuart makes aixapria here almost = eyat a-apxiKot (ver. U ff.). If an equivalent is necessary, o-apf is a preferable one. For full, almost fmciful, notes on the presumed personification, see Wordsworth in loco. — R.] t [The proof of (his connection is, that iio is never joined with a0. Aa/x0. (« is u^ual) ; that vers. 11, 13 seem to require it. — R.] t [The following citations from (he classics suppcrt the universality of the principle set forth in this verse (comp. Prov. ix. 17): C:ito (Livy xxxiv. 4) : Noh'le codem loco exislimare, Quiritcs, fulurmn rem, quo fuit, anlefjuum lex de line fer- rttiir. El homlmm iviprobum nrni occusiire tutuis est, (juam absnlvi, el luxun'a nmi viola loleiohilior essrt, quani eril vunc, ipsis vinculis, siculfrrci bcstia irritnta, deinde emissa. Sen- eca (de Chmevtni, i. 23) : Parricidm cum lege caperimt, ei Hits /acinus pcBiia momlravit. Horace (Cirm., i. 3) : 2r,o THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. For •without the law sin is dead [yi V 6 fi o V a II a o T i a r t y. P u . A general proposition, hence, with the verb omitteii. Beza ami Ktiehe iucorioetly supply »]»> ; so E. V., was. It will readily be understood that vtx(ta. is not used ill an absolute, but relative sense, = vopera- tiv (i>T unobserveii, if the reference t)e lituited to the knowledge of sin). Against this the antithesis of the following verse may be urged. — R.] Meyer, incorrectly : " not activili/, because that is wanting whereby it can lake occasion to be active." Rather, ein cannot mature in its root ; it cannot come to naocii-iauii;. Man has, to a certain extent, laid him- self to rest with it upon a lower bestial stage, which is apparently nature ; the commandnuMit lirst mani- fests the demoniacal ccjiitradictioii of this stsige, the actual as w^ell as the foi-mal contiadiction to God and what is divine (see chap. viii. ',i). It is incorrect to limit the statement, with Chrysostom, Calvin, and others, to knowledge — it vas not known ; or, with Calovius, to the conscience (tcrroves conscientice) ; or, finally, to limit the idea to the sphere of desire (Tholuck). It has not yet ac()uired its most real, false lite, in the 7iai^tu[lu(n^. Reference must here be niadi; to the antithesis : Sin was de id, and I was alive. [The clauses, however, are not strictly anti- thetical.— R.] Ver. 9, Now I 'Was alive without the law once [ t y i<> <^ i t J m r / ut o i s v 6 n o r n 1) T i . For (E. V.) is incorrect ; «)* must then be rendered but or now (('. e., moreover), as it is taken to be advernaline or coutinualive. The latter is to be pre- ferred, on the ground that this clause continues a description of the state without the law, while the real antithesis occuis in the following clause, for which the particle but should be reserved. — R.] In order to delinc the sense, we must apply the twofold antithesis. Paul could only have lived first in the sense in which sin was dead in him, and also be dead in the sense in which sin was alive in him. I was alive. The / must be emphasized : " the whole expression is pregnant (Reiche, on the contrary, merely f]v) ". E.x))lanations : 1. Vidibar mihi vivere (Augus- tine, Erasmus [IJarne.s], and others). 2. Securiis erain (\l. lanclithon, Calvin, Bengel [Hodge], and others), I lived securely as a Pharisee. ',i. Meyer say.s, to the co iiddod the remiirk of Goethe (in a letter to Liiviller): l h miirh'r. ilns El> mnit wnmun d'H Mfiifhen S'flr griiitilrl ixt iiiid wirrin me Ifb', fin F ilOiirr nriinf.ii, wnriii allf, liiillifihrn uiid himmlifilini Krdflf diinh- eiiianilfr gfti'tt und wirkin (I iiiiK'ht call the clement, out of which the Hotil of man in fonncd nnd in which it liven, a pur(r:itoi-y, in which all hollixh and heavenly poworn con- nim-dlv walk and work). — U.) • (U'ho loKitimatc result of this inteiprotjition is Juwott's position : " Thu atutc which the A]ioi)tle deucrlhcn u in minds us of the fact, that the Jewish child was not subject to the law until his thirteenth year ; but he accedes (and properly so) to the views of the elder expositors. Paul first perceived the deadly sting of the law when he was forbidden to lust. The child, as a child, has childish devices ; 1 Cor. xiii. ; but it can here come into consideration only so far as ita religious and moral consciousness began to develop. But the status sicuritittis of which the Apostle here speaks, first begins where the innocent child's .\tatiiM secnrilntis ceases. It consists in the sinful life being t;iken, after the course of the world, as naturalness instead of unnaturalness. And this can also con- tinue under the law, so long as the law is regarded as something external, and is referred to mere acticwi. The Apostle first dates the true existence of the law for man from the miderstanding of the Tlion shnlt not citfft. As, therefore, Meyer has above given too Augustinian a view oC original sinfulness, so he hero construes it too much on the opposite side. In a historical reference, this text, according to Rom. v. 13, has especially in view the period from Adam to Moses. It has, therelore, even Ijeen said that Paul Irmx' s|)eaks, in the name of his people, of the more innocent and pure life of the patriarchs and Israelites before the gift of the law (Grotius, Laehmann, Fritzsche, and others). Undoubtedly, that historical sUige is included ; yet here the ps)'- chological point of view predominates: the life of the individual uj) to the understanding of the Mosaic expression. Thou shall not covet. The law also points, by the or/. ini,0., beyond itself; as the sac- rificial ottering, jS:c. Now 1 was itlive. This means, according to Mey- er, "Man, during the state of death {Tudlsein) of the principle of sin, was not yet subject to eternal death. Certainly he became subject to physical death by the sin of Adam." We have alrcifly re- futed this distinction. The condemned are first actualli/ subject to death at the final judgment ; in principle, the children of Adam are subject to it ; but the living man, of whom Paul here speak.s, had not yet fallen into it, in the pea-sonal consciousness of guilt and the personal entanglement in the 7Ta(jd- fjClITi^. But when the commandment came [t ).- .9 o r «■ /, ,■ i) I T/",- f r T o /. r s . The sjieeilic com- mand, not the whole law. Cunu — /. e., was Ijroiight home to me.— At this point the older Lutheran and Calvinistic expositors found a reference to the con- viction of sin immediately preceiiing conversion. But the use of ivTo/.i'; is against this, as well as the drift of the whole pas.sage. A writer, so loving in his repetition of the name of Christ, anil in diiect ref- erence to the work of Christ, would not have left such a meaning ol).seure. Comp. Philippi on the p.syehological objections. — R.l When it-s inwai'd character became known. This certainlv ha.s an his> fomc dcRTCo ideal and im.ipinary." There is no such time of innocence, hut rather a time of m-niril;/, " liofore tho deejicr encrpics of the monil nature are ai-oused." All that penod, in the iiiilividual consciuUMnes.-;, as well as Recond:i» riiy ill tho hixtoiicil development of redemption, is i-cferred to hy iror<'. Oruntii.jr, ax a fair excpesis of tlie whole con- text compels us to do, that the termination ol thi- period was not lit the entrance of Christiiiii knonledfje of the 'nw, we m.iy well include the thou;;ht urped so stro ply by I'rofl Stuart : " I'.rfore an individual has a ilistlnct atnl vivid per- cojilion of the nature and spirituiility imd extent of tho I>n'ine I:iw, he is less :iciive and ilespenite in hiri sin Jind puilt than after he comes to such a knowledge." 'I'lie view of ver». 7, S, as iiiolndinp; excilenicut uf siu, ammita U8 i> advance to tldo position.- -R.) CHAPTER VII. 7-25. 231 torical application to the gift of the Mosaic law (Reiche, Fritzsche), but a psychological application to the designated moments of introspection. Sin sprang into life [ r/ aftci^ria av iu-tj- afv\ The explanation of the av i'Ctj a iv, re- vived y.c Riickert, De Wetto, and others. Tho- luck : * " The ava. stands, as elsewhere in com- pound words, in the strengthened meaning of sur- 8iim ; comj). a.va/i).imt> in John ix. 11," &c.), is opposed by Meyer, in accordance with the elder ex- positors, and by Beugel and Philippi. Bengel makes this explanation: sicu( vizerat, cxin per Adaiinim intrnsxet in mundiim. Certainly the a /t u (i r i a became perfectly alive first in Adam as 7Ta^«,-;«o'tt-, and then as such vt/.(jd, until the gift of the Mosaic aw again brought it to life. But this is also repeat- ed psychologically in the individual so far as the Adamic 7ia^ufja(Ti.i; is psychologically reflected more or less strongly in his first offences ; thus an indi- vidual ).aft(}. of the fall takes place, but then, until the awakening light of the law penetrates the con- Bcience, a false state of nature enters, connected •with an active sense of life. [Here, too, must be included both the knowledge of and excitement to sin. — R.] — Some Codd. read ttz/fff, because the ex- pression ava'C'i^v did not occur in the classical Greek and in the Septuagint. Origen thought there was here a reminder of a pre-terrestrial fall. Cocceius : evidcidius apparuit. And I died [lydt Se aniSarov']. In the same sense as sin became alive, did the sinner die. That is, with the sense of conscious [and increasing] guilt, the sense of the penalty of death lias made its appearance. Meyer makes an inadequate distinction here: " We must understand neither physical nor spiritual death (Semler, BiJhme, Riickert, and oth- ers), but eternal deatii, as the antithesis, flq Co// v, requires." The sense of the penalty of death makes no distinction of tliis kind. [The aorist points to a definite occurrence. He entered into a certain spirit- ual state, which he calls death. Calvin : 3Iors pec- cali vita est hominis ; sursum vita peccati mors homi- nis. — R.] Yer. 10. And the commandment, -wrhich was unto life, the same was found by me to be unto death [/.at i v ^ i tj f.ni. tj ivTo/.ij ij fii; tv) tj V , avr I] f Iq & dv ar ov . Ka i introduces the verse as an epexegesis of died, with the addition of a new circumstance (Stuart). — R.] Supply oi'ffa before unto life. In what sense was the coniniandment thus found ? The commandment has certainly promised life to the one observing the law; Lev. xviii. 5; Deut. v. 33; Matt. xix. 17. It is, however, easily misunderstood when there is such a general explanation as this: " the promise of life was connected with the observance of the Mosaic commandments" (Meyer). The sense is rather from the beginning, that tlie kind of promise is condi- tional on the kind of observance. External obedi- ence has also only an external promise, or a promise of what is external (Exod. xx. 12). But this is, for the pious, only the figure of a higher obediei»ce and promise. The self-righteous man, on the other hand, made a snare for himself out of that promise. Now, In the highest sense, life according to the law of the Bpirit — that is, in faith (which is the end of the law) —results in the !^oitj aiwvi,o<;. Only the transition ♦ [So Stnaxt : " to gather new life, to show addilional rigor, not merely a renewal of life which had before ex- isted." On the lexical objeetions to this view, see Philippi in loco. — K,] from death to life lies between the two. It is jusi the most intense effort to fulfil the law that results in death. This is a circumstance which seems to contradict the tti; i^id/jv, and yet it does not contra/, diet it, but is quite in harmony with it. The same. We liold that, according to tli« setise, we mu.st read avri] (with Lachnuu.n, De Wette, Philippi), and not « v i //, with Meyer and Tiseliendorf [Alford, Tregelles]. For the law haa only temporarily become transformed, as the same law of life, into a law of death ; it has not perma- nently become a law of death.* Ver. 11. For sin, &c. [17 yaq a/ja^ria, z.T./. The yd (J introduces an explanation of ver. 10. The first words are similar to ver. 8, btt d lu a Q r la here st.mds emphatically first. The position of Sm t^c ivro/.T;i; is also slightly emphatic. — R.] Not tlie commandment in itself has become a commandment unto death ; sin has rather made it thus. How far '? tjin took occasion, or made itself an occasion. That it took it of the commandment, is assumed, and is explained by what follows. Tiie following /.cu (>t' uvT/^Cy (See, favors the connection of the () t « T tj i; ivr ).7j i; with i% rj n dr r^a i /I f , deceived me. It first made the command- ment a firovocaiion, and tlien a means of condemnor Hon. Thus what applies to Satan, that he was first man's tein/> er, and then his accuser, applies likewise to sin. This passage calls to mind tlie serpent in Paradise, as 'I Cor. xi. 3. But in what did the de- ception of sin consist ? Pliilijipi : " Since sin made me pervert the law, in which I thought that I had a guide to righteousness, into a means for the promo- tion of unrighteousness." f Not clear. It deceived me, in that it represented the law to me as a limit which seemed to separate me from my Imppiness. Behind that limit it charmed me to transgression by a phantom of happiness. Accordingly, it is not satisfactory to explain the following clause : And by it slew me [x at J t' avx tjc; an ixr ( i- vtv^, thus: sin gave me over to the law, kg that it sleic me. In this respect sin rather falsified the law, since it represented to me my well-merited death as irrernidiable, or my jitdge as my enemy (see Gen. iii. ; Heb. ii. 15; 1 John iii. 20). [^^ JBroiight mt into the state of sin and misery,'''' already referred to in ver. 10. The allusion to the temptation is to be admitted here also. — R.] Tholuck : " Decision of Simeon Ben Lachish : The wifked nature of man rises every day against him, and seeks to slay him (Vitringa, Obstrv. Sacr., ii. 599) ; also by the ~~n "i:^ is denoted the angel of death." Ver. 12. So that the law is holy, &c. [(',') a re 6 II k V V 6 II o <; d y I <; , x.rJ.. The 6) a t i in- troduces the result of the whole discussion, vers. * [It is more difficult than import.nnt to decide this point. AvTi), Jifc/; this; avrri, ip.-a, ilf srune. The former, though not in itself so emphatic, here takes the preceding Rubject, this very iniiinuitidment, giving it a tragical force (^o Meyer and Philippi, whom Lange cites in favor of the other view). The ai alogj' of vers. 15, 16, 19, 20 (touto) ia against Lange's preference. — R.l t [So Iloilpe : "The reference is not to the promised joys of sin, which always moclv the expectation and dis- appoint the hopes, but rather to the utter failure of the law to d'l what he expected ftom it." This view consists with the assumption, that the point in ex)ieriqprice here reached is one nccessaiilj' and immediately preceding con- version. Dr. Hodae dees nnt thus assume, yet he appeals to Cliristian experience in confirmation. If the excitement to sin be allowed throughout these verses, the other inter- pretation, adopted by Dr. Lange, is preferable. Com;... however, a beautiful scttin.: forth of thi- first view in Neander, PJinmung, ii. 081 ((quoted in Tholuck). — R.] 232 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 7-11. It id not = ergo, yet of a more general con- (•liKiisness (Meyer: * " rightly constituted, just as it should be"); and good — that is, not in the vague sense of exollint (.Meyer, I'hilippi, and oth- ers), but according to the idea of what is good : beneficial promotion of life in itself, in spite of its working of death in me ; indeed, even by its work- ing of death. The term good refers to the blessed result of divine sorrow, and to the gospel. f The el.iborate apology for the cIeyer) occasioned l)y the fact that the IvTu/.ij has been described as precisely the object of sin, in ver. 7. Seconu Pauaoraph (ver. 13). The Law in relation to the Sinner, Yer. 13. Did then that which ■was good become death unto me? [V'o orr nyufn^v iuui fyivfTO &dvaTOi;; Hcti 'J'lXtual Aoie ''.J Thobick : " The fitv in ver. 12 prepared for the an- tithesis fj ()e (iiiciiiTtct, x.T./. Yet the Apostle again presents his thoughts in the form of a refuta- tion of an antagonistic consequence. The ayuOov should lead us to expect only whol(?somc fruits." Undoubtedly, the expression ayaf)f'j (ver. 12) is the new proltlein now to be solved. It was not so much to be wondered at that the commandment, as holy and juyn'lo/i{vt] (iji') Odvarov, IVa (favTi fiiinnrla " (Meyer); so also the Vulgate. That it might appear sin [iva (jiavTJ tt ii (III T in. The ii'rt is telle; (/arfj, 6e shown to />« (.\lford). This second diinijTia is a predi- cate ; anarthrous, therefore, and al.so as denoting • [This Ib a mifitiiko. 'Hio quotation is from I'hilippi. Ifeyor s«y» ; " rifflit, with revpiM't to iti nquireiiioiit, which aoire.^poiKio sxa rtiy with hoUiioHs."— K.) t (Bi'tiici-'l is uxccUrnt : S^incld, jnfln, b'inn, rations, tmtfm iffici'-n/it, forma, fiiiif. His seconii view id Ipsh em- act : re-/)" til ujjicioriim rrga Diiim, ri>piiiu pruTimi, n- tl'iiin iiiiliirir niir. Comp. C:ilovlu-i (in Tlioluck and I'lii- lipin), and Thoodorot (in Alford). — U. | character. — R.] This was therefore the most iniiue* diate de.*ign of the law : Sin should upjtcir as siu (E])li. v. 13 ; (jen. iii. : Adam, where ait thou?). [Working death to me, by that which ia good, () I. i. The law is not sin; sin disclosed itself coni[)letely as sin in making what is good a means of evil. That sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful [ i r a y i r t; t nt y. u ' /' TT f (* />' o / // V d 11 rt i>T <•> /. I) ,• !j d /( a(j T i a (Wet T/;t,- ivTo/.Tji;. Parallel clause to the last, of inerea.sed force : "Ob.serve the |)ithy, shai|), vividly compressed sketch of the dark figure " (Meyer). — R.] K a I*)' (' n f (I fio /. t) V . Frequentl v used bv Pa«l ; 2 Cor. i. 8 ; iv. 17 ; Gal. i. 13. The « ,< « ^/t ... /. d <; appears to be an intimation that sin, as an imaginary man, should be driven from real human nature to destruetion. [The telic force of these clauses is thus expanded by Dr. Hodge : " Such is the design of the law, so far as the salvation of sinners. It does not prescribe the conditions of salvation. Neither is the law the means of sanctification. It cannot make us holy. On the contrary, its operation is to excite and exasperate sin — to ri'iider its power more dreadful and destructive." — R.] [Exci:ii.si's OS Binr.ico-PsYciioi.oGiCAi. Tk.rms.— The exact significance of the terms ort^/J anJ nvtii/i a, as used so fretpiently by the Apostle \\i this and the eighth chapters, requires earelul consid- eration at this point. Hut such a discussion must neces.sarily be preceded by some remarks on the words, (TiTifia, V ''/'/, 7ivtv/ia, body, soul, and spirit, as used by Paul in a strictly anthropological sense. I. JS(7>fia, HoDY. This term is readily under- stood as generally used in the New Testament. Still it refers, strictly speaking, to the bo.iilg organism, and has a psychological meaning almost = sense, the .sensiitional jiart of man's nature. As 'listin- guished from ffft((i (in its physiological .sense), it means the organism, of which rrri..; is the material substance. (/\(<»rts- differs frotn adot, in not in- cluding the idea of an organism.) That awiin must not be restricted to the material body, irrespective of it.s organism and vit^il union with the immaterial part of uiiui's nature, is evident from the uumeroui CHAPTER VII. 7-25. 233 passages (Rom. xii. 5 ; 1 Cor. vii. 2*7 ; Epb. i. 23 ; Col. i. 18, ic), wlieie the Church is called the bodj' of Chri-st. This expression would coiivcv little meau- iiig, if ff(o,«r< had not this psychological sense. No dithculty arises in regard to this term, except in the interpretation of a few passages which seem to imply an ethical sense ; e. o., Rom. vi. 6 (q. v.) ; vii. 24 ; viii. 10, lo ; Col. ii. 11. It must be remarked, that in most of these the ethical force really belongs to sonie attributive word, ao)/ia bfing in itself inditt'er- ent We may explain most of these cases by giving the word a figurative sense, t/ie orgaitinyn of sin (Rom. vi. 6; vii. 24; Col. ii. 11), analogous to (he old titan ; or by admitting a reference to the body as the chief organ of the manifestation of sin. The term ^ i / ;/ , members (which is usually associated with a<7)fia, rather than with ad(Ji, because the idea of an organism is more prominent in the former term), must be interpreted accordingly (see Col. iii. 5 ; bthelwerk, p. 64, Amer. ed.). lu any case, the thought that the body is the cliief source and seat of sin, must be rejected as unseriptui-al, unpauline, and untrue. We must also avoid a dualislic sunder- ing of tJie material and immaterial in man's nature, n. H'' v/rj , Soul. This term is from i^'i'/m, to breathe, "to blow, and, like liiS3 , its Hebrew equivalent, originally mean? animal life (see the New Testament usage, especially in the Gospels), but, like the Hebrew word, it also is frequently referred to the whole immaterial part of man's nature, in dis- tinction from aotna. By synecdoche, it is put for the whole man, in enumeration (Acts ii. 41 : about three thousand souls), and in the phrase, nciaa il'i'Xfl, ^''^'^il xoul. As the word occurs but foui- times in the Epistle to the Romans — twice in the seuse of life, and twice in the phrase, ereri/ sotil — it would not be necessary to discuss it further, did not the precise meaning of nvtviia depend upon a further discrimination. Twice in the New Testament (1 Thess. V. 23 ; Heb. iv. 12) the word is distin- 'guished from nvfr/ta. As both passages may be re- garded as Pauline, the one occurring in his earliest written Epistle, and the other in an Epistle of much later date, which is Pauline, even if not written by Paul, the question of a Pauline trichotomy cannot be avoided. The fuller discussion will be found under nvfTtia, below, but here we nmst define xfi/t} more closely. Although it is true that the term does mean the animal soul, it is very doubtful whether it means simply this in the two passages above referred to. If " animal soul " be restricted to the principle of life, then mTi/ia, in such a connection, should include this; and a wish that the principle of life be " pre- lerved blameless," is singular, to say the least. If, kowever, "animal soul" be taken to include more than this — viz., what we share with the brutes — then it is highly probable that this largely includes the intel- lectual part of our nature, and i/'i/y^ must then be = the scat of the Understanding, in distinction from the Reason. That some wide sense is involved, is evident both from 1 Cor. xv. 45, " the first Adam was made a living soul," and from 1 Cor. ii. 14, where the adjective ^•v/i,y.6(i undoubtedly includes the intellectual part of man's nature. In both these case,'! the antithesis is nvf'iia. in the ethical sense ; hence the greater necessity for enlarging the idea of V'i'//y.* Passing over many distinctions which have * [Akin to the view under disouseion is that of Goschcl : "that the soul proceeds at once from body and spn-it to Unite thti two '" This contradicts, or, at least, confuses the been made, we consider the view of Olshausen, who makes t/c/// the centre of our personality, tiie battle- field of the flesh and human spirit. In this view, also, auifi and aiiifia are almost identical, thougt he admits that, in the unrenewed man, the i/''^'/ is under the donunion of the ca^jS. It exch des the I'oTs from tlie U't'/i'j, making it tiie organ of activity for the human spirit. This view still restricts V^l' too much, even admitting the trichotomy.* It con< fuses psychological and ethical terms. It leans toward the error which makes the body the source of sin, wliile, on the other hand, it excludes the human spirit from the dominion of sin (and its organ, the roT.,). It cannot be justified by Paul's language, for the very passages which indicate a trichotomy imply the sinfulness of the human spirit, while it is altogether unpauline, as already remarked, to refer sin to the body as its source. The use of the word ^■v/i/.6c, as quoted above, is equally op- posed to this view, which probably giows out of the attempt to find in i/''7'/ and nvir/ia, terms analo- gous to the Understanding and Reason. AVe there* fore object to this view, and claim a still wider sense for t;'l7^/. How much can be claimed for it, will appear from what follows. III. Hviv/ia, Spirit. This term, from nvtw, to blow, to breathe, means (like the Hebrew n!l"i ) 6rfrt//i, then wind, then anima, lastly animus, spirit, in all the various meanings we give that word. It must first be discussed in its strictly psychological meaning. A. Besides the secondary meaning, temptr, dis- position, it is used by most of the New Testament writers to denote man's immaterial nature, including, together with o-(7)/ia (Kom. viii. 10; 1 Cor. vi. 20; ( vii. o4), and also with aafji (2 Cor. vii. 1 ; Col. ii. 6), the wliole man. In the phrase, "gave up tiie ghost," it is doubtful whetlier it means the wliole immaterial nature, or simply life ; in Luke xxiii. 46 ; Acts vii. 59, the former seems to be the mean- ing. But there are a number of passages where the exact signification turns on the previous question : Do the Scriptures assume or teach a trichotomy in human nature ? — that man is a unity made up of body, soul, and spirit ? It is essential to the proper understanding of chaps, vii. and viii. that this ques- tion be discussed. f 1. First of all, it must be admitted as a fact that the Scriptures recognize the dualism of spirit and matter, and that man is both material and immaterial, without any teiiium quid, which is neither material nor immaterial. The presumption, then, is against the trichotomy, so far as it would ignore this fact. The presumption is also against any view which classes soul under the material part of the complex nature, since both soul and spirit are used to include the whole immaterial part of man. On the other hand, Plato and Aristotle undoubt- immateriality of the soul, and makes a living body ante- cf dent thereto. Hegeliani?ni regards the soul as only the band that coinects body and spiiit.— E.] * [Against so limited a view of >^vx^, Fee Tliohick, p. 302, who includes under it the vov<; and iata avOpioiroi. Camp. IreniBus, c. hxref., v. 304. — R.] t [On the trichotomy, see Delitzs-ch, Blhl. P-ych., pp. 84-9S ; Olshausen, Romons, pp. 271, Tii, 2d ed. ; De nati/rm hum.trirhr,i,min, &c., Op'iscc. Thiol., Berlin, 1834, pp. 143 ff. ; Me^sner, Die Lfhrc dis Apos'd, Leipzig, 1856, p. 207,- Bishop EUicott, Srvum on thf Destiny of the Citation , Kotes on 1 Thess. v. 23; Lange's Cnmm. on Onie..) All views of the human spirit which make Jt a higher un/allen part of man's nature, over * [The anthropology of Swodpn))oriir nssiimcs a trinity rither than a trichotomy, hikI ly bis doctrine of corrc- B)>oiiiliiie pluasin^ to ttomu mindu to traoe auch an analogy. against a soul under the power of the ad(Ji. Tlii^ which is the view of Olshausen, and, with modi- fications, of many others, is not borne out by the anthropology of .Scripture ; is coutradicteJ by the very p;Lssages which alone can establish a trichoto- my, and is in the very face of 2 Cur. vii. 1, where " filthiness," noha/io^, defilement, stain, is attrib. uted to the human spirit. Did such an unfallen spirit, in any sense, exist in man, we might expect that term to be used in this chapter instead of voi-i and 6 tail) cii'0^(jw7ioi;, whatever the reference may be. Jul. Miiller (i. p. 450) well remarks: '' Jlvtvfia in this anthropological sense is itself exposed to pol- lution (2 Cor. vii. 1), and needs sanctification and cleansing just as xfi/r'i and ai)i/roposition : " that which is born of the Spirit is Sjiirit " (John iii. 6) This seems to be, in substance, the view of Miiller, Delit/sch, and Heard.* It admits a dichotomy, and also a trichotomy ; claims that the .soul is spiritual rather than material ; that there is no gulf between soul and s]tirit ; that the human spirit is powerless for good, yet that here, where depravity is really most terrible, redemption l>egins. " In consequence of sin, the human si)irit is absorbed into soul and • [Of course, tlio term will be ffiven a more or less ex- tended mciiiiinn liy dillcrent aiitliors; but if the two poci tioiiH bi' held fust : (I.) That this spirit is the ]i(iiiit of con- tact with l)ivin'i influences; (2.) That it, too, has been depnived, nil erroneous conclusions will be avoided. Dr. Lanjfo (fifni-sit, p. 2i:!) goems to coincide with the view here |iresenled : " It must be held fast, that man cojlld not receive the Sjiiiit of (Iod, if he \ver»> not himsell a spiritual beinfr ; yet it is a supposition of the Scrip* tare, that, gince the fiill, the spiritual nature U Imund in the natural man, and dues not cumo to Its actuality." -K.J CHAPTER YII. 7-25. 23S fleah, and man, who ought to pass over from the position of the xin/ij t(>>aa into the position of the ni'frfia KiooTTotorv, has become, instead of nvtviia- Ti,/.6i, a being x^'v/iy.oi; and aa^xt/.tli,' ; and further, just for that reason, because tlie spirit stands in im- mediate causal relation to God, all the Divine opera- tions having redemption in view, address themselves first of all to the nvn^fia^ and thence first attain to the ^'f/i'i ; for when God manifests himself, He ap- I)cals to the spirit of man " {Bibl. Psych., p. 9(i, Eng. ed., p. 117). It may be urged that this pre- sents no real distinction ; I reply, that it is not claimed that the distinction is of essential impor- tance. But as Paul uses the word nvfviia in prefer- ence to V'/'/, when he speaks of man's immaterial nature, especially as regenerated by the Spirit of God, there seems to be no other way of accounting for it except on this view. (The objections to that of Philippi have been considered above.) Delitzsch Tery properly remarks : " Should any prefer to Bay, that the Apostle, by nvfviia and i/t///, is distinguishing the internal condition of man's life, and especially of the Christian's life, in respect of two several relations, even this would not be false." It is, indeed, the nearest expression of the truth ; for tlie human spirit is not brought into any special prominence by Paul, save as in a given relation in the Christian's life. Hence we have a second mean- ing of nvH/ia. B. The human spirit as acted upon hy the Holy Spirit, and thus becoming the seat of those Divine impulses, which are the means of redeeming the whole man. Of course, as opinions differ respecting the first meaning, they will vary from our definition. Piiilippi makes this identical with A, while others ■would claim that we should distinguish here rather a new principle of life (Lange), than a part of our re- newed nature. Dr. Lange seems to prefer this mean- ing throughout ciiap. viii. There, however, the reference seems to be mainly to the Holy Spirit, the objective agent. In vers. 10, 16, the subjective meaning is undoubtedly the correct one, as in John iii. 6 ; iv. 2.3, 24 (so Rom. ii. 29, see p. 115, where Dr. Lange gives a different view), 1 Cor. vi. 17 ; Phil. iii. 3. In many other passages this meaning is implied, as indeed it is even in 1 Thess. v. 23, though this cannot be explained satisfactorily, with- out presupposing a h\iman spirit antecedent to re- generation. C. The most common use of the term is obvious- ly the strictly theological one : the Holy Spirit. Opinions vary as to the propriety of this meaning in certain passages. No definite rule can be laid down. The absence of the article is by no means a certain in- dication that the reference is subjective (against Har- less). The reason for preferring this meaning, rath- er than " spiritual life-principle " (Lange), in chap. viii., is that, in ver. 2, the Holy Spirit is undoubtedly referred to, over against sin and death. When, then, ffdfji afterwards occurs as the antithesis to nvfv/ia, there is still more reason for taking the latter term as the Holy Spirit, since the ad(>i is, as it were, per- .onified and externalized, and the correct antitlieti- •al term must be an objective agent. We can thus far more definitely fix the meaning of ira^i, since to admit any subjective antithesis, compels us to admit also some remnant of unfallen nature in the subject, for which the use of the word nvtvfta. in the New Testament gives no ground whatever. IV. ^dtJi, Flesh. This terra is used by the LXX. to translate the Hebrew word "lilJS. Thii Hebrew word, in its simplest meaning, is applied to the material substance of the body, then occasionally to the human body itself. Out of this grows the application to all terrestrial beings who possess sen- sational life. But a more frequent use is in the sense of human nature, with the personal life attached to it (Gen. vi. 12 ; Deut. v. 26 ; Ps. Ixxvih. 39 ; cxliv. 21 ; Isa. xlix. 26 ; Ixvi. 16, 23, 24, and in numerous other passages). In Deut. v. 26 ; Isa. xxxi. 3 ; Jer. xvii. 5 ; P». Ivi. 5, human nature is contrasted with God, His Spirit, eternity, and om- nipotence, and the more prominent thought is there- fore " that of the weakness, the frailty, the transito- riness of all earthly existence " (J. Miiller). We reach, then, this sense : " Man with the adjunct no- tion of frailty " (Tholuck). There does not appear, however, any distinct ethical sense, still less any im- plication that man's sensuous nature is the seat of sin, or of opposition to his spirit. 1. Passing to the New Testament, we find also the narrower physiological meaning (1 Cor. xv. 39 ; Eph. V. 29 ; in the phrase, " flesh and blood," Matt, xvi. 17; 1 Cor. xv. 50; Gal. i. 16; Eph. vi. 12). It is also used as = body, the sensational part of man's nature, in Rom. ii. 18 ; 1 Cor. v. 5 ; vii. 28 ; 2 Cor. iv. 11 ; vii. 1, 5 ; xii. 7, &c., the antithesis being spirit, or the immaterial part of man's nature, never, however, with a distinctly ethical import. The pre- vailing use of the word in the New Testament un- doubtedly is, that which corresponds with the wider meaning of "iw3, human nature, sometimes, as Miiller holds, with a reference to the earthly life and relations (Gal. ii. 20 ; 2 Cor. x. 3 ; Phil. i. 22, 24 ; Col. i. 22 ; Eph. ii. 15, and a number of other pas- sages, where the whole earthly side of man's life are contrasted with his relation to God in Christ) ; but also in the sense of man, with the idea of frailty more or less apparent (Rom. iii. 20 ; 1 Cor. i. 29 ; Gal. ii. 16 ; Acts ii. 17, which is a citation of "11^3 in this sense ; John xvii. 2 ; Luke iii. 6). Here we must class those passages wliicli refer to the human nature of Christ : John i. 14 ; Rom. i. 3 ; ix. 6 ; * 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; 1 John iv. 2 (comp. p. 61). This list might be enlarged, but it is only nece.*sary to estab- lish the New Testament use of adiil in the wide sense of the Hebrew equivalent. Up to this point we find no distinct ethical meaning — only a basis for it. 2. The ethical sense. Our inquiry here is of a twofold nature. A. How much is included under the term ? B. What is its precise significance ? A. How much is included under this terra? (1.) If we choose a few passages where the ethical sense is admitted by all commentators, such as Kom. viii. 4, or vii. 14 ((ia(>xn'oc) ; viii. 8, and attempt to substitute " l)ody," or " sensational nature," for ffn^^S, it will be evident that such a meaning does not at all meet the case. It is not only contrary to the scrip- tural anthropology throughout, but in the passages themselves the antitheses are not of a character to justify it, especially in view of the wide meaning of ffaoj, already established. (2.) Nor can we limit it to the body and soul, and exclude the human spiric. It has already been shown how little prominence is given to this distinction in the New Testament, ho v * [In Bom. viii. 3, where the term occurs three timesi it is highly probable that in the last two cases this sensi is the more correct cue. — K.] 236 THE ETISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. there is no evidence whiitcvtT tliat the sph-it is not under the dominion of tlie siircicul tendency, but that, on the contrarv, an innnoral tendency is im- plied.* Nor will this view liiid support in the use of the adjective vc/moi,- in an ethical t^ense as = aauxixi')^; lor In the only case where such an ethical sense is undoubted (1 Cor. ii. 14), the antithesis is not simply :ifn/ictTi./.o^ (applied to spiritual things and persons as proceeding from, or influenced by, the lioly (ihost), but also " the tilings of the Spirit of God." (3.) W'liatever ctiiical sense is to be at- tributed to the word (T«^;, must include tiie whole uian, body and soul, or l)ody, soul, and spirit. This agrees witli the scriptural delineations of human na- ture, the use of the word above referred to, and its usual antithesis, when the ethical meaning is intend- ed, viz., tiie Spirit of (lod; never the human spirit irrespective of the uifluence of the Spirit of God. This auiitliesis is not always expressed, but it is in- variably implied. (Comp. Rom. vii. 5 ; viii. 3, 4 If. ; Gal. iii. 3 ; v. IG, 17, 19, 24; vi. 8 ; Col. ii. 18, 23.) If it be chiimed that, in Rom. vii. 18, 25, the ex- pressed antithesis is, in the former case, the inward man (ver. '22), then we reply, that tlie real antithesis is stated in ver. 14 : " spiritual," " carnal," and that, under the influence of this sjiiritual law, any antago- nism to the tro^S has been awakened. Of course, if tiie reference to tlie regenerate be admitted, tiiis objection disappears. So in ver. 25, although rors is tlie expressed antithesis, it is the roTs under the influence either of the Holy Spirit, or the spiritual law. ^tiiti, in its ethical sense, therefore, means, not merely an earthly or fleshly tendency, or direc- tion of life, but the whole human nature ; not, as Olshauscn thinks, so far as it is separated from God, but as it is separated from God, body, soul, and spirit, as sinful. Being in the flesh, is being in an ungodly state, a state of sin. (This view has obtained from the times of Augustine until now, among the mass of theologians.) B. What, then, is the precise significance of this ethical sense of adui V 1. Its usual antithesis indicates what the Scrip- ture doctrine of sin so strongly asserts, that iiuman nature, thus described, has become alienated from God. As love to (iod is the only true moral ini- puLse, apostasy from God is sin, and the natural, car- nal condition, is thus to be regarded. The Deea- i logue, lioiri. i. 5, are sulficient t(j support this posi- tion. In the law, holy, just, and good, love to God is tiie chief requiuemeiit ; in Rom. i. 21, wilful rejec- tion of God is described as the seed of all the vices, subsetiueiitly catalogued, ending in the most fearful sensual excesses; in Rom. v. 12-21, sin is described as entering tlirough one man, tlirough his act of dis- ot)edienee, and this is the immediate cause of the carnal condition of humanity. Yet this does not exhaust the meaning ; it is rather its negative ex- pression. 2. The positive principle of sin and the ruling principle of the flesh is undoubtedly xclfinhncuSy for, God being rejected, some personal object is re(|uire(l by the human personality. It is found in self; its interests become paramount. This is not, however, very priuuineiit in the ethical term under eonsidera- tion, bi't must be assumed in order to reach the fur- ther idea which it involves. • [Comp. Drlitsscli, Bib. Psyrh., pp. M\ t., Enpr. ed., np. 440 if., au'ionst th(r view of UQnilicr, tijat there in a Uuslily soul lu distnctiun from tbc tipirituul liuul.— H.j 3. The human nature, thus alienated from Godj with sel(ishne.s.s as its ruling principle, must, how. ever, seek gratification. There is but one resource, the ere dure. As (Ta5, see J. Miiller, Christliche Lehre von der Si/nde, especially pp. 434 if. ; Delitzsch, IJibl. Psi/cholor/ie, pp. 373 fll. ; Tholuck, liomerbrief, pp. 288 ft'. ; Wieseler, Galaierbrii f, pp. 443 ff. (a very clear discussion) ; Lange's commentary on Galatians, p. 142, Amer. ed. Tliis list might ije increased by referring to works on Doctrinal Theology and I->thie<, but it is limited to discussions of an exegetieal char- acter. — R.] Thiud Paraorapb, VEU8. 14-23. The Sinner in relation to the Law, Ver. 14. Por vre know. O'tWnufv, not otfJa /itv (Jerome, &e.). [The former n^ading ia almost univer.sally adopted. Dr. Hodge, who in- clined to the latter in earlier etlitions, now rejects it, on the grounil that there is no M to correspond with /( iv. The singular wouM imply that the sub- ject was aware of the spiritual nature of the law at the time of the conflict ; lieiiee it would favor the reference to the regenerate. The plural, trr hiow, simply means that Christians recognize this. — R.] That the law is spiritual [or* o rd//o« nvf !• II fiT ixui; trrru']. It is the specific knowN edge peculiar to Christians that religion is hiward ne.-ss ; that the law is incorrectly understood, when it is changed by the /.i,v to be, / approve of* (Appeal to Matt. vii. 23 ; John x. 14 ; 2 Tim. ii. 19, and elsewhere.) Here, moreover, the emphasis does not yet rest on the ffi/.fiv (which Tholuck applies to a mere velleitas, and Meyer to a real and decided wish, but which, after all, reimdna only theory !) and /nfTflv, but on the o i' ytv m a/.o). [For not w^hat I Avish, that I practise ; but what I hate, that do I. v yaQ o i /. w , T r T o n Q da ()stle could have ex- pressed far more plainly by another term. — II.] Tlie wish here is the better desire and ett'ort of tlie man awakened to his inward state. First of all, tiie sinner becomes a gloomy enigma to liimself in the contradictions ot his doing ami leaving undone. (See Meyer on the odd explanation of Reiche, that the sinful Jew does the wickedness which the sinle.«s Jew does not approve of. Also on statements kin- dred to the foregoing, in Epictetus : o fikv Qihi, (6 aiiaitrdviitv) ov nouT, xcu o tiij dihi, TTOin; and in Ovid : I'jV^o tmliora prohoque, deteriova se- qttoi: Still other examples in Tiioluck, p. 366.) On Phililipi's interpretation of this passage as applica- ble to the regenerate, see Tiioluck, p. 355.* The choice of the expressions is very delicate ; from the real ,9i/.nv in si)irit he does not come to the con- sistent and vigorous rt(>r'iafsn.v ; but even the inatZv cannot prevent a weaker noulv of the rebellious OQC. Ver. 16. But if what I wish not, that I do [ti rf t o or ft i '/. «) , T or T o not, I't . J i is perhaps logical, and marks a step in sell-discovery with respect to the law. — R.] The mental consent to the law now appears above the perceived dissen- sion between willing and doing. As the sinner places himself, with his judgment, on the siile of his awakened will, h(^ places himself, with his judgment, on the side of the law. [I agree with the law that it is good, nvn - If' ^1 II L r iji V f> n lit oTt x « / d v . The verl) may not here imply more than an intellectual acquies- cence in the high moral character of the law, yet that acquiescence extends as far as the !)i}.n,v. That this muxt be actual in the case of an awnkt-ned man, is evident, llow, else, could the sense of sin arise? — R.] This is the first step on the way of .-^elf- knowledge : Acquiescence in the law in opposition to his own actions. Hut at the same time, the law is acknowledged to be good in an eminent sense, as • [Dr. ITodfro \i ccrtiiinlj' correct In sayinj?, " that ovory rhri- out vhen Alfonl (f ■r. iwinjr rhiUppi) assort-*, that nn mnh w II irUlt in ihi- riri.il, iiiirrgfiifia't ni'in, iho ri'm;irk i» iiiro'^roct, UQleN.s 9i/i.> br roforied rlther tii n full (lt-lprmin:itlon of tUo\vill,i>rto the stroncoi't piws bio iln-irc. Th:it noiihorof thi-ep H n ni'ii-Ksary rom-lm on. i« evident not only from the luii^iai;c of Epictetus, but from the rXo^c couiicctioii with ver. tl (yap . . . yip), ii« wi-ll lui from vor. Id, when; ob 9«Aoi iM fvidently u-od im cxplainin); nivi). It in a gnitultoui) infercnco, that n icf«-riiicc of tliis vorso lo thr- unriRoniT.ito imi)llc« a contnidiotlon of tb* depravity of ttu human will.~U.] noble, st^inding ideally above the life — xa/i.oi;. Mey- er : " The usual construction, / grant thai the law i» f/ood, neglects the mv." Against the reference of the Ti7) vuiKi) to ai'v, see Tiioluck ; see him also for quotations from Chrysostom and Hugo St. Victor on the innate nobility of the soul. The iJluiiiination of the darkness of the wiU (vers. 17, 18). Ver. 17. Now then it is no longer I that perform it \^v wi i) e o v k i r i, t y oi y. ar f (> y d' < oil a I, airu. Nvvi is logical, not temporal (so all modern commentators). If temporal, then it might mark the transition into a state of grace. The same is true of ovntTi. See Winer, p. 574. " Since I consent to the law, that it is good, it can no fo>i(/er be affirmed that 7," &c. (Meyer). — R.l Tholucic : " A rri Aug. nnnc in statu grutix — rath- er a designation of the inference." But it denotes not merely a continued movement in the tre;itment, but also in the subject discussed. The understand- ing has first entered upon the side of the law ; now this is done also by the real will of the ego. The sinner distinguishes between his ego — which now emerges from the darkness of the personality — ;md the sin [the principle of sin personified] dwelling in him — now like a foreign and wicked co-habitant. lie places himself, with his e(/o and his will, on the side of the law, and abjures the bad part of his con- dition. The f j'">, as well as the xar f(j yci wO/( at, must be emphasized. The «('to is that whicli he, according to ver. 16, now no more wills with his real will. [As yet, however, there is no indication that this state of things docs or can lead to " what is good," save in powerless desire, even if, with Meyer, we take the erfo here sis = the moral sell-conscious- ness. Ver. 18 acknowledges this. — R]. But sin dwelling in me [«/./.« // oixoTnc* i v ifini fy the Christian is not a de- nial of responsibility, so, in the case of one not yet a Cliiistian, it is not the assuni]ition of a power to do right. There is no sign of release as yet. Even if we limit in me to the narrower sense it has in ver. 18, the whole jiersonulity seems to be under the power of sin. — Wordsworth finds here, and in the succeeding verges, a vindicaiion of Ood from the charge of being the author of sin I — R.j Ver. IH. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good doth not dwell I o i <) a y n q i> r I. nix n t y. t I i y t n n i , r o r T i a t i v l V T "ij n 0.(1X1 /I n I' , d y ci {} d v . For I k.iow, ia regarded by Philippi as an expression of Christian consoiousnt'ss ; yet some such consciousness is the veiy result which the law is designed to produce. — R. I More special definition of the dwelling of sin in him. This arises fi-oin the fact that gooil does not dwell in him — that is, in his Hesh. The negaiivo ex|>reSf'ir>n is noteworthy : If in a moral being no good dwells, the opposite (sin) does dwell in him. The auoi is here established as the other side of the ego, which, with this, constitutes the whoh' man. liut we cannot identify the aci^ij, cither with th« CHAPTER VII. 7-26. 239 body, or with tlie lusts of tlie body alone (tlie Greek fathers). Tholuck cites, in favor of this view, the different expressions, " in my members," " body of death," ver. 24. But these terms must not be un- derstood materially. Tlie (tcc^J is the external, finite nature and mode of relation and view ; it is the finite tendency in both its immaterial and sensuous cliaracter, which certainly has its substantial basis in the external arifjt. Calvin interprets tra^S here as human nature. It would be better to say: in my naturixlness. [See, on adfj^, the Excursus above. The word may be here used in the physiological sense (Wie- seler). But this seems strangely out of place. It is assumed to escape the difficulty that arises, if tlie reference to the unregenerate be held. In tiie case of a Christian, the limitation is made, because he has a spiritual nature, over against his carnal na- ture, in wliicli good does dwell. But since <7«^i, in the ethical sense, includes the whole natural man, why should any limitation be made, if the reference be to the unregenerate ? The grave objection must be admitted ; but if the verse be referred to the re- geneiate man, why this studious avoidance of men- tioning the ;Ti'tr',((a? and why such a powerlessness as is expi'essed in the next clause? The only satis- factory explanation is, that the distinction between unregenerate and regenerate is not in question, but the n:an of the law is here represented as conscious of being a6i()xi,voi:, made so more fully by the con- flict wliich the law has awakened. The immediate antithesis (wliich is not strongly marked here) is sim- ply the better desire, the effo longing to be better, powerless, however, in evivy caxc, until escaping from the law to Christ ; yet this implies, as the real ethical antithesis, the spiritual law here acting on the man. — R.] Tlie Apostle's declaration is far re- moved from the Flacian, Gnostic, and Manichean definitions. He could not liave sought a real " moral willing and doing" (Meyer) as "good" in his " flesh," but only religious morality and excellence. But he does not even find this in it ; and hence there arises the contrary propensity, a pseudo-plastic will of the flesh. For to "will is present with me [to yccQ S'ikfi^v 7za^dxet.ral //o^]. Not, " is present in me," as Meyer says, but who corrects himself when he also says : Paul represents the matter as if he were looking about after it in his personality — as if seeking himself in a spacious sphere. " The &ihi,v is present with him — before his gaze." To will is immediately before his eyes, but he can no- where find tlie treasure of performing that wliich is good. [To perform that •which is good I find not, TO <) £ xaTf(jydtf(TOai, to y. a '/.bv o v / fv Q ia y.i» . See 2\'Ziual Note '. If the briefer reading be accepted, nccQaxfirau must be supplied. Tiie meaning is then obvious. — R.] Explanations : I do not ffain it ; I can not, &c. (Estius, Flatt, &c.). We must first emphasize the y.arfQydLfaOai,, and secondly, the y.a).6v. The question is not concerning the justifia civilin, but the carrying out of the ideal. The iyo't is not yet the new man of the spirit (Philippi) ; it is tlie better self as an awak- ened moral will, from which the aim is removed and the way stopped up by the accustomed propensity of the flesh. The revelation of the obncuration and dinpension in the unconscious pround of life — that is, in the life of feelltig (vers. 19, 20). According to Tholuck and Meyer, we have in these verses only proofs of the preceding. Meyer : Ver. 19 is a proof of ver. 18, and ver. 20 of ver. 17. [Stuart : " * If what I have said in vers. 18 and 19 be true, then what I have affirmed in ver. 17 must be true.' " — R.] Ver. 19. [For the good, &c. i' t^ is con- firmatory. " I find not," is proved by acts which are not according to the better desire. Dr. Hodge presses the meaning of &iku). That Paul, as a Christian, would mean more by these words than Seneca or Epictetus, is undoubtedly true ; but whether he does mean more than is true in every case, to a certain extent, of a man awakened under the law^, is very doubtful. — R.] — But the evil which I wish not, that I practise, S o h i ).o) x a z 6 r , T Ti T o n () d(Ta 0) . Tliis strong expression ia new. It points to a fountain of wicked action which proceeds immediately from the unconscious life in opposition. And this is the darkness of tiie sensuous [tlie carnal] life. Ver. 20. [Now if I do that I would not, * ^ de o on {) i /. <)) t y o), t o ~i r o not (7i . El <)e = since, then, hypothetical only in form. On iyo'i, see Textual Note **. There is undoubtedly a progress in thought. Alford thinks the e[!0 is here perceived to be the better ego of the inward man ; but this progress is perceptible in the case of the awakened, only, however, to produce the cry of ver. 24. — R.] This verse, then, specifies also the real author of these actions of the man against his will : it is sin dwelling in me [r, olyiovaa iv i/tot diiaf)- Tt'ct], the habitual life of sense [i. e., of the flesh]. This, in its obscurity, he now renounces in his con- sciousness ; in his /. But now, to a certain degree or apparently, a foreign personality with a foreign law arises in him, against the awakening personality of his inner man. [The condition is not in itself, as yet, more hopeful. The progress is still toward wretchedness, despite or even because of the better desire. — R.] Disclosure of the itneard rent in man in general ; the dissension between the tnie personality and the false pe7:sonality with its false law (vers. 21, 22). Ver. 21. I find then the law^ [fViJiaxM ctQa rov I'd, HOI']. The difficulty of the passage has led Chrysostom to call it daaqei; H^fjfiivov, and Riickert to give up its explanation. Explanations : a. The Moxnic law is meant ; on for because. " I find, then, the law for me, so far as I am willing to do good, because evil is present with me." That is, the law is designed for me, be- cause I have the will to do good, but evil, kc. (Ori- gen, Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsvestia, Theophy- lact, Bengel, &c. ; Meyer,* and even Ulfilas. See Tholuck's Note, p. 372 : Invenio nunc legem, volenti mihi bonuin focere, nam mihi adist malum). We may say, in favor of this, that it certainly describes also the origin of the law ; that contradiction has made the law necessary. Still, this exposition is thoroughly untenable. 1. Since the beginning — that is, from ver. 7— • [Mcypr (4th ed.) holds that the ar+icle requires us to understand the Mosnic law, but his -view of the constinc- tion is as follows : thr law is joined with the paiticiple, the infinitive is the infinitive of design, nnd the last clause in- troduced by oTt is the object of I find: "I find, then, while my will is directed to the law in order to do good, th:it evil is present with mc." As he well adds : " What deep misery ! " But this seems forced, and is only an at- tempt to preserve consistently his dicUim, th.it tov vo/xop mupt mean fly? Mosaic law. See, however, \iis full gram- matical justification.— R.] 240 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. the speaker has known that the law is appointed for Liui. 2. Here the question is no more concerning the law for the sinner, but the relation of tlie sinner to the law ; tlie explanation is thus totally against the connection. 3. The explanation, now I hm^e dincovo-ed the law to be a law for tw, would be strange. 4. Tlie law is [ireviously for hira also, whose willlngru'ss to do what is good has not yet devel- oped, wliile the legal stage for tlie condition liere de- scribed Soon teriuiiiales. Uofniann's modification does not lielp the matter : That to do evil is ever present witli me, shows me that the law is good to me, wlio am willing to do it. He lias already said this more plainly in ver. 12. But, strictly, it is not yet decided here that the law is also good to him. Another view of the Mosaic law : I find, then, for me, who w. willing to do the law, the good (namely, the law) ina: evil is present before me (Honiberg, Knajip, Klee, Olshausen,* Fritzsche, &c.). Unim- portant repetition of the foregoing. Likewise the 710 1* tr TO y.ai.uv must not be separated. 6. " The law denotes here a general rule, a ne- cessity." I find, then, for me, who am willing to do good — the law — that evil is present witli me (Luther, Beza, Calvin, and many others ; De Wette and Plii- lippi [Stuart, Hodge] ). Tims the sense would be the same as in the expression, t'rf^o^- rd/'o<,- iv roT^ fiihiTi.. ileyer remarks, on the other hand, that, according to thcov 7ict(>ay.nrcci. could not be described as rouoi;; it is something empirical — a phenomenon. But why, then, can the Apostle call even the motions in the members a law ? Why can he call the old man, who ia nevertheless not a man, a man ? Accepting this view in general, we may a«k whether the sense is : I find in me, or, for me, will- ing to do good — the law, &c. — as formerly ; or, I find the law, that, when I would do good, &c. (Gro- tius, Limboreh, Winer). j- This construction Js de- cidedly preferable, because it suits the expression as well as the sense. For here the one law resolves itself even into a group of laws. The law of God now becomes to the Apostle the law of his mind ; the foreign law in his members becomes in its elfect the law of sin. But this antagoaism of law to law is 80 fearfully strong, that it apjiears to the Apostle himself as in itself a law of moral c<)ntraii)nov.'\ The idM cirO(iiii7TO(; is not so much the ro's or to vof(t6v (Theod. and Gaunad.) itself, as the man choosing in the rorq his stondji'iint, iiis principle (which is not really gained until the con- clusion of ver. 25). It is also so far the inner man as that he withdraws almost desperately from tlie outwork of his external life. Lyra explains similar- ly to the Greek writers : In homine diiii/ex pars, ratio et sensualitas, jf>tji; a. Tholuck, on the other hand, understands by the 6 tam arOg., after the anal- ogy of o xttn'os" «i'i)^()., o x(»i';7T0(; t^^" xrtoi). a. (1 Peter iii. 4), rather the inward I of the man than a single attribute — the inward man, who permits him- self to be controlled by his conscience, the man of conscience. Jhit this does not remove the difhcidty. For the question is not, that the real and true man is created for God ; for this holds good of flesh and blood, ontologically considered. But it may be asked. What actual stand])oint does the Apostle here denote? According to his antithesis, it is this : he distinguishes his inward nature, as the true man, from the antagonism and e(uifiict of the law in his memliers. It is in this self-comprehension that he now has his delight in the law, which is more than the tTiiiqfjiii of ver. 16. Meyer also sees in the (Tivt]i)o/i ai., the law designated as also rejoicing with him ; on which, see Tholuck, p. 3()7. Luther, Calvin, and others, have thoimlit the new-born man here describo The ffw^tia to*' O-ardxoi', which is not a real tSjfta ; the present passage. 6. The v6fio<; iv xolc, ftehai,, which is not a real v6/«o? ; chap. vii. 23. 1. The fiihjy which are not real juV.i]; Col. iii. 5. 8. The (Tcc^i, which is something else than the external adij'i ; Kom. viii. 8. 9. The {yivuToii, which is something else than physical death ; Rom. viii. 6.* Tliolucli : On the exclamation of ver. 24 : " Tlie exclamation does not appear to us explicable merely fr« m transition to earlier occurrences, but only be- cause the continuously felt reaction of the old man has, so to speak, set oft' the preceding description." [Alford thinks, Avith De Wette, that the cry is uttered " in full consciousness of the deliverance which Christ lias effected, and as leading to the expression of thanks which follows." A turning-point is reached, whatever be the reference, and no view is correct which does not admit that Paul here ex- presses what he feels^ as well as what he has felt. -R.] Ver. 25. Thanks to God [/a()tt; tw &i(~i, Dr, I thank God, fv-/a(jvGrM xm dfio. See Textual JS'oie '']. This reading corresponds to the previous exclamation much better than tvyuQiarm does. Those who continue the reference to the un- regenerate to the conclusion, get into difficulty with this second exclamation. Hence the adoption of a parenthesis (Ruckert, Fritzsche), or of a conditional construction (Erasmus, Semler). If that had not taken phice, I would have been snatched asunder, with the spirit to serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Meyer observes : " For what he thanks God, is not mentioned." But the for what is plainly enough indicated by the context, as Meyer himself subsequently brings out. It is also indicated by his thanking God through Jesus Christ. So then I myself with the mind [ a ^ a ovv avToi; iy('i) nji /lev roiJ]. In the consideration of this difficult passage there are two questions : 1. Is what is here said connected with the previous thanksgiving, or with ver. 24 ? 2. What, accord- ingly, is the meaning of uvroi; iyo')? 1. Some think that the thanksgiving does not come at all into consideration ; the words are con- nected with ver. 24 (Riickert, Fritzsche). This makes the passage only a final opinion on the miser- able condition under the law, a declaration of the consummated dissension in which man is situated under the law. Others (De Wette, Meyer, and oth- ers), on the contrary, very properly take the thanks- giving also into consideration, although both De Wette and Meyer find in the passage only a recapitu- lation of what has been said from vers. 14-24, which, according to Meyer, should follow from the immediately preceding tv-/aQi,isrM. But the Apos- tle's language does not declare the dissension pre- viously described, but the alternative now finally es- tablished. By accepting the probable breviloquence, and supplying the words which are at liand, we are relieved even here of the apparent obscurity. We *ead X I'l fi e V voi {dochvirtv) 6oi').ivu}\ the ♦ [M-iny will feel that Dr. Lange here gives an espla- jation which is not a real explanation. Sin, and flesh, and tlje old man, are real enoup;n ; but if he means that over against tlc^tn is something, which is the ideal man, to be made real .hrouch the grace of Christ, then his remarks are sifcnifioant.. That the true explanation of this pa-ssage is to be sought in a discovery of modern science, anticipated by Paul, is improbable. Cornp. Doclr. Note '*. — R.] Apostle has even omitted the SovXivo) from the xi, de accQxl — a proof that both can be mentally sup- plied. Thus: If I seme in the roTe, then I serve in (he law of God ; but if I nerve (or, I would serve) in the flesh, then I serve the law of sin. Hither, or ! This is favored, first of all, by tlie avx6<; iyoi. A recapitulation of the foregoing cannot be utited with this view. For in ver. 20 we read : vvvi i)» ovxixi, iyd), &c. (comp. ver. 20). The folic wing is the inference from the previous verses : that now there is a definite distinction between standing in the I'ors' (that is, in the principle of the vovq) and stand- ing in the flesh (that is, in the principle of the flesh) ; but that, through Christ, he has gained the power to stand in the principle of the voZi;. From this there arises the following thesis : I, the same man, can have a double standpoint. If I live with the voZi;, I serve the law of God in truth ; but if I live in the flesh, even in the form of the service of the law, I serve the (false) law of sin. In other words, the life in the rorq is the life in Christ, the life in the Spirit, and, like love, the fulfilment of the law (see chap. xiii. 8). It follows, therefore, on the one hand, that there is nothing condemnatory in the man of this standpoint. But there also Ibllows the conclusion that they must live decidedly in harmony with their principle. But if they live purely in the I'orc, the bod)', as a principle, must be dead — that is, rendered merely indifferent as a principle, and have nothing to say, on account of the sinfulness in- herent in it (see chap. viii. 10). But this applies only to the present body, which is burdened with the propensity to sin. It is not to be trusted ; it ia devoid of pure harmony with the law of the Spirit, and therefore the Christian must keep it, as a bond- servant, under discipline and oversight. But this order is also temporary, so far as mortal bodies shall again be made alive by the Spirit of the risen Christ. As now the resurrection itself belongs to the future and the one period, so also does the completion of the purity of the body, its removal to the glorious liberty of the children of God, belong to the same future. But as the germ of the resurrection-body has already been made alive and increased in the be- liever in this life, so is it also the case with religious and moral purity in his body. In every conflict of the body with tiie law of the Spirit this alone sliould be decided ; yet not carnally, in legal mortiflcations, but spiritually, in a dynamical rtckonivci of ourselves to be dead (see chap. vi. 1 ff.). That is, in a power- ful departure beyond the 7r(jaJft? of tlie body with the works of the Spirit (see chap. viii. 13). 2. Different explanations of the avxoq iyo). (1.) / myself, Paul. The Apostle's description of himself as an example for others (Cassian, Pareus, Umbreit) ; (2.) Ego idem. The dissension in one and the same man made prominent (Erasmus, Cal- vin, and others) ; (3.) Ille ego. Reference to what he had earlier said of himself (Fritzsche, De Wette) ; (4). 1 alone ; that is, so fiir as I am without the me- diation of Christ (Meyer, Baur, Hofmann) ; (5,) What he had heretofore described as the experience of mankind, he now describes as his own (KoUner).* Olshausen's explanation is the nearest approach • [The explanation of Jowett is altogether untenable : " lin my true self serve the law of God ; the remainder of the sentence may be regarded as an afterthought." The presence ot ij.ev totally overthrows this. Jowett accepts it in his text, too, without even taking advantage of it« omission in N. F., to give a seeming propriety to his inter* pretatlon ! — R.] 244 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. to correctness : " He thanks the Author of the work of redumption, God tliu Father, througli Chrisit, whom he can now call hin Lurd from the heart. With this experience there now appears a totally changed condition in the inward lite of the man, whose nature the Aiiostle describes in what follows, until its perfect completion, even the completion of the mortal body" (chap. viii. 11). He further holds, that the Divine law was reflected in the voT% ; and in the inward man there arose the vmh^ yea, even thejoy, tobe al)le to observe it ; but the princi[)al thinj; was wanting — the xciTf(jyd^faOcu. " But by experiencing the redeeming power of Christ, by which the rori,- is strengthened, man finds himself aljle, at least by the highest and noblest power of his nature, to serve the Divine law." Yet the ai etill remains subject to the law of sin. Therefore the conflict in the regenerate still continues, but yet it is generally victorious in the strength of Christ. Here Olshauscn is led, to a certain extent, away from the Apostle's train of thought. As the Christian should die on the supposition of his being dead with Christ, so should he live on the supposition of his resurrection with Christ, and therefore he should fight on the supposition of victory (see 1 John v. 4). " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." If the watchword for the sanctification of the Christian gains its point, lo ffiht fur victor;/, it is nevertheless in conformity with the gospel standpoint that this takes place on the supposition of Jiijlithi'i froiii victori/^ or in conformity with the principle, fivai, iv Xi^nari'). But Olshausen, not without reason, regards ver. 25 as the beginning of the section commencing with the fii-st of chap. viii. ; it constitutes, at least, the transition to it. Serve the laTsr of God [<)oi').fv(>) v6ni;> &foT<\ It is wiu'ti man has Ijccome free from the law in its external form, that he truly serves the law of God in its real import (see chap. iii. 31 ; xiii. 8). (Reiche : the voTi; is the idd he seem to reach this aim, and be " touching the righteousness which is in tlie law, blameless" (Phil. iii. 6), yet the service of the 7ni7id is not, by any means, the service of the Spirit. And, more- over, we must expect to find here, even after the thanksgiving, a quasi-confession of defeat as the point of connection with, " There is now, therefore, no condemnation," &c. Were the reference pre- viously solely to the Christian, this would seem un- necessary. There are diflicuhies attending this view, it must be granted, but they are not so numerous aa those I find in the others. The whole passage seems, by its alternations, its choice of words, as well as its position in the Epistle, to point to an experience which is produced by the holy, just, and good law of God, rather than the gospel of Jesus ("hrist ; so that even the outburst of Ciiristian gratitude is fol- lowed by a final recurrence to the conflict, wliich is, indeed, ever-recurring, so long as we seek holiness through the law rather than through Christ. See Doctr. Note '.— R.] DOCTRINAL AND EXniCAL. 1. See the above Summary; also the Prelimi' nan/ Ixaiiark'K. [Paul here enters into a very remarkable psycho- logical analysis of the working of the law, in order to show that it, although holy and good in itself, caiHiot effect the sanctification of man, on account of the power of indwelling sin, which can be over- come otdy through redeeming grace. He gives a chapter out of his own experience, especially out of the transition period from the law to the gospel. Id this experience, however, is reflected, to a certata CHAPTER VII. '7-25. 245 extc'ut, the history of the religious development of humanity as a whole. What is here so vividly indi- vidualized, repeats itself also in the experience of every earnest Christian. The law, instead of slay- ing sin, first brings it to a full manifestation (vers. 7-13) ; in the internal contest it is proven power- less ; it but leads to the painful confession of help- lessness (vers. 14-24) ; no other hope remains, save the grace of Jesus Christ (ver. 25). Those expositors who follow the later Augustin- ian view, refer vers. 14-25 to the regenerate., because they are unwilling to ascribe to the natural man ever, this powerless longing after higher and better things.* On the other hand, those who refer them to the nnrei/eneraie, urge this reason, th;i* the regen- erate man is not so powerless, so captive to sin, as the person here described, but has overcome the dominion of sin, as the Apostle clearly indicates both in chaps, vi. and vii. The correct interpreta- tion lies between these two. Pnul describes his state, not when sunk in sin, but when awakened to earnest struggles against sin under the scourge of the law, under preparation for a state of grace — i. e., in the peiiod of transition from the law to the gos- pel, in the Judaico-kgalidic state of awakening. Thus nmch, however, must be conceded to the Augustinian view, that this contest is repeated in modified form in the regenerate. So long as they are in the flesh, the old life of Adnm rules beside the new life in Christ. Temptations from the world, assaults of Satan, disturb ; not unfrequently sin overcomes, and the believer, feeling deeply and painfully his own helplessness, turns in penitence to Christ's grace, to be the victor at last. It must be remembered, too, that there are many legal, de- spondent, melancholy Christians, who never pass out of the contest here described into the triumph of grace, the full freedom, the peace with God and hs- surance of salvation. The temperament and physi- cal condition have a great influence in mnny such cases, but the main reason is, that such Christians depend too much upon themselves, and do not look Buflicienlly to the cross of Christ. — P, S.] 2. According to the above, the passage treats throughout neither of the uni'egenerate nor the re- generate, nor partially of the former and of the latter ; but it describes the process, the living tran- sition, of a man from the unrcgenerate to the regen- erate state, who inwardly, and therefore properly, understands the law, and regards the commandmenr, Tlion shdlt not covet, as the root of all command- ments. The quesiiou is not concerning a permanent condition, but a movement and a crisis ; therefore first in the preterite, then in the present tense. The cooperation of the promise as well as the hope in this process of death which leads to life, is indeed assumed, but not described with it, because, to the combatant of the law, every thing, even the prom- ise, the gospel-element itself, is transformed first of all into law ; while, reversely, the finally triumphant faith, and then even the law (according to Origen), are transformed into pure gospel, 3. We must not overlook the fact that the Apos- tle here describes a gradation, whose stages are brought out prominently in the explanations — a gra- dation which apparently leads backward to despair and tlie sense of death, but, at the same time, truly • [Hence the Arminian controversy really bepan upon fhe esecesis of this passage. It cannot be doubted that this controversy ha? led to extreine views in both directions respecting the meaning of thia chapter.— R.] upward to the true life. It is the way of godly sor. row to salvation ; according to Luther, the descen: of self-knowledge into hell, which is the preliminary condition to ascension to heaven with Christ. "Alas, what am I, my Redeemer ? I find my state of soul daily worse." The full appearance of the leprosy on the surface of the body is the symptom of its healing. [" Paul means to show how utterly unavailing are all efforts to get rid of sin by mere nature, 1 ow- ever much intensified by views of law and the Act- ings of conscience, until the power of sin is broken by faith in the Source of spiritual life. No convic- tions of the excellence of the law, no acknowledge meut of its purity and rightful obligation, no assent or consent to it as good, no approbation of it in the real ego, no preference for it nor teniporary delight in it as commending itself to the judgment, and no strivings alter obedience to its precept nor fear of its penalty admitted to be just, will avail against the law of sin and death, till it is .superseded by another law of spiritual life derived from Christ by faith." -R.] 4. The law effects not only the knowledge, but also the revelation of sin — its full dev lopriient at-d manifestation , but not its genesis. It accelerates its process to judgment, in order to make the sinner susceptible of, and fully in need of, deliverance. Thus it corresponds with the trials and appointmenta of God's government, which also impel nian more and more to the development of his inward stand- point. The only difterence is, that the law, as a spiritual effect, inipels to the ideal saving judgment (" for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged "), while the guidance of man by trials and temptations results principally in real, condemnatory judgment a. But here, too, God's law and ordina- tion agree. To the elect, the ray of the law be- comes a flash of lightning which prostrates them before the throne of grace ; to harder natures, the flash of lightning which destroj-s their earthly glory must first become, in many forms, an illuminating beam. It is a fundamental thought of the Apostle, that the afiufjriu, which has unmasked itself in the nature of man, is compelled by the law to reveal itself in human life as na^dfj'u(Ti.c — as deadly un- naturalness. Thi^ the law drives the serpent from its concealment. 5. On the different definitions of the idea of the unrcgenerate and the regenerate, see Tholuck, p. 344. From Rom. viii. it is [ilain that the liufhnia is the result of the original new birth, which is thus decided by justification. This new birth must be distinguished prospectively from the broader and final new birth in the resurrection (Matt. xix. 28), and retrospectively from the spiritual production of man by the word of God as the seed of the new birth, which begins with the strong and penetrating call of man by law and gospel (1 Peter i. 23). It must be distinguished laterally from its sacramental sym- bolization and sealing, which i.«, at the same time, ita normal foundation, as the ideal and social new birth, as in the apostolical sphere it coincid(d identically with it, and it accords with it in normal ecclesiastical relations, but, amid ecclesiastical corruptions, can also go to ruin with it. 6. A description of three stages of the vita sane forum, in Bucer, see Tholuck, p. 337. See also the views on the practical effects of the twofold exposi- tion of this passage, as applying to the regenerate and the unrcgenerate, in the note, p. 338. Also, a further treatment of this question, Tholuck, p. 341 flE 24G THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [Dr. Hodge rightly reprobates the saying of Dr. A. Clarke {(luoted approvingly by Tlioluck in the Qote n-feneti to by Lauge) : " Tliis opinion has most pitifully and shanitliiUy not only lowered the stand- ard of Cliri.-'tiunity, but destroyed its influence and di^graeed its character." The danger from an ex- clusive reference to the unregenerate, is discourage- ment to weak believers ; but that from the other reference is not false security in sin, so much as a tendency to keep the Cliristian under the scourge of the law. It does encourage a morbid, unrelieved state of conscience, and legal elforts after sanctifica- tion. (Comp. the latter part of Jtuclr. Note ',) To refer it to a movement possible both Ijcfore and after conversion, a state with reference to the law, encour- ar/e.t unbelievers to go to Clir.st, and rmmes believers to go to Ilim, since the existence of the conflict shows that the sci)Oolin;uster is nearer than the de- livering Master. Here Delitzsch is excellent : " Every Christian is compelled to confirm what the Apo.stle here .ility of the seed of tem|)tation, and of seduction, and, finally, the production of rebellioji — the 7Tn(in- Scini^. The history of chihlhood, of Israel, and the Antinomianism of the early Christian period (Nitzsch, Di". (Je-iatinntrrHcfuinini;/ d'S A)i(iiioinii'.7- Koten) ; iU design and 0[urntion are saving. Be- cause Christ wajj the law of God per:joniHed, He has experienced in Himself the full Divine revelation of the opposition of sinful humanity to the law ; He was proscribed as if He had been f-in personified. But with this complete revelation of the power of sin, grace attained its still more powerful revela- tion. 9. On the reference of ver. 9 to the age of eiiild hood, see Tholuck, p. 350, and the above Hxeg. Notes. 10. On ver. 13. On the different meanings of the commandment, " This do, and thou shalt live," see the Exert. Notes. This d<>, and thou shalt live^ means : 1. Living in the outward blessing of exter- nal obedience ; 2. DifitKj in order to live ; 3. First really livin^after this death. 11. The law is holy in its principle (the will of God) ; just in its method (establishing and adminis- tering justice); good in its design (promoting life itself by the ideal death in selt-knuwledge). The sinner had to be delivered from death by death — objectively by the death of Christ, subjectively by the reception of the death of Christ in his own life — by his spiritual dying. Calovius : Sancta dicltnr lex ratione caiisce ejficieiitis et mater ialis : quia a dec sanciis-iimo est et circa ohjecta saiic/a occujiatur ; jiista est formaliter: quia juslitice diviiicc a/Tuxo- vt-afia, iiostree reyufa est ; bona est ratione Jinis, quia bona teniporalia tt wterna prornittit. The last definition is the weakest. Oi justa, Tholuck uses these words : " more correctly, since it produces ' righteousness.' " 12. On the manner in which sin misconstrues the law, in order to make it minister to its own ends, and also on the gradual development of self-knowl- edge, see the Exrg. Notes. 13. Unless we have a definite idea of the false forms in organic life, we cannot gain the Apostle's complete view, which we have sketched in the lixerj. Notes. Either the individual figures in question are volatilized into hy[ierbolical metaphors, or people have fallen into dualistic and Manicha'an notions, which have been made to underlie the Apostle's thoughts, now in order to appeal to him, now to govern him. See " Sydenham," by Jalin, Eisenach, 1840, p. 56 : As diseases in the vegetable world are known to show themselves in inferior and pariLsitical organisms (fungi, mosses, mistletoes, &e.), so does dise;use in man show a lower, half-independent vital process and inferior organism, secreted like a germ and parasite in the original life. Similar expressions by Paracelsus, on the inferior organisms undern)ining the healihy life. — Comp. Sclr.ih's J'alliolo,,ic nnd Tliernpie der Pscu toplasutcn, Vienna, 1854. — False organic forms pervert the functions and material sub.-Uince of natural life into noxious shapes and poisons. The false s|)iritual form — sin — perverts the true life of iMan into a luxuriant growth of false spiritual images of this life. nOMILETIOAL AND rEACTIOAL. Acquaintance with sin is effected by the law, so far, 1. as the law, as a prohibition, jirovokes sin ; 2. but also that the consciousness of sin be complete (vers. 7-12). — What does sin take from and give to man ? 1. It takes life from him ; 2. It gives him death (vers. 7-12). — The abu.se of what is holy, 1. is indeed horrilde, but yet, 2. what is holy is not itself destructive (vers. 7-12). — The destruclion of the state of innocence : 1 Apparently produced bj CHAPTER VII. 7-26. 247 the Divine prohibition ; 2. Actually produced by human sin (vers. 7-12). — How the best teacher can become a tempter against his will, wiien he, 1. ex- empts from a well-meant proiiibition ; 2. but wlien this very prohiliition awakens the desire for trans- gression (vers. 7-12). — We should not prohibit chil- dren from too much. — The best thing we have is corrupted by sin (ver. 10). — The feuiful deception of sin (ver. 11). — The holiness of the Divine law. It is shown to us when we, 1. look at the lawgiver ; 2. carefully prove the principal statements of the commandments ; 3. have in mind the design for which it was given (ver. 12). — Whence does it come that what is good is made death unto me ? 1. The fault does not lie in the law, which is spiritual ; but, 2. in me, who am carnal (properly, " Hesh-like "), sold under sin (vers. 13, 14). — Proof of how sin, aiming at the ruin of man, prepares its own over- throw (ver. 13). — What is, " to be sold under sin ? " 1. Not to know what we do — blindness of self- knowledge ; 2. Not to do what we will, but to do what we hate — perversion of our own spontaneity (vers. 14, 15). — Even in his sin, man mu.^t testify to the goodness of the law (ver. 16). — In the flesh there dwelleth no good thing (ver. 16). — To will and to perform ! 1. How near the willing of what is good is to us ; 2. But how far from us is the performance of it (vers, 18, 19) ! — The deep sorrow expressed in the confession, " for to will is present with me, but how to perform," &c. ; because we then say as much as : 1. I wish the good very much ; but, 2. I am just as much devoid of the power to do it (ver. 18). — The surprising discovery of man on tlie way to his conversion (ver. 21). — The double law in man ; 1. The true law in the mind ; 2. The false law in the members (vers. 22-25). — The divided state of the human heart: 1. Caused by sin (vers. 13-20); 2. Manifesting itself in the ccmflict of the two laws (vers. 22, 23, 25) ; 3. Calling forth the longing for deliverance (ver. 24). — The thanksgiving of the Apostle for the peace of deliverance (ver. 25 ; comp. chap. i. 25). Luther : To do does not mean here to perform the work, but to feel the excitement of the lusts. But to perform, is to live without lust, totally pure ; this does not take place in this life (vers. 18, 19). — He here calls death the misery and pains endured in the conflict with sin (as Exod. x. 17). Pharaoh Bays : " That he may take away from me this death only " (this was the locusts). Starkk : The natural man is like the earth since the curse has been pronounced upon it. The earth has the seeds of all kinds of weeds in it ; and although they seem, in Winter, to lie perfectly dead in the earth, yet, by the warm rain in the Spring, they will again germinate and grow (ver. 8). — Sin is a real highway robber ; it associates in a friendly way with u.s, and strives to lead us off from the right road, but afterwards kills us (ver. 11). — When sin has become suddenly powerful, do not despond ; God does not wish the death of the sinner. Flee in peni- tence to Christ, and you shall be holy (ver. 13). — Believers do many good works, but not all that they should ; and what they do, is far from being as per- fect as it should be (ver. 18). — Believing Christians lament more over the weaknesses still cleaving to Jhem, than over temporal torments, chains, and bonds (ver. 20). OsiANDER ; The law is a beautiful mirror, which Bhows us our sins, in order that, when we perceive Buch great evil, we may get counsel and help from Christ (ver. 7). — If believers sin, and it occurs against their will, they do not lose the favor of God (ver. 17). — Cramer : Innate wicked lust a fountain of all sins, and it is also against God's law ; we should not allow ourselves to lust at all (ver. 7).— T'hei-e are two characteristics of true Christians, so ng as they are in the world : they give themselves luble about their wretchedness, but they rejoice 1 take comfort because of the deliverance (re- iption) that has taken place through Jesus Christ . 25). — Nova Bibl. Tab. : There is nothing so that it cannot become evil by abuse. In this ..__, Jie blessed gospel becomes to many a savor of death unto death (ver. 10). — Speker : Our nature is so sinful that we do not take as much pleasure iu any thing as in what is forbidden (ver. 8). — It is a most eminent attaiimient, and one necessary for a right understanding of the law and sin, that we properly understand the spiritual character of the law (ver. 14). — Those can profit by this Pauline ex- ample (ver. 25) who strive with all earnestness to do what is good ; but those who do not strive with all earnestness to do what is good, but still sin frequent- ly with the wull, cannot employ the language of Paul, for they are not in harmony with his example. — In short, if one will have a pattern, let him take this : No one must lay claim to any comfort in this chapter whose counterpart is found in chaps, vi. or viii. ; but these three chapters must harmonize. Bfngel : We have here a figure from military life : The soul is the king, the members are the sub- jects, and sin is the enemy whom the king has ad- mitted. Tl'.e king is now punished by the insurrec- tion of his subjects, who rise in rebellion with the enemy. — Gerlach : The law is sph~itual, means : it is an emanation from God, who is a Spirit (John iv. 24) ; that is, omnipotent, personal, and holy love. It is, further, spiritual in its import — that is, divine and holy. It pertains to the inmost being of man, which it would fully conform to God. — There stands in opposition to it the carnal sense of man ; that is, his desire, which is directed, by virtue of sin, to the world, finiteness, and sensuousness, and makes him who is sundered from his Creator a servant of the creature (ver. 14). — An Apostle glowing with love, like Paul, hum))le8 himself, and trembles and groans under the law of sin ; and shall we, who are like ice in comparison with him, foolishly expose ourselves, and boast of whatever can awaken lust in us ? (ver. 14.) — The incapacity of man to do good, is an inca- pacity of the will ; this, and not an incapacity of spiritual disposition, has necessitated it ; it is there- fore a weakness, which is continually attended by the sense of guilt (ver. 18). — The exclamation of the Apostle is the cry for help of all humanity, which, in despair of all help through and of itself, looks for aid from without. The law leads to this desire, but it cannot deliver from the wretcheducss (ver. 24). — He who sighs most deeply over the bondage in the body of this death, stands nearest to deliverance (ver. 24). Lisco : What Paul here makes clear in itself, is a truth of universal human experience — namely, that there are two successive states (the third is described in chap, viii.) : one (ver. 9), where sin slumbers in us, because we are not fully conscious of the moral law ; the other (vers. 14-24), where, having a clear knowledge of the law, but yet without the grace of redemption, we become acquainted with the pro- found corruption of our heart, which is opposed to the law of God, and feel wretched in this condition. 248 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. — The conflict described in vers. 14-25 occurs, be- fore the new birth, in the heart of a man awakened by tiie law ; yet, in the life of the regenerate per- 8o;i, diniilar eontlicts and phenomena arise, in which, however, he is ever triumphant. — Tlie Apostle was far from holding tlie erroneous view, tiiat sin dwells only in man's body, ami not also in his soul (ver. 24). — I thank (Jod thnmgli Jesus Christ our Lord ! Through llim, He has delivered me in and froin all this wretchedness (ver. 25). — IIkubnkk : The best thing can l)e made an injury to the wicked will (ver. 13). — Every thing become.'? impure in the impure heart. Corruplio np(:ini est geiieratio pensiini (ver. la). — Description of the evil propensity (vers. 14- 25). — It is the best people who confess, that strong sensuous impulses in tliem are sinful (ver. 14). — Tlie inward contradiction of man with himself. The conflict between knowing, willing, and doing (rcr. 15). — Even the immoral man feels that it would have been better if he had kept the law (ver. If.). Besser : The twofold way in which sin becomes exceeding sinful by the commandment: 1. Its wick- ed, ungodly nature, plays a prominent part in the tran.>^$ fv Xpi<7Tu> 'Itjo-ou ri\ev6epu}urth, third and fifth, sixth and eighth, eerenth and ninth, are obvious, and the gain iu interpretation is eonsiderabli-. Fritzsche avails himself of it also. ' Ver. 2. — iThe weighty MSS., N. B. i'. O., and some fathers, read o-e ; but this niiglit readily l>e repeated from th6 precedini? syllaVle, -vtv. A. C. JD. K. L., most versions, give n-e, now generally adopted. There is slifiht authority fo» ^fiat. Friid III!-, is liienil, and to be prefeiTed to hulk mude me free, set rrn: /me. It refers to a definite past act (iu;)rist). • Vor. 4. — ['I'he K. V. uses right' ousiie-is, very indeliuitely, to translatu several words of kindred meaning. Here it is obviously incorrect, as jticaiu/ia means, literally, a righteous decree, ordiiianci', statute, act (see pp. 'i, 184); and iu this case refers to the summing up of all the requirements of the law, as iulfilled by C'hri.-^t. Lange: G'ticfilMin, reqiiir'-iii'nl, is not strictly exact, but is adopted by Al ford, Amer. Bible Union. Version of five English clergymeB: righlenui demand. See Ex^g. yotes. • Ver. 4. — {Arcnrdhig lo, is the phrase which now beat expresses the meaning of Kara, though nfler (Geimaa, tiach) is literal. It is becoming unusual in this sense. • Ver. ().— [The K. V., with its usual fondness for hendiadys, has departed from a literal rendering in vers. 6 and 7, ftt the expense of both accuracy and force. • Ver. 6.— [Is not subject (E. V.), is correct, but the above emendation brings out the middle force of uitotoo-- fftrai. ' Ver. 8. — [So then, is a gloss, rather than a translation. It is a difficult matter to reproduce all the delicate shades of antithetical force expres^ed by the frequently recuiriiig hi. Some alterations in the verses immediately succeeding hare been made with this in view. » VcT. \).—[Uiive is conditional, but hath is preferable, as intimating more decidedly that the state of thiugs really exists. For the same reason, dwrili/h is preferable to dw>:U, in ver. 11. • Ver. 11. — [The better supported reading is 'Itjaouv, the article is inserted in some MSS., as also before yipKTrov. There is also the usual number of variations, so common when these words occur in the text. '" Ver. 11. — [ Will, to express the simple future in the third person. The E. V. seems to prefer shall in such cases, and, indeed, some still defecd it. The usage of the present time is undoublediv against it. " Ver. 11.— [Here two readings present themselves, supported by authorities of equal weight. The genitive: SiA ToG e votKoui'Tos aiiTou iri-eu/LiaToj is found in Ric, N. A. C, many versions and fathei's, as is adopted by Lachinann, De Wette, Krehl. The accusative: 5to to ivoiKovv avrov TrveOfio, is suppoi-ted by M. 1>. E. l. K. L., maiiy cursives and fathers, by Griesbach, .^choiz, Fritzsche, Mill, Bcnirel, Tiscliendorf (in later editions), Mi'yer (who cites Lachmann also in its favor), Tholuck, liuckert, Alford, Wordsworth, Trcgelles, Langc It will be seen that a majority of critical editors adopt the latter reading. The reasons which have determined this decision seem to be, that two such readings could not have existed without one being a premeditated corruption. The question then arises, "Which readint; would best serve a polemic purpo.-e, and hence be most likely to have been the corrupted one? That question is answered by the controversy between the M.-iccdonians and Orthodox (latter ](art of the fourth century) respecting the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Macedonians charged the Orthodox with an alteration of the text Into the genitive. The gei.itive can only moan, by mei'tia of Hix Spirit, &c. ; while the accusative ni;iy include that idea of agency iu connection with the thought, on accmuit of His /Spirit, &c. It is plain that tlie Macedonians had less motive to alter the text than tiie Orthodox. Alford thinks the variation dates back of this controversy, and is not due to either of the then disputant parties ; but the same reason would hold good at a previous point of theological discussion. Langc well remarks, that, in any case, "the raising act of God is distinguished in this verse Irom the working of the Spiiit." Hodge sums U)) the internal evidence in favor of llic common reading; but all liis remarks only prove th.at the other is a more unusual reading, and hence likely to have been altered. It is better to follow the current of criticism, and ado^^t the accusative. " Ver. 13. — [The simple ilative irvtv fjiari is best rendered, by tfie Spirit. TArouyA should be reserved as a trans- lation of £id. " Ver. 13.— [D. E. F. G., many fathers, have toO o-apxov; but toC (rufiaroi is supported by N. A. B. C. K. L., and nearly all modem editors. The former was probably a correction, arising out of a misunderstanding of the passage. •< Ver. H.—[I{er., K. L., have ei(n.v viol 0eov ; N. A. C. D., vioi Beou tiut as he certainly insists that the Holy Bpiiit is till! agint proiluoing this life, it is better to indi- cate It by printing this word with a capital letter.— B..] the Spirit. — No fear of the power of the flesh Childlike recourse to the Fatlier. — The sense of adoption strengtliened by the Spirit of God. Ver. 17 : transition to the following section.* Meyer : chap. viii. Happy condition of man in Christ. — Dc AVettc : Blessed results of newly-ani- mated morality. Tlioliick : For thus the Christian, who has become freed from the law, has also become free from condemnation, and i.s subject to the guid- ance of the Spirit of adoption, by virtue of which he will become a joint-heir with Christ (vei-s. 1-17). Tlie same : " We are here at the climax of the Epis- tle, ' at the heart and kernel of the whole Epistle ; ' as Spener says : »S'/ script iiram sacram amiulo com- fiiirer/mn, ejiistulaui Paull ad Jiomatio.s f/fiiniiain crcdi), aijim KUiiimitin faslii/iuin in capite octavo rx- sur(/it (Spener, Cotmilia Theol. Lot., iii. 696)." [Bengel : Suae veiiit ad liberationetn et libeitalem. Ver. 1. There is therefore now no [Ovdip • f Alford thus heads the section : " Although the flesh is still subject to the law of sin, the Christian, serving not the flesh, but walking according to the .'Spirit, »hnll not come into condemnation, but to glory with C'liri.st." Hodse, making the theme of the Apostle "the security of be- lievers." yives the first verse a wide reference, both pres* em and future, and c^insidi'rs the whole chapter a seriea of ]>roofs of this propubition. — U.] CHAPTER VIIL l-l*?. 251 uQu vvv. The force of oidiv must not be over- looked — ail absolute negation, with au undoubted reference to the compleieness of the freedom from condemnation (Forbes). — R.] The n^a is quite phiin, if we have perceived the alternative in the preceding verse : If I am in the voT%, I serve God. If we ignore this alternative, the meaning of the present passage must be doubtful. Tlioluck : The older expositors do not generally furnish any proof of the connection of this a^ja with the preceding chapter. Yet the follo\vi«g comiection of it with chap. vii. 25, by Augustine, is, in the main, correct : " To him, now, who, as a Christian, non amplius coiisentil pravis des.deriis, and is planted in Christ by baptism, tlie pravu d'siJeria can no more be con- demnation." The Catholic expositors follow him. Bueer, Bcza [Aliord], and others, connect ver. 25 with the thanksgiving ; but this assumes that the second half of ver. 25 is an interruption, Calixtus, Beugel [Stuart], and others, go back even to chap, vii. 6 ; others [Hodge, Haldane], to the whole argu- ment for justification by faith. Meyer: If I am left to myself to serve the law of God with my reason, bat the law of sin with my flesh, then it follows that, since Christ has interposed, there is no con- demnation, &c. — [The question of connection is main- ly decided by the view of the preceding section. Those who refer it to the i-cgenerate, connect this either with the whole preceding argument, or, with Philippi, with the preceding verse, in the sense : Al- though I am thus divided in service, still, being in Christ Jesus, there is now, therefore, &c. ; or with the thanksgiving. If Lange's view of the alterna- I five be admitted, we must also accept his view of the connection. It seems to be an unwarranted breaking up of the current of thought, to go back as far as chap. vii. G ; and to refer to the whole train of argument, seems out of keeping with the con- tinuous experimental character of the whole passage. It is best to connect, therefore, with the thanksgiv- ing. — R.] — NT'v, the intervening state of faith, ex- pressed last in ver. 25. \^Nvv is temporal, in dis- tinction from oi'v (ver. 25), which is inferential. Hence the continuance of this state is implied. — R.] No condemnation [■/.ardxgi./ia, Venlam- murifff-wf/icil, -"entence of condemnation (Lange). See p. 184 (v. Iti), where it is used in antithesis to diy.ainjiia. It may be limited to the justifying act of God at the beginning of the Christian life, but, joined with ol<)ii', seems to have a wider reference here. — R.] Origen, Erasmus, Luther, and others, explain : nothing worthy of condemnation ; but this is opposed by the toiM See also ver. 34. Comp. chap. v. 16. Koppe generalizes nulla/ pcence [Al- ford : no penal consequence of sin, original and actual], which so far at least belongs to the affair that even the temporal punishment, as / nnixhtncnt, and as prelude to the final condemnation, is abol- ished in the case of Christians. And t!iis is so, not only because their sins are forgiven (Parens), but because they are in Christ in consequence thereof, [The question of the reference to justification or sanctification must affect the interpretation of condemvalion, since ver. 2, beginning with ya^, seems to introduce a proof. The position of the chapter in the Epistle, as well as a fair exegesis of the verses, sustain the reference to sanctification. (Not to the entire exclugion of the other, any more than they are sundered in Christian experience.) We must, then, take no condemnation in a wide sense, either as deliverance both from sin and death (Forbes), or as having indeed a reference to the ju* tifying act already past, but meaning, rather, the continuance in a state of justification, culminating in finiil acquittal and glory. The point of connec- tion with ver. 24 (" death "), is the former refer- ence ; with the succeeding proof, the latter, Thia avoids sundering salvation into two distinct parts. The significant phrase which follows favors this view. Still, the position of the verse warrants us in finding a very distinct reference to the act of par- don, as preceding (and involving as a gracious con- sequence) the work of sanctification. — R.] [To those vrho are in Christ Jesus, t o 1 1; iv X(ji,aTi') 'J/jo-oT']. This does not mean pre- cisely, to have the Spirit of Christ, or Christ in you (Meyer), but it denotes the permanent continuance in justification — a life whose efiect is the life of Christ in us. [This deeply significant Pauline phrase must never be weakened or limited. As to its be- ginnings, Augustine is excellent : Christus in homi- ne, ubi fides in corde. As to its continuance, Bueer : A Chrisio pendere atque ejua spiritus in omnibus ac/i. But the best explanation is John xv. l-V, and Eph. i. 23, &c. Hodge says : in Him federally, vitally, by faith ; but the vital union seems always prominent ; especially is it so here. — R.] On the addition, see Textual IHote. [Besides what is there remarked, the question of connection suggests, that the interpolation may have been occa- sioned by a desire to relieve the apparent difficulty in making ver. 2 prove the justification of the be- liever. To do this, the clause which makes promi- nent the Christian walk, so easily borrowed from ver. 4, was inserted. — R.] Ver. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life, &C, [6 J' n ^ v6 n Oi; X ov nv t v /< a t o <,■ t ^ i; t w >7 C iv Xq i,GT ot ' J »/ ff o T' ]. Yer. 2 specifies the ground * why Christians are free from condemna^ tion. The principal question here is, whether ly A'^KTTw is to be referred to the following tj'/.ndi- QiDCtv, or to the foregoing, and how far to the fore- going ? Meyer, in accordance with Theodoret, Eras- mus, Riickert (not " Tholuck "), Olshauseu, Philippi, and De Wette, has also connected the iv X(>iarm with tj'/.fvS. But this distorts the thought, as if that Spirit of life could possibly deliver without Christ. Certainly iv X^t-anZ refers not alone to the foregoing u»;'(,- (Luther, Beza, and others) ; and uor'j here is not the believer's subjective life in Christ, but Christ's original divine-human life itself. We must also not go back to toT nvir/it. rtjc; i^o)tjq alone (Flatt), but to the whole 6 ro/ioi,- toT nvivfi. T. c. (Calvin, Kollner, Tholuck).} The fulness of life in Christ is the Spirit (see John vi. 63) ; it is complete in itself, conscious, actual, and communi- cates itself as a unity with the Holy Spirit. It is just for this reason, also, the glorification of the i'o/(Oc, the personal righteousness; and as it has proved it.self to be the completed ro/ioc, the ideal and dynamical principle of the Divine law in the obedience of Christ, so does it now prove itself to those who are in Christ ; that is, justification be- comes in them the principle of sanctification. But * [Br. John Brown renders yap, moreover, or would con- nect it with the thanksgiving m ver. 2o. He refers this verse to sanctification, nnd ver. 1 to justification; lience would avoid making the former the ground of the latter, -E.] t [The ahsence of the article is not decisive apiiinst this cornection, though it favors more the connection with ^u^s. Still, the parallelism strongly supports that view which joins it with the verb. — K.] 252 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. beciiiise this life-giving law takes the place of the Mosaic law — wliieli could not deliver, but was com- pleted by sin and death — there lies iu tlie a{)|)ropria- tion of tills glorified law freedom from the law of em and death.* 'J7ie law of the Spirii is not identical with the rii/io,- Tor roiis' (KiJllner, Schriider), but still the latter is connected w'ah the former. Tlie runoi; of the »'or,- is the ontological disposition which has attained its cohiplete historieal and concrete reidiza- tion in the vouo^ of the Spirit. Meyer observes, that the Christian institution of .salvation is not meant, as voim^ niartini; in chap. iii. 27. Yet it is 6urely identical, to a certain degree, with the v6/io(; .riuT., but not with the Christian institution of sal- vation, f 0/ the Spirit. Mej'er explains : of tiie Holy Spirit. And this is, indeed, substantially the fact ; but the Holy Spirit is spoken of so far as He reveals himself concretely iu the vital plenitude of Clirist. Tiiuluck's exposition is in the same direction : " The Spirit of life is tliat by which the spiritual life is effected in believers." The law of the Sjiirit is the impulse and guidance of the Spirit, under the recip- rocal action between the principle of faith and the administration of God's government in the occur- rences of life. Freed me [tj ).f ttOiQioaiv ^t. The verb is aorist, referring to a past act, viz., the deliverance both from sin and from deatii, wiiicli took i)lace at regeneration. Not completed, but begun when in Christ Jesus, and to be completed in llim. — R.] This expression constitutes an antithesis to the briur/i)!!/ ine into capttviti/, just as the law of the Spirii of I'fi- is an antithesis to the Izvr of sin and death [tor j-o/ior t^^- a/i aijr ia(; x«t ToT i9^«i'rt TO I'.] :j: Because the false law of sin- ful propensity in the members is, according to chap, vii. 23, a law of sin, so is it also a law which tends to deatii, according to ver. 24. Altliougli the Apos- tle designs to say that this freedom is followed by freedom from tlie Mosaic law (chap. vi. 14), it is nevertheless utterly wrong to understand, by the ex- aression before us, tlie moral law (Wolf), or the losaic law (Parens, and others). How far has the believer been wade free fr>)m this law ? Evidently, freedom from the dominion of sin (fireek and Ro- man Catholic expositors), eflecled by freedom from the penalty of sin (Protestant expositors), is meant. Yet the vonoq nvfvfi. is not altogether identical with tlie vo/M>s TritTT. (Calovius). In the law of faith, the empha.sis rests on the faith, but here on the j'o/(o<; ; there, the question is the principle of * [L'w is here to bo taken in the wide sense as ^ norm, principle, ruling power (comp. iii. 27 ; ^nL 21-23).— 1'. S.J t [Dr. Tlodprc, foUowinK Witsius, takes the law of the spirit of life OS ^ the Rospel. Ilin ohjcctions to the otiier vii'Ws nnt^o ni'iinly from h too exclubive refon-nce of vit. 1 to the loren-ic idea of jn.stificatioii. It cort:iijily confuscH (inew the meiininir of the word l"w, to iidoj)t this inti-r- pietation. Kven !nx»ivo« = what was impossilile. Tholuck urires the penitive ia favor of the former, while Meyer contends that usage su[^ ports tho latter.— 11.] CHAPTER Vm. l-ll. 253 man nature ; the ethical force, however, lies in the genitive, wliich defines it : whoxe attribvie and character was sin (Alford). The Orthodox fathers (coriip. Theodorct, Tiieophylact, Tertullian) rightly use tliis text. " Christ did not appear in the flesh of sin, which was the Eljionite view, nor in the like- ness of flush, which was Docetic, but in the likeness of the flesh of sin, which is the Biblico-Pauline view" (Philippi). — K.] As He became truly man, He appeared in the full likeness of sinful flesh (Phil. ii. 7), and yet not in equality witii it. Meyer : " So that He appeared in an external form, which was similar to human nature, contaminated with sin. Christ did not appear iv aao/.i ct/iaQT., but also not Docetically (contrary to Krehl)." See Tholuck's citation of the views of the Doeetag, and of the Mystics (for example, Valentine Weigel, who held that the external body of Christ came from the Vir- gin,* but His inward body from heaven), as well as the opposite views of Dippel, Hasenkamp, Menken, and Irving. "According to them, o/ioiiofia does not denote likeness, but equality. But although Ofioioi: combines both meanings, yet that of like- ness alone belongs to the substantives ofioiio/ia and Ofioloxni; ; besides, the other meaning is contradicted by the analogy of Scripture in Heb. iv. 15." And on account of sin [y.ai ttiqI «//«(>- tlaq. The xai connects with the preceding. If this be forgotten, the interpretation may be too largely affected by the clause which follows. — R.] This was the motive of His mission. But the con- nection by xal expresses a second condescension of God and His Son. The first was, that Christ appeared in the form of a sinner, of the servant of ein (see chap, vii.), of the da^S a/ua()riai;, of the false (Td()i ; the second, that a mission on account of sin was undertaken by the Son of God himself (see Matt. xxi. 37). ^^ Kal TtfQi a./LiaQr. has been connected with xariy.(ji,vf by the Itala ( per carnem), Tertullian (de res cam., c. 66), the Vulgate {de pec- cato), Chrysostom, Theodoret, Luther, Baldwin, and Bengel. But the xal is against this ; " Tholuck. The anatjrici in nfi>l cifiatjr. itself has been vari- ously interpreted. Thomas Aquinas, of the passion. of Christ on account of its likejess to sin ; Her.| VcBus, of death ; Origen, Pelagius, Melanchthon, Cal-f, vin, Bucer, Baumgarten-Crusius, of the sin-offering -j- rxisn ; Theophylact, Maier, and others, the de- struction and removal of sin. Meyer : " It is rather the wh'le relation in which the mission of Christ stood to human sin ; " but this is already indicated by the foregoing explanation (see 1 John iii. 5). The mission of Christ was related to sin ; itfe aim on every side was its abolition. But the immediate effect of His mission was, that God, by the inno- cence of Christ's life in the flesh, distinguished and eeparated sin, as a foreign and damnable object, from the flesh. Condemned sin in the flesh \xaTixqi,viv TTjV afiaQtiav Iv T'^ aaqxi. The article is * ['Wordsworth finds in our phrase an argument against the dogma of tlie Inim;iculate Conception. — R.] f [This interpretation, adopted by Hodge and Stuart, is rejected by every Gennan commentator of note, even by Philippi and Alford. The passages in the New Testament (Hebl X. fi, 8, 18 ; xiii. 11 ; Gal. i. ■)) which seem to favor it, nil contain a distinct reference to sacrifices, independently of rtepi kfj-ap. In Gal. ». 4 (see in Inco p. 13), the "gave himself" introduces the same thought. The wider mean- ing, of course, implies such an expiation ; but it is not brought prominently forward in this expression. (Philippi : tim die Suiide suhntiid zn Uigend ; to which Meyer unne- Bcssarily objects, since his own view includes this.) — E..] used here with anaqriav, the sin already re Yv CO. This is a final argument against inter prcuiig "sin" as = sin-offering, in the clause above. Whether " in the flesh " is to be joined with " con demned," or with " sin," is a matter open to discus- sion (see below). — R.] To the general idea of the mission of Christ : on account of sin, this declara- tion is now added, as a specific idea, to describe what His mission effected in relation to sin in the flesh. And we must criticise the diflFerent interpre- tations accordingly. Since the Redeemer, or God through Him, performs a condemnatory deed, wt must especially avoid an incorrect generalization of the idea. Erasmus, De Dieu, and Eckerniann, have very appropriately pointed out the thought, that He represented shi as damnable ; yet we must empha- size sin in the flesh, and add : He separated it from the flesh fundamentally in Christ, in order thereby to cast it out from the flesh in the life of believers. This is, therefore, the sense : Christ, by becoming man in the flesh (which appeared to be the source of sin), and yet having a sinless fleshly nature, so maintained this sinlessness, and even holiness of His flesh, through His whole life, that He could give His flesh to His followers as a seal of His favor and as the organ of His Spirit. By this means He made it manifest : 1. That sin does not belong to the flesh in itself, but is inherent in it as a foreign, unnatural, condemnable, separable, alienable, and abstractly spiritual element ; 2. That sin in the flesh is con- demned and rejected in its carnal appearance ; 3. That sin in the flesh should be separated from the entire human nature by means of the Spirit proceed- ing from Christ. Other explanations : 1. Allusions to the eradi- cation of the guilt of sin. This " is the prevailing ecclesiastical view in Origen, Chrysostom, &c. So, too, the Catholic expositors, with the exception of Justin ; the Protestant, with the exception of Beza ; even the Arnnnian and Socinian writers, and, in- deed, the most of the later ones — Usteri, Riickert, Baumgarten-Crusius, Philippi,* and Schmid {Bibl. Thcol^) ; " Tholuck. For what has been and can be said in favor of this explanation, see, at length, in Tholuck, p. S92 ff". " Yet the absence of the avtov from tv T^ aaQxi (comp., on the contrary, Eph. ii. 5) is an obstacle." We may add, that the context is also an obstacle. The question has been, chap, iii., concerning Christ as the propitiator. Here He is represented as a " fountain of holiness." 2. Allusions to the removal of sinfulness. " The procession of the delivering Spirit of life from Christ is only clearly proved by ver. 3, in case there is in tins verse the thought that Christ 'has gained the victory over sin by His pure and holy personality in His own humanity, and that this sinless Spirit now passes over by faith to believers ; " Tholuck. The same writer adduces a number of the defenders of the oledienfia actha ; especially Beza, of the Refor- mation period ; the following later expositors seem also to belong here : Winzer, Stier, Neander, Meyer, De Wette, and Hofmann.f — Yet Tholuck finally turns to the allusion of this passage to the guilt of * [See Philippi's view below. Hodge is decided in his preference for this interpretation, regarding all others aa arbitrary, and cuntrary to the context. — R.] t [So Alford, Schaff. Stixart makes this antithesis with ver. 1: "There is now ro icoTaKpiM<» for Christians; but there is a KaraKptfia of their carnal iippetites and desires." This he justifies by finding here "a pnranomasial use of words ; " but this mode of interpretation is of doubtful propriety.— R.] 254 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Bin, and thus wo must underetand by erct^J (p. 894) not the (!«('; of Christ, but " the sinful human na- turc, whicli, although only y.aft^ 6ii(tti»iia, was also possessed by Clirist (Pliilippi, De Wette)." The lat- ter does not belong here. But tlien there would also follow from tliis an atonement y.aO^ 6iioi«>fict. The interpretation of the xctTtx^ui-f by intr/ccit (Grotius, Reiclie, &c.), does not suit the nature of Clirist. Meyer properly ol>serves, that the xarixoiVf has been el'.osen in reference to tiie ■/.aTcty.i)iitn in ver. 1. If we thus condemn ourselves, we shall not be con- demned ; and if that condemnatory process against sin in the Hesh has passed from Christ upon us, the object of the futm-e condemnation is removed. [Besides these views, Philippi advocates a pri- mary reference to the death of Christ, but includes the fact that thus sin is eo ipso done away and extir- pated, so that those who are in Christ Jesus have both the pardon and the removal of sin, because of the indissoluble unity of both in Him.* This suits the wider meaning of no condonnation (ver. 1). All interpretations deviate from the strict meaning of the verb ; the reference to punishment involves an added tiiought, not less than that to the extirpation^ of sin. Besides, the law rouhl condemn sin, and, to a certain extent, punish it ; but its great weakness wa.s its inaliility to remove sin. It is perfectly gra- tuitous to infer that the modern interpretation im- plies that we are justified on the ground of inherent goodness, since this assumes that ver. 1 refers only to declarative righteousness, and overlooks the fact that the controlling thought is xmion to Christ. Still, should any prefer to find here an allusion to Ciirisi's pa.«sion as a penal condemnation of sin, it must lie allowed as involved, though this must not then be used to force the same meauing on the next verse. — R.] [In the flesh. This is referred by many to the human nature of Christ. Were this the exclusive reference, we would pr()l)al)ly find al'Tor. Tiie ethi- cal sense must be adojjted l)y those who join it with sin ; but against tliis is the meaning of sin as a prin- ciple (Alford), and also the imliHetent sense o{ trdijl in the earlier part of the verse. It is I tetter, then, to join it with the verh, and include in it human na- ture, our human nature, which Christ shared. f This seems to be Dr. Lange's view, though he adsii« Cliri-;f, tticre can )>(• Htlln oSjei-tion to n wide m'Si dni; liorc, provided vor. I bo appl'ecl definit*'!)- to llie work of s:inctiflriilion. Kr. Lnnso luiiiv( If in the ni'Xt prtmu'riiph ro:ichi'.-< the samo point.— U.) t [ W'ord.iworth : "Sin lind tyniunized over >i9 hi our f1i".li, :\-i the ^(vit of its r'tnpiro ; iind hv our tiesli, as Its in- strument and weiiiion. Hut Ood u.-od our Hesh iib :in in- Hiruinrnt for o-ar delivcnincr, and for t\w condi'innntion of • n, and for the oot:>l li-hirwiit of lii ; own i inniri' in us." -H.) Ls important for the interpretation of this passage . condeinnavit peccatum et jam (jnasi condnnnatum ejecit extra cantem. The beautiful words of Augus- tine denote the objective medium by which the sin. lessness of Christ becomes our liberation : Quoinodo libiTavit? Kisi quia reatum juccatorum omnium remissione dissolvtt, ita u\ quamvis adhuc nta:ieat, in peci-alnm non imputelur. Yet Beza properly ob- serves: Keqnc nunc Apostolus eujit de Christi morte, tir|iose of the law is to justify, but that it is its limit and end ; see Rom. xiii. 1(J. Ex- planations : 1. The impu'atio of Christ's righteousness. Cal- vin : The transferrence to us of the destruction of guilt which Christ eH'ected (Hullinger, Beza, Calix- tua [Hodge], and others). Also the transfern-nee of Chri'ovv and the iv are against these interpre- tations. 2. The principle of the righteou.sncss of life iin- |)arted to believers. This view seems to indii-ate a glight fear of the thought that Christians sliall be holy in the form of believing spontatu-ity. Tholuck cites Meyi-r's view : " in order that this fulfilment of the law become ajiparent in the whole conduct," and adils (in accordance with Olshausen), " then ('hrislians woidii be regarded as though they were onlv the possessors of a principle fulfilling th« law." CHAPTER VIII. 1-11 255 8. The real boliness of believers proceeding from the principle of the righteousness of faith. [So Tholuck, Olsliausen, Meyer, Alford, John Brown, and many othei'S ; among them some who refer the pre- vious verse to the vicarious sacrifice of Clirist. — R.] The passive form (instead of nltiQiliatontv) is a safe- guard against a semi-Pelagian misconstruction. De Wette : in our inward activit;/ of life. Reiche and Klee give special prominence therewith to the real inwardness of the fulfilment of the law. [Might be fulfilled in us, n ). rj q o) & ji Iv tjfitv. The verb is passive. The fulfilment is wrought by God. In us ; not by us, not nn us (some shade of this meaning is involved in all those inter- pretations which refer the verse to imputed right- eousness or holiness), and certainly not among ws. The oidy objection to be considered is that of Cal- vin, and others : that, in this sense, the fulfilment docs not take i)lace. Granted — not at once, nor in this lite, perhaps ; but surely this must be the end (comp. Eph. ii. 10 ; Col. i. 22), and that it is in the Apostle's mind here, is evident from the latter part of the chapter. — R.] Who walk not according to the flesh, &c. [toi<; ^tij xarct actQxa nf^vnarovavv, a.X).a y.axa nvfv/ncc. KuTci maybe expand- ed into : according to the hiiptihc< of (so Meyer). These phrases express the actual life of those in the flesh and in the Spirit. — R.] This addition states not only the characteristic, but also the neisessary condition * of belieuers. Tholuck [iqlds tliat the participial clause does not contain the condition, as many of the earlier expositors maintain, but only the specification of the method. Meyer holds, that x«T(x nvfv/ia designates only the sanctifying Divine principle itself, as objective, and different from the human nvtr/ xora a uq y.a ovrK;'\. The flvai, y.ara, aa()y.a is identical with the iivat iv aa(jy.i, and the latter means, to be in the carnal principle, under the supposition that the ff«o| is the absolute principle of life. This dvai,, as the controlling tendency of life, is the source of the q>Qovfiv, and the (p^ovflv is the causa efficiens of the ntiimanlv. — Meyer says that this expression is a wider notion than that conveyed by " who walk after the flesh," which is not the case.* Tholuck explains (ivai, y.ata rt : " To bear in one's self the qualities of something ; therefore = ot ffa^^xtzoi." But it is these, first of all, in their principle of life, which then certainly results in the walk in the flesh. [It may be admitted that the principle of life is more prominent than the ethical state in this verse. Yet the phrases, " in the flesh " and " according to the flesh " (especially the former) include the character- istic state as well. Hence the view of Tholuck ia preferable. — R.] Do mind the things of the flesh [ i a t ^ s (Tcc^ y.oq qi^orovffvr. The verb means, think of, care for, strive after (Alford). Meyer notices the presence of the article, making (jdfii objective, as though it were something independent. This ac- cords with the view, that Spirit here is the objective and operative Holy Spirit. — R.] The false objects of the desires of the false independence of the flesh. The antithesis, those who are according to the Spirit, o( de y.ara nvfii/ia, completes the thought that the two tendencies totally exclude each other. — [It also follows that ra rov nvfvftciroi;, the things of the Spirit, vhich belong to the Holy Spirit, and hence to the spiritual life, exclude the things of the flesh. Dr. Hodge well remarks, there- fore, that the latter phrase means " not merely sen- sual things, but all things which do not belong to the category of the tilings of the Spirit." — R.] Ver. 6. For the mind of the flesh is death [to yaQ (f()6vi;fin rtjq (Tafiy.oq i9 « roT oi,]. The connection here formed by yap is singular. Tholuck : " It could serve to prove only the second half of ver. 5, while the correspondence of the mem- bers of the sentence leads us to expect a proof of both halves of ver. 5. Thus the view gains proba- bility, that, according to the Greek and Hebrew ( ^3 ) use of language, the proof in ver. 6 performs for that in ver. 5 the parallel service of assigning reasons for the toTc fir;, y..rJ.., in ver. 4." Meyer makes the yciQ the proof of the second lialf of ver. 5, 01 (U y.ara nvivita. " Motive why they make the interests of the nvfifia the end oi their eflbrts." f _ We regard, however, the yaf) as proof that the firai. y.ara has a corresponding q(jovnv and (fijovr^iia :|: as a result. For the (to^jJ has a qoovijfta, yet all its (fQovfj/ta is nocidng but death ; * [It were better to say that it is the same idea under a different aspect. In ver. 4, with reference to the outward life ; here, with reference to the actual state. — K,.] t [In 4th ed., Jlcyer aprrces with Tholuck, taking; this second yap as explicative, according to chissical usage. So Kuckcrt, Stuart, Hodge. (De "Wette, Alford, follow the • view attributed to Meyer above.) The contrast, already indicafeil in ver. 4, is continued here.— R.l t f*p6»a)fia (Lange: G'shimitirj ; Ben pel : sentiment, in the French) means the disposition, which manifests itself in the (^poi-eiv (ver. 5). The E. V. is therefore conect in thought, though not in form.— R.l f 256 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TUE ROMAXS. not only aiming at death against its will, but also proceeding tVuin death, moving in the element of death ; tiiat is, in constant- dissidiitiun of tlie unity between life and its source of life, between spiritual and physical life, and even between the opposition of the desires of the individual members. The 'jopula, to be supplied here, is pot, /iok as its res^l/ts^ Dut, is, ainoiiH/s to. Fhilippi : " JJeath is here con- ceived as present (comp. 1 Tim. v. 6 ; Eph. ii. 1, 5), aot merely as a result, but as a characteristic mark, an immanent dcfniition of the carnal mind." — U.] [But the mind of the Spirit, to di q (>6v tj - u a r o r ;r )' f ('/' « T o i,-.] Tiie ojiposite is the f^ovrjfici ToT' nvfv/iarnc (for tlie tirni, xarct nv. is itself nv^ ; it is life and peace.* It is therefore from true life, moving in life, directed to life. Peace means the soul of life. Op|iosition is the separation and dissolution of life ; i)eace with God is cotniection with the source of life ; peace with one's self, a blessed sense of life ; peace with the government of God and His world, an infinitely richer life. The third characteristic must be special- ly em])hasized in both clauses.: directed to the end : life and peace. Ver. 7. Because the mind of the flesh. [/iiOTi. introduces a pnjof, here ciinfined to the former half of ver. G. This proof hints at an an- tithesis to both life and peace, the latter being more evident, as it is in human consciousness also. — H.] The reason why iniovtjna, &c., = Oay., lies in its opposition to the s(jurce of life, its enmity against God [*/•'>('« fi<; />f6i'], with which the dis- pleasure of God necessarily corresponds.! Since the Ai)ostle does not prove the second half, it fol- lows that here the ellbrt of the flesh constitutes the prinei[)al point of view. Enmity against God is, in the first degree, the actual opposition to God in almost unknown (but not unconscious) form ; but afterwards the opposition established also in the consciousness, Melanchthon appropriately says : " Loquitur Pttulus principal' fer de cogitntionibun de deo, qiiiilcs aunt in- imnte non renala, in qua ximul magna conftisio cet dnlAtationum, deiiide et dc affcc- tibus erga dcicin. In sccuris est contciiitus jndlcii dei, in perpcre factin indignatio et fremitus adversns deum." For it does not submit itself to the law of God [tw y«(' VU/ilit TOl" (}(0V 01'/ V7Z0- rciirrrfTnu. Ihe verb is middle. T/ie law of God is in emphatic position. The clause proves what precedes, by adducing a fact. This mode of proof concurs with the statements already made re- specting man's character and that of the law. — R.l Paul's positive declaration of the manifestation of this enmity. This enmity, which is very deep-seated, becomes manifest in disobedience to, and re!)ellion against, (Jod's law. Neither indeed can it [orfTj yctQ rfi'va- T«t]. Sul)jection to the law of (Jod is not possible on tne carnal st.indpoint. Or rather, it cannot be effected by carnal effort. A divided life, according to the blind couree of the lusts, is in outright con- tradiction to the central procession of life from within, according to the principle of the Spirit. • (Mover, who, n» usual, limitfl " death" to ctemnl donth, miist deflnc " lifu " In the some way. J,i/f ih tlin dirert nntiihcsis to ri'itli ; l>ut a fulycctlvo chaniotcristic is adiloil, as Bf-mtcl s>iij«p»t.s, to propari' tho way for tho fol- lowing doscription of enmity.— H.) t [It is cnsy to coii(>trui;t tlilr* inforoncc: The mind of tho flesh = death ; liecaune ihu mind of the flesh = enmity against God; therefore, enmity against God — death.— R.] Tholuek justly opposes Zeller, by bringing out the fact, tluit the antithesis is not man's sensuous and sjiiritual nature in itself, but that (T«oJ denotep human nature with the accessory idea of its sinful character. But to this it may be said, tliat the ques- tion is not the adi>i in itself, but a i/oorrjnct t^? aa(>y.6i;; that i.s, a (ift^ij morbidly excited and demon- ized by a selfish spirituality. [Comp. the E.xcursus in chap. vii. Tiiat chapter is a proof of this deelit- ration. The fact is undoubted. Paul is but declar. ing the cause of the numifostation of enmity to (lod in the forui of opposition to His law, the inability cf the carnal man to be subject to it. The (piestio'n of al)ility to believe is not under discussion, yet Pe- lagianism and legalism are obviously precluded by this statement. — J{.] Ver. 8. And those -who are in the flesh cannot please God [oi fik iv ano/.i ovtk; f) f 01 a (I i (T a !■ oil () e r rt r T a t . The E. V. Strengthens di into so t/ie?i, following Beza, Calvin, and others, who made it = oi'j'. (So Hodge.) It is much better, with De Wette, Philippi, Meyer, to consider it nietnbatic. It continues the thought of the first clause of ver. 7. There seems to be no ni<- cessity for assuming a suppressed /lii; as AlforCc does. On this account we render and instead of bu'. — R.] "OvTfi; iv acijjxl = orrf? xara aci^' xn, but the expression here is stronger ; see above. The incapacity in ver. 8, then, follows from the in- capacity of ver. 7. It is said, in a mild way, that they are objects of the Divine displeasure, children of wrath. But the expression is significant, in that it destroys the notion of those who are legalists, and rely on the righteousness of their works, and who, allliough ovTn; tv ffai>y.l, fancy that they can meric tlie pleasure of God by tlicir works and endeavors. For we must by no means lose sight of the fact, that the Apostle does not speak merely of the gross ser- vice of sin, but also of an observance of the law, which accepts the law as merely external, as yftcimin and (Tcioi. [The connection renders obvious what is distinctly stated elsewhere, that this is no negative position, involving only negative results. The mind of the flesh is death. — R.l Third Pabaobapb, vers. 9-11. Yer. 9. But ye are not in the flesh, &c [i/itii; (W, x.r.A. y1 f is distinctive (Stuart). — If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you, tinf(j 71 V tr II u i9 f o r oixfT f'l' I'liirl. The antithesis. Tlie more specific exhortation does not appear here, but in ver. 12. The n;Tf() may be thus distinguished from nyt : it (= " provided that") generally expresses slight doubt, while fiyt expresses ratlier an assurance in the sense of if iti- dnd. Yet tlie HTTtQ here must be understood as only purely conditional, in conformity with the an- tithesis by which the Apostle represents the stand- point of the spiritual life of believers as purely fun- damental and ideal. With such a representation, the applicntif)n to individuals can only take place with an t'lnni ; likewise without positive doubt. Chrysoslom and Olshausen take it as t.'Tni)t^rrt(], qnnndo qnidm ; Tholuek and Meyer prefer the hor- tatory construction, on account of the antithesis, [It seems most natural to account for the condi- tional form, by admitting " an indirect incitement to self-<'xnmination " (Meyer). Ilvfi'im is without the article, yet it must mean the Holy Spirit ; henc* CHAPTER VIII. 1-17. 257 we claim this as its usual meaning throughout the passage. The use of nvfv/taTi, seemingly in dis- tinctiuu from nvfvfta, is not against this, since, in tiie first clause, the Spirit is represented as the ele- meiit in wiiich they live ; in the second, as the in- liwelling power causing them to live in this element. — On olxcT, conip. 1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 17, 19; 2 Tim. i. 14 ; John xiv. 23. — In you must not be weakened to amonr/ you. — R.] Now if any man hath not, &c. [ft de nq nvfvfta A'^KTTor ov/. t/ft. The antithesis is not very strong; 6s may well be rendered now (E. Y.). The urconditional negative belongs to the verb (Alford). See Tfxhial Note ^— R.] This an- tithetical declaration certainly expresses tlie possibil- ity, tliat what has been said has no reference to par- ticular individuals, and that here no half measures are of any avail. The Spirit of Christ. The question here is, hi^longmg to Christ; hence, the Spirit of Chi-ist. It is the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of His righteousness of life as brought home to the inward life of believers. [There can be no reason- able doubt that it is identical with Spirit of God, above ; though the connection with " none of His " has occasioned the use of this particular phrase. The genitive is possessive, Spirit belonging to, or proceeding from, Christ, Comp. Phil. i. 19 ; Gal. iv. 6 ; 1 Peter i. 11. Notice the terms, " Spirit of God," " Spirit of Christ," " Chri.st," all applied to the Divine spiritual indwelling. Hence Bengel well says : Testimonium illustre de sancia Trinitalc ejusque oeconomia in corde fidd iim. It must be admitted that such statements generally have reference to the economy of grace, but they form the basis for the doctrinal statements of the Chuich. This text is tiierefore a dictuin profiaiis for the Western doctrine of the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son {Jilioque, Synod of Toledo, A. D. 689). This was the final contribution to the doctrinal state- ment of the Trinity. On its importance, &c., see SchaPf, Hidory of the Christian Church, iii., pp. 688 f. ; comp. Kahnis, Lehre vom Hcilujen Geisle, Halle, 1847. Philippi has an excellent note in loco. On the relation of the Holy Spirit to Christ, comp. John xiv. 26 ; xv. 26 ; xvi."7, 13, 14.— R.] [He is none of his, ot'Tot; ova eatir arror.] The Apostle does not regard a merely external belonging to Christ as of any value. Where the Christianity of the inward life is extinct, there the Christianity of the whole man is extinct. Mey- er : " Not those who are not Christians, but nominal Christians." Ver. 10. But if Christ is in you [fl Se XQt'fTroi; iv v/(Tv'\. That is, as a principle of life, [//e contrasts with the last verse. (Is is sub- stituted for be, to indicate the strong probability that this is the case.) Comp. Jolin vi. 56 ; xv. 4 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 5; Gal. ii. 20; Eph. iii. 17; Col. i. 27; also John xiv. 23, as justifying the remark of Bengel : Qui Spiritum habet, Chi-istum habet ; qui Christtim habei, Deum habet. The mystical union of Christ and the believer has, as its underlying basis, the yet more mvsterious unity of the Persons of the God- head.— R.] The body is dead [to ^itev aMfia, vi- Kf or]. Explanations of vers. 10, 11 :* 1. Death and life in their strict sense. There- ♦ [For fuller discusaions, see Tholuck, Meyer, and De Wette in loco. — K.] 17 fore the body lapsed to death (Augustine, Beza, Bengel [tnortuum pro moritunini], Usieri, Riickert, and Fritzsche). [So Hodge, Alfdrd, Wordsworth.] According to Meyer, the rf/^ot; is proleptic • " Ye have the following blessed results to enjoy : although the body is a prey to death because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness. But He who raised Christ will also raise your mortal bodies, be- cause the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in you." [In favor of this view are : the natural sense of dead, the connection with ver. 11, and the subsequent course of thought ; its not attaching an ethical meaning to body. Against it : the comprehensive meaning of death throughout this part of the Ejjistle, the necessity for a v.ide meaning in its antithesis LMtj, as well as in Lomnou'jufi, (ver. 11, not tj/ft^fi); also the use of ai7)/ia in an implied ethical sense in ver. 13.— R.] 2. The body is dead, slain by sin (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Erasmus, Grotius, Baumgarten-Crusius [Stuart], and others. [These, lor the most part, take ver. 10 in a moral or spiritual sense. This view is most objectionable, since it disturbs the har- mony of the two verses, takes « t' T o i; ] tj (T o r r t x v f y. (j i'i v , x.r./.]. The spiritual resurrection must be followed by the physical ; it is a prophecy of the pliysieal resurrection. For the author of the spiritual resur- rection is the Spirit of the wonder-working God, which has raised Christ, and elevateer of eomnientators (Calvin, Stuart, De Wette, Pliilippi, and others) refer this verse also to somrthing whicli takes place even here, to be completed, indeed, ut the time of actual resurrection. Against this is the nai, also, even, which is unnecessary, unless the reference be to something wliich has not yet tiiken place, and which seemed most milikely to take place. The (luiekcning of the body, as a tool of unriglit- eousness, has already begun. The olyection of Stu- art, that then this would only mean to declare the • (Acooptlnn tiK. as imi>lnnlod riifhtcounnpiw, wo pnm- f'hriiHC :iB lollowrs : But if Christ he In you, (thoUKh) your x«ly iiidcod \* (it'iid (Imvini; in it thi' hcciIh of denth, iind Hli'Mit to dii') on account of Hin (who^io olfi'Ctsi are not yot totnly romoved), hut y^iur spirit (pi-i-nn-iitcd hy the Itoly ■Spirit) ii( lifr (alri'ndy iind to he yet more truly so) or ac- rouiit of ri(fhtfoimnc».i (iinplnntcd m you hy tho Holy 8piiit,.iu virtue of yuur union to Chriiit).— R.] bodily resurrection, a truth already well known, be- trays a want of api)reciation of the importance attached to that truth by the A|)ostle. Furthermore, even admitting a secondary refei-ence to a present moral quickening of the body, the primary reference to the actual physical resurrection seems to be de- manded by the experience of Christians, wiiich cer- tainly shows them that the last seat, b(jth of tht? strength and the ett'ects of sin, is in the body. Il does not revive ; no spiritual power here renews it. It is mortal, yet even it shall share in the life-giving influence. The verb means more than raising from the dead indeed, but, as used liere, the emphasis rests on this. — R.] [On account of his Spirit that dw^elleth in you, (iiu TO ivoi,y.o7v fti'Tor nrfTna f» I'/ilv. See 7'extiial Note "]. We have decided above for the accusative, dt.a to ivoixovv, in opposition to the genitive. Wc do this for impor- tant reasons. The Spirit which dwells in believers prepares the resurrection-body ; but the resurrection is t]iercl)y only provided for. The resurrection itself is still to be the final deed of God. And this is tha question here (see ver. 18). But it is a miraculous deed of God, which is not only occasioned, but also brought to pass, by the presence of the Spirit of life In believers. The change of terms is remarkable : Jesua and i Christ. [Bengel : Appellatio Jesu spectat ad I ipxitm ; Chkisti, refertnr ad nos ; true even to its cschatological reference (Meyer). — R.] If, now, the too^rou/fff t also refers to the resurrection, the choice of the expression yet indi- cate!?, at the same time, the holiness of the cor- porealness by the operation of the resurrection- power of the Spirit, as this holiness constitutes the tratisition and interposition for the final miracle of the resurrection (see 2 Co nature of the case, the que an ethical vivification alone alone ; but the idea of vivification comprises both these (according to Calvin, De Wette, Pliilippi, and others). Calvin : " Non de ultima nxurreclioiie,* (jvw viometito fiet, habetur sermo, sed de coutiifua npirituK opera' tone, quce relinqnias carnix paulntim mort iticansi ccelextrm vitam in nobis iiiftaurat.'''' But De Wette properly ol>serves, against the notion that the si)iritual power of resurrection alone can con- sunniiate tlie process of renewal (in conformity with the reading ()ta Toe, &c.), that the Jewish opinion that the Holy Ghost quickens the dead (Shamoth Rabba, &c.) cannot prove any thing here. FOUltTH rAllAOKAPH, VERS. 12-17. Ver. 12. Therefore, brethren [«(<« o'v, nSff.q'oi. An inferential exhortation. In chap, vi. 12 a similar exhortation is found, but without n<)f/.qni. The first person naturally follows. — R.l The lion draws an inference from tlie necessity of leading the life in the Spirit in opposition to the life in the flesh, in hope of the reanimation of the body. Tholui'k says, though not in the sense of the textual construction : " The Apostle allows hiniself to bo led ott' from the train of thought commencing with • [Ai Alford 8ii|ri;obtg : tjoji oo'i(m (i.Xe- rai. ea/iiv ot'' ttJ aa()xi. The negative applies to the succeeding clause as well. The antithesis is ol)vious. ^«(>| has the article here, where it is personified, but not in tlie next clause, where it cor- responds with the use made of it in vers. 4 and 5. — R.] According to Meyer, the Apostle has sup- pressed his antitliesis in consequence of the Tiva^ cious movement of his language. But he was pre- vented by something else — namely, a desire to guard against misunderstanding, as if Christians had no duties in reference to their fle^h or their physical life (comp. Eph. v. 29). [So Chrysostom ; see Al- ford in loco. — R.] Therefore he defines his propo- sition more specifically : not to live after the flesh [toT x«Ta (Tci^K a tfji']; that is, not to hve according to the principle of carnal desires, or of external motives at all. The genitive xnv is suffi- ciently explained as designation of the infinitive of result. (Fritzsche takes another view ; see Meyer.)* The antithesis, after the Spirit., follows indirectly in ver. 13. Ver. 18. Ye shall die [fiiXXiri cc/io&vtj- ffxfirv]. Strictly, tlien ye shall go continually to death, or, toward death { fi e /.?. f r f ). Meyer under- stands this to mean here only eternal death. This is contrary to Philippi, who properly retains the gen- eral idea of death. •(■ According to Riickert, this declaration would exclude the resurrection. But the Apostle takes cognizance not only of the differ- ence between the first and second resurrection (1 Cor. XV. 23), but also of a resurrection •which begins immediately after deatli (2 Cor. v. 1); and pure life is in antithesis to a final resurrection to judgment. The explanation of Q]cunienius, rov dOdraTov .9«r«Toi' iv TTj yfivvrj, precludes neither the resur- rection on the one hand, nor, on the other, a ccm- etant connection of physical and psychical corrup- tion with ethical corruption. But if ye through the Spirit [ft rfe nvfv- narv. JI vhv fi ari, here is undoubtedly not sub- jective, but the Holy Spirit (comp. ver. 14). An instrumental dative. — R.] By means of the life of the Si)irit (by virtue of the Holy Spirit, says Meyer). Therefore the Apostle says, tiie deeds of the body should be mortified, not by bodily exercise, restraint, and penance, but by the power of the life of the Spirit. The deeds [ra? ;r^aSftc]. The strata- gems. Machinations (Luke xxiii. 51 ; Col. iii. 9). These consist in the predominance of illegnl im- pulses as irresistible necessities, as proofs of liberty, as the poetry of life, &c. The word occurs in the later Greek writers in the meaning of cunning de- signs, especially in relation to sins of lust (see Tho- luck).:]: Yet the general treatment in the present * [Sfiinrt follows Winer, p. 306, in govpming' the greni- tive liy oecAeTai (so Fritzsche). This is harsli, and most commentators take the genitive as that of design or result, according to a very common usage. — R.] t [The most comprehensive idea of death seems to be demanded by the context. Graiitii\g that the antithesis is ju)») (ver. 10), the present and spiritual reference is still re- q^uited Vf'r. 6 forms the ln-st guide to the meaning of the terms here (so Tholuck).— R.] X i^The New Testament uses the word generally in. ma- \om parlnn ; and so here, whether in a more or less re- Jtrictcd sense. It does not refer to the definite acts so strictly as epya, but includes the general conduct, &c. (Phi- tippi) -K.] section requires a general interpretation of the word. [Of the body, to"' (To5/(«Tog. See Textual Note ".] The expression ato/iaroi; has been verj strange to many ; therefore Codd. D. E. F. G., and the Vulgate, read (Td(iy.oi;. 7'6 ffwfioi, t/ji; dfiUQ- Tt'ac, chap. vi. 6, cannot be cited in favor of the ex- pression, since the question here is a real body, but not there. Yet Meyer correctly asserts, contrary to Stirm, that Paul remained true to his customary use of langiuige. The body has its autonomous desires, which express themselves faithfully in the normal life of man, and willingly subordinate themselves to the dominion of the Spirit. In the sinful man, who is not converted, these express themselves as impe- rious commands. In the believer, on the contrary, from whom the law in the members is removed, they can morbidly express themselves still, though in only deceptive forms, and so far as the body, which should be the organ of the spirit, is autonomous in un- guarded moments. But its 7TQdifi<; are then mo- tions of the (rd(i'S, which appear as n^dtftq of the body, because the body has its phj^siological rights. [Thus we avoid giving an ethical sense to body. If the bad sense of deeds be emphasized, then the ethi- cal force is found there. We must avoid, on the other hand, taking the phrase, " deeds of the body," as metonyme for sinful, carnal deeds (Stuart, Hodge) ; for there must be a reason for the choice of this word. Alford, following De Wette, explains it : " = r'ji; (7a(jy.6<:, but here concrete, to give more vivid reality." — R.] (ztavaroT'Tf [comp. chap. vii. 4, and the stronger expression, vh-/.(io')aaTf, Col. iii. 5 ; Lange'a Comrn., pp. 63, 64. — R.] Mortify can only mean : exhaust and abnegate to the very root. Wicked practises, as roots of sin, are included. Ye shall live [u r; a f a S i . Alford : " not fiiD.iTi c/^i' ; this /i/"e being no natural consequence of a course of mortifying the deeds of the body, but the gift of God through Christ ; and coming, therefore, in the form of an assurance, ' ye shall live,'' from Christ's Apostle." — R.J In the higher, and even highest sense. Ver. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God [ o rr o t ydq n'vtv tiutiy d tov dyovtfxi. Comp. Gal. v. 18. Lange's Comw., p. 187. VuQ introduces the reason why they shall live, implying, at the same time, that such mortifica- tion was the result of the Spirit's it)fluence, as is ex- pressed in ver. 18. Hence nrfT/ia, in the former case, must refer to the Spirit of God. That this leading means a continued and special influence of the Divine Spirit, is obvious. — R.] The Spirit of God is not identical with the Spirit in ver. 13 (Mey- er) ; but it is Christian spiritual life, to be led by the Spirit of God. The passive form expresses its com- plete dominion, without at the same time denying the voluntary being led on the part of the human will. They are sons of God [oTrot viol fl(Ti,v &fov. See Textnal Note '*. The reading adopted here places the emphasis on oi'rot, these, and none other, but gives a secondary emphasis to ii'ot; comp. Gal. iii. 7. Philippi finds no essential differ- ence between viol and tir.va dtov, except that, in the former, the idea of maturity is more prominent. Hence Christ is called \retation, tliat nvtv/ia means the same spirit in both cases, defined first negatively, then positive- ly. The prol)ability of a reference to the Holy Spirit 13 very great in that case. — R.] Hut yet the Apostle intimates that Judaism has made of the Old' Testament a spirit (a spirit-like, complete system) of bondage, and that it might at- tempt to make such a perverse spirit of tlie New Testament. This intimation is brought out promi- nently by the TTci/.t^v fit; qofjov, wliich denotes a tact. At Sinai the Jews made of the law a law *i',- (/6,^i)v in the bad sense (Exod. xx. lit, &c.). Oi: the other hand, the repetition of the i'/.a[lcrh favora the view given above : ye have not received a spirit of bondage, because that would be a contra, diction. Agsiin to fear. This denotes the bound : wick- ed fear of slavish legalism. [De Wette, Meyer, Phi. lippi, join Tid/.i-v with tli; (pvfioviis=inorJer Of/din to ftur. The ndhv may imply that the con- dition under Judaism was one of fear, but it does not follow that the Roman Christians were mainly Jewish (Pliilip|)i), for tliis fear is a result of idl un- christian religiousness. The nd'/.tv points to thei^ previous condition in all cases. — R.] But ye received the Spirit of adop< tion [ « / /. « i ). d fj' tr f n vfT /i a rio >') f a i a^, Meyer finils in the repetition of ildptrt nvto- /(« something solemn. The force of the genitive must be determined largely by the meaning of nvfv/ia. Meyer: A spirit which is the ruling prin- ciple in the condition of adoption. Phili|>pi, argu- ing, from Gal. iv. 5, C, that adojitiou i)recedes the impartation of the Holy Spirit, finds another rea- son for the subjective sense of spirit ; but the adoption may be taken, not as the act, but the state, which is more accordant with the context, since iv i>>, wherein, refers to a state or element of life. Out of this comes the subjective feeling, the cry, Abba, Father. The genitive then points to au effect as in bomltge, which also has a descriptive clause appended. — H.] De Wette: "■ lioOtala, strictly, adoption instead of a child ; " which meaning can l)e so urged, that they who were by nature the children of wrath (Eph. ii. 3), have been adopted, or appointed (Eph. i. 15), the chihlren of God (Fritz.sche, Meyer, and Olshau- sen). The same connnentator says : " Rut it is a (luestion whether — as even in the Old Testament (Deut. xxxii. C), and in the New Testament (John i. 12 ; 1 John iii. 9 ; 2 Peter i. 4), and also in Paul, agreeal)ly to the new creation (Gal. vi. 15), the idea of transformation into children of God occurs— there is not, consequently, in liofy. rather the idea of sonship, of the real relation of children to the father (Luther, Usteri, kc), than of adoption (Fritzsche, Meyer, and Tholuck). The expression, nrtTfict liofy., and the use made of the word in ver. 23, harmonizes better with this view." Tholuck, on the contrary, appeals to Eph. v. 1 ; Rom. ix. 4 ; to the desigmition of the adopted child by iio? f)tT6<; (I'/'oi; tif!7T()irju^)\ and to the adop'.io filio' mm of the Vulgate. Rut Chry.sostom, Theodoret, and other Greek expositors, on the other hand, have taken tiie word also in the sense of iiotij^. It is easy to see that the Apostle chose the expression in order to distinguish the children of faith, as adopted through grace, from the l•(6^• J'diot,-. Rut he had the further reason of not wishing to press the idea : for then he could Jiot have said, with reference to the Hebrew law of inheritance, " And if children, then heirs." Likewise, the new liirth by Christ and His Spirit denotes real lioi. [The actual sonship has already l)een mentioned in ver. 14. It seems more natural, then, to take this expression in the confirma- tory verse in its literal sense, adoption, as implying the method of their becoming sons ; the more so, ad au appeal ia made to the experience of the readers, CHAPTER VIII. 1-17. 261 ffhich experience would revert to the time when they passed out of one state iuto the other. — R.] Wherein we cry (1 Cor. ii. 3) [er m y.ijd- tofifv. The E. Y., whervbi/, is not exact. Ilodge: " which enables us to address God as our Father." Such an instrumental sense of the preposition is very doubtful. The first person is here used, proba- bly I'roni the deep feeling of fellowship which the thought awakens. — R.] Tiie tv here designates the Spirit as ikrn principle [element] of life, which has the full na^^t^aia as its result (Heb. x. 19-23). Kijd^uv, loud praying ; the voluntary, chil .like ex- elaniatiou. " Chrysostom raises the doubt, that, even in the Old Testament, God is called the Father of Israel ; and he replies to it, by saying that the Jews did not use this term in their prayers ; or, if they did, it was only ti ol/.tiat; diavoiat;, and not ano Ttviffian/.tii; ivfijytlaq xn'or/if rot. Yet God certainly has the name of Father iu the Old Testa- ment, only in the same incomplete sense as the peo- ple tlie name of son — namely, as founder and pro- tector of the people (Jer. iii. 4, 19, and elsewhere), and always in reference to the community, and not to the relation of the individual ; " Tholuck. Iu the Apotrypha, He is first addressed thus by indi- viduals (Book of Wisdom xiv. 3 ; Sirach xxiii. 1 ; li. 14). But we must not overlook the fact that, even in the Old Testament, the centre of the filial relation is the Messiah (2 Sam. vii. ; Ps. ii. ; Isa. ix.) ; and that, consequently, from the perfect New Testament centre of the relation of the Father to Christ, all linOfaia extends. Abba, Father. "yJfifiS. [ X3X ], the Syriac name for father (Gal. iv. 6 ; Mark xiv. 36). Why is the nuriiQ added? Explanations: 1. The usual view (Riickert, Keiche, Kiillner, he ) is, the nmtjo helps to explain the Syriac Abba. 'So Hoilge : " Paul chose to call God his Father, in lis own familiar tongue. Having used the one word, 'low'cver, the Greek, of course, became necessary for ihose to whom he was writing." But Paul does not ..Iways deem it necessary thus to translate (comp. I Cor. xvi. 22) ; and in the three cases where this jjhrase occurs, the usual mark of interpretation TovT t'lTTt) is wanting. — R.] 2. The repetition of the name is an expression "if childlike fondness (Chrysostom, Theodore of '"i;opsvestia, and Grotius [AUbrd] ). 3. An expression of God's fatherhood for Jews srid Gentiles (Augustine, Anselm, Calvin, Estius, and ethers). 4. The name " Abba " has passed from Jewish i,Uo Chri.stian prayer, and has received, through Christ himself, the consecration of a special sanctity. Therefore the Greek-speaking Christians retained the word as a proper noun, and added thereto the nartjo as an appellative, so that the Abba, Father, remained in force ; Meyer. [So De Wette, Philippi, lightfoot ; comp. Lange's Comm. Galalians, p. 98. • — R.] This would be, in realit)-, a duplication arising from a misconception. Tholuck unites with Luther, In favor of Chrysostom's view. Luther : " It is the callincf to, just as a young child lisps to its father in simple, childlike confidence." If it be necessary to refer to the passage in Mark, the nariji) there un- doubtedly serves as an explanation. It is without any admixture of misconception that a liturgical use (.IS Hallelujah, Hosanna, Amen) has been made of this passage, because, in the most significant manner, there is iu one salutation an invocation of the Father of Christ and the Father of Christians, the Fathei of the believers of the Old Testament and the Kew, the Father of Jews and Gentiles, and thus of the Father of all believers in all nations. Yer. 16. The Spirit itself [avro r'o nvfii fia. The parallel pas.-age, Gal. iv. 6, is conel isiv« in favor of a reference to the Holy Spirit, even if tin context did not demand it. — R.] .-/iVtl. Not tin, same (Erasmus, Luther), but the Spirit itself (Yul- gate : ij:>ye spirUus ; Beza : ipse ille spirilvs). We cry in the spirit, and the Spirit itself beareth us wit- ness. Beareth witness with [or to] our spirit \^(Jrfi/Lia(j'rv(jft r m nvivt^uri ^/((7)j']. It may be asked whether ot/for. The purport of the testimony. Alford : " not ii'o/, because the testimony respects the very ground and central point of sonship, like- ncsi.s to luid desire for God.'''' — R.] The word rixva empiiasizea the heartiness of the filial feeling. Ver. 17. And if children, also heirs [fl <)i rixva, xai z >.//<< o vo" oi. ]. We must sup))ly l(Tniv both times. The beluc/ /leirs arises from the very idea and right of a child ((Jal. iv. 7).f Heirs of God \_x /. t] (>ov6/i oi. iiif O-tor^. The inheritance is the kingdom of glory. God, as tlie eternally living One, is like the earthly testator, in that He gives His children every thing for an in- lieritance ; but He gives them himself /e xliaH live^ is aljundantly proven. — R.] And joint-heirs vrith Christ [(TKvxAr/^iO- vo/ioi. <)t A'() tfTTor]. Conformaljly to the c'to- &KTiu, tiie I'loi are in the most intimate felhtwship with the i'«rii,-, to which the common inlieritance cor- responds ; Gal. iv. 7. The second designation char- acterizes the Divine inheritance of believers in its majesty, its infinite extent, and its nature, as the kingdom of perfect love.in the glorifieil world. The view tnged .by Fritzsche, Meyer, and Tholuck, that here Paul does not have in mind the Hebrew, but the Roman right of inheritance (with reference to adopted children), Philippi correctly terms " an nn- theocratic reference to the Roman right of inherit- ance." \ • [On the witness of the Spirit, see Dorlr. N"lf. ", and the workrt refurrod to in the lint of Ilomilctical Literature on thii« section. — U] t [fn tJalutians, polemic necessity occasions a fuller nnd romuwli.it modifli-il stutcmcnt of tlii-s idea ; see Langu's Comm. in /'«■<..— U.) J [ riio Jewish law (rave o double portion to the olde^'t son; the Roman law made all rhildren (.idnpted ones also) equal. (So the Attic law.) J'ho pfiint of this controversy alMiut the referenro to Jewish or Itoman law of inheritance, is, that the former presents believers as lieritors, shariiiK through the i^race of Christ, the chief Heir, the latter, in Vi virtue of their souship. Pliilippi culla the latter "pro- If so be that we suffer with him [tin^ a v V Tt urs yo ft t V . On tlie particle, see ver. 9, Here, as there, it implies a slight adiuonition, since it introduces a confta. Be- cause Christ appeared in the truth and ria,il>/ of the adiji, He also appeared, according to the universal human view, in the likeness of sinful flesh. The Apostle expresses exactly the same thought in the words, tv oiioiiofiaTv avQ()i!)niov j'fi'o/if roc ; Phil. ii. 7. The reality of His human nature resulted in the likeness of His appearance and suffering life to the picture presented by the lite of men. Buur's spiritualisticaliy gross misconception of this declara- tion (Phil, ii.) makes a sort of Gnosticism out of it ; the realistic obscuration of the term, on the other hand, allows Christ himself to have assumed sinful flesh. The simple thought is too grand for both these stunting and mutilating tendencies. God luis unmasked and judged sin in the flesh, and con- demned it to be cast out as a foreign element, a ruin- ous pseudo-plasma in the flesh, by Christ's assuming a pure and consecrated ffct^i, and by His keeping His white robe spotless on the whole filthy road of His pilgrimage, and maintaining its holiness until it was illuminated in glorified splendor. Thus the question, whether Christ assumed human nature in its paradisiacal state before the fall, or the fallen na- ture of Adam, is a thoroughly incorrect one, for it rests on a misconception of biblical facts. Christ assumed neither the unfallen nor the fallen human nati.ie, but the nature raised from the fall and made holy. See the Bible- Work on Joim i. 14. 4. On the connection of the doctrine of the obe- dientia activa to ver. 3, see Tholuck, p. 395. 5. On ver. 4. The righteousness'of Christ should be realized also in believers, from the principle of the righteousness of faith to the righteousness of life. See the Exe'-f. Notes. 6. Tiie antithesis, walking in the flesh and walk- ing in the Spirit, separates into these elements : a. Being or living in the flesh ; being or living in ihe Spirit ; b. Tlie seeking of the flesh as enmity against God ; the seeking of the Spirit as enlivened and impelled by the Spirit of God ; c. The end — on one side, death ; on the other, life and peace. 1. Those who live in the flesh cannot please God. Those imagine that they please God who, following the letter of the law, lead an analytically divided, ,%nt, and fragmentary life, or a false life in outward observances But God is one ; His Spirit is one ; His law, as the principle of life, is one ; and salva- tion lies in the dynamical synthesis of life from a shedding abroad of the Spirit. See Mark xii. 32 ff. 8. The real, fundamental thought of this section appears in vei'. 10. See the Exeg. Notes. The bodj is dead by tlie necessarily positive standpoint of Christian life in the Spirit, and it is dead in its pic pensity to sin and death, in order that it may bt raised from its state to a new life, and iuiicrit tha resurrection (1 Cor. ix. 27 ; 2 Cor. iv. 14 ; Eph. ii. 5; Col. ii. 12; Pliil. iii. 11). Also John vi., and the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, belong here. The effecting of the future resurrection by the re- newal of tlie inner life, is questioned by Meyer, against De Wette and Philippi, for he does not place a correct estimate on the real relations of the king- dom of God (p. 246). On pneumatic corporeity, see Tholuck, pp. 485, 486. 9. On ver. 13. By the Spirit, and not by the scourge \i)iit dem Geist^ nicht mit der GeisseC^y should the deeds of the body be mortified. See the Excii. Notes. 10. On the difference between the symbolical and real children of God, see the Exec/. Notes on ver 14. On viol Stot; see Tholuck, p. 409. — That the i('o. OKJta, in the Apostle's sense, can be adoption only in form and mode, and not in its essence and sub- stance, arises i'rom the fact that believers, as the children of God, have the Spirit of God and of Christ ; that they pray in filial confidence ; and that tliey are destined to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. [In interpreting the phrase, " sons of God," two errors must be guarded against : (a.) lim- iiing it to something like this : the objei ts of God's favor; (b.) extending it so as to obliteiate any real distinction between the Son and the adopted children. The latter may occur, either through a denial of the specific and eternal Sonship of Christ, or through some too spiritualistic view of the work of Redemption, which makes the children of God i?i essence and siibstance children. Pantheistic fan- cies follow the same tendency. Between these two lies the true definition. A Christian, as a bon of God, is new-born of the Spirit of God ; hence, has a likeness to God in character, is the object of God's special love, and entitled to special priviKge and dignity. Ytt even this is not all. The term is not merely figurative, as this passage shows, save as all language about our relations to God is figurative. The relation is real — grounded on, yet differing from, the relation of the Eternal Son. Only those in Him are " sons." They are " sons " in such a sense as to become partakers of the Divine nature (1 Peter i. 23). A further definition is now impos- sible. " Now are we sons of God ; but it doth not yet appear what we shall be " (1 John iii. 3). Tlie fact remains established ; the manifestation of its full significance is to come ; ver. 19. — R.] 11. The dogmatic spirit of the Middle Ages made of Christianity a religion ndhv fit; qofJov. Rome in particular did this, in spite of these words to the Romans, in ver. 15. Even the Old Testament and its law aimed at a higher fear of God, as the begin- ning of wisdom. See Ps. i. and Ps. xix. on com- munion with the law of God. 12. On the vloOtaia, and its origin in the Old Testament, see the Excg. Notes. 13. In relation to adoption, the Spirit is our icit- ness ; in relation to future glory, it is our 'pledge. [Ou the witness of the Sjjrit. This consists in the gracious fruits and effects wrought in us by the Hoh Spirit. " His whole inward and outward efficacy 2G4 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. mu^t be fciken together ; for iiiftance, His comfort, His iiiciiement to prayer, His censure of sin. His .iiipulse to works of love, to witness before the world," &e. (OlsliaU'Cn). Yet filial feelings of those happy moments when we are conscious that we live by the Spirit, love GoJ aniJ goodness, desire and de- ligiit in phasing God, must not l)e excluded ; since, wlii-ther the witness be to or with our spiriLs, such nsults may be expected. Because enthusiasm has pushed tiiis matter to an extreme at times, the assur- ance of salvation is not to be deemed unattainable, uoi filial eniotions toward God checked by the sneer about i'aiiatifisni. " That the world deny any such testimony in the hearts of believers, and that they look on it with scorn and treat it with derision, proves only that they are unacquainted with it ; not that It is an illusion. It was a sensible and true re- mark of the French philosopher Ilemsterhuys, in re- gard to ctTlaiu sensations which he was discussing : ' Tliose who are so unliai)py as never to have had sueli sensations, either througli weakness of tlie nat- ural t)rgan, or because tliey have never cultivated them, will not compreiiend me'" (Stuart). — K.] The conclusion, "and if children, then heirs," con- nects this section with the following. HOMILETICAL A2^D PEACTICAIi. Why do we, as those who are in Christ Jesus, have no more fear of condemnation ? 1. Because the law of the Spirit of Christ has made us free from the law (that is, tiie power) of sin and death ; 2. This has been eflected by the act of God in con- demning sin in tlie flesh. — Contrast between the law of the S[)iiit of Cin'ist and the law of sin : 1. The former brings lile ; 2. The latter, death (vcr. 2). — The appearance of the Son of God in the form (like- ness) of sinful flesh: 1. In its meaning ; 2. In its effects (vers. 3, 4). — The sending of God's Son an ait of God (vcr. 3). — He who becomes united with Christ ever more fully performs the righteousness required t)y tlie law (vcr. 4). — Why is carnal-minded- ncss death V Because : 1. It is enmity against God ; and, 2. As sudi, it is disoljedience to (iod's law (vers. 5-7). — All who have Christ's Spirit are not carnal, but spiritual. This is shown thus : 1. Christ's Spirit reigns in their spirit ; and therefore, 2. Their spirit reigns in their liody (vers. 9-11). — "If any man liavo not the S[)irit of Christ, lu; is none of His." This declaration is : 1. Perfectly true ; but, 2. Fearful in its truth (ver. 9). — A (piestion of con- Bcience in two forms: 1. Have we Cin-ist's Spirit? 2. Are we His? (ver. 9.) — Tlie Spirit of (rod as pledge of our resurrection from the dead (vcr. 11.) — The preparation of our bodies for the day of resiir- 'eetion by the Sjiirit of God (ver. 11). — The glorifl- jation of pliysical life by God's Spirit (vcr. 11). — riie oppo'iuon between carnal and spiritual-minded- ni'ss oi.e of (liMth and life : 1. Demonstration (vers. 6-H) ; 2. Keferenee to the members of the Christian communion (vers. 9-11); 3. Inference for their ni(jral life (vers. 11-13).— If we allow ourselves to be led l)y the Spirit of (Joil, we are God's children, beiisof (rod and joint-heirs with Christ. Ueasf)ns : 1. Heeause this spirit is not slavish, but filial ; 2. Ikcause He bears witness with us that we are chil- dren of (iod ; 3. Because we are assured by Him of eternal glory (vers. 14-17). — The leading power of the Spiiit of (Jod (ver. 14). — The ditfcrcnce between Uirinu adoption in the Old Testament aud the Haw (ver. 15). — The Spirit of God a spirit of prayer (ver 15). — The Abba-Fatner cry of believing Christian souls: 1. So filially humble; 2. So filially joyous (vcr. 15). — The inward witness of the Spirit: 1. Who bears this witness? 2. To whom is it borne? 3. What is its import? (ver. 16.) — How rich the children of God are ! They are : 1. Heirs of God ; 2. Joint-heirs with Christ (ver. 17). — Let us gutter with Christ, in order that we may be raised to glory with Him. LiiTHEK : Although sin still rages in the flesh, we are not condemned, if the spirit is righteous, and fights against it. But where there is not this spirit, the law is weakened and overpowered by the flesh ; so that it is impossible for the law to help man, ex- cept to sin and death. Therefore God sent His own Son, and jilaced upon Him our sins, and thus helped us to fulfil the law by His Spirit (vers. 1-4). Stakke : Sin and death are connected together; who will separate tlu.-ni ? Therefore, if you would escape death, you must flee from sin ; James i. 15 ; Siraeh xxi. 2, 3 (ver. 2). — Is sin sweet to thee, man ? Then remember that its fruit will be bitter (ver. 2). — IIkdinokk: It is a false trust, to wish to be righteous in Christ, and, at the same time, to de- sire to walk afier the flesh. Where sin reigns, there is condemnation, though Christ had died a thousand times. The fiesh must die on the cross with Him, and His Spirit must live in the sinner ; otherwise the salvation purchased by Christ will be of no use ; 1 Peter ii. 24 (ver. 1). — Starkk : Adam (merely) out of us does not injure us ; and Christ (merely) out of us does not help us (ver. 10). — People of the world seek immortality in wrong ways. Seek the right way, which is, to let God's Spirit dwell in you ; Isa. Iv. 2 (vcr. 11). — It is better that we kill sin, than that sin kill us (ver. 13). — Xihil vUi"s, (juam a came vhici, nihil f/loriosius, quam carueni vincere ; Jerome. — Qui scquunlur caruein, flagcU ■utur in came: in ipsa est censura supplicii, in qua/tiit causa peccati ; 13Eit.\ARD (ver. 12). — Starkk: One may speak of God without the Holy Spirit ; but he can- not speak to Him in a way that the prayer will be granted (ver. 15). — If little children can move their parents' hearts by " papa " and " manmia," so c.in believers move God by the word " Al»ba " (ver. 15). — IIkiii.ngek: To suffer, and to inherit, stand to- gether. Very well ! Heaven is worth a toilsome pathway. Si vis regnare tnecum, porta crucan nteam tecum ; Gehso.v. Speseii: God sent His Son to assume fli'.iiti/. — Hecbner : The adoption of Chris- tians with God : 1. It is holy ; 2. It is saving. — The diff'erence between the children of the world and the children of God. — Genzler : Those whom the Spirit of God leads, are God's children. The Apostle praises : 1. The filial mind ; 2. The filial joyful- ness ; and, 3. The filial hoj)e of those who allow themselves to be led by the Spirit of God. — Petri : The children of God : 1. Their nature ; 2. condi- tion ; 3. and inheritance. — Harless : The poverty and wealth of the legacy of Jesus Christ. — Tho- LucK : The witness of Divine adoption is the .surest pledge of eternal life. 1. In what is the witness of Divine adoption manifested ? 2. Why is it a pledge of eternal life? — Kapff : The healing of sinful cor- ruption by Jesus and His Spirit. Through Him we become : 1. Children of God ; 2. Praying men of the Spirit ; and, 3. Joint-heirs with Christ. [BauKiTT (condensed) : All men show the true temper of their minds, and the complexion and dis- position of their souls, by willingly, cheerfully, and constantly minding either the things of the Spirit or the things of the flesh. — Three things are implied in our being glorified with Christ : 1. Conformity — we shall be like Him in glory ; 2. Concomitancy — we shall accompany Him, and be present with Him in glory ; 3. Conveyance or derivation — His glory shall be reflected upon us, and we shall .shine in His beams. — Henry : It was great condescension, that He who was God should be made in the likeness of 'Jiesh ; but much greater, that He who was holy should be njade in the likeness of xinful flesh. — The Spirit witnesses the privileges of children to none who have not the nature and privileges of children. — Doddridge : The Spirit of God will not dwell with those whom He does not effectually govern. — Mac- knight: The minding of the things of the flesh, to the neglecting of the things of the Spirit, di.tion,* 24 to wit., \mnit to Wit,] (he redemption of our ])ody. For we are [were] saved by [in]* hope: but mow] hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet I still] "° hope fc 25 26 27 for ? But if we hope for that we see not, then Like the do we with patience wait for it [with patience we wait for it] Spirit also helpeth our infirmities [weakness] : " for we know not wliat we should ])ray for " as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession [inter- cedeth I for us \omu for us] " with groanings which cannot be uttered. And [But] lie that [who] searcheth the hearts kiioweth what is the mind of the Si)irit, because he maketh inte tcill of God. itercession [pleadethj for the saints according to the B. The future and objective cortninty of glory (vers. 88-37). 28 And we know that all things '* work together for good to them that [those who] love God, to them [those] who are the calh-d aecordiiig to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow [foreknew], he also did predestinate [predesthiated] CHAPTER Vm. 18-39. 267 to he conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among 80 many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate [predestinated], them he also called : and Avhom he called, them he also justified : and whom he justified, 31 them he also glorified. "What shall we then [What then shall we] say to these 32 things ? If God he [is\ for us, who can he [is] against us ? He that [Who] spared not his own Son, but delivered him up lor us all, how shall he not with 33 him also freely give us all things ? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of 34 God's elect? It is God that justifieth. [!] '^ Who is he that condemneth? Jt is Christ [or, Christ is Jesus] '* that died, yea rather,^' that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, 36 or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long ; We are [were] accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that [who] loved '* us. C. The unity of the subjective and objective certainty of future glorv in the already attained glorious life of love, the Spirit of glory (vers. 38, 39). 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, [omit nor powers,] " nor things present, nor things to come, [insert nor 39 powers,] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature [created thing], ^° shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. TEXTUAL. 1 Ver. 18. — [It is difficult to render e t s 17 m a s literally. In us (E. V.) implies that we are the subjects of the revela- tion, and this is the main thought. Alford renders : willi regard to us ; Lange : an/ und an uns. " Ver. 19. — [KriVts occurs foui times in vers. 19-22, with the s.ime meaning. In ver. 22 it is best to render it creatinn, and in the other casts it should conform. Lange : die Kreaturliche Welt, Kreatur-Welt. On the various limita- tions of meaning, ste Exig. Xo'es. 2 Ver, 20. — [iange renders iiTroTayij, unterwarf sick, adopting the middle sense; but as this sense is doubtful, the English text has not been altered. * Ver. 20. — [Tu hope is not to be joined with what immediately precedes, hence a comma must be inserted. Gries- bach and Knapp make ovk . . . vnoTafavTa parenthetical, hut without sufficient reason. Ainer. Bible Union also makes a parenthetical clause : but by reason of him who made it subject ; yet this only seems to add confusion. See the next note. 6 Ver. 20. — [Lange puts a full atop after hnpe. Meyer, and many others, a comma, connecting the next verse : that the creation, &c. (the purport of the hope). Eorbes gives the parallelism thus : 19. a. 'H yap anoxapaSoKia tj)? KTiVeioj b. Tr)v dTTOKaAvi/zii/ Twi" viCiv ToO SeoO airfKiex^Tai, 20. Trj yap fiaraiOTrjTi, rj KTicrts vnoTayTji OVK €Kovaa aAAa 6id rbv i/TroTci^ai/Ta, 21. a, etr' eAiri'Si ort Ka\ avrr) r} KTicris eAevSepui^^crcTai otto t^s SouAei'ai T^s <^6opas * b. eis Ti)i' e\ev0epiav t^s S6(rii tu>v TeKyiov tov 0eov. 19. a. Por the earnest expectation of the creation b. Is waiting for the revelation of the sois of God. 20. For the creation was made subject to vanity, Kit willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected it, 21. a. In hope, that the creature itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption, b. Into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, This makes the whole of ver. 20, except in hope, parenthetical, and connects ver. 21 with that phrase, as giving the pur- port of the hope. Oa this last view, Forbes dues not insist, however. In hnpe is thus made to refer to both lines of the parenthesis, yet with a main roference to ajrexSexeTai, is waiting. The two lines of ver. 19 find thtir parallels in ver. 21, while a. a. refer to the exp.^clotion or hope that animates creation ; b. h. to the final consummation to which it points. At the bepinning of ver. 21, Lange reads deim, Alford, becnise, but Tholuck, Philippi, Meyer, Amer. Bible Union, I»oyes,five Anglican ciergymfn, &e., favor l/iai, introducing the purport of the hope, • Ver. 23.— [5o, or "lis should be supplied ; the meaning is : Aol only is this so. The E. V. is therefore inexact. Ths latest revision- adopt so. ' Ver. 23.— [There is considerable variation in the test here, not affecting the sense, however. B. reads (coi ovTo'i TTji' anapxv" Toi; TrvevftaTos ix'"''''^^ *"' avToi; adopted by Tischendorf, Meyer, Lange, Tregelles. The Bee. inserts rinfli o/lir the second KaC; N. A. C, Lachmann, Alford be.fnrc it, so Tregelles, in brackets; while D. F. G., Fritzscbe insert the same after the .^cs^ Kai. The original reading was probably that of B. ; li/Ltei? being in- jserted as an explanatory glofS, hence the variation in position (Meyer). As (cat avToi is repeated, it is better to ren- ter fven we ours'-lvi-.-: in both cases. * Ver. 23.— [D. F. G. omit vioOea-iav. which is stronely attested, however. The omission may have arisen from the thought that the word meant sometliing already possessed, and hence was inappropriate here. • Ve"r. 24.— [The dative, t^ ekiriSi,, is not instrumental. Kow is the better rendering of the logical 8e, which follows. 'f Ver. 24.— [N. A. C, K, L., read rt xai (7?ec., Meyer, Wordsworth, Lange); B. D, F, omit Kai (Lachmann, Mfor'', Tregelles), The latter reading gives the sense : Why doth he hope (at all) f the former, which is preferable ; W'ly doth he still hope. for ? Kai = etiani. " Ver, 26.— [Instead of rais daSei'eiais (.liec, K. L.), which was probably a marginal gloss, N. A, P. C. D., jiost cui-sives, veisioii.-j, and lathers, read t;/ aadtveia; adopted by most editors. 208 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. " Ver. 26.— [X. A. B. C, Lachmann, Alford, "Wordswcrth, Trepelles, read irpo.— [In vers. 3:i-3S, l.ange adopts the punctuation followci in the K. v., eNce|)t in this trifling iiavlicul;ir. Vary miuy, iiowever, pace an intcrroyration point after each clause. (See Alford, wlio incorrectly es, which involves the punctua- tion, is discussed in the Exeg. A'dns. " Ver. 3-1.— [After X pier to?, N. A. C. F. L. m=ert 'I»)o-ous (adopted by Lange). It ii omitted in B. D. K., by TwehenJjrf, Meyer, Alford, Tregelles, and most editors. Hence the renderiig of Lange (br;ic;ietted in the text) u doubly doubtful : first, on account of the dubious reading ; second, a< a somewhat forced exegesis. See Ex-g. A'<'<'.>-. '" Ver. M. — [MdAAo>< &e Kai (ii'C.) is supported by D. F. K. L. ; Kai is omitted in SC. A. B. C. (by Lachmann, Trege'les, luacketted by Alford), but, !is Meyer su^sests, was easily overlooked between 6E and Ey. '■* Ver. ,57. — [Instead of the well-supported toO ayaiD/aai'Tos, I). E. F. O., and many Latin £ithers, read : t6» dyairijffo^Ta ; objectionable on both critical and exegetieal grounds. '" \'er. 38.— [The order in N. A. B. C. IJ. F. is outs evtariaTa, oiire /i^AAovTa. outc Sv i/dfiKt; ; adopted by Liriesbich, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Mever, Alford, Tregidles, and ciitic-al editors generally. The Ji-opla puts OUT* &vvantii first (K. L., some versions). This may readily be accounted for; Svvaixn is associated with ayyt\oi or apxri in Kph. i. '.'1 ; I Cor. xv. H : 1 Peter iii. 22, hence the sc "miiig necessity for a closer connection here. In Col. ii. 15, ivvdiieii is omitted, but in all the passages cited, e(ovalience. Hut tiie Spirit proves himself in tht'ir hearts by un- utterable groanings, as a vital pressure, which har- monizes in this life with the sense of the future ex- ercise of (jod's authority, and points to the futui-e objective certainty of glory a.s founded in the will Df Cfod; vers. IS (17)-27. H. Tki: f linrr. and nhjtc/ire cTfalnfi/ of fihrif. The love for (Jod by believers is the experience of Qod's lr)ve for them. Hut therein lies the secur- ity of an omnipotent power for its completion — a power which nothing can oi)pose, but to which every thing must serve. The certainty of the decisive y./.7j(ni; is the centre and climax of tlie lite, from which the groundwork, as well as the future of life, is glorified. It points backward to God's jjurpose, and forward to its consummation. The periods be- tween the pre-temporal, eternal jiurpose of (Jod, and its future, eternal consummation, are the periods of the order of salvation (ver. 29). That this way of salvation leads through stiH'ering to glory, accord- ing to the image of Christ's life, is secured by the omnipotent decision with which " God is for " (ver. 31) His children — a decision which is secured by the gift of Christ for them, by their justilictition, their reconciliation, redemption, and exaltation in Christ ; in a word, iiy the love of Christ. This love leads them in triumph through all the tempfcitions of the world, because it is the exjjression of Christ's own coiupiest of the world (vers. 28-37). C. The nnitii of the subjective and objective cer- taint)/ of future glory in the glorious life of lorn already attained. Life in the love of Christ is exalted above all the powers of the world (vers. 38, 3lt). — Kindred sec- tions: John xvii. ; 1 Cor. xv., and others. Tholuck : "This inheritance will far outweigh all suffering, and must be awaited with steadfast iiope (vers. 18-27). But as far as we are concerned, we can suffer no more bijury ; the consciousness of (rod's love in Chri.st rests upon so impregnable a foundation, that nothing in the whole universe can sei)arate 'him' from it" (vets. 28-3'.)). — .Meyer find.s, in vers. 18-31, " grounds of encouragement for tlio (Tf/iTTcifT/nv, ira X. irrrdoi. To wit : 1. The future glory will far outweigh the present suffering (vers. 18-25). 2. The Holy Spirit sniiports us (vers. 2<>, 27). 3. Every thing must work together for good to them that love (Jod " (vers. 28-31). Undoubted- ly these things are grounds of encouragement; yet the Apostle evidently designs to encourage by a copious and conclusive didactic exposition of tiio certainty of the Christian's hope of future, glory, in face of the great ap|)arent cmitiitdictions of this hope — an ex])osition which, in itself, has great value. [Alford (vers. lS-30) : "The Apostle treats of the coin]»lete and glorious trium|)h of (lod's elect, throiigh sull'erings and l>y hope, and the blessed renovation of all things in and by their glorifica- tion," (Vers. 31-3'.t): "The Christiim has no re» CHAPTER VIII. 18-39. 2C9 •on to fear, but all reason to hope ; for nothing can separate liini from God's love in Christ." — Hodge, making the theme of the chapter " the security of the believer," finds, in vers. 18-28, a proof of this " from the I'act tliat they are sustained by hope, and aided by the Spirit, under all tlieir trials ; so that every thing eventually works together for their good." In vers. 29, 3U, another proof " founded on the decree or purpose of God." In vers. 31-39, yet another, foumled " on His infinite and unchanging love."— R.] First Pahagkaph, vers. 18-27. Ver. 18. For I reckon, &c. [Aoyt to/tat yaQ, z.T.A. I'ccQ connects this verse with ver. 17, introducing a reason why the present sufferings should not discourage (De Wette, Philippi). Cal- vin : Nique vcro mok-stum jiohis debet, si ad coeleslem gloriam per varian offitctioiief; proceden tan est, quan- doqnidein, kc. Stuart prefers to join it to "glorified witli Him ; " " we shall be glorified with Christ, for all tlie sufferings and sorrows of the present state are only temporary." The connection seems to be with the whole thought which precedes. The verb is thus expanded by Alford : " I myself am one who have embraced this course, being convinced tliat." It is used as in chap. ni. 28 ; see p. 136. — R,] Now by his view of the magnitude of future glory, as well as by his conviction of its certainty, he esti- mates the proportionate insignificance of the suffer- ings (certainly great when considered in themselves alone) of the present time, since tliey, as birth-throes, are the preliminary conditions of future glory. Insignificant, o (' /. a 1 1 a , not of weight ; a stronger expression for ctraSm. They are not synonymous.* The vvv y.aoQoi; is the final, decisive time of development, with which the aiwv ovtoi; will terminate. In comparison with the glory ■which shall be revealed [tt^jcx; rtjv fiij.'/.ovaav dotav ano xa?.i'(fi &tjvau. On 7i()6c; after ovx aiia, in the sense of iti relation to, in comparison with, see Tholuck, Philippi in loco. — R.] Tijv /i eXXov- aav is antecedent, with emphasis. [To this Alford objects]. That glory is ever approaching, and there- fore ever near at hand, though Paul does not regard its presence near in the sense of Meyer, and others. — In us [see Textual Note ^]. The lii; Tjndt; does not mean, as the Vulgate and Beza have it, in nobis [so E. V.]; it is connected with the ano- y.a).v(f Q-Tivat,. If it is imparted through the in- ward life of believers and through nature, it never- theless comes from the future and from above, as much as from within outwardly, and it is a Divine secret from eternity in time — therefore u7Toy.c<.).vri'i.Q. Ver. 19. For the patient expectation [?/ yuQ anoxccQa d'oxia. On ana/. a^ at) ox. la, comp. Phil. i. 20. The verb xciQaffoxiTv means, lit- erally, to expect with uplifted head ; then, to expect. The noun, strengthened by ano, refers to an expec- tation, which is constant and persistent until the time arrives. The idea of anxiety (Luther) is not promi- nent. (So Tholuck, Pliihppi, De Wette, Meyer.) * On the controversy between the Protestant and Catholic theologians in regard to the mcrilum condigni, as connected with this passage, see Tholuck, p. 421. [Comp. Philippi on both merilum cotidigni and merilum cnngrui. Also Calvin. A? Dr. Hodge remarks, the idea of merit "is altogether for- pg:n to the context."— B,.] See below also. Tholuck remarks, that the strength ening of the attributive notion into a substantive makes a double prosopopoeia, " not only the ci'ea' tiire, but the (Xiicctation of the creature waits." — R.] The ydt^ introduces the first proof of his state- ment from the course of the whole xTtctq. It may be asked. Shall the future glory be shown in its grandeur (Chrysostom [Hodge, Alford], and most expositors), its certuiutij (I'ritzsche, Meyer), its near- uess (Reiche), or its futurity (Philippi) ? Tholuck, in its grand(ur and certniniy* If both must com bine in one idea, then it is the truth or the reality of the glory, as such. The elements of its grandeur, as of its certainty, are united in the fact that the de- veloping pain of the external xriaic, as of the in ward life of believers — indeed, the groaning of the Divine spiritual life itself — labors for it and points toward it ; that it will consist in the removal of all vanity and corruption in the whole natural sphere of mankind. Of the creation, t^? xri(rfo)i;. The great question is. What is the xt iff 1,1;? Lexically, the word may mean the act of creation, as well as what is created, the creation ; f but actually, tlie question here can only be the creation in the broader or more limited sense. Tlioluck : " xrian; in the passive sense can mean the same as xrifffia, the single crea- ture ; ver. 39 ; Heb. iv. 13. 'H xTiffn;, Book of Wisdom ii. 6 ; xvi. 24 ; Heb. ix. 11 ; or even iJX.rj Tj xtiavc, Book of Wisdom xix. 6 ; naffa ?) xriffit;, Judith xvi. 17, the created world. But in that case, as also with o/oc; 6 xoa^ioi; (John xii. 19), it is me- tonymically confined to the human world (Col. i. 23 ; Mark xvi. 15 ; and also with the Rabbis, nN'>~i2 hb , &c.), or to irrational nature, exempting man." The explanations are divided into different groups: 1. The natural and spiritual world. The uni- verse. Origen : Man as subject to corruption ; souls of the stars. Theodoret : also the angels. Theo- dore of Mopsvestia, Olshausen : The whole of the universe. Kollner, Koppe, Rosenmiiller {tola re- rum uii iversitas). 2. Inanimate creation. (Chrysostom, Theophy- lact, Calvin, Beza, Fritzsche : nmndi inachina.) 3. Animate creation, a. Humanity (Augustine, Turretine,:]: &c. ; Baumgarten-Crusius : still unbeliev- ing men) ; b. unconverted heathen (Locke, Light- foot, and others). Rabbinical usage of language : the heathen : HN^'ia ; c, the Jewish people, be- cause the Jews were called God's creation (Cramer, and others) ; d. the Gentile Christians, because the proselytes were called new creatures (Clericus, Nos- selt) ; e. Jewish Christians (Gockel ; for the same reason as under c.) ; f. Christians in general (xaovrj /tTtffK,-, Socinians and Arminians). — Evidently there * [The primary reference seems to be to its greatness f but a secondary reference to its certainty and futurity would necessarily be implied in "the patient expectation." -R.] t [The English word creation has precisely the earn* twofold sense ; but it always has a general reference when used in the passive sense. KtiVis luidoubtc-dly has a more special reference in many cases, but it would seem that the more general signification preceded the more special one, and hence that the limitation of meaning m'-st always ba derived from the context. — R.] X [This is tlie view adopted and defended at some leugth by Professor Stuart in an Excuxsus on this verse. Not- withstanding his able argument, the interpretation is en- tirely too restricted to meet with general acceptance. An instinct of immortality is assumed, and presided as the maig thought. Comp. Hodge, in opposition to Stuart's view 270 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. is no reference, on one hand, to the mathematical or astronomiciil cliaractcr of the heavenly bodies, nor, on the other, to the real rational or spiritual world, but to a creature-life, which can groan and earnestly expect. 4. Inanimate and animate nature, in contradis- tinction from humanity* (Irenjeus, Grotius, Calovius, Neamlcr. Meyer, De' Wette) [Hodge, Alford]. — [Sciiubert: "Even in the things of the bodily world about us there is a iife-element which, like that Ptiitue of Memnon, unconsciously sounds in accord when touched by the ray from on high." — V. S.] But the distinction from mankind must be confined to the distinction from the spiritual life of renewed mankind ; for sinful mankind is utterly dependent upon nature, and even believers have tlieir natural Bide (2 Cor. v. 1 ff.). Nor can the universe, in its merely natural side, be altogether meant, since the Holy Scriptures distinguish a region of glory from the region of humanity in this lite. 5. Tlioluck : " T/ie material world mirronnding man." The Scriptures very plainly distinguish be- tween an earthly natural world related to mankind, and a region of glory. (See the ascension ; 1 Cor. XV. ; Heb. ix, 11, &c.) The former alone is subject to vanity, and hence it alone can be intended. But there is no ground for making divisions in reference to this human natural world. The Apostle asstmies, rather, that this creature-sphere is in a state of col- lective, painful striving for development, which ex- presses itself as sensation only proportiouiitely to the sensational power of life, and hence is more defi- nitely expressed, appears more frequently, and reach- es its climax in living creatures and in the natural longing which mankind feels (2 Cor. v. 1). The real personification of nature in man is the final ground for the poetical personification of nature. [t). The whole creation, rational as well ax irra- tional, not yet redeemed, bid needing and capable of redemption, here opposed to the new creation in Christ and in the regenerate. The children of God appear, on the one side, as the first-fruits of the new creaiion, and the remaining creatures, on the other, as consciously or unconsciously longing after the same redcmi)tion and renewal. This explanation seems to be the most correct one. It most satis- factorily accounts for the expressions : expectation, Kaiting, groaning, not wil'ingli/ (ver. 20), and the whole creation (ver. 22). The whole creation, then, looks forward to redemption ; all natural birth, to the new birth. As all that is created proceeded from (lod, so it all, consciously or uneonseiously, strives after Him as its final end. What shows itself in nature as a dim imj)u!se, in the natural man, among tlie heathen, and yet more among the Jews, under the influence of the law, conies to distinct consciousness and manifests itself in that loud cry after deliverance (chap. vii. 24), which Christ alone can satisfy; and then voices itself in ha[)py gratitiule for the actual redemyition. Olshausen aptly says : " Paul contrasts Christ, and the mw creation called forth by Him, to all the old creation, together with the tmrcgenerate men, as the flower of this creation. • (The ronsons for exchulinp: man are : I. Dcllcvern are distin^'uitilied hero from the «[Tioctr. Note-, and Dr. Lange, Dan I^nd drr Hrrrliehkcit. — R.] For thf rnrnrxt i-rpertntion of the creature. As the xr<(;(ye/f rai. Here, also, the preposition implies the condnuance of the waiting until tlje time arrives. — R.] Even the poor crea- tures, whose heads are bowed toward the ground, now seized by a iiigher impulse, by a supernatural anticipation and longing, seem to stretch out their heads and look forth spiritually for a spiritual object of their existence, which is now burdened by the law of corruption.* Certainly this representation has the form of a poetical personification ; but it cannot, on tliis account, be made equivalent, as Meyer holds (p. 255), to the usual prosopopoeias in the Old Testament, although tliese declare, in a measure, the sympathy between the natural and human world. Meyer would exclude from the idea not only the an- gelic and demoniac kingdom, but also Christian and unchristian mankind. But how, then, would Paul have unilerstood the groaning of the creature, with- out human sympathy ? The revelation of the sons (children) of God [ T r r a 71 o y. d /. V X}' L J' r !iiv v'liov x ov ^f or]. The children of God in tiie pregnant sense of His sons. The creature waits for its manifesta- tion ; that is, for the coming of its ()oSa to full ap- pearance (1 John iii. 2) with tiie coming of Christ (Matt. XXV, 31), wiiich will be the appearing of the Sola of the great God (Titus ii. i:-!); therefore the absolute aTroza/i'Vn; itself,f the fuilihnent of all tiie typical prophecies of nature — and nut onh/ as com- plete rexforation, bid aho as perffct developmcni. Ver. 20. For the creation was made sub- ject [fi jtTtffti; vnfTO.Y'ri. Dr. Lange takes the verb as middle. It is the historical aorist, at the fall of man. See below. Comp. Gen. iii. 17, H 18. — R.]. God was the one who subjected (so say most expositors) — [This is evident from the curse, if the reference be to the time of the fall. — R.] ; — not Adam (Knachtb., Capellus); nor man (Chi-ysos- tom, Schneckenburger) ; nor the devil (Hammond). To vanity. 3/«T«K)Ti/c. The Septuagint, instead of brp. Nl'i*, p''"!. The word does not occur in the profane Greek ; it means the super- ficial, intangible, and therefore deceptive appear- ance ; the perishable and doomed to destruction liav- ing the show of reality. Earlier expositors (Tertul- lian, Bucer, and others) have referred tlie word to the /(ccTaict = idols, understanding it as the deifica- tion of the creature. Yet the question here is a condition of the creature to which God has subject- ed it. Further on it is designated as <)ov).f ia riji; qiBopai;. Therefore Fritzsche's definition, perversi- tas (Adam's sin), is totally untenable. But what do we understand by "subject to fiarcci^oz rjt; " ? E.x- planations : 1 An original disposition of creation ; the ar- rangement of the corruption of the creature. (Gro- tius, Krehl, De Wette. Theodoret holds that the original arrangement was made with a view to the fall.) • [Comp. the analogous Old Testament expressions : Deut. xxxii. 1 ; Job xii.^7, 9; Ps. xix. 2 ; Ixviii. 17 ; xcviii. B; Isa. i. 2 ; xiv. 8; Iv. 12; Ixv. 17 ; Ezek. xxxi. 15 ; Hab. ii. 11. Also Rev. xxi ; 2 Peter iii. 13 ; Acts iii. 21.— R.] f [The reference to this event is undoubted. It is a new expre.=Pion of the deep-seated consciousness of fellow- ship with Cliri.*t, which lends the Apostle to call thi.» "the revelation of the sons of God," not of the Son of Gnrl. It should he remarked, that our Lord calls it the cominf; of the Snn of Mint. The eveut is throughout regarded in a strictly soteriological aspect. — R.] 2. A result of the fall of man. (The Hebrew theology, Bcrechith Rabba, many Christian theolo- gians . (Ecumenius, Calvin, Meyer, and others). No, 1 is opposed by the vntrdy^j, &c. [by or/ i/.oriTn, d).?.(i, which presupposes a different previous con- dition, and by the historical fact (Gen. i. 31) ; Meyer. — R.] ; and No. 2 by the originality of the arrange- ment between a first created and a second spiritual stage of the cosmos (1 Cor. xv. 47, 48). 3." We must therefore hold, that Paul refers to the obscurity and disturbance of the first natural stage in the development of our cosm6s produced bj the fall.* As, in redemption, the restoration oc- curred simultaneously with the furtherance of the normal development, so death entered, at the fall, na a deterioration of the original metamorphoses, into the corruption of transitoriness. Tholuck approach- es this explanation by this remark : " As the Rab- binical theology expresses the thought that man, born sinless, would have passed into a better condi- tion ' by a kiss of the Highest,' so, in all probability^ has Paul regarded tliat (x)./.ay7jrca of which he speaks in 1 Cor. xv. 52 as the destination of the first man." Yet Tholuck seems, in reality, to ad- here to De Wette's view. Not willingly. The ov^ exovaa cannot mean merely the natural necessity peculiar to the creature-world ; it applies rather to an opposition of ideal nature, in its ideal pressure toward develofj. ment, to the decrees of death and of the cur.se of their real developing progress (Gen. iii. ; 2 Cor. v. 1 ff.). Bucer: Contra qnam fert inffitiimn eorn?n, a natttra etihn omnes res a corruptiove abhorrent. [But by reason of him who hath subjected it, «/./.« dta t6i' I'TTordiavTcc. Dr. Lange renders: the creature-world subjected itself to van. ity, not willingly, but on account of Him who sub- jected it, in hope. The force of <)i.d with the accu- sative is on account of ; but the E. V. is correct, in- dicating a moving cause — i. e., the will of God. — R.] This unwillingness is expressed, according to what follows, in the groaning of the whole creation. The translation : " it was nmde subject [vntrdytj, pas- sive), by reason of Him who hath subjected the same," is opposed to the logical conception. [The simplest grammatical as well as logical inteipretation accepts tlie verb as passive, with a reference to God as " Him who sulyected the same." (So Meyer, Tholuck, Hodge, De Wette, Alford, and n)ost com- mentators.) — R.] Moreover, the reference of the ()ta Toi' vTTorcilnvra to man, to Adam,f does not remove this logical difficulty, since, in that case, the vntTuyri would have to relate to another subject than the vnordiarra. We therefore find ourselves- driven, with Fritzsche, to the middle construction * [The difference between 2 and 3 is slight. Both point to an actual curtse at the fall ; the latter only ndds the thought, th:it the previous condition was not, p ft or all, the final one, thus preparing: the way for an ixplanntiun ot "notwiUinclv." Uothshould, it seems, include tlie thought that the clorification to ensue will transcend both the origi- nal state and that which could be attained by a normal de- velopment. — R.l t [The objection to this reference is well slated by Al- ford : (i.) The verl> implies a conscious act of inlonticnal subjugation. (2.) The accusative (indicating the moving, rather than the efiHeient cause) is iu kecpinc with the Apos- tle's reverence ; thus removing the supreme will of God to a wider distance from con-uption and vanity. Mtyer sug- gests that the absence of any explanatory cause presupposes a well-kiiov\Ti suhjeet; God had subjected it. Jowett make* Cliiist the subject : " on account ot whoso special work tli« creature was made subject to vanity." This is novel, 80 much 60, that it seeirw far-fetched. — K.] 272 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. of vTttTciy^]. Thereby we guin the idea, that even the disharinony wiiith nature had suHered has be- coni'.', in turn, a kind of order, since nature has been found in tlie service of corruption l»y virtue of its ela.-*ticity, relative dependence, plasticity, and |»lia- bility, and its absolute dependence upon God ; and pious nature is all the dearer to God because it is subjected in hope. [So Hodge, aecq)tiiig the mid- dle «ense : tlie creature submitted to the yoke of bondage iu hope of ultimate deliverance. — R.] [In hope, t n' t/.TTtdi,. Not precisely in a ttatc ot\ wliich would bi; expressed by tr, Init resting on ho/)c {Di; Wette : auf Huff niuiff kin). — K.J This means not merely, " hope was left to it " (ThoUick), but it is also a motive of positive hope in suffering nature. Just as the fallen human world shall be led iu its anoy.aTfxiTTafTii; beyond its primitive paradisa- ical glory, so shall nature come thf'ougli this humilia- tion to a riciicr elevation, namely, as the trans- formed organism of the glorified Christ and Uis joint-heirs. The In i).nii)i. must ))e joined with {inftuytj, not with Ata t. I'/tot. (Vulgate, Lutlier, and others). [The question of connection is a diffi- cult one. Of the two views here mentioned. Dr. Lange rightly prefers the former, since the latter would attriljute the hope to the one suljjeeting, not the one subjected (Alford). p]wald, making all that precedes in this verse parenthetical, joins in fiopc with ver. 19, and thus finds a reason for the em- phatic repetition of jtr/rxK,- in ver. "21. See 2Vxtual Note ', where the view of Forbes is given. It seems to give greater clearness to the passage as a whole. _R.l Ver. 21. That the creation itself also [ort r.(i.l ccuri] // xTicru;. See IVxt mil Note ''. The current of exegesis sets strongly in favor of the view which connects ort with in e).nii)v, in the sense of tlial. Alford, who, in his connnentary, de- fends because, is one of the authors of a revision which adopts that. Sleyer suggests that the purport of the hope must Ije given, in order to prove the expectation of the y.Tian; a/< dlrcci'd prccisili/ toward the majii/cstiition of the nons of God. Alford in- deed objects, that this sulijeetive significati(jn of the clause would attribute " to the yearnings of crea- tion, hiteliiffence and ratifmaUty — consciousness of itself and of God;" but the same objection might be urged against the refi-rence of xTi'fftc to inani- mate creation, in vers. 19, 20, 22, as well as here. If the figurative idea of longing be admitted at all, it may be carried out to this extent with equal pro- priety. The repetition may be readily accounted for, either by considering ver. 20 parenthetical, or by regarding avr'ii i; jtr/Vt? as emphatic. — li.] This explains the hoi)e of tlie creature-world introduced in the preceding verse. With Chrysostom, Theo- phylact, and others, we regard the xai rirrii as a higher degree, itsel/ a/so, and not merely as an ex- pression of equality, a'so if. Meyer says, that tlie context says nothing of gradation. iJut the grada- tion lies es.Hcntially in the fact that the creature- world constitutes a humiliation in opi)Osition to spiritual life, especially for contemplating the old ^forlil. Shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption [i ).f r O^t q (o & /'; a f r ni nnh t^s rf o e A m' « i; T ^ I,- If fyno (i (,• 1. We do not hold (with Ttioluck, Sfeycr, and others) that t^i; q fyoQcii; is the genitive of apposition. J'or the question ia, in the first jilaee, concerning a bondage vitder vanity ; •0 that the creature, even in its delivej-ance, will remain in a state of the Sovhia in relation to tht children of G'kI himseif. The ipOooa is not alto- gether the Same as /laraior /;;,•, but its manifestation iu the process of finite life in sickness, death, the pangs of death, and corru])tion ; while the fiuraiO' T//i,-, as such, is veiled in the semblance of a bloom- ing, incorruptible life. [There seems to be no good reason for objecting to the view of Tholuck, Meyer, Philippi, aijd others, that the bondage, which resulti fi'om the vanity, and is borne not wdlinr/!y (ver. 20), co)isi.sls in corrupthin. This preserves the propt.r distinctions. The corruption is the conse(|uenec of the vanity; the unwilling subjection to a condition which is -under vanity, and results in corriip/ii>>i, is well termed bondaye. — R.] The alteration of tho expression lav r rj <; i)(')ifjq T(T)v Ti/.viov ToT OfoTi. The construction is pregnant. (So Meyer : Aecht Gricchische Prag- nam. See Winer, p. 57*7.) We may supply : xai y.a.ru(Tra(y t'lntTcu, or fii;a/ Oi'j (jfTai, shall be brought or introduced into, &c. The freedom is to consist in, or at least to result from a share in, the glory of the children of God. Hence the hcndiadys of the E. V. (glorious liberty) is totally incorrect. It makes the most prominent idea of the whole clause a mere attributive. Besides, were the meaning that expressed by the E. V., we should find this form : tit; rijv lio^civ r>j<; i).nifyf^>lai; ri7)v rix. r. >}tor. — R.] The ffi; rijv t/.nfOf(iinv can mean only the sharing in tlie liberty of God's children by the or- ganic approi)riation on tlu'ir part, and by the ecpial- ity with the children of God produced by means of the transformation ; but it cannot mean an indepen- ♦ dent state of liberty beside them. Their freedom will consist in its helping to constitute the glory, the spiritualized splendor of the manifestation of (5od's children. As Christ is the nianil'estiition of God's glory because He is illuminated throughout by God, and the sons of God are the glory of Christ as lighta from His light, so will nature be the glory of (rod's sons as humanized and deified nature. Yet we would not therefore take the t^v (Vdi//^- as the geni. tive of apposition, since the glory proceeds outward- ly from within, and since it is here promised to na- ture as recompense, so to speak, in opposition to the C(n'rui)tion. It shall therefore share, in its way, in the glory belonging to God's children. Hut why ia not the aiiOci(iiir|iort (if fhi.' hope, sccni.s to favor tin? rcfcronoe Oi KTiaif til hiimMiijty, riTiit the lomrlntr to ilio iiisiiiicto of in>- niorlulity (so Stuart throughout), loacB Ita foroo if lliU8 ua> CHAPTER Vin. 18-39. 273 Ver. 22. For we know that the whole creation [oitSafnv ya^ otl naaci ?j xrt- fftc,-]. The Apostle furnishes, in ver. 22, fo7- we know, the proof of the declaration in ver. 21. Since he has proved the proposition of ver. 19 by ver. 20, and of ver. 20 by ver. 21, Meyer, without ground, goee back with this for to ver. 20 : iri' tXnidi, ; De Wette [Philippi], to ver. 19. [If ver. 21 be taken as stating the purport of the hope, then Meyer's view is the most tenable one. Philippi finds here a more general affirmation of the existence of the " patient expectation," as an admitted truth. — R.] Tholuck asks, Wlience does the Apostle have tliis we know ? and he opposes the view that it is an assumption of the universal human consciousness (according to most expositors), or rather, that tlie Apostle seems (according to Bucer, Brenz) to speak from the Jewisli-Christian hope which rested on the prophet.s, as, even in chap. ii. 2 ; iii. 19 ; vii. 14 ; viii. 28, the ot()'«/(f r is understood best as the Chris- tian consciousness.* We must not subject the Apo.s- tle to the modern sense of nature. But we can still less reduce the Apostle's knowledge to that of the prophets. The modem sense of nature, in its sound elements, is a fruit of apostolical Christianity ; and as the harmony betweeii spirit and nature has been essentially consummated in Christ, so, too, has the knowledge of the language (that is, the spiritual meaning) of nature been consummated in Him — a knowledge which was reproduced in the apostles as a fountain, and ready for enlargement. This knowl- edge is, indeed, universally human chiefly in elect souls alone, under the condition of Divine illumina- tion. Groaneth together and travaileth in pain together \_a vv a r f v dtn' xal a vvoi d iv f i.^. The anv in avvrrrfvai^ii, and ffvv(/>divfi> has be«n referred, by (Ecumenius, Calvin, and others, to the children of God ; KoUner, and others, have viewed it as a mere strengthening of the simple word. Tholuck and Meyer explain it, in harmony with Theodore of Mopsvestia, as a collective dispo- sition of the creature. Tlie latter : poTO.nai, i)e I'lTtiTv, or I, aiHKpMvoc entdfi/.virccu roTno 7iafaiav aTtfy.<)f/6fifvoi.. Wait for, await, wait to the end of (Alford). The adoption is already ours (vcr 15) as an internal relation, but the outward condition does not yet corresfjond (Meyer). Alford para- phra.scs : aw itinr/ the fulness of our adoption. — R.l. The object of the longing is the vlo OktIcc, which believers wait for in perfect patience. This is here identified with the redemption of our body. It is the perfect outward manifestation of the inwiird vioOKJia; it is the soul's inheritance of the glori- fied life which is attained on the perfect deliverance of the body from the bondage of the first state of nature, and from sulyeclion to death and corrup- tion ; see 2 Cor. v. 4. The Apostle's addition of " the redemption of our body," proves that he does not mean merely the entire t'loOKjIa, but this riV Of a In viewed specifically as complete. [The redemption of our body, r/;v ano- }.vT(iii)(jiv rov (T(i'>iiaT(ii; Ijfit'iy. Epexegeti- cal clause.] '/'or fT(.i/(«ro<,- is explained by Eras- mus, Luther, and others (also Lutz, Jiibl. Dof/m.), as redemption from the body ; but this is totally for- eign to the connection, and also to the matter itself. [Were this the meaning, there would ]irobably be some quiilifying term added, as Piiil. iii. 21 (Meyer). — It.] Tlioluck explains the redemption of the body as applying to its materiality ; this is also the object tieular ape, all seems to he pained that r>r. Lnnpe seeks in view ;t, wliile we do not unnecessarily depart from the 11111.1 liKjii^tnli, The reference to the first Cliristinns is perhnps sliL'htly favored by adoptinp riixtU at some point in Die te.xt, althouph ^foyer rejei-tB It, and yet upholds this reference. In his comments on ver. 'J6, Pr. JLinpe sjivs that here tho new spiritual life i.s spoken of, not the Holy ."Spirit itself. Thi.s suhjectivo eenso can only im admitted if the pnrtiuve sense of the penilivo ho piven up. The term " liody " cannot, in any ca^e, be reparded as antitlietieal ; did "llosh" occur, there mipht be some reiuson for taking "Sjiirit" in this sense of "spiritual life," a meaning for which our author liiia an unustial fondness.— R.] CHAPTER Vm. 18-39. 275 of the earnest expectation of the xriatq. Perhaps this is from Origen and Rothe ; see, on tiie contrary, 1 Cor. XV. ThoUicii's quotation from Augustine is better (De doctr. christ.) : Qnod nonvuUi dicunt, malle se omnino esse sine corf ore, ornnino faUimttir, non enim corpses swim "ed co7'ruptiones et pondus ode runt ; Pliil. iii. 21 ; 1 Cor. xv. The most unten- able view is : deliverance from the morally injurious influence of the body by death (Carpzov, and otli- ers). [It is so natural to refer this phrase to the glorification of the body at the coming of Christ, that it is unnecessary to state arguments in favor of this reference (comp. Piiil. iii. 21 ; 2 Cor. v. 2 fl". ; 1 Cor. XV. 42 if.). The redemption is not complete until the body is redeemed. Any other view is not accordant with the grand current of thought in tliis chapter. The fact that even here, where the long- ing of Christians is described, so much stress should be laid on the redemption of the body, the material part of our complex nature, confirms the view of xTtau;, wliich takes it as including material exist- ences. In fact, since " even we ourselves " are rep- resented as waiting for an event, which shall redeem that part of our nature most akin to the creation (in the restricted sense of Meyer, and others), it would appear that the subject here is not necessarily in an- tithesis to " creation," but rather a part of it ; " sub- jected in hope," liiie the whole creation, but also as having the first-fruits of the Spirit, "saved in hope" (ver. 24).— R.] Yer. 24. For we ■were saved. { err «')& ri- ft f v.) Delivered, and participating in salvation. The dative rfj sXTttdi., in hope, does not describe the mean."*, but the mode of the deliverance. [So Bengel, and many others. Comp. Winer, p. 203. The phrase is emphatically placed. Lather is ex- cellent : we are indeed saved, yet in hope. — R.] Even if we were to admit that the Apostle under- stood fiiith to be the hope here mentioned (Chrysos- tom, De Wette, and others) — which, as Meyer cor- rectly observes, is controverted by Paul's definite distinction between faith and hope,* — the admission of the dative of instrument would be too strong. But even if we accept the dative as denoting modal- ity, it does not denote " that to which the tfftiiO. is to be regarded as confined " (Meyer), but the con- dition : in hope of. Therefore the ((jn'tOfiufv must be here explained conformably to the conception of the I'loOfaia in ver. 23, not as being tlie principial attainra.">nt of salvation in the Spirit — which is already complete there — but as being the perfect attainment of salv{;t;on in glory. This has become the portion of Christians, but in such a way that their faith is supplemei'.ted by their hope. They have the inward I'loOtala in the ivitness of the Spirit; but the vlo- &«jla of i'o'ia in the pledge of the Spirit. Now hope that is seen is not hope [i).ni(; Si ftkfTTGifiivT] oir/ia, as he has done in vci-s. 23, lf>, &c., where the Holy Spirit is meant. The only reason in-ged against such a mean- ing here is, that the " groaning," &c., cannot be predicated of Him. But wo have no right to de- part from the obvious meaning, because, in the next clause, that is predicated which, we fancy, cannot be predicated of the Holy Spirit. The predicate in this clause cannot, with strict propriety, i)e referred to any spirit save the Holy Spirit. That Dr. Lange's view weakens the tlmuglit, i.- also evident. — R.] Helpeth our wreakne8,s [^a rvavri,/.a/( ^d- vtTcii, T fj ua trt ia i^ /< w v . See Textual Note *'. On tKe verb, comp. Luke x. 40, where Martha asks that Mary be bidden to help her — i. e., take bold of in connection vith. It requires a weakening of its force to make this applicable to the new spiritual life. The subjective side has been brought out in vers. 23-25. Hence a reference to the Holy Spirit accords with the progress of thought. — R.] Meyer urges, with Beza, the trrv in (TivarTi}.. : ad ties laho- ratites re/ertur. At all events, it would refer to only the conscious side of our etfort. But it is clear, from the further dcrinition, that a.aOivfi,a, is the only correct rcailing. Thoiuck understands this aahivfia as referring to occasions of invading faint- ness. But the Apostle speaks of a permanent rela- tion of our weakness in this life, which certaiidy be- comes more prominent in special temptations. This is the incongruity between the new principle and the old psychical and carnal life. [The singular must be accepted as the true read- ing. It then refers to a state of weakness, already described (ver. 23). The ilative, as in Luke x. 4

t MSS. have eppe 6 tj. " Ver. 13.— [From the LXX., Mai. i 2, 3 ; the only variation is, the inversion of the fii-st clause. It reads in the I.JLX. : ijyaTnjo-a Toy 'IaKu/3. The Hebrew text is : : 3'pr"'-rx :ni<1 I loved Jacob, ■'nX3(B "iUr-PNI But Esau I hated. " Ver. 15.— [An exact quotation from the LXX'., Exod. xxxiii. 19. The Ilebrow of the original passage Is o. importance in the exegesis. It reads: CH-^S -nrx"rs Tn^mf ■,^^< ■':;!<."J^i< T-H"'. • Alford thinks av, inserted in LXX., refer« to pure mercy; Meyer, ;ind many others, join it n-ith ov. " whan soever, in whatever state;" thus describing i.ot merely the mercy, but the choiee of its individual objects, as thi- fri'O act of God ; for the enijdiasia In the relative clause rewt's on the repealed bv av, since av generally has its position after the cmpbalie word (ICfiliner, ii. §457). We are certainly justified in making the relative claui^es )>iesent instead of future; lor the future force 01 the Iloiirew verbs is doubtful, while the Greek V(Mbs (both in LXX. and the text) are present. See Ex(j. .\otit. '* Ver. 16.— [The He-., B-. K., road e\eouvTOi (from eAeeu) ; N. \. B'. T>. K. L. tAcwt'TOs (from iXtdm). The latter is adopted by Lathmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Tregolles ; the former by Meyer and Wordsworth. Mover urges that Paul would not use two fonns, one here, and the other in ver. IS (where the reading «A«ei is well established, only D'. F. G. having i\ta), .and concludes that u wa.s substituted for ou through a mistake of the transcriber, and thus readily preserved, since it corresponded with a form in actual use. ic Ver. 17.— (Very freely quoted, especially this clause, from LXX., Exod. ix. 16: ivtKtv tovtou SierTjp^^?, on Ihit account Ihou wert preserved. Ei? outo toDto is merely a strengthening of the LXX. ; but «fqy«ipd vt seems to be a purposed deviation. The form of the Hebrew r|'n"1^yn (Hiphil of TCS , In stand), I have caused Utee to stand, is better preserved by Paul's quotation. See Exig. iVo."««, for diiscuosion of the meaning of oil three passages. >' Ver. 17. — [Here Paul deviates from LXX., writing iwi'ani !< in>fead of iirxiic. '* Ver. 19. — [There is some confusion about ovv. B. 1). F. insert it in both clause-i ; Rrr., v. A. K. L. omit it tho second time. All have it In tho first clause, but tho position varies. Jicc, D. F. K. L. put it before »i04 ; N. A. U., Tregelles, after. The above rendering adopts it in both clauses. '• Ver. 22.— [The participle 9i\u>v is interpreted : siwf, beraut' he was willing (1. <., purpospereils) dfs WiVemt ; Meyer, and others. — After what, supply : wilt Ihou reply ^ or something to that etfect. See the Ei g. y-ites on both points. "> Ver. i;3.— [It wius necessary to supply this much in tho text, in order to vindicate the view taken of this difficult passjige. See Exg. JVo'it. »' Ver. .'.'5.— [This is a free quotation from Hosea ii. 2.5 (23, LXX. E. V.). Tho Hebrew text is followed more elosely than tho LXX. ; tho clauRos are transposed. Ace. It in not neces-ary to insert tho LXX. text here, us it ditfeis in abnost ovcrj' word, though contjiining tho Bame general thought : nnX—'aS ''Ei-xbb ■'n";^:!*; "^""^ i^^'^^* "'HSrin^ In rcndi'ring l.o-rulinmoh, Paul follows the LXX. »» Ver. 20.— (From the LXX., Hosea i. 10 (ii. 1, llobrew), closely coniiei-led with tho preceding, ns if from the same place, ai-cording to tho u.sage of the Uubbins, who thus joined citations even fnini ditl'erenl authors. The only varia- tion from the LXX. is the strengthening of laUon aris- ing from it (cliap. xi. 1-32), with praise ottered to God (ehap. ix. o3-3C). While De Wette regards the Beetiou ol" chaps, ix.-xi. as only a su|)pleiiient, Baur considers it the real centre and kernel of the Epis- tle. If this be so, the keruel would indeed have a very massive shell. [Forbes (following Olshausen) finds a parallel be- tween chap. i. 18-iii. 20, and these three chapters, " We have here an instmee of the Epaiiodos, the object of whieli is to bring the main subject into prominence by placing it first and last. In both sections the suljjeet is the relation of Israel, and of till' Gentiles, to the new wai/ of salvation. But in chnp. i. 18-iii. 20 it, is regarded more on the side of the Law — as condemning Israel equally with the Gentiles, and necessitating them equally to have re- course to the gospel. In chaps, ix.-xi. it is regard- ed more on the side of Grace (on the part of God, as possessing a right to prescribe ills own terms of ac:ceptance), and of Faith (on the part of man, as the one only condition for attaining salvation, and which is demanded equally of Israel as of the Gen- tiles). Another point of resemblance between the two sections consists in the striking parallelism be- tween tiie three objections of the Jew in chap. iii. 1-8, and those in chap. ix. 1-23." — Jow^ett : " The Apostle himself seems for a time in doubt between contending feelings, in w-liieh he first prays for the restoration of Israel, and then reasons tor their re- jection, and then finally shows tiiat, in a more ex- tended view of the purposes of God, their salvation is included. He hears the echo of many voices in the Old Testament, by which the Spicit spoke to the Fathers, and in all of them there is a kind of unity, though but liatf expressed, which is not less the unity of" his own inmost feelings toward his kinsmen acconling to the flesh. As himself an Israelite and a believer in Christ, he is full of sorrow first, after- wards of hope, both finally giving way to a clearer insight hito the purposes of God toward His people." As respects the relation of these chapters to the pre- ceding part of the Epistle, in an experimental view, Luther well says: "Who hath not known pjission, cross, and tiavail of death, cannot treat of fore- knowledge (election of grace), without injury and inward enmity toward God. Wherefore take heed that thou drink not wine, while thou art yet a suck- ing babe. Each several doctrine hath its own sea- son, and mesusure, and age." — R.] Tlioluek gives, on pp. 466, 4(57, a copious cata- logue of the literature on Romans ix. See also Meyer, p. 347. We may here call attention to a more recent monograph : Beck, Versuc/i eiiicr pncti- matisvh-hermennilisch''n Erkldrunq den 9e tempted to regard him as one of their jiartisans. He meets all this by the solenni asseveration of his pain. [Alford : " The subject on which lie is about to enter, so unwelcome to Jews in general, coupled with their hostility to himself, causes him to begin witii a de])reeation, bespeaking credit for simplicity and earnestness in the assertion which is to follow. This deprecation and a.ssertion of sympathy he put!« in t!ie forefront of the section, to take at once the ground from those who might charge him, in the conduct of his argument, with hostility to his own alicTiaied people." — R.] But the Apostle treats also of a further great progress in the glorification of Divine grace, which, in its third |)otency, glorifii-s as eomjiii-ssion that gloomy judgment of hardening which the Apostle CHAPTER IX. 1-33. 301 can only disclose by an expression of the greatest pain. The Apostle is doubly assured of the sincer- ity of his declaration. First, he expresses his feel- inj; in the consciousness of the fellowship of Christ* (Eph. iv. 17 ; 1 Thess. iv. 1), while he, so to speak, transfers himself into tlie feeling of Clirist (Luke xix. 41). Second, he proves and tests tiie truth of his feeling by his conscience, and by the strong and clear light of the Holy Spirit. Now, is this declara- tion an oath, according to most of the earlier and many of the later expositors (Rciche, Kollner, and others); or is it not, according to the exposition of Tholnck, De Wette, and Meyer? This much is clear, that the Apostle's asseveration is not a formal taking of an oath, and not in the form of an oath. [The form of an oath would be 7T(>6(; with the accu- sative. — R.] It will be remembered, in favor of this view, that the onvvfvv (Matt. v. 34) is here wanting ; and that the Apostle does not swear by Christ, nor by the Holy Ghost. Neither does he swear in a legal sense in general ; we may only ask, whether he does not here give a solemn assurance in God's pres- ence, and whether such an assurance is not an ideal oath ? I lie not [oi'i i/'f ll^o/«a^]. (1 Tim. ii. V.) White lies being very much in vogue at the time, this addition surely meant that he was perfectly con- scious of his responsibility for his declarations, since he called on Christ as a witness. My conscience also bearing me witness ['j ff e d) (; / an o r o u X(ti(rToT']. 'yivdOf/ict, Attic dvdOtjua, dedi- cated to God ; hence, also, dedicated to the Divine judgment, and consequently to ruin ; in the latter sense = C-;n (Gal. i. 8, 9 ; 1 Cor. xii. 3 ; xvi. 22). Though the later sense of D~n " must not be con- strued as the Jewish curse of excommunication " (Meyer), yet the theocratic idea: to excommunicate from the Church of God, and to dedicate to ruin, cannot be separated. In the Christian .sphere the dvdf>fi'(x is, indeed, in the ecclesiastical form, a temporally qualified exclusion : " for the destruc- tion of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved " (1 Cor. V. 5). [ExccKSPs ON Anathema. — The proper under- Btantling of this pa.ssage may be furtliered by dis- cussing at this point the precise meaning of the word dvdOfua. The following dissertation is fn)m Wieseler, (,'ommen/nri/ on Ga/aCians (i. 8, 9, pp. 39 ff.). The fact that it is founded upcm another pas- sage, adils to its weight in determining the meaning here, since tiic discussion of Gal. i. 8 is not beset with the prejudices which arise here. " '--/vaO^f/i « * is the Hellenistic form for the Attic drdHtjiia (comp. fratjiia and t\\niiu, nooa- Orjiiu, and 7i(>6(J,7f/ia, Lobeek, Ad J'/iri/nich, p. 219, and Paralip, pp. 391 ff.), and, like the latter form, denotes in general ' sometliing dedicated to (iod, u votive offering ; ' but in the Bible it is usu- ally the translation of the Hebrew D^n , as dvafyt- * (" Reopctintt pxcomrminication nmoti); tho .lews, cnmp. «>«pc•• jiir-' nut. rl i/'iU., 4, 8, Dr Si/iiflr., i. • und 8 ; QiliUmi fiuri^n-v is nowhere used, but dvaO t fiaxiZnv. We iire more apt to find drd'h/m also in the sense of a customary votive offering ; e. (/., 2 Mace. ii. 13, and Judith xvi. 19, Codx Al'x. Luke uses dvd- Orjiia, Luke xxi. 6 (yet Cod. A. and D. [so k.], and also Lachmann, read drdO f/ia) of a customary vo- tive ottering, and Acts xxiii. 14, a»'ai>f/(a, of a consecration in a bad sense. Suiilas therefore says, with essential correctness : dvdQ-ffio, x«t to dvuTi- Oifitvov lii) Q-kJ) xal to ?«'<,■ duaviunbv iffoutvov dinfOTf(ja ar^naivn' /.iyftav t)i xal avd>9rj n a ri) 7<~) x}(iT> dvaTf&ftfnt'ov. [cirtffia (Iltt/Jjv i/fv rijv (iidvovuv ' y.ai yd() to a which also originally signifies ' to be holy ; ' Exod. xxix. 37 ; xxx. 29 ; and n"in is rendered in the LXX. not simply by drdOfticc, or dqoQKTfia, Ezek. xliv. 29, but also by dqdvLfrfia, 1 Sam. xv. 21 ; and dniiy.na, Isa. xxxiv. .5. From this it appears that, according to the Old Testament, Cinn neither literally nor by de- rived use can signify excommunication, as exclusion from the fellowship of the chosen people. Nay, the latter is expressly mentioned, Ezra x. 28 ; but the verb -Tn is not used of the excommunicated per- sons, but, in contrast with it, the verb b"]3 ; the former verb, on the other hand, is used in its true sense (see above) of their property, because this escheated forever to the sanctuary. Had the C^.nri been decreed against the persons in question on the part of the Jewish assemljly, they would thereby rot have been excommunicated, but destroyed in honor of the God whom they had outraged. On the other hand, in the Talmud, C";n is unquestion- ably used formally of excommunication. According to Elias Levita, the three grades of excommunica- tion among the Jews have not seldom been assumed as (1.) the ""ins , (2.) the C-;n , and (3.) the NSS^O . Paniel and Weber also assumed them, asserting that only the highest grade, as the Shammatha, was con- joined with those ' fearful curses ' which we read in the Tahnudists, but that Paulj with his dvdO f^a, meant no other than the C"in . On the other hand, Gildemeister, passim, preceded by Selden, and oth- ers, has lately thoroughly demonstrated anew that the Talmud and the Jews, by those three names, do not designate three different grades of excommuni. cation, but that the Shammatha is only another word (the Chaldaic translation) for Niddui ; that, there- fore, if the Apostle, by his dvdOtfia, meant the Cherem as excommunication, the highest grade of excommunication — that accompanied with these ' curses ' — must have been meant." " The next question is, therefore, whether the Cherem, as excommunication, already existed among the Jews at the time ivhcn the Epistle to tlie Gala- tians* was writtoi. Although the primitive history of Jewish excommunication is veiled in great ob- scurity, we certainly shall not err if we ascribe to it, from its first documentarily attested appearance under Ezra (Ezra x. 8), up to the time of Paul, a certain course of development, and that a more ex- tensive one than Gildemeister appears to do." " According to New Testament testimony there were, then, the two grades of excommunication : (1.) The exclusion from the worship in the Temple and synagogue, John ix. 22 ; xii. 42 ; xvi. 2 ; and (2.) what, as it was already practised under Ezra, can least surprise us, the expulsion f from the con- gregation of the people, Luke vi. 29 (dqoqltfvv), which concluded with obliteration of tlie name in the <)e/.TOi.i: iirjiiocfioiQ (i/.pd'/.ht,v rb ovona wq tto- vfjijov, I. c.) ; which latter circumstance is here ex- pressly added, that the hearers may not understand the excommui lie alio minor. Quite as certainly, how- ever, is the Jewish excommunication at Paul's time not yet designated as Cherem, which even antece- dently is improbable, on account of the above de- veloped Old Testament use of Q"]n, which could only gradually, and after a longer time, be so con- siderably modified. For in the Mishna, where ex- communication is largely handled, Cherem is as yet never used of excommunication, but this is denoted by Niddui; it is in the Gemara that Cherem appears as excommunication, and that the sharpest form of the same — that joined with fearful ' curses ' having reference to eve: lasting destruction, from whence also its name — is explained. With this alone agrees, moreover, the New Testament use of drdOf/ia and «rai9f,((«T(-n.r, Rom. ix. 3 ; 1 Cor. xii. 3; xvi. 22; Gal. i. 8, 9 ; Acts xxiii. 12 ; xiv. 21 ; Mark xiv. 71. which in no7ie of these passages sigiiily excommu- nication, or to excommunicate. On the other hand, dvddf/if/i. ort, Mark, /. c, signifies, ' under self-imprecations (by his soul's salvation) to attest, that ; ' dra&ffia- run.v tftcTor, Acts, /. c, ' under self-imprecations to oblige himself.' Quite as little can HvdOfna, Gal. i. 8, 'J, be used of excommunication, on this account, if no other, because one cannot excommu- nicate an angel from heaven (vcr. 8), but can very ■well call down God's curse of damnation upon him, in the dvdOffia. Ver. 9 must have been used in the same sense as in ver. 8. Independently of the subjective particiiiation expressed by the imperative, avaOfiia t(TTi>i expresses neither more nor less than Gal. V. 10, where Paul denounces against t// ChritI, is iiot in itself immoral, yet can, indeed, be distin^^uished from ttii; (irbt ouly abeiruclly luid iu tljuugbt,.bi'iii|{ alao iiiipuwiblu, ut CHArTER IX. 1-33. SOS has referred to this passage in order to defend the mystical idea of amour dcsinteren-w,* and that Bos- Buet replies, by saying, that fellowship with God cannot be separated from participation in saving blessin^^ (salvation). Yet Tholuck returns at last to Fenelon's distinction, after quoting many other theological explanations (Calvin : erup'io animi con- fusi ; later moralists, especially Dannhauer, Spener, and Bengel : vertus heroica). Most expositors, by their reference to the hypothetical si Jieri posset, return to the acceptance of a hyperbolical expres- sion. The ccvTOi; I yd) leads us back to the simplest rendering. The current explanation is incorrect at the very outset. Meyer is nearest right : The antithesis is the brethren, the majority of whom are seen by Paulas avd&ffia txnb Xqt,arov going to the aTirnhM. In this case the iyii) would still be su- perfluous. Our present expression refers to the ai''To- iyii) (chap. vii. 25). We have seen how the expression there designated the opposition of spir- itual and carnal life in the identity of the same individuality. And thus it denotes here the antithe- sis of his earlier and of his present standpoint, in the identity of an individuality which, at that time, acted from a love for Israel. f For I even ■pledge! myselfy /, tlte same Paul who must now pronounce the foUim'ing judgment on Israel, &c. — His forfiier wish to destroy the Christians by means of the Cherem, he now denominates in its true meaning : least in permanency. For holiness and blessedness are inseparable, and it is the will nf Christ that we become bksicd through fellowship with Him.— P. S.] * [Compare Madame Guion (died 1717) : "I consent that thou depart, Though thine abpcnue breaks my heart, Go, the-', and foi-ever, too ; All is right that thou wilt do." " My last, least offering, I present thee now — Renounce me, leave me, and be still adored ! Slay me, my God, and I applaud the blow." Coviper's Translation. The doctrine of disinterested affection has been sup- ported in America by Samuel Hopkins, D.D., :ind his system is commonly called Hopkinsianism. He holds that self-love, which cannot be distinguished from selfishness in his view, "is the root and essence of all sin ; " that holiness consists in disinterested benevolence. He makes the pos- session of this benevolence a test of religion and relig ous exercises, and s.iys, that though a benevolent person " could know that God designed, for His own giory and the general good, to cast him into endless destruction, this would not make him cease to approve of His character ; he would continue to be a friend of God, and to be pleased with His moral perfections." {SyHem af Doct tines, 2d ed., Boston, 1811, i. p. 479.) But be puts certain limitations respecting proper personal interest, and non-here implies that one must reach this point of experitnee in order to be converted. The cnrrent opinion of his view is, that he teaches : " a man must be willing to be damned, in order to be saved" — a logical sequence which he does not afBrm. Kor does he quote this passage, which would seem to favor his position. It is probable that he, too, would admit the impos.-!ibility of such a wish being granted, and claim no other meaning for this passage than that which many of the most judicious commentators adopt, and which is the most literal and obvious one. It may well be held that I'aul reached such a pitch of feeling as this, without insist- ing tnat this is the constant and conscious state of the Christian heart. — K.] t [This obviates one dilflculty, tirged by Dr. Hodge, against the sense / wished : " J^o Jew would express his hatred of Christ and his indifference to the favors which He offered, by saying he wished himself accursed fiom Christ." But it makes the grammatical difficulty still greater. An imperfect is made to do service not only as an aorist, but in a sense very unusual : while what is closely joined with it —viz., the purport ot the wish or vow — derives its signifi- cance from the jiresent standpoint. Extremely doubtful, to say the least ! — R.] 20 to be accursed, (xtto roT' X., away from Christ ; aa he is not aware of any other ban from the Church of God than banishment i'roni Christ. Nossclt, and others, have understood by the expression, that Clirist would be the author of the ban ; which wouid increase the harshness of the expression. "With our view, the v n i^ t w v ti d i '/.q> mv /u o i' can only mean this : for my brethren, as one zealous for their interests. JEven with the opposite view, Meyer ex- plains v7ii:(j as for the good of ; but Tholuck, on the contrary, says that the idea of substittition un- derlies the vni(j, at least indirectly. [Olshausen makes ini^ = arri. — R.] This would render tht idea still more intolerable. Paul would not venture to utter the thought, that his ruin might still bring salvation to the people for whom even the death of Christ brought no salvation. [The interpretations of this difiBcult passage may be classified as follows : (1.) Those which take 7jv'/6fir,v in the past sense. The grammatical objection to this is so de- cided, that, unless the gravest difficulties attend every other view, it must be rejected. The view of Dr. Lange, which makes it equivalent to a defi- nite aorist, is grammatically less admissible than that which takes it as = ojitobam, I was wont to wish. (2.) Those which give to avciOitta some less strong sense than accursed, devoted to destruction. Dr. Lange has cited most of these. The least ob- jectionable among these is that which interprets the word as meaning : untold misery, not necessarily eternal. The lexiccd objection here is very strong ; see Excursus above. If Wieseler's statements are reliable, all of these are necessarily excluded. There remains, then, (3.) The obvious meaning, / could wish myself devoted to destruction from Christ for my brethren'' s sake ; implying either that the wish was not formed, because it was injpossible to viiah, or of impossible fulfilment ; {'ticij, involving, not necessarily substi- tution, yet such a sulfering lor the benefit of others as would turn to their corresponding advantage ; for Paul often speaks of what he does for (tniit) his readers. The question then arises, Are the difficul- ties attending this view so great, that it must be abandoned for such doubtful exegesis as (1.) and (2.) present ? Dr. Lange objects : (a.) That it imjilies a senseless overstraining of the idea of self-denial. But who shall put the limit ? " It is the expression of an affectionate and self- denying heart, willing to surrender all things — even, if it might be so, eternal glory itself ^ — if thereby he could obtain for his beloved people those blessings of the gospel which he now enjoyed, but from which they were excluded. Others express their love by professing themselves ready to give their life for their friends : he declares the intensity of his affec- tion by reckoning even his spiritual life not too great a price, if it might purchase their salvation " (Alford). Surely we dare not let our assumption of how far his self-denial would go, limit words, which, if they do not mean this, have always borae this as their obvious meaning. (6.) It is further objected, that then the Apostle would regard the brethren in question as eternal!]' damned. But it is Paul who says that those out of Christ are already perishing (1 Cor. i. 18); and Christ himself speaks of the wrath of God abiding on men (John iii. 18, 3G). This objection sunders too widely the present and the future state of un- believers. Paul would, at all events, feel the power yoG THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. of the future state of retribution in the case of tiiese brethren, just to the extent that he attached a defi- nite meaning to avd&tna ; so that this objection is of no weiglit. (c.) Tlie implication suggested above, that Paul then would deem his ruin more powerful than the death of Christ, involves the strongest meaning of \>ni(). If the idea of substitution be excluded, this objection falls to the ground. But if Paul could not use r.Tt'o here, in the sense that his sufferings might produce certain beneficial results to others, be could not use it elsewhere in the same sense (Eph. iii. 13 ; CoL i. 24 twice). The oljjection, in njiy case, lies not against the degree, but the quality of the Buffering. {(1.) Lange characterizes the current interpreta- tion as kiipcrbolical. If it be, then oljjection {(i.) has no weight, for a hyperbole would not overstrain the idea of self-denial. But this interpretation is not strictly a hyperbole. For Paul wished by this to express a degree of feeling which could be meas- ured in human expression by nothing less strong than this. The objective impossibility did not de- stroy the subjective intensity of feeling. And al- though he may not have actually formed the wish, still any student of human nature knows that feel- ings often exist, never taking shape in definite wish, which are contrary both to what is possible and what is actually wished. The expression is, however, truthful in Paul's consciousness, hence not a hyper- bole. On the whole, the objections to this view (3.) seem of so mucli less weight, that the majority of commentators adopt it. Besides the grammatical and lexical grounds in its favor, it presents the great Apostle to the Gentiles under the influence of feel- ings most akin to the self-sacrificing love of the Lord he preached. And it detracts nothing from our estimate of his all'ection to know, as he did also, that such love flowed only from his love to Christ, his fellowship with Christ, which would itself change h^l to heaven. — R.] My kinsmen according to the flesh [ t oi r ■avyytviiiv /tor xarct ff«(jx«]. This addition expresses both his former motive and his continued patriotic feeling (see chap. xi. 14).* [There is, how- ever, here an implied antithesis to " brethren in the Lord." Paul's patriotism is here justified, but, as the next verse shows, it hits a deeper ground in the gracious gifts and religious advantages which the Jews had hitherto enjoyed. — Pi.l Ver. 4. Who are Israehtes. O'i'th-*?. — Quippe qui. Thus he announces the characteristics of his kindred " according to the flesh," who lay so near his heart, and the decline of whose glory ex- cited his profound compassion. The collective glory of tile Jews lies in the fact tiiat they are Israelites — that they bear the honorable name of Israel, as those who are called, like their ancestor, to be % peoi)le of G(jd consisting of wrcstli-rs with God — u people of wrestling prayer. [It should be remarked here, that the ground of the prerogatives afterwards enumerated was the free grace of God, not any su- perior natut-al excellence of this people as compared with the heathen. This is implied in the very char- acter of tiie prerogatives. Besides, in calling them " Israelites," there ia a direct reference to the fact • In ihn disrnsaions on this subject, a Rocond mennitiR of oir<5 ha^ not heon taken into consideration ; oirb TraTp f rr / « ] God's acceptance in the place of a child, adoption ; yet not in the sense of the Xew Testament realiza- tion, but in that of the Old Testament typification (see Exod. iv. 22 ff. ; Dent. xiv. 1 ; xxxii. tj ; llosca xi. 1 ; Rom. viii. 1, 2). The foundation of this adop- tion was the election, calling, and sealing of Abra- ham. But in tills right of the child there was not merely comprised the real enjoyment of " theocratic protection," but also the foundation and guidance to real adoption (Gal. iv. 1, 2) ; and, in relation to the promise for the remaining nations, the determination that Israel should be the first-born son of God (Exod. iv. 22). [It therefore comprises, though only ger- minally and typically, the close union wliich Christ, the Oidy-ljegotten, who was in tlie bosom of the Father from eternity, forms between God and men through the regeneration of the Holy Ghost. — P. S.] And the glory. The 6 61 a, ^^ri"] m'3J . This is that revealed form of Jehovah underlying the call to adoption throughout the Old Testament, which often stands out more definitely in the appear- ance of the Angel of the Lord (see Langc's Cotnm, Oenesis) [j). 3K5 ft'., Amer. ed.]. Comp. Exod. xxW. 1« ; xl. 34 ; 1 Kings viii. 10 f. ; Ezek. i. 28, and other passages). Untenable explanations : 1. The ark of the covenant (Beza, Gnitius, and others, witb reference to 1 Sam. iv. 22). 2. The glory of Israel itself (Calovius, Kidlner, Fritzsche, Beck, and oth- CHAPTER IX. 1-33. 307 ets). For the still more untenable explanations of Michaelis and Koppe, see Meyer (the adoption itself as glory, the promised felkitas). Meyer's own ex- planation is totally unsatisfactory : " The symboli- cal and visible presence of God as manifested in the desert as a pillar of cloud and of fire, and as the cloud over the ark of the covenant, the same n2"'rir" (Buxtorf, Lexic, Talmud, &c.). For more particular information on Meyer's indefinite view, Bee Tholuck. — De Wctte and Philippi do not really get beyond " the visible and operative presence of God,'.' or, tiie " symbol of God's gracious presence." [As Paul is enumerating the prerogatives of the Jews, a definite meaning is to be sought for. Mey- er's view attaches a definite meaning to rfoia, ex- tending it, however, over a wide period of time. Dr. Lange's objection to this grows out of his classi- fication of these prerogatives in chronological order. If this fVoia must be referred to patriarchal times, then Lange's view alone is admissible ; but the word is used by one who is glancing over the whole Jewish history, and in that history " the visible presence of God " seems most worthy of the title 6 61a. — R.] And the covenants. ^41 dta&T/xai,. The coiiijjarU. The r)dj« already announced itself at the call of Abraliam. [If Meyer's view of (5dia be adopted, then the reference to the call of Abra- ham in iloOtffia is the point of connection here. — R.] The covenant with Abraham was renewed with Isaac (and this is of importance here, in contrast with Ishmael), with Jacob (in contrast with Esau), and, filially, with the whole people through Moses. Various explanations: 1. The two tables of the law (Beza, and others). 2. The Old and the New Tes- taments [see Tezhuil Note ^ — R.] (Augustine, Je- romn, Cocceius, Calovius ; with reference to Jer. xxxi. 33). Meyer : " The compacts concluded by God with the patriarchs after Abraham." Comp. Book of Wisdom xviii. 22; Sirach xliv. 11 ; 2 Mace, viii. 1,5 ; Eph. ii. 12. [Tliis is undoubtedly the sim- plest view. — R.] And the giving of the liw. Opposite ex- planations: 1. Meyer, and others : the act of giving the law, not 6 voiioi; itself. 2. Tholuck [Hodge], and most expositors : vofio&ffflci, by metonyme for 6 vii/iw;; vo/i o f) tatct is the more rhetorical and euphonious word. Evidently, the act of giving the law would have had no permanent force for Is- rael apart from its substance ; but even its substance would be no permanent voiio&KTia without the continued repetition (Deuteronomy), establishment, and restoration of the law. The voiioq was, and continued to be, a permanent act of the vofo&fnict. [Meyer inquires why Paul did not write voaoc, if he meant it. " At all events, whoever had the I'oiioSnTia, had also the vo/ioq. Still, the differ- ence of signification is to be preserved. The givinrt of the faw was a work by means of which God, who was himself the i'o/(o.9^t^/<;, distinguished the Jews above all other nations." It seems safer to make Ihe piimary reference to the giving of the law, with- o'lt, however, excluding the necessary secondary reference to its substance. — R.] And the service of the sanctuary. The ■worship, t; }.aT(jfia; Heb. ix. 1. [The Jewish ritual service, including the tabernacle worshi[), but fully established in the temple. The connection of this with the giving of the law is sufficiently ob- vious. — And the promises, ul inayyilim. — R.] Meyer holds that the service corresponds to the giving of the law, as al inayytXitti, (th« Messianic prophecies) correspond to at dtaS^xat, This is a chiasm, according to Meyer, occasioned by the necessity of the promises standing at the con . elusion, immediately before the Promised One. But a chiasm is altogether out of the question, as the promises in the stricter sense — the prophetic prom- ises — followed the giving of the law, and as the XatQfla also was already, in the main, a typical pi'omise, from which the inayytliav are only to be distinguished as verbal prophecies. Tholuck concludes, without good ground, from the reasoning (ver. 6), that the predictions of the prophets are not meant here, but " chiefly " those communicated to the patriarchs. But how could Paul have enumera- ted the principal elements of Israel's glory, without thinking of the prophets ? We must adhere to the position that, apart from the connections of histori- cal sequence, the ilodiaia, the doia, &c., and, in- deed, all the particular elements, pervaded all the periods of Israel's existence. Even the vo/iioOfaia, for example, is found in the germ in Abraham. Ver. 5. Whose are the fathers [o)v ol no.- xiqfc\ The fathers, the elect, the men of God, as preludes to the chief Chosen One, the Son of God ; the glorious root of the Israelitish parent-tree, as well as the fatness of the tree (see chap. xi. 17), referring to the only glo-ious crown (Exod. iii. 13 ; iv. 5). These are chiefly, but not exclusively, the patriarchs, but, in addition to them, the long line of the true fathers of Israel. And of -whom as to the flesh is Christ [ z « t i i wv X () ifTT bi; TO y.ar a a d. (i /. a'\. It is the highest characteristic of Israel's glory, that Christ descends from it, or conies of it according to the flesh (Rom. i. 3 ; iv. 1 ff.). [Christ, the prom- ised Messiah, is the greatest of all the blessings imparted to the people of Israel, to whom all the others pointed typically and prophetically, and in whom they first obtained their full truth and reality. — P. S.] The TO y.ar a. aaqxa is evidently a qualifying addition, and refers to an antithesis ; Tholuck: "op y.ara Tip' flfortjTa^^ (chap. i. 3, 4). [Alford marks the antithesis by rendering : " as far as regards the psh ; " finding in to., accusative, the. implication " that He was not entirdy sprung from them, but had another nature." — R.] Who is over all [ '0 w r In I n dvT o>v . There are two renderings which are nearly allied : W/w is God over al/, blessed forever, and : Who is over aU, God blessed forever. The doctrinal results are the same, whichever be adopted ; but Lange prefers the latter, for reasons which will appear, and seems warranted in his preference. The E. V. gives the latter ; Luther, and most interpreters, the former. — R.j We explain the passage thus : He who is over all Israelites, believers and unbelievers, is that glorified One of our universally known syna- gogical formula : God, blessed forever. Amen. We must first of fill accept a strong Pauline brevilo- quence. Then we must call to mind Paul's expres- sion concerning the unknown God (Acts xvii. 23). As Paul could say to the Greeks : " You seek and worship by your altar the one true God, withcut knowing Him," so can he say of the Jews : *' Evea those who reject Christ must render homage to Him, though unconsciously, as, by the well-known dox- ology, they often praise Jehovah, the God of reve- lation, who has appeared in Christ, and thus rules supremely over all, believers as well as unbeliev- ers." The 6 oiv therefore stands for 6? ian, 308 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE RO^rANS. though with tlie additional strength peculiar to the participle. Tiiat the in I ndvnov here refers to the Jews, aeeording to their autilliesis of believing auJ uubelieviug Jews, is evident from the strong prominence previously given to tlieiu (oi'rn'*?, *tv, it wy). [The form of the E. V. favors this view of t'/rt ndyTi'iv. By taking it as nia-sculinc, the whole clause is brought into closer conneeticm with the context, an increased diificulty in the in- terpretation of the doxology is obviatLci, while this closer connection gives strength to the view that the doxology refers to Christ. It seems preferable to the view which connects it with Otoe, in the sense of the supreme God (Ilodge, and many others). Whether all that Lange suggests is included, is per- haps doubtful ; but comp. his remarks below on Ps. Ixviii. 1'.).— K.] God blessed for ever. Amen [Qi6<; iv- A y i; T 6 s ( i<; t o r ? a li'iv a<; , a /( >/ 1' ]. We must regard this clause as a quptation from the synagogical liturgy, sufficiently well-known to all the Jews, and to Jewish Christians and believers in general. According to modern usage, it should, therefore, be written witli quotation-iiiarks. Ihit the sense is this: Christ is the object of the Israelitish doxology to the revealed God, Jehovah, for lie is the (yo;« itself; is consciously praised by some, and unconsciously by the rest ; for this latter class, not- withstanding their rtyection of Jesus of Nazareth, cannot get away from the adoration of the Shekinah, and thus Christ also, the personally revealed God, rules over all (as they praise Him), even over un- believers, for their future salvation. This is there- fore the last advantage of Israel (see chap. xi.). For the details of iill the explanations, we must refer to the Commentaries extant.* Every exposition is attended with great difhcul- ties. The strongest reasons are still in favor of the old one, transmitted to us by the early writers, all of whom favored it, with the single exception of Theodore of .Mopsvestia (see Tholuck, p. 47'.1). We may say, pediaps, that Julian maintained, with Cy- ril, that Paul never called Jesus " God," and that the Codd. 11 [5], 47 place a period after adi^'y.n, and Cod. Tl places one after i/rl 7Tni>ro>v. Here ■belong also Iren;cus, Tertuliian, Origen, &c., and the most of the later expositors (see Meyer). The passixge is, therefore, a doxology to the divinity of (Jhrist. Tliis is most strongly favored by the re- quirement of the antithesis comprised in the to Hctrcc (Toiifxn (see chap. i. 15,4; 1 Tim. iii. IG). Tins explanation has been rendered unnecessarily dilBcult by regarding inl ncivroiv as neuter: "over every thing" (IJeza referred it as masculine to the patriarchs, to tlie antithesis of Jews and Gentiles), thus giving ui> its i)ro.\imate reference to the Jews. Since the time of Enismus, this exposition has been directly opposed by another, the reference of • iComp. ft loamcd essay by TTormJinn Srhultr (ProfosBor in Basic) : Rom. ix. 5, in ex<:<;rHscl)er uml hihlitrli-llieiilnffi- irhtr R xi'hniig, erklurl, in tho Jit/ubSi-liiy fur V'U'shc Thinlogie. for 1S08, pp. 462-.')08, ami tho older exeiretical lilcmture on this piissaijo, there cited aualnst tho inler- T)retosi tion has found favor with the majority of recect exegetical writers, with the Socinians, 9fOs" proposed by Crell, and oth ers. But, according to Tholuck, the detacheil char- acter of the doxology is against the third exposition. The following may be .said against the second ex- planation : 1. In simple doxologies, without a relative form, the itkoytjTo^ generally precedes the Otoi;. See ex- amples in Tholuck, 483 ; Philippi, 3C9 tt". Tholuck regards it as a lieautiful fact connected with Faustus Socinus, that his attention was first directed to this circumstance, and that, owing to it, ho changed his exposition of the i)assage. Tholuck, indeed, citea a passage in which the fv'/.oyijxoi; comes after the fyt6<; (Ps. Ixviii. Id) — a passage which, in view of its connection, we regard as very important, and must hereafter return to it. 2. A doxology to the omnipotent God cannot interrupt the train of thought under consideration at its very outset ; least of all, can an elegy or funeral discourse be changed afiruptly into a hymn. The doxology for the wliole discussion in Rom. ix.-xi., is at the conclusion of chap. xi. 3. The expression, to x«t« ndoxa, which limits Christ's descent from the Jews to His hmnan nature, requires, as an antithesis, a reference to His divine nature. We have here had S])ecial reference to Cal- vin, Tholuck, Neander, and Philippi. In the attack on the old exposition, it is remarkat)lc that tiie same critical exegesis which elsewhere urges the imme- diate context, and leaves the analogy of Scripture altogether in the background, here reverses ita metliod. Meyer, indeed, oidy says, that both ex- positions might be equally right, according to the words. But he imagines that he can overcome the requirement of the antithesis in this i>as.>'age merely by the assurance that divinity does not necessarily belong to the object represented. The doxologies to God which Meyer cites (Rom. i. 25 ; 2 Cor. xi. 31 ; Gal. i. 5 ; 1 Tim. i. 17), are fully occasioned by the connection, which would not hold good of the present doxology. Meyer contradicts himself when lie first urges that the present passage does not read 6 i'>*di,i hut only the predicative i9*oe, without the article ; and when he concedes that Paul, by virtue of his appropriate and real harmony with Jolin's christology, coultl, just as jiroperly as John (chap. i. 1), have used the predicative Ok'}!; (divine nature) of Christ (with reference to Phil. ii. 6 ; Col. i. 16 ff. ; ii. 9 ; 2 Cor. iv. 4), and yiet urges that Paul never used the expression {iton of Christ, since he never accepted the Alexandrian form, like John, but adhered to tho strictly monotheistical form. He seems, therefore, to regard that "Alexandrian form" as prejudicial to strict numothcism. I It shoidd be remarked tliat Meyer, who is usually 8o clear and CHAPTER IX. 1-33. SOS decided in liis statements of the reasons for his views, halts here, as if the grounds against the reference to Christ were not sufficient to satisfy himself. This fact is suggestive. — K.] As far as tliosc passages are concerned in wiiich Paul brings out tlie divinity of Christ, we refer to the Dodr. Notea. \Y(! must here, however, oppose the her- meneutical supposition that there are no doctrinal cc^al hyofii-va as culminating points of the view corresponding with them. Meyer even holds that John calls C'hrist Otoe but once. It is a perfectly gratuitous increase of the tiifficulty before us, to say that Christ is here called God over all. It is cer- tainly a fact tliat Paul speaks preeniiuently of the historical Christ, and that, when he expresses also the ontolocfical idea of Christ, he immediately places it in relation with the historical perfection of Christ; but when this historical subordination which Paul expresses (1 Cor. viii. 6 ; Eph. iv. 5 f. ; 1 Cor. xv. 28) is allowed to be identical with His ovtological subordination, the error is owing to a defective ec- clesiastical education and speculative penetration. We now come to Ps. Ixviii. 19, according to the Septuagint : Kr^ioc; 6 {)t6-; Hi'/.oytjroc, tii/.uytjToc xi'^toc ljii(i>r(v xoti9' Ti/ni)C(v. It must be borne in mind that Paul was particularly familiar with that passage. In Eph. iv. 8 he quotes a good part of ver. 18, and refers it to Christ. But this verse reads, according to De Wette's translation, thus : Thou ascendest to the high seat, thou leadest captive, thou receivest gifts for men, and the rebellious shall also dwell tvi'h Jah. Tholuck : Even the apostates shall still dwell with God the Lord. Do we not plainly hear the reecho of this passage in the 6 i!>v tnl ndvTMv ? And since we know that Paul applies this passage to the glorification of Christ, is it not clear that he immediately adds that ascription of praise in Ps. Ixviii. 19 ? His expression occupies the middle ground between the LXX. and the He- brew text. Hence we return to the acceptance of a synagogical form. [The main point being not the synagogical form — to which, however, there is little to object — but the reference to Christ, the following summary in favor of that view is added : (1.) This view is the most simple and natural one. Alford seems justifiable in remarking : It is the onlii one admissible by the rules of grammar and arrangement. (2.) It accords best with the context, presenting an antithesis to to xara irdsj/.a, and forming a suitable culminating point after the enumeration of the advantages of the Jews. (3.) It is sufficiently Pauline, for Paul wrote Col. i. 15 ff., and in view of that and many similar pas- gages, any other reference would be derogatory to the divinity of Christ. (4.) On no exegetical point, where there is room for di.scussion, has the unanimity of commentators, of all ages and confessions, been so entire, as in re- ferring this to Christ. — R.] B. The Apostle's exultation at the thought that the pronihe of God for Israel nevertheless remains in force (vers. 6-33). First Proof: Differences in election (vers. 6-13). Meyer: "The first part of the theodicy is, that God's promise has not become untrue through the exclusion of a portion of ibe Israelites ; for the promise is valid pnly for the tru-? Israelites, who are according to the promise — which result is confirmed by the IScripiures." Ver. 6. It is not however so that. The o i';; viov d i. oTi is variously rendered: 1. Analo- gously to the or/ on,, not that, not in the .fense tha\ (Tholuck). But this does not aflbrd a satisfactory connection with the foregoing. 2. Eritzsche : oh TotocTor ori, [the matter, however, is not so, as that^. 3. Oi' Toioj' ()e ).iy(r, oiov oti, " but I do not say any thing of such a kind as that " (Meyer). 4. The least tenable explanation is, it is not possible that (Beza, Grotius). [Beiweeu (2.) and (3.) tliere is little choice. Paul does not say any thing of such a kind as that, because the matter is not so as that ; or vice vcisa. — R.] The connection, there- fore, consists in the Apostle's declaration of a re- striction of the profound sorrow which he has al- ready expressed ; but not, according to Origen, in connecting the declaration that the promise still holds good, to the previously mentioned inay/t- ).iai. Tholuck : " Paul adduces the proof accord- ing to the idea with which he was quite familiar, that the real Israel was not based upon its physical relationship with Abraham (Gal. iii. 9 ; Rom. iv. 12). This brings out in glaring contrast the shibboleth of the carnal Jew, &c. ; gross heretics, denieis of the resurrection of the dead, &c., are only mentioned as exceptions." The Tvord of God hath come to nought [iy. n i Tit M y. f V 6 X 6 y o i; r o Ti , d f o Z ^. The word of patriarchal promise in its relation to Israel, not specially to the inayyi'i.iav alone. For not all -who are of Israel, Eire Israel [ i'' y VLfj TT c'c vr f i; o I t'S ^1 a (j a r] ). , o l t o t 'J (T^ «///]. The germ of tiie distinction between the true religious Israel and the impure and merely national Israelites, already lay in the Old Testament (see chap. x. ; Ps. cxii. 1 ; Ezck. xiii. 9 ; Jer. vii, 23, &c.) ; the distinction was already prepared by the relations of election in the history of the patri- archs. The Apostle's thought distinguishes, first of all, between Israel as the collective people of God, and the single apostate branches. But then he establishes this general distinction chiefly by the relations of election. Ver. 7. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children [oiiV ort liaiv aTzi^fia yl[j(jadn, ndvxii; rixra^. The antQfta L^/?^. denotes here natural pos- tei-ity, but the jixva, on the contrary, his spirit- ual posterity, and directly fiom Israel. It may be asked here, whether the subject of the preceding verse {which are of Israel) still continues (Meyer), or whether the present clau.se generalizes the sub ject : not all those who are Abraham's seed are therefore also Abraham's children. We prefer the latter construction, because, otherwise, the verse cited would furnish no proof The first clause — for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, God'i people — is therefore supplemented by the second — likewise not all who are descended from Abraham, and thus, directly from Ishmael and Isaac, are tr'ie children of Abraham ; that is, not merely individ: al believers, as in chap, iv., but rather the indi\ idunls chosen, elected beforehand through God's fiee choice. This is now followed by particular proofs, which show that God's election, notwithstanding the prom- ise given to Abraham, remained totally free, con- trary to the boast of a right of natural descent. First proof: Abraham's first born son was not Abraham's child of promise, but, according to God't disposition, the younger, with his seed. And that, indeed, was previously es*ablishcd by God. Refer 310 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. ence could also be made here to tlie preference of. Sarali to Uagar; and, therefore, the second aud more convincing |)roof follows : Rebecca. It is import- ant that Rebecca, and not Isaac, appears iu the fore- ground, but then, also, that she conceived twins by Isaiic in one pregnancy ; and thiyil, tliat a determi- nation is made respecting children as yet unborn, which gave the preference to Jacob. But (thus the promise reads) in Isaac [a/./' 'Ev 'load/.. Gen. xxi. 12. See Textual Note ' for the Hebrew.] Though the decisive promise id quoted directly and authentically, without a yiy{ia- TTTui,, or any thing of similar import, as in (ial. iii. 11, 12, it is nevertheless a simple logical require- ment to supply something of the kind mentally ; this, however, is contested by Meyer. The promise is quoted from the Septuagiut. Meyer maintains, in accordance with Gesenius, that the original text pn^"3 would say : Through Isaac will the pos- terity be called ; but that the Apostle has conceived the sense of the passage according to its typical meaning, and confined it to Isaac's person. [So Philippi, Ewald.] The entire digression on this sup- l)osed antithesis rests upon a mistake of the signifi- cance of the typical collective name. The name of Isaac here can just as little exclude his posterity, as the included posterity can exclude Isaac himself. Meyer says : all Jews belonged to the ott'spiing of Isaac, and therefore the expression would be inap- propriate, if those whose claims are to be disap- pointed, are also described by it. But yet, in vers. 11 and 12, the election of Jacob is evidently meant at the same time with that of his posterity, but with- out the Apostle having designed thus to favor again the claim of individual Jews. The examples cited ierve to prove that the distinguishing process of election, in reference to the descendants of Jacob also, was not hindered by the election of their an- cestor with his (T7it(i/ia, but rather that it took place with perfect freedom in reference to the posterity. Shall thy seed be called [y. ). tj i} a ft ai ffot (T^rtiificiJ. Difl'erent exi)laiiations of the y, ?. rj 0- I'i a f r at. (rrit, shnU be; shall be dwakeiicd ; shall be called from nothing) ; [Tholuck, Stuart ; Reiche. Meyer objects to this, on the ground, tiiat tliis promise was made after Isaac was born. As we are le.ss warranted in referi'ing the citation ex- clusively to Isaac's descendants, than to Isaac alone, this objection seems to be valid and conclusive. — R.] The y.aktlv brings out the freedom of Divine choice ; not in the sense that he merely became the ancestor of the promised seed, but in and with Isaac the seed of promise belonging to Abraham was call- ed, according to the election. [Hodge, Alford, and most.] PVeedom of election is thus distinguished by two characteristics : ordy in Isaac, and, ouly by virtue of free appoiutmnit. Vcr. 8. That is, They who are the children of the flesh ['/'oTt' taruv, ov to. rixva T^^ irdoxoi;. Comp. (Jal. iv. 2;^]. The children who are to be regarded merely as the fruit of physi- cal generation. The autithesi.s, the children of tha promise [rci rixva t^s" i^nyyt^.iai;\ makes these appear aH liorn umlcr the predeternn- Ottion and cooperation of the Divine i)romise. The expression, ^^ jirontised ehiMrtin," woidd be too lit- tle ; while the ex|)ressi<)n, " begotten by the i)0wer of the Divine promise" (Meyer), would l»e too strong. [The facts respecting the birth of Isaiie, ■ad I'aul's language in Galatians, seem to Justify Meyer's view ; the conception of Isaac was no extra, ordinary, and so connected with the promise, that he is called " after the Spirit," in distinction from one " born after the flesh," as well as " by prom- ise ; " still in neither case is Isaac said to "be b^rn by promise or ufirr tJu. Sjdrit, sis if to guard after any thought of miraculous conception. Lange him- self says below, that " the pronnse acted aa a pro- ducing and cooperative cause." — R.] Not *ha=e children of the flesh are childien of God [ravra rixva toT fJfoeJ, but the chil- dren designated by the promise are reckoned as seed [.^.o ;'t^f T«i ti<; fia'\. Tiie antithe- sis uuist be carefully observed. Even the children of promise are not, in themselves, children of God in the New Testament »ense. They are counted such according to their faith, and therefore typically so called in the sense that they are the seed of God'a children as the seed of promise. Also in this line there are not yet children born of God (see John i. 13).* Ver. 9. For this word was of promise {^Inayy f ).ic(,i; yctQ 6 /.oya; oiWos'. Notice the emphatic position of inayyi/.ia(;. " The children of promise are reckoned for seed ; for this word, in fulfilment of which Isaac was born, was a word of promise " (Alford). — R.] Free quotation from Gen. xviii. 10, 14, according to the Septuagint. At this season [Kara rov /.at.(t or r ov- rov; i. e., next year at this time. See Textual Note **. — R.] The accessory proof in this verse will show, first, that Isaac was now already an object of promise ; second, that the promise (" according to the time ") acted as a producing and cooperative cause ; and third, that the bestowal of the right of childhood was attributed for Abraham's faith. f Ver. 111. And not only this ; but when Rebecca also [ o v u 6 r o r d i , d /. ). « y. a I ' P f [liy.xa'\. Winer's su[>plenicnting exi)lanation, on fiovov Sk 2id.ti^a tnayyt).fiivt] /;r (Meyer: Not only Sarah, but Rebecca also, had a Divine promise), is repelled by Tholuck, with the reminder that it was not Sarah, but Al)rahani, who hail re- ceived that tnayyt/.lu. Tholuck, with Erasnnis and Riickert, prei'ers to supply a toTtd to /lovov lU', and dfiy.rifn Torro, or something similai-, to Rebecca. Grotius, and others, in acordance with the sen.sc, interpret similarly : von solum id, quod jam aixi- )inis, docuinentuiii est ejus, quod iuferre rolumus. [The view of Tholuck seems least objectionable. 'I'fpiy.xa is then either the nominative absolute, or we nmst accept an anacohithon. The sense is the same in either ease. riiili]i|)i prefers the former decidedly, on grannnatical grounds, and takes this as almost = behold, liibfxa too. The progress of thought is against Meyer's view. — R.] ♦ [Stuart, and others, deny tho hiKliost apiritimt conso to the i>hru,so " childreti of (ioil,'' liniitiiiir it to "iliildron of proniiso in rospocl to tbo external J>r^^^!opos and hle^s- inps of tlio ancient covenant or dispensation." In itsoll there would be no objection to this view, but Paul hud aire iidy written Oal. iv. 2'J-31, where these pln-a-e.s receive u deeper nieauinfr (see Liinjrc's Comm. Oil., pp. 113 ff., 120 ff.). Itesides, tf ihisi were all, it would ret ditler finm the idea already Buntfisted In vers. C, 7 (llc.lf:;). We must hold then to a typical pcnse nt least, anut must be considered one of the many at- tem,.s to solve the enigma which this chapter confronts. Clearly, then, Paul rejects this solution. — R.] t [Mey?r: "Not oviru, because the negative relation is to be ex],r' ssed stihj'Xiively — i. e., as presented and con- ridered by God in the giving of His sentence." See Winer, p. 441 — E.] essential inherent of the purpose, y.ar' tx).oy/jv ex presses the modality of 7i(j60tai,<;. Perhaps it is not safe to affirm positively more than this respect, ing what belongs to the order in the mind of God, Meyer also repels the strong view of Bengel : pro- positum Dei electivum ; but after all has been ad- mitted, that must be respecting the primary refer- ence to theocratic privilege (Meyer limits llius), the Apostle's language fairly implies a choice of indi- viduals, and a free choice, whether we can reconcile this with our systems, or our consciousness of our own freedom or not. The emphasis throughout, it may well be admitted, rests on the unmerited choice of Jacob, rather than on the rejection of Esau.— R.] The i/.loyi] is founded in the iv<)oy.la, and the n^oOtai,^ joins with the latter. Meyer's op- position to the explanation of the expression (of Rosenmiiller, and others) propos'd-itm Dn liberum, is correct only so far as the election of love and arbitrarii freedom are different ; but the election of love is certainly free in relation to human claims. The following clause expresses a principal maxim of the n (JO & tai.Q. Not of works, but of him that calleth [oi'i! i'S. t(jy(f)v d).).' in roTi y. a }.ovvr oi;^. The explanation of most commentators, that the 7T^ 6 tail; is announced by this negation, is con- trary to Meyer's assertion, that this addition relates only to /uirti: and indeed he has this, his strong assurance, nut from work--:, &c., but of him that calleth. — Works cannot be the founda+ion of the cfill to salvation, but just the reverse ; it is only this call that can be the foundation of works. [This phrase seems to be " a general characteristic of the whole transaction " (Alford). Such a view is fa- vored by the peculiarly broken construction of the whole verse. In any case, it establishes the i)osition of Augustine : " God does not choose us because we believe, but that we may believe." " Hence, too, we are justified not on account of faith {prop- ter fidem), but through faith {per fidem), which God himself works in us through the Holy Ghost (Schaff). Any other view would contradict the obvious meaning of this verse. Comp. Hodge and Philippi on each side of the predestinarian question as involved here. — R.] Ver. 12. The elder (that is, the first-bom) shall serve the younger [6 niL^mv ()ovkfv- ffft rm eld(T(Tovi'\ (Gen. xxv. 23, according to the Septuagint). — Here, again, Meyer finds a differ- ence between the original sense of the passage and the Apostle's explanation. According to the con- nection of the original, the expression extends to the nations concerned (Jews and Edomites), and was fulfilled in David's conquest of the Edomites (2 Sara, viii. 14, &c.) ; * but Paul means, on tlie contrary, Esau and Jacob themselves. The adjustment of the difference by regarding the two brothers as repre- sentatives of two nations, is insufficient ; rather, the indoles of Jacob was really continued in the Jewish people, and the indoles of Esau in the Edo- mites. [The reference of the original Hebrew, as shown by the context, is to the nations springing: from the twin children (" two nations are in thy womb ; " Gen. xxv. 23). Lange and Meyer agree that there is also a personal reference, though differ ing in their mode of stating the relation of the two, * [Subsequent conquests of the Edomites are men- tioned ; 2 Kings viii. 21; xiv. 7, 22 ; 2 Chion. xxv 11 J xxvi. 2. They were finilly conquered by John HyrcannS' and iucorporated into the Jewish nation. — K.] 312 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS, Neither should be excluded, though the whole pass- age secnis to indicate tiiat the pi-rsonal refereiien was tlie more ])i-ominent one in Paul's mind. On the national reicrence, Scliart" remarks : " At all events, in the passages quoted here and ver. 13, Jacob and Esau appear as the heads of two nations. If the promised lordsliip of Jacob bo not limited to the transfer of the birthright and the theocratic blessing to Jacob,, but taken in its full, pliysical, and Bpiritual sense, tlie fulfilment did not take place until lung after their death, in their descendants, when David con(iuered the Edomites (2 Sam. viii. 14). Since then the Ishmaelites and the Edomites, together with the other heathen, were at all events called to the gospel, though later than the Jews (corap. Gen. x.wii. 40, where Isaac predicts tlie fu- ture cessation of the bondage of Esau ; and Amos ix. 12; Acts xv. 1(5, 17; Kom. xi. 11 if.); it fol- lows that Paul S[)eaks here, not as many Calvinistic expositors misunderstand him, of an eternal repro- bation, but of sueli a pi-eference of one nation as shall prepare for the final salvation of all nations (we do not say, all individuals)." The individual reference is also undeniable, though it l)y no means follows that it here implies eternal resultx. Tlie point here is not what or Jioto nmch God did in His election, but that He had a nfjoihiffn; xar' i/.- ^.oyt'j 1'.— R.] Vtr. 1;;. As it i.s Tvritten, Jacob I loved, but £sau I hated [7'o»' 'Iuy.t Esau is proved by tlie fact that He gave a desolate land to the Edomites for an inheritance, and that He called it a wicked land, on which His indignation rested. Thus the people are placed first here, l)ut with tiiem also their ancestor, as in Gen. xxv. 23 the ancestor is placed first, but with him his people also. The following is tiiercfore assumed throughout : 1. The continuity of the indoles in the ancestor and in the real substance of his posterity ; 2. The uni- vemal connection between tiie indolis and its reli- gious and moral conduct ; 3. The universal connec- tion lietween the religious and moral conduct and the historical decrees. The sum of these character- istics is now referred to the Divine jnirposr^ and is applied to E.sau in the sentence, " I hated him." Yet this sentence ha.s, at most, only a relative mean- ing : God has hated Esau in the relation of Esau to Jacob, and in antithesis to the fact that He loved Jacob. God's whole arrangement, therefore, pro- ceeds from the firimaiy nooDKni; that lb- loved Jacob. In that fact lies tli(> causality of Jacfili's glorious history, the determination of his theocratic inheritance. Hut the whole sentence dejiends upon Tvious couditions on both sides : 1. An rcoiiomirnl condition. The question is not at all concerning decrees of eternal salvation and damnation, but concerning the eronoiniral relations of the ordination and cull to the possession of .sal- tition and to the economy of salvation in time. On ii'ic! prospects of salvation for Edorn, comp. Isa. xi. 14 (Dan. xi. 41); Amos ix. 12; Mark iii. 8, On the Other hand, Edorn has become, on its dark side, a type of anti-christianity. See the article Edomlter, iu the Bibl. Worlcrbiich fur das ckriUicke Vvlk. Likewise the passage in Heb. xii. 17 relates to Esau'j incapacity to inherit the theocratic blessing even with teai-s and penitence. 2. An iiidiv dual condition. There could be also in Edoni individuals having the character of Israel, and in Israel there could be individual Edomites. The LXX. has regarded Job as an Edomite prince. Allowing this to be uncertain, the Ed(jmite nature of the Israelitish Judas is beyond a doubt. 3. A rilic/ious-ct/dcal condition. Salvation Wa3 as little seemed unconditionally to the individual Jew by Israel's election, iis the individual Edomite was personally subjected to condemnation by that theocratic rejection of Edom (see Hengel). Meyer : " We must not attach such a merely privative mean- ing to the tfiiatifTa * as not to love, or to love less (Grotius, Estius [Hodge, Stuart], and others), which is also not confirmed by Matt. vi. 24 ; Luke xiv. 2(j ; xvi. 13 ; John xii. 25 ; but it expicsses just the op- posite of the positive tjyaTT. — positive abhorrence." This would be still more than hatred I Meyer also speaks of a becoming fond of and ab/crreuce evea before the birth of the brothers. Yet here the mean- ing might be ; I have loved the letter, but the spirit of the letter I have loved less ! f This, indeed, might be said of many of the results of modern criticism and exegesis. Philippi lessens at least the antithesis in relation to Jacob and Esau themselves, but yet without thereby becoming rid of the tradi- tional prejudices respecting the sense of this pas- sage. " Jacob's recejition of the theocratic birth- right, and Esau's exclusion tioin it, constitute, in Paul's mind, only the type for the law of the recep- tion of eternal xalvalion and of abandonment to etrnal perdition.''^ But the law of this reception and abandonment is not given here, but in Mark xvi. 16. The following interpretation is better, if we understand thereby not absolute, but relative an- titheses. Calvin well explains ayanCtv and inirnv by a^munere and repellere. The use of /nrrfir is similar (Gen. xxix. 30, 31 ; Dent. xxi. 15 ff. ; Prov. xiii. 24; Matt. vi. 24; Luke xvi. 13; Matt. x. 37; comp. with Luke xiv. 2G ; John xii. 25). " To hate father and mother, and his own soul, does not mean to love them less than the Lord, but to reject them altogether in a case of collision, or to so act toward them as if one posiiivcly hateil them (V) ; in which case there might slill exist a great deal of love for them, though certainly less than for the Lord." — If, indeed, absolute lore and a conditional love = lovinq les.i, are at variance with each other, then the disre- gard, which is similar to hatred, though not partak- ing of the nature of hatretl, follows of itself; it is * [It c.innot l>e denied that half, in the Scripture, does not nlwaj'H di-»criln' jiositive fitilupnenoo, but occnsionally a less dodrec, or, ninrc iicouratcly, the nbscnco of love ; c. g., Oon. xxix. ;JI (wliore iho orijrinal text says: "Lrah waa hi'liil" l>y .laciih— I. .■., less loved than Uacliel ; comp. vor. 30) ; Matt. vi. 24, iind especially Luke xiv. 24 ; compared with Miitt. x. .{7, where one evangelist says hulilh no', and the otiier, Icvilh mure. The word undoubtedly, even in these pas.iaKes, taken exactly, de.>-cribes not merely an absence of love, but u fonnal putting info the background. -1'. S.) t [This is nn allusion to the strictly literal and m'am- mnticrd method of exetjesis adopted by Mever. lint if we liepart from the letter, who is to Ih) the discemer of tho spirit! There are but two answers: that of Itonie (eccle- siastical antlioriiy), and that of li^itionaliBin (individual hu- miin eonscioasness). 'I'he strict interpretation of .Meyer ig ndopteil by Kntr.schc, lie Wette, and others. Unquestion- ably the dealin^rs of Cod with Ksau imlicato something positive, thoiiKh, Were it but the deprivation of love, the reoults of ovii-Uoing would still account for tho historical ticts.— ll.J CHAPTER IX. 1-38. 313 the negation of the defect or of the sin to which the hated individual cleaves, but it is not the indi- vidual to which the defect or the sin cleaves. See also Tlioliick, p. 498, against Fritzshe, Meyer, De Wctte, and Philippi. It must be obsei'ved, further, that, in ver. 18, the description of fore-ordination or predcuinaiion ac- cording to election, is introduced by !j xar' i/.'/My'ijv 7T(j6f)Kri<. The idea of election refutes tlie follow- ing claims to a right in God's kingdom : 1. The claim by virtue of natural descent from Abraham, the father of the faithful, especially l)y virtue of birthright ; 2. The claim by virtue of de- scent from the legitimate marriage concluded under the promise ; 3. The claim by virtue of the merit of works. Election takes place freely : 1. Without regard to the advantage of birthright ; 2. to descent from a family that is blessed ; 3. to community even in a twin-birth ; 4. and to the fore- seeing of works. And all this is on the simple ground that election, a. voluntarily determines the indoles beforehand, thereby avoiding all appearance of natural necessity, the requirement of birthright, &c. ; b. and, accordng to the iiidoles or economical endowment, it also makes a TT^oOfrnt; in regard to the economical call. [The sum of the whole matter, detaching from it all reference to the extent of the preference or the result of the choice of God in this instance, is, that God does exercise a prerogative of choice or election, independently of all these human considerations. That this is the point to which Paul ■would bring his readers, is evident from what im- mediately follows. A fuither proof that a general truth is also to be drawn from it, is afforded by the constant use made of special points in Old Testa- ment history and of Old Testament passages to es- tablish general propositions (see the case of Pharaoh, below, ver. IV, which, as far as the individual in question is concerned, has no connection with the discussion, and New Testament passim). This me- thod of citation is based on the stability of the Divine character ; to deny its propriety, is to pre- sume an arbitrariness on the part of God, in far greater opposition to His character than is implied even in most fearfully fatalistic view of this chap- ter.— R.] Second Proof : The antithesis in fore-ordinatlon {predestination). God is not unrighteous in slioioing mercif and in hardening, and in His manner of uniting judgment and compassion (vers. 14-18).* Meyer : The second part of the theodicy. Ver. 14. What shall we say then ? Is there unrighteousness \vith God? {Ti ovv i(JoT<- fi f V ; /I 7) ai) ix i a tt a() a r iZ d i (7) ; Comp. chap. iii. 5.] The Jew cannot refute the facts that Ishmael was rejected in spite of his birthright, and that Esau was rejected in spite of his legitimacy and birthright. Just here was a special point of pride with tl)e Jew. But the consistency of this fact liad now appeared — the absolute freedom of Divine choice. Israel's call was itself the strongest witness against the claims of the Israelites, because by it the * [Br. Hodge considers this paragrraph the stntement »nd answer of the first objection arising ag;iinst the doc- trine that God is sovereign in the distribution of His t'iivors, ind th:it the ground of His selecting one and rejecting anotlieris not their works, hut His ow-n gooii pleasure. A second objection, he thinks, is stated in yer. 19. So Meyer, Bchuli, and most. — K.] most weighty prejudices concerning their privilege! were overcome. But, finally, God's promise to Re- becca stood firm, and by tliis was decided, that the works of the Israelites could no more impose con- ditions on God's free exercise of His authority, than could be done formerly by the works of Jacob, wliec God assigned to him beforehand the domination over his brother — that is, the theocratic honor. It was especially this declaration against the claims estab- lished on works which was calculated to excite the Judaizing spirit, and lead it to the conclusion that, by so doing, God would be unrighteous. Tliis is the interpretation of Augustine, Hervteus, the majority of Lutheran writers, and Bullinger and Tholuck. But even this conclusion he rejects with abhorrence (comp. chap. hi. 5). He adduces his proof imme- diately afterwards. Meyer remarks : " This reason is demonstrative, in so far as by it tlie absolute divhie worthiness of what God predicates of himself must be assumed." Yet this would be only an absolute proof of author- ity. Also, according to Calvin, the proof lies in the refuting effect of the biblical declaration : satis habet, Scriplurce iestinwniis impuros latraius com- P'scere.* [In this choice and preference of the one before the other there is no unrighteousness. For he only is unrighteous who is under obligations which he does not fulfil ; but God is under no obligations to His creature, hence can do with him what He will (vers. 14-29). God's will is the absolute and eternal norm of righteousness, and all that He does is necessarily right (Deut. xxxii. 4). There is no norm of righteousness above Him to which He is subject ; else were God not God. — P. S.] For other explanations, see Tholuck, pp. 50*7, 508. Tholuck : " Origen's regarding this as the ob- jection of an opponent, and ver. 15 as the Apostle's answer, and vers. 16-18 as another objection of the opponent, is a result of doctrinal perplexity." Theo- dore of Mopsvestia, Storr [Jerome], and Flatt, re- garded vers. 15-18, and Heumann, vers. 15-21, as the objection of an opponent. [Vers. 15 and IV are quotations from the Scripture, and hence cannot be objections ; while vers. 16 and 18 are not the incorrect deductions of an opponent from these pas- sages, as Chrysostom and Peh^gius suppose, but the correct conclusions of the Apostle himself. — P. S.] Ver. 15. For he saith to Moses, I ■will have mercy on ■whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion [ '£ /. f ;/ ff (/) o V a 1' i ?. i b) , y. a i oi y.t t i (t ti a 01 ov civ olxtii()o).f See Textual Note ^*, iw the Hebrew], An answer to the self-proposed objection in ver. 14, taken from Exod. xxxiii. 19, according to the LXX. Tiie form of the original text is evi- dently this : I have (already) had mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I have had compassion on whom I will have compassion. The sense is there- fore not : To whom I am gracious, to him I am gracious ; that is, I act in the matter according to * [Hodge : " It will he remarked that these argrimeuts of the Apostle are founded on two assiimptions. The first is, that the ScriptureB are the "Word of God ; and the sec- ond, that what God actually does cannot be unrighteous." -R.] t [On the distinction between eAcu and oi/cTeipw, Meyer remarks : " The distinction between these two words is not to be thus defined, with Tittmnnn, 8yiion., p. C9 f., that eA. describes the active mercy, and oikt. the sympallietic coin- passion; but rather, that the same notion of mineriri ig expressed more, slr« 01' I' Tor {yi).ovroii, x.r.).. On the construction, see Winer, p. .5.")6. — Meyer: " From the saying of (Jod, Paul deduces the inference lying therein respecting tiie causality of tlie Divine sav- ing deliverance." — R.] That the entrance of human good conduct in faith is presupposed, follows not only from tiie analogy of Scripture, but also from the antithesis (ver. 17) ; though the Apostle here precludes the delusion that n)an, by his willing and running, can acquire that foundation of salvation which |)roceed3 only from the freedom of the com- passionate God. Meyer : " Incorrect, according to Locke, and most connnentators ; Reiche : Oi'/.nvT. is probably chosen with regard to Abraham's wish to constitute Ishmael, and Isaac's wish to constitute Ks.iu, the heir ; but riii-/. is chosen with regunl to Esau's fruitless running home from hunting (The- ophyluct thought that it refers to his running to the hunt).* For Paul, by his ctfja oi%, draws his con- clusion only from God's declaration pronmlgated to Moses." But, by this declaration to Moses, Paul proves that God was not unjust to Esau ; that is, that God, acting in harmony with the application of that declaration to Judaism, does not now do any in justice t8 one who relies on righteousness by works. The willing and rifnning are not rejected in them selves, l?ut are elsewhere required according to the I)ivine t'all (1 Cor. ix. 24. Meyer even derives the Punning in this passage from the races, which ill suits the connection); it is only not recognized as the causality of the line of development. This causality is God's grace (the i/.twvToi; must here be defined conformably to the preceding distinction between D.ftlv and otxTfi()n.v). [Paul obviously draws an inference from ver. 15, with u()a oi'v. The question is. How gen- eral is that inference ? The verse is certainly gen- eral in form ; any limitation must be found in the preceding context, or in the scope of the Apostle's argument. To limit it to Esau, as an illustration of God's method, is, in fact, to extend it, since Esau was not of the chosen people ; and what God said to Moses, the head of the chosen peo- ple, could not be api)licable to him, unless it was of general validity. To limit it to the Jewish peo- ple, because they are under discussion in this part of the Epistle, is forbidden by the fact that the in- stances or illustrations are outside that people (Esau, Pharaoh). The only safe view is, that the word to Moses is a Divine axiom, and this, an inference of universal application and validity. It will not inter- fere with human means in salvation ; for, if true, it applies to willing and running in general, and yet it stops no volition and i|ts accompanying inxiscular ex ertion. That side of the matter is not under con sideration. Alford : " At present the Apostle is em ployed wholly in asserting the divine Sovereignty, the glorious vision of which it ill becomes us to distract by contiinial downward looks on this earth. It is most true tliat the imimdintc subject is the national rcjiction of the Jews ; but we must con- sent to hold our reason in abeyance, if we do not recognize the inference, that the sovereign powei and free election, here proved to belong to God, extend to evcrii excrciie of His nieriy — whether temporal or spiritual, whether iii Providence or in grace, whether national or individual. It is in parts of Scripture like this that we must be especially (care- ful not to fall short of what is written — not fo allow of any compromise of the plain and awful words of God's Spirit, for the sake of a caution which He himself does not teach us." — R.] The antithesis of the consistency of free Divine grace, iis experienced by Mo.ses, is the consistency of Divine judgment as revealed in the case of Pha- raoh. Ver. 17. For the Scriptxire saith unto Pha- raoh. The j'uo announces the proof which arises from the uniformity of the same Divine dealing in its rejection. 7'/f Scripture saith, is a metonymy for (r'oil Miii/h according to the testimnni/ of Scrip- ture. But the metonymy brings out prominently the fact that this deehiration of God is not merely temporary and isolated, but has the force of a per- manent scriptural declaration, which is applicable to * (This is tho intorpretntion of 'Wntson, and man^ Arminlan cominontntorB. Hut it is not iiecossiiry to oppose a viow so far-fctchod, and forming such an anli-climux I -B.1 CHAPTER IX. 1-33. 315 all analogous cases. The scriptural statement itself is in Exod. ix. 16. [Even for this very purpose have I raised thee up, fts' ai'iTo toTto iii^yii^^d ff i . For the original Hebrew, and LXX., here altered, Bee Textual Note ^^. — R.] If we look at the con- nection, Paul's translation, e^/yyft^a fff, corre- sponds in sense to the original text, T^'^ri"l^3.;n , j.ist as well as the (JifTtujt'jOrjq [LXX.] does, only it is more specific ; from which consideration Meyer again educes a difference between the original sense of the Hebrew text and Paul's meaning. After the judgment of murrain and boils and blains (the fifth and sixth plagues) on Egypt, we read, as before : " The Lord liardened the heart of Pliaraoh," after it had already been said (Exod. viii. 15, 32) : " Pha- raoh hardened his heart ; " and Moses must solemnly declare God's message to Pharaoli, which, accord- ing to the translation of Zunz, is as follows : " For I would already have stretched out my hand, and would have smitten thee and thy people with pesti- lence, so that thou wouldst be cut off from the earth. Yet I have allowed thee to exist on purpose to show tliee my strength, and that my name may be extolled throughout all the earth." Evidently the transla- tion a/low to exist (also in Stier), is as much an ener- vation of the causal T'^yn as that of the LXX. is, and probably the cause in this case is also the same hesitation in accepting the full strength of the thought. The expression is chiefly used of positive set- ting up (for example, of statues), and then also of arousing^ awaking ; and even the weaker meaning of allowiiiii to exist has still the sense of a positive support. . According to Meyer, Paul makes the Scrip- ture say: "'I have awakened thee;' that is, allowed tb.ee to appear, to stand forth ; thy whole liistorical appearance has therefore been effected by me," &c. This interpretation introduces a harsh fatalistic sense into the text; and though Meyer presents a series of expositors as saying the same thing, this proves in- correct in the case of the very first one, Theopliylact, who says: flq to /.daov i'lyayov. Bengel: T'^l^n ; omnibus locis omnino jirceaupponit subjectum Jam ante produdiim. Philippi's explanation is: "I have awakened thee to heiiui, let thee exist." Calvin's interpretation is strongest : Deiis Pharaonem a se profedum elicit, u/,h God jieniii's hardeu'nr/ ("Origen, Grotius, and Others), and also the interpretation of a x ). tj (/ r - V nv as duritcr tractare (Carpzov, Sender, Beck, aad others). Tholuek, without finally and positively adopting the latter of these, adduces many special grounds in its favor. [Against this untenable view of a ■/.'/. >io i' V n. , see Alford in loco. "The word here refers to a hirderiug^ such a fortification in Bin, tiiat tiie sinner is unsusceptible of all workings of grace and better influences, the removal into a state where conversion is either absolutely impossi- ble, or rendered difhcult in the highest degree. This is an act of God, in so far as He has ordained the laws of the development of evil, ' tliat, i)ropagating still, it brings forth evil,' (Schiller). It is here viewed as a punishment for a previous self-harden- ing of tiie sinner" (Scliaff). So Hodge, wlio regards it as " the judicial abandonment of men ' to a rep- robate mind,' a punitive withdrawing of the influ- ences of His lioly S|)irit, and the giving them up to the uncounteracted operation of tiie liardening or perverting influences by wiiieh they are surrounded." So Wordsworth, but less strongly. If objection be made to such a judicial process as a work of God, then the same ditliculty " lies in the dnUii course of His proiidence, in wiiich we see this hardening pro- cess going on in the case of the prosperous ungodly man " (Alford). The facts remain, the solution is lacking, except so far as God plainly speaks in such pa.ssages as this. Meyer objects to the introduction of previous self-hardening here. See the clear and thoughtl'ul note of Olshansen i» loco. — R.] Evidently, the context in Exod. ix. indicates a •postponement of the well-merited judgment, in which postponement God's long-suffering is concur- rent (comp. chap, xxiii.). The definite sense of the passage must be ascertained from the connection. We must here take into consideration the follow- ing: 1. Previously the question was, God's purposes preceding the birth of the children ; here, on the contrary, it is the free will with which God dealt with fixed characters— Moses, on the one hand, Pharaoh, on the other. If this free will be referi'cd to a purpose of God, it is nevertheless not the pur- ]>ose of el'ction, wliich first settles personality, Itut the pur[)ose of ordination, which, in the establish- ment of its destiny, presuppo.scs its conduct. Con- Bciuently, because this purpose is conditional, God is still left free to iiave mercy on the real Moses, just as He is free to harden the still existing Pharaoh. 2. As the n.nT) must here be taken emphati- cally, anil expresses the free consistency of Jehovah in His mercy to Moses until He can reveal His glory to him (see Exod. xxxiii. 19 ff.), so has also a/./.tj- oi'vti, the meaning of a continuation of the judg- ment of hardening to tlie extreme, in antithesis to the self-ripened judgment of retribution. The more Btrongly we here press the or fl t /. n , the more will every notion of an abstract authority be ex- cluded, and the stronger becomes the emphasis on the pure divinity of the fli-'/.fu'. [In othi-r words, the more will the will of God, in its absolute free- dom, appear, iii)t as blind ariiitrariness, wliicli is the very reverse (tf freedom, but as a will of infinite love uud wisdom. It proveri itself such iu the spe- cial cases from which the general proposition of thia verse is drawn. — If Oe/.nv (as is claimed by Pro* lessor Hitchcock, Lange's (oiujh., Eph. i. 'J) always implies spontaneity, then the " will " here, in each case, finds its justification in the character of God, which immediately prompts it. This may be what Dr. Lange means by the " pure divinity of the OihLi:"—R.] 3. The wliole of the immediate result of this fearfully significant expression is, that God, in HLs freedom, has mercy on Moses to the utmost, and has, to the utmost, led Pliaraoh to judgment; that Moses can thereby make no just claim on the ground of the righteousness of works, and that Pliaraoh can protest against nothing that he might regard as injustice done to him. In this way the justifiable use of the passage quoted by Paul is determined. [The freedom of God seems to be the main thought. The reference to the righteousness of works seema needless. Meyer concludes his exegesis of the pas sage thus : '' Undoubtedly the will of God is just and holy, but it is not conceived and presented here from this point of view, but in its itidijjendmce of all h 'email. OU.hv and r(>t/n,r, consequently in its simple self-origination (Aseitdt) ; which meaning ia to be preserved in tlie clear sharpness of o i' i).fi, t/fft." The words certainly favor this view; we need but guard against inferences, which are drawn, not by the Apostle, but by imperfect human logic. -R.] Third Pkoof : Gnd''s freedom in the actual call to salvation (vers. 19-29). A. ITie proof from the real relation (vers. 19-24). Tholuek regards this section as the collective carrying out of the thought, that the excluded one can bring no complaint against God, because he is left free in liis conduct, &c. ; but Meyer, on the con- trary, regards vers. 19-21 as the third part of the theodicy : " Man is not entitled to reply against God by saying, 'Why doth He yet find fault?' For his relation to God is as that of the thing formed to him that formed it, or of the vessel to tlie [)otter, who has power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dis- honor." * Then he regards vers. 22-2'.) as the fourth part of the theodicy : " God has endured with much loug-suft'ering the vessels of wratii fitted to destruc- tion, in order to make known His glory on the ves- sels of me'-cy, even us Cliristians, whom He hatb called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gen tiles." We make the following distinction : In the first case, in vers. C-13, the (piestion was the free- dom of Gild's election in ai.titliesis to the human, and especially to the theocratic, right of inheritance. Then, in vers. 14-19, the fpiestion wa.s, the freedom of God's ordination in antithesis to the claims of human righteousness by works (since even Moses himself, the lawgiver, did not merit mercy by the works of the law, and Pharaoh was visited by the judgment of hardening, instead of by the judgment of destruction which he had merited). The Apostle now pa.sses over to God's freedom in His call. [Whatever be the division adopted, or distino- ♦ [Olshinipen : " The Apostle now Introduoos nnew the unwise imiiiirer of ver. H, in order to find an iipoloijy for him-'elf in thin oi'oration of God, even in the foi-ms of evil. St. I'iuil at):iBlios tliic arroipinre with an ajipeal to tlic abso- late ihiiracter of (led, wilh re.'-]iei't to whoHo wiiy.'; the crea- ture nnifit render iiii imfoiiditiiined Hiilmiission, even when he la not able to oomproheud tbeui."— K.] CHAPTER IX. 1-38. sn tions made, there can be no doubt, that the objec- tion the Apostle here raises and answers is one which arises at once against the freedom of God's will, viz., that it destroys our responsibility. As this was more likely to arise as an inference {ovv, ver. 19, which Beems to have troubled tlie transcribers, however) from what precedes, there is the greater ground for holding that the preceding verses refer to God's Kovereignty, considered in the light of an objection (ver 14), and that this paragraph presents it in op- position to another (ver. 19). At all events, what- ever limitations and special applications be made, the reader now deals with the passage (and subject) in this more general reference, and mo^t commenta- tors have felt obliged to treat it thus. — R.] Yer. 19. Thou wilt say then unto me [epfii,- fiot ovv]. The conclusion which the Apostle allows the Jew to draw from the supposition that he has derived mercy and hardness from God's will, has been urged by thousands against Calvin's predestinarian system ; and, indeed, they have done it with much better ground than the Jew could ob- ject to Paul's doctrine ; yet they have also in many ■ways mistaken the infinite importance of the exer- cise of Divine authority in human guidance. If the whole development of man is only an absolute Divine decree, the objection in ver. 19 says : Why then doth he yet find fault ? [ t t o i' r e T t fi i /( (f f T « 1- ; See Textual Mote ".] How, then, can God find fault with man, or rebuke him for being a sinner? By doing so. He would even contradict himself. The expression //. s/t qi (rai. seems to be purposely chosen to bring out the au- thoritative character in a finding fault, in which the question cannot be a really objective relation to guilt. Tholuck : " Neither the charge against Pha- raoh (Justin Martyr), nor that of the ungodly in the prophets (Zwingli, and others), is meant, but the re- buke of hardening brought against the Jews. Every penal declaration of revelation in general is meant, in so far as it would not be authorized by the doc- trine of fate. The Jew does not here have in mind God himself, but that presupposition of the idea of God which Paul seems to present. But he never- theless betrays the inclination of the one who relies upon the righteousnss of works to find fault with God. [In so far as one holds that notion of God, however derived, which in any way allows the pos- sibility of His being the author of evil in man, this objection will arise. It cannot be confined to the Jew and his legal righteousness. (Meyer, De Wette, make the objection general, while Philippi finds in the sharp answer of ver. 20 a proof that the objector is a Jew.) — R.] [For who resisteth his will? Tw yaQ ^ov ).r^ II ax t, avroti ri(; av & iarrj xfv ; Mey- er renders fioi'/.ijua, which Paul uses only here, dm GewoUte — i. e., captum consilium. It obviously implies deliberation, as fiov).o,iiat does, when prop- erly distinguished from SDm. — R.] Though the a,v&i(rrtj/.f has the present meaning, yet the form seems to indicate also the thought that God has already anticipated every attempt of human oppo- sition. The Apostle does not hasten to refute the charge directly, by urging the truth of the relations of guilt, because this charge is based upon such a Dne-sided standpoint from the overrating of human action, that this human boasting must first of all be prostrated. Chap. iii. 5 ff. proves that he can also reply to a similar charge by an answer which brings out the ethical relations in harmony with the con- nection. But the first task presented to him her* is, to go back with the quarrelsome Jew resting upon the righteousness of his works, to the absolute de- pendence of man on God. Ver. 20. Nay but, O man [o' av&Qotn i, // f T'o r vy f ]. We translate the fi tvovvyi with Tholuck: Much more ; Meyer construes it as irony: " Yes, indeed, man." Its most probable use is to strengthen the thought : " Just the opposite, man, &c. Thou sayest that God disputes with thee, and thou ratlier, in thy erroneous claims of right, darest to dispute with God." [Still better, Alford : " Yea, rather, taking the ground from under the previous assertion, and superseding it by another ; implying that it has a certain show of truth, but that the proper view of the matter is yet to be stated. It thus conveys an intimation of rebuke ; here with severity." Comp. chap. x. 18. Hodge : " Gross aa is this perversion of the Apostle's doctrine on the part of the objector, Paul at first rebukes the spirit in which it is made, before he shows it to be un- founded." — R.] The 0) avd^MTti expresses al- ready man's complete dependence on God ; and this is increased by the ah ii^ li, w^ho art thou l^quantnlus es ; Meyer]. [That repliest against God, 6 cuvxcuno- y.Qi,v6nivoii TiJ) dnj).'] According to Theodore of Mopsvestia, Jerome, and others, Paul, in using the avT n n o y. Q i,v 6 n i V ot;, refutes his opponent by referring him to his own words. His opponent replies against God, and therefore opposes God, in the very moment in which he maintains that He can- not be opposed. In that case, indeed, ni^'ovvyt would be ironical. This interpretation is ingenious, but too refined, and is opposed by the following words. Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus ? \_Mt] iQ fl TO 71 /.da ft a roi nldaavxi,, Ti /( f inolrjaaq ourojq ; An echo of, but scarcely a quotation from, Isa. xxix. 16, though the first clause is found word for word in the LXX. — R.] The explanation tractasti (Grotius, and others) i« evasive. The tcrtium, comparationis is the causality of him that forms, but here as the causaUty of the form. [It must be observed that even a pressing of the figure cannot m.ake n ?.da n a mean the thi7ig created ; the reference is not to original crea- tion, but to the subsequent ethical moulding, from which, of course, must be excluded the mystery of universal sin referred to in chap. v. 12. That en- ters into the nature of the " clay " and the " lump " alike. Against Glockler's argumentatio a minorc ad majus : " If a thing moulded cannot thus speak, much less a man," &c., see Meyer in loco. — R.] Yer. 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay [?} ovy. i'/it, iiovaiuv 6 KtQa- fKvq Tor TTTj/.ov. The order indicates the two emphatic thoughts : 1. That the human subjects un- der discussion are as " clay ; " " bis clay," would be a proper rendering. 2. That God has pown' ; the definition of that power is given in the next clause. — R.] Tholuck : " The potter's clay j regarded by infralapsarianism as the massa jam perdita. The vessels are not considered, as is observed by the GL ord. and Brenz, as naturally part silver anl gold, and part dirt, but altogether dirt. Consequently, these expositors prefer the allusion to the Old Tes- tament, Jer. xviii., where a people already ruined, which God forms into vessels of honor or dishonor according to its own conduct, is spoken of ; the 8U« 318 THE EPISTLE OF TAUL TO THE ROMANS. pralapsarians, on the contrary, as Thomasius, Estius, Calvin, and Gornarus, decide in favor of an allusion to Isa. xxix. or xlv. Siipnilap.sarianism, to wit, re- gards the 71 r/ Xoi; as the mas^a absolute, qualin erat ma^sa anrreloruin (Estius) and the nldafta — which the meaning of the word is alleged to favor — as the product of the first creation." Tholuck finds in the simile only the sense expressed by Calvin : NtiUam dei arbilrio cmisam sitperiorem posse adduci, &e. For the harsh expressions of Calvin, the still harsher ones of Zwingli, and the equally mild ones of Bul- linger, see Tholuck, p. 528. According to Ariniiiius, and others, together with Lutherans, ver. 21 contains only a preliminary re- joinder ; the real answer follows in vers. 22, 23. [It is indeed a preliminary, but one that " aims rather at striking dumb the objector by a statement of God's undoubted right, against which it does not become us men to murmur, than at unfolding to us the actual state of the case " (AlCord). Comj). the emphatic order of the words. — R.] Besides, Ar- minians and Socinians have asserted that here Paul does not speak of " an election of individuals, but of classes — of believing Gentiles " (Tholuck).* According to Tholuck, further, the principal question here is, What must we understand by the nti/.o.; ? If we regard the earthy clod as the real clay from which man was made, then the work of Him that formed may be transferred to the creation itscll'. According to this idea, indeed, the individual man is only " a specimen of the species." But if we regard God's breath as the real substance of man's formation, according to the biblical idea of personality, Calvinistic supralap.'sarianism is obvi- ated. [Of the same lump to make, Ix toT avrov q> V o d II a T o 1^ noitjffai. The power of the potter ia defined more closely by the infinitive. Fairness to the figure compels us to identify the " clay " and the " lump." The " clay " Is the substance itself ; the " lump " presents it as already in use by the potter for his purpose. Beyond this we cannot press it. Meyer perhaps goes too far, but certainly is ju'^tified in making the nrjlnq co-extensive with human nature. It must be borne in mind that the pott(,'r is not represented as making the " clay," or even the " lump," but as having power " over the clay," to make vessels " of the lump." — R.] Tlie word here is not, as Meyer has properly remarked against Hof- mann, created, but made. lie understands by the g> VII n/i a " the V(!ry same mass of human nature in and of itself" But we can just as little regard the maxxa jam perdifa as merely the human race, pros- trated in the ruin of the fall. In chap. xi. ir> the 9i'(>aiia is the Jewish people ; and, according to ver. 2t of the present chapter, it is the same wretch- ed stitc of the Jew.'! and Gentiles at the time of Christ. God, as the Maker, in Jlix exerrine of the efficacinm call (see ver. 24), has disposed of this qii'iiniift, first of all, of the Jewish people. [Grant- ing this immediate reference, we must still avoid limiting the meaning of iiron/ia. For even ver. 24 includes the fientiles, wliile the di>icussion hitherto biS tmhniced Lshmacl, Esau, and Pharaoh. — R.] • [ThU avoids, but does not meet, tho difflcultv. For U fimpl y transfiTd to Qod's doir.Rrt a distinction wiiicli In Ti'ality bclonifs only fo our .«tiitc of jiartinl knowlt-dRO. With u«, doalinif with classes is often a mcro convcnienco fomvoidino; tho doalinc with individual.s. 0/»■«- tioti lies in the fact that God is still free also in His ordin ition, and the proof of the freedom of His ordination lies in the fact that He is still free in His call. But God's manner of using His freedom in these thre»> stages testifies to the righteousness of Hifl dealing'- 1. His exclusion of Ishmael, gives an ethical character to the whole series of God s acta of free- dom. 2. Ilis hatreil of Esau is only relative ; it de- notes tho infinite difference between the two, lij making the first-born theocratically sulyect to th< younger. CHAPTER IX. 1-33. 319 8. It is plain, to one acquainted with the Scrip- tures, that God's hardening of Pharaoh resulted from Pharaoh's having hardened himself; and be- eides tliis, there is connected with this the additional fact that, even though Pharaoh was ripe for the judgment of destruction, God maijves tlie useless man still useful by allowing him to exist longer, and t by raising him up, in order, tlirough him, to declare His power and His mercy. With the same consist- ency. He goes so far on the side of His exercise of mercy toward Moses, whose fidelity is well known to Israel, that He can reveal to him His glory, though it is in only a qualified manner. 4. He finally stood with the formative power of flis call to salvation over the ifVQafia of Israel pre- pared in the Old Testament, and could exercise His freedom by immediately allowing a Christianity to come from it, by virtue of which the whole qr^afia crumbled into vessels of honor and dishonor, if peradventure He allowed new wine to be poured into the old bottles, or the new cloth to be sewed into the old garment. But then it came to pass that another antithesis was prepared in the Israel of the apostolic age. The representatives of the ifvfjafia (not this merely) living at that time, had already transformed themselves in part into vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction ; that is, to be broken to pieces (see Ps. ii.), but not to be worn out as vessels of dishonor ; and the blessing of the Old Testament in part exhibited itself in them by their allowing themselves to be prepared by God as vessels of glory. And He w;is already about to break those vessels of wrath ; but as He had once patiently made use of Pharaoh as a means of revealing His majesty and of declaring the glory of His name, so did He now endure in great long-suffering the vessels of wrath ; and for this purpose, that their contradiction might be the means for the transt'errence of salvation to the Gentiles, and for making known the riches of His glory on the vessels of His mercy. In brief, the turning-point was this: Instead of a qvQana, which could have been simply used in the antithesis of vessels of honor and dishonor. He found tliat the developing process of the covenant people of the Old Testament had gone to such an extreme, that the people were divided into vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy ; and instead of now making a stunted Jewish Christianity from the whole sub- stance of the people, He established that economy of saving interposition explained by the Apostle in chaps. X. and xv. Though Paul has principally allowed only the factors of the divine exercise of authority to appear, the ground for this was, that he had to establish the freedom of God's grace in relation to Judaism. But afterward he shows the righteousness of God in re- lation to the unbelief of most Israelites and the faith of the Gentiles. Meyer remarks, in reference to the idea avifvoq ftq ru/cTiv : " It shall be either honored, so that it has Ti/.trjv (as, for for example, a sacred vase); or else it shall experience the opposite, so that arvftla adheres to it (as, for example, a vessel des'gned for a low and filthy use)." According to 2 Tim. ii. 20, the difference in material comes most prominently into consideration ; but as far as the use is con- cerned, the antithesis of sacred and uvclean will BufBce. Tholuck emphasizes principally the antithe- sis : held in honor and in dishonor, but maintains that the simile is not adequate in the very chief point of comparison ; the potter moulds the clay. but God is the Creator of the creature, therefor* Parens also speaks of a comparaiio a minori ad majus. Yet it is incorrectly assumed here that the creation is spoken of. The passage undoubtedly cited by Paul,* Isa, xxix. 16, refers to a people relying upon the right- eousness of their works (ver. 13), on whom judg ment is about to be visited (ver. 14), because they claim a false independence toward God in return fot their service, as if God was related to them, as an equal — as if the potter were equal with the clay, and the clay could say : " He has not made me," or, " He does not understand the matter." Besides, the vessels unto honor and unto dishonor must by dc means be identified with the vessels of wrath and of mercy, which error has been committed by De Wette, Tholuck, Meyer, and others. Ver 22. But what if God, although willing to show, &c. El dk Qikwv 6 &f6q, k.t.X. [See Textual Note ". The question as to what should be supplied with ft di, is discussed below. Meyer suggests : " Wilt thou still venture this re- plying against God " (ver. 20). — R.] Two opposite explanations here present themselves : because God zvould, and although God would. The sense in the fomier case would be tiiis : the /naxfJoOv/ila was also designed to enhance the penal judgment (De Wette, Riickert, [Calvin], and most commentators). But this cannot be the purpose of the fiay.QoSt'fiia, Though the result is, that the judgment is enhanced (chap. ii. 4) by the abuse of the fia/.(j., yet this abuse must by no means be referred to the fiaxfjo- Ov/iia. The translation although G^d would, adopt- ed by Fritzsclie, Philippi, and Meyer, is therefore preferable. [It may be added in favor of this view, that it gives to eJ.tnv the meaning of willing— i. e., spontaneous will. It was the will of God, growing out of His character, to show His wrath, &e., but He endured notwithstanding, &c. The oth- er view takes the participle in the sense of purpos- ing, which is too strong. The passage then presents another answer to the objection of injustice, by showing how the sovereign God had withheld the exercise of a power in accordance with His holy will. The position of Q-U.mv, as Meyer remarks, prepares the way for the strong contrast with " long- suffering." — R.] If we look at the explanatory par- allels in Pharaoh's history, the meaning becomes more definite : although, and since alrcadg ; as God was already about to do. In Exod. ix. 15, God said to Pharaoh : " For now I will stretch out my hand." Likewise the aorists ivdilSacrOai, yvm^laat, indicate this readiness of judgment, not less than the expression a/.tvij oQyT/q, and especially xa r Vj Q TOG i-iiv a. The expression: trdi iiaaOat r ij V Q y ij V aai yv«)(ji(Tce.i, to () i< v ar 6 v ,}^ in connection with the foregoing, forcibly calls to mind the declaration to Pharaoh. Endured [ JJ r f y x f r ]. Chrysostom, De Wette, and others, have referred this to the lonir-forbearing with Pharaoh ; but Meyer, on the other hand, is of the opinion that Paul means the previous time in general (which shall thus continue under this divine * [It is more of an echo than a citation ; hencfi there cannot be much stress laid upon the context in Isa. xxix. Certainly Paul, who is one of the freest gcneralizers from the Scripture texts he refers to, must not be limited here, where he has introduced such a variety of persons into hia discussion. — K.] t [to SvvaTov avTov, what was posnibl'- for Him, what He was in a condition to do, Comp. chap. viid. 3 Meyer-— E.] 320 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. forbearance until the second coming of Christ). But it is eviilent from the coiuu'Ctioii, that the Apostle means the hariieneil portion of tiie Isiaeiiti?h peo- ple. This is the view of Tholiick, with others ; " The unbelieving Jews at Christ's time ; there can only be a mere allusion to Pharaoh." For other TJews, see Tholuck.* The whole passage in vers. '22, 23 has occasioned very great difficulty. The princi|)al dilliculty lies in the fiet that it is not fully carrieil out; that is, that it is an aposiopesis. Augustine [so Stuart] oiiserved this, and siij)plied a av ti's ti from ver. 20 ; but the better supplement would be: /(/} ctAixiu Tiaon tut Onjt; /itj j'f roiTo ! in ver. 14; but the best of all would be chap. xi. 33. The second difficulty lies in the brief expression ttai 'iva, which at once becomes clear by liringing over once more the »/i'fyzf r : has also endured in order to. For the dirterent attempts at construction, Bee Tholuck (p. 535). 1. /vat Y V 10 o i a a I , xal 'iva yrM()t t iff /i iva : " those who are originally (!) appointed to destruc- tion,, for //«*? purpose," &c. The xai would thus be epexegetical, which iS Calvin's view of the thought ; but the xatt](>ri' i'/( t « ]. On the; olj-curity of the i^ea of ft •ix()o ft I'll ia in Calvin, ilofmann, and others (as only mi.'aning wailing /or), see Tholuck, p. 530. • [The more general reference is to he T>rcferre4, and, in any o-'ise, il is Implietl ; for nil anto-Chri!- J'ecfionablc on the tfrounOs he statcn him-^elf, but untenable, f the 8en.se bo : ulUvnigh willing. Stiuirt takes ft somewhat diffc'cnt view of tin- synt.ix of the piissnpe, and para- rl.r.-.iea the whole: "If Ood, in order that lie miifht e.\- nibil IIi» primitive justice and sovcreiRn power, endures iritli m«:h jonif-sutfc'rinj^ the wickeilness of the impenitent And rebellious who are worthy of Itis divine inditrnation ; anri if He has detennined to exhibit His rich (jrace toward the subji'cts of His meicy whom Ho has prepared for glorv, even toward us whom He has called, Oentiles a» well as Jews; who art thou," &c. This gives too strong a meaning to Oikutv, and Is nut so justifiiible grammatioully lu the view of Moyer and Lange. — K.J [The immediate end of the long-.sufferng is un doubtedly to lead to repentance (comp. chap. ii. 4 ; 2 Peter iii. 9, 15). But, as Alford intimates, thi.i ii a mystery we cannot fathom. — R.] Vessels of vrrath {axtvrj oQyTjq. "Without the article. Not some, but these in general, limited, however, by the clause immediately following. The absence of the article seems also to favor Lange'a distinction between " vessels unto dishonor " and "vessels of wrath." — R.] Meyer: Visseli full of Di'iue irrnth. Totally foreign to the figure ! Ves sels filled with Divine wrath would be very holy and honorable, as is the case with the vials of wrath in the hand of the angels, in John's Revehition. De Wette and Tholuck correctly expain : Objects of divine wrath. [So Stuart, Hodge. The latter taketi the phrase as a modification of " vessels unto dis- honor " (ver. 21). — R.] Tiie figure in Ps. ii. 9 ia undoubtedly closely connected with the Apostle's thought. Fitted for destruction [ x « t i/ ^ t t ff /i t r a lit; aniii/.nav. This is the end for which they are fitted ; the divine oQyi^ is accomplished in the aniithux. — R.] Meyer : " But the subject who has fitted them for the anuihia is God (see ver. 20 f.), and the insertion of any clause by which it should follow that they had fitted them.^elves for destruc- tion (see Chrysostom, Theodoret, GCcumenius, and Theophylaet) is contrary to both the word and the context' (likewise Tholuck and De Wette)." But apart from the fact that, according to Ps. ii., God breaks the vessels of wrath, but does not tnake them, the very decided change of the verb as well as of the tense (xar ^j (JTi^rr/i iva ; a tt/j o >;to «'/» a- (Ttr) should guard the exegetical author, who usu- ally holds so tenaciously to the letter, against this con- clusicm. It is a much bolder leap from the thought : God has {hcp'iu'/r to make vessels unto dishonor, to the thought that He has made the vessels of wroth. In the Apostle's choice of verbs he presents three antitheses, which may well serve as a warning to the expositor. 1. The verbs themselves are different : in xw- Ta^jTi'-m', the idea of making read;/ predominates (to make fitting, to prepare fully) ; but in the ex- pression nnntToi/nxCuv, on the contrary, the idea of the previous preparaticm predominates. 2. The former word is put in the perfect, and (which strengthens the matter) also in the participle; but the Litter, being in the form of the aorist, is much less conclusive. 3. The former stands irrelatively in the pa.«sive ; but the latter, as activity, is referred definitely to Ood. Such antitheses as these cannot be dusteil off by the brusii of n)ere assurance. Therefore a third explanation takes its place beside the two foregoing ones. According to this last, the perfect passive participle must be read as a verl>al adjective : pre- pared, ready, as in Luke vi. 40, kc (Grotius, Calo« vius. Beck). The Ajjostle has probably chosen tliia form, because this beinff read;/ ccrUiinly arises from a continual reciprocal action between himiaii sin and the Divine judgment of blindness and hardness. De Wette has an uncertain stninise of this relation : " The mixture of two diflerent modes of view — the moral and the absolute — undoubletlly occurs hero. It must also be granted that the Apostle avoids say- ing : it xarijQTiiTf »i's a;rr/»/.fi.«i' (Hengel)." The " two related to each other as chain and clasp.* The poet know so nething more of the matter than many theologians, when he wrote: "This is the very curse of evil deed," &c. ; f provided the curse is not taken as a niere phrase. Ver. 2.>. And that he might make knotinj the riches, kc. [ z a t i r a y v to (> I a >>] t 6 v 7T/.o7,,forlzrugi'nd, immer Boses mu-ts gebaren.'" This quotation, almost a provf.rb in German literature, is from Schiller, Die Piccolomini. V. Aufg., I Auflr. Cole- ridge, who has taken some libirties in arrangement, puts it in Act iii. Scone 1.— B.] X [The advantage of a general reference throughout the passage is apparent here. The making knoion is Bi)U\i.ih\n^ which occurs not once, but throuahout the whole gospel dispensation, as ver. 24 requires. — £.] 21 over the men who are its objects (Meyer). The lat- ter is preferable. We have no right to limit th» " vessels of mercy " to any period. The preceding context would extend the reference to the times of Pharaoh ; ver. 24 extends it indefinitely into the Christian dispensation. — R.] Which he before prepared for glory [a TZQotjrolfiaaiv fl(; doJar. The verb is aoriat, and refers to a definite past apt. The two mean- ings suggested by Hodge : (1.) predestined ; (2.) prepared by providence and grace (also that of Ols- hausen), are both objectionable (1.) Because it ii not the proper meaning of the word ; (2.) because this is a continued work, and would be indicated by the perfect, as was the " fitted " of ver. 22. It probably refers to the actual constitution of the in- dividual, as clay in the hands of the potter, the re- sult of election, yet distinct from it. — There is no necessity for limiting doia to "the glory of the new covenant." Its antithesis, " destruction," shows that it means the full and eternal glory of the kingdom of heaven. — R.] Tholuck translates, "which he had prepared unto glory from eternity," and remarks thereon, that, from the circumstance that the xa- rrj(JTi(Tfnva does not have the n(io before it, it fol- lows that Paul could have thought only of a decretum eleciionh, but not reprohationis. [So Schaff] Tho- luck cites, in favor of this explanation, Eph. ii. 10 ; Matt. xxiv. 34 ; Book of Wisdom viii. 9. We must remark, in relation to the middle pas- sage, that the expression : Baavhia npofroiftaa- /itvt] anb y.arapolTji; y.oa'/iov must not be con- founded with n(t'o y.araiiolTji; y.odfi. From the foundation of the world, through all time, God has labored for the preparation of the paaihla. The thought, God has ehoien us before the foimdation of the world, is also totally different from the infeasible thought, that He prepared us foi" glory before the foundation of the world. The two other passages are equally undemonstrative. Meyer explains, more correctly, thus: God formed the a/.ivii l/foi? there- for beforehand, before He declared His glory on them. But the general statement has also its his- torical relation on this side. As the true children of faith among the Jews came out from the peda- gogical exclusion under the law (Gal. iii. 23), they found themselves already prepared for the glory of the new covenant, and the preparatory mercy had operated in this direction on even many of the Gen- tiles (chap. ii. 14, 15). The TTloTnoq Ttj(; 66it]q came over them like the rising of a spiritual sun — inl ay.fvt] iXeovi;, the vessels which were sub- jects of mercy — and went far beyond them in the evangelization of the Gentile world (see Isa. ix. 2). [The paraphrase of Meyer (vers. 22, 23) is ap- pended, as a clear resume of the exegesis, for the most part supported in the notes above. " But if God, notwithstanding His holy will leads Him, not to allow His anger and His power to remain un proven, but to make it known in act, has yet, with great long-suffering, endured such as were objects of His wi'ath, and spared them the destruction, into which they are, however, fitted and prepared to fall, as a vessel from the potter — endured and spared not merely as a proof of such great long-suffering toward them, but also with the purpose of making known, during the continuance of this forbearance, the ful ness of His glorious perfection upon such as are ob- jects of His mercy, whom He had before prepared, as a potter a Tessel, and enabled for eternal glory." R.] 322 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Ver. 24. As such he also called us, &c. fo"? xat ixa/. ffffi' »}.i(«s, K.r.).. Ovi;, of which kifd, (jualex (Alfbij /i i v tjv , k.t.).., in harmony with Hosea i. 0, referred to Hosea ii. 23. | Ver. 2C>. And it shall come to pass, that in the place. [See Textual JS'ote •'\] In order to * The reference is undonbtedlv to the symbolical names pvcn by the prophet lo a son nncl dauglitiT (chiip. i. (5, i)) : IiO-Ammi (imt my people) and Li-Ruliamnh (not havinpr obta ned mercy), "in order of birt'i the latter stands first, asWQll a" in til'' pn.'isnpe cittd. This is natural, as visible deprlvr.tiiin of meri'y prceedes visilile rojection ns n people. The ApoHtlc inverts the order, however, perhaps beciiuso the pnimimnt thought for his purpose was : not my peo- plf, dfn.— U.l f (Dr. Hod;;* makes of vero. 25-33 a distinct section, in which the AjK)sile eoiifirms the nosition of the preceding section (the freedom of God in selectinif tho idijeets of His morcj') by deolarntions of the Old Test-iment (1.) vers. 'i\ 26. Aiii'iis were to be included in the kin^'dom of (lod ; (•.'.) Only a small portion of the Israelites should attnin to these ble>-in(;s ; vers. 27-29; hinee the Oentiles are &-dled, knd the .Jews ns Jews rejei'ted ; vers. 30, 31. The ronMon of their rejection wiis refusal to suliinit to gospel terms of salvntlivTi ; ver. 32. As predicted, they were offended at their Messiah ; ver. 33.— U.) understand the whole argumentative force of thia citation, we must, like the Apostle, eoimeet the sec- ond citation, Hosea ii. 1 (LXX. i. 10), with the first (and this is simjjly an exegesis according to tin an alogy of Scripture, as we frequently find in Paul). The Apostle, designing to emphasize the word C1~td2 , brings it out once more in his conclusion : I/. (I xXtj t'l (TO vrai,, x.r.L Uitzig explaiivs the expression : hi the place, by imtead of. According to Meyer, the prophet meant by this expression the locality of the Gentiles, the Gentile lantis ; but Paul understood by it, Palestine. That the expression denotes the stay of the Jews in the Gentile world, is proved by Hosea i. 11 : " Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered to- gether, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land." It is just on this point that the weiglit of the proof rests. The call will be published to them among the (Jentiles, there- fore among the ^^ no-people," among whom they them- selves are scattered as " no-people." According to Meyer, Paul finds the demonstra- tive force of the two passages in the fact, that he perceives the mercy shown to the ten tribes as a type of the reception of the Gentiles to salvation. According to Tholuek, his proof rests u])on the her- meneutics of the Jewish exposition. This " was ac- customed to refer biblical declarations, according to the law of ideal analogy, to such subjects also as are comprehended in the same category " (see p. 641).* It nmst be assumed that the decision : " not my people" has placed the Jews among the Gentiles, and that the decision : Lo-Ruharnuh, has adjudged them to be a very intractable people even among the Gentiles themselves. If, now, tlie call to salva- tion is published to this not my people, in the midst of the Jews, then it has a creative, original mean- ing ; it is not publislied to Israel as God's people, but it creates for itself a people of God from the mixed '■^no-people" of the Jews and of the Gentiles. According to the typical construction, De Wette has referred tiic to/To^- to the ideal state or divine king- dom, and Fritzsche to the ciore in Imrmony with the sense than the more re- cent I'xphmalions, [Few verses present such a combhiation of diffi- culties iis this one. (1.) Cridca/li/, the text is in doubt. See Textual yote "", where the h)nger reading of tlie liec. is ac- cepted (against such careful critics as Lachnianu, Alford, Tregelk's). (2.) Tiie LXX. seems to have departed from the sense of llie Hebrew original. Paul varies from tiie former, but not materially ; thus endorsing what is deemed by many an incorrect rendering of llie Word of God. Out of tills grows the ditlieult exegetical probk'Hi of getting the sense of the Hebrew out of the Greek words (which seems to be Dr. Lange's endeavor), or the equally ditKcult solution of tiie strange fact, tliat an apostle would choose such an altered version of the Helirew. (3.) This state of tilings has encouraged exposi- tors in departing almost at pleasure from the obvious meaning of Paul's words, while it has not led them to adopt the obvious meaning of the words of the prophet. Dr. Lange has chosen an ingenious inter- pretation, witli a view of discovering in the passage a declaration of forbearance on the part of God. It is o[)en to lexical objections (see below), and is not in aeconlaiice with tlie context ; since the only verse which intimates a kindred thought is ver. 22, while the immediate connection is rendering the opposite thought very prominent. The only method which seems fair in dealing with any author when he quotes, is to take it for granted tliat he quotes wittingly, and then to inter- pret his citation, making the original passage, espe- cially when used through the medium of a transla- tion, entirely subordinate. The inteipretation then becomes a simple exegQtical question. What, then, does Paul say here, as his view of the meaning of the prophet's words ? («.) Aoyov, word, sayincf. It does not mean work {E. v.). Many render: (Zfcree. Doubtless this idea underlies the passage, and is found in the He- brew, but the Greek word never means this. It is better, then, to render word {i. c, of promise or threatening, probably both — threatening to the mass of the people, promise to the remnant). Tliis is the view of many of the best modern commentators, al- though they differ as to the {)i'ecise reference. (6.) ^' I'yriii vior. a t< vr tr ft tj n ivov. The vcrl) (only here in the New Testament) means to cut nhort, tit finish rapit//j/. It obviously refers to the rapid accomplishment of what God has said. It seems, then, altfogether unnecessary to find in the rapid accomplishment of what God says, an indica- tion of something dilferent from what He says — /. c, tliiit this quick fulfilment of wrath is an exhibition of mercy to those wlio are its objects. This is Dr. Lange's position. Aihnittiiig tliat " in righteous- ness " includes God's mercy to tiie chosen remnant, that does not imi)ly " mitigation of judgment " to the apostate nia-ss. Nor is it necessary to find a diffen^nt meaning for the word in the second clause, though such a variation can be justified. We ren- der, theiefore : « cutting a/iort, and cut shoit, sup- plying t'fTTi. (with the present participles ; Meyer, and others). (c.) ^Ev (Vixatoffi'rTj is referred most natu- rally to tiie judicial justice of God, which punishes. tur O'vei-htifjlcfil, und dtr Herr wind d-itt'lbige Sleuriii Ihiin ■xuf Erden."—li.] in order to save the remnant. The former thought is the prominent one, as we infer both from the coi> text here, and from the original. The sense of the whole verse then is: lie [i. e., the Lord) is Jinish- iiiff and cuttinfj tihori the word (making it a fact by rapid accomplishment) iii ri(/hlvou.s>tess, for a cut' short word (one rapidly accompli-sLrd) wiJ/ the Lord via/if (execute, render actual) itpnu the earth. This is, in the main, Meyer's reijderiiig. While the orig. inal reference was to the Jews in the times of laaiab, the Apostle here niakes the propiiecy of more ge:- eral validity, referring it to the sad fact that most of the Jews were cut ofi' (so Hodge), though including the other fact, that the remnant should be saved, both sides supporting the general thought of the chapter. Dr. Lange at last comes to nearly tlie same view. The question then arises, Is this at all in keeping witli the words of the prophet himself? A comparison will show that it preserves the spirit of Isaiah's language most fully, and actually conveys to the reader's mind a clearer sense than a literal rendering of the Hebrew would do. Hence he used the LXX., and (as all authors do) inserted such un- important words as would make its language conform to the use for which he designed it. — K.] The prophet has uttered a twofold truth in the quotation ; first, that onli/ a remnant will be left from the great judgment of destruction, but then that this remnant shall be preserved in security. The Apostle, in vers. 27 and 28, has brought into prominence this first feature, but without altogether excluding the second. This latter is proved by the remaining part of his citation. Ver. 29. And, as Isaiah hath said, or proph- esied (Isa. i. 9), &c. [y. at , v. « i> u) ^ n iJOt'i (i >; xiv ' Htraiai;, x.t.L We give the pointing of Meyer (a comma after xai). The meaning then is : And, as Isaiah has already said (so I appropriate his words). Except, kc. See below, however. If it be objected, that this gives to the verb the unusual sense of firophesii, it will be seen that this is not the necessary meaning of has a/rradi/ sai/ici means the /.aTcUn/i/ia, as well in its ex- ternal smalliTess as in its inward importance for the future. The Septuagint has translated the "'^"'ii) of the original text by antQua.* Compare Isa. Ixv. 8. Fourth Proof : The correspondence between God'^s freedom in His government with the freedom of men in tlieir faith or unbd ef. The stability of the fact thtit the Gentiles believe, and Israel, iit its popu ar totality, does not believe (vers. 30-33). Meyer says, on this section : " The Jews them- selves bear the guilt of their own exclusion, because tiiey obtained it not by faith, but by works of righteousness, for they were offended at Cluist." [A new chapter should begin liere. For, having already stated the objective, Divine ground of the rejection of the Jews, Paul now passes to the sub- jective or human cause, hinted at frequently before, viz., their unbelef. They were rejected by God, because, in spite of the many warnings of tiieir own prophets, tliey sought their own righteousness, spring- ing from an external view of the law, and were of- fended at the promised Messiah, when He actually appeared, instead of seeking salvation through vital faith in the grace of God in Christ. This mode of view, wliich is carried out further in chap, x., solves in part the enigma of the preceding discussion ; yet it cannot be denied that, in the Divine predestina- tion, there ever remains an obscure background, ■which reason is not in a condition to fully compre- hend, and should humbly adore. — P. S.] Ver. 30. What shaU we say then? [7'i ot'v iQo'i,ufv; Precisely as in ver. 14, where it introduces an objection. — K.] We may ask, whether the Apostle again uses this expression here in order to avoid a false conclusion, or whether he merely " deduces the historical result from the foregoing prophecies" (Meyer),| Evidently, this passage is a turning-point of the greatest importance. The Apostle lias heretofore described God's freedom, and finally His freedom even in rejecting the greater part of Israel in contrast to His call of the Gentiles, and has strengthened his dp(.laration by appealing to the prophecy of the Old Testament. This is now the place where this question arises : From all this, does tliere not follow fatalism, or a simple absolute au- thority of Divine freedom V He does not absolutely express this false conclusion, in order to make short nince the complete realization of all God's promises will brin? what will still all the Inngiup; and the thirsting of the human ht'tirt fiom thenceforth and forever." — P. S.) • [The resf-ued Israelites are called, Isa. vi. 1.3 (pomp. Ezra ix. 2), "a holy seed," because out of them, as a small beginning:, at the sime time the nation shall rejuvenate Itself, and the true spiiitual Israel shall proceed. I'be Jew- ish Chris-ti:ins, who escaped the terrible judgement of God apdn the mass of ihc unhuppy nation at "the de-truct on of Jeru-alem, fonnod the pith of the Christian Church.— P. S.] r [Alford answers thus : " This question, when followed lij a quis/ioii, implies, of course, a n-iection of the tliought thus sufirgested ; but when, as here, by an a.i, intro- duces a lurtber unfolding of the argument ti-cm what has »receded." What follows ig not a Question. See below. -E.] work of it by a f^ij yeVotro, because ho has really anticipated it alreadj'. But he actually removes it. The Gentiles have not first attained to salvation from an exercise of absolute authority; they have attained to righteousness, the righteousness of faithj which can only oe obtained from the source of righteous ness. Some expositors (Pelagius, Cyril, Theodore of Mopsvestia, Flatt, Olshausen) have not understood the expression from on. to iqOaat as an answer, but as the real import and continuation of the pend- ing question, under different modifications (on as bi cause, that, so7iiehow that). This is opposed by the following: 1. The statement in vers. 30 and 31 can by no means be regarded as a summary of the fore- going ; 2. It has not been at all present as yet in this definite deduction of the antithesis. It contains sonjcthing new, which only arises as a conclusion from what has preceded. Chrysostom says th;it this passage is the aacfKirdrtj ?.i'(ni; of the chajiter. Baur, and others : The Aposcle here first becomes conscious of the subjictive poinf of view. Tholuck, correcting this view, says that the Apostle here first brings it out to prominence. On the discussions of the Predestinarians and the Remonstrants concern- ing the t/ ovv tsJoT'/tfv, see Tholuck, p. 54(j. That the Gentiles. "EO vij ; not merely Gen- tiles. [Against Meyer, who says: "Not the Gentiles as a whole. On the Gentile side was righteousness," &c.— R.] Who were not following after righteous- ness, attained. To, fi tj <)i,c')x. The Apostle uses the duo/.nv with especial reference to the races (see Meyer on Phil. iii. 12, 14), and thus y.ar a ).a II p . means not merely the reaching, but also grasping ; in this case it is especially the grasp- ing of the prize (see 1 Cor. ix. 24). This consti- tutes a double antithetical oxymoron. The Gentiles did not run after righteousness, and yet even they grasped righteousness at the goal of the race-course.* But the Jews, who ran, or so fir as they were run- ners after the law of righteousness, never reached the proper terminal point of the race — the well- understood law. The Apostle does not design to say that the Gentiles in general had known no high- er pursuit ; for he has already referred to the Gen- tiles in his expression concerning preparatory grace: ct 7T(JO?]Tol/iaafv ftc f)6Jai'.f But the Gentiles were not only not companions with the Jews in the course in which the latter ran after the law of righteous, ness ; righteousness, as an exi)licit moral law, was not the fundamental idea of their pursuit (although it constituted the unity of the platonic virtues). The Greek • struggled for ideality, or wisdom, while the Roman struggled for an iiniocent legal order, or for power. Thus it came that they did not run astray by looking at an analytical phantom of right- eousness, like the majority of the Jew? ; and hence that they could be subjected (that is, for a prelimi- nary condition of faith) to the curse of their ideals, to I profound despair in themselves and in the glory • [It seems best (with Meyer) to coneider rightronsness as used, in this part nf our verpp, without special roferenca to the Christian standpoint. Dr. Hodge really advcicaleg this view, but is h.ampered in reaching it by the limited meaning he places upon the word as used by Paul. Stuart renders Six., juHificntimi in each case, which is altogether untenable. Sec p. 74 ff., &c.— R.l t [See ver. 23. It is doubtful whether .'-uch preparation as is there referred to, includes, in any sense, the pioi)se» dcu'ic relation of the Gentile world to Christianity, how- ever extensi"e that relation was.— R.l 326 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. of the world (see chap. iv. ; Acts xvi. 9 ; Rom. ix. 27-0O).* Even the righteousness •which is of faith [Ji./.cci.ofTivr;v di, /..t1. Tliut is, precisely the .true rigiiteousiiess. On the delicate iiicaiiiiig of di, see Altord in loro ; Winer, ]i. 412. — U.] Vrr. 31. But Israel, follovring after the law of righteousness, attained not to the law^ '[V fff «// /. i)t d t a(Tfv. On the reading, see Textual Not.' ■", and below. — R.] It is not : the rnghteousness of the lair, but, more strongly: the ■ law of i-irfhtco>ii^ne.is. This would mean, in the fig- ure of the race, tliat Israel has by no means ad- vanced so far as lo run after righteousness itself; ,the f>rogrannue of the race became its goal ; in striving after an endle8.s analysis of the law, it has run astray in statutes of external legality. Tiiere- fore it has come to pass that it has not reached voiioi; in its truth — that is, in its real inward character — and that, after all its running, it has never attained to the true beginning, the principle of the running. Tliis antithesis is in harmony with the .subject-matter (see Rom. vii. 7 ft".), and is much stronger than if the Apostle had said : It has not attained to the law of tlie righteousness of faith, which would be self- . evident ; or even if he had said : It has not atta'.ned to the lighteousness of the law according to the let- ter — which charge lie could not bring against them. Therefore we prefer the reading of Codd. A. B. D., given in the text. [The briefer reading is quite well supported, and certainly, when rightly understood, adds to the force of the psissage. They did not even attain to the law. Conip. Alford in loco. — R.] It hardly needs to be called to mind, that the ques- .tion here is relatively concerning the Gentiles and Israel ; that is, concerning the antithesis between the believing Gentile world and unbelieving Israel. This limitation in reference to Israel lies in the duoxutv The law of righteouxncHS. The expression lias been regarded by many as an exchange for t)i- xai,oiTi'vtjV VOIIOI' (Chrysostom, Calvin, Bengel, and Others). Undoubtedly this wius the l)asis of the effort of the Jews, but their real following extended, in Pharisaism, far beyond, to the amplification of the law into an endless series of ordinances. The view : 77ie jmslifjiing law (Meyer), obscures the Strong emphasis of the t-ohoi; itself, when this vonoi; is subsefjuently explained thus : " The law was an ideal, whose realization the Israelites strove to ex- perience by their legalness." Conip. chap. ii. 17-2-t. The theoretical, lnjal in-thodiix)/ of tlic Jews was the perfect development of their rightitousness of work.s, according, also, to the Epistle of James.f Most of the early expf>sitors (Chrysostom, Theo- doret, and others) hold that Paul meant the Mosaic law in l)oth cases in V(!r. 31. Others, on the con- trary (Theodore of Mopsvestia, Bengel, and De Wette [llodge] ), have under.stood, by the second • [On tliifl thouRlit, seo especinlly On'rchcnlhiim vnd OhriS'nihiiin, by Dr. O. C. Soil)ert, 1857, referred to in tho Ofnonl Introd. M'll'lf m, p. 6. Tho iiuthnr Is now a pastor In N.w.irU. \. .I.-U.) t ( l)r. llodge soumi to prefer the following view : "The word law itay Ix; reduiidiint, and Paul miiy mean to say nothlni! more than thiit ' the .Tews 8i>u>fht riphteoiisness, or jUstifi.T.ition, l)ui iv (Meyer: it does not express the effort to fulfil the law, l)ut to possess the law), but also by the consideration that a true following after the Mosaic law — tliat is, after its fulfilment — must not only lead to it, but even to Christiauity (see chap. vii.). Tholuck (with Calovius, Pliilippi, and others) takes r6,iioe libera arbilriu ; Anselm, Dt libiro arbi/rio ; also, De casu Diabuli. The works of Calvin, Aniu.vius, Episconus, Pbes. Edwards, Ah Inquiry into the Frc'dom (if the Wilt (in numberless editions ; necessarian iu its conclusions, and more commented upon tlian any work in this department of thought). Colehidge, Aids to Rtflic- iinn (latter part ; his views have done much to mould thout;ht in England and America). The C'cnions nf the Si/iiod of Dorl give the strongest Calvinistic statements. A list of important controver.-ial works is given by Tholuck (pp. 466, 4(i7). The philosophical works which discuss the Bubjeci ill its ontological aspects cannot he enumerated, but the names of Sir Wm. Hamilton, J. S. Mill, Maxsel, Bain, Tappan, McCosh, readily suggest themselves to the American reader. The latest monograph, published iu America, is by G. S. Bishop (Newburgh, N. Y.), Reprubu' lion (a sermon on ver. 22), New York, 1869. — E..] 1. In regard to the copious, and, in many re- spects, mysterious contents of this chapter, we must refer principally to the JiJxeg. Notes, where we have anticipated many points. We would also refer to the history of the exposition of this chapter, and espe- cially to the monographs bearing on the subject, men- tioned above. The real difiSculties which the chapter presents have been greatly increased by attempts at its exegesis. This has occurred, first, in consequence of tlie little account that has been taken of the connec- tion, the immediate relation of this chapter to Israel, and the judgment of hardening on Israel ; and be- cause there has not been an effort made to explain with sufficient clearness, according to the analogy of Scripture, the nature of the judgment of hardening, or sin in its third potency. A second cause of diffi- culty has been the confusion of the antitheses of the Apostle with the antitheses of the history of doc- trines — of Augustine and Pelagius, or Calvin and the Catholic righteousness of works, or even the doctrine of the Remonstrants. A third source of difficulty has been a failure to use aright the key to this chapter in the passage, chap. viii. 29, 30, and a disposition rather to accept a contradiction be. tween Rom. ix. 7-29 and chaps, ix. 30-xi. 36, than to accommodate the former part of the wh'ole sec tion to the latter. 2. In the division and headings we have already given the connection between the whole of this section and the former chapters. The fundamen- tal thought is, the antithesis of sin and grace in ita three potencies. First antithesis: The actual corruption of the whole world, and therefore no conceivable righteous- ness of works ; in contrast with this is the saving and preponderating righteousness of faith, which ia prepared by the heartiness of conduct toward the law, in antithesis to extei'ual legality (chaps, i. 18- V. 11). Second antithesis : The corruption of human nature, the hereditary character of liability to sin and of the judgment of death, in which the whola creature-sphere of humanity is subject to vanity and corruption ; but Christ as the preponderating prin- ciple of the new birth and of the glorification of man, of humanity and its sphere, stands in contrast with the Adamic principle. This principle is opera- tive from the standpoint of a watchful spiritual life, which abnegates the old carnal propensity, in order to lead to resurrection a new embryonic life of con- secrated corporeulness, in antithesis to the life in the 328 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. liability of the flesh to death, to which the external kgaiity also belongs (ehap. v. 12-viii. ;^9). Tlii>d antithesis : The eonu|jtiou of the re- ligious people, tiie noble people of lumianity, and of the nianilc^ted form of their theocracy, in the judg- ment of iiistorical hardening, in consequence of their false reliance on natural descent, Iiistorical privi- Icos, and the righteousness of a practice of legal- ism. In C')ntrj-st with this, on the other iiand, is the freedom of Divine grace in its election, ordination, and call, which, as election distinguishes i)ersons, as ordination shows mercy and hardens, and as a call makes the judgment of hardening first of all a means for the advancement of the call to salvation, and filially cuts itself short and is turned in another direction by the historical exercise of compassion. On both sides it is conditional, in consequence of the autitliesis of pride and humility (chaps, ix-xi.) 3. T,tc construction of t/in citaptcr. Tiie Apostle's first prologue (vers. l-r>). An afolycjn for his pain- ful iluty to pronounce clearly tlie decisive declara- tion on the rtjeetion of the majority of Israel ; or, if we may so speak, to sum up all the individual e.\- l)eriences and Divine judgments relating to tliis fall. At the same time, he pronounces an tic .ij on the f.ill of his glorious p'Mjplc of God, on the retributive rejection of the old hereditary people of God, in antithesis to tlie realization of the glorious inherit- ance of God's children (chap, viii.), witli the decla- ration of his patriotic and tragical feeling (increa.sed and become to him a " thorn in the flesh " by its ruin with the direction which the Jews had taken, and by t!ie hatred with which they opposed his hive) — an analogue to David's i//-.'/// on the fall of Jona- than, Jeremiah's Lamentations, and similar laments in the <»ld Testament. But he finally gives expres- sion also to a doxohrjii in regard to the victorious exercise of the authority of the God of revelation on Israel, as wi'll in ita ancient history as in its New Testament fulfilment in Christ, whose glori!icatio!i predoniinalcs over the division between believing and unbelieving Israel. The theme : The rejection of the majority of the members of the Israeliiish people is not an abrogation of the promise to the tlicocratic Israel itself (vcr. C). First pi-oof {from the time of the patrinrchs) : The fact ard of nations in the gradual historical develoi)- ment of the plan of redemption, which will finally include all (chap. xi. '25, 32), and hence the descend- ants of Esau, who stainl figuratively for all the Gen- tiles (Amos ix. 11, 12; Obad. 18-21). On tliil account we may well say, with Bengel : " not all Israelites are saved, nor all Edoniitcs lost." (2.) The hate of God toward Esau and his race cannot be sundered from their evil life, their obduracy against God and enmity to His people. It is true, ver. 11 (witli, however, ver. 13, does not stand so closely connected as vcr. 12) seems to represent not only the love of God, but His hatred as transferred even into the mother's womb. But it must not be forgotten that, to the omniscient One, there is no disiiiiction of time, and all the future is to Him present. Besides, an essential distinction must be made between the relation of God to good and evil, to avoid unscriptural error. God loves the good, because He produces tlie very good that is in them ; and He elects them, not on account of their faith and their holiness, but to faith and holiness. But it cannot be said, on the other hand, that He hatca the evil men because He produces the very evil that is in them ; for that would be absurd, and destroy His holiness ; but He hates them on account of the evil that they do or will do in opposition to His will. While human goodness is the effect of Divine love and grace, on tlie contrary, human wickedness is the cause of Divine hatred and abhorrence ; and on that account alone can it be the object of the punitive wrath and condemnatory decree of God. Were evil tlie effect of His own agency. He would be obliged to condemn himself — which is irrational and blas- phemous. — P. S.l Second proof {from the time of the giving of the law) : The fact of ordimdion. The predetermi- nation of the historical train of development of per- sons is the free exercise of God's (Jehovah's) right- eousness on persons. It is not made conyi^Ti/.i'K, but 1. ffiy/(ii()fjTt.x(7i^, propter per- misxioiuni ; 2. okioo/hitixiTi^, pir:>p/er occnsionem ; 3. iY/.(tTci).n,mi.y.(~)s ; 4. na<^a()oTi.y.iii^, 19. Just as Pharaoh hardened himself more and more at Moses' deeds of faith, so was Moses always advanced and strengthened in faith by the trials of faith which were prepared for him by Pharaoh's hard- eidngs — that is, by the ajiparent failure of his miraculous deeds. This is a fundamental l:iw of (iod's kingdom. The kingdom of darkness displays itself in its reciprocal action with the kingdom of light, but the latter is also displayed in its reciprocal action with the former. 20. Tholuck's explanation on having compassion and hardening, p. 52:5, harmonizes with the old Lu- theran dogmatics. Meyer's r m'hi Pnuhm rm fnsissel, ti Arulolcli$, nun Oaniali>ht ulumiiui /uitsfl. " ( )— K.) skill cotUd guard him against it on the one hand, while especially, on the other, his apostolic illumina- tion and the depth and clearness of his moral exjie- rience mu-H guard him against it." " lint this by no means justifies the interlining of the clear and definite expressions of the .\postle in our passage, on the part of anti-predestinarianism from Origcn and Chryso.stom until now, to the effect that tho moral self-determination and spontaneity of man is the correlative factor to the Divine decree. Tlie correct judgment of the deterministic propositions (vers. 15-23) lies rather between the psychologically and morally impossible admi.>;sion of a self-contradic- tion, and the exegetically impossible inter[)olation in this way, of thoughts the d.rect opposite of the Apos- tle's expression. How there can be the concurrence, so necessary in the moral world, of the individual freedom and s|)ont:ineity of rmin and the absolute self-deterndiuition and -.dl-etticiency of Ood, is in- comprehensible to human reflection, at least so long as it does not desert the sphere of ('fiii«lian view, and pass into the unscriptnral, pantheistic sphere of Identity, in which, indeed, there is no place for free- dom in general.* Whenever, of the two truths: ' God is absolutely free and all-eflicient,' and ' man has individual freedom, and is also on his side, in his own self-determination as frte nf/ntf, the causer of his salvation or mi.sery,' we handle but otie, and that one consistently, and lience, one-sidedly, we are coni- ]iclled to speak as if the other seems to be invalidated by our reas'ining. B\it only sectiis ; for, in fact, there is in this case oidy a temporary and conscious abstraction with respect to the other." " Paul, then, found himself in this case. For he wished to pre- sent, in opposition to the fancy of the Jews respect- ing descent and works, the free and absolute al- mightiness of the Divine will and work, and all the more decidedly and exclusively the less he would leave any ground for the presumj)tuous error of the Jews, that (iod must be gracious to them. The -\postle has here placed hiniself entirely on the abso- lute standpoint of the theory of (Jod's [nire indepen- dence, and that, too, with all the l)()ldiiess of clear consistency ; but only until he has done justice to that ])olemic jiurpose. Then he returns (vers. 3(» if.) from that abstraction to the humano-mcn-al stand- point of practice, so that he grants to both modes of view, side by side, that right which they have within the limits of human thought. The view which lies beyond these limits, the metaphysical re- lation of the essential connection of the two ])oints, viz., objectively Divine and subjectively human freo- dom and voluntary activity, was necessarily without and beyond his present circuit of view. lie would have had no ocicasion either to enter upon this prol)- lem, since it wjts incumbent upon him to di-fcit tho Jewish presunii>lion with but one siile of this — with the absoluti'uess of (!oil. That, or how far the Di- vine election is no delectus niilituris, but finds its norm immanently in God himself through His holi- ne.is, ami thus may be conditioned by moral comli- tions on the human siiie, remains for the present entii'oly out of the necount. It enters, however, with ver. ;ii», in which the one-sided method of con- sidt'ration, followed for a time, is again compensated for, and the ground afforded for a time for apolo- • iStlU loss In modem mnteri.ilir'in, whon- what is (prob- hh\\ from hutiit) ciilli-d /nr rivilualinn is nttril'Utcd mainly to climiito and food, i^Kpccially fish. Compare current literaluro ail luiutram. — IC] CHAPTER IX. 1-33. 333 getic purposes, to the doctrine of absolute decrees, is again withdrawn." — R,] He opposes those who have charged the Apostle with a si.'lt-contradiclion — determination and free- dom (Reiche, Kiillner, Fritzsche, &c.) ; but he him- BL'lf thinks that the metaphysical relation of unity betv/een the all-prevailing efficiency of God and man's freedom is incomprehensible by Christian re- flection, and that, thei-efore, we can only speak of tlie one, considered in itself alone, in such a way that the other seems to be removed by our reason- ing. But this is not the case if we speak either of human freedom or of God's free grace in a proper way. The former assumes dependence on God ; the latter requires faith. Though God's all-efficiency is not conditional on man, yet it conditions itself as the personal exercise of authority in relation to man, 60 soon as he is determined by election, according to the stage of development in which man is. It may also be said that the one decree of God is explained, according to chap. viii. 29, 30, in five decrees, and these are reciprocally conditional. If the decree of election were an absolute de- termination of salvation and condemnation, there would be no peculiar decree of ordination or his- torical predetermination ; God would no more be free to say to Moses, " I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." But if the decree of ordination were absolute, then we could no more speak serious- ly of a new decree of the call, and still less of a free idea of justification, as well as of glorification. The Divine decree in relation to the final judgment has conditioned itself by the nature of all the pre- ceding decrees. And only in this way does God remain a free God, while, on the other hand, we would make of an unconditional decree of predes- tination itself a real divinity, which would have bound the personal God. But it is quite in harmo- ny with the nature of religion, the real relation be- tween God and man, that the truth asserts the majesty of the Divine right against every human arrogation, every irreligious claim against God. The free power of election stands in opposition to the claim of a natural heirship in God's kingdom ; the free power of gri^ce, in its historical exercise of au- thority, opposes the claim to the merit of works ; and the free power of the Divine call in the eco- nomic relations of God's kingdom opposes the claim to both. If the point is reached where man will make God conformable to himself, before whom he would present himself independently, yea, one whom he thinks that he can bind by " replying against " him, then God himself opposes him in His truth as the God who stands in absolute free power above him, and before whom he is as nothing, or as the clay in the potter's hand. Up to this point the Apostle must have recourse to the Jewish assump- tions against God's majesty. The pioneers of the Reformation, but particularly the Reformers them- selves, were in a similar situation ; ecclesiastical tra- dition had, in the latter case, taken the place of de- Bcent from Abraham ; ecclesiastical righteousness of works had taken the place of Levitical righteous- ness of works ; the self-righteous creature began to prescribe laws for his Creator. The Reformers, ad- 1 3ring to the truth, thus reversed the relation : God's Bovercignty and grace are every thing, while the arrogated right and merit of man are nothing. But their arriving in theory — which was really only one chapter in their system — to the negation of human freedom of election (Melanchthon, in his later life. excepted), and their being led into contradiction with their ethical principles, were in part a tribute of weakness which they had to pay to their indepen dence from the Catholic Augustine (strong exprea- sions of Calvin and Zwingli, see Tholuck, p. 528), and in part the false conclusion from a profoundly justified religious feeling. They taught, with good ground, that God's government of the world is a government controlling and pervading all moral events, and that even sin is not merely permitted, but accepted and determined as a fact in God's plan ; only they had not yet found — as Sebastian Frank, at their time, and, subsequently, such orthodox teachers in the Church as Breitinger, Voetius, and others — the distinction between sin as a wicked counsel of the heart, that merely appertains to man, and sin as a fact in which inward sin itself is already treated with irony, captured, and judged (sec Prov. xvi. 1 fif.). The Apostle himself, on the contrary, has united the doctrine of the absolute judicial power of God with the doctrine of the importance of faith, yet particularly with the declaration that God has delayed His historical judgment in long- suffering, and has made the already existing judg- ment of hardness a medium of compassion.* — " The people, clay in the potter's hand," is a frequently recurring biblical expression. See Tholuck, p. 630; also the Note on p. 532 ; likewise p. 636. 21. The concatenation of judgment and compas- sion which appears throughout in the fiicts of Holy Scripture, as well as in its doctrines, has not been sufficiently comprehended and made use of by tli« popular ecclesiastical conception ; and this is a prin- cipal source of its hindrances and imperfections Righteousness and mercy are regarded as collateral modes of God's revelation. Judgment and compas- sion absolutely preclude each other. But the Scrip- tures unite both facts in various ways. First, the reconciliation of men themselves, both collectively and individually, inwardly as well as out- wardly, is made conditional on a judgment which separates the old from the new life. Second, the display of redemption and its institutions, of the theocracy and of the Church, is conditioned by judi- cial acts that separate the old from the new states. Third, judgment, even from the flood downward, separates an old from a new race, and brings to pass the redemption of the latter by the still conditional rejection of the former. Even in the final judgment, the consummation of heaven is made conditional on the separation of the wicked ; Matt. xiii. 43. 22. With the confusion mentioned above, there is also connected the fact that righteousness has ever been too much regarded as the extreme consequence of rigor, but not also in the light of forbearance and mildness. This latter idea of righteousness is fre- quently taught in the Scriptures (see Matt. i. 19 ; 1 John i. 9), and so also in the present chapter, ver. 28. Comp. also chap. iii. 26, p. 135. 23. The full and direct force of the passage in ver. 31 is only reached by accepting the reading pre- ferred by us. The Jew's righteousness of works, as such, was never faithful righteousness of works, but a righteousness of boasting of the practice of stat- utes, and therefore it was a failure to obev the true • [A reference to the Exeg. Notes will show how Dr. Lanpre finds this mitigating idea of lonp;-sufferiiig through- out the chnpter. Admitting the correctness of his excgesii (which many will not be prepared to do), it is still doubtful, whether Ms explanation of the enigmatical question is hand is any more satisfactory than that of Meyer.— E.] 334 THE EPISTLE OF PAUI. TO THE ROMANS. vono-; itself. In a similar sense, James portrays the orthodoxy of the Jews (see tiie Commentary hi loco). Tills is also the case with the ecclesiastical righteousness of works in the Middle Ages ; its weight does not lie in fidelity to tlie law, but in the fanatical zeal to explain and sharpen the statutes to excess. And so the orthodoxy of the seventeenth century wiis not strictness of confessional fidelity, but ze;il for the statutory amplification and sharpen- ing of confessional formulas. Centrifugal deviations from the collective fundamental thought and original fountain everywhere prevailed. 24. Israel, in its guilty and accursed destiny, is also a type of the richly deserved curses in the po- litical as well as in the ecclesiastical life of nations. 25. Chaps. X. and xi. are an enlargement upon chap. ix. HOMIXETICAL AXD PRACTICAIi. Chap. ix. 1-5. [IToMtLETiOAL Bibliography on Rom. ix. 3 : "Weemse, J., Of the Hglvsl D'gr-'ntf Law to Qod ; An Exposition, &c., vol. i. 48; LionxFOOT, J., S.'. P.iu's Wish li 6« Accur/ed. Works, vol. vii. 312; Gbll, R., R'Hiains, 2; Witsivs, II., De votivo anaUomalc Paiili ; MiS'-.dlanese, vol. iL 41 ; Water- land, I)., S\ Pau"!t n'i.-h Erjplaiued ami lllustraUd, ,%•,■■ vions, \yfirk.<, vol. ix. i52 ; Dodwell, W., The Jmporlance of the Christum Fiith, Vluslrated in the Explanation nf S'. Paul's ir-sA of being Accuracd frd, 1752; Keelin-g, B, Three Difcnurses on SI. Paul's Wixh, Sec, Oxford, 1766; Mason, W., Christian Pa'riotUm, Wurlcs, vol. iv. 105 ; ToPLADT, A. M., Thoughts, &c.. Works, vol. iii. 418; Rf.cossidkred Texts, No. I., J. C. Knight, Kitto's Joariia!, 1st scries ; Nos. 10-12. Two Letters, by A. David- son and J. C. Knight, on the above interpretation, Ibid. —J. v. H.] The Apostle's sorrow for his brethren : 1. A great sorrow, so that he wished to be accursed from Christ for tliem ; 2. A natural sorrow, because they (a.) are his kinsmen according to the flesh ; {b.'S are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption, &c. (vers. 1-5). An apostolical a.sseveration (ver. 1). — Words only have strength when our conscience bears us witness in the Holy Ghost that we say the truth in Christ (ver. 1). — The witness of our conscience in the Holy Ghost is a witness for us that we say the truth in Christ ^ver. 1). — Magnanimous heaviness and mag- nanimous pain (ver. 2). — The Apostle's readiness to stake the dearest possession for his brethren ^ver. 3). — The ditference between Israelites and Jews (ver. 4). — What do Israelites possess ? 1. The whole of the Old Testament, with all its covenant blessings ; 2. The fathers ; 3. Througii the fathers, Christ, so far as His human descent ia concerned, belongs cliiefly to them (John iv. 22) (vers. 3-5). Si'AUKK, Chamep. : In impoi tant matters for God's honor and the advancement of our neiglibors' salva- tion, we may swear (Isa. xix. 18; Jer. xii. 6); but to wantonly affirm a thing before God, is an abuse of God's name (Exod. xx. 7) (ver. 1). — The saints are not stoical blocks of wood (!) ; therefore we should also weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice (ver. 2). — Love has certain de- grees, and onft uuiy with a good conscience prefer in love Ills natural friends and blood relations to others ("er, 3). — yoii't liihi. Tub.: Xothing grieves piims people more than the ruin ol' the ungodly. Particu- larly a true shepherd can do nothing else than s|)eak of ihem with sorrow and tears (ver. 2). — Ukdisokr This is line 1 Oli, that wc hud even a less degree of it ! Exod. xxxii. 32. Gerlach: Calvin beautifully says: "It i? not contradictory to this wish of the Apo.stle, that he knew of a surety that his salvation by God's election could not prove a delusion. For as such a glowing love always burns out more violently, so docs it see nothing and care for nothing except its object '• (vers. 1-5). Lisco : The Apostle's sorrow at Israel's unbelief (vers. 1-5). — In Christ every tiling was glorified and fulfilled which Israel already had ; how important, therefore, it was to believe in Him whom the anti- types had announced, and who brought grace and truth ! John i. 16, 17. Heubnek : Asseveration of the Apostle's love for his people (vers. 1-5). — It is only a spirit sancti- fied by God's grace that can be grieved at the spirits ual fail of others. The unconverted man is indiffer- ent to the moral misery of his neighbor. The holi- est sorrow is for others (ver. 2). Besser : Throughout the Holy Scriptures there is not another passage where, as in the present in- stance, the roost profound darkness of sorrow is in juxtaposition with the brightest sun of joy. Paul has ascended on tlie wings of faith to the height where he sees the whole kingdom of the world and the devil lying at his feet ; and, sheltered in the rock-strong love of God in Jesus Christ, he has sung a triumphal song in the upper choir. There he pauses, and as one who is still dwelling in the land of pains and tears, just at this point he discloses to his brethren, first, the profound and concealed sor- row of his life by a solemn assurance of that of which he would have God also conscious (ver. 1). — The sainted Bkngel says: " Souls which have made no progress, do not comprehend Paul's wish We should not lightly pronounce judgment upon the measure of love in Moses and Paul. The modicum of our thoughts of love is too small for us to do so ; just as a boy does not appreciate the heroic spirit of a general" (ver. 3). — Not Jacobites, but IsraelileSy wrestlers with God, are called the descendants of the patriarch, who obtained of the Lord a blessing upon his seeil, that they might be called after hia name, and the names of his fathers Abraham and Isaac (ver. 4). — Eight blessings of God's house united in four pairs (vers. 4, 5). [BuRKiTT : (Jod luis placed a conscience in every man, whose office it is to bear witness of all his words and actions ; yea, of all his thoughts and in- ward affections. Conscience is God's register, to re- cord whatever we think, speak, or act ; and happy is he whose conscience bears witness for him, ami doth not testify against him. — Ver. 2. Note : 1. What arc the dismal etl'ects and dreadful consequences of obstinate unl)clief, under the offers of Christ ten- dered to persons in and by the dispensation of the gospel, without timely repentance ? 2. The true spirit of Christianity is to make men mourn for the sins and calamities of others in a very sensible and affectionate maimer. Good men ever iiave been and are men of tender and compassionate disposition ; a stoical apathy, an indolence of heart, a want of natural affection, is so far from i)eing a virtue, or matter of just commendation unto any man, that the deepest sorrow and heaviness of soul in some ca.ses well becomes persons of the greatest piety and wis/ is Hix otcn preparation. But he does not Eiiy of the vessels of wrath, that God prepared them for destruction, but that they are Jilted to destruc- tion who have fitted and corrupted themselves to it, 60 that their condemnation does not come from God, but only tiuit He has long borne with them patient- ly, just as He did to Pharaoh, and that He finally de-itroys them with all the more violence. By this are declared His glory, power, compassion, and righteousness, without one coming in conflict with the other (vers. 22, 23). — Roos : The great long- Buftering of which Paul speaks, proves that God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the vessels of wrath ; for if He had wished. He could at any tinje have given them up to destruction sooner than He really did; but the efficacious call, which applies to the vessels of mercy both of tlie Jews and Gen- tiles, proves that God does not indulge a precon- ceived hatred either of the Jewish people or of the Gentile nations, and it is only His call tliat makes a difference between the vessels of wrath and of mercy (vers. 22-24). — Geelach : We must always bear in mind, that when God has compassion, and when He hardens, He iicts in different ways ; in the former case, He produces good in the human heart by His compassion ; and in the second, He withdraws from man His divine light and life, yet does not awaken evil in him, but only allows the evil already existing to assume the form and take the course which, to Him, is evidently necessary for the salvation of the ■world. Man's seeing, in mercy as well as in harden- ing, a perfectly similar operation of God — namely. His own arljitrary authority — is his own fault, since he closes himself against God's compassionate love by his own claims (ver. 21). Lisco : All humanity, and not merely Israel (which fancied itself thus), is like the clay from which God, of His own free choice, chooses unto par- ticipation in the kingdom of heaven ; and He is not bound to Israel in such a way that He cannot also appoint the Gentiles to the same privilege (vers. 20, 21). HEUDifER : Before God rejects a people. He pa- tiently gives it time for repentance (vers. 19-23). — Especially on ver. 19 : The universal objection of all determinists, fatalists, and absolutists, is : " How can man be free, since in his existence, and in the forma- tion and change of his mind, he is totally dependent on God ? " This is here represented in a special direction, thus : " How can sin be imputed to man ? Why does God's punishment of him enrage him ? He is only what God makes him ! Who can oppose God ? " This objection is still frequently heard in such modifications as these : " Man becomes every thing, just according as he is trained, educated, and placed in a favorable or unfavorable state?" We may .nnswcr this objection somewhat as follows : Although man does not himself control his destiny, and al- though this destiny has an influence upon his devel- opment, yet it is by no means compulsory ; the ex- ternal world does not operate irresistibly upon him. — Yet Paul does not exactly answer thus, but says, ver. 26 : " Yea, dear man" &c. — Yer. 21 : This comparison would be inaptly applied if it were re- garded as an irresistible formation of character : " Can God not make out of this man a bad one, and out of that a good one ? " The question is only the determination of the external state which operates on man : " Cannot God, according to His own will, direct to every one his condition and all the circum- stances that operate upon him ? " It still depends 22 on man whether he will make use of his condition in this or that way, and in what shape he will allow himself to be be formed. Comp. 2 Tim. ii. 20, 21. In Jer. xviii. 6, the type of the potter applies to the events that God allows a people to experience, but not to the determination of their salvation or de- struction. d. Vers. 30-33. The faith of the Gentiles, and- the unbelief of the Jews : 1. The establishment t)f this fact ; 2. The explanation of its origin (verj. 30-33). — In the righteousness of faith, the law of righteousness is really fulfilled (vers. 30, 31).— Who attains to the law of righteousness ? All who seek its fulfilment, not : 1. By the works of the law, but, 2. By faith (vers. 31, 32).— The stumbling-stone: 1. For some a rock of oifence ; 2. For others a rock of salvation (ver. 33). Comp. 1 Peter ii. 4-10. Luther : Christ justifies without works ; they who do not believe Him, run against Him and stum ble (ver. 32) t^TAEKE : thou tempted soul, who art ever in- dulging in fearful thoughts, thou shalt certainly not be ashamed 1 (ver. 33.) — Cramer : If one should seek fire in snow, or ice in fire, he vrould not find it ; so he who seeks life, lighteousnesss, and salvation ia the law, and not in Christ, will never receive them (ver. 32). Spexer : God laid such a stone in Zion as would of itself be a stone of help, a tried and preciou.s corner-stone, on which the fallen could and should rise. But man's wickedness, &c., causes many to stumble against it, and their fall is more dangerous than if such a stone had not been placed there Yet God's saving counsel must not be in vain for all, for there are others, on the other hand, who hold to this rock, and believe on it. These will not be de- ceived in their hope, nor come to shame, as they will take from it tliat which they have hoped for — salvation (ver. 33). Roos : As Paul had previously made every thing dependent on simple grace and mercy, and on God's free will, so he now makes every thing dependent on faith. Grace and faith, the will of God and faith, correspond to or meet each other. Grace is in God, faith is in man (vers. 30-33). — Gerlach : God did not enforce His right against the unbelieving Israel- ites, nor harden their hearts, nor fit them for de- struction, because He predestinated them for de- struction before their existence, but because they " replied against God " (vers. 18-22). Lisco : The reason why Israel refuses to accept the gospel, and is rejected, is because they seek it — i-ighteousness — before God, 7iot of faith, but by do- ing the works prescribed in the law ; and therefore they experience the judgment of falling against the stumbling-stone (ver. 32). Heubner ; Xo people or no man is so corrupt that God cannot call and save if they will only be- lieve in the gospel, and become sensible of their guilt (ver. 30). — All the works on which man relies cannot save him, but rather hinder him (Luke xii. 24). Therefore the paradox : It would be better for many if they were worse (ver. 32). — Offence at Christ is culpable ; it is one that is taken, and not given (ver. 33). Besser : Luther {Works, vol. vii. p. 321) strik- ingly compares the law to the field in which Christ, the Treasure, is buried. The Jews had the field, and even tilled it with great pains, but they did not see the buried treasure ; but the Gentiles, on the contrary, since they found ChrL=t in the law, went 338 THE EriSTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. for joy beyond the law, and sold every tiling which they hiid, and bouglit the field with its treasure — that is, tiie law with Christ (vers. 30, 31). L vs(jE : The forbearance and decision with which the Apostle expresses the strict judgment on Israel, is an example lor us, when occasion occurs, to speak unpk'iLsatit truths. — The Apostle's fidelity to the Is- raelites is conditioned by his fidelity to the Lord ; or the duty and limits of patriotism. — Israel's fall is an eternal admonition for churches, states, and nations. — The greater the glory of a coninninity, the deeper Is its fall. — Israel, which was once saved, is now judged in Christ its Head. — tJod's freedom with re- spect to humanity : 1. How it is bound by institu- tions and promises; 2. Yet how it also remains free. — Ilis freedom in His determinations: 1. In the de- termination of the personalities themselves ; 2. Of their fate, and its eti'ect; 3. Of their call to the king- dom. — The freedom and consistency of Divine sove- reignty in the name Jehovah. — The antitheses : Israel and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Moses and Pharaoh. The judgment of hardening elucidated by Pharaoh's his- tory. — Judgments changed by the sovereignty of God himself to the glorification of His mercy. — God's judgments are cut short by His wisdom and grace. — Tlie importance of faith in antithesis to or- dinances. — The twofold operation of the corner- atone. [LiGHTFOOT : Ver. 3. We owe charity to every one because of his soul. If a soul, in its essential constitution, be not beautiful and lovely, what thing upon earth can be accounted beautiful and lovely ? A soul that carries the image of God in its very con- stitution — that is like to the nature of angels in its essence and being — that is capable of divine nature and of eternal life and glory — if this be not lovely, what is? It is a great. piece of wisdom to study souls, and to observe the nature, worth, price, and excellency, both of our own and other men's ; and there is not a more general and comprehensive cause of the ruin of souls, than men's ignorance of and unacquaintance with their own souls. Shall I hate any man's soul ? It may be united to God. Hate any man's body ? It may be a temple of the Holy Ghost. Any man's person ? He may be an inheritor of eternal glory. Scorn not poor Joseph ; for all his rags and imprisonment, he may come to sit upon a throne. Despise not poor Laz- arus ; for all his sores and tatters, he may be car- ried by angels into Aliraliam's bosom. — Burkitt: Learn : 1. What the sincere believer shall not be ashamed of: a. He shall never be a.shamed of his choice ; 6. Nor of his profession ; c. Nor of the cause and interest of Chri"*, which He has owneil and vindicated in the worlil ; d. Nor of any time sincerely spent in the work and service of Christ ; e. Nor of reproaches and sulfcrings, tribulations and persecutions, for the sake of Christ ; _/'. Nor in eter- nity, that he never waa ashamed here of Christ and His gospel, His work and serrice, His cause and in- terest. 2. When the believer shall not be ashamed : a. When he is called to bear testimony of Christ before the world, at the hour of death, or at the day of judgment ; b. Nor the dreadfulness of the day, nor the majesty of the Judge, nor the number of the accusers, nor the impartiality of the sentence, nor the separation which shall then be made. 3. Why the believer shall never be ashamed : a. Sin, the cause of shame, is removed ; b. Those only from whom he can reasonably fear shame, will never be ashamed of Him ; c. He can look God and Christ, his own conscience and the whole world, in the face, without shaiue and suffering. — Hk.nry: What does God do for the salvation of His chil- dren ? He prepares them beforehand for glory. Sanctifieation is the preparation of the soul for glory, making it meet to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light. This is God's work ; we «in destroy ourselves fast enough, but we cannot save ourselves ; sinners fit themselves for hell, but it is God that prepares saints for heaven. — Waterlasd : There is a degree of pity and regard due even t« very ill men, to ungodly, and sinners ; not to be shown by caressing them and smiling upon them, but by earnest and ardent endeavors to reclaim them. There is not a more forlorn or miserable wretch un- der heaven than an overgrown sinner, become mad, desperate, and incurable in his sins. For though such persons regard neither God nor man, nor have any mercy or tenderness for friend or brother, but would go any lengths in mischief, and set the world on fire, if it lay in their power, yet we very well know, all the while, that they are weak and impo- tent, and are under bridle and restraint. The utmost thoy can do is only to afflict and torment good men for a time here, while they themselves lie exposed to eternal vengeance, to torments everlasting hereafter. — DoDDUiDGK : We know a descending, a risen Re- deemer. He still visits us in His gospel, still preach- es in our assemblies, and stretches out a gentle and compassioiuite hand to lead us in the way of happi- ness. — Where we see a zeal for God, let us pay all due regard to it, and compassionate that ignorance which may sometimes be mingled with it. — Scott : Modesty, caution, humility, and profound awe of the holy majesty of God, should restrain and guide the tongues and pens of all who speak or write on the great sulijects connected with salvation, however satisfied such men may be with their own views of them ; and every sentence which is written or spo- ken with impetuous injustice to God, is a proof of the pride and irreverence of the writer or speaKcr.^ HoPGK : Vers. 15-19. It should be assumed as a first principle, that God cannot do wrong. If He does a thing, it must be right. And it is very much safer for us, corrui)t and blinded mortals, tnus to argue, than to pursue the opposite course, and maintain that (lod does not and cannot do so and so, because, in our judgment, it would be wrong.— J. F. U.1 CHAPTER X. 1-21. 33<, fisroKD Section.— J[/brc decided explanation of the mysterious fact, Tht faith of the Qentiht and th. unbelief of Israel, Chap. X. 1-21. A. Self-righteousness, and the righteousness of faith (vers. 1-11). 1 Brethren, my heart's desire [or, good- will, evdoxia] and prayer* to God foi Israel [on their behalf]" is, that they might be saved [for their salration]': 2 For I bear them record [witness] that they have a zeal of God, but not accoid- 3 ing to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness [not knowing (i. c, mistaking) the Hghteousness of God], and going about [striving] to establish their own righteousness,* have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness 4 of God. For Christ is the end of the law for [unto] righteousness to every 6 one that belie veth.^ For Moses describeth [writeth concerning] the righteous- ness Avhich is of the law. That the [saying, The] ^ man which doeth those things 6 [Avho hath done them] shall live by them [or, in it].^ But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise [thus],** Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ down from above [omu from 1 above] :) Or, Who shall descend into the deep ? (that is, to bring up Christ 8 again [omit again] from the dead.) But what saith it ? The word is nigh thee, even [omit even] in thy mouth, and in thy heart : that is, the word of faith, which 9 we preach ; That [Because] if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [or, Jesns as Lord],^ and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath [omit hath] 10 raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believ- eth [faith is exercised] '° unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is 11 made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed [put to shame]. B. The equal clnim of Jews and Gentiles to faith. Hence the necessity of universal preaching. The unequal results of preaching (vers. 12-18). 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek [distinction be- tween Jew and Greek] : " for the same Lord over .ill is [is Lord of all,] '^ rich 13 unto all that [who] call upon him. For whosoever [every one who] *^ shall call 14 upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall [can] they call '* on him in whom they have not believed ? and how shall [can] they believe '* in him of whom they have not heard ? and how shall [can] they hear " without a 15 preacher ? And how shall [can] they preach," except they be sent ? as it is written,'" How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel [those who 16 bring glad tidings] of peace," and bring glad tidings of good things ! But they have not all obeyed the gospel [did not all hearken to the glad tidings]."" For 17 Esaias [Isaiah] saith. Lord, who hath [omit hath] beUeved our report?''* So then faith cometh by [of] hearing, and hearing by [through] the word of God." 18 But I say. Have they not heard"[Did they not hear] ? Yes [Nay] verily, their sound went [out] into all the earth, and their words imto the ends of the world. 0. The unbelief of Israel and the faith of the Gentiles already prophesied in the Old Testament (vers. 19-21). 19 But I say. Did not Israel [Israel not]" know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that [with those who] are no people, and by 20 [withj a foolish nation I will anger you. But Esaias [Isaiah] is very bold, and saith,'* I was found of them that [by those who] sought me not ; I was made 1 1 manifest unto them that [those w ho] asked not after me. But to [of] Israel he saith," All day long I have [omit have] stretched forth my hands unto a disobe- dient and gainsaying people. a40 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. TEXTUAL. > Vcr. 1.— [After i/ricrit, K. L. Rcr. insert if, defended by Philippi ; omitted in N. A. B. E. F. O., by Lnchniann, Tischei.dorf, Muy<-r, Tholuck, Alford, Trej-'elles. Pioliably insfited to limit irpbt rbi- 6t6v to iii)'an, ^ince .t seemed improper to connect it with evioxia. On the meaniug of the last-named woid, as involvtii i:j the erit'oa. question, see kxeg. Xnts. * Ver. 1. — fx. A. B. D. F. O., all modern editors, read avruv, instead of tow 'lapa^A (K. L. R-c). The lattc* (Fas Kubslituted as an cxp.anutory gloss, which was tlie more necessarj', as this verse bepan a church .'C!6
  • ionR and fiithcrs, ^Ieyer, Wordsworth, Lunge), the reading ev avrij is found in N'. A. B., many versions, and is accepted by Lachmann, i)e Wette, Alford Tregelles. The hingular would be a variation from both the LXX. and the Hebrew ; yet this but renders an altenition to the plural (for the sake of conformity) the more probable. On the other hand, Meyer urges strongly that thi- plural stimde or falls with avra, which is now pcucrally accepted. The change to the singular may have been made to guard against the validity of the riphtcousness of works, as indeed A. substitutes wiVreus for fo/xov. With some hesitation, I hold to the reading of the Rec. " Ver. 6.— [From this point to the middle of ver. 8, we have a free citation from the LXX., Deut. 3xx. 12-14. Parts of the verses arc quoted, but there is only one considerable variation (at t!ie beginning of ver. 7). As the LXX. does not differ materially from the Hebrew, we give only the text of the former: (ver. 11, on ») ei/roAij aui-j), ij eyio eiTc'A- Ao/ioi v • Tt's &iairepdcrei. rfftiv ti? to TTipav t^s SaAao'cTT)? KaX Aa^f) r^p-iv avTrjv, xal aKOvarriv Troirjaj) aurijr, xai irotjjffonei' ; 14. iyyv^ 66pa ey Tcp )p v(u. This well-supported aorist seems to decide the other cases. '« Ver. 15.— [Isa. Iii 7. The qaotation is not exact, though giving the sense of the Hebrew. The LXX. is scarcely followed at all. Sec Ex>g. Note*. '» Ver. 15.— [The words: tvayytKi^oniviav (tpijvi)!', rStv, are omitted In N'. A. B. C, by some versions and fathers ; rejected by Lachmann. Tisohendorf, Tregelles ; bracketted by Alford. They are found in N'. D. F. K. L., many version-* and fathers ; retainea by Meyi'r, Wordsworth, Lange, on the ground that the repetition might easily lend to the omission. Tliii view will readily be allowed by any one who examines the passage, since it Is easy to mistake the first occurrence of so long a word for" the second. The original passage, of course, favors the retention.— The uncial aatliority ag.tinst ra. (Ric ) before ayaSa, is decisive. The E. V. takes away tne exact parallelism by rendering tvayye^iiofteviov by a different phrase in each clause. A paraphrase is necessary in any case, from the poverty ol (lu; language. '" Ver. in. —[Here also gospel is too restricted. The above emendation is adopted by Amer. Bible Union, Noyes, Five Ang. Clergymen. " Vor. l(i.— [As none of the modem versions have altered this citation, it is allowed to remain, but the reader will find in tho Exrg. Nr'es the view of Forbes, which would be thus expressed : Who (of us) hath believed what ui« heard t '' Ver. 17.— (N'. 1'. C. D'., manv yor8ior.a (including the Vulgate) XpioroO; adopted by Lnchm:inn, Alford, Tre- gelles. The great majority of the Hithers, of modern commentators sustain the reading of the Rec. (x. corr. A. D". K. L., some versi(,ns). lieile : Dei Chri.'ti. Alforl dcetas the received reading "a rationalizing correction," while Meyei^ De Wetto, and most, think the other was a later gloss, wliich Is more probable. CHAPTER X. 1-21. 341 *• Ver. 19. — [The order of the Rec. is poorly supported. N. A. B. C, and others : 'I otherwise the citation is exact. The B«l afTiAe'y oi/Ttt is an addition of the LXX. The Hebrew gives but one adjective, ~*nD, relnllious. — To Israel, is not correct ; with rfspect /o, concrrning, is the meaning, -which, however, is sufficiently indicated by of; so Five Aug. Olergymei', Amer. Bible Union.— E.] EXEGETICAL AJS'D CEITICAX. Summarii. — The fart of the partial rejection of Israel, &c. The fact is not a fatalistic decree, for the Apo.-;tle prays for Israel, and bears record to their zeal ; vers. 1,2. It rests rather on the an- tithesis between self-iighteousncss as the presumed righteotisness which is of the law, and the righteous- ness which is of faith ; vers. 3, 4. The righteous- ness of faith, although arising from Israel, is proved by the prophecy of the Old Testament to be, accord- ing to its nature, accessible to all men, and not con- fined to the Jewish nation. It is universal ; that is, accessible to all in its internal character, because it is allied to the inward nature of man ; vers. 5, 9. Its universality is confirmed by experience ; vers. 10, 11. It is proclaimed by the Old Testament Scriptures, which promise, in Christ, salvation to every man. There arises therefrom the universality of faith — the freedom of faith to Jews and Gentih-s ; vers. 12, 13. This freedom of faith is made actual by the universality of the preaching of the gospel and of the apostolic mission ; vers. 14, 15. Unbe- lief is voluntary, like faith. The gospel is con- ditioned by faith; vers. 16-18. But the faith of the Gentiles is prophesied in the Old Testament, as well as the unbelief of the Jews ; vers. 19-21. [There is little difference of opinion among com- mentators respecting the meaning of this chapter as a whole. Dr. Hodge coincides most nearly with Dr. Lange in his divisions. Tholuck, Philippi, Meyer, Alford, make two sections. (1.) The further exposi- tion of the fact that the exclusion of Israel is found- ed on tlieir own unbelief; vers. 1-13. Alford: " The Jews, though zealous for God, are yet ignorant of God's righteousness (vers. 1-3), as revealed to them in their own Scriptures (vers. 4—13)." (2.) Proof from Scripture of the same fact; vers. 14-21. Tholuck : " They could not excuse themselves by this, that God had not done His part to make hu- manity know the gospel, or that it had not reached them, or that they could not have seen what their conduct with regard to it and God''s dealings with the Gentiles would be." The connection with chap, ix. 33 is very close ; and as the Apostle is accus- tomed to repeat, at the close of an argument, the ffoposition from which he started, the repetition of ihe quotation of chap. ix. 33, in ver. 11, fiivors the division of Dr. I.ange. — R.] A. Faith, vers. 1, 2. The fact described is no jataHstic decree. Tor. 1. Brethren ['./^rft A gc o i. Bengel : '' yiinc quasi superatn proeredentis tractationii, se- neritafe comiter appellat frairen.''^ Comp. 1 Cor xiv. 20; Gal. iii. 15.— R.'] Though this is an ad- diess to all readers, yet it is dhected with special feeling to the Jewish Christians, Repetition and carrying out of the personal reference in chap. ix. 1 fif. My heart's desire, or, good- will [^ //£> iv<)o/.ia rtji; i /i t; c y.a(j d iac'\. A real antithe- sis to the f( i V is contained in the judgment passed in ver. 3. [See Winer, p. 535 ; who thinks the an- tithesis was too painful to be expressed. All ad- mit that the thought is found in ver. 3. — R.] Mey- er, contrary to Chrysostom, Theodoiet, and most of the early writers, as well as De Wette and Olsliau- sen, holds that ndo/.ia cannot mean wish, dtside- Hum, but only benevolence (Vulgate, volurdas ; Au- gustine, bona voluntas ; Calvin, bcvevolentia). Tho- luck : " There is, indeed, no example as yet in which fvdo/.ia is exactly equal to ' wish.' But how could the Apostle have said, ' My good pleasure and my prayer for them to God are directed to their salva- tion.' " Yet he regards it advisable to adhere to the translation : My gcod-inll for them. [The lexica' objection to rendering ti()o/.ia, dfsire, is weighty. On the other hand, the rendering good-will severs it from the context. The insertion of tj after ()itj(rt,c ^■as probfibly an attempt to avoid this difficulty. Alford suggests a " a mixture of constructions : the Apostle's iliio/.ia would be their salvation itself — his ditjait;, x.r./.., was flq ffwr." We hold to the more usual meaning of the word. Wordsworth pushes it as far as this : " Probably he uses this word because he wishes to represent the salvation of the Jews as a thing so consonant to God's wishes and counsel, that, as far as He is concerned, it is as good as done ; and the Apostle delights in looking back, in imagination, upon that blessed result as already accomplished." There is little warrant in the word or context for such an interpretation. — R.] And prayer to God [xal fj diijaic; ngoq rov x)i6v. The latter phrase can be limited to f)trj(Ti.i; without adopting the poorly supported ?j. The " prayer" was undoubtedly " of his heart," but there are no grammatical rea.sons for connecting that phrase with these words. Jitjaut; is, strictly, peti- tion, request. — R.] We refer y.al tj dirjtTit; back to y.afjdiac, and then exclusively to nQot; rov dfov. My heart is not only full of good-will toward the Jews, but it can also venture to inter- cede for them before God — a proof that they falsely regard me as their adversary — and I have not yet given up the hope of their salvation. This also com- prises a pledge of Divine compassion. [So Bengel : " Non orassei Paulus, si absolute reprobati eisent." -R.] [On their behalf is for their salvation, V 71 i () alt (It V ft'c (To>Tfj^iav. The correct reading shows how^ close the connection with chap. ix. is. Meyer: ".S'wTiy^/ta is the etid which my fi(>oyia would have for them, and my prayer asks for then." The E. Y. gives the correct sense, though m a paraphrase. — R.] 342 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TUE ROMAKS. Ver. 2. For I bear them -nritnesB [/caQ- rv(io> yti^i avToTi;. l'ii(j introduces the rea- son for the preec'lin^j; dechiiution. — R.] Ue still sees, even in their error, something good : they have a zeal of Qod [^JJAov Oiov i/ovcriv. Zeal /or God, not ffrcnt zeal, ov godly zeal~\. (Acts ixi. 20 ; xxii. 3 ; Gal. i. 14 ; John ii. 17.) T'nid will, indeed, not be the only ground of his tvdoxia, but ii the ground of the cheerfulness of his inter- cCiJsion lor them. But not according to knowledge [a)./.' ov xrcT* ini'/VKta {,v . Conii). cliap. iii. 20, p. 123 ; Col. i. 9 (Lange's Comm., p. 17).— R.] The i7Tiyv(f>(nq is the knowledge which, being the living principle of discernment, impels far beyond the mere historical ;'V(jjffn,-. Meyer's definition: in consequence of tlie iniyi'., is incorrect. The antithesis : xara ayvumv, Acts iii. 17. The Apostle's statement may, at all events, be designed to alleviate his charge. The bright its well as the dark side of the religious zeal of tlie Jews was and is a peculiar phenomenon in the hi.story of the world. [The objective advan- tages of the Jews were given in chap. ix. 1-5 ; here we have the subjective religiousness, whicii corre- sponds, although degenerating into blind fanaticism. Yet religious fanaticism, we infer from this passage, is preferable to religious indifferentism. There is something to hope for, a ground for good-will, where there is earnestness. — R.] Vers. 3, 4. Self-righteousness, and the rigJit- eousness of fath. V< r. ;i. For they, not know^ing (mistaking) the righteousnesB of God [«;- rori'Tf c yufj T >j V Tor x) t u 7' i) i X a i o (7 1' v ij v ]. ^V'e take ground, with De Wette, and others, against Meyei', who does not see in tlie idea of ayvooofTfq the ele- ment of mistake, but merely the declaration of igno- rance. [.Meyer justifies his position, by saying that Paul was only proving the " not according to knowl- edge." — R.] But simple ignorance, without guilt, could have no meaning whatever in the ])rcsent in- stance ; and still less could it be the cause of wicked results. The same holds good of chap. ii. 4 ; 1 Cor. liv. 38 ; see also Tlioluck, in loco. Their ayyonv is the cause of their seeking to establish their own righteousness, and conseciuently they did not submit themselves to the Divine righteousness revealed in the gosj)el for faith.* And striving to establish their own right, eousnesa [ x a t r ij v i <) iuv <) i z « i o rr v v tj v ^ ;y - rovvTft; (TT^irai,. See Textual Note *^. Essen- tially, it is the same as the righteousness of the law, according to Phil. iii. 9. Formally, this expression is stronger, because it not only signifies acquired righteousness in distinction from that which is (ii- stowed, but as the real principle of this acquired righteousness, it denotes one's own choice, power, and will, as well as man's own will in opposition to God's choice, grace, and order. [The point of this distinction is lost, if the ])hrase be construed as = their own jiiitificntion. — R.] Therefore this effort remains a nugatory ^tjrtiv axTjnai (chap. iii. 31 ; Ilcb. X. 9). The ffr^rrai expresses the clement of priuto (ceremonial, or moral ?). Some confusion exists in most commentaries iu the citing of authorities. In fuc!, these menninKs lari;i-ly run into each other. In favor of the hist, it mav be urjjid that the Apoatle is drawing such a contnist hero lietwecn the righteousness of the law and the r i;lit-e- ousness of fiilh (vers. 5, fi), ns requires a strong antith«sij l)otween the law anil Chri-t; but unless we interpret: "When Christ came, the old legal system was nholinhc^l, and a new em coranienc'd " (Hodge), this nnlithesis will not be correct. Yet the fart that I'aul quotes from the l.iw itself to 8U]'port the clnims of the righteousness of faitli, seems ini'onsistent with this view. (See l>el(iw.) Nor will it K- evident how this verse intnulncos a proof of tin' non- siibmisiloii of the Jews to thr richtrousness of Ood \ ver. .3), unless it asserts that the law led to Christ, rati. or than thiU Christ abolished the law. .\11 three views may bo included, but the lirst is the more prominent one. — B.] CHAPTER X. 1-21. 343 every one that believeth, fj'y di,xai,oavvrjv tjuvtI xiji ntaxfvovrt,, and the ya(i intro- dtt'jes just the proof that the Jews did not submit themselves to the ru/kteortsness of God, which, however, was manifested in Christ's fultihnent of the law (comp. cliap. ix. 31). The question of the extent of prominence here given to the negative sid? of the Ti/.o<;, is connected with the expla- nation of vers. 6 and 6. [Stuart, following Flatt, renders jtc, with reaped to. It is better to take it as indicating renult or purpose. The former will be preferred, if ri/.oq be rendered aim ; the latter, if it be rendered tewiination. The sense will tlien be, either : Christ is the aim of the law, so that right- eousness may come to every one, &c. ; or : Christ abolished (or fulfilled) the law, in order that, &c. The word righteousness has here the full sense, " righteousness of God ; " but the emphasis rests on heUeveth. — R.] Vers. 5-9. The universality of the righteousness of faith is proved by the Old Testame7it also. On the citations. It is evident that vers. 5 and 6 present an antithesis between the idea of the right- eousness which is of works and the inward essence of righteousness. But it is clear from the place of the citations, that this antithesis means no con- tradiction between the Old and New Testament. The quotation in ver. 5 is taken from Lev. xviii. 5 ; the quotation in ver. 6 from Deut. xxx. 11-14. It is evident, therefore, that the Apostle places the two sides of the law in contrast, one of which is an ex- ternal Jewish law of works, and the other is an in- ward law of the righteousness which is of faith, or a law designed for the inward life ; the one is tran- sient, the other permanent. Therefore, he takes his first statement from Leviticus, and from that part of it wiicre the laying down of the Mosaic obstacles to marriage is introduced ; the second, on the other hand, is taken from Deuteronomy, which early im- parts a profoundly prophetical meaning to the law. Therefore we read, first: 51oses dcscribeth, or viriteth (and what he writes is a command) ; but then, The righteousness which is of faith speaLeth (and what it says is a proclamation). Though the Apostle holds Deuteronomy to be as fully Mosaic as Leviticus, yet, in the former, Moses administers his office as the Old Testament lawgiver of the Jews; while, in the lat- ter, the prophetic spirit of the righteousness of faith speaks as decidedly through him as if it altogether took his place. Ver. 5.* For Moses •writeth respecting the righteousness, &c. [Mwid^y ya^ j^ia- q f I. rijv di,iicci,o(Tvvriv, x.t.).. The accusative after y^(iq:fi,v is either governed by the verb in the transitive sense : to write of to describe, or is the remote object, that concerning which it is written. The rendering : describeth is perhaps too strong, though lexically admissible. — R.] 7'(ja(pft, John i. 46. The citation is from Leviticus, according to the LXX., but of the same purport as the original text. We further read : Moses writeth down, or com- tcands : The man Tvho hath done them [ o t t o TTonyijas avxa, a v & q o) n o li'l. The ttoi//- • fXhe translator foiind it necessary to make some ahar§«s in the ordor of the origin;il. In making the addi- tions, it was found to be impossible to avoid confusion, without further transpositions. Nothing lias been omitted, but it has been an unusually diflicult task to pi'eso;it Ur. Lange's notct- in a shajie that would correspond to the order cf the Ai)ostle's words.— K.] ffa? is emphatic, yet it is significantly connected with civ&ijoinoc. uiird, that which is written, the commandments ; the law, in the analytical form of commandments. The emphasis here rests on the doing. " But the righteousness which is of faith says : ' The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart ; only confess with thy mouth, and believe in thy heart.' " Shcdl live by them l^Ltjatrai Iv arroTs See Tcjrtnal Note''. If avr^i be adopted as the correct reading, it refers to the' righteousness accru- ing from the doing of the commandments (Alford). Dr. Lange renders iv , durch, but this is too strong; iti the strength of is better, — R.] The ditteieut readings appear to have arisen from an apprehension that the Apostle's expression might cause a misun- derstanding, perhaps au acceptation of the possibil- ity of righteousness by works. Hence the omission of avrd, and the reading iv av-zf] ("He shall live by righteousness itselt "). Cod. A. even reads : rrjv du/.. i/. niaxiMi;. A proof how decidedly the early Church rejected the righteousness of works. The assurance of life has been referred to the life in Palestine. But the historical standpoint of the Mosaic economy indicates something further than the vita jrospera. Proof: 1. The vita prospei-a in the real sense, or as the welfare of the people, is a special promise for obedience to parents ; Exod. xx. 12. 2. Tiie most direct meaning of the passage in Leviticus is, that the transgression of the following statutes is connected with the punishment of death ; chap, xviii. 29. 3. The passage in Deut. xxx. 16, not to mention Ezek. xx. 11, indicates something further than the mere vita prosptra.* There are here two antitheses : first, that of the externality of Xhi law and the inwardness of the gospel ; second, that of doing and experiencing. In the first case the promise reads : shall live by them ; and in the second case there is the assurance : he shall be delivered, shall be saved. We have already observed that the Apostle did not wish to say that there is a contradiction between the Moses of Levit- icus and of Deuteronomy ; we may now ask, whether he has instituted an irreconcilable contrast between the two passages. This is very supposable, if ver. 5 be regarded as a purely hypothetical and almost ironical promise : If one fulfil all the commandments of the law, he would certainly live by them ; but since no one is capable of this, no one can find life by tlie commandments. Therefore, after ver. 6, the gospel now takes the place of the law. [So Hodge, and others.] But this cannot be the Apostle's mean- ing. For, first, in that case the law would have been useless from the beginning. Second, an analytical fulfilment of the law would be designated as ana- lytical, or at least as a theoretical way of life, by the side of the practical, and thus two kinds of right- eousness would be conceivable, as well as two kinds of hfe. But, in our opinion, ver. 5 is not merely designed to prove that the law is at an end, but that its end has come because Christ has come. There- fore the expression in ver. 6 has an enigmatical form, as that in 1 Tim. iii. 16. Moses inscribes his pre-" cepts thus The man which doeth those things — * [To this may he added the exalted sense which ^»4 has in the Kew testament. Comp. Xholnck, Trench (re- ferring to Christ's calling himself if fu>^) : "Ko wonder, then, that Scripture should know of no higher word than ^coij to set forth cither the blessedness of Ood, or the blessednesa of the creatuie in communion with God." Syn. A'l u Icsia- mcnt, § xsvii.— K.] 844 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS that is, who truly fulfils them — shall live by them. To be sure, the most dii-eet Jewisii social sense of this declaration was, that the observer of the com- maudments should not be subject to death, but lire. But ill its religious meaning, the law was as a sphynx, whose riddles every Israelite should attempt and try hard to solve until lie came to self-rigliteousiiess, until the people became matured, and until the Jlun came who solved the riddle.* In Leviticus the sig- nificajice of the form of tlie passage under consider- ation, " the man which doeth those things shall live by them," appears in the addition : " / uni the Lord." The Lord holds up the prize, and {)ledges it ; Christ baa won it. Thus ver. 5 means not only the fact that Christ has made void the law by the fulfilment of the law, but also that he has transposed and trans- formed it from the whole mass of external precepts to a principle of the inward life. Therefore the Apostle can immediately assume, in ver. 6, that Christ is known and is near to all, and accordingly \ apply the statement of Deut. xxx. 11-14. Ver. 6. But the righteousness which is of £axth [ f) di e-ii nimniti; iSi/.aiotrvv ij^ Just as iloses has referred prospectively to Christ by the law, so does the righteousness wliich is of faith, or the gospel, refer retrospectively to Uim.-j- The con- nection of tlie declaration in Deuteronomy is as fol- lows : in chap. xxix. the curse is threatened the people if they become apostate ; and in chap. xxx. mercy is promised them if they be converted. Ver. 10 : (The Lord will bless thee) " if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul." Then, the ground of the possibility of such a conversion consists in the heartiness in the rcid spiritual nature of the law, which will always reassert and prove itself The Apostle fully de- velops this christological germ by api)lying the prom- ise of the righteousness of faith from the law to the gospel. The development is as follows : 1. As the inward chai'acter of the law was nigh and intelligible to the Jews at that time, or during the previous jieriod in general, so nigh and intel- ligble must Christ, as the end of the law, now be to them. 2. As Moses, at that time, referred to an un- belief which regarded the law as merely external, arbitrary, and therefore foreign, far-fetched, so does there now stand in the way an inibolief, which mis- takes and regards as an odd and peculiar phenome- non the near Christ, the nearness of Christ, which lies in His affinity to the inmost necessities of the heart. 3. If, at th.at time, the unbelieving Jew could say, " Wiio shall bring down the law '! " — namely, * [Dr. Iiin!?e thus attempts to avoid the two opposincr Ticws (1.) thiit iin iictual outward ohi-dicnco was followoil >iy a'tUHl temporal hU-.ssinss, and that this was all the say- inc; of Mosos meant; (2.) th:it the law hidonffed to a cove- »i;iiit of works, the conditions of whirh could not lie ful- 01Ii-d. Thf first is altopethcr out of keeping with the Apostle's arcumcnt. The second sccm-s lo put the luw in iv wron-^ position ; fcir the law, althoui;h made a mere oxpres- Bion of the condition of a IcRal nsrhteousness, is really •omcthins far more ; it is the schoolmaster, &c., com]), chap. vii. and Oal. Hi. 19-2.5. The antithesis hetwecn verH. 6 and fi is not ahsolute, hnt relative. Even the doinij and livinc, pointed to Christ, wius fulfilled in Christ; who, by llis vicirioiis doincr and living, m/ik) ; it can always revive afresh in him. The law is therefore not merely con- cealed from, or foreign to, man ; it is not simply something positive from heaven, which may again altogether vanish to heaven ; and it is no simple promise or threat from the future world, or from the realm of the dead, " from over the sea," which may be forgotten until death. Rather, it is still with Christ. For undoubtedly the .\postle will not merely say, in ver. 8, Faith is so nigh to men, be- caiKse Christ is ]ireached to thetn as the One who has become man, and is risen from tlu; dead ; but because tlie truth of Christ's incarnation and resur- rcction can unite, in the faith of their heart and in the confe.>*si(m of their mouth, for the completion and salvation of their inmost nature. The typical prophecy of the Mosaic pas.sage, which Paul, the gieat master, has suikingly brought out, lies in the CHAPTER X. 1-21. 345 feet that conversion to the law is the beginning of its hearty reception, but that i'aith in the gospel is its completion ; or, objectively defined, that the law is the shadow of the inward life, and that Christ is the lite of this life itself. On the different misunderstandings of this typi- cal propliecy, see Tholuek, who speaks of a. profound parodii, p. 557 ff. Explanations : Only an ajiplica- tion of the words of ilie law in the Old Testament (Chrysostom, Theodoret, &e., down to Neander) ; accoinmodat'w (Thomasius, Seniler) ; Inovoi-a (Gro- tius) ; alliisio (Calixtus) ; suavissima parodia (Ben- gel, and othei's).* The explanations divide themselves into two prin- cipal classes. According to one, Paul has made use of the words of Moses for clothing his thoughts, with the knowledge that they, considered in themselves, expressed something altogether different. Philippi calls it " a holy and lovely play of God's Spirit upon the word of the Lord." But would not that be a very unlovely play of the Apostle upon the word of the Lord ? Likewise Tholuek is of the opinion, that there has been a failure to prove an application cor- responding to the meaning of the text, and, still less, the identity of the historical meaning with the Pauline interpretation. Naturally, the constructions of this class are partly of a critical (Semler) and partly of an apologetical nature (Bengel). The other class accept, that in the declaration of Moses the Apostle has really found the prophecy declared by him. But this again divides into two subdivisions : 1. He was the expositor of that pas- sage in his spiritual illumination as an Apostle ; 2. Katlier, one intimately acquainted with the rabbinical hermeneutics. Calvin, and others, who belong to the first subdivision, hold that uuiversa doctriua verbi divini is meant ; Knapp, the commandment of love toward God ; Hackspan, and others, the messianic promise ; Luther, who is frequently hesi- tating, belongs to both of the principal classes (Tho- luek, p. 558). The expositors of the other subdi- vision regard Paul's interpretation as an allegorical exegesis — that Paul, using the Jewish expository art, has allegorized the passage, and has found in it a Midrash, or secret meaning. Meyer regards the sum of the oracular meaning to be this : " Be not unbe- lieving, but believing ! " A Midrash, indeed, which might well be drawn from every verse of the Bible. [The majority of commentators adopt the view, that Paul does not cite the words of Moses as such, but merely adapts them to his purpose. But the posi- tion of Dr. Lange seems preferable, not only because this " adaptation " or " accommodation " is not what we would expect from such a writer as Paul, but be- cause the other view is more in accordance with the context. As Forbes well says : " St. Paul's great object in reasoning with his countrymen is to prove to them, out of their own Scriptures, that God's mode of salvation, from the first, had been always the same (simple faith in Him), and that their Law was but a ♦ [So Hodge : " Without directly citing this passage, Pau uses nearly the same language to express the same idea." Stusirt ; " It is the gfwral nature of the imagery, in the main, which is sigruflcnnt to the purpose of the -nTiter. Paul means simply to affii-m that, if Moses could tiuly say that his law was inte'.lisilde and accessible, the doctiine of jastification by fnith in Christ is still more so." But this method of regarding the passage is open to very gra%'e Dbjections. It legards Paul as sanctioning that dangerous uee of Scripture, " by way of aecommodiition," which is evidently wrong, judged by its evil eflecls on preacher and ^oplc at the present day.— R.] provisional dispensation, designed to prepare for the universal Gosjiel, which was to embrace all 'equally, Gentiles as well as Jews. Is it likely that the argu- ments adduced to persuade the Jews of this from their own Scriptures would, even in part, be words turned from their true meaning in the Je:^i>h Scri]:> tures y " Vers. 2 and 3 show how necessary this proof is. This view accords, too, with ver. 4, and the real position of the law. Alfbrd : " The Apos- tle, regarding Christ as the end of the law, its great central aim and object, quotes these words not mere- ly as suiting his purpose, but as bearing, where origi- nally used, an a fortiori application to I'aith in Him who is the end of the law, and to the commandment to believe in Him, which is now ' God^s comntand- meut.'' If spoken of the law as a manifestation of God in man's heart and mouth, much more were they spoken of Him, who is God manifest in the fesh, the end of the law and the prophets." " In this passage it is Paul's object not merely to describe the righteousness which is of faith in Christ, but to sliow it d(^scribed already in the words of the law." Thus the connection as well as the contrast of law and gospel are preserved. This view suits the pre- cise circumstances of the original utterance (see Forbes, pp. 356 ff.). That the variation (in ver. 7) and the omission of parts of the original, do not interfere with it, is obvious. — R.] Say not in thine heart [fiij flnriq iv rri xaQ d I cc a V . LXX. : /Ayutv ; Hebrew, "lisxb . The passage is taken out of its grammatical connec- tion, and " in thine heart " added, as miglit well be done. The phrase is = think not (Allord). — R.] This is the ever-recurring secret or expressed Ian- guage of the unbeliever : Revelation is something thoroughly heterogeneous and strange to, and in disagreement with, my nature. To the words say not, Paul has added m thme heart, perhaps to bring out the contradiction, that a witness of faith can assert itself in the same heart in which unbelief speaks negatively. Who shall ascend into heaven ? [T iq avaf^ijcffxav ili; t 6 v ov ^ av 6 v ; The rjfi Iv of the LXX. is omitted.] This formerly meant : It is impossible to bring down from heaven the law (that which we have lost, because it was foreign to us); but it now means: Who shall bring Christ down from heaven, that He may become man? the incarnation of the Son of God is inconceivable. Thus the actual incarnation of Christ is, to Paul, the full consequence of the moral truth of the Mosaic law. [That is, to bring Christ down, r ovr' eari'V X()t,jcot-iniittor of llKkVos; ol. Thr pi moiiiil ohj'Ct o/fnitlt it nntr, is oortainly imi)lied n vor. 7 ; but this is not directly cxprosBod hera --A.1 CHAPTER IX. 1-33. 34"' from the dead corresponds with to bring up from the dead. — [Thou shalt be saved, aioQ-^ffji. iielief, inih the heart, in the central fact of redomp- lion, the resurrection, not as an isolated historical event, but as linked indissolubly with the coming down of the Son of God, now the ascended Lord — and hence confession of Him as such — these are the requisites for salvation. "A dumb faith is no faith" (Olshausen).— R.] Ver. 10. The experimental proof of the right- eousness whieh is of faith. For with the heart faith is exercised unto righteousness, and -with the mouth con- fession is made unto salvation. The Apostle presents, in this verse, the parallelism with refer- ence to ver. 9, and the underlying passage of Deut. XXX. 14. Yet he now reverses the order of heart and mouth, in harmony with the genesis of the life of ftiith, especially in the New Testament. As a matter of course, faith and confession are connected with each other, just as the heart and the mouth, or as the heart and speech ; that faith without confes- sion, would return to unbelief, but confession without faith would be hypocrisy. However, the distinction is correct : first, faith in the heart, then, confession with the mouth. There is the same distinction of effects. FaiLh in the heart results in justification ; confession with the mouth — that is, the decided standing up for foith with word and deed — results in aioTijQia in its final signification, deliverance from evil to salvation, with the joy and freshness of faith.* It Is natural to man that only that first becomes his complete possession and his perfect joy which he confesses socially with his mouth, and which he maintains by his life. See Tholuck, p. 5*71, on the apprehension of the early Protestant orthodoxy, that by a distinction of the two parts tii; (J'txatocri'i- V t] V and ili; a wr tjQ lav prejudice would be done to the doctrine of justification.! The doctrine of the righteousness which is of faith has, indeed, been carried to such excess, that it has been regard- ed as prejudiced by the requirement of the fruits of faith in the final judgment. This reduces it to a dead-letter affair, and is a failure to appreciate the necessary elements in the development of life. The Apostle's testimony is so decidedly one of experi- ence, that it expresses the permanent force of the law of faith by the passive forms : jiiaTfifTai, ouo'ioyu-tai. This is its custom; thus is the kmg- dom of heaven taken by force. Ver. 11. T//e testimon>j of Scripture for the righteousness of faith. For the Scripture saith (Isa. xxviii. 16). " Jlaq," says Jleyer, " is neither in the LXX. nor in the Hebrew, but Paul has added it- in order to mark the (to him) important feature of universal- ity, which he found in the unlimited 6 ni,axiv- ♦ [.^Iford thus paraphrases : "With the heart, faith is exercised {wKneverai, men believe) unto (so ;is to be available to tie acqxiisition oi) righteousness, but (q. d., not only 80 ; but there must be an outward confession, in order for justification to be carried forward to salvation) with the icouth cunfe^-sion is made unto salvation." " 2o>t. is the 'terminus ulUmus et apex jus((ficat,inms,' consequent cot merely on the act of justifying faith, but on a good c>»nfession before the world, maintained unto the end." -K.] t [Dr. Hodge is very guarded here " By confessing Him before men, we secure the peiformaiice of His promise that He will confess un before the angels of God.'" But surel> we may not fear to interpret sal ratioti as an actual salvation, begun here in us, ai d to culminate at that time, when wu shall be thus confessed.— E.] o)v."* This is, in meaning, certainly contained in the "piDXSii . The weight of the clause lies in the fact that only faith is here desired. The Apostla has very justifiably referred the e;r' avroi to Christ. Shall not be put to shame. That is, shall attain to salvation (see chap. v. 6 ; ix. 33). B. The universality of faith. Vers. 12, 13 : The testimony of Scripture for the universality of faith. Ver. 12. For there is no distinction be- tween Jew and Greek [oi'i ya() iari^v dta- TO krj lovdalov Tf xai "E)./.tivo(;. This ren« dering is more literal than that of the E. V. See Textual Note ". Greek stands here for Gentile. Comp. chap. i. 18 ; also in chap. iii. 22. — R.] No difference in reference to the freedom of faith ; in reference to the possibility and necessity of attain- ing to salvation by faith. The right of faith is the same to Jews and Gentiles. Proof: For the same is Lord of all [6 yap avroi; xi'^to? ndvxMv. See Textual Note ".] Strict- ly speaking, we must suppose a breviloquence also here : One and the same Lord is Lord over all. The one Lord is Christ, according to Origen, Chrysostom, Bengel, Tholuck, and most other expositors (see ver. 9). Others refer the expression to God (Grotius, Ammon, Kollner, &c.) ; Meyer, on the other hand, has good ground for observing that it was first neces- sary to introduce the Christian character,! as Olshau- sen has done (" God in Christ ") ; see Acts x. 36 ; Phil. ii. 11. Rich. [Lange : erroeisend sich reich.'\ n).ox>- TiTiv (see chap. viii. 32 ; xi. 33 ; Eph. i. 7 ; ii. 7 ; iii. 8). Unto all [?«'(; ndvrotq. Alford: toward all; Lange: Uber Alle ; Meyer: fur Alle, zum Beslen Alter; Olshausen: "By ili; is signified the direc- tion in wihch the stream of grace rushes forth." — R.] This is both the enlargement and restriction of Christ's rich proofs of salvation. Only those who call upon him [toiic; int.y.a).ovfiivoi'i; av- Tor], but also all who call upon him, share in His salvation. The calling upon Him is the specific proof of faith, by which they accept Him as their Lord and Saviour. Ver. 13. [For every one w^hosoever, &c., Tray yag oc, y..r.).. Hee Textual JS'ote ^^. Scrip- tural proof: Joel iii. 5. [LXX. and E. V., ii. 32.] Tholuck : " The omission of the exact form of the quotation occurs either in universally known decla- rations, as in Eph. v. 31, or where the Apostle makes an Old Testament statement the substratum of his own thought, as in chap. xi. 34, 35." Paul has specified the name y.v^i.o<; in Joel as the name of the God of revelation, in harmony with the mes- sianic passage. [If we accept a reference to Christ in ver. 12, we must do the same here, as, indeed, the next verse also requires. Alford well says : " There is hardly a stronger proof, or one more irrefragable by those who deny the Godhead of our Blessed Lord, of the unhesitating application to Him ♦ [Alford : " The Apostle seems to use it here as taking up navrl t(3 irurrevovTi, ver. 4." At all events, there is a recurrence to the startinp-point, chap. is. »3, where the same passage was cited, and this enlargement of It is at once established in the verses which follow. A weighty monosy'lable ! — R.] t rv?yer means that, if God is referred to, we must add this dehtition, " God in Chi-ist; " which is altogether arbi* trary, as he well remarks. — B.] 348 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. bv tlie Apostle of the uaiue and attributes of Jeho- vab."— li.] Verd. 14, 15 : Tfie realization of the universal riyhti oui>n' ss of faith through the univcraality of prcath'tuj fiitd thr a/jostnlic mission. Ver 14. How then can they call on him? f?Tw<; or I' 1 7T n'.a/.irr lit vT ai n^, x.t.L See I'extual Xole ", and below.] The proof, clothed in the vivacious form of a question, of the necessity of the universal apostleship :ind of his preaching, is a sorites. Faith in the Lord precedes ealiing itjion Him (in order to be saved); the hearing of the message of faith precedes faith ; but llis message presuppo.=ies preachers, and preaching presupposes again a corresponding mission. From this it then follows, that the apostolate urges forward the preach- ing in the name of the Lord, and that uiiljelief in the apostolic message is disobedience to the Lord himself.* The view of Grotius and Michaelis, that vers. 14 and 15 are a Jewish olyeetion and excuse, complicates the Apostle's perspicuous train of tliougiit. But Chrvsostom and otliers have correctly observed, that he here establishes the universal apostleship by virtue of the institution of faith, even in respect to the Jews, and to the narrow Jewish Christianity ; but, according to Meyer, lie does not rcaeli this point until ver. 18 If., where, indeed, he first makes full application of its establishment. Meyer : " Import- ant Codd. have the conjunctive (deliberative) aorist instead of the future, winch Laclimunn has accepted. But the testimony ia by no means decisive. [See Textual Xote '\ On the future, see Winer, p. 262. — II.] Tiie subjects of those who call are all who are c.dled to salvation, Jews and (jentiles, in the universal sense. [Or, as Alford suggests, " 7hc7i, represented by the nci:; o^ av of ver. 13." — R.] Thus the preachers, in vers. 14 and 15, are still in- dednite (De Wette, and others, against Meyer). [How can they believe, &c., nmii i)e m-n- r n'l (T III T I, V or nil/, i'j xo t'frciv. On the construc- tion of the genitive o*, see .Meyer; comp. Eurip., Mel'a, p. 752. Meyer .seems scarcely justified in insisting upon the correctness of the Vulgate : quo- rnoh) credent ei, quern non iiwlicruid. The E. V. gives the proper moaning. — Without a preacher, /I'lfjii; X ij () ii(Taovroi; . Tittmann, Si/7t. y. T., p. yS : •/iitniii lid suhjectum, quod ad objccfo sejunctam est, refifrlitr, avtn autem ad ohjectnin, quod a sitb- j'cto ah/'sse cof/itafur. Dr. Lange may be correct in claiming that the preachers are as yet indefinite, but the beautiful precision of the Greek requires us to find an intimation of the certainty of the univer- sal gospel proclamation. In the first two (juestions, there is an absolute negative ; in the third, /nx^iii occurs, implying the prol)ability that on(; will preaeli; in the last, we have iuv fii], which indicates that, however men may fail to call and hear, those who will preach will certainly be sent forth. This turn of expression seems to have escaped the notice of comiiientalors, but it points directly toward the po- Bition the Apostle is establishing: the universality of the means |)rovided by God for the salvation of men, whether they hear or forbear. — R.] • I Dr. Hodee : " It is nn arifument founded on tho principle, that if God wi'ls the oml, lie wills also the mi'an.s." l£o projuTly opposes CalvinV view, th:il the Apostle is proving the dosiLMi of sendiii); the ({"spel to the a^'Utile* from the fact that tliey have received it. Still, I>r. LiinRi-'s view (which is that of l)e Wette aud Meyer) Boems yet mr re ex:ict. frin<'c the providiat; of the means is more marked in this passage than their suoccs. — It. ] Ver. 15. [And how shall they preach, ex« cept they be sent? nwi; t)i y. rjii i Iuxt iv tat fi rj a 7r o (T T o /.i7)(r i V :] The definite preachers spring first from the divine mission. But the Apos- tle proves, by Isa. lii. 7, that there must be such sent (apostolic) preachers. As it is written, How beautiful, &c. The Apostle here repeats the prophet's announcement in an abridtred and free manner, but yet in strict cou- formity with tiie sense ; following the original text more closely than the LXX. According to Meyer, the prophetic passage in question speaks of the happy deliverance from exile, while the Apostle has very properly int-.M-preted it in its messianic cliaracter as a prophecy of the gospel preachers of the messianic kingdom. But the full, mysterious messianic import of tlie prophetic passage extends beyond the meaning of a typical prophecy as verbal propliecy. The beauty of the feet of the messen- gers of peace is hardly spoken of, because the feet of the one who approaches become visible (Tholuck), but beciiuse they, in their running and hastening, in their scaling obstructing mountains, and in their ap- pearance and descent from mountains, are the sym- bolical phenomena of the earnestly desired winged movement and appearance of the gospel itself. Paul has left out the mountains, and has given the col- lective singular a plural form, according to the sense; peace has to him the full idea of the gos- pel salvation; the good things are the rich, dis- played, saving blessings which proceed from the one Sidvation. Vers. 16-18 : But as the gospel is, on the one hand, naiuralli/ free and U7iiversal in relation to the antithesis of Jeivs and Gentiles, so, 07i the other, it is, according to its i7iwa7'd nature, co7idiiioned by the a/Uithesis of faith and unbelief. Ver. 16. But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings [',•//./.' o i' ndvrn; vTii^xov (Tay t m t i a y •/ f /. i id . The aorist is historic; during the preaching (Alford). Hence the general reference is to be admitted, especially as the a/./.d contrasts with tiie preaching to " all," the limited result. — R.] Theodore of Mopsvcstia and Reiciie do violence to the connection in reading the.se words as a question. Fritzsehe holds that they refer to the Gentiles ; and Meyer, to the Jews. But they refer chiefiy to the dirterence between believers and unbelievers in general, for there were also unbeliev- ers among the Gentiles; and, above all, the ques- tion was the general establishment of the antithesis : believers and unhelicvers, aud then its application to Jews and (Jentiles. Lord, w^ho believed our report? [KiQir, T«'; i n icf X t rff t V t >"j axo(* tiiii'tv; An exact quotation from the LXX.] This citation from the prophet Isaiah, ehap. liii. 1, is mainly a strong proof of this : that the preaching of salvation does not meet with faith on the part of all to whom it is preached, although in this citation the reference to the Jews comes out more definitely. The hyper- bolical expressicm of the prophet means : " Only a few believe." The entire contents f)f Isa. liii. prov« that here we have not only to deal with a typical prophecy, but also with a verbal one. On the ditlVrent interpretations of tixo;;, see Tho« luck, p. 077: " Tha' which ix /ircachel," "to preach what is heard from God." Meyer: " The preaching whicli is ap[)rehended;" or, in which the stres,s res'.a upon the right .apjtrehension (the words of obedi- ence). — Xot all. That is, not all within the reach of CHAPTER IX. 1-33. 349 preaching {anotj, nS=l^'^). [The word axoj} has occasioned much difficulty. For, if rendered report, prcavhinp, liere, tlien it would seem natural to give it the game sense iu ver. 17. But it' this be done, then " word of God " must receive an unusual meaning (see below). Generally the commentators have admitted this meaning here without question, and then in various ways met the subsequent difficulty. Forbes, however, strikes at the root of the matter, and claims that there is no ground for rendering SJ^mtJ , report — i. t\^ what we cause others to hear. His view has been adopted by Hcngstenberg, and is the most sat- isfactory solution yet offered. '^ x o /;' , like the He- brew equivalent, he claims with reason,* refers to the jnessage viewed from the side of the hearer, not from tliat of tlie preacher. The prophet is speaking in the name of his countrymen, as he does through- out tiie chapter : Who (of us) hath believed that which we heard? (See Forbes, pp. 362 flF.) This view is more literal ; it does not disturb in tlie least the general drift of the argument, while it relieves ver. 17 of a great difficulty. In fact, Meyer, Alford, and others, approach this sense, but too indirectly ; this is as simple as it is satisfactory. — R.] Ver. 17.f So then faith cometh of hearing [apa tj TiiffTiq it ax o^?]. From the ay.or'i. Explanations : The message preached (Tholuck, Meyer [Hodge, and most] ) ; the act of hearing (Caiixtus, Philippi, and others) ; hearing with faith (Weller, and other Lutheran expositors). As this preaching does not meet with universal faith, only the announcement itself can be meant. [Accepting Forbes' explanation of a/.o>'i in ver. 16, we apply it here : Faith comes from xvhat is heard, not the act of hearing — which gives a different sense from ver. 16 ; nor what is preached — which confuses this word and ()7jii(x. — R.] And hearing through the word of God [ ^ rfe ax oh dice ^i^ /( aroi; ^foT'. See Text^ial Note '^ on the reading XqigtovJ] Different ex- planations of the ^^/ inl rwa denotes not God's order, but His oracles ; Jer. i. 1, &c. Nevertheless, there does exist a difference between this ^rjfia, and the axotj ; a/.ori is every message of salvation to the end of the world ; but the ()^na &iov denotes the Divine sources of revelation, on whose effluence the au- thority and effect of every message depend : The word, and the fact, and the effect in life taken to- gether. Therefore ()ta ^/y/mTo?. \^The thing heard is through or by means of the revelation of God. * [This is the classical usage, and all the New Testament passnges can be quite as readily explained thus. The Hebrew word is not Iliphil, yet the common interpretation forces a Hiphil sense unon it. — R.] t [Stuart has a singTilar view respecting this verse. Tie finds i;i it the sucpestion of the Jewish objector, whom he has already discovered in vers. 14, 15, to the effect that "many of the .Tews are not culpable for unbelief, inasmuch as they have not heard the gospel, and hearing it ij neces- eaiy to the believing of it." — E.] This is the sense, if we adopt the usual meaning of a/.or'j ; and, indeed, it gives ^7jfta a simpler sense, De Wetle suggests that ^j/ia prepares for rd ^ij ftara in the next verse.— R.] Ver. 18. But I say, Did they not hear 9 [a^. Ad ?.eyo), f> ij ov/. ?/'xo I'ffcer ,•] The in- definite it [which Dr. Lange supplies] is regarded by Meyer as denoting the a.y.07) ; and, according to Tholuck, as that which has heretofore been the sub- ject under consideration ; which is sufficient. [All the difficulty about the verb here dit^appears, if Forbes' view be accepted. There is no necessity for going back to ver. 14, or making the matter indefi- nite. The Apostle has been speaking of the neces- sity of hearing, of the thing heard ; now he says : did they not hear ? The universality of the privi- lege is affirmed. — R.] Although reference is con« stantly made to the Jews, the question is neverthe- less, principally and formally, concerning unbelievers in general. If unbelievers, as unbelieving people, can excuse themselves by saying tiiat tliey have not heard God's message, the most direct answer would be : " Then they would not be unbelievers in the specific sense." But the Apostle rather brings out the fact of the hicipient universal propagation of the gos- pel, by clothing it in the language of Ps. xix. 4, from the LXX. [Nay, verily, fifvovvyt. Corop. chap. ix. 20. So far from this being the case, their sound ■went out into all the earth, &c., fi? naaav Ttjv yriv, y..T.).. An exact quotation from the LXX. (Ps. xviii. 5; Heb. xix. 5; Eng., xix. 4. — R.] In the Psalm, the question is undoubtedly the uni- versal revelation of God in nature ; therefore we cannot regard it as a real prophecy, and as an argu- ment in the usual sense. However, the Apostle seems to clothe his view of the incipient univei'sality of the gospel in those words of the Psalms, because he perceived in the universal revelation of nature the type and gunrantee of the future revelation of sal- vation. Then, his having given to the q.&6yyoq avxMv * another reference, also corresponds to this freer application of the passage (there, the sound of God's works; here, the preacher). [Dr. Lange here follows the mass of commentators (including Stuart, Hodge). But Calvin, Stier, Hcngstenberg, Alford, Forbes, regard these words " as possessing a real argu- mentative force, when interpreted according to their genuine meaning as designed at first by the Psalm ist." Alford urges the fact : " that Ps. xix. is a com parison of the sun, and the glory of the heavens with the uor 1 of God.'''' Calvin : " As He spoke to the Gentiles by the voice of the heavens. He showed by this prelude that He designed to make himself known at length to them also." Dr. Lange, it ia true, approaches this view, yet does not find it in the Psalm, but in the Apostle's use of it. Was the Apostle likely to convince his countrymen by put- ting a new meaning on their Scriptures ? — R.] On the gross misconstruction of this passage, that the gospel should extend everywhere, even af Paul's time, see Meyer [p. 408, 4th ed.] ; Tholuck, p. 580. As for the ecstatic salutation of the uni- versality of God's kingdom, then first appearing, which often occurs in Paul (see Col. i. 23), comparu the two statements of Justin Martyr and Tertullian ; Tholuck, p. 380. That which appears surprising in ♦ [The LXX. thus renders D1)?, which means, first, their line : then, from the string of an aistrument, Ihtit sound. — R.] 350 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. the hyperbolical form of the Apostle's statement of the universal propagation of the gospel, disappears just in proportion as that propagation is regarded not quantititliveh/, but qualitatively. Jerusalem and Rome were the centres of the ancient world. But, in aildiiion to them, there were many other general centres. The error of expoumling the passage in the sense of a quantitative universality could not hoi ] good, even if we admit that the gospel had at that time reached America ; the whole of the fifth grand division of the world, as well as all Africa, would also have to come into consideration. C. The faith of ike Gentiles and the unbelief of Israel. Vers. 19-21 : Frophcsicd already in the Old Testament. Ver. 19. But I say, Did Israel not know? [fti] ^laitnij). ovx «V'"'.0 The Apostle now passes over to the long-prepared antithesis of un- believing Israel and of the believing Gentiles. But yet, in his representation of tliis fearful inversion (which stirred up unbelieving Judaism) of the old theocratic relation — according to which the Jews were God's people, and the Gentiles were given up to themselves — he has recourse to the witnesses of the Old Testament respecting the beginning and prospect of this inversion. After the first question : " Have \mbelievers not heard the gospel ? " there follows the second : " Did not Israel know it ? " We may now ask : What is referred to ? E.iplanations : 1. That the gospel should pass from the Gentiles to the Jews (Thomas Aquinas, Calovius, Tholuck [Stuart, Hodge, Jowett], and others). But that threat was only conditionally uttered, and is not contained in the foregoing. 2. The gospel (Chrysostom, and others). [Here must be classed Calvin and Beza, who supply: the truth of God ; Philippj and Forbes : the word or message of God (from ver. 17). The last named defend their view, from the emphasis which seems to rest on Israel (in the correct reading), and from the parallelism with ver. 18. Meyer opposes, with rea- son, the ^lr]-ol'x, which anticipates an affirmative answer ; nor is this objection met, by saying that an affirmative might be expected, that Israel ought to have known the gospel. Paul knew too sadly that the reverse was the fact. — R.] 3. That the gospel should become universal, ac- cording to the preceding language of the Psalm (Fritzsche, De Wette [Alford], Meyer).* Meyer places Tholuck also in this category. Tholuck, how- ever, now declares for (1.), as follows: "But yet the following prophetic declarations do not contain 80 much the universality of preaching, as explana- tions of the inverted relation which God will assume towanl Gentiles and Jews." At all events, the citation immediately following is not simply a proof of the universality of the gos- pel. But it oidy follows therefrom, tliat a new state- ment is made with the proof This also holds good of the last (luotation. The progress is as follows : a. Universality ; Ps. x\x. b. The faith of the Gen- tiles for the awakening of the faith of the Jews ; Deut. xxxii. 21. c. The faith of the Gentiles; Isa. liT. 1. d. The unbelief of the Jews ; Isa. Ixv. 2. Therefor«» we regard the exi)lanation of Fritzsche, • [Brotschnoi'lor nnd Roichc tnko Turael as tho ohjocf of tho Tnrb, nnd ftupply nmi an Buhject. Did not God know Ismolt Hut this is arbitrary, and not in aooordanco with the oontcTt.— R.l &c., as correct, and all the more striking, as the ful- filment of this very ancient prospect just now becama an offence to Israel. — Proof: First Moses saith [7TQ<7)Toq Mi»ra^i liyn,. First, " in the order of the prophetic roll" (Alford), with reference to Isaiah, as one among the many who spoke afterward to the same effect, Wetstein, Storr, FLtt, join tt^jwto? with ovt 'iyv(o, but on insufficient grounds. — R.] The future uiuversality of the Abrahamic blessing had been de- clared earlier, but it was Moses who first declared that there should be no difference between Jews and Gentiles before God's righteousness ; indeed, that possibly the Gentiles, in their good conduct, might be preferred to the Jews in their bad conduct. Thus the same Moses who communicated to Israel its economic advantages over the Gentiles, was he who had set up the rule of faith by which this re- lation could possibly be inverted in the future. I will provoke you to jealousy ['£y(i nai>a'Zrj).i!}ai» vfidq. The only variation from the LXX. (which closely follows the Hebrew) is the substitution of vfiaq, in each clause, for at'roi'?. — R.] Thus Moses speaks to Israel in the name of the Lord ; Deut. xxxii. 21. With those who are no people [in' oi'x tOvit.. The precise force of the preposition is with difficulty conveyed by any English word. It is not = agiiinst, although that is implied ; nor = by means of, but rather, on account of. With expresses the weaker shade of instrumental force sufficiently well, but the real sense is : aroused on account of and directed toward a no-people. — R.] C5 X53 . The Gentile nations were not recognized as true na- tions in the idea of the people, because they were devoid of that religious and moral principle which transforms nature into a moral nationality ; see chap. ix. 25 ; 1 Peter ii. 10. "'ia , from n'3 , de- notes, strictly speaking, the increasing mass of nat- ural human beings; CS, from -^7, a connection, assembly, community. [The words people, nation, are used in the E. V. to preserve the distinction be- tween the Hebrew words. Despite the fact that the LXX. has used the same word to render both, it has not been overlooked in the E. V. in this passage. — R.] The explanation of the " no-people " (the oly. denies the idea contained in a nomen connected with it), is found in the following parallel : By a foolish nation {IttI if>vn, a aw I' Tru].* The religious and moral folly of the Gen- tile consisted in his not seeking God's signs with resignation ; for which reason they also could not seek Ilim. Paul, with good ground, sees in the thoroughly prophetic song of Moses, which looked far beyond Israel's history in the wilderness and its relation to the Canaanites (Deut, xxii. 43), a typical, and still more than a typical prophecy, wliich should be fulfilled in many ways in preludes, and which h;i3 finally ln'cn fulfilled in the almost complete changes of till' rclatiim between Israel and the Gentiles in relati(m to the irospel. In ver. 21, neither Israel's idolatry in tiie wilderness, nor the Canaanite people, is meant alone. On the different untenable expJa. nations, including those of Philippi, see Tholuck, p. 683 [given above]. • [Xnyos, In his version, pro«orvo8 tho namllelism (4 the vort'S ; vapa^i} Aucro) , napopyia, ov Uio pom* phrase : /mi/' ni«r« j/"" (o jcalnunj, J will cxcilf yiu to in- dignation. — ll.J CHAPTER X. 1-21. 351 VeB ?^ But Isaiah is very bold, and saith ['ffffa^ot? rft aTtoToi-iuoi xai /.eyft. Lange: jD«< Isaiah even ventures to say ; which is the spirit of the Greek, Bengel : Quod Moses innucrat, Esaias audader et plane doquiiur. — R.]. The Apostle re- garded it as great boldness in Isaiah to say the words of chap. Ixv. 1 and 2 in the hearing of the Jews, as ' the first verse, according to his explanation, ex- pressed mercy to the Gentiles, and the second the hardness and apostasy of the Jews. [I was found by those who sought me not, E {' Q e Tj V T r c i ft e ft ti LrjToxKTi'V, x.t.A. See Textual Note ", for the text of the Hebrew original and the LXX., to the former of which Dr. Lange refers so frequently. The Apostle has trans- posed the clatises. — R.] The question is now raised first of all by the later exegesis, whether Paul's explanation of Isaiah's passage is correct ? Meyer says : " In its strict sense, Isa. Ixv. 1 (freely from the Septuagint, and with an inversion of both the pai'allel members) treats of the Jercs ; but in a typical sense, which Paul clearly perceives in it, they are types of the Gentiles,^^ &c. But in this case, Paul would have made an exegesis without any evidence, and would have exposed himself to the legitimate contradiction and censure of the Jews. Tholuck also remarks, that if the Apostle, in ver. 1, referred directly to the Gentiles, his application would have to be regarded as having missed its ob- ject. In the first place, namely, Tholuck says that rabbinical expositors (Jarclii, &c.) have " simply and satisfactorily " explained vers. 1 and 2 as relating to the same subjects. He further says : " Independ- ently of these rabbinical predecessors, the same ex- planation has been adopted by Gesenius, Ewald, Hit- zig, and Umbreit, which last writer translates: I was to be inquired of." There is just ground for disap- proving of Luther's confidence in inserting in ver. 20 : to the Gentiles, and in beginning ver. 21 with a for — -for I speak, &c. Yet the exegetical author- ities cited are utterly refuted, not only by Paul's authority — although we cannot even admit that in one of his last sword-thrusts he has made not merely a random stroke, but even wounded himself — but also by the connection of the whole of Isaiah's pas- sage, chap. Ixiii. 7-lxvi. The antitheses in general between the strongly Old Testament Jewish prayer in chap. Ixiii. V ff., and the prophetical New Testa- ment answer of God in chaps. Ixv. and Ixvi., are first to be considered. It is said that the prayer is undoubtedly desigTied to express Israel's state of mind ; that it contains angry and passionate ele- ments ; and that the Lord must so reveal himself that the Gentiles will tremble at His name (ver. IV ; chap. Ixvi. 1). The prayer is a conflict between the profoundest contrition and the most painful dejec- tion, and it dies away in a question which sounds like a reproach. The Lord now answers, it is said, in the cold reproach : " I was to be sought." And this is claimed to be the simplest rendering of T)C"!'73 . But what does the Lord answer in rela- tion to the people of Israel, and in relation to the Gentiles ? In chap. Ixiv. 8 fiF. we read : " Thou art our Father ; we are the clay, and thou our potter," &c. Finally : " Lord, wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore ? " Compare here the an- swer in chap. Ixv. 2, and further. In ver. 8 the familiar thought again recurs to the prophet: A rem- nant of the people will be saved ; from ver. 18 on- ward he explains by a grand antithesis. From this antithesis there then arises the description of the new Israel, which was to be called by another name (ver. 15). On the Gentiles, see chap. Ixvi. 12, 18, 19, 21. But the antitheses between chap. Ixv., vera. 1 and 2, come still more into consideration. In ver. 1 we read, "'la-bx ; in ver. 2, C5~-K. The "'iJ, in ver. 1, is '^^l^"^ N^p"iosi- tors, that tlie a.vri./.ty. must not be understood as tiubborn, but contradiclori/. But contradiction, in the sphere of religion, is tlie decisive expression of oppo.siiio7i. [Philippi thinks this aihled attributive expresses the positive side of disobedience ; tiic oth- er, «/T*t.9 or rra, the negative. If so, both were necessary to convjy the full meaning of the Hebrew word used by the prophet. "Tliey say to God, offer- ing them salvation : we mil not.'''' — R.] DOCTRINAIi AND ETHICAL. 1. The intercession of the believer a sign of hope and salvation to those for wliom it is made. 2. Tiie bright and dark sides of religious zeal. If it be not purified by progressive, living knowl- edge, it becomes pevcrted into the carnal zeal of liinaticiam. On the first appearance of Jewish fanat- icism, see the Commentary on Genesis [p. 564, Anier. ed.]. 3. Self-righteousness has many forms. The start- ing-point is the effort for the righteou.sness of the law, not as it is attained inwardly by simplicity and humility, but as it, by self-complacency and impurity, falls into externality. In this direction the right- eousness of the law becomes the righteousness of works; and from this there results self-righteous- ness, which branches out into many forms — into tlie ecclesiastical and political form of confessional and partisan righteousness ; into the ecclesiastical and Bcholastic form of doctrinal righteousness (orthodox- ism); into the worldly form of moral righteousness; into the pietistic form of righteousness of feeling ; and into the philosophical and brutal forms of the denial of all i)ersonal guilt. In all forms it inverts the relation between God and man — between the Cre- ator and the creature — between God's sovereignty and man's own will — between God's law and the self- made service and law — between grace and works — and between tlie ground of life and the most out- ward false show. Its real want is the vnint of the hrarCs upward look at the throne of God's eternal majesty ; and this want is also the first g^iilt ; the positive nun connected therewith is the baseness of the mind's look at things below ; the lost state of tlie mind's look in the abject beholding of self. But as this self-righteousness is so thoroughly selfish that it misunderstands and scorns the proffer of God's freely-given righteousness, the gospel of grace, BO is it likewise selfish in connecting itself insepa- rably with fanaticism. 4. Clirist is the end of the law, because He is the fulfilment of the law ; therefore He is, on one side, the end where the law is changed into the col- lective principle of the new birth ; and, on the oth- er, He is the end in which it lays off its eternal Old Testament form and meaning; just aa ripe fruit be- comes freed from its bondage in the husk. See Jijrer/. Xti/i's. 5. Ver. 5. The doctrine of eternal lif; has de- veloped itself embryonically by stages : In this life, God's blessing, God's glorious deliverance from the manifold danger of death, and, in the future, th« peacel'ul slumber of those delivered from beds of eartiily suffering, their celebration of the marriage- sup[)er of the Lamb, and their safety in Abraham's bosom, kc. This development, ju>t as every biblical doctrine, has taken place in organic conformity to the law. According to Tholuck, p. 557, the esch»> tology of the Jews of Palestine at the time of Christ had already attained to tiie idea of eternal life. Yet they hardly attained to the idea of eternal life in tiie Christian sense. [It must ever be remeinbereil that the ideas, immortaliti/ and eternal Hf\ are not iden- tical. Ziiit'j has a new meaning in the New Testa- ment. Comp. the thoughtful remarks of Trench, Syn. N. T., % xxvii.— R.J 6. The righteousness of faith speaks even in Mo.'se.s, if Moses be properly understood and ex- plained. [Comp. Exeg. Notes on vers. 7-9. — R.] 7. Tlie truth of the inward essence of the law, like that of the gospel, and therefore the truth of the whole saving revelation of God, is based on its inward character — on its inward union with the most inward nature of man. Its impregnability and in- corruptibility also rest upon the same basis. Just as man must return from all by-ways (for his salva- tion or for his judgment) to the idea of God, so also must he return to the idea of the God-man, of guilt, the atonement, deliverance, the new birth, and the new and eternal life. The objection urged against revelation, and especially against Christianity, that this religion beclouds the earthly life by an exclusive representation of heaven, and the present by an exclusive assertion of the future, the realm of the dead, and duration after death, is removed by a pas- sage which the Apostle cites and elaborates from Deuteronomy. Christ is on the earth in so far aa Ho has become inseparably incorporated with it by His historical presence and union with humanity ; and He is just as much in this life, and present in His judgments and bestowals of salvation, aa He is in the eternal world, as the future Finisher of all things. 8. Faith and confession ; see Exeg. Notes. The delivering power of confcflsion. Because it: 1. makes inward faith irrevocable ; 2. Breaks loose from unbelief; 3. LTnites with believers, becomes flesh and lilood, and, in a good sense, acquires world- ly form, worldly power, and the power of manifes- tation ; 4. Pledges itself to full consistency in word and deed, life and death. Christians have had good ground for holding martyrdom in sucli high lionor. But if martyrdom can be exaggerated and overvalued, how much more can a confessional righteousness be overvalued, which seeks its protection and peace un- der the shadow of formulas ! 9. The centre of faith and the centre of con- fession ; see ver. 9. The centre of faith is Christ's resurrection, with all that it comprises ; the centre of confession is Jesus as the Lord, and therefore not " the Christianity of Christ," but the Christ of Chris- tianity, [ileiiee the A))ostle does not say : If thou shalt confess with thy moiith my doctrine, and be- lieve in thine heart in justification by faith, thou shalt be saved ; yet how often he is represented as saying this, and no more. The living Christ is not in such a guspel. — R.] 10. 'With the complete freedom of revelation and of God's pi^ople there has also come the full protection of faith against unbelief. 11. The riches of the Lord to a praying huioaa world. CHAPTER X. 1-21. 353 12. The order of the gospel message. Its ne- cessity, its pronii.se, its authority, its condition (the Divine mission ; direct or indirect). See the inter- esting statements which Tholuck makes, p. 580 ff., on the assertion of the Lutheran theologians of the seventeenth century, as well as of their latest com- panions in adherence to the letter, that this text (and the article of the general call) forces us to ac- cept the position that the gospel had been preached in all the world at Paul's time. 13. We must be careful to distinguish, that the question here is the necessity of the official bearers or messengers of God's word, but not of them ex- clusively. Or, more strictly speaking, the sending has two sides, and does not consist simply in official arrangements and forms. [This is even more ap- parent, if we understand ver. 17 to refer to u'hat is heard, rather than ^rhat is preached, and then con- sider how the Apostle proves from an Old Testament description of the voice of God in nature (ver. 18), the universality of this privilege. — R.] 14. The feet of the messengers on the moun- tains, or the beauty of the progressive course of the gospel. 15. Unbelief in the gospel is disobedience, spe- cific disobedience and rage ; Ps. ii. The more grossly and roughly human nature is apprehended, the more external become the ideas of obedience and disobe- dience ; the more profoundly, purelj', and inwardly they are viewed, the more profoundly, purely, and inwardly is this antithesis defined ;. and, finally and fundamentally, faith in God's word is specific obe- dience, while unbelief is specific disobedience, spe- cific rebellion. [The LXX. form of Isa. Ixv. 2 (ver. 21), by dividing the idea of rebellion into disobedi- ence and gainsaying, only recognizes the connection between refusing God's commands and contradicting His words : disobedience and unbelief, acting and reacting upon each other continually. — R.] 16. The prudent advance of the Apostle in his judgment, that Israel has changed its part with the Gentiles by its unbelief, and has become an apostate people, is here a characteristic of his masterly apos- tolic wisdom of instruction, as well as of his apos- tolic heart, as, with a shudder of inmost sorrow, he gradually draws aside the curtain from the ghastly picture of Israel. The argument from the Old Tes- tament is in conformity with the law that every apology must be discussed from the acknowledged sources, statements, or principles of the opponent, and that its possibility ceases where there cease to be positions in common. HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAIi. a. Vers. 1, 2. The benevolent disposition of the Apostle toward Israel. It is clear : 1. Frbm his wish and prayer that they might be saved ; 2. From his record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. — A zeal for God is good, but it should not exist without knowledge (ver. 2). —How often ignorant zeal occurs : 1. In domestic ; 2. In civil ; and 3. In ecclesiastical affairs ; and, unfortunately, it occurs most frequently in the last (ver. 2). — The folly of ignorant zeal. It is foolish : 1. In regard to its starting-point; 2. Its end; 3. The choice of means (ver 2). — Wise and ignorant zeal. Starke : Oh, how can men so transgress as to be led by a blind rehgious zeal to oppose the dear- 23 est truths of the gospel by an imaginary defence of orthodoxy ; and thus hate, calumniate, and reproach Christ in His members, and always think, with those ancient enemies, that, by so doing, they do God ser- vice (John xvi. 2). — Hedinger : The zeal of the Jews crucified Christ. Spener : All the persecutions which have been, and still will be inflicted on pious Christians, are commicted by those who do not know the truth and doctrine of godliness ; who regard others w^ho are attached to it sis false and wicked people ; and who think that they render God a service when they persecute them (John xvi. 2) ; but yet, by this vei-y means, they thrust themselves into God's judgment, and are not at all excused lor their error (ver. 2). Hkubner : What is blind zeal in religious mat- ters ? Whence does it come ? If it be wholly un- clean, it is self-love, selfii^ness; if it be merely joined with perverse measures, then it arises from a weakness of understanding, and, in that case, has also a mixture of egotism 1 True zeal is pure and clear. — Compare Paul's early Jewish and later Chris- tian zeal. Besser : When Paul cherishes, and expresses in praying to GoJ, the hearty wish that they who have stumbled against the stone of offence may yet be saved, he certainly has no knowledge of any abso- lute decree of condemnation on any man, not even on the most stiff-necked Jews (ver. 1). — One of our older teachers laments : " The Jews had, and still have, a zeal without knowledge ; but we, alas, have an understanding without zeal " (ver. 2). h. Ver. 3. Our own righteousness, and right- eousness which is of God (Luke xviii. 9-14). 1. The former is proud, and leads to humiliation ; 2. The latter, on the contrary, is humble, and leads to exaltation. Starke, Lange : No persons are farther from God's kingdom, and more difficult to be converted, than those who, when they hear of the method of salvation, have so much of their own righteousness as to think that they have long conformed to it. Heubser : They are therefore devoid of an hum- ble recognition of their unworthiness before God ; they would themselves be something, and carry weight. Where this pride and fancy exist, there is always blindness. c. Vers. 4-11. The righteousnesss which is of faith is : 1. A righteousness in Christ, who is the end of the law ; 2. And therefore can be obtained only by faith in Him (vers. 4-11). — The unbeliever asserts that Christ is far from and unapproachable by man ; but the believer, on the contrary, knows that He is near us by the word of faith (vers. 5-9). — In order to avoid believing, men make use of empty evasions (vers. 5-9). — As the law was near to Israel, so is the gospel near to us : 1. In the mouth ; 2. In the heart (ver. 8). — What do we preach ? 1. Not a remote, and therefore incomprehensible word ; but, 2. A near, and therefore a very easily under- stood word (ver. 8). — The conditions of salvation : 1. The confession of the mouth that Jesus is the Lord ; 2. The belief in the heart that God has raised Him from the dead (vers. 9-11). — The inward interdependence of confession and faith : 1. There is no true confession of the mouth without faith in the heart ; 2. But there is also no living faith of the heart without the confession of the mouth (vers. 9-11). — Faith in the heart must ever precede the confession of the mouth ; which, unfortunately, ie not always the case, and therefore so much is said 354 THE EPISTLE OF FAUL TO THE ROMANS. of confession, and so little is inwardly believed (vers. 9-11). — Tiie great confession of the Christian Church, as exi)res.sed: 1. In the a|)ostolie confession of faith; 2. In the hymns of tiie church ; 3. In its prayers ; 4. In its celebration of tlie Lord's Supper (ver. 10). — The confessors of the Christian Cinu'ch : L In the beginning (the time of the first persecutions); 2. In the period of the Reformation ; 3. At the present time (the martyrs in Madagascar, on the South Sea Islanrd means not only the word itself, Imt also the blessings which that word pre- eent.s — Christ, with all His gospel treasures. Christ's merit, grace. Spirit, aiiti life are not far from us, and cannot first be brought down from heaven, or brouglit up from the deep ; they arc not first to he acquired, but are nigii us, and, if we will accept them, in tlie mouth and in tiie heart. Thus, though the language of the Old Testament was not oh this wise, since the knowledge of grace was of a less degree, more ob- scure, and more difficult to be obtained, yet it is now very near to us, for it is impartial liy the great- er and stronger measure of grace which is now dc- clareil to us (ver. 8). (JEKt.ACn : Christ is in so far the end of the law as He, 1. Is its final object, tlie one to whom it leads (Cal. iii. 24); 2. Is its fulfilment (Matt. v. 17); 8. Puts an cud to the dominion of the law (Luke xvi. 10) (ver. 4). — To become acquainted with ("Jod's gracious counsel, to deprive death of its power liy the manifestation of a divine and holy life in the flesh — which the carnal man was incapable of, since he knew nothing except the righteousness which is of the law — can be efTected by the righteousness whi.;h is of fiiith, which esfal)lishes him in Christ's right, ami freely gives him as his own what the Son of God is and Uaa. The heart need only believe, and the moulh only confess, in order to be rightcoui and saved (vers. 8-11). Lisco : The Divine order of salvation is, there- fore : Justification succeeds faith, God's assistance is obtained, and he who courageously and persover- ingly confesses his faith, obtains salvation (ver. 10), — Hkubner : Righteousness is introduced as speak- ing, and is regarded as proffering it.). — " Lord, who hath believed our report ? " Thus Isaiah once lamented, and thus we, too, lament frequently ; but we can oidy do it when we are conscious that we have per- formed our ministerial duty to the best of our knowl- edge and conscience ; that is, if our sermons have proceeded : 1. From thorouglily searching into the Holy Scriptures ; 2. From hearty prayer ; 3. From a full ac(|uaintance with the necessities of our con- gregations (ver. 1<>). — Christian preaching: 1. AVhat does it effect ? Faith. 2. By what means does it come? By the word of God (ver. 17). — Preaching stands midway between faith and God's word. 1. It proilaces the former ; 2. It draws its supplies from the latter (ver. 1 7). — The appealing power of preach- ing (ver. 17). Starke: All kinds of people can have free ac- cess to Goinu saying],' Lord,' they have killed thy prophets, and [omit and ; inseH they liavc] ' digged down thine altars ; and I am left alone [the only one],* 4 and they seek my life. But what saith tlie answer of God [the divine re- sponse] unto him ? I have reserved ' to myself seven thousand men, who have not [wlio never] bowed the knee to the image of {omit the image o/"] Baal. 5 Even so then at [^V, in] this present time also there is a retimant according to 6 the election of grace. And [Now] if by grace, then is it no more [no longer] of works : otherwise ° grace is no more [no longer becomes] grace. But ' if it be of Avorks, then is ' it no more [longer] grace : otherwise work is no more [longer] work.* B. T Wliat then ? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for [That which Israel seeketh for, he obtained not] ; but the election hath ['»»iy hath] obtained 8 it, and the rest were blinded [liardened], ( [omii rar(nthc$ii\ According as it is written, God " hath given [gave] them the [a] spirit of slumber {<>r, stupor], eyes" that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto 9 [not hear, unto] this day. And David saith. Let" their table be ma$i)v for the perfect. The LXX. follows the Hebrew clo.-^elv. ' Ver. 3.— [Kai (Rec. N'. D. L.) is omitted in N". A. B. C. F., by recent editors. The vivacious form of the Greek is rt stored by the alwve eme-dation. So Noyes, Alford, Five Ang. Clert'ymen, and Dr. Langc in his German text. " Lord, they n.ivc k lied thy prophets, they have di(;ged down thine altars." * Ver. 3.— [Five Aiip. Clerp)-mon : Inn';/ am left. The above emendation is more strictly literal, although it would answer stiU better lo the jiofioTaro? of the LXX. * Ver. 4. —[From I Kinsfs xix. IS, b\it varj-ing from both the Ilobrew and the LXX.; not materially, however. The LXX. reads : »cai (coToAiii/zeis (cumplut. ed., (caToAeii/zu)) iy 'lapaijA iirja x^\^dSai avSpCiv, nama ydcara i ovk ixkacrav yoyv Tip BaoA. Alford: "The Apostle here corrects a mistuke of the LXX., who have, lor icaT^Anroi', KaToAei'i/zet;. He has added to the Ilcbrcw, "HTX— [H ,— ' / /luve Ufl,' 'kept as a remainder,'— ifiavrw, a simple and obvious filling up of the sense.— On rp B aa A, 'instead of t Ver. 8. — [The first clause is a free citation from Isa. xxix. 10. LXX : on Trtn-oTticef u/iot (cvptot jn-ev/iaT* KocoiT^feios. Hebrew: n^'niPl nil nin7 CD'^bs 7,03— '3. " Ver. 8.— [It is much disputed whether these words are borrowed from Deut. xxix. 4, or_from_ Isa. vi 9. The former passage reads thus (LXX.) : icol oix eSiuice . . . ico'i b6aAnov^ /3A«7retv, koI oito aKOv(^v fus t^s rinfpai ravrrit. The latter contains the same idea, but still further removed in form from Paul's language. Dr. Lange thinks both were in mind. In that case, as well ;is if Deuteronomy is cited, the parentheses must be omitted, so as to join " unto this day " with the rest of the verse. Koyes tones down the telic force thus : " eyes that were not to see, and ears that were not to hear." '5 Ver. 'J.— [From Ps. Ixix. 23 (E. V., 2-.). The LXX. is followed more closely than the Ilebrcw text. The latter U literally : *' Lei their table before them be for a snare, and to those secure (c^T2lb"C'5), a trap." (The E. V. ti» If/cn, give^< an unnecci'sarily forced and circuitous rendering.) The LXX. renders : yevri6riTiii ii Tpo»r«^tt ainav eyiuinoy avriiv ei« nayiSa, xal ti? avTarroioaiv, xaX eU aKdviaXov. The Apostle follows the first claii.se quite closely, then inseils ti; Brjpav, and putting CKaviaKov next, substitutes a»T07r64o;i.a for the LXX. equivalent. The main difficulty is with the expression last named. The Hebrew word, accordii g to the present pointing (given above), does not mean rvjuilols, recnmprme; "although this sense may be deduced from the verbal root (cblUj, and belongs to several collateral derivatives, it has no existence in the usage of the one before us " (J. A. Alexander). The usual explanation Is, that the L^JCX. pointed the word thus, Z'w^i'JL'S ; for relribulimis, and the Apostle, finding ttiis meaning in keeping with the spirit of the original, adopted it in the varied form of the text. " Ver. 10.— [The LXX. vers on of I's. Ixix. 24 (23) is followed with great exactness. But it varies from the Hebrew text (n^Tin cn':r"C , make llnir loins to waver, or Inmhlc) in the last clause. The meaning is preserved, however. See Ex g. Nolfs. '* Ver. 1!.— [The Ri-i-. D. F. L., tithers, read yop ; 6C, A. B., versions, &4. Lange adopts the former, mainly on excgeticul grounds; Lachmann, Alford, TrcKcUes, the latter. C. has ovv\ hence Meyer thinks it impossible to decide which is the genuine particle ; nor is it of importance. " Ver. I'i.- [In He.c, L., some versions .'ind fathers, oSi' is omitted ; in D. F., tiiv oSi'; both arc found in V. A. B. C. De Wette and Tholuck reject both, on exegetical grounds; most critic.il editors retain ficv, and Meyer accounta for ovv as inserted because the corresi'onding 4e was wanting. On the whole, it is safest to ret;iin both, with Lach- m/inn and Alford. Tregelles brackets o5v. '• Ver. 17.— [The Kai (lit'.) is omitted in N>. B. C, but found in N'. A. L. Still another rending in D>. F. Alford reject»i, Tregelles brackets, but most editors retain it. If retained, the note of Dr. Lange in loco ie correct.--The E. V. hag paraphra.sed v6<: : with ih' m pinlahitl. The above cmenilation is more literal. " Ver. 19.— [The ariidc oi bcfi>re icAo6oi is omitted In !C. A. ('. D'. L. ; rejected by Scholz, Lachmann, Meyer, "Wordsworth (who 1 correctiv cites B. as omitting it), Tregelles ; bnicketled by Alford. It is found in ii. 1)'. ; retained bv Ti.'cheiidorf, Dc Wette, Tholuck. Langc. Meyer thinks it is a mechiinical repetition from vers. 17, 18; while De Wi tte thinks it was omitted on account of the euphony : it€K\da0i). F. L. It it rejected by I/achmann and Tregelles,' br.-icketied by Alford. But the j)robability of an omission, because of the f:ture (i^sliluteil in Ji-c, but with no uncial support. '• Ver. 22.— (Instead of the accu-^ative anoroniav (Rec, D. F. L.) most editors adopt the nominative, on the authority of N'. A. B. C. The punctuiition favora the latter, as the former would be Roverncd by lie, which is sepa- mtcd from it by a colon. The absence of a predicate for the iiomlnativi-s led to the change. So Lachmann, Tischi-n* dorf, Mever, Alford, l)e Wette, 'I'legelbs, Lange. The same remarks apply to y ptjitt ot>)« . "' V'er. 22.— [Instead ol xPI^tottito («"■., D>. F. L.), ^p^trroTiif on the authority of A. B. C. D'. v. !*« XPi5. — /'e--., D» '. F. Ii. omii 0) K I) , ver. i7) ; the last clause of ver. 27 is from Isa. xxvii. 9. The text of the LXX., and the more importanl variations fiom the Hebrew, will be found in the Exrg. JVnles. -* Ver. 2S. — [K ara, according to, as respects, &c. The version of Five A-ng. Clergymen adopts as tuucJiinr/, in boti clauses ; Amer. Bibie Union : as concerning. If a choice must be made between the two, the former is preferable, ftlthough neither is altogether exact. 2* Ver. 30.— [The jKtc. inserts Kai, on the authority of N'. I.., and some versions. It is omitted in N corr.' A, B, C. D'., vtrsioi s and fathers ; rejected by modem editors generally. Scholz retains it. ^^ Ver. 30. — [ibe E. V. confounds here the nearly related ideas of uiihfHef and disohedifnce. Iiater revision* con-ect the rendori- g of both verb and noun. Ur. Hodge claims that the E. V. is correct ; but it is only inferentially to. These remarks apply also to ajreifleiat' (ver. 32). ^' Ver. 32. — [C'l'nchidid, was once a literal rendering of avviKKucev; included (Amer. Bible Union), while it expresses a part of the meaning, is not strong enough ; ddivired up (Noyes), is an intcrjiretation rather than a transla- tion, it seems best, then, to substitute the simple, literal Saxon : shut up. So E. V., Gal. iii. 23, though cowludtdia lound in ver. 22. — Instead of the masculine tous Tt6.vTa<;, we find to. irdvTa, and iravra (so VuJg.), but very weakly Bupponed. ^'s Ver. S3. — (Both ai/ef epavvijTa and avcfep e vvTjra are found. The fonner is supported by N. A. B'. ; adopted by Alford, Xiegelles (Meyer, De Wette, adopt the latter). "8 Ver. 34.— (The aoiists of vers. 34 and 35 are rendered by simple past tenses in the Amer. Bible Union, at the expense both of rhythm and strict adherence to tlie sense of the Hebrew at least. — The LXX. (Isa, xl. 13) is followed very closely. 30 Ver. 36. — [" From Job xli. 3 (11, E. V.), where the LXX. (xli. 2) have rt's avTicrTijo-eTai /oioi, k. virofievel ; But the Hebrew is cktlJX/l '';53''^~n '''C , 'who hulh anticipated ((. e., by the context, conferred a benejll) on me, that J may repay him t ' And to this tlie Apostle alludes, using the third person " (Alford). — R.l EXEGETICAL AJSD CEITTOAL. Summary. — A. Israel is not rejected ; the ker- nel of it — the election — is saved ; ver;?. l-o. B. The great proportion of Israel, all except the essen- tially important remnant, the " rest," are hardened, as was described by the Spirit in the Old Testament beforehand ; but its hardness has become a condi- tion for the conversion of the Gentiles ; vers. 7-11.* C. Yet, on the other hand, the conversion of the Gentiles is in turn a means for the conversion of Israel, and thereby for the revivification of the world. The saving effect of their rejection gives ground for expecting a still more saving effect of their reception. Tlie significance of the first-fruits and of the root; vers. 12-16. D. The very fact that the Gentiles believe, and the Jews do not be- lieve, is largely conditional. Gentiles, as individu- als, can become unbelievers ; and Jews, as individu- als, can become believers. For : a. The Gentiles are grafted on the stem of the Jewish theocracy among believing Jews. b. They can just as readily be cut off by unbelief, as the Jews can be grafted in by faith, because the latter have a greater historical relationship with the kingdom of God ; vers. 17-24. E. The last word, or the mystery of Divine Provi- dence in the economy of salvation. Every thing will redound to the glory of God. God's saving economy for the world : The unbelieving Gentiles have been converted by believing Israel ; unbeliev- ing Israel shall be converted by believing Gentiles. The judgment on all, that mercy might be shown to all. Praise offered to God for His plan of salvation, for its execution, for its end, and for its ground ; vers. 25-36. [Dr. Hodge divides the chapter into two parts: vers. 1-10 and 11-36. (1.) The rejec- tion of the Jews was not total. A remnant (and a larger one than many might suppose) remained, though the mass was rejected. (2.) This rejection is not final. The restoration of the Jews is a dc- eirable and probable event; vers. 11-24. It is one which God has determined to bring about ; vers. 26-32. A sublime declaration of the unsearchable wisdom of Goi, manifested in all His dealings with men ; vers. 33-56. So Forbes. — R.] * (Dr. Lange divides the text so as to include only vers. 7-10 in this paraprraph, which is the usual division ; but here, and in the exegesis, he adds ver. U. — B..] Vers. 1-6 : Israel is not rejected. The real her nel of it is already saved. Ver. 1. I say then \^Aiy(,> ovv^ The ovv may appear to be merely an inference from what was said last : All day long God stretched forth His hand. But as, in ver. 11, he makes a further asser- tion, designed to forestall a false conclusion, it has here the same meaning, in .antithesis to the strong judgment pronounced on Israel at the conclusion of the previous chapter. Meyer mailitains a more defi- nite reference to the ).iy«> in vers. 10, IS, 19. [Did God cast a'way his people ? /.lij uTTiiXTaTo 6 &f6i; xbv / a 6 v a I'l t o i* ; When Reiche remarks the absence of an anuvra from /. «o)',and Semler an omntno from wTrwaaro, they both fail to a()preciate the emphasis of tlie ex- pressions. The people and his people are different ones, just as an economic giving over to judgment and an eonic casting away (Ps. xciv. 14 ; xcv. 7). Bengel : Ipsa populi ejus appellatio rationem, ne- gandi conti.net. The Apostle repels such a thought with religious horror : ^ij ytvoiro. For I also [xai ya^ £/"']• According to the usual acceptation, he adduces his own call as an exam()le ; but Meyer, with De Wette and Baum- garten-Crusius, on the contrary, hold that Paul, on account of his patriotic sense as a true Israelite, could not concede that casting away.* But it was just this inference from a feeling of national patriot- ism that was the standpoint of his opponents. A single example, it is said, can prove nothing. But by Paul's using the xai, he refers to the other ex- amples which were numerously represented by the Jewish Christians among his readers. Am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin [ 7 <7 (j a r^ /. t t »/ c fl/tti, ex a n i (j u ar <; u^ (i (j a d fi , (f v ).Tj t; i> f r i a - fiflv. The spelling Btvi,aulv (LXX., JRec.) is poor- ly supported here and in Phil. iii. 5.] As a true scion of Abraham and Benjamin — the tribe which, fogether with Judah, constituted the real substance * [V/ordsworth supposes that he is speaking as an Apostle : "Po not imagine (he says to the Jewx) that God- cast off Hi? sncicnt people when He admitted the Gentiles to the Churoti. K'o ; I, who am His chosen instrument for admitting them, am a Jew." But this is an infercnca rather than iin inteiprctation. He also explains "of the tribe of Ikujainin :" "the son of Israel by his beloved wife Rai-he!, tiot by Leah, or by one of their handmaids ' '• — E.l 3G0 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. of the people which returned from the captivity — he is conscious that he does not belong to the elec- tion as a mere proselj'te ; if he would speak of a casting away of God's people, he must therefore deny himself and his faitli (Phil. iii. 5). [Alford distinguishes between the popular view, and another which implies, " that if such a hypotliesis were to be conceded, it would exclude from Uo'd's kingdom the writer /imsc/f, as an Israelite." This agrees, apparently, with Lauge's view, but implies also that " his people " is used in the national sense, not of the xpiriluat Israel. See below. — II.] Ver. 2. God did not cast away [ o r y. xniitaciro 6 Ofo^]. lie follows with a solemn declaration founded upon the testimony of his own con.seientiousness and of examples. His people [t6v ).a6v avTol^. He is as definite in characterizing /f/.sjoeoyj/e, Sv n^oiyvM, as he is grand in his declaration of the not casting aicay. On the idea of Tr^oytrwir/fn', see chap. viii. 29. Two explanations here come iu conflict with each otlier : 1. The spiritual people of God are spoken of, the 'JfToaijl Ok>7' ; Horn. ix. 6 ; Gal. vi. 16 (Origen, Augustine, Luther, Calvin [Hodge], &e.). 2. Meyer says, on the contrary : The subject of the whole chapter is not the spiritual Israel, but the fate of the nation in regard to the salvation effected by the M.-ssiah. Tholuck and Philippi [De Wett(>, Stuart, Alford], are of the same view. But the idea of " i)ei)ple " whieh the Apostle presents is so very dynamical, that it might be said : to him the elec- tion is the people, and God's true peoi)le is an elec- tion. This is evidently the thought in chap, ix., and also in vers. 4 and 5 of the present chapter. But if we emphasize properly the idea of casting away, the idea of election does not any more stand in antithesis to it ; that Ls, it is not thereby .settletl that there is an election. But as the defenders of view (1.) mistake the full import of the further elaboration, especially ver. 20, so do the def(;nilers of (2.) pass too lightly over the gradations made by the Apostle. [Against the interpretation : spirit- ual. p"opir^ it may well be urged, that all along the Apostle has been speaking of tlie nation ; that this very cliapt(.'r treats of the final .salvation of Israel as a nation, and Paul says he is an Israelite, &c., of this historical (not s[)iritual) peoi)le. Besides, the Scriptures have suffered very mucli from assumjjtions respecting spiritual references. The only argument in favor of this meaning is the phrase : " Whom lie foreknew." It is held that this defines the people as those referred to in chap. viii. 29 ff. ; but may there not be a foreknowledge of a nation resulting in national privileges, sucii as the Jews enjoyi'd, as really lus foreknowledge of an individual and conse- quent blessing? The whole current of thought in the chapter — in fact, in chaps, ix.-xi. — is against any sucli interpretation na shall make " His peojile " = His spiritual Israel, over against Israel as a mi- lion. If any limitation be made, it .should be thus Ctprcsscd : the real people of God amonr/ the Jrwix/i people, recognizing them as the [nth and kernel of the na'io'i, not a.s isolated individuals from out tlie mas*. This seems to be Dr. Lange's view, and is probably that of many who are (|uoted in favor of (1) We thus retain the weight of the .ipostle's • proof: For I also am an Israrlitr, and avoid weak- ening the main tiiought of the chapter, which un- doutitedly U : tin nllnnale national restoration of the Jews. Were it not this, the whole argument of chaps, ix.-xi. ends with a non sequitur. Comp. At ford, in loco. — R.] What is meant by God casting away His people ? 1. There is an election of believers, and it is far greater than one of little faith may think. (How many Jews themselves, of all periods, would like to have been friends of Jesus !) 2. The call of (Jio Gentiles is even designed iudirecaly for the conver- siou of Israel, ami individuals can always be gained. 3. The whole Divine disposition is designed for the final salvation of all Israel. Here, therefore, the thought of the mercy controlling this whole econ- omy, comes in contrast with the thought of the great economical judgment of hardening. If, how- ever, the expression all Israel be urged, and there be fwind in individuals of it an assurance of the salvation of the empirical totility, we would have to be indifferent to the idea of election with refer- ence to Israel as a people, and let it consist in the idea of an absolute restoration. Which he foreknew [ov nijoeyro)']. Thia limits the meaning, in so far as the emjiirical mass of the ]>eoi)le is not meant ; but, on the other hand, the small em[)irical number of believing Jews is also not meant, but the peojile in their whole regal idea and nature. In this eternal destination of Israel, (Jod cannot contradict himself. [Allbrd (so Tholuck, De Wette, Meyer) thus paraphrases : " which, in His own eternal decree before the world, He selected as the chosen nation, to be His own, the de .o>-itnry of His Ian; the vehicle of the theocracy, from its first revelation to Moso, to its completion in Christ's future .kingdom.'''' Toward this national reference later commentators generally incline. See Hodge, on the otlier side. — R.] Or know ye not, &c. ["H ovx. oXi'San tv 'HXia, a.tJ.. "H introduces a new objection to the matter impugned (Alfbrd). Comp. chap. ix. 21; vi. 3. — R.] Tholuck: '''Ev 'H/.in, quotation of the section treating of Elijah, as .Mark xii. 26 : IttI t^s' [iccTov. Examples from the classics in PVitzsclie, to which may be added Thueydides i. 9, and proofs from Philo, in Grossmann," &e. (see 1 Kings xix. 10, 14). Incorrect view : iv 'H/./a, of Elijah (Erasmus, Luther [E. V.], and others). [Upon this point all modern commentators and translators agree, though they differ about tlie proper word to be supplied, whetlier section, history, or story ; the last is simjilest. — R.] Ver. 3. Lord, they have kiUed thy proph- ets, &c. [ Kt'iQ n , T o I' (,- ;r ^ if »)' t « (,• a o n antxTfi.rav, x.t.L See Textual Note ".] The Apostle has (pioted freely the real meaning of the words of the text. It makes no difference in the thing itself that, in the complaint which Elijah makes, he under.stands by the /(ovoi;* the only remaining prophet, while the present pa.s.sage understands the only worshipper of God. For the ]>r tj ft art a /n 6c, see tlie Lexicons. [The substantive occurs only here in the New Testament. Tlie cognate verb is used in Matt. ii. 1 2, 22 ; Acts s. 22 ; Hcb. viii. 5 ; xi. 7, in the Bcnse : lo be warned of God, as the E. V. expresses it. The obvious meaning here : JDivine responne, eeenis to have been thus derived : the word tirst meant buxiticss, then formal auilience given to an ambassador, and then an oracular response, though this was not the classical sense. See 2 Mace. ii. 4 ; xi. 17.— R.] I have reserved to myself [Kare).i.7iov iftavro). See Textual Note \ To myself, as my possession and for my service, over against the apostasy into idolatrous service (Meyer). — R.] The originul expression : " I will leave me," has been changed by the Apostle into the past tense, without tliereby altering the sense, as has been done by the LXX.» Seven thousand men [i7ttaxi,i;xi,kiov(i ar()(ias]. It is sufficient to regard the number seven as the sacred number in relation to the ser- vices, and the number thousand as a designation of a popular assembly. Tholuck, after Kurtz (p. 591), considers the number seven as the perfect and cove- nant number. There are dilierent ideas of perfec- tion, according to which the numbers 3, 4, 7, 10, and 12, may be together regarded as numbers denoting perfection. f The Mohammedan saying, quoted by Tholuck, is interesting : that " God never allows the world to be without a remainder of seventy righteous people, for whose sake He pre- serves it." [Who never bowed, o'iri.vti; olix exafi- T/'ai'. Alford remarks on otTtvfc;, which is a variation from the original, that it gives " the sense of the saying, as far as regards the present purpose, viz., to show that all these vere faithful men; in the original text and LXX., it is implied that these were all the faithful men." — R.] To Baal. The feminine ri] BdaX has given occasion for much discussion. ' In the LXX. the name has sometimes the masculine and sometimes the feminine article. Why does it have the lat- ter ? As the LXX. of this passage has tw Bua/., Meyer has admitted a mistake of Paul's memory ; Fritzsche holds that the codex which Paul read, con- tained a different reading. According to Olshausen, Philippi, Meyer [Stuart, Hodge], and others, the feminine form may be explained by the fact that Baal was regarded as an androgynous deity ; but this is not sufficiently proved. According to Gese- nius, the feminine form was understood as a con- temptuous expression of idols; which view is also favored by Tholuck. The elder critics (Erasmus, Beza, Grotius) understood the word as applying to the statue of Baal. [So E. V.] Tholuck replies to this, by saying : without analogy. But the idol is ♦ [Still with Estius, Philippi, Hodge, De Wette, and others, it must be noted that, although tlie erection of the altars on the high pl.aces was originally forbidden in the kingdom of Israel (where Elijah lived), tliey had become the" only places of true worship; and neglect of these would be really neglect of Jehovah. — R.] t [The simplest explanation is that which takes this as a definite expression for an indefinite number (Stunt. Hodge, and others), without attaching any special signifi- cance to the number seven. — E,.] the contemptible image or statue of the false god, Yet, if we liold that Baal had no reality as god to the Jews, but merely as an idol, the whole series of feminine forms used in designating Baal becomes clear at once (1 Sam. vii. 4 ; Zeph, L 4 ; Hosea ii. 8). Meyef is of the opinion that, in that case, it woidd have to read tt] -ror Baa). ; but this would fully destroy the probably designed effect of the feminine form. Tholuck observes : " In the Gothic language, Guth, as masculine, means God ; but gud, as neuter, means idols ; " and by this means he again approaches the explanation which, in passing, he has rejected. He does the same thing in hia preceding remark : "In the rabbinical writings, idols are contemptuously called rii5!! vt o q . Comp. chap. ix. 11. Stuart: "an election, not on the ground of merit, but of mercy. — R.] Ver 6. Now if hy grace [ft Se ya.Qt.rv. Ji logical, lum. — R.] Namely, that a hT./ifta ex- isted, and always continues to exist. Grace, or the gift of grace, cannot be divided and supplemented by, or confounded with, a merit of works. Augus- tine : Gratia, nisi gratis sit, gratia non est. [Then it is no longer of works : other- •wise grace no longer becomes grace, o i' >e 6Tt s'l tijyMV, intl »/ /ccoiq oi'/. 'iri, yi- vfxai' yd {lit; . — But if it be of works, then it L«i no longer grace: otherw^ise work is no longer w^ork, il dk it t(j yoiv , o v y. er i> ■/dfjui;, i 71 1 1 TO t () y V o v x ixu tariv s^yov. The critical questions respecting the sec- ond clause are discussed in Textual Notts \ ''i °> and at some length below. The discussion requires ua to insert the verse in full. — R.] We may now ask how we must understand the parallel clauses ? The usual explanation places the following in antithesis to each other : Now if it is by grace (that remnant, or its causality, the election), then it is simply not by the merit of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. — But if it be by works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work would be no true work, but mercenary work. In connection with this antithesis, clear and" significant in itself, there arise, however, three questions : 1, Why does the Ajiostle enlarge the first proposition by the second, since the latter seems to be quite self-evident from the former? 2. What should the ylvtrav {'/diiii;) mean, where fffTt should be so positively expected that the Vul- gate [E. v.], and other versions, have even substi- tuted est? 3. Why is ydQK; used instead of e« * ["Wordsworth combines all the explanations : " The reason why the Septungint sometimes used X\ie feminine, why St. Paul adopts it here, appears to be, because not only a heathen God, but a goddess also {A^iliirie), was wor- shipped under the name of Baal, and l^ccausc, by this variety of gender, the reader i« reminded that there was no principle of unity in tliis heathen worship ; and thus the vanity of the worship itself is declared." The fact that the liAX. u.ses bcith, ttems to render the italics of the E. V unnccessniy, and to render the interijrctation thus as- sumed very doubtful.— Ii.] 362 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. yci^tTo? [to correspond with ej e^ yojv] in the Becond sentence ? As far as the first pohit ia concerned, Tholuck Bays : " The genuineness of the antithesis ' tl dk t; e^], although it is the minority ; the other is the ?.oi,noi, the Ttvt'i,', although they are the majority. Meyer says, they were hardened by God. [So Hodge, Stuart, Philippi (with a reser- vation), and Tholuck, in later editions ; comp. chap, ix. 18. The passive certainly includes this thought. — R.] Paul says, they have been hardened by a reciprocal process between their unbelief and God's judgments. Tlie sense undoubtedly is, that those who remain for the incalculable periods of judgment have become, " in understanding and will, insu.s. ceptible of the appropriation of salvation in Christ " (Meyer), and iiisuscei)tible, al>ove ail, in their heart and spirit ; because the last sparks of the spiritual life in them, which alone can understand the gospel of the Spirit, have expired ; just as a sapless plant is no more supported by the sunshine, but is reduced to a dried-up stalk. Ver. 8. According as it is written. [Stuart is disposed to find in xaOun; (m. B., Tregelles : xaOd/iffi) yiy()artTai, a declaration of analogy, its sotirco) ; for (in that case) pracc no longer becomes (loses its efficacy as) ijraco (the fi-eedom of thu act is lost, it having been prompted from without) : btit if of works (as the cause and source of the selection), no loiiirer is it (the act of f.rleetion) (jmco ; for (in that case) work is no ionjrer work (work l)einif 'that which enmg reward,' itfl character is contradicted)." The same autlior remarks, that this point is stated so fully just here, because the Apoetlfl wa.s to enter ujuin such an exposition of the Divine dfuU iuRS as reiwb'red it necessary to show that their scvority did not contradict their general character of grace and lovt, -U.] CHAPTER XI. 1-36. 363 rather than a citation of prophecy. So Tholuck ; but Fritzsche, Meyer, and others, hold the latter view. " The perspective of prophecy, in stating 8uch cases, embraces all the analogous ones, espe- cially that great one, in which the words are most protninently fulfilled " (Alford). See below, note on ver. 10. On the free citation, see Textual Notes *. '". — R.] The citation is freely collated from Isa. xxix. 10 ; Isa. vi. 9 ; Deut. xxix. 4. Meyer denies tJiat Isa. vi. 9 is taken into consideration ; but if wo compare the two other passages, they do not suffice for Paul's citation, since the assertion in Deut xxix. 4 contains merely negations. God gave them. By no means a mere per- mission (Clirysostom), but likewise not simply ac- tivitii, without something further. The ground of the judgment of a spirit of slumber \_7ivi:Vfia xara j'i''Sf o)!,-], or of deep sleep (n^il^n nsn ), on Israel, is definitely declared, in Isa. xxix. 10, to be the guilt of the people ; ver. 13 if. — But the pas- sage in Isa. vi. 9 fi'., which constitutes the principal part of the present quotation, is explained imme- diately afterward in the conduct of Ahaz, in chap, vii. The third passage from Deuteronomy brings out more definitely the negative element in this hardening process : " Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive," &c. On the meaning and interpretations of xaTavri'tc, see Meyer, p. 420 ; Tholuck, p. 596.* — [Unto this day ; to be joined with what immediately precedes, since they are sub- stantially from Deut. xxix. 4. So modern editors and commentators generally. — R.] Ver. 9. And David saith. The second pas- sage is taken freely from Ps. Ixix. 22 (LXX.). Meyer says : " David is not the author of this Psalm (against Hengstenberg), which must be judged anal- ogously to the expression in Matt. xxii. 43." Comp. on that passage the Commentary on Matiheic, p. 404. First of all, it is quite easy to prove that the suffer- ings of the people in exile could not have been in mind in writing either the lamentations of Psalm Ixix., or the "imprecations" on enenjies. First, the theocratic exiles did not say that they had to suifer tor tlie Lord's sake (ver. 7), and for zeal for His house (ver. 9). But they said just the contrary (see Ps. cvi. ; Isa. Ixiv. ; Dan. ix.). And though the exile could also invoke God's wrath on the heathen, and wish them evil (Ps. Ixxix. 6 ; cxxxvii. 9), the prophetic imprecations are very different, for they portray the judgments of blindness that are invoked on the spiritual adversaries of the theocratic faith, and of the house and name of the Lord, who proved their enmity by persecuting God's servant. Comp., in this respect, Ps. fix. ; Ixiv. ; Ixix. 22-28 ; cix. In such Psalms, either the personal, collective, or ideal f David chiefly speaks, because David has be- come the type of God's suffering servant. We there- fore hold, with Luther, Rosenmiiller, and others, that the concluding words (from ver. 32) are a later addition. :|: ♦ [Frifzsche has an Excursns on this word, pp. 588 ff. He makes it = stupoT, nunibni-ss, as from stupefying wine. Onlj' liere, and not in the classics. Incorrect, accordinfr to thi~ view ; CaU-in : spiritus compunctionis ; Luther : eiaen trbiUerien Geist. -R.] t [Philijipi (following Keil) says that the subject in this Psalm is "not the idoal, but the concrete person of the rigiiteoup." Hcngstenberg (so J. A. Alexander) adopts the other view. — U.] X [The Psr-m purports to be written by David. Dr. Langc's remarks are in sup] ort of this view of the Muthor- «hip, thougli he finds it nectssary, in order to sustain it by The imprecations themselves are a prophetico- ethical view, clad in the sombre drapery of the Old Testament. [Dr. J. Add. Alexander remarks, on thia verse of Ps. Ixix : " The imprecations in this verse, and those following it, are revolting only when con- sidered as the expression of malignant selfishness. If uttered by God, they shock no reader's' sensi- bilities ; nor should they, when considered as the language of an ideal person, representing the whole class of righteous sufferers, and particularly Him who, though He prayed lor His murderers while dying (Luke xxiii. 34), had before applied the words of this very passage to the unbelieving Jews (Matt, xxiii. 38), as Paul did afterwards." — R.] Let their table become a snare [rivti- &7]T w 7] r Q a. n fL.a air mv ili; n ay iS a\. PhUippi, with Origen, Tholuck, and others, has re- ferred the table to the law and its works. But when Melanchthon says: doctrina ipsoncm, the latter must be very carefully distinguished from the law itself. Chrjsostom: ther enjoyments ; Michaelis, and oth- ers : the Jewish passover meal, at which the Jews were besieged, and which was followed by the de- struction of Jerusalem ; Grotius : the altar in the temple itself. The point of the figure becomes blunted, if we hold, with Tholuck, that table is men- tioned, because it is at the table that surprise by an enemy is most dangerous. Rather, the table, or the enjoyment of life by the ungodly, becomes itself their snare, &c. Now this table can be something different at different times ; generally, it is the sym- bol of comfortable banqueting in wicked security over the ungodly enjoyment of life (see Matt. xxiv. 38). With the Jews of the Apostle's day, this table was their statutes, and, above all, their illusion that the earthly glory of the kingdom of Israel would be manifested by triumph over the Romans. It is a fact that the table, the ungodly enjoyment of life, becomes a snare for the ruin of the adversaries of the Holy One ; just as the pious man's table be- comes a sign of blessing and victory (Ps. xxiii.). While they think they are consuming the spoils of their earthly sense, they become themselves a spoil to every form of retribution ; just as the bird is led into the snare, and the deer is hunted, or perishes by a stumbling-block — that is, a trap. [And a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them, y.a i tli; -9 7iq av x a » fii; axdvctnx. tiie meaning of falling, but only the dcih-1u)ii (Vulgate) [so Alford], for they hav6 really fallen, yet that was not the object (see also Tholuck, p. 600). Tholuck properly opposes, dso, the view that here the principal thought is, that Israel siiould be restored, although an intimation of the restitution of Israel is included in the words. It is evident that the conversion of the Gentiles is pri- marily designated as the final object of Israel's tall ; with this final object there is, indeed, again asso« ciated the final object of the preliminarily isolated and of the finally total conversion of Israel. The 7ra()a7iT. here can as little mean a mere " passing away," as a mere infor/uniuin, which Reiche and Riickert, with otliers, would render it.* Salvation is come. 'H rr or //(j ).i7tfj at, avrovi;. Instead of j'al- onsy, we may substitute emulation, as the word is not used in a bad sense (Hodge). The clause is telic ; the purpose was not the total fall, but that their moral fall naight be used to further the salva- tion of the Gentiles, and this, in turn, bring about their own salvation as a nation. — R.] This purpose was associated from the outset, and the mention of it is here in place for the removal of the fatalistic thought, that their fall was decreed for their ruin. Vers. 12-16, As the unbelief of the Jews hat been the means of effecting the conversion of the Gentiles, so shall the conversiim of the Gentiles be still more not only the means of effedinr) the belief of the Jews, but, with this nturn of Israel, still greater things shall occnr. Now if their fall . . . and their dimin- ishing the riches of the Gentiles [ft iM ro 7T ctQct n r i<> II n amov . . . to rlrrrjiin «r- TiTiv nloTrot; ifYvuiv. In order to exj^ain this difficult verse, we must start with the tjTTiiiia in Isa. xxxi. 8, which does not occur in classical lan- guage, but is there represented by lyrTce [Attic for r(taa, a defeatl, the contrary of vixr^. In the pas- sage cited, iJTrtjfia means not merely the being overcome, but the military diminution which is the result of defeat. At all events, it is to be taken ♦ rThe /nil here must t>c taken »s a le!«9 strong oxprei»- (rion than the verh which precedes, if the view he nilonled that denies the faet of a final fall. AVe must, then, li.dU thai the national fall into utier ruin is den-ed throiiifliout, while I he stumhlin); and the moral fall of the individualt are admitted. So Alfurd.— It.] CHAPTER XL 1-36. 365 here as diminution in captivity, according to the original text, for menial servitude, Liiiewise, in I Cor. yi. 7, the word means a moral loss, a diminu- tion of the power of believers in opposition to the world. We therefore hold that the expression ijrrrjua places the two other ideas in a more defi- nite light, and th;it the whole expression allud(?s to the scene of a routed army. Even in military affairs, the dynamical aiitithi'sis of broken power and of the full sense of power is connected with the ideas of numerical diminution and numerical fulness ; as, in the present instance, the weakening is connected with the loss of men, and full power with the com- plete number. Tholuck bases his explanation on the meaning of n ).>•()(<)/( a in ver. 25. Explanations of the iJTTTjfia: diminutio (Vul- gate) ; minority, defectus (Chrysostom, and most commentators) ; injury, loss, fall (De Wette, and others). De Wette brings this explanation in exclu- sive antithesis to the first, with reference to 2 Cor. xii. 13. Fritzsche : Diminution of mes^anic salva- tion. Philippi : The damage to God's kingdom by their falling away. But Meyer remarks, with good reason, that the thrice-repeated aim'iv is in the same relation, the subjective genitive. Tholuck : Reduced state.* According to Tholuck, Meyer's explanation is : the minority ; but Meyer himself pronounces against this explanation, and understands the word to mean, sinking and ruin. Ulfilas has interpreted the word, which means at the same time the loss of men and the weakening, by the deficiency. There is a real difference made by the reference to the be- lieving Jews as the minority of believers [paucitas Judworum credentium ; Grotius), and the antitheti- cal body of unbelievers, the moral field of the dead, or the captured, those subjected to slavery. But here, too, both parts cannot be separated. The ai'Tot are the whole people ; the believers are the sound remainder of the army ; while the Unbeliev- ers, the same as the fallen, or captives, are its How much more their fulness [ttoitw l.i5.).).ov TO 7T ). 1] Q 0) ft ct a II T air]. The nXij- ^ «)/(«. Explanations ; The whole body (Tholuck) ; the full number (Meyer) ; the restoration of Israel to its proper position (Riickert, KoUner) ; [Hodge : their full restoration or blessedness ; Alford : their replenishment. — R.] Philippi : the filling up of the gap caused in God's kingdom by their unbelief. The latter view, which was first set forth by Origen, is discussed at length by Tholuck, p. 606 ff. But this view confounds in a twofold way : 1. The idea of the full number of God's eternal community in gen- eral, and the idea of material fulness {n).rj()i<)fia), the whole number of the Jewish people ; 2. The idea of the economic completeness in the present passage, and that of eonic completeness. f Tholuck very properly calls attention to the ap- • [So Hodge, Alford : their impoveri.shment. The nu- merical idea is quite objectionable, although Dr. Lanpe seems to think it is included also. The whole verse, ac- cording to this view, means : " If their uubelief {i. e., of one part of them) is the world's wealth, and their small nuraber {i. e., of believers, the other part of them) the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more their full (restored) number?" This arbitrarily changes the reference of avTojv, puts a forced meaning on jJTnjino, and really weakens the force of the argument, which is : if their sin has done so much, how much more their cotiversinn f — R.] t [The numerical idea is lexically admissible in TrA^poi- aa, whence it has been transferred to ^TT»)na, but even here it is not the prominent one. It is, however, to be Understood, that the spiritual fulness will necessarily include the convereion of the nation as a whole. — E..] parent tautology in nlovros; xofffiov, n/.otrot; i& vo)v, which has been very much neglected by exposi- tors. In zoff/fo?, he says, there seems to be com- prised the idea of the whole extent of humanity j and in n'/.avt. ISv. there appears the more concrete designation : " The reduction of the chosen people turned to an enrichment of the profane nations." The former definition regards the qualitative, inten* sive, and teleological relation in an altogether univer- sal sense : Tlie fall of the historical Israel redounded to the advantage of the world, even including the ideal Israel. The latter definition describes the quantitative and extensive character of the histori- cal course. Jewish tribes, or Jewish communities, drop out of the people, while, on the other hand, whole heathen nations are gained. But if their fall has thus been a gain to the world, how much more their fulness — that is, a believing Israel ! Ver. 13. For I am speaking to you Gen- tiles [ i' /t r V d i ).iyo) T 1 1; t d v e a t, v . The sense is the same whether we read yaQ or (5e. A colon should follow this clause ; the pointing of the E. V. obscures the proper connection. — R.] The declared prospect of the full conversion of Israel leads him to the further explanation, that he regards even the conversion of the Gentiles, though an ob- ject in itself, as a means for accomplishing the object of Israel's conversion. [According to Alford, this verse answers the question : " Why make it appear as if the treatment of God's c^psen people were regulated not by a consideration of them, but of the less favored Gentiles?" — R.] — You Gentiles; that is. Gentile Christians. — [Inasmuch then i ^ ' o(Tov fi i.v ovv. See Textual Note ". The cor- responding dt is wanting, as often in the Apostle's writings. — R.] ''E'\. Not: I praise my office (Luther, Grotius, and Reiche) ; but : I strive to glorify my office by its fiiithful discharge (De Wette, Meyer, and others) ; in which, indeed, he also says, that he esteems his office as a glorious one.* Ver. 14. My own flesh [^lov rtjv ad^xa. On MO I' in this pecuUar position, see Meyer. D. F. put it after the noun. It is sufiBciently emphatic to justify the emendation, my oiv7i fiesh. — R.] An ex- pression of inward participation with Israel in natu- ral descent. Theodoret : The word leads us to un- derstand the denial of spiritual participation. ' Ver. 28 proves that this antithesis is not very remote ; yet the inward attachment to his people here appears in the foreground. Ver. 15. For if the casting aw^ay of -them [ft yct^ ana ^0 ?.tj arrwj']. 'A tto fio ).ij, throwing away, an antithesis to 7i^6ir/.?jfixi't.<; ; see ver. 17. Therefore not their diminution (Vulgate, Luther). [So Bengel, Pliilippi, who find here also an allusion to the loss in numbers sustained by the kingdom of God. — R.] Tholuck alludes to the use of language in the LXX., and the Church (aTro- ^o).?], expulsion). Be the reconciliation of the w^orld [xc»- raf.Xayij x 6(t,h on]. Xot as causality, but as condition, without which the word of reconciliation did not reach the Gentiles without obstruction. [It * [Meyer thus paraphrases : " I seek, indeed, inasmuch as I am fie, who has ibe apostolic mission to the Gentiles (notice the emphatic e y w ), to do honor to mine office, but purpose therewith to excite my kinsmen," &c. This bring! out the force of fieV, and the connection of thought.— B.] i66 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. is perhaps to express this shade of thought that the E. V. renders : reconcibng ; but reconciliation is more literal, and shows how important Paul deemed the faet in question, which could thus be character- ized. — R.J In this free use of language Paul also Bays (Td'iac), in ver. 14, because he is the herald of (Tontjtjin. What shall the reception of them be [ t t q ti nti6(;/.iinH'i';]. Reception to salvation, and to participation in salvation by their conversion. But life from the dead? [d fiij Cw^ ix r*x4»(*)v;] It is clear that the Apostle awaits a boundless effect of blessing on the world from the future conversion of the Jews. We ask, What is it ? We must first look at the antithesis : Their casting away became the reconciling of the world ; that is, only condilionnlly^ therefore as if, and indi- rectlij. Thus, we continue, the conversion of the whole people of Israel will also be conditionally, as if, and indirectly, a life from the dead. With the appropriated xaTa/.).ayt'j, there now begins, first, the spiritual resurrection, which is succeeded, second, by the future bodily i-esurrection. Hence different explanations : 1. Figurative expression of the new spiritual life (Augustine, Calvin, and others) of the Gentile world, or of the world in general, but not of the Jews (as Cocceius, Bengel, and others, explain), since the new life of the latter is regarded as an antecedent means. But this new life is also regarded in differ- ent senses : The further extension of God's king- dom, and the new subjective vivification (Philippi, and others), increase, and advance of piety (Bucer, Bengel). *' A new life in the higher charismatic ful- ness of the Spirit shall extend from God's people to the nations of the world, compared with which the previous life of the nations must be considered dead ; " Auberlen (calculated to mislead, and over- drawn, so far as the Christian life of the previous world is meant). Other modifications : Highest joy EGrotiiLS, Ilodge apparently], highest blessedness. Stuart: something great, wonderful, surprising, like to what a general resurrection of the dead would be. He thinks it probable Paul had in mind Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones. — R.] 2. The literal view: Tiie resurrection of the dead is meant — the oMest ecclesiastical explanation (Origen, Clirysnstoin, Riickert, Tlioluck, Meyer, De Wette, &c.). Tlioluck says that the meaning of this view is, that the conversion of Israel is regarded as the final act in the world's drama ; but then he makes the objection, that uioi; ly. vmQ. nowhere stands in the New Testament for tlie «i'«fTTrt»T«;, and tluis the expositor fiiuls himself compelled to prefer the metaphorical exi)Osition. But it has not been sufficiently considered how very conditional the first proposition in the compari- son is : for if the casting away of them be the reconciliation of the world. As this is a fact which is realizeil first up to and in the conversion of the Plermna of the Gentiles, and then of the Jews, so is the conse(]uence of their reacceptancc a fact whicii is continuccl from the higher spiritual new life of the world to its consummation, particularly in the first resurrection. To the Ajjosile, the ideas of Bpiritual resm-rection and Itodijy resurrection do not lie so far apart (wee chap. viii. 11) as to our exposi- tors ; therefore rtlshaiisen is right in applying the word to a spiritual re-^urrectiou, wliich takes place in the bodily resurrection. [Alfordalso coml)ines the two views: "Standing as it docs, it must be qmiU. tative, implying some further blessed state of th* reconciled world, over and above the mere recon» ciliation. This might well be designated ' life from the dead,^ and in it may be implied the glories of the first resurrection, and deliverance frum the bond- age of corruption, without supposing the words tc be = the resurrection from the dead." — R.] Ver. 16. Moreover, if the first-fruit be holy, so also is the lump [fi<()e tj anaQyij ayia, xcci to qtviJafta. Lange : das Ei^sl- lingshrod, tlie bread of the first-fruits — i. e., the portion of the dough taken as a heave-offering. — R.]. After the Apostle has disclosed his prospect of the glorious results of Israel's conversion, he returns to the grounds for the hope of this conversion itself. He uses two similes. The first is taken from the significance of the bread of the first-fruit (Num. xv. 19-21). '^47ta()-/rj can, indeed, denote the first-fruit, as well as the bread of the first-fruit ; but it receives this meaning from the corresponding idea of the harvest; \|hile, on the other hand, the baking of the first-fruit must correspond to the gr^az/a, the kneaded dough. Therefore the expression here can neither mean first-fruit (Estius, Olshausen, and oth- ers), nor the grain for the bread of the first-fruit (Grotius). But tlie ana^ytj in general denotes the representative offering by which the whole mass, to which anaqytj belongs, is consecrated to God. Thus is the consecration of the first-born to the priesthood (with which Levi was charged), the con- secration of the people ; the consecration of the first-fruit is tlie consecration of the harvest ; and the consecration of the bread of the first-fruit is the consecration of the whole lump, which was after- wards prepared. [So Stuart, Hodge, Alford, De Wette, Tholuck, Meyer. ^u4na(j/TJ is necessarily defined by its correlative term xti, describes the be- lieving Jews, and, by qron/m, the rest (Toletus, Cramer, and others. [So Wordsworth, who under- stanils, by ({{(laim, the whole mass of the world which is to be converted. — R.] Also, in reference to the first figure, Ambrosius, and others). Modi- fications : According to Oiigen and Tlioo a fi (t , Christians. Meyer has two objections to the iliffer- ent rendering of the figures. First, it is contrary to the parallelism of the two j)as.sages. But apart from the fact that Paul's prose is not subject to the rides of the ])oefical parallelism of the Old Testament, this reasoning betrays a defective idea of tlic Old TesiaiiK'iit ])arrtlleli3m itself. Ilis second rcasou, CHAPTER XI. 1-36. 367 that the Apostle elaborates the second figure only, is of just as little force ; for, with the further re- sumption of the second figure, there is presented a perfectly new thought. The most untenable expla- nation is, that ^i'Ca means the original Christian Church, and xkddoi, are the individual believing Jews. We hold that the antithesis is very decided. From what follows, it is clear that the ideal theocra- cy, though represented by the patriarchs, yet not identical with them (see Isa. xi. 1, 10 ; Rev. v. 5 ; x.\ii. 16), must be regarded as the root of Israel. In fact, from the foregoing citations, the same Christ is certainly the root of the old theocracy, as He is the ci^/// in the ana^xtj of the new Jewish believ- ing Church, and the carina effici.ens of the sanctifica- tion of both. But according to the antithesis here presented, \)ita, is the patriarchal foundation of the theocracy as the natural disposition consecrated to God ; while the anaiJ/i], on the contrary, is the first Jewish body of believers prepared by God as the bread of the first-fruit for the first harvest festival of the time of fulfilment, the Christian Pentecost. The present passage is related to Rom ix. 5, the fathers being regarded as the root, and Christ as the miraculous fruit of the branches. [It is evident, from Dr. Lange's note, how diffi- cult it is to support the twofold sense of the verse. As Tholuck remarks, the ayi-oTtji; is the point of comparison. Holy here means not only as conse- crated to God, but as actually pure. If a distinction must be made between tlie two figures, it seems natural to find these two ideas of holiness given prominence in each respectively. Those certainly miss the point of both figures, and the argument of the Apostle as well, who do not find here, in " lump " and " branckes," a reference to Israel, considered as the people of God. Alford : " As Abraham himself had an outer and an inner life, so have the branch- es. They have an outer life, derived from Abraham by physical descent. Of this no cutting off can de- prive them. But they have, while they remain in the tree, an inner life, nourished by the circulating saD, by virtue of which they are constituted living parts of the tree. It is of this life that their sever- ance from the tree deprives them ; it is this life which they will reacquire if grafted in again." This obviates some difficulties, and is, on the whole, the simplest explanation. — R.] Vers. 1*7-24. JTie conditionality of the new an- tithesis of believing Gentiles and unbelieving Jeics. The figure of the wild and the good olive tree. Warning for the Gentiles, and hope for the Jews. Ver. 17. But if some of the branches were broken off [ft Si. rovft: r mv y.kaHtnv itf- iikdad rjaav. The E. V. is too conditional in its form. — R.] Although there were many of them, they were nevertheless a small minority, compared with the incorruptible tree of God's kingdom. With this fact, the heathen should also prize the value of the theocratic institution itself. And thou being a ■wild olive tree [av Sk ayQ tekai-oq wv]. As the expression dyQuik- atot; wr can mean, as a substantive, the wild olive tree itself, but, as an adjective, the belonging to the wild olive tree, we prefer, with Fritzsche and Meyer, this latter view to the former, which is de- fended by Luther, Philippi, and Tholuck, witli this explanation : The address, " thou being a wild olive tree," views the individual Gentiles as a collective person.* Meyer objects to this, by saying, that " not whole trees, and also not quite young ones (against De Wette), are grafted in." Against thu we may remark : 1. That the wild olive tree of the Gentile world is destined to be transferred, in all its branches, to the good olive tree ; 2. This has already taken place incipiently by Paul's mission to the Gentiles. Meanwhile, the Apostle was as far from supposing a total apostasy of the Gentile Church, as from admitting the possibility of a total apostasy of the Jews. Likewise, he speaks of a being grafted in having already occurred, with refer- ence to the probable boasting of Gentile Christians over Jewish Christians. Besides, the Apostle con- siders the wild olive tree to be converted in all its branches just as little as in the case of the good olive tree. Likewise, ver. 24 must be kept in mind, where the same subject is not the wild olive tree itself, but only one branch of it. On the wild olive tree, or oleaster, comp. Natural History of the Bible, and the Dictionaries. Pareus : oleaster habet quidem formam olece, sed caret, succo generoso et fructibus. On the Oriental custom of strengthening olive trees that had become weak by grafting them with the wild olive, comp. the citations in Tholuck, p. 61*7 ; in Meyer, p. 343. Now, if this custom were frequent, and occurred in various ways, there would be apparently an incongruity in the figure, in so fat as the cuttings of the wild olive are designed to strengthen the olive tree ; but the question here is a communiciition of the sap of the good olive tree to the branch of the wild olive. Therefore Tholuck remarks : " Paul was either not acquainted with the arboricultural relation of the matter, or — which is more probable, when we look at the triviality of this notice — he designed to say, that has here taken place by grace, which otherwise is contrary to nature." f But, in our opinion, this does not settle the ques- tion. First, the tertivm comparaliovis does not lie in the breaking off and grafting in of the brandies. In relation to this point, the figure is of perfect ap- plication. Secondly, though the branches of the wild olive tree communicate to the good olive tree a new and fresher life, and a vegetative vital nourishment (such as, for example, the Germans, at the time of the Reformation, gave to the Christian Church), this does not preclude the necessity of their receiving from the root and stem of the olive tree the good sap and productive power which produce the olive fruit. Wert grafted in among them [ivexfv- rQiffd-tjq iv ai'ToTi,']. The tv avroTi; is differ- ently rendered. The most simple rendering is : among them. [So Meyer, Alford, and most. Stu- art, De Wette, Olshausen : in place of them. The * [There is a lexical objection to taking ay p. u i> as an adiective, since, when tims used, it means : made out of the wood of the olive (Alford). The reason for adopting this view is to escape from the thought that the whole Gen- tile woild, as such, w.ns grafted in. This is done quite as properly hy supposing the whole tree here put for a hranch of it. The tree, moreover, is introduced to reropnize tbo fact of a distinctively Gentile life existing as a whole.— E.] t [This last view is that of the majority of the best com- mentators, and is so natural and obvious, that notmng is gained by departing from it. Meyer intimates that tht Apostle's illustration must be taken in accordance with the fad — i. e., the fact respecting the coining in of the Gentiles — which was undoubtedly the grafting of wild branches on a good tree, to partake of the life and bear the fruit of that good tree. Furthrrniore, as a fact,- there was no new and fresher life imparted bi/ ihr Genliles at that time, as Dr. Lange intimates. The Roman and Greek civilization, con- tinually decaying, was only preserved so long by tho noT» religious life from the patriarchal root. — E.j 368 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. former is preferable on account of triyxoivwros. — K] And made fellow-partaker of the root and fatness [xitt a r yiui.ro) riii; r/ys' (J'>-"';s' ><«' rtji; THoTrjTOi;. See Textual JVotc ^^. — K.] Not If di,a ()iolv (Grotius, and others). Tlie communi- cation with the root secures pariicipation in llie good sap. Ver. IS. Boast not against the branches [/ humbU thee, that. See Winer, p. 575. — R.] Thou, as a grafted branch, standest in no more favorable relation to the root than those which are broken off and remain standing. Thou remainest thoroughly conditioned by an inward fellowship with the root, which must be confirmed in the humble knowledge of tliis dependence, and in inward union with the natural branches. The brief explanation is strengthened by the fact that it forms an imme- diate conclusion. Tholuck remarks : Such a pre- sumption toward the branches could not be without pre.-iumption toward the root. Ver. 1 'J. Thou wilt say then, The branch- es were broken off, &c. [t( tj'/.oii^ovit See Textual Xli<> et sicnritati. Ver. 21. For if God spared not the natu- ral branches [fi ya^ 6 & f 6 q r oi v xarti (fiiatv x/.di)iiiv ovx «(/'fi(7aTo]. Nature here evidently denotes the elevated, consecrated, and en- nobled nature of the Abrahamic race. — Lest he also spare not thee [ /< r] tt m t; o r <) e (Tor qti- (TfTat. See Textual Xote '^ Su|)ply J' t;rr tot t; ret xai drtoroiiiav (->'for]. The usual predesti- narian system would say : The grace and justice of God. Paul says something quite dillerent. The period [Vj. V., colon] gives grammatical support to the reading unoroina, &c., accepted by Lachmann. On those. 'Eni /liv tots'. The goodness, as well as the severity or sharpness of God in con- tinual movement, corresponds to human conduct. — [Severity, (£,toto/( «'a. See Teu-lual J^'ote ". -R.] [But toward thee, God's goodness, e tt i dk at yotiOTOTtjii &foT'. See I'exlnal Note^, The nominatives give an elliptical construction : tliere is severitji, tht re is the r/oodiiess of God. — R.] — If thou continue in his goodness [idv f ;T (• /I f t J' TJ ? T fj X l^) >l (TT (IT rjT I.. Hint gnodu ess. Alford : //" thou abide b;i. — R.] On the living ground of God's free grace ami meix-y. Meyer : Wilt have continued. Should the goodness have first begun tlien ? — Otherwise thou also shalt be [iTifi xai ail ixxontjai]. Comp. ver. 6. The E. V. conveys the correct meaning of inti. — R.] Meyer very ajipropriately calls attention to the stronger expression : ixxon t]rsi]. Ver. 23. [And tliey moreovier, xaxtlvo* Si. This is the reading adopted by Griesbacb, • [Both dntlvrs are rendered : dutch, by T)r. Lanfre. The K. v., however, varies from becaure of to hy. Alford \\i\K the followingdiscrimlnating note : " 'Tlirouph ' indioatoi hotter the pinniplmg cmire of a definite act — '6y' tliu »«»• taininn ermrtilinn of a eanthnied sliilf. Tlnis we Hhould iilwiiys wiy tlint we are juHiified llimugh, not ii/, fiiith ; but thill we .sUmd by, luit ihrongU, f.iith." Ileiiee the projirietj of the rendering of thU vemc in the £. V.— K. 1 CHAPTER XI. 1-36. son Scholz, Lacbruann, Tischendorf, and critical editors g;encriilly, on t!ie authority of j^. A. B. C. D. F. Tlie rendering is that of Alford, who is unusually Lappy in expressing the exact force of dt. — K.] —For God is able to graft them in again [()i'ii«t6<; yd^ ecTTH', x.t./..]. He will not apply His power to compel unbelievers to believe ; but if iliey only do not continue in unbelief, He will graft them in again. He is not wanting in power, and certainly He will not be wanting in the applica- tion of it. The becoming strong for faith, and in faith, as well as the being planted in again, is exer- cised by the power of Divine gi-ace.* Yer. 24. For if thou ■wert cut out. The y«(> serves to establish the dirarbq j'«^ (Meyer). Likewise the stronger expression here : iSi/.onr]^. — Of the olive tree -which is wild by nature. This is the idea of the oleaster, or wild olive. — And wert grafted contrary to nature [xal 7Ta(ja (pv(Ti,v ivfy.fvr^itT&rji;^. We doubt the propriety of translating Tia^a qvai.v exactly by against nature {contra naturam ; Vulgate). Corap. chap. i. 26, p. 87. There exists no absolute opposi- tion between the oleaster and the good olive tree ; othervdse the grafting in would have no result. The application is clear.f How much more. Nevertheless, a greater natural relation exists between the branches which are cut out of the good olive tree, and this olive tree as peculiar to them ; so that they, after all, can be grafted more easily into thorn than the branches of the wild olive are grafted into it. The difficulty which arises from the consideration that the (Jew- ish) ohdnratio is more difficult to be overcome than the (Gentile) iffnorantia, is removed by Tholuck, when he says that he regards the yd^ of the pres- ent verse as co(irdinate with the (hvaroq yd^, so that it would relate to the iy/.fvT(Ji, « tj ). (Estius, Fritzsche) : Hardening has happened in part. Most commentators now adopt the extennve, rather than the intensive signification. — R,] This hardening of a part has befallen all Israel Until the fulness of the Gentiles [a-/()i,<; 0(1 TO nli'jQiOfta Twr t&vi~)v\ For then the hardening shall cease. Meyer : " Calvin's ita tit is alleged, in spite of the language, to remove the thought of a final object ; on which account Calo- vius, and most, elaborate here a good deal, in order to bring out the sense that partial blindness, and therefore partial conversion, will last until the end of the world." [With Tholuck, Hodge, Alford, and others, we must insist that a terminus ad qucin is here affirmed. — R.] The fulness of the Gentiles. Interpretations : 1. The completion of the Israelitish people of God by believing Gentiles (Michaelis, 01shau.«en, and others) ; 2. The great majority of the Gentiles (Fritzsche) [Stuart, Hodge : the multitude of the Gentiles. — R.] ; 3. Meyer, strikingly : " The filling- up of the Gentiles — that is, that by which the body of the Gentiles (only a part of whom have as yet been converted) is full — the fulness of the Gentiles." [So De Wette. This makes it = n'/.rjQtoan:. — R.] As the Apostle could not have meant an indefinite mass of Gentiles, nor yet all the Gentiles down to the last man, he evidently had in view an organically dynamic totality of the heathen world, in which ho unquestionably bethought himself of the conversiji. R70 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. of the Gentile world. [Alford : The totality of the Geiitile^i, as naiiuiis, not as individuals. Tiiia is sub- stantially the view of Lange, and differs but little from that of Meyer. " Tlie idea of an eleet num. ber, however true in itself, does not seem to belong to tiiis pa.«sage." Wordsworth is not likely to favor a predestinarian view, and yet he finds in 7i).tn>Mtioi the notion of the complement of a ship's crew — i. e., of the Church, the Ark of Salvation 1 — R.] Come in \^fi(s i).& i\. Shall have come in (Noyes) ]. In the absolute sense ; therefore, into the kin-dom of God (Matt. vii. 13, &c.). Meyer Bays, oddly enough : " The kingdom of the Messiah, the establishment of which is later, is not yet in question." [Meyer refers to the personal reiyn of the Messiah, beginning with the Second Advent. This period, on which he lays great stress in his commentary, will come in, he thinks, after the event here predicted. — R.] Ver. "20. And so. Oi'tox;, in this order and Bucccssion, and in this mode of accomplishment ; after the conversion of the Gentiles, and by means of it. All Israel [nciq 'J a Qarj}.']. This is not spoken of all Israel in isolated examples, nor of the " totality" without exception. The former supposi- tion, for example, that oidy the elect part, the true htiiiiu, is meant (Bengcl, Olshausen, and others), or only the greater number and mass (Riickcrt and Fritzschc), does not arrive at the idea of the nation, which here, in its totality, as all Israel, comes just in antithesis to the mere hi/i/ia. The latter sup- position (Gennailius, Jlcyer, and others) transcends the idea of the Pltruma, which will sulfiee hCre in the ca.se of the Jews as in that of the Gentiles. This simple apostolic prophecy, pronounced di- rectly in the future, has been much criticized, and mucii fanaticism has played about it. Definitions narrowing the meaning : (1.) The spiritual Israel of the elect, from Jews and Gentilt;s (Augustine, Thoodoret, Calvin, Bengal, Olshausen [Wordsworth], &e.) ; (2.) An election from Israel will be saved in the millennial kingdom (Baldwin, Bengel). " The one hundred and forty-four thou- sand of Rev. vii. 4, in which the number is literally interpreted as the principal citizens of the city of Jerusalem;" (3.) Israel uiU be abk to be saved (Episcopius, Semler, and others); (4.) The proph- ecy has already lieen fuHillcd by the myriads of Jews, of whom Eusebius speaks, chap. iii. 35 (Wet- Stein, and others); (5.) Luther, as Jerome before him, has fallen into gbiring contradictions in rela- tion to this question (see Tholuck, pp. 629, 630, and the quotation in Meyer, note, on j). 439) ; and on this point Melanchthon has proved, ))y his vacil- lations, his fear of Luther's decisive dechirations on the hopelessness of the Jews (Tholuck, p. 030). On the fui'ther shape which Lutheran exegesis has taken on this point, see the same. With Spener there came a change. In opposition to all these, there are definitions exafffierntinff the nx-aning : (1.) The nrit; must be po much emphasized, as to lead us to suppose that Israel, dying in unbelief, will be raised from the dead for the realization of this hope (Pcter.sen, Mi/stiitchc Posaunr ; see Tholuck, p. 628). (2.) We do not Include here the idea of a return of the main part of the Israelites, as a nation, to Palestine, but the ideas that a special Jewish Church will again arise — that a temple will b(.' liuilt in .lernsalen), in which a eort of restitution of the Israelitish worship will take place, and that then the Jewi'^h people will stand ai the preferred priestly and noble people ::. the midst of the believing Gentile world (comp. Tholuck'a quotations, p. 625, in addition to whidi many others might be easily collected). These fanatical apologists for Judaism should not forget that Israel has fallen so deeply, just because of such aristocratic and priestly claims to the mes- sianic sphere of salvation, and that the only help for it is to acquiesce modestly in the glory of tho New Testament sj)irit of Christ, and to take its place among the Gentile Christian nations as a fully author- ized Christian nation, without legal privileges, out full of an humble sense of its long apostasy, yet in the power and demonstration of the Spirit, which will then be imparted to it according to its gift— that is, according to its great natural state trans- formed by grace. The scholastics Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, and others, had in view the proper mean, a conversion of the collective tribes, or tribal frag- ment, of the nation, but not the conversion of each individual, which is qnaUtied as such by free self- detei'niination. The hope of Israel's conversion has been warndy defended in the Reformed Church ; first by Beza. See Tholuck, p. 629 If.* The question of the source from wliich Paul drew this fir(TT>'j()i,ov has engaged much attention. Tho- luck, following in the wake'of others, properly calls attention to the fact that the Apostle's quotations from the prophets were given by him as a warrant of his hope, but not as its ground ; p. 025 If. Paul, as an Apostle, was also a prophet, apart from the consideration that he could already find the germs of this prophecy in the gospel tradition (see Matt, xxiii. 39 ; John xii. 32). However, we take for granted that he could have drawn his warrants from the Old Testament as freely as he desired, though Tholuck raises the question why he did not do this, but contented himself with citing two passages not belonging to that class, and of doubtful relevancy (the declarations cited by Auberlen, p. 625). We must here refer to biblical theology, as well as to the writings which have treated especially on this escha- tological i)art of the theology of the Old Testanient.f There shall come out of Zion, &c. ['HJf» in ^Kov, x.T.A. See Textual JS'ote '^\ and below. Forbes makes tho four lines of the quotations corre- spond alternately : covenant-promise — removal of sin. — R.] The two connected quotations are from Isa. lix. 20 and xxvii. 9 ; not (according to Cal vin [Stuart], and others) from Jcr. xxxi. 33, al- though there is a kindred sense.:}; They are freely ♦ [Thn view now Rcnpmllv adopted, and sunported by Beza, Kstius, Kopiio, Ueielio, fciUner, Mover, Tholuck, D« Wetle, lloi remarks that these citations support th« nfflrmntion • "so nil Israel shall be saved," not the con- tinunnce of the hnrdening " until the fulness of tho Qca» tiles come in."— K.] CHAPTER XI. 1-38. 371 treated, and joined together (from the LXX.). Yet, 'jn reality, the_y perfectly answer to their application. We must not forget that the armor of deliverance which the Lord puts on, according to chap. lix. 17 &., is a further enlargement of the armor of the Messiah in Isa. xi. 5 ff. Now, if we adhere to the position that prophecy makes no retrograde move- ment — that therefore Jihovah, instead of the Mes- sixh, must denote a progress — the passage cannot be understood merely to denote the first appearance of the iMessiah, as Isa. xi., but, in any case, the escha- tological appearance of Jehovah is also conjoined in ..he Messiah. This is favored by the grand expres- sion in ver. 19. The Apostle, with his usual mas- terly skill, therefore makes use of the proper pas- sage here, sinnlarly to the exegesis of Christ, which has also been a subject of surprise to many exposi- tors. 7%e original text (Isa. lix. 20, 21) reads : " And the God (Redeemer) shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression ( y\tE ) in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me (on my side), this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord : My Spirit," &c. The Septuagint : xctl ijhfi, tvfKfv Zuhv 6 ^ro/fft'ot;, xat anoized, all and every one cannot be spoken of, because the question is not simply the fall of man, but the generic consequences of the fall (Vulgate and Luther have the neuter). [The neuter is proba- bly borrowed from (ial. iii. 22. The sense is the same, whether we accept tlie view of Meyer or that of Tholuck ; but by premising the former in the sec- ond clau.se, a conclusion might be inserted, which Me.ver liiraself does not accept, viz., the actual exer- cise of saving mercy in the case of every individual. -K.] But what does shut up mean ? Meyer would ex- plain it, according to the peculiarity of the later Greek : to give over to, or under, the effective power, but not merely a declarative (Clirysostoni, and oth- ers), or permissive power (Origen, and others). [Meyer, Alford, and others, remark that the ai'v in composition .strengthens the .simple verb, without, however, introducing the idea of shutting up to- yelha: — K.] The real explanation of the expres- sion is contained in Rom. v. 12 and Gal. iii. 22. The state of the totality of mcii (their being shut up under disobedience) is based on the organic (generic, social, political, and si/inpnthetical) convec- tion. By the organic connection, all men are shut up in the conseciuences of tlie fall. Then, by the organic connection, the Gentiles are first shut up in the process of unbelief (see chap, i.) ; and in the Same way are the Jews also shut up by means of' this organic connection (chap. ii.). In the collective character of the history of the world, this makes a collective conclusion \_Z/isarninengeschlos.-nhei/'\. Thus the Jews, by their organic connection (accord- ing to Gal. iii. 22), were .shut up under the law, as it were, in a prison or place of custody * ( £(/•("" '4' or - fifffa (Tiyxtx/.n^uiiiyoi,); although, after the confine- ment was abolished, it turned out that they consist- ed of two parts, the children of the bondwoman and the children of the freewoman. Thus it could only come to pass, by the fearful power of the connec- tion of the universal curr.ents, that sin should be consummated in unltelief under (iod's judgment, in order that sinners might become receptive of Divine mercy (Rom. v. 20 ; vii. 13). In order that he may have mercy upon all [iva Toi's' /tuvrai; *Af//rT7]]. The pur- ])ose of this authoritative judgment of God (that is, of this Divine hardening, which was carried con- stantly further by the reciprocal action with human guilt) was, first, that fulfilment in the ancient time, when the lieatlien world wim ripe for mercy, and will be hereafter the fulfilment of the New Testament time, when Israel shall l)C ripe for mercy. [Alford remarks on roin; n civ rat; in the two clauses : " Are they the same ? And, if so, is any support given to the notion of an unnxaTdrrTafru; of all men f Certainly they are identical, and sig- nit'y all men, without limitation. Rut the ultimate jilierence between the all men who are shut up un- ier disobedience, and the aV. men upon whom the * [Comi). Langc's Convn. Oalalians, p. 85 ff.— R.) mercy is shown, is, that by all men this mercy is not accepted, and so men become self-excluded from the salvation of God. God's act remains the same, equally gracious, equally universal, whether men accei)t His mercy or not. This coii'.ingeucy is liere not in view, but simply God's act itself. We can hardly understand the ol navrni nationally. The marked universality of the expre.-*sion recalls the be ginning of the Epistle, and makes it a solemn con- elusion to the argumentative portion, after which the Apostle, overpowereil with the view of the Divine mercy and wisdom, breaks forth into the .sublimest apostrophe existing even in tiie i>ages of Inspiration jt.- fid Dot; n/.ovrov xal «to- (f'iui;, x.r.).. In the English, that interpretation has been followed which regards the three genitives, nlovTov, ffo (//«<,-, yvii'irTnoi;, as co irdinate. 0(0 V is joined with all three. — R.] Construc- tions : A. What a depth: 1. Of riches; 2. Of wis- dom ; 3. Of knowledge (Chrysostom, Grotius, 01s- hausen, Philippi [Hodge, Alford, De Wette], &c. B. What a depth of riches : 1. Of wLsdom ; 2. Of knowledge (Luther, Calvin, Reiche).* Meyer says, in favor of the first construction : " As vers. 33 and 34 portray the aoqia and yvwan;, but vers. 35 and '66 the ti/.ovtoi; OtoT', the former construc- tion is preferable." Besides, the depth of the riches would be, in a certain measure, tautological. But fidO ot; can also not (according to the same writer) mean " the great fulness and superabundance," be- cause there would merely result such a tautology. The depth, whose outward figure is the ocean, is also a spiritual depth (see the quotations in Meyer). There is also another sort of fulness, a-s a rich and fruitful plain. Ilere God's miracles are obscured by a holy darkness. But the riches of God are not merely God's riches of grace in the special sense, for the fulness of creation and the treasun-s of re- demption constitute a more geiieral unity in the all- sufficiency of God. This is the entire ontological and soteriological foundation of God's kingdom. If, now, (T07(Vt be defined as the exercise of (Jod's o?i, and Spirit.* Meyer opposes this, by urging that neither Chrysostom, fficumenius, Theophylact, Calvin, nor Beza, have re- ferred to the Trinity in their expositions. The con- text speaks simply of God the Father. Yet it can- not be doubted, if we take into consideration other passages of the Apostle (for example, 1 Cor. xv. ; CoI.L), that Paul here had in mind at least the dif- ference of the revelations of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is certain that the view of God's absolute unity predominates here, but not therefore in the exclusive, doctrinal definiteness of God the Father. The Trinitarian relation lies be- yond subordinationism. * [Alford, who is unusually happy in his comments on this chapter, remarks : " If this be rit'htly understood — not of a fiirmal allusion to the three Persons in the Holy Trinity, but of an implicit rcfcrenci' (as Tholuck) to the three oMnhutes of Jehovah, respectively manifested to us by tlis three coequal and co-tcmal Persons— there can hardly be n doubt of its coiTectness." " Only those who are doL'- matically prejudiced can miss seeing "that, though St. Paul has never d-finilively expressed the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in a definite formula, yet he was conscious of it as ft living reality."— E.] DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. While the whole of Paul's Epistle to the Ro mans has been called a " christological philoGophj of the history of the world and of salvation," th« term applies more specially to the section chap, ix.- xi., and preeminently to chap. xi. 2. God has not cast away His people : Proofs ; (1.) The public histoiy of Israel : Paul and his Jew- ish companions in faitii ; (2.) Israel's cone a led his- tory, disclosed by God's declaraiion to Elijah ; (3.) The teleology of the partial blindness of Israel : a. a condition for the conversion of the Gentiles ; b. then this a condition fur the conversion of the Jews ; c. then this, finally, a condition for the com- pletion of God's saving work on earth ; (4.) God's exercise of judgment on all humanity has always a merciful purpose — that is, deliverance and ^e^stora- tion. The histoi-y of proselytes proves that the attraction of the Jews to faith is constantly fulfilled in the individual. 3. The history of the seven thousand hidden worshippers of God at the time of Elijah, a type of similar cases in all ages. Not merely the heroic wit- nesses for God's honor are His people, but all who do not bow the knee to idols. The kingdom of God has not merely its hons, but also its doves. The mildness of the Divine judgment on the remnant of piety on earth, in antithesis to the severity and in- dignation of the human zeal of the well-meaning servants of God. 4. God preserves at all periods, even in the worst, a Xfliifia xar' l/. /.o y f; v /d() it oq. When the enemies of the gospel think that Chris- tianity will soon decline, they miscalculate, especial- ly on two or three points : (1.) They do not observe that the bliglit of division is unavoidable in their own camp ; (2.) That a new Divine seed of Divinely chosen children, of sincere adversaries converted and led by God, and of courageous witnesses for God, are in His plan ; (3.) That every direction which apostasy takes, leads to a dispersion and taint like that of the Jews, while the deep current of the world's history takes its course with God's kingdom. This confidence is resplendent even throughout the Old Testament, and especially in the prophets. 5. Vers. 6, 7. The unanswerable syllogism of the evangelical Church against the decree of the Council of Trent (see Hxeg. Notex). To seek grace beyond works is an Int^i^fjT flv, comprising in itself a self-contradiction. 6. Vers. 8-11. The twofold judgment of blind- ness : a. By external, seeming happiness (see chap, ii. 4) ; b. By inward disobedience, whose fundamen- tal characteristics are presumptuous blindness and inconsolable, cowardly despondency in relation to the highest good. — On the process of hardening as a continual reciprocity between human offence and God's sovereign judgment, see Exeg. Notes on chnp. ix. On Jelaledin Rumi's doctrine of predestina- tion, see Tholuck, p. 595. 7. From the fact that judgments on unbelievers are remedial judgments, which are the means of pro- ducing faith in the elect, there follows the expecta^ tion that the judgments are not of an eonic, but of an economic nature. God always seeks, through the believers, indirectly to reach again the unbelievers. Therefore the messengers of salvation must shake the dust from their feet when they are not received. That is, they must go farther and farther / Th« 374 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. gospci went from Mesopotamia to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Rome, from Rome to Wittenberg and Geneva ; and in roundabout ways and circles it igain goes from New York to Jerusalem and Meso- potamia. Nearness and farness iu God's kingdom art not determined by geograpliical and national proximity and remoteness, but by the relations of spiiituai life. 8. The idea of the temporary filling up of the breaches made by the unbelief of the Jews by means of the lieatlieii, lias penetrated, though in obscure form, even the Talmud (see Tlioinck, p. 600), 9. Oil the reflection of the truth of the histori- cal character of the Acts of the Apostles, in ver. 11, see Tholuck, against Baur, p. 602. See the same, p. 606, for Origcn's view tliat tlie number of saints is deGnite ; which, indeed, only has an incidental importance for the question before ua (see Exeg. Notes). 10. The tragical fate of the Jews. Their fall the riches of the world, notwithstanding they number nmong tliem the richest people ; tlicir casting away the reconciling of the worLl. This latter thought refers to the crucifixion of Christ. Such a tragical judicial fate is such a profound enigma of Divine sovereignty, tliat not only the whole course of the world, but also the future world and eternity, belong to its full glorification in the light of Divine mercy. 11. As the wild olive tree enters into a relation of exchange with the good olive tree by giving to it earthly nutriment, or nutriment for development and for strengthening the stock, while, on its part, its branches are made good, so have the nations brought new organs to Cln-istianity, in order to receive from it the Divine spirit of lile. Germany may exult, in a special sense, in having done this, but nothing fur- ther. If we arrcgifilij identify German Christian- ity with Lutheranisrn,* the boast has a German Catholic sound ; it is a boast of the branches — of o> accept- RTire or rejection of grace is made dependent on bi'lief or ■unbelief. Hence, in Gal. iii. 22, he does not say, in the second clause : that the promise might he given to at!, but to believers. For redemption is no natural process, no work of necessity, but a free act of God in Christ, and must be apprehended and appropriated in a free moral manner by •acli individual subject. — P. S.] Apostle as a true Israelite. 2. He repudiates the fact in the most positive manner ; because, a. God has provided for His people beforehand ; 6. In times of great apostasy He has preserved His remnant of seven thousand who did not bow the knee to Baal ■ c. He will deal likewise with those who have been reserved through grace. — Paul, as a model of truly national feeling. 1. He was a Christian with all his heart ; 2. But he was also an Israelite with all hia heart (vers. 1, 2). — The example of the Apostle Paid shows how Christianity and national feeling not only do not preclude each other, but agree very well to- gether. — I also am an Israelite ! An expression : 1. Full of manly power ; 2. Full of Christian love (vers. 1, 2). — The example of Elijah. 1. His com- plaint against Israel ; 2. God's answer for Israel (vers. 2-4). — God still has His seven thousand who have not bowed their knee to Baal (vers. 4-6). — Let the apostasy be never so great, God never wholly casts away His people (vers. 4-6). Luther : Not all are God's people who are called God's people ; therefore not all will be cast away, though the greater portion be cast away. Stakke : God's children often make unnecessary complaints, and if the Lord should answer them, H« would not reply in any other way tiian : " Ye know not what ye should pray for as ye ought " (ver. 2). — God can permit no such confusion of ideas, aa tliat we are to be saved partly through grace and ]5artly tlu'ough merit ; chap. iii. 28 (ver. 6). — IIkd- iNGEU: God has more saints in the world than we often imagine. Much of the good seed lies under the ground ; in the Spring, when the right time comes, it germinates. Be comforted by this truth, ye faithful teachers ; Isa. xlix. 1 ; 1 Kings xix. 48 (vers. 1-3). — Nova Bibl. Tub. : God does not cast us away, if we have not previously cast Him away (ver. 1). — You regard that church and congregation as the best one to which the most belong, which the great men in the world honor, and which, therefore, has the most splendor, show, and consideration. Oh, no ; it is the small and insignificant number wiiich God has preserved for salvation according to the election. " Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father's good pleasme to give you the kingdona " (ver. 5). — Spicner : God looks with other eyes than men's, and perceives those who were imperceptible to others. Yet such persons did not exist by their own strength, but the Lord has reserved them (ver. 4). Ltsco : The fall of Israel is neither altogether universal nor perpetual. The Gentiles' becoming God's people, and participants in His kingdom, is a fulfilment of Gen. ix. 27, that Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem. — As surely as unbelief, according to chap. X., is an offence, so sure is the better dispo- sition of these better ones among the people not any work of theirs, but a work of Divine grace (vers. 5,6). Hkubnkr : There is a divine casting away, tiie most terrible penal judgment of God, in which He takes His Holy Spirit from man, and quenches th« spark of good within him, so that he morally diea out, is without the feeling and power for good, and, shut out from heaven, must bear misery and tor- ment. — This is what pious people since the fall have- been anxiously praying God to ward off'; P.s. ji. (ver. 1). — Elijah believed that he was the only one left. How often does many a pious person believe himself alone ! This is a divine trial ; but in such hours there also comes equal consolation (vi r. 3).— 376 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. There is a seed of good people whicli never dies out. {^InilefectiliilUas iccUske.) B. Vers. 7-10. The judgment of hardening on the Israelites not behjuging to the ekeiioii. 1. Why is this judgment inllicted u[)on tliem? a. Not be- cause it was detfrminud irum eternity against tiieui ; but ; B.'L-ause they, according to oha[). ix. 30 IT., souglii rigliteousness by works and not by faith, and, accordingly, became guilty themselves. 2. In wliat docs this judgment consist V God fulfils in tliem what He, a. Has said by Isaiah ; b. By David. Nova B'ibl. Tub.: The terrible judgment of hard- ening ! They have hell, who are smitten and do not feel it; who have eyes, and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear ; who have poison and death instead of the bread of life ; who have ruin, punisli- nieiit, and condenniation, instead of strength, joy, and comfort ; who have darkness instead of light, and earth instead of heaven. — Ckamek: God, Tliou beautiful and clear light, Thou wouldst blind no one ; and Thou only dost it as a righteous Judge nfter one has blinded himself in the power of the devil ; 2 Cor. iv. 4 (ver. lu). — Roos : When the titble (where they concoct mischievous devices), where they usually sit unconcernedly and eat good thing.s, becomes a rope, a trap, ruin, and a recom- pense for the unfaithfulness and violence which they have exercised against others, it is a symbol of all the means by which men unexpectedly become in- volved in dangers by their words, or, by their decep- tion or power, are led into tlie hands of their ene- mies, and sustain real injury (ver. 9). Lisco : The burdens of age— dim-sightcdness and crookedness — are likewise a symbol of ruin (ver. 10). Hklbxeu: God has piven them such a spirit; that is, He h;is permitted it to visit them as a neces- sary conse(iuencc, as a righteous punishment, be- cause I hey made such resistance to the strivings of the Divine Spirit (ver. 8). Comp. Acts ii. 37 ; vii. 61. — Man, both the individual and the people, de- clines into wretched slavery by apostasy from God (ver. 10). C. Vers. 11, 12. The fall of the Jews is the salvation of the Gentiles. 1. No dark fatality rules hero ; but, 2. The loving providence of God, which continually turns every thing evil U) a good purpose. — N'otliing is so bad that God cannot make it serve a good purpose. — Providential sovereignty : i. It is mysterious, in so far as we often cannot understand why it permits evil ; 2. It is clear and plain, in so far as it always causes good to come from evil. Comp. Gen. 1. 20. SiAiiK!:, Hedixgkk: What a great Artificer is God ! He makes good out of evil, medicine out of poison, and something out of nothing. — Uoos : Has God brought nothing good out of this evil ? God forbid ! From their fall there has taken place the salvation of the nations, to which the gospel was direct(!d after it had Ijeen scorned by the Jews (Matt. xxi 4:'.; Acts xiii. 4()— tS ; xxii. 1S-2I ; xxviii. 27, 28) timt the latter might be provoked to jealousy by the ftirmer. Gkiu.ach, Calvin : " As a wife who has been ciat away from her husband because of her guilt is so iiillaiiicd l)y jealousy that she feels herself im- pelled by it to become reconciled again to her hus- band, no shall it now come to pass that the Jews, having seen the Gentiles taking their place, and be- ing pained by their l)eing east away, shall strive after reconciliatioa with God ; " comp. Kph. v. 25-33. Lisco : God's wisdom brings good out of Israel's perversity. Paul does not say that the individual unbelieving Israelite cannot be lost; but theie ia quite a difference between the individual and tho people (ver. 11). D. Vers. 13-28. How does Paul wish to be re. garded by the Gentiles? 1. By all means as their A))ostle, who magnifies this his ofiice ; 2. But yet, at the same time, as a true friend of his lineal kin- dred, who wishes to be the means of saving some of them, because they are destined for lile (vers. 13-lG). — The rich mercy shown to Israel ; percepti- ble, 1. From its rejection, which is the reconciling of the world ; 2. From its reception, which is lite from the dead (vers. 13-15). — The figure of the first- fruits as related to the justification of infant bap- tism ; comp. 1 Cor. vii. 14 (ver. 16). — Likewise the figure of the root and the branches. (Comp. also the Zurich Catechism, Question 73, b.) The figure of the olive tree. 1. The Apostle warns the Gentile Christians against pernicious presumption (vers. 17, 18); 2. He takes away the strength from such a possible and proud objection on their part (vers. 19-21) ; 3. He exhorts them to behold God's good- ness and severity (ver. 22); 4. He also declares to them his joyous hope of the future conversion of Israel (vers. 23, 24). — The branches do not bear the root, but the root bears the branches. Application : 1. To the relation of children and parents ; 2. To the unconfirmed and the Church (ver. 18). — Do you stand by faith ? Then do not be proud, but fear (ver. 20). — God's goodness and severity (ver. 22). — God can graft them in again ; as this was the Apos- tle's hope for the children of Israel, so is it ours (ver. 24). — The future conversion of all Israel. 1. When will it take place? When the fulness of the Gentiles is come into the kingdom of God, and the time of tlie blindness in part of Israel is past. 2. Wiiy will it take place ? a. Because God has prom- ised it by the prophets ; 6. Because God has once chosen His people ; c. Because He does not repent His gifts and call (vers. 25-29). — The future conver- sion of Israel is a mystery, in the sense of Matt. xiii. 11 ; 1 Cor. XV. 51. — The entrance of the fulne.-is of the Gentiles into God's kingdom. 1. It will lie etlected by the preaching of the gospel among them ; 2. It will take place amid praise and thanks- giving (ver. 25). SrAKKE : It is part of a teacher's wisdom to ad- dress himself es[)ecially to every class of men in an assembly (ver. 13). — One often falls, and yet by his fall another rises ; oh, wonderful and yet holy gov- ernment of God (ver. 15)! — A whole church, a wiiole ministry, a whole comnmiiity, and a whole generation, must not be rejected on account of a few fools (ver. 1(1). — The living of the Jews among us in a dispersed way can be of use to us, for tho frequent sigiit of a Jew, and his intercourse with us, remind us frequently of this Pauline admonition (ver. 21). — Why should you trouble yourselt if you are not rememhenMl in any earthly will as an in- heritor of corru|)tible goods? If you stanil in God's covenant of grace, you are more than rich (ver. 27). — CitAMKu: Let no one forget his origin, for that will teach him to be humble (ver. 17). — The human heart is guilty of two sins : it is deceitful, and desperately wicked ; Jer. xvii 9. Therefore (lod must ()i)i)ose it l)y goodness and righteousness (ver. 22). — Hkiunoku: Do not cast away so soon what does not jilease you. Many .^in by doing this. God has many ways to souls. Your neighbor \» CHAPTER XI. 1- 377 guilty, and so are you. Shall the Lord cast both away ? Bear and forbear. Tiiue produces roses even from thoru-bushcs (ver. 17). — Oh, how I wish that no one would sin against the poor Jews ! Are they not Abraham's seed, and the lineal kindred of the C'lurch ? God, take compassion on these hardened ones, and remember thy covenant ! — The Jews, you say, only steal and cheat ; they are a friv- olous people ! Are you better than they ? Cannot God convert them '? They hear the word, and so do you ; neither you nor they are pious. ^Yhich has the gi'euter condemnation — you, or these who are under a judgment ? The same blindness will come over you, if you do not turn to Christ (ver. 23). — If it is a mystery, who would be so daring as to de- sire to fathom it ? If it is a revealed mystery, who will deny the conversion of the Jews ? Though you cannot imagine how it will come to pass, neither can I imagine how those who were formerly Gentiles and servants of the devil, shall now be God's children and the temple of His Spirit (ver. 25). — JS'ova Bibl. Tub. : Every thing which God does must be regard- ed as for our improvement ; His judgments to lead us to it, .ind His mercy and grace to keep us to it, even to the end. Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee ; Ps. Ixiii. 3 (ver. 22). — Quesxel : Let no sinner despair! There is no abyss of sin from which God cannot res- cue him. He who returns to Him v;ith faith and confidence, will find His bosom open to him (ver. 23). Spexer, on ver. 23 : We have here the clear tes- timony that the poor castaway people shall hereafter be received to grace, and be converted to their Sa- viour ; and the promises once given them repeatedly in the prophets, shall be fulfilled in them. From the beginning of the Christian Church down to the present time, this has been taught and believed by its dearest teachers, from many passages of the Old and New Testament Scriptures ; and we, too, have no ground of departing from it, or looking more at the hardness of those hearts which appear impossi- ble to be converted, than at God's promise. Yet the time and manner of God's effecting the work we should as well commit to Divine wisdom, as rejoice with thanksgiving for Divine grace because of the thing itself; and when such a result is effected, we hope for all the more blessed condition of the Church, but meanwhile heartily pray for the fulfil- ment of such hope, Gerlach, on ver. 16 : The first figure says, the part has the nature of the whole ; the second, the derived has the nature of its origin. The Apostle lays greatest stress upon the latter figure, for he dwells upon it afterward, and portrays it in clearer colors. — The Apostle purposely uses here a very striking figure, from a transaction which did not in reality occur — the grafting of the branch of a wild olive tree on a good stock — in order to show that the Gentiles, in a higher sense than the Jews, are called to salvation " contrary to nature " (ver. 24) — that is, by supernatural grace overcoming their na- ture; comp. Luke xii. 37 (ver. 18). — Paul calls every thing 7iiystery which man cannot know of himself, and can only perceive by Divine revelation. Pre- viously it was the call of the Gentiles (chap. xvi. 25 ; Eph. iii. 3), but now it is that of the Jews. Comp. Col. ii. 2 ; 1 Cor. xv. 51 (ver. 25). — The con- tinued existence of the Israelites among all the re- maining nations — this perfectly isolated phenomenon :n history — is therefore designed by God to glorify hereafter His covenant faithfulness by a. future tota. conversion of the people (ver. 26), Lisco : Under what conditions we become and remain participants of God's grace (vers. 22-24). Hkcbneh, on ver. 16 : Honorable forefathers an earnest admonition to their posterity (ver, 16). — ■ Nothing more clearly proves the strict righteousness of God, than His judgment on the fallen angels and the unbelieving people of Israel. This should in- spire every one with awe, and with solicitude for himself (ver. 21). — It is very necessary to bear in mind both God's severity and goodness ; His sever- ity, in order to be preserved from indulgence, false security, and backsliding ; and His goodness, in order to be encouraged, and to hope for forgiveness and improvement. God has revealed both. With- out the two together there would be no training of men (ver. 22). — Israel is without God, because it is without Christ ; God has disappeared from the syna- gogue. He who would find God, must be converted to Christ (ver. 26). — The true deliverance of Israel does not take place by civil, but by spiritual, emanci- pation — the mercy of God. Mercy is the object of the reception of the Jews into the Christian Church (ver. 27). — God's friendship with the patriarchs en- dures eternally (ver. 28). Besser : It is with Mary, uith the shepherds, with Simeon, %nth the first-called disciples, with the Galilean women, u'ith the Apostles, and imili the Pentecostal Church of Jerusalem, and not without or separated from them, that thou. Gentile, hast a share in the root and sap of the olive tree. " Paul loves the little word ' with,'' " says Bengel, in speak- ing of the Gentiles ; chap, xv, 10 ; Epli. ii. 19, 22 ; iii. 6 (vers. 17, 18). — See that you are not led into the folly of planting the top of the tree in the earth, and imagining that you bear the root, and that first from you, German blood, the good sap of the olive tree has really received strength and impulse (ver, 18). Deichert (vers. 11-21): What serves for the fall of some, must serve for the support of others. 1. Corroboration of this experience generally and particularly ; 2, For what should it serve both the fallen and the raised ? E. Vers. 29-36. God's general compassion ou all. 1, On the Gentiles, who fonueriy did not be- lieve, but now believe ; 2. Ou the Jews, who do not believe, but shall hereafter believe (vers. 29-32). — All concluded in unbelief. 1. How far? 2. To what end ? (ver. 32.) — The universality of Divine grace (ver. 32). — An apostolical song of praise : 1. For God's fulness of grace ; 2. For His wisdom ; 3. For His knowledge (vers. 33-36). — Every thing is of, throw h, and in (to) God (ver. 36). — To God alone be the honor (ver, 36) ! LuTHKR, on ver. 32 : Observe this principal deo laration, which condemns all righteousness of man and of works, and praises only God's compassion in our obtaining it by faith. — Starke : God must be the beginning, the middle, and the end of all things (ver. 36). — HEniNGER : How audacious not only to look upon God's council-chamber, but to become master of it ! Men do not allow their political fol- lies to be known ; should we blind ones, then — we who are of yesterday and know nothing — invade God's wisdom ? Job viii. 9. man, be acute with the Scriptures, but not on and beside the Scriptures. Hypercritics mount high, and fall low ; and it all amounts to nothing with the Divine Being (ver. 33), Speneu : The loftiness of the divine Majestj 378 THE EnSTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. (vers, 33-36). — Roos : What Paul has called the elediou, he iimuediately afterward divides into two ideas, f/i/ts and calling, and says that God does not repent them. God has chosen Israel, and remains firm to it. lie has from the beginning shown great merey to tliis people ; and He does not re|)ent of all this. Single branches can, indeed, be cut otf, and individual Jews can be lost in great numbers; but the wh(jle tree will not be cut off, the whole people cannot be cast away (ver. 29). Geklacii : God's purposes for Israel will con- tinue uninterruptedly until the end of the present course of the world ; as the fulfilment of all the promises, there is yet to take place a great popular conversion, and a mighty activity within the Church icself. But from all this we cannot conclude that there will be an external restoration of the Jews to a people in the political sense, and their return to the land of Canaan (ver. 29J. — The survey of the wonderfully glorious saving purpose of God, as He gradually unfolded it in the foregoing verses to the eyes of the Apostle, leads the latter to make, from the bottom of his heart, this exclamation of amazed and adoring wonder. The wisdom of God compre- hended the purpose which His love had promjited ; and God's knowledge marked out the way, defined the measure, and ordered the course for its execu- tion. His judgments even on His own children, when they wish to set up their own righteousness, and the wai/s in which He draws the most remote Gentiles and most hardened Pharisees to himself, are unsearchable ; but they are not absolutely and eter- nally concealed, but the light of revelation is dis- closed to n)an by the Spirit, which searcheth after the deej) things of God, and reveals them to those who love God (vers. 33-30). Schleikumacmer : The contemplation of the order of salvation, that God has concluded all in unbelief, is also nece.-.sary to us for wonder at Divine wi.sdum. 1. God's concluding all in unbelief, consti- tutes the nature of this Hivine order of salvation and of redemption through Christ. 2. In this, Divine wisdom is most to be perceived and admired (vers. 32, 33). — .ScnwKizEii: The unfathomable depth of (lod's wisdom. 1. We represent this un- fathoniiible dei)th to ourselves in Iniinility ; 2. We lift oarxehn'.ii up in faith, since therein the ways of Divine wisdom are concealed (ver. 33). TiiK Pkriooi'E for the Sunditif after Trinity (vers. 33-36). — Woi>f : How our reflection should he directed to the unsearchable puiposes of God. We see, 1. From whence it should proceed ; and, 2. To what it must lead. — Ranke : How one can learn to submit to God's incomprehensible ways : 1. By being humble ; 2. By being confident. — Petri : How should we act in regaid to the incom- prehensibility of God V 1. We should be discreet in our o|)inions ; 2. We should l)e humble in our disposition ; 3. We should be faithful in our work. — Kai'FF : The Holy Trinity : 1. An unfatliomal)le d('[)tli ; 2. But an inexhaustible fountain of life. — J'i.okey : Our inability to comprehend God is a re- minder that should lead U8 to a careful reflection. It is: 1. A reminder of the narrowne.'W of our mind, that we should be warned by it against useless Bubtleties ; 2. A reminder respecting tlie Scriptures, that we should be moved thereby to hold fast to (rod's reveali'd word ; 3. A reminder of eternity, tliat we should therel)y think of the perfect knowl- edge which awaits us in the future world. — Sciiii.Tz: Tile Lord's ways : 1. Uow God {jlorifies them before our eyes ; 2, To what end God's glory, which il declared in His ways, sunnuous us. [Bishop Hall : On Divine severiti/. With how envious eyes did the Jews look upon those first hep aids of the gospel, who carried the glad tidhigs of salvation to the des|)ised Gentiles I What cruel storms of persecution did they raise against those blessed messengers, whose feet deserved to be beuu- tiful ! wherein their obstinate unbelief turned lo our advantage ; for, after they had made themselves uu worthy of that gospel of peace, that blessing waa instantly derived upon us Gentiles, and we hai)pily changed conditions with them. — The Jews were once the children, and we the dogs under the table : the crumbs were our lot, the bread was theirs. Now ia the case, through their wilful incredulity, altered : they are the dogs, and we the children ; we sit at a full table, while their hunger is not satisfied with scraps. — On the necensitji of a living faith in Christ, If ever, therefore, we look for any consolation in Christ, or to have any part in this beautiful union, it must be the main care of our hearts to make sure of a lively faith in the Lord Jesus ; to lay fai:t hold ui)on Him ; to chisp Him close to us ; yea, to receive Him inwardly into our bosoms, and so to make Him ours, and ourselves His, that we may be joined to Him as our Head, espou.sed to Him as our Hus- band, incorporated into Him as our Nourishment, engrafted in Him as our Stock, and laid u[)on Him as a sure Foundation. — On the i7iconiprehcnsibility of Divine ivisdnm. It is unfitting for the vulgar mind to attempt with profane foot to ascend the highest pinnacles of heaven, and there to scrutinize with presumptuous eyes the holy innermost places of God, and to pronounce an opinion on the most profound secrets of the Divine wisdom ! — Shall we dare to measure the depths of the Divine law with the di- minutive standard of our intellect ? Shall we tram- ple on things which even the angels gaze on v.iih awe? But in this respect I do not so much blame the people as the teachers themselves, who have so inopportunely supplied the ears and miuds of the multitude with these subjects. [FAnisnoiN: What better spectacle for the Cliurch than the synagogue, in whose ruins and desolation she may read the dangerous effects of spiritual pride and haughtiness of mind, and thence learn not to insult, but tremble ? — Take virtue in its own shape, and it seems to call for fear and trembling, and to bespeak us to be careful and watchful that we forfeit not, so fair an estate for false riches ; but take it, as from the devil's forge, and then, contrary to its own nature, it helps to blind and hoodwink us, that we see not the danger we are in, how that not oidy the way, but our feet, are slii)pery. It mifortunately occasions its own ruin, whilst we, witli Nero in Taci- tus, spend riotously upon presumption of treasure. — Leioiiton : Our only way to know that our names are not in that black line, and to be persuaded that He hath chosen us to be .saved by His Son, is this, to finil tint we have chosen Him, and are built on Him by faith, which is the fruit of His love who fii-st chooseth us, and which we may read in our esteem of Him. [CiiAKNoCK : On rrgeneration. The increasing the perfection of one species, can never moiml the thing so increased, to the i)erfeetion of another spe- cies. If you could vastly increase the heat of fire, you could never make it a.scend to the perfection of a star. If you could increa.se mere moral works to the highest pitch they ure capable of, they can never CHAPTER XI. 1-36. 379 make you gracious, because grace is another species, and the nature of them must be changed to make them of another kind. All the moral actions in the world will never malve our hearts of themselves of another kind thun moral. Works make not the heart good, but a good heart makes the works good. It is not our walking in God's statutes materially, which procures us a new heart, but a new heart is niicessary before walking in God's statutes. — On the Miiscry of unbelief. Some humbled souls think God is not so merciful as He declares ; He swears to ex- pel their doubts. Presumptuous persons think God Ls not so just ; He swears to expel their vain con- ceits. This sin ties up, as it were, the hands of an omnipotent mercy from saving such a one. [TiLLOTSON ; We are apt to attribute all things to the next and immediate agent, and to look no higher than second causes ; not considering that all the motions of natural causes are directly subordi- nate to the first cause, and all the actions of free creatures are under the government of God's wise providence, so that nothing happens to us besides the design and intention of God. — If God be the last end of all, let us make Him our last end, and refer all our actions to His glory. This is that which is due to Him, as He is the first cause, and therefore He does most reasonably require it of us. [Hopkins : Fear God, lest at any time, through any neglect or miscarriage of yours. He should be provoked to suspend His influence, and withdraw His grace from you, and to leave you to your own weakness and impotency, upon whose influence all your obedience doth depend. [Henry : The best evidence of integrity is a freedv^m from the present prevailing corruptions of the times and places that we live in ; to swim against the stream when it is strong. Those God will own for His faithful witnesses that are bold in bearing their testimony to the present truth. This is tliank worthy : not to bow to Baal when every body bows. Sober singularity is commonly the badge of true sincerity. [J. Wesley : God always reserved a seed for himself; a few that worshipped Him in spirit and in truth. I have often doubted whether these were not the very persons whom the rich and honorable Christians, Avho will always have number as well aa power on their aide, did not stigmatize, from time to time, with the title of heretics. Perhaps it was chiefly by this aitifice of the devil and his children, that the good which was in them being evil spoken of, they were prevented from being so extensively useful as otherwise they might have been. Nay, I have doubted whether that arch-heretic, Montanus, was not one of the holiest men in the second century. [Clarke : The designs are the offsprhig of infi- nite wisdom, and therefore they are all right ; the means are the most proper, as being the choice of an infinite knowledge that cannot err : we may safely credit the goodness of the dcsic/n, founded in infi- nite wisdom ; we may rely on the due accomplish- ment of the end, because the means are chosen and applied by infinite knowledge and skill. [Barnes, on ver. 14: We may see here, 1. That it is the earnest wish of the ministry to save the souls of men ; 2. That they should urge every argu- ment and appeal with reference to this ; 3. That even the most awful and humbling truths may have this tendency ; 4. It is right to use all the means in our power, not absolutely wicked, to save men. Paul was full of devices ; and much of the success of the ministry will depend on a v/ise use of plans, that may, by the Divine blessing, arrest and eave th« souls of men. — J. P. H.] 880 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS PART SECOND. The Practical Theme: The calling of the Roman Christians, on the ground of their accomplished redemption, or the universal meecy of God (whicli will be extended to all), to represent the living worship of God in the completion of the real burnl-offeriag, and to form a universal Christian church-life for the realization of the call of all nations to praise and glorify God, so that they too may recognize and sustain the universal call of the Apostle. In correspondence with this is the recommendation of his companions, assistants, and friends, in sending his greetings to them ; in contrast with which is his warning against Judaizing and jiaganizing false teachers ; chap. xii. 1-xvi. 20. — Conclusion. Salutations of friends. Amen (vers. 21-27). Literature. — Borger, Dissertatio de parte cpistolce ad Romanos parcenetica. Lugd. Bat., 1*810. FIRST DIVISION. THE CALLLN'G OF THE ROMAN CHURCH TO A UNIVERSAL CHRISTIAN DEPORTMENT. Chap. XII. 1-XV. 13. First Section. — TTie practical theme (chap. xii. 1, 2). The proper conduct of Christians ioivard the fellowxhip of the brethren for the establishment of a harmonious church-life (vers. 3-8). Chap. XIL 1-8. 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye [to] * present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable [well-pleasing] unto God, 2 xchlch is your reasonable [lational] service. [,] And be not [And not to be]' conformed to this world : but be ye transformed [but to be transfigured] ' by the renewing of your* mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and accept- able, and perfect will of God \or, what is the will of God, what is good, and well-pleasing, and perfect].^ 3 F'or I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think ; but to think soberly [or, not to be high-minded above what he ought to be minded, but to l>e so minded as to be sober-minded]," according as God hath dealt to every man 4 tlie measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all 5 members have not the same oflice : So we, being many, are one body in Christ, 6 and every one' members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let t(s 2^t'ophesy " according V to the proportion of faith ; Or ministry, let its wait on oitr ministering ; or he 8 tliat teacheth, on teaching ; Or he th.at exhorteth, on exhortation : he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that rrJeth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, witli cheerfulness. ' Vor. 1. — [Thp infinitive should >ic retainod in the English ronderinp, for the saha of convenience In connecting the infinitivo^f, wliich iiro to }»• ncccpted as the coiTcct rondiiifrs in vor. 2. " Ver. '2.— [The II r. (wiUi N. II'. L., rniiiiy versions and fatliero) reads: y Wordswoith and Xrcgellcs. The maJDrity of modern editors and commentators (Lacbmiuni, Xischendoif, ThoIuc]i« CHAPTER Xn. 1-8. 381 De "Wette, Meyer, Alford, Lange) accept the infinitive; so A. B^. D. F. Most of these support o-vvo-xijMaTt'^ecreai, rather than avo-x- Meyer says : "It is quite as likely that the imperative was written, to make ver. i an independeni eenteuce, as tliat the inhnitive was substituted lor the sake of confonnity with ver. 1." Accepting the infinitive, we place ;i comma at the close i>f ver. 1, and emend as ahove. ' Ver. 2. — [Heic the infinitive iJ.eTaiJiop(j>ova-dai. receives the additional support of N. — The E. V. ia mors euphonious than exact in rendering these verbs : cnufnrmed, transformed. Transfgured (Five Ang. Clergymen) is mora accurate, and reproduces, in a meastu-e, the variety in the form of the Greek. ■• ViT. i!. — [After yods, the 7?ec. (\. D^. L.) inserts vixiav. It is omitted in A. B. D'. F. ; rejected by Lachmann^ Tischendurf, Meyer, Allbrd, Tiegelles, Lange ; probably a mechanical repetilion from ver. 1. * Ver. 2. — [Ihis emendation accords with l)r. Lange's exegesis. It is taken fiom Noyes ; the Amer. Bible Union gives a similar rendering. * Ver. 3 — [Ihe bracketted rendering is that of Alford, 'Wordswortb, &o. ; but is, at best, a elunisy attempt to reproduce the play on the words iineptjtpovelv , pov€iv, am^povelv. ' Ver 5.-^[Tlie i eading of the Rec. (6) is very poorly suppcrted, though defended by Philippi on exegetical grounds. K. A. B. D'. F. read to ; which is adopted by Lachmann, Xischcndorf, Meyer, and most. The clause contains a sol&- eisui, and means : ivhat (is true) as ngards iniHviduaU, (they are) viembcrs of one another. 8 Ver. 6. — [The difficulties of construction are discussed fully in the Exeg. Sfotis. The E. V. has so happily filled out the elliptical clauses, and preserved the force of the original, that it is not necessary to make any alterations. The clause : let us wait on our ministering (ver. 7), might perhaps be improved ; yet, on the whole, it presents the correct meaning. — R.] EXEGETICAL AA'D CRITICAL. Summary. — Tlie practical theme controlling the whole of the second part. The proper conduct of Christians, or the calling of (Roman) Christians to the living worship (service) of God,* vers. 1, 2 ; a. The proper conduct toward the fellowship of believ- ing bretliren, the Church (ecclesiastical duties), vers. 3-8 ; h. The proper conduct of Christians in all personal relations, vers. 9-21 ; c. Toward civil au- thorities (duties toward the government), chap. xiii. 1-6 ; d. Toward the world in general. Recogni- tion of the rights of the world, and of legal fellow- ship with it. Separation, on the contrary, from the ungodhness of the world, vers. Y-14 ; e. The proper practice of the living worship of God, and its uni- versalitv in the removing of the differences between the " weak " and the " strong," chap. xiv. 1-xv. 4 ; f. Ex);Grtation to unanimity of all the members of the Church to the praise of God, on the ground of God's grace, tor realizing the destination of all na- tions to glorify God, cLap. xv. 5-13. See also the headings of the sections. Meyer : *' General exhortation to holiness." But this " gen- eral " exhortation is very characteristically defined according to the characteristic, fundamental thought of the whole Epistle, in its essential as well as in its personal reference. According to the essential reference, the Apostle has shown, in the first part, that the corruption of the world consists in its hav- ing fallen from the living worship of God, and that therefore redemption is a restoration of the funda- mental principles of this living worship. The entire holiness of Christians is, accordingly, portrayed as the development of a. living spiritual worship. But in the personal reference, the Apostle shows how the Roman Christian congregation should be devel- oped into a congregation of living worship, in order to be the instrument of its extension to all the world, to serve as a central organ for the Apostle, who has perceived his calling in the extension of this worship mto all the world. 1. 77(6 practical theme (vers. 1, 2). A sum- mons to develop the service restored by redemp- tion. [Comp. here the third part of the Heidelberg Catechism, On Thankfulness to God for Redemp- tion.—?. S.] * [The word Gottesdienst, used here, and frequently throughout this section, means, literally: Service of God; but, technically : public service. Divine service, public wor- ship. Dr. Laiigc seems to combine both meanings, for he implies that all the duties here set forth form not only a ser^'ioe of God, Init the best, truest worship, the real litui-gy of the Ifew Testament Chmch. — R.] Ver. 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren [TJuQay.alM ovv j'/tac, adi).qioi~\. Ac* cording to Meyer and Tholuck, the ovv does not introduce an inference from the whole of the pre« vious didactic part (as Calvin, Bengel, De Wette, Philippi, and others, would have it), but from chap, xi. 35, 36. But it must be observed, that the con« elusion of chap. xi. constitutes the organic apex of the entire doctrinal division ; this is especially true of ver. 32, with which Riickert, and others, would connect this verse, Tholuck fails to perceive the Apostle's practical theme, in saying : " The Apostle was accustomed to make some exhortations follow the chief, and therefore the didactic, contents." By the mercies of God [fVia tmv otxrt^)- ftmv rov ©for] (chap. xv. 30 ; 1 Cor. i. 10 ; 2 Cor. X. 1). The objective ground of Divine mercy in their experience of salvation, is made the sub- jective ground of his admonition. He refers to the experience of Divine mercy, its consequence, and its light and right, as if he said, by the name of Divine mercy. The only difference is, that, in the asseveration did, by, the speaker allows the subject of his asseveration itself to speak as motive and motor. The plural oiy.r i,() n o i corresponds to the Hebrew CTariT ; but the Apostle has also in- stituted, in the foregoing, a threefold gradation of the Divine demonstration of grace. To present, naQaarTjaav. The expres- sion, which was used of placing the sacrificial beast before the altar, conveys the thought of the com- plete resignation and readiness which, on the one hand, does not in the least hesitate, but, on the other, makes no intrusion by an arbitrary slaying of the offering. Yotir bodies [ra ao')fiara v/twv']. The holding of the body in readiness for an offering well- pleasing to God, is the expression for the highest measure of the renunciation of every thing earthly and temporal. Explanations : 1. Figurative designation of personality itself, according to the figure of the offering (Beza, De "Wette, and Philippi [Stuart, Hodge] ). 2. The bodies in the real sense, as the holiness of the vovi; is added in the second verse (Fritzsche, Meyer). 3. The sensuous nature of man, which leads him to sin (Kcillner, and others). Against (1.) : The Apostle speaks, according to the apostolic standard, to believers, who, according to chap, vi., have a' ready given their personal life to death. But the body is the organ and symbol of all the individual parts, which must be offered in consequence of this principial offering. Against 382 TITE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROWANS. (2.), Cocceius : Non pnasumnx offcrre eorpn.t sine anima. The real service performed in making the offering is, indeed, finished with the shedding of blood, or with the resign.-ition of the body. But the heart, or the life of the spirit, is given to God as an expression that the body is offered. Against (3.) Whatever is sinful is not fit, as such, for an offering. — The boily is the organ and symbol of the present life in all its relations and parts. Comp. chap. vi. 12, 13, where the question imder consider- ation is the active consecration of all the members of the body.* Sacrifice. Oi). The hiyixov denoti's that which is inspireil by rea- son, in harmony with real reason, and conseipiently • [So Tholuik. While it must be mlnilttod that wo aro 6id<)pn to pri'M'iU our entire selves, tlit elioicc of the word "bodies" M probably "nn indiention that the Banctiflr.itloii of Cbritti.in life is to extend to that n:irt of man's niiture whieh m most eomplctely under the oondnKn of sln"(.\l- for'l). This vii'w ii« n 't open to the oi'Jiction iirircd .mIiovo by Dr. I^ange, and iccords with Paul's use of ifi] also the beauti- ful form, forma; comp. formosus. Thus fin^qi] more fitly designates the real inward form, while (T/7jita denotes rather the external and accidental appearance." Comp. Phil. ii. 6-8. See also Tho- luek, p. C52. Meyer holds [as the E. V. assumes], that the antithesis of both verbs is comprised only in the prepositions ; these, indeed, increase it. The (Tvv denotes the torpidity of the external form of the Church by uniformity with tlie world, worldli- ness ; the /nfrd denotes the organic change and transformation of the organic shape, according to the new inward form. Meyer: "The present infini- tives denote a continued action, while na()atrT',(Tcu represents the presenting of the offering as a com- pleted act." To this world [tm aloivi. toi'tw]. cbiS ri:Tri. The pre-messianic and relatively anti-messi- anic form of the world in its perverted course. [Comp. Lange's Comm., Gal. i. 4, p. 13. — R.] But to be transfigured [a).), a. ft it a ft oq' (foT'fF ihai.. The difference in preposition and verb is better preserved by transfigured, which also eon veys the distinctions suggested above. See Five An- glican Clergymen. — R.j The ft i ran. is reflexive, as (Trvcr/. By the renewring of your mind ; chap. vii. 24 ; Eph. iv. 23. The xrtn'dr*;t; nvn'iinroi; (Rom. vii. 6 ; comp. chap. vi. 4), as an impelling principle, results in the nvay.aivman; of the vowq; for the roTi;, the conscious, thoughtful, or reflective moral and religions spiritual life (disposition) is con- stantly renewel, in ))art n^stored, and in part devel- oped, ill its mastery over the natural part of life. The transformation and .shaping of the life of the Christian are determined not by external worldly forms, l)Ut by this inward renewing, or renewing as- cending to the whole of the external life ((ira- xrtirfi)(T(.i.) through the ]iroductive power of the Spirit. The vo's, as such, does not then receive the new iin(iiiij (Tholuek), but rather the whole Christian life from the ror? outward. f ♦ (So TTodRe, Stuart, ntid most. R'ltinnnJ is prefernble to rmsnxnblf, tieciufe the hitter eonveys nrdinnrily the idea of Komelhlnp; fur whieh n kiwA ren.son ean t>e piven, r.ither than tho exact iile:i of Koyixny, nilinnul, vfrvlin/li/j. — K.) t r'l'hi) mi/ii' i« rcnoweil in the nemiess of the Spirit, and irom within tho tninifuimintc impulse procccas to CHAPTER XII. 1-8. 383 That ye may prove. Literally : etc; to rfoxt/( at^fn'. [Infinitive clause of design (Mey- er). — R. ] The Christian life should not receive its deTclopment by means of an external legislation, but by the inward one, which is directed by spiritual proving and self-determination (see Gal. vi. 4 ; Eph. V. 10 ; Piiil. i. 10, and other passages). Meyer ap- propriately says : " In the unrenewed man this prov- ing is altogether foreign to the activity of his con science. Comp. Eph. v. 10." But with this there is also connected the being able to prove (Riickert, Kollner [Hodge, apparently] ), although the actual proving is conjoined with it. Meyer : " The regen- erate one proves by the verdict of his conscience, aroused and illuminated by the Spirit." The voiwi; of the Spirit, the Christian principle of life, is an infinitude, whose explanation and concrete applica- tion to life is committed to the proving of Christian illumination and wisdom.* The wiU of God [to d-eXrjfia, rov Ofov]. That which is willed by God in every relation of life. The reference of the definitions TO ayaOov, xal ivaQicrrov xal r iXitov , as adjectives, to God's will (Vulgate, Chrysostom, the most of the early expositors, Luther, Riickert, &c.), is opposed, first of all, by the tvd^fdrov, but, in general, by the tautology that would be con- tained in the expression. Therefore Entsmus, Cas- talio, Tholuck, Mi-yer, and the most of the early commentators, have regarded the additions as a sub- stantive apposition. What is good, &c. We may ask whether a climax of three members is designed [Meyer], or whether we should render explicit that double re- lation of the good, by which, on the one hand, it is that which is well-pleasing to God, and, on the oth- er, that which is perfect in itself, because it arises frora the righteousness of faith, the principle of perfection. We prefer the latter rendering. The repetition of the article would, of course, not be necessary with the first interpretation. -j- 2. T/ie proper conduct of Christians toward the community of brethren for the establishment of a harmonious church-life (vens. 3-8). Tholuck is cor- rect in finding, in what follows, a reference to the different spheres of activity in the Church. Meyer speaks only of an exhortation to individual duties.^ "V'er. 3. For I say (say definitely). The ycnq is rendered namely^ by Tholuck and Meyer. [Al- ford also takes it as resumptive.] First of all, namely appears as inapprofiriate as for. If it is the matter of the self-proving and self-determination of believers, how they should act toward each other, how can the Apostle lay down his precepts imme- diately afterward ? The answer lies in the fact, that their subjective judgment should be subordinated to the known objective will of God. This requirement, that thev should be certain as to whether their con- transfigure the whole life. This seems to be Dr. Langc's meaning. — R.l * [Thfi verb occurring here is rendered decern (Amer. Bible Union). apprnvi> (Erasmus, and others) ; but prove, test by actual experience, is to be prefciTcd (so Meyer, De "Wette, Allbrd, and others). "Wordsworth : assay the value of.— E.l t [The non-repetition of th« article, which is urged against the " substantive apposition," is readily explained. It shows that all three refer to one thing. See Winer, p. 120.— E.] t [So Alford. Meyer subdivides these verses thus : vers. 3-5, exhortation to humility in general ; vers. 6-8, With special rtference to official charisms. — K.] duct corresponds to God's perfect will, is so great, that it causes the Apostle to lay down regulations for it. Therefore we may also translate the yuQ by for. The ^.tynv is used in the sense of injunction. Through the grace, &c. [^ta rtji; xci()i' TO?, X.T.A.] Even here d\d. He will not pre- scribe for them by virtue of his subjective opinion or authority, but by virtue of the grace which ia given to him (see chap. i. 5), which establishes his office, and is at the same time the element of lil> common to his office and their church-life (see chap XV. 15 ; 1 Cor. iii. 10 ; Eph. iii. 7, 8). To every man that is among you [navri ro) ovro ev vfiv. Alford: " A strong bringing out of the individual application of the pi-ecept."— R.] This would therefore have applied to Peter also, if he had been in Rome, or Paul would not have spoken thus, or, indeed, would not have writ- ten to them at all. Not to think of himself [^^ vrtfpcpQO' vfZv. See the text, and Textual Note *, — R.] Tholuck : (( i-u fv^. The exdaro) is dependent on t/itQ(.af: According as God hath dealt to every man, &c., is therefore made antecedent by inversion (see 1 Cor. iii. 5). — The idea of a different distribution of the measure of faith leads to the idea of the gift (ver. 6). No one should apply more than the gift of grace, for what lies beyond this is presumption ; but the whole of the gift of grace should be applied, for if this be not done, something would be withheld from the society which is designed for it. Comp. 1 Cor. xii. 4-6, 11 ; Heb. ii. 4. The measure of faith [fi ir^ov Trlatf (» ? ]. When Meyer maintains that faith here means only faith in the ordinary sense, he overlooks the fact that the measure of faith is spoken of in concrete unity ; or rather, he interprets this measure errone- ously, by understanding only different degrees of the strength of faith, and, accordingly, he not only rejects the reference of the expression to Chris- tian knowledge (Bcza, and others), or to the power of working miracles (Theophylact), but also to the gift of grace (Chrysostom, and most other commen- tators). The purely Divine element. in the gift is undoubtedly emphasized here, for what is not of faith is sin. [Alford explains the phrase : " The receptivity of /afjlrr/iaTa, itself no inherent con- gruity. It is, in fact, the subjective designation of ' the grace that is given unto us ; ' ver. 6." He rightly distinguishes it from the gifts and graces themselves. So Philippi in substance. The objee- five sense of " faith," which is implied in the view of Beza, is open to decided objection. — R.] Ver. 4. For as vre have many members iq one body [^xccSdniQ ynQ iv ivl aoj/nai 384 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMAXS. nolka fiilri t/o/tfv]. EstablMimeiit of the foregoing. The individual Christian is only a mem- ber of Christ's bodv, and should conduct himself a.s a member, avow himself as a member, and should permit himself to be strengthened as a member ; Christ alone is tlie Head.* " On the commonness of the paralkls Ijetween a human body and a corpus nociak (1 Cur. xii.), even among the ancients, see Grotius and Wetstein in loco ; " Meyer. Ver. 5. So we, being many. In antithesis to the unity of the body. In Christ. The head is the organic vital cen- tre ol the wliole, in which (not to which) every thing in respect to dominion and glory is comprised (Eph. i. 22, and other jjassages). And every one. To de xaO' dq is a solecism of the later Greek, instead of to di y.aO' iva; Mai-k xiv. 19; John viii. 9, and other pas- Eages. Ver. 6, Having then gifts differing accord- ing to the grace ['iyovzn; di ya()ia ftara Kara r ij v /d(jtv t tj v d o ()■ f la av tifilv dKxqo(ja]. DiU'erent constructions here enter into consideration. 1. With 'i/ovTfi; a new sentence begins, which continues in a succession of elliptical exhortations (Beza, Olshausen, Philippi, and others). Meyer : " The elliptical expression after AaTct t//v aval. r. nlrrr. may be supplied by 7T(Joift;Tn''(,ififv; by w/nr after Iv rfi <)it,a/.ovia. ; by t'drw after (v ttj dufafr- y.ai.'ta. \ by the same after iv rij na^ay.).i](Tfi. ; and, finally, by the imperatives of the corresponding verbs (//fTrtJuidro, &c.) after the three following parts, iv a/T/MTr^Ti., &c. [So E. V., Hodge, &c.J Comp. the analogous mode of eipressiou in 1 Peter iv. 10 f. 2. The t/ovr fq is connected with the fore- going, but in such a way that the following clauses arc, according to Meyer, all ellipses (Erasmus, and others). Meyer also places Tholuek here, but Tho- luck declares now for (1.). 3. The t/uvrti; dk is joined with eV/ar (ver. 5), in appositional meaning, and the follow- ing clauses are, at the outset, not hortatory, but descriptive, yet pass over into tiie hortatory (Keiche, Iliickert, I)e Wette, Lachmann). We accept this construction with the modification, that we construe the t/fiv emphatically in the meaning of to have and to hold fast, to pxt inio practice, to exercise. Comp. Rom. i. 28. With the gifts, as with every thing spiritual, we must bear especially in mind that they cannot be possessed aright without exercising them. Tlius the hortatory character under the dc- ecriptive form lies in the force of the t/nv, and in the added i)i. [This i)e is rendered by Alford : " and not only so, but." — R.] As for the apparent fluctuations in the construc- tion, they resolve themselves into regular forms, if we observe the subdivisions. f The Apostle distin- guishes, first of all, two principal categories : a. • [Alford: "yip, elucidating the fact that Ood nppor- tioTis variously to various persons : because the Christian cominrmity !■) liko n bn'ly, with many members, having TiirioUH duties.'' — H.] f [Tholuek : "The first two accusatives are (irammati- willy Ui'penfk'nt on ix°^*f '• 'T deurrot'S the Apostle loses nifrlit of this conftni'tKin, anl continue" witli the concrete iiibatrKiov, which he htill l)iii"l» on to tlie ffircgoiuft with •iT( ; l>ut, at 6 ^(TaJiiovv, omits this also, and, at ver. 9, introduces the alistr.ict ij aydrni" This view or that of I>r. Lange will be j rcfcned, ns one does or does not seek dcftnituiiesa of urrangcuebt in the verscti,— ll.j TZQoqTjxiia ; h. diaxovla. The ^^cexoria is then divided into the di.i)diTx(t)v and the na(jctxuy.i^>v ; this latter is again divided into the /(fT«()n)o)'s, the 7Ti)oi(iTuun-oq, and the i/.iun: This is proved bj the forms : 1, The antithesis of the abstract nouns, 7T()oq?] Tf la and (Kaxo )•«'«. The latter, in its broader mean ing, .was evidently a church office; while, on the other hand, the 7T(Joq rjttia was, in the fullest sense., also an oHice. 2. nri 6 iii.dda>'.i>)v, tirt o naQaxahZv. This naiinxa/.i^n' must, at all events, be regarded as a superintendent of the society, presijyter, or man hav- ing the gifts of the presbyter, whether, as 6 /c rcfoired to official positionn. Jlcycr, Alford, and othcio, refer the lawt three (in ver. 8) to ]ierson8 endowed with certain eharisins, without any ppceinl official position. The reason for this change in application is found in the oniip.>iion of fir*, the difficulty of referriiJir these to official pei-sons and functions, the chauBO in the admonitions, which do not defliie the ephore, as before, hut the mode. Besides, as the Apostle (ver. 4) lias been speaking of "all members,'" ho would naturally allude to others tlian official persona. See further in the notes on the sep irate clauses.— U.J t ("I'ropheey" undoubtedly inelude« more than the prcdietiim of future events, yet the tendency hna betin to identify the New TeBtainent projihet with "the preacher. l)r. Ilodi:e remarks : " The (filt of which Paul here sjieaks, is . . . that of immediate oc.-a.sionol Inspiration, lenlinj? thi reci]>ient to deliver, as the mouth of Uoil, the partieular commuiiieati»(i which lie had received." This view, which is undoubtedly correct, removes this oflice out of the dis- cussions respietliiK Church poliiv and office." at the present day. It belongs to the extraordinary gifts of ibc apostolia age.— U.] CHAPTER XII. 1-8. 385 Jews crucified Christ by a false application of this rule ; but it is equally well known that the New Testament proofs of faith from the Old Testament, which first introduced Christianity into the Jewish world, have only been a living application of this rule. At all events, Paul could not yet appeal to ecclesiastical confessions, but he could appeal to a fundamental canon of truth ; see Gal. i. 8 ; vi. 16 ; Phil. iii. 16 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16, &c. However, Tho- luck has other grounds for preferring the explana- tion, that the prophet keeps within the sphere of his calling ; namely, because the deacon should remain within the sphere of his diaconate, &c. But is the sphere of the prophet described by the measure of his subjective faith, or would not this be heie rather a nugatory generality ? * The sphere of the prophet, who reveals what is new for the enlargement of the old revelation, is just the real character of the reve- lation itself, harmonizing with itself through all the stages of development. Yet the Apostle does not say anoxah'n^'foiq, but nianox;, because the faith of the Church is also called to the oflBce of watch- man, in order that the development of the truth be not corrupted by false prophets. The application of this rule to the exposition of the Scriptures in the early period (see Tlioluck, p. 664) is not explica- tio, but applicatio ; but it cannot be denied that this applicatio itself is made xara t^v kvalo- yiav T ^ <; n iar lox;. Ver. 7. Or ministry [ * J't ? Siaxoviav, das Dienstamt (Lange). Governed by s/orrft,-, like tlie preceding accusative]. A threefold idea of the dva- y.orla can be distinguished in the New Testament. 1. The most compreliensive idea understands by d'Mxorla the ecclesiastical office in general ; see 1 Cor. xii. 5. There, prophecy is designated as a diaconate ; here, it is distinguished from it. 2. Therefore, tlie special ofBce for a definite congrega- tion. So here. [Dr. Lange apparently includes liere all the permanent offices in a single church, as he makes (haxovia a category, under which the five following terms fall. If, however, it be considered as coordinate with what follows, then the still more restricted view must be adopted. — R.] 3. The dia- conate, in distinction from the presbyterial episco- pacy, 1 Tim. iii. 8. At the time when this Epistle was written, the ecclesiastical distinctions were less developed than when the First Epistle to Timothy was written, but yet more so than in the First Epis- tle to the Corinthians. Let U8 wait on our ministering [Iv rfj Siaxovitx. We must supply an imperative, either kt tt.t be in, remain in, or wait on (as E. V.). The sense is the same. — R.] Meyer thus explains the tv: The one who was " diaconaliy endowed " shall not wish to be of authority beyond the sphere as- signed him by this endowment, but to be active * [Alford (with most modem commentators) defends the 6u>)]ective view of "faith," from the context, " which aims at showing that the measure of faith, itself the gift of God, is the receptive faculty for all spiritual gifts, which are therefore not to be boasted of, nor pushed beyond their provinces, but humbly exercised within their own limits." Besides, there is very little warrant for the objective sense of TTiVrts ; it was unknown to the early Greek fathers (Meyer), and cannot be established as a New Testament t/sHS ; comp. Lange's Comni. Gal. i. 23, p. 27; Lightfoot, GcCatians, pp. 152 if. It would seem, then, that the techni- cal, theological phrase : anahigy nf faith, has a meaning not stnctiy in accordance with Paul's use of the phrase. Cer- tainly the application is quite different— here, to the extia- ordinary gift of I'rophecy ; theologically, to a rcgula fidei. Dr. Lange seems to take middle ground.— K.] 25 within it. But it is not necessary to understand th« ilrat, iv quantitatively ; it can also be understood qualitatively. And since all the apostolic functions of the Church were diaconal, qualitative ministering is undoubtedly the meaning. The proof of the true office is, that it consists simply in service ; just as, inversely, pure divine service becomes the true office, even if it had no human official seal. "With the positive filling of his sphere, it is always sup- posed that he does not commit improprieties beyond his sphere. Or he that teacheth, on teaching [ f tr f 6 St,;lit. he easily connected with all exercise of benoticence.f He that rulelh, n()o'iaTci u fvoc;. Accord- ing to McycT, the presbyter, but not the presbyter exclusivoly. See 1 Cor. xii. 28. The order there laid down by the apostles is as follows : 1. Proph- ets ; 2. Teacliers ; 3. Miraculous powers ; then healing of the sick, tlien bestowals of help, then xrfji-ityr,fin,t:, and finally yivt] y/joaat'tv. Therefore the bestowals of help would tlius fall under the rubric of the present 7iaficty.a/.i7n\ and especially of the iifTUihiioi's- Undoubtedly the xrf]f()vtj(Tn.i; there stands in the same line with the 7i(Jo'ia tu/< fvoi; here. The ones concerned as having care of the external affairs of the Church, had, at the begituiing, no great tilings to manage. We then find the paral- lel of the t/.K7)v in the gift of specific miracles : the healing of those possessed with devils, and the res- toration of the sick.| With diligence. ^7Tot'(^ may mean ficute, Z€a\ or dilif/eiice. But the latter idea is most defi- nite ; zeal was a connnon duty of all. With cheerfulness [tv ^/.a^6T»/T^, i. e., hilarity]. " With gladness and friendliness," says Meyer, " the opposite of unwilling and ill-humored behavior." But the question here is not a conven- tional good conduct, but that cheerfulness from heaven which, in a despondent world, among other duties, must conquer and banish the demons of sad- ness. DOCTRINAL AST) ETHICAL. 1. On chap. xii. 1 ff. As man's ideal destination was to perceive God aright in His works, and to praise and glorify Him, and, accordingly, the fall consisted in the omission of tliis living worship, ac- cording to Rom. i. 20, 21 ; then, as human corrup- tion consisted fundamentally in the false worship of heathen idolatry and of Jewish zeal for the letter, according to chaps, i. and ii. ; as, further, redemp- * [Afoyor ffiiards af;ainst this position, liy making tho pift a ifi'noral one, not oxfJiisivcly that of prosbvtcr or eirio-iciuTrot. HorlRe and Philippi, however, refer the first a:;d third to Cliristiana pcncrally, and the I'eoond to the ecclcsiM-tic il rulers. The 1 itterdefimds svich a promiscuous arranijenient us w.irrantoil by the Aiiostlc's purpose. It may lie observed, that SiaSovi would better express otReial bencfieenoo, while (xeraSous, it is claimed by many, refers to private pivinp of one's own subBtance. — U.] T (Tliolunk and Alford render : w/k fihemJily ; but this BCemstobe but poorly supported. Dr. llodpe retains the oommoii moanlnpr in tlie case of the deacons, and adds : "Considered in refer'm'e to private Christians, this clause may bo rendered, he lliai tjive'h, with lihi'i'iili'i/." llul this is on'y an iiferoncc. The Apostle says: with simplicih/, wbich is 113 dillicult in the case of private as of official boneiieonne.— U.] t (It is evident how difficult it is to deduce from the hints pTiven in these Epistles, written to different Cliurehes lit different times, any consistent theory of Church (rovern- mct\t during the apostolic as;e. In regard to this particular word, most commentators refer it to "the rulers" — i. c, the nilin;( elders; but the prroat ohjoction is, that bo im- Eortiint a 1 office would scarcely be put in the p;a/dr) in so far as it is well-pleasing to Him ; and it is perfect if presented to the extent of our capacity (ver. 2). Gerlach : The Apostle compares the worship of Christians in spirit and in truth (John iv. 24), which he accordingly calls reasonable (comp. 1 Peter ii. 2), with the typical and figurative sacrificial worship of the Old Testament (vers. 1, 2). Heubner: The love and mercy of God should be the incentive and source of the Christian sense. This constitutes the characteristic difference between Christian piety and every other kind : it flows from faith and the experience of Divine love in Christ. — The mutual devotedness of God and pious people.-— The holiness of the first commandment. — Christian faith is the foundation of Christian piety (ver. 1).— Mastery over the fiishion of the world : love for God, and the wish to have only His grace, conquers. — Proper and improper accommodation to circum- stances. — Christian life must be something in motion, otherwise it will stink. Accipiunt vitium, ni mo- veantur, aquce. Besser : A Christian man presents his body as 388 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. a daily offering, wlien he, 1. Crucifies tliat which im- pedes tlie spirit willing for God's service ; 2. \Vlicn he oilers all the powers of liis body and soul for God's iionor and his neighbor's good (vcr. 1). — Our service is reaxonable (" logical ") when it consists in Christian self-sacrifice, because this service is worthy of God, and well-pleasing to Him ; just as the pure milk of the gospel (1 Peter ii. 2) is called reason- able (sincere) because it is the proper nourishment for God's cliildren. — Paul Spekatus preached at Vienna, from this apostolical text, his powerful Reformation sermon on " The Glory of the reason- able Gospel Worship, and the Punishment of the unreasonable Popish Worship" (vcr. 1). — We should flee from conforinitii to the world (vcr. 2). Vers. 3-8. Humility as the fundamental law of reasonable service in the Church. 1. It should show itself in no one's thinking too higldy of himself, but in every one's thinking soberly of himself. 2. It should be manifested by patient consecration of gifts to the service of the Clnirch (vers. 3-8). — True Christian humility : 1. Its nature ; 2. Its source (ver. 3). — The figure of the body and the members ; comp. 1 Cor. xii. (vers. 4, 5). — Healthy church-life. To this belong two things : 1. Unity in Christ ; 2. Diversity of gifts (vers. 4-8). — Proof of the neces- sary connection of unity and diversity in the Church. 1. Unity witliout diversity is death ; 2. Diversity witiiout unity is disorder (vers. 4-8). — The gift of prophecy. 1. In what does it consist ? 2. Wliat purpose should it serve ? Comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 3 (ver. 7). — Has any one an office, let him wait on his office. This is said, first of all, of the special care of the poor {i)t,a/.ovia) ; but then it applies to every office (ver. 7). — What belongs to waiting on our teaching? 1. Tlie appropriation of the material for teaching. 2. Observation of tlie proper mode of teaching S method). 3. The consecration of our own persons ver. 7). — We should give with simplicity — that is : 1. From an unselfish heart ; 2. Witii a single eye (Matt. vi. 22); 3. With a pure hand (ver. 8).— Proper care in government. 1. It jirotccts order ; 2. It regards freedom (vcr. 8). — Christian mercy. 1. Its nature ; 2. Its exercise (v'cr. 8). LuTiiEK : However precious be all prophecy which leads to works, and not simply to Christ, as our comfort, it is nevertheless not like faith ; .since those who practise it seek the revelation of hob- goblins, and masses, pilgrimages, fasts, and the wor- ship of saints (ver. 7). — Let those be taught who do not know it, and those be admonished who know it already (vers 7, 8). Starke : Man — a little world ; such a glorious, artistic masterpiece of the Almighty Creator, that it cannot l>e too much contemplated and wondered at (ver. 4). — If you are appointed to the office of preacher, take your hand from the oxen, from the plough, and from your worldly business ! Every one to the work to which God has assigned him ! Sirach xxxviii. 25 (ver. 8). — Cramer : Let no one think that he knows, and can do, every thing alone. If that had been designed, God would only have created one member to the body ; Prov. xxii. 2 (vcr. 4). — The proper touchstone of all exposition of tlie Holy Scri[)turi's, is tlie constant and impreg- nable harmony of the writings of the prophets and apostles; Acts xxvi. 22 (ver. 7). — Hedinoer : Xot out of the nest ! How will you ffy without feathers, judge without understanding, l)oast without a rea- son, be called pious without proof, be skilful with- out God ? God does every thing, and you noth- ing. Therefore glorify Him, but not yourself. Be still and humble (ver. 3). — Listen ! You arc your neighbor's servant. Happy he, who, as the servant of Ills neighl)or, lives in love (ver. 4). — Many rules, little work. What may it be ? Great cry, little wool, Perforin your office well, and regard yourself as un- worthy of praise and reward (ver. 7). — Miller, Teacliing instructs and lays the foundation, exhor- tation builds upon the foundation (ver, 8). Spkner: God has given one kind of faitli to all — that is, as far as the matter itself is concerned. Therefore Peter says : They who have obtained like (laoTiiiov) precious faith with us (2 Peter i. 1). Therefore we must regard ourselves, mutually, as members of one body (ver. 3). — On vcr. 7 : Here belong preaching and catechitical instruction (char- acteristic of Spkxkr). Roos : Every one should act according to the proportion of his faith, and es[)ecially deliver Divine truths — that is, prophesy. That which is beyond them is the work of nature, and is worth nothing (ver. 4). — To the words, " he that teaclicth," and " he that exhorteth," &c., we must mentally add, " because he has received his gift to do it from the Lord." Now he should exercise himself in this em- ployment (vers. 7-0). Gi'.RLAcn : True humilili/ is, to be conscious of what God gives to it ; and it is not a self-acquired posses.Mon, but a free gift, and therefore is most in- timately one with sobriety and clearness of spirit ; while false patience, with an apparently deep self- humiliation, gives man a sullen look at Ids own heart, and in his gloom it increases the dark spirit of selfishness and pride (ver. 3). — The gift of propfi- fcy should not draw the Christian into the sphere of obscure feelings, where he can no longer distinguish the truth revealed by God from the imaginations of his own mind, but should have a guiding star and rule of conduct for common Christian faith (ver. 7). Heubner : God has given us, in tht human body, an elocpicnt picture of human society, and of the inward union of all men. [Comp. the address of Meiienius Agrippa to the people in inonte xacrOy Livy ii. 82] (vers. 4-6). — The sense of ver. 7 is : Let no one manifest or affect more fervency or en- thusiasm than he has, according to the measure of his faith, according to the degree of his stnmgth and religious conviction. How common it is for one to wish to appear more than he is, or can be ! Even religion is brought out for a show, and perverted to a desire to jileaso (ver. 7). — Nothing beyond the Christian's office is required of him ; that is tlie first thing for him. — Christian fidelity to office as the fruit of faith (ver. 7). Besser: It is very important to distinguish the measure of faith, and yet not to separate from the measure of gifts (ver. 3). — To prophesy, means to declare God's mysteries, impelled by tlie Holy Spirit (ver. 7). — The prophecy of an unbelieving preacher and expositor can, indeed, resemble faith ; but wo pray the Lord for prophets whose measure of faith liolds the rule of faith alive within them, who j)rcach, with hearts iielieviiig according to the received mciw sure of faith, the faith which the Church coufcssci (ver. 7). The Pericopes. Vers. 1-6 for the first Run- dny after E/>lphant/. IIecbner : The sacred obliga- tions of the Christian as a member of a holy com- munity. — Every Christian should be a minister. 1, Proof; 2. Blessing. — Christian piety. 1. Its nature; 2. Its effects.— Buddecs : The real fruits of faith. CHAPTER Xn. 1-8. 38S They are shown : 1. In true service, or proper con- duct towiud God ; 2. In proper conduct toward the world ; and, 3. In proper conduct toward ourselves. — Kapff: What is necessary for the offering of a sacrifice well-pleasing to God ? 1. That we should no longer seek salvation in ourselves or in the world ; 2. That we should fully appropriate Christ as the perfect sacrifice ; S. That we should wholly suri'ender ourselves to the perfect will of God. — Sr-iNDT : How far a true Christian must alienate himself from the world. 1. As a sacrifice on the Loi d's altar ; 2. As a work of the Lord's hand ; 3, As a member of the Lord's body. — Buhk : The Christian's life a daily priestly service. 1. In the feeling which pervades him ; 2. In the denial which he exercises ; 3. In the service which he renders. [Bishop Hall, on ver. 2 : Sermon on the fash- ions of the world. Outline: I. The world. II. The foi bidden fashions. 1. The head. 2. The eyes : (1.) The adulterous eye ; (2). The covetous eye ; (3.) The proud eye ; (4.) The envious eye. 3. The forehead — the seat of impudence. 4, The ear : (1.) The deaf ear ; (2.) The itching ear. 5. The tongue : (1.) The false tongue ; (2.) The malicious tongue ; (3.) The ribaldrous tongue. 6. The palate, or bellv. 7. The back. 8. The neck and shoulders. 9. The heart. 10. The hands and feet. III. The ugliness and disgustiveness of worldly fashions in God's sight. [Farindon, on ver. 6 : On the jjroporiion of faith. Plato, when asked what God does in heaven, how He busies and employs himself there, how He passes away eternity, answered : " He works geo- metrically." So is the " proportion of faith," as St. Paul calls it, also geometrical ; where we must not compare sum with sum, as they do in a market, or value the gift more or less by telling it ; but argue thus : " As v;hat fie bestows is in proportion to his estate, so is what I bestow unto mine." And in this sense, the widow's two mites were recorded as a more bountiful and a larger present than if Solomon had thrown the wealtli of his kingdom into the treas- ury. It was the faith, tlierefore, from which their liberality proceeded, which cheered the Apostle in all his distresses ; not the gift itself. [Lkighton, on ver. 1 : On the sacrifice of the godly. The children of God delight in offering sac- rifices to Him ; but if they might not know that they were well taken at their hands, it would dis- courage them much. How often do the godly find it their experience, that, when they come to pray. He welcomes them, and gives them such evidence of His love as they would not exchange for all worldly pleasures ! And when this doth not appear as at other times, they ought to believe it. He ac- cepts themselves and their ways when offered in sin cerity, though never so mean ; though tliey some times have no more than a sigh or a groan, it is most properly a spiritual sacrifice. [Jerkmy Tayluk : Religion teaches us to present to God our bodies as well as our souls ; for God is the Lord of both ; and if the body serves the soul in actions natural, and civil, and intellectual, it must not be eased in the only offices of rehgion, unless the body shall expect no portion of the rewards of religion, such as are resurrection, reunion, and glo- rification. [CiiARKoCK, on ver. 1 : God, who requires of ua a reasonable service, would work upon us by a rea- sonable operation. God therefore works by way of a spiritual illumination of the understanding, in pro pounding the creature's happiness by arguments and reasons, and in a way of a spiritual impression upon the will, moving it sweetly to the embracing that happiness, and the means to it, which He proposes ; and, indeed, without this work preceding, the motion of the will could never be regular. [J, Howe, on ver. 1 : Sermou on self-dedication. I. Explanation of the terms in the text. II. How the act enjoined must be performed. 1. With knowledge and understanding ; 2. With serious con- sideration ; 3. With a determined judgment that it ought to be done ; 4. With liberty of spiiit ; 5. With lull bent of heart and will ; 6. With concomi- tant acceptance of (rod ; 7. With explicit reference to Christ ; 8. With deep humility and self-abase- ment ; 9. With joy and gladness of heart; 10. With candor and simplicity; 11. With full surren- der to God ; 12. With solemnity. III. Induce- ments to self-dedication. [Bishop Hopkins, on ver. 2: On Go:''s vill. This is all contained in the Holy Scriptures, which are a perfect system of precepts given us for the government of our lives here, and for the attaining of eternal life hereafter ; and therefore it is likewise called His revealed will ; whereas the other, namely, the will of purpose, is God's secret will, until it be manifested unto us by the events and effects of it. — To be governed by our own or other men's wills, is usually to be led by passion, and blind, headlong affections ; but to give up ourselves wholly to the will of God, is to be governed by the highest reason in the world ; for His will cannot but be good, since it is the measure and rule of goodness itself; for things are said to be good because God wills them. And whatsoever He requires of us is pure and equi- table, and most agreeable to the dictates of right and illuminated reason ; so that we act most like men when we act most like Christians, and show ourselves most rational when we show ourselvei most religious. — J. F. H.] 390 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Sbcond Section. — Tlie proper conduct of Christians in all their personal relations : to the brethren , in their own life ; to the needy ; to guests ; to every body, even toward entnuez. Chap. XIL 9-21. 9 Let love be without dissimulation [jjour love be unfeigned]. Abhor' that 10 which is evil ; cleave to that which is good. He kindly aifectioned one to another with brotherly love [In brotherly love ' be affectionate one to another, 11 lueraiiy, be as biooi relatives] ; in houour preferring one another ; Not slothful in business [In diligence, not slothful] ; fervent in spirit [in spirit, fervent] ; serv- 12 ing the Lord ["»•, the time] ;^ Rejoicing in hope [in hope, rejoicing] ; patient in tribulation [in tribulation, patient] ; continuing instant in prayer [in piaver, 13 persevering]; Distributing [Communicating] to the necessity [necessities]^ of 14 saints ; gwen to hospitality. Bless them which [these Avho] persecute you : 15 bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do [those who] rejoice, and weep 16 with them that [those who] weep. Be of the same mind one tov>ard another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate [oc, lowly things]."* 17 Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Pro- vide [Have a care for] things honest [honorable] in the sight of all men." 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in [dependeth on] you, live peaceably [be at 19 peace] with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves [Avenge not your- selves, dearly beloved], but rather give place unto wrath [to the wrath, sc, of God] : for it is written,' Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; If he thirst, give him drink : For in [by] so doing Thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of [by] evil, but overcome evil with good. TEXTUAL. • Ver. 9. — [The imperatives of the E. V. are retained, since we accept the hortatory view of the participles. It ia true, the E. V. itself occasionally retains the participinl form (vors. 10, 11, 12, 13), but only in such a way as not to disturb the hortatory meaninir. See the Ex-g. Xnli-s on the construction. ' Ver. 10. — [l"he E. V. has Inverted the Greek order in these brief clauses. The datives stand first, and their equivalents should occupy the same position in English So Five Aner. Cleruj-mcn, Amcr. Bible Union, &c. ' Ver. 11.— [The Rir., with N. A. 15. D"^ ^. L., most fathers, re:id< : Kv'piw ; adDptcd bv bezn, Lachmann, Scholz, Tischendorf, De Wettc, Pbilippi, Alfonl, Trocrelles. Dr. LanKf, however, follow'^ Griesbnch, Mill, Fritzschc, and Meyer, who adopt Kaipif, on the authority of 1)'. F. G., Latin fathers (pd Luttier). Yet Meyer himself acknowlcdtres thattlie other readine is better supported ; he rejects it on account of the criticiil difficulty of accounting: for the vtiriation, were Kvpita genuine, especially as the phnse : serve the Lord, is so common with I'aul. Dr. Lange s.Tys : "Such a general summons to serve the Lord, looks like an interruption in the niiilst of general directions. Trie rc:>ding, a.s Mover observes, is readily explained by the fact that a prejudiced moral feeling would easily stumtilo at the principle : t xatpw Sov\., would surely come in very inopportunely in the midst of exhorta- tions to the zealous nervic of G'"!." iJe Wette, indeed, doubts the proi>riety of the expression, remarkiug th:it Chris- tians may employ rbi' Konpov, but not servo it. On the whole, I feel constrained to differ from Dr. L;\nge, and to retain the reading of the Ric See further in the Ex'g. jYo'es. • Ver. 13. — f^'C, N. A. B. D'. : xptian; ; D'. F. • fiveiait. The former is adopted by all modern editors. The latter was "a corruption introduced, liardly accidentally, in favor of the hunor of mnrhirs by riimiii>'Ov ivuiwiov t. 8tov aWa xai. These additions arc rcjcited by all mo'lcrn editors, as tJikeii from I'rnv. iii. 4, where the LXX. reads: npovooi icoAa ivuiTriov xvpiov koX avBpionutv. — Insfeiid of irafrui' (lire, N. B. D*. L., venrions and fathers). A". D'. F. Sec, have rCiv, which probably aros- from the jirevious insert 'ou. ' Ver. 19.— [From l>cut. xxxii. 35, where the LXX. reads : «V qm«'po i or iari The latter view is favored by the idea of Christian love, not merely " toward others," but in a uni- versal relation; see ver. II, The first construction i*- favored by the hortatory form appearing more strongly towaid the end. Our earlier division was based on the lact that vers. 9 and 10 treat of con- duct toward coiapaiiions in faith within the Church. The Apostle, however, makes use of a long series of participles, as if he would urge not so much a Christian course of conduct, as to set up a typical rule of conduct for believers, according to unfeigned love. [De Wette, Olshausen, and others, supply ear/,, thus making these verses descriptive, not hortatory. They urge that the use of the participle for the im- perative is vei-y rare. That is true ; but in ver. 14 we have the imperative, followed by an infinitive in ver. 15, and then by participles, vers. 16-19 ; all of these latter clauses being of a hortatory character. With most commentators (so E. V.), we prefer to supply t'tTTo) with the first clause of ver. 9, and tart with the following participles, since ver. 8 is of a hortatory character. Meyer, Philippi, Tischen- dorf, Lachmann, larger edition, declare for this ; the editors by their punctuation, which is the same in the main as that of the E. V. Lachmann also favors (smaller edition) joining the participles with the im- perative in ver. 14, and thus obtaining the hortatory force ; this, however, is not only singular, but con- trary to the thought, which will not permit these participles to modify the imperative, bless. Fritzsche takes the participles as corresponding to the personal subjects of " love unfeigned," as 2 Cor. i. 7 ; but this is unnecessary. — R.] Ver. 9. Let your love be unfeigned] ?/ aydnt] dvv n6y.(j i^roi;. We are justified in slrengtliening ^ dydnri into your love, in Eng- lish. But the Apostle means love absolutely, not merely love to the brethren (which is spoken of afterwards), nor love to God. The adjective need not be paraphrased, as in E. V. — R.] See 2 Cor. vi. 6 ; 1 Peter i. 22. Meyer well says : " As love, BO also must faith, its root, be ; " 1 Tim. i. 5 ; 2 Tim. i. 8. Undissembled love is therefore the inscription for the whole series of prescriptions which the Apos- tle lays down in parallelisms of two and of three members. Abhor that which is evil, dnoarx'yovv- Tf?. Strictly, repelling with repugnance. This first gi-and antithesis says, that believers should turn away with utter abhorrence from that which is evil, in order to cleave to the good with inseparable at- tachment, as with bridal affection. This antithesis constitutes the practice of heaven and heavenly life, and its realization is the life of our Lord. Its break- ing off and turnhig away, as well as its connecting ind uniting, constitute the fundamental moral law )f God's kingdom. The second antithesis unites with this. • [In the first edition, vers. 9 and 10 were added to the previous section. The present division has tlie support of the best modern commentators, aud must be deemed a happy alteration.— R,] Yer. 10. In brotherly love, gt/larff/^ta [The dative is that of reference : as respects brother ly love. — R.] Specific brotherly love for fellow. Christians ; 1 Thess. iv. 9 ; Heb. xiii. 1 ; 1 Peter i. 22 ; 2 Peter i. T. — [Be affectionate one to an- other, fi<; a/./fj/oi't;] qn.).6a'T o^i yoi,. Be lov. ers as toward these related in blood. In honour. Tiu/j, esteem. The antithesis hei-e is the equalization in confiding brotherly love, and the subordination of our own personality to our esteem for others. Preferring one another. riQoyjyo v /nvoi,. The explanations : excelling (Chrysostom, and oth- ers), obliging (Theophylact, Luther, and others), and esteeming higher (Theodoret, Grotius; see Tholuck), are intimately connected therewith, [Stuart : " In giving honor, anticipating one another." Meyer : " Going before as guides ; i. e., with conduct incit- ing others to follow." These explanations, however, do not seem to suit xt/i// ; hence Allbrd, and most, prefer the meaning given in the Vulgate : iuvicem preeveniente-!. Hodge : " Instead of waiting for others to honor us, we should be beforehand with them in the manifestation of respect." — R.] Ver. 11. In diligence, not slothful, &c. [ttj y.aii>(7), tempori servire (Cicero), and similar expressions ; see Meyer, p. 463. The expression was usual in the bad sense (of unprincipled accommodation), as in the good (to accommodate one's self to the time). But here it reads : controlling the time by serving the Lord; Eph. v. 16; see Tholuck, pp. 669 ST., who gives the preference to the reading zi^v/w. [Serving the Lord, nji y.viiio) ()ov}.ivov- tft;. On the readings, see Textual Note ^ The adoption of the reading xat^w, whicli is not so well sustained as that of the Bee., has influenced the exe- gesis of Dr. Lange throughout the veise. Philippi urges against xat^fi) its equivocal meaning, aud the fact that Paul always represents the Cliristian as free, a servant only to God, or Christ, or righteous- ness — never of the time. In fact, the injunction seems scarcely to differ from one of worldly wisdom, if that reading be accepted. Eph. v. 16 ; Col. iv. 5, will not justify the expression. Fritzsche in loco admits an interchange of xv^la; and xat^^o'i; in other places. — Dr. Hodge explains : " Influenced in our activity and zeal by a desire to serve Christ. Thia- * [The readinjr adopted hy Dr. Lange in the last clause lends him to this limitation of meaning. "Whili-, as Phi- lippi observes, there is no necessity for limiting the dili- gence to evangelistic efforts, it seems eqnnlly iinonlled for to refer it exclusively to temporal affairs, as is done hy Dr. Lana-e and the E. V. ("business"). Luther is ncit literally exact, but trives the correct sense : S'-irl in'chl lr(ip'\, m •.< ihf ihvn snlJf ; Be not slothful in what you ouglit to do. lliue- it is referred to all Christian duty aa such (Alford).— R.) 303 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. member of the sentence, thus understood, descril)es the motive from whicli zeal and diligenee should proceed." Tiie common interpretation, derived from the E. v., is: not slothful in temiioral all'airs, yet of an earnest religious spirit, because all is done in tlie service of the Lord. If tiie first clause be extend- ed so as to include " whatever our hand finds to do," this is sutliciently correct. The second mem- ber derives its appropriateness from the fact — never more m)ticeable than in these l)ustling days, ^vllen even religious duty partakes somewhat of the spirit of the age — that zeal and diligence may become a habit and passion, a mere activity, lacking the genu- ine fervor of the spirit. The hist term does not, indeed, refer to the Holy Spirit, but, in an exhorta- tion to Christians, may well be taken iis meaning the human spirit under the iutluence of the Holy Spirit. — R.] This is followed by a trichotomy as the prop- er passivity in temporal relations. Ver. 12. In hope, rejoicing [t^ iknldt, yai^ovrii;. Stuart thinks the datives in this verse also are datives of reference : as respects hope, rejoicing, &c. But the regularity has been broken in upon by the jm y.i<(jiio of the preceding verse ; we are therefore warranted in adopting a different view here, especially a.s the datives in this verse seem not to be parallel to each other. The verb ■/aifin.v may indeed govern the dative, but the hope is rather the (/round than the object of rejoic- ing (so Meyer, Alford). De Wette, Philippi : ver- moge der Hoffnung ; Hodge : on account of hope. The ho|)e is objective, and to be taken more gen- erally than Dr. Lange suggests. His view results from reading zat^w above. — R.] The antithesis shows that here the D.rrii;, as formerly the (Tnorthj, must be regarded as prevalently objective. In the time bestowing hope. It is in harmony witli the childlike character of faith to rejoice gratefully over every good token ; but it is also in harmony with manliness to be j)atient in tribulation. Izi tribulation, patient ; in prayer, per- 8evei"ing [ t ■tj i> /. i v f t v n o /i i v o v r k; ' t 7; 7T(> on f I'/ j^ /r (I o<;xa(i T f ooT'%'r n;. Alford: t7j &).i\\'n,, the state in which the vnuiiovt; is founii. Piiilippi, De Wette, Meyer, &c., think iv was omit- ted on account of the parallelism of construction, though the verb governs the dative (more usually the accusative, however). On the second clause, comp. Col. iv. 2 ; Acts i. 14. — K.] The harmoniza- tion of the great conU-a-sts of life lies in the perse- vering life of prayer. Similar harmonizations, see James i. 9, 10: chap. v. 13. Bengel : Oamlbnn non modo est affectuit^ scd itiam. officiiim chrin/iano- rnm. Tholuck and Meyer would regard the hope here quite universally, as the foundation of Chris- tian joy. This is not favored by the antitliesis ttj &}.iil'n,. Meyer iiere reails the dative: stiuiding out again.st tribulation. Hut Paul will not consider tribulation as an adversary. We also prefer bring patient to fjeiiig xtfad/'/.ovrtti.\ But it is in- correct to suppose that the exhortation of ver. 14 interrupts such exhortations as vers. 13 and 15, which relate to the mutual conduct of Christians ; ver. 15 has been too generally regarded as favoring this view. Ver. 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice, &c. [)r(xi(tn,v /I fro. xai.()6vT(i>v , x.t.A. On the infinitive as imperative, see Winer, p. 296. Meyer fills out the sentence thus: /ai(jfLV I'fidq (V-m". — R.] XaiijHv, the infinitive as au imperative, to be supplemented mentally by a corresponding verb ; see Sirach vii. 83, 34. Ver. 14 defines the proper conduct in relation to personal aniipathg ; ver. 15, the proper conduct in relation to personal sympathy. Ver. 16. Be of the same mind one to'ward another [to avto fl(; a//. rAoi'i; (/(fovorv- Tfi,]. The participles in ver. 16 have been vari- ously construed ; now with the preceding impera- tive /nlom; x/.uinv, ver. 16, and now with the following /(/; ylftnOf ; see Philippi. Becau.se of the great dilliculties of such connections, commen- tators prefer to supply tart (Philippi, Meyer).| accepiiWe praver — perseverance and favor — both implying faith in God.— 11.] * [Meyer paraphrases : "havinp fellowship in the neces- sities of the enints ; 1. e., eondiictinp yourselves as though the necessities of your fellow-Chrisfiaiis were your own, and thus seekiiii; to meet thera." Stuart : "in respect to the w.iiits of the saints, be sympalhetie ; " but the dative is hardly a dative nf referei'ce. The intransitive meaiiinf^ of the verb must he insisted upon (Tholuck, Meyer, and most). Even in flal. vi. 6, the transitive nuanin^' must Ije l^ven up. (Comi". Un'Ce's Cnmm. in lorn, p. 150.) — R.) t [Woniswortli tinde a hapjiy play upon the words, Jiw^«« (ver. l.'l), iiuiKovra^ (ver. U). " It would seem as If the .\i>ostle's minil, stnilned by the pressure of the ai-gu- nieut with which il had been laborinp, now prracefully and pliyfully rehixi's itself In Christian cheerfune-s. In hi* conciliatory courtesy, he would ehow his readere what he bad siiid Kevorely eoneeriiinK them in the former ports ol his Kpistle, had been spoken in love. So he now says, in a tone of lively alfection : Even we Christians, whom tho world ;)'r.>crit'.'.«, ouylil to be persrcntorx ; we oufjht to follow with our blesslii(;s and our prayers those who pursue Ui with rancor and disdain."— On the spirit of this injunction, see lldd^e in liico, especially tho extract from Calvin which he (fives.- U.] , I [Wo retain the imperative form of the E. V. It might CHAPTER XII. 9-21. 31)S The attempt at the proper construction would be be-5t favored by returning to ver. 15, and reading this injunction as a fundamental thought, control- ling what follows, clothed in figurative expression and made explicit by the beginning of ver. 16. On this wise : First trichotomy : Rejoice with them that do re- joice, and weep with them that weep : bci7iff of the same mind one toward another. Second irichotoini/ : Mind not high things, but condescend to the lowly. Addition : Bo not wise in your own conceits (in seclusion). Third trichotonni : Recompense to no man evil for evil ; provide things honest in the sight of all men ; if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Fourth trichotomy : Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath ; for it is wi'itten, &c. All this follows from the conduct of Christians toward each other. But then the whole glory of this reciprocal feeling is elaborated in the Christian love of enemies, which conquers evil by good ; vers. 20, 21. The same. To air 6 ; see chap. xv. 5; Phil, ii. 2 ; iv. 2 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 7. They should adhere to the same, what is equal, what is common, in their intercourse with each other, or in the intercourse of one toward others ; reminder of the Golden Rule. According to Phil. ii. 4, to ki'to nfjovtlv proceeds from the to tv (f(jovtiv. Adherence to one results in adhering to the same ; then, this results in unity, which, however, is only a special fruit of that gen- eral conduct. Likewise Tholuck. [Dr. Hodge thinks concord of feeling is the prominent thought.] Chry- sostom's view is different : not to regard one's self better than others, and similarly. Mind not high things [ ,« ^ t « r y^'v^la, (f>^ovovvtf'i\ Not merely " high-aspiring selfish- ness," but also self-complacent fancies; for example, Novatian, puritanic, aristocratic, or humanistic fan- cies injure, or even tear asunder, the bond of com- munion, of Christian fellowship with the Church, and of humane fellowship with the world. But condescend to men of lov7 estate. Tol'i TaTTfij-oTc. Construed as masculine by Chrysostom, Erasmus, Luther [Alford, Wordsworth], and others. (Various definitions : Christians should count themselves among the lowly ; should suffer with the oppressed ; should remain in fellowship with the lowly, with publicans and sinners.) But Fritzsche, Reiche, De Wette [Stuart], and many oth- ers, have declared in favor of the neuter. Meyer : Subjecting yourselves to the lower situations and occupations of life. The antithesis ta {xftj/.d is urged. But the antithesis is modified by the change of the verb into awanayoftfvoi'. The latter verb denotes, to be carried off, to be taken along with, or, to allow one's self to be carried off, to be misled, to be tal-en alone/ with (see Tholuck, p. 673). This may apply as a duty toward the bretliren in low estate, who, in opposition to high things, repre- eent the real essence of humanity in tlie form of a servant ; but it cannot apply to trivial and low things. We should take small things into consider- ation in the light of duties, but not to permit our- selves to be carried oft" by them. But of small men, who are great in God's eyes, it is said with pro- priety : that we should devote ourselTes to them perh.nps he chnncred to the participial, as is done in the re\ision by Five Ans. Clergymen ; but this would render a jhango in punctuation necessary. — E.] through suff'ering to glory. Imprisoned and himg with the lowly, but not with the bad 1 The neuter construction is thus explained b) Calvin, and others : hurnilibiis rebus obsecundantei (about : to be true in small things) ; while Grotius, and others, thus explain the masculine construction : modestissimorum t.rcmpla sectnntes. [On the whole, the masculine is preferable ; for in no other case in the New Testament is the adjec- tive Ta,Tfn'6t; used of things. Nor does the Apos- tle's antithesis require the neuter meaning. Alford : " In TO. {'ii'tj/.a qfJoroTi'Tfq, the Iti'tj/.u are necessa- rily Subjective — the lofty thoughts of the man. But in toTl; Tanfivolq avvan. the adjective is necessa- rily objective — some outward objects, with which the persons exhorted are avvandytaOcu. And those outward objects are defined, if I mistake not, by the nq ci/./.i^).oi\:." Dr. Hodge, and many others, do not decide between the two views. — R.] Be not wise, &c. iMi] yivftrSf, x.t./. See chap. xi. 25. But there the conceit of one's own wisdom constitutes an antithesis to God's revelation, while here it constitutes an antithesis to the fellow- ship of men (not merely of Christians in a good sense). Ver. 17. Recompense to no man evil for evil [/tij^fvi y.ay.'ov uvri y.ct/.ov unQf)i,- ()6)'Tft,'. Alford: "The Apostle now proceeds to exhort respecting conduct to those tvifhout." There is, however, no warrant for this limitation in the lan- guage, and certainly the temptation to render evil for evil to Christians is frequent enough. — R.] Meyer : " The principle itself, and how it stood op- posed to heathendom and pharisaism ! " [Have a care for things honourable, 7T(io- V o V ft f V o I, y. a ). « . Lange : S)v dv &()U)7cii)v. 'iee Textual Note ^.'\ Meyer: Before the eyes of all men. We regard the term as an expression of the relation to the most diverse men. However, the other construction also makes good sense ; for Christians could often expose indi- viduals to danger, by giving them cause for offence ; Prov. iii. 4 ; 2 Cor. viii. 21. Ver. 18. If it be pos!3ible, &c. El divaTov is referred by Erasmus, Bengel, and others, to what precedes [but this is objectionable]. The clause : as much as dependeth on you, explains the fi dv- varov. It maybe outwardly impossible to us to live at peace with every body ; but inwardly we should be peaceably disposed, prepared for peice, toward every body. [The ti (irrreToi' is objective (Tholuck, De Wette, Meyer, Alford), not, " if you can," but, if it be possible, if others will allow it. "All YOVR part is to be peace : whether you actually live peaceably or not, will depend, then, solely on liow others behave toward you" (Alford). That this is often impossible, the Apostle's life plainly shows. — R.] Ver. 19. Avenge not yourselves, dearly- beloved. The additional a j'« tt // t o «' , loving pressure. [The address becomes more aft'ectionate 3tf4 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. as the duty becomes more difficult (so Tholuck). -RJ Give place unto the wrath [<)ot* ronov TTJ ocj'ij]. ilake way for Divine wratii ; do not aiiticiijiite it ; do not get in its way ; let it rule. Tliis is the explanation of most connnentatore, from Chrysostom and Augustine down to Tholuck, De VVeue, Meyer, and Philippi. [So Hodge.] — Second explanation : Let not your own wrath break forth (Du Dieu, Sender [Stuart], a-.d others). Meyer, on the contrary : The Latin u.sage of utm inc sputiuin dare liarmonizes very well witli this, but tlie Greek uftige of Tonuv didovat docs not. [Jowett says this explanation " is equally indefensible on grounds of language and sense. It is only as a translation of a Latinisni we can suppose tlie phrase to have any meaning at all ; and the meaning tlms obtained, ' defer your wrath,' is out of place." See his re- marks in defence of the next explanation. — R.] — Third explanation : To tiiue place to the wrath of your cnemi/ (SchiJttgen, Morus, and others). Mey- er : This would be only a prudential measure.* The first explanation is raised above all doubt by the addition : Vcn(/ianre is mine.\ For it is written, Dcut. xxxii. 35. — Addition : Xiyfi, ■/. V () t. o ^ ; see Heb. x. 30. Ver. 20. Therefore if thine enemy, &c. [e«v ot'V nn.va, v..t./.. See Text ml Note ".] The ore, which is omitted by most Codd., probably on account of difficulty, follows from the antithesis. One caimot conform to the negative : not to hate an enemy, without obeying the affirmative. [Hodge : " The expressions are obviously not to be confined to their literal meaning, nor even to tlie discliarge of the common offices of humanity ; they are figu- rative expressions for all the duties of benevolence. It is not enough, therefore, that we preserve an ene- my from perishing ; we must treat him with all affection and kindness." — R.] The words are from the LXX. of I'rov. xxv. 21. Thou shall heap coals of fire, &c. [ar- fl- (J a z f 1 1; 71 I' (t in; fT lo (> t i' fT f ti; , x.T./..] The bm'ning of fiery coals is an Oriental figure of con- stantly burning pain. Explanations : 1. Thou wilt draw down upon him severe Divine * [Dr. Lanitc quotes Meyer's olijeclion to one single phase of this ex|)lanation, ami tlint not the one most promi- noiitly urged. ' Ewald, Jowett, Wordsworth, understand by this view, which they defend, not g>iiiitg nut of the way of the wrath of another, hut, iiUowint? it to spend itself ni)on you, " li't your enemy have his way." So far from di'eming this a pruilential step, Jowett defends it from the ohjcction, that "common prudence requires th;it we should Jace, iHjth agreeable (o tho analogy of faith and manners, lo mukf use. of liiiHi" (Ilislmp Sanrferson). Dr. Wonlsworth approves this mil- for expo-itors. llis own praetiee of this "spirit- ual thrift" may lead to spiritual wealth, but certainly Bebins to tend to ex'-griital povirty.—'R.] wrath (with reference to 4 Ezra xvi. 54 ; Chryso* tom, Theodoret, &c., Zwingli, Beza, &c., Stolz, Heug< stenberg, &c.). 2. Tliou wilt prepare him for the pain of peni- tence (Augustine, Jerome [Tholuck, De Wette, Mey- er], Luther, and many others). Origen has opposed the former view, which was continually under the necessity of being established in the Church, because of the propensity to wrath. On Hengstenberg's ex- planation of I'rov. xxiv. 18, see Tholuek, p. 675 If. Ver. 21, as well as the spirit of the jjassage, pro- nounces in favor of ex])lanation (2.). No one coula gladly retiuite evil with good, if he knew of a cer- tainty that he would thereby be exposed to Divine wrath. Finally, this explanation is favored by the whole spirit of Christianity. Yet it must be ob- served, that |)enitence cannot be designated as an infallible effect of the love of enemies, and of it3 expressions. The most immediate eft'ect of such ex- pressions is hurnivg shame, a religious and moral crisis. He will bend his head as if fiery coals lay on it. The rule, as well as the purpose, of this crisis, is penitence and conversion ; but there are frequent instances of false adversaries, like Judas, becoming hardened by kindness. [3. Slightly different from (2.) is that adopted by Hodge : " You will take the most effectual means of subduing him." Kindness is as effectual as coals of fire. So Alford : " You will be taking the most effectual vengeance." Similarly Jowett. This view, which excludes even the pain of penitence, is fa- vored by the connection with ver. 21. — R.] For other uinmportant explanations, see the Note in Meyer, p. 4(18.* On the figure of fiery coals, see Tholuck, p. «75. Ver. 21. [Be not overcome, &c. fti; rtx(7», y..T.X. " A comprehensive summary of vers. 19, 20. Be not overcome (led to revenge) hi/ evil (which is done to you), but overcome bij the pood (which you show to your enemy) evil (by causing your enemy, ashamed by your noble spirit, to cease doing evil to Tou, and to become your friend) ; " Meyer. Seneca, Dc Bene/., 7, 31 : Vincit inalos pertinax bonitas. — R.] The purpose of all these manifestations of love is that of Christ on the cross : to ovvrcome evil with good. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The proper conduct in personal intercourse, particularly with the brethren, is love without dix- xiiiiulntion ; iis the proper conduct toward tho Church, previously described, is love without self- bodgtiiifi. The conduct toward civil authorities (which follows in chap, xiii.) is love without fear ; atid, finally, the proper conilnct toward the world is love without dix/iixiiKi the rightu of the world, and without miui/lini/ with the iinmoraliti/ of the world. 2. The root of brotherly love is reverence for the appearing image of Christ; and its development and consummation are types of the most inward consanguinity. 3. The proper conduct toward different individu- als begins with proper conduct toward ourselves ; portrayed in ver. 11. To this there belon^is, first of all, fresh spiritual life ; zealous and enthusin.stic work, embracing eternity as the blessing of the • (Among these, tho roferenjc to the sqflrntng by burn- ing coals ((Jlc'ickler), the inflaming to love (t'alovius), tht Id/ blush of »Uiune live-glowing coals (Sauctius).— It.J CHAPTER XII. 1-8. 395 Spirit ; calm ardor in communion with God, and in the consciousness of its being sent by God ; but re- garding the moment of time as the moment of eter- nity in time. In this place belongs Solomon's Ec- clesiastes, this much-mistaken pearl of the Old Tes- tament — a writing whose fundamental thought is, that every thing is regarded vain in consequence of despising eternity in time. 4. The Apostle's pen gives a festive expression even to Christian ethics ; as is proved by the beau- tiful parallelisms, mostly in the form of trilogies, in this chapter, together with 1 Cor. xiii. [Comp. Erasmus on this chapter : " Comparibus membris et incMis, similiter cadentibus ac desinenttbus sic totus sermo modidatits est, ut nulla cautio possit esse ju- cundior" — R.] Christian life should also be a wor- ship. But the worship is festive, free from common •weariness. 5. All Christianity is a conquest of evil by good, which Christ has established, and already decided in principle, on His cross. All the single rules of con- duct toward individuals concentrate in this last and highest one. HOMrLETICAl AND PRACTICAIj. Vers. 9-21. The sincerity of love. It is mani- fested in : 1. Our abhorring that which is evil ; and, 2. In cleaving to that which is good (ver. 9) — Let not love be false. 1. What is it to love in this way? 2. How is it possible ? (ver. 9.) — What belongs to true brotherly love ? 1. Sincere heartiness ; 2. Obliging respect (ver. 10). — Universal love and brotherly love. 1. How far related ? 2. How far different ? Comp. 2 Peter i. 1 (vers. 9, 10).— Chris- tian joy in labor. 1. Its nature ; 2. Its origin ; 3. Its limit (ver. 11). — Be not indolent in doing what you should ! (ver. 11). — Be fervent in spirit ! A Pentecostal sentiment (ver. 11). — Adapt yourselves to the time ! A word of comfort in times of need and tribulation (ver. 11). — Rejoice in hope, be pa- tient in tribulation, continue instant in prayer — an inexhaustible text, and one that can be always ap- plied afresh on marriage occasions, in harvest ser- mons in years of failure, or in New Years' sermons in troublous times (ver. 12). — Distribute to the ne- cessity of saints ! 1. Description of it (with special references similar to those in ver. 11). 2. A sum- mons to energetic assistance (ver. 18). — The forgiv- ing C'liristian spirit. 1. A beautiful virtue; but, 2. One very difficult to exercise ; and therefore, 3. Proper to be implored from God (ver. 14). — Christian sympathy : 1. In joy; 2. In sorrow (ver. 15). — Christian unanimity (ver. 16). — Christian hu- mility (ver. 18). — Christian honesty (ver. 1*7). — Christian pcacefulness (ver. 18). — Christian love of raiemies. 1. It desists from revenge ; 2. It over- comes evil with good (vers. 19-21). — Fiery coals on the head of an enemy : 1. They cause pain ; but, 2. Healing pain, because it is the pain of shame vers. 19-21). Luthkr: To heap coals of fire on the head is, that, by kindness, our enemy grows angry with him- self for having acted so wickedly toward us. Starke : True Christianity does not make lazy peop's and sluggards, but industrious ones; for the more pious the Cliristian is, the more hidustrious laborer he is (ver. 11). — Dear Christian, j'ou present 1 gift to strange beggars, though you do not know whether they are holy or not — indeed, the most are without holiness ; should you not rather do goofl to the poor who live among us, who prove by their deeds that they are holy and God's children ? (ver. 13.) — He who rises high, falls all the lower; such conduct is always dangerous. High trees are shaken most violently by the winds ; high towers are most frequently struck by the thunder-storm ; what is high is easily moved, and likely to fall. Rather re- main low, and then you will not fall, Sirach iii. 19 (ver. 16). — If you have wisdom, it is not your own, but God's ; let it not be observed that you know your wisdom. There are others also who are not fools ; #nd there are many superior to you (ver. 16). — Every one should be ruler of his own spirit, Prov. xvi. 32 (ver. 21). — It is most glorious to show good for evil, and to make a friend out of an enemy, Prov. xvi. 6 (ver. 21). — As fire is not quenched by fire, so is evil not quenched by evil, nor invective by invective. — Hedinger : Christianity is not absurd selfishness and incivility. Love and patience teach quite different things toward our neighbor (ver. 10). — Muller: The richer and higher in God, the poor- er and more like nothing in our own eyes, 2 Sam. vii. 18 (ver. 10). — God sends His cross to us that it may press from our hearts many fervent sighs, from our mouth many a glorious little prayer, and from our eyes many hot tears (ver. 12). — Christian souls are one soul in Christ, and therefore one feels the sorrow and joy of another (ver. 15). — To do good is natural ; to do evil is carnal ; to do evil for good is devihsh ; to do good for evil is divine (ver. 17). Spener : Love is the principal virtue required by Christ of His disciples (ver. 9). — Brotherly love should be as hearty as natural love between parents, children, and brethren (the aro^iyt]), and should not be lukewarm, but zealous (ver. 10). — The Spirit of God is a holy fire, which inflames hearts wherever it is. Whei-e things go very sleepily, we may well ap- prehend that, because there is no fire, there is no zeal, and that there is also no work of the Spirit, but only of nature. Yet there should be a fervency and zeal of the spirit. For the flesh has also its blind zeal, which is the more dangerous the greater it is (ver. 11). — Accommodate yoursdrcs to the time. But this must not be in such a way as to join in with the world, as every period brings with it that which the Apostle (ver. 2) has already forbidden — conformity to this world. But Christians should not lose the opportunity of doing good which God con- stantly presents to them ; and they should always give due care to all circumstances — to what is best now to be done according to the Divine rule. More- over, they should always give due attention to the condition in which they are situated, so that they may act just as God now requires of them (vei". 11). — In prosperity and adversity, prayer is the best means for our support (ver. 12). Roos : Christians should be refined and polite people (ver. 17). Gerlach : The most glowing love should not lose sobriety and discretion, by virtue of which it chooses and performs just what the circumstances require ; comp. Matt. x. 16 (ver. 11). — " ' It is well,' says one, ' that he has very properly commanded weeping with those who weep ; but for what end did he command us to do the other part, that which ia not great ? ' And yet, rejoicing with them that re- joice is a far more self-denying state of mind than weeping with those who weep ; " Chrysostom (ver. 15). — By Jiery coals we must understand that w« 396 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. lead the one who injures us to repentance of his deed, by doing good to him (v^v, 20). Lisco : Ilow tlie love of tlie believer, arising from humility, h manifested toward other believers. 1. Its peculiarity (vers. 9-12) ; 2. Its manifestations amid very difterent external circumstances (vers. 13-10). — Relation of the believer to the unbelieving world He is even animated with love toward it (ver= J 7-21). IIkubxkk : Love should be tender and delicate; It should avoid every thing that can ottend another's sense of modesty or honor. Indelicacy is always a want of ies])ect (ver. 10). — Christianity tcacjjes the real ai-t of being always happy. — The Christian must keep in a good humor. Hope is the source of the Christian's cheerfulness ; the condition of it is pa- tience. Prayer st»'engthens both faith and hope (ver. 12). Besser : Thr works of Christians in love (vers. 9-21). — Paul calls upon us to oppose two special enemies of unity : 1. Pride ; 2. Self-conceits of wisdom (ver. 10). — Saul felt most painfully the burn- ing coals from David's hand, 1 Sam. xxiv. 17 ff. ScnLEiERMACiiEu: The Apostle's injunction : Re- joice witli them tliat do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 1. What is the scope of it — what are the limits which he lias assigned to it ? 2. Its con- nection with our spiritual life in God's kingdom (ver. 15). — Perseverance against the evil sorely afflicting us. It consists in : 1. Our taking care lest evil prostrate our spirit ; 2. Jn being careful not to lose our sobriety, when englged in work, by surprise ; 3. And in being on our guard lest our pleasure in life be destroyed by the pressure of evil (ver. 21). Vers. 7-16. The Pericope for the Second Sun- da;i aftrr Eplphanii. — IIkubneii : The fruits of Chris- tian faith in iiuman life. — The connection of the Christian virtues. — The real life as a practical school of Cliristiatiity. — II.vrless: True fideliti/ to cd/inq. 1. Good Cliristian deportment is always likewise fidelity to calling ; 2. The discharge of one's call- ing is true wlien it is done witli simplicity, with care, and with pleasure ; 3. This fidelity to calling arises alone from true love ; 4. But true love arises alone from the humility of Christian faith. — Jaspis: True Christians are also the most faithful laborers. 1. They regard their lifetime as a very gracious gift ; 2. They act continually from holy motives ; 3. They feel inwardly united with their fellow-men ; 4. They have too serious a reverence for their Eternal Judge to discharge their calling unconscientiously. — Kreml : Strengthening of [)aiience in tribulation by : 1. Wise hope ; 2. Pious reflection ; 3. Steadfast prayer ; 4. Joyous hope. Vers. 17-21. The Pericope for the Third Sun- daii after K[>iph(ui>i. — Heitbner : The Christian amid the afflicting relations of the world. 1. He uses them for opposing his own self-love ; 2. He uses them for greater severity toward himself; 3. For the jjractice of a peaceful disposition ; 4. For tiie exhibition of love toward enemies ; 5. For in- crea.'iing his stability and steadfastness. — The dignity of Christum [)eacefulness ; 1. Its source ; 2. Its limits ; 3. Its strength. — Beck : Direction for the art of genuine Christian peacefulness. 1. Stop tip the fountain of dis(piietude in your own heart ; 2. Give place to the external occasion to dis(|uictnde by conscientious and blameless deportment toward every body ; 3. Amid external U-mptations, direct your heart to the highest Recpiiter ; 4. Strive to overcome the hatred of enemies by good deeds, and to turn away the punishment impeiuling over them, — F. A. Woi.f: Avenge not yourselves! 1. Tlie meaning of this declaration of the Apostle ; 2. How it should be observed. Kapi'F : What belongs to true culture : 1. Mod- esty and humility ; 2. Universal philanthropy ; 3. Truth and [)urity of heart. — Brandt: Christianity is the way to a peaceful and blessed life ; for it : 1. Opposes our own conceits ; 2. Fori)ids all re- venge ; 3. Reconmiends honesty ; 4. Loves peace- fulness ; 5. Enjoins magnanimity ; 6. And always desires the conquest of all evil, [Hopkins : On revenge (ver, 1.5). Revenge is a wild, untamed passion, that knows no bounds nor measures. And if we were permitted to carve it out for ourselves, we should certainly exceed all limits and modeiation ; ftu- self-love, which is an immoderate affection, would be made the whole rule of our vengeance : and because we love ourselvea abundantly too well, we should revenge every imagi- nary wrong done us with too much bitterness and severity : and, therefore, God would not trust the righting of ourselves in our own hands, knowing we would be too partial to our own interests and con- cerns, but hath assumed it to himself as the preroga- tive of His crown. — On ver. 20 : On kbulnvus toward enemies. This is all the revenge which the gospel permits ; this is that excellent doctrine which our Saviour came to preach, which He hath given us commission to declare and publish to the world, to guide our feet into the way of peace ; that we might all be united, as by faith and obedience unto God, so in love and charity one to another, [Bishop Atterburv : Sermon on the duty of Uvhiq pcfurably (Rom. xii. 18). I. In what the duty consists, in relation to public and private men, opinions and practice. II. The extent of it — to all men. III. The difflculty of practising it. IV, The best helps to the practice of this duty: (1.) To regulate our psissions; (2.) To moderate our desires, and shorten our designs, with regard to the good things of life ; (3.) To have a watchful eye upon ourselves in our first entrance upon any contest ; (4.) Always to guard against the intemperance of our tongue, especially in relation to that natmal proneness it has toward publishing the faults of oth- ers ; (5.) To keep ourselves from embarking in par- ties and factions; (0.) To study to be (juiet, hy do. ing our own business in our proper profession ot calling ; (7.) Add prayer to the Author of peace and Lover of concord, for the fruits of His Spirit. [Burkitt: What it is to be overcome of evil, 1. When we dwell in our thoughts too much, too often, and too long, up(Ui the injuries and unkind- ness we have met with ; this is as if a man that was to take down a bitter jiill, sluuild be continually champing of it, and rolling it inuler his tongue, 2. We are overcome of evil when we are brought over to commit the same evil, by studying to make spiteful returns, in a way of revenge, for the inju- ries we have received. — Wherein cimsjsts the duty and excelleney of overcoming evil with good? 1. It renders tis like (iod, who does gooil to us daily, though we do evil against Him continually ; 2. We imitate (Jod in one of the choicest ])erfeeti()ns of His divine luiture ; 3. We overcome our.selvcs ; 4. We overcome our enemies, and make them become our frienv, aWa T(av KaKoiv (Rec, D'. L., some fathers, Scholz), the reading: tcS ayadu epyu, ciAAa T^ Ka(c

    -21, has led to this exhorta- tion. Yet this would be too accidental an occasion. The thought of the transition is, that, even in the heathen State, evil must be overcome with good. But the possibility of this conquest lies in the ne- ces.«ity of the Christian's recognizing something good even in the large State, as well as in the per- sonal opponent. Chrysostom held that this section has the apologetieal design of showing that Chris- tianity does not lead to the dissolution of the State, and of tlie social legal relations (comp. 1 Tim. ii. 1 ; Titus iii. 1 ; 1 Peter ii. 18, 14). According to Cal- vin, and others, the occasion lay in the fact that the Jews were inclined to resistance to heathen govern- ment, and that also the Jewish Cliristians often be- came subject, witii them, to suspicions of the same disposition.* As might be expected, Baur finds the key for tiie solution of this question also in the Clementines. On these and other hypotheses, par- ticularly those of Neander and Baumgarten-Crusius, see further details in Tiioluck, pp. 078 ff. The same author says : " If the Epistle was written in the year 68, tlicn it follows that Nero's five mild years termi- nated in the following year." In view of the uni- versal character of this Epistle, even on its practi- cal side, the Apostle must have felt the necessity of defining, from his principle, the relation of duty in which Cliristians stood to the State, without his hav- ing been led to it by this or that circumstance. Ver. 1. Let every so\il, 7rd(T« v ''/»/• Every man ; yet with reference to the life of the soul, whose emotions in relation to the government come into special consideration (Acts ii. 43 ; iii. 23 ; * [This exhortation was prohahly occasioned by the tttrhulont spirit of the Jews in Itoino, who had been on this (icoDUnt banished from the city for a time by the Km- peror Claudius (A. 1). 51). Their messianic cxpeotatioiis assumed a caj-nal aoil political character, and were directed chiorty to\v.aid the cxteriLal emancipation from the odious yoke of the he-ilh<'n Romans. A few years after the date of the Epistle to the Romans, the spirit of revolt burst forth in ojinn war, which ended in the destruction of Jerii- ealem (A. D. 70). The Jen'i.sh, and evi'n the Ocntilc Chris- tians, mieht rendily bo led away by this fanaticism, sinoi' the pospel proffered hberli/, and they miL'ht not unilorstand that it was miinly spiiitual— moral freedom from the slav- ery of sin, out of which, by doL'rees, in the appointed way, n reformation and transformation of civil relations should proceed. Such mistakes have been common ; '. /;., the Pea-sant's war, the Anabaptist tumults in the time of the Refoi-mation, and many revolutions sin(:e the latter part of the last century. The attitude of Christ, His Apostles, and His Chuioh down to the time of Constant'ne, toward the civil Kovcriimetit, is truly sub imc. They rccoRriizeil in itanordiiia ce of God, despite its ileReneiaoy, yieMiupr to It, in all Icirilimate affairs, a ready oboilience, despite the (ict that they wi-re persecuted by it with fire and sword. It should lie rrmeml)cred that this exhortation was ad- dressed t" tlip Romans, when the cruelties and crimes of a Tiberius, Caliz-id;!, and Claudius were in yet fresh remcm- branee, and when the monster Nero sat on the imperial throne— the sami" Nero who, n few years later, wantonly and mercilessly persecuted the Christians, cundemninK the Apostles I'aul .ind I'etcr to a martyr's death. It was. how- ever, by just Fiieli Christian coiidiict, in contrast with such cruelty, thai C;hrist's Church won the moral victorv over the Roman Kmi>irc and ln-athe idom. Under the inlhieiiee of such preci-pts, the early Church wils " ^Teat in deeds, greater in BulFerinns, i^reittest in death, for the honor of Christ and the benefit of Rciierations to come;" thus she was cnaMed to " overcome evil with good."—!'. S.] Rev. xvi. 3). — Submit himself, vnoraaaiff&uy Voluntarily subjecting liimself to autiiority. [Tlia reflexive form describes the obedience a.s of a na- tional, voluntary, principled eharaeter, in distinction from blind, servile subjecticjn. — P. S.] — To the authorities which are over him [tioiir/ttK; (''/ff (If/ 1' ff «!.(,•]. In liornla are comprised both the magistracy and their power ( pofrsfas). ' Ynto f'/oi'iTctt, Vidgate: nublimiorcs. Tiioluck: The hig\ thos'' hir/h in auikorifi/, with a reference to 1 Tim. ii. 2. [Philippi and Meyer refer to the German phrase : iJie /to/ie Obrir/keit, but there seems to be no reference to the higher grade of rulers. The rendering given above is sufficiently explicit. — It must be noticed how general the injunction is — ei'eri/ soul, and lohatevcr power* are set over him. Wordsworth: He does not say obey, but submit. On the limitations, see below, and Docir, Notes. Except from God [ft ii f; an 6 Ofov. See TextAial Note ". The proposition is universal, its application follows. Wordsworth remarks that (ivva/uii, force, does not occur throughout. — 11.1 God's sovereignty is, in the general sense (ct;ro <-JtoT< ), the causality of magisterial power. Those which exist [ « « dk oi'trcti,. See Textual Note '.] According to Erasmus and Schmidt, the Apostle understands by the ««' fit ovaai,, the rightful powers; with reference to John x. 12, 6 o>v not-fitp', qui. v(Tus pastor est. According to Meyer and Tholuck, there is no dilference whatever. [The words mean simply this : all existing civil autliori ties, de facto governments. This doubtless includes temporary and revolutionary governments, although nothing is said on this point. Of course, there has been much casuistry in the discussions as to what constitutes the existence, ova a, of the authority. -R.] The general definition, a;ro ©for, for which Codd. A. B.", and others, would read vttq 0., is " more specifically defined by the i';r6 ('tiov tj- ray/iivai. da I" have been ordained by- God, which denotes Divine apiiointment.* The * [Without anticipatinp the discussion in the Doctrinal Xoti's, it may be well to remark here, that while this phrase has been u«ed very frequenllv in the interest of the divjno right of kinprs, such an a])plic;iiion is rather an accident than a necessary mfiTcnco from the .Vpostle's propo.-iition. The theolopi:ms of Germany are apt to turn this apainst the revolutionary tendencies of Europe, dft. ; but .should the Rovernnicnt under which they live in any way become ri>iiul)lican, or ultra-democratic, I lien consistency must lead tliem to concede to such authorities also \\\e jus divhiiiin. The simple, pellucid meaninp: of the .\postle is, that civil (jovernment is nect.'ssary, ami of iJivine appointment. We infer that anarchy is "a.s Kod!css as it is inhuman ; thut mafriBtratos are not " the servants of the people," nor do they derive their nnthority from the pi'0])U', but from God, even thoufrh chonen !)y the people ; that ropublicnn otH- cial.s, no less than the heredit;iry monarchs, cm subscribe themselves, «' by the irrnce of God." Unless the principle be of universal" :ipplieation, anarchy will be justified some- where. This principle, moreover, respects the office, not the chMMcter of the niapiritnite ; not the abstraet authority, indeed, but the concrete rulers, whatever their character. If it be deemed too swcopinp, then its «elf-impo^ed limita- tion has been overlookeil. For as the olicdience is de- manded because of Goil's aiipointmenl, the . it is int J. - minil'il in matters cmhiny to (JodS apnointment. When the civil power contradicts tJod's Word and His voice in our con.science, then it contradicts and subvert.s its own authoritv. Herein the superior wisdom of (Christian ethics is manifest. Human seif-will leiuU to anarchy, human jiower to despotism ; but obedience to £/• fnclo rulers as a Christian duty hius led, and iiiust lead, to true civil free- dom, since it "alone inikes \lie Individual truly free, and, by ni-sertinK the higher law as the hasis of the lower aU- tlioriiv, ever elevates the lower authority nearer the lJivin» CHAPTER XIII. 1-6. 399 Apostle, howcTer, seems desirous of making a dis- tJDction, yet not between the rightful and illegal authorities, but between the actual appearance of the authorities and their ideal and essential ground of life, whose validity should also undoubtedly be recognized in the actual authorities, because of their permanent destination. In harmony with this dis- tinction, Clirysostom, and others, have distinguished between the magisterial office itself and its accident- al incumbents. Yet we must hold that the Apostle not oidy enjoins obedience toward the ideal institu- tion of the authorities, but also toward their empiri- cal appearance. But he will establish the require- ment of this obedience by reference to the ideal institution and design of the authorities. This arises clearly from what follows. Ver. 2. So that he Tvho setteth himself against, &c. [wOTf 6 avrtraffffo/; f I'oi,-, x.t.A. Notice the recurrence of rao-ffw in various forms and combinations. — R.] Whoever becomes avrt,- rctdcFOfifvoi; against the actual authorities, be- comes also the resister of the ordinance of God. The cii'TtTccirfrfffi^rtt denotes, primarily, mili- tary opposition, the array of a hostile order of bat- tle ; but it has also a more general sense. Its mean- ing, over against the authorities, in every case must be that of resistance ; and Tholuck makes an arbi- trary limitation when he says : " Neither the armed opposition of the individual, nor of many, as in in- surrection, is meant here ; it rather appears, from ver. *?, what kind of opposition is meant, namely, that of refusal to pay taxes." Busides, ver. 7 is the beginning of another section. [The more general sense is usually accepted, as in the above rendering: Jle who setteth himself against, which is adopted to bring out the reflexive force of the original. — R.] As related to the Divine appointment ((VtaT«yw, here = <)\dray/(a), this resistance becomes a spiritual resistance. This is the rule ; and, according to this rule, it is said of those who resist the Divine ordi- nance : Those TO-ho resist shall receive to them- selves condemnation [ot de dv fffTijAoxfi; eavroTi; xqlfia ^.17/t i/'oi'Tat]. Meyer properly remarks, that " a condemnation by God is meant, as it is produced by their resistance of God's ordinance, but that the afj^nvxa; are regarded as executing this sentence ; therefore Paul does not mean eternal (ac- cording to Reiche, and most commentators), but temporal purtishment." Yet these executioners are not always the a(>/oi'Tfo; ; for it is well known that revolution very often " devours its own children," and that the sorest punishments come from anarchy. [The next verse seems to point to the rulers as the instruments in inflicting the Divine punishment (Tholuck, Alford), yet there is no necessity for this limitation, in the face of the fact that punishment often comes by other hands. Though the punish- ment comes from God, condemnation is preferable to damnation, since the latter refers now to eternal punishment alone, which is not the meaning here. — On vers. 1, 2, Dr. Hodge remarks ; " The extent of this obedience is to be determined from the nature of the case. They are to be obeyed as magistrates, Law. For, as Alford observes of the duty here laid down : " To obtain, by lawful means, the removal or alteration of an unju=;t cr uJireasonable law, is another part of this duty ; for all pov/ers among men must bo in accord with the hip;h- eet power, the moral sense." And the elevation of the moral sense of individuals will accomplish more than levo- luiions, however justifiable and necessary.— R.] in the exercise of their lawful authority. This pas sage, therefore, afi'ords a very slight foundation fol the doctrine of passive obedience." — R.] Ver. 3. For rulers are not [o^ ydf) aqyov- Tf? oiiy. ftfTtr]. It may be asked here, what the ya.Q is designed to establish? According to Mey. er, it explains the modality of the condemnation • they shall receive condemnation in so far as the civil authority is its executioner. But Tholuck and Phi. lippi very properly suggest, that the y.axd f.jjya m ver. 3 cannot mean merely resistance to civil author- ity. If the civil authority exists merely for the quelling of resistance, the whole State would be a mere circle, or the civil authority would be an abso- lute despotism. According to Calvin and Bucer, ver. 3 should connect with ver. 1, and prove the ntilitas of the Divine ordinance of civil authority.* But the ydfj refers simply to the idea of absolute punishment in the condemnation in ver. 2. > In Tho- luck there is a similar, and perhaps somewhat more general, reference to ver. 2. God punishes insurrec- tion, because it is designed to shake a legal ordi- nance, existing for the protection of the good and the punishment of the bad. All those are guilty of this misconception of all the moral powers of exist- ing order, who, in their abstract worship of a pure fancy, oppose the best form of government, and therefore finish their labors by perverting existing order to a moral chaos. Now, the limitation of the strict requirements of the Apostle lies in the defini- tion of the civil authority, which he gives in this and the following verses. A terror, q^ofJoi;. For terror, formidandi. Princes are not formidable to the good work, but to the evil. — [To the good ■work, but to the evil, T (15 u y a 0- (0 t (J y a , d /. ?. d r iZ y. a v. w . See Textu.d Note'^.—R.] ' Dost thou then wish not to be afraid of the authority? [OD.nq de. ft rj qiopila at, rTjv iiovcFiav; Although it is not necessary to retain the interrogative form, yet it will express sufficiently the hypothetical force, which most com- mentators find here. — R.] These words are a hypo- thetical premise, and not a question, as Griesbach, and others, would construe them. — Thou shalt have praise [t'Sfn,- tnai,vov1. Commendations by the magistrates, in opposition to punishments, were common even in ancient times. Origen, on the contrary, says, that it is not the custom of rulers to praise the non. peccantcs. To this, Pelagius says: Damnatio malormn Inns est ho7ior%im. Meyer says : " Grotius, moreover, properly says : ' Cum hwc scri- beret Patdiis, non sceviebatur Romce in Christianas ? ' It was still tlie better period of Nero's government." Tholuck's view is similar. Yet the written words of the Apostle have been of perfect application sub- sequently, even down to the present day. The Apostle sets up an ideal, by which the ruler also can and shall be judged. We must hold : 1. That he portrays obedience to authority as an obedience for the Lord's sake (comp. Eph. vi. 5, 6). This secures the .sphere : " Render to God the things that are God's ; " bondage under religious and con- scientious despotism is excluded. 2, The definition of what is aood works and what * [The view of Calvin, Philippi, Hodge, Alford, and others, that this verse gives an additional ground for obedi- ence, ^•iz., that magistrates, besides being ordained of God, arc appointed for a useful and beneficent purpose, has much to commend it. Dr. Lange seems to be led toward such exclusive references as bear against revolution. — R.] 400 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. are evil works, abides by the decision of God's word, of Cliiifilian faith, and of conscience, but is not de- pendent on the ruler. 3. This also indicates that everj' power shall be- come weakness, when the poles of sword -bearing BJiall bo so absolutely transposed tiiat the sword be- comes a terror to good woi'ks ; but that it is a matter of the Divine government to prove tiiat weakness, whicli lies in the fact that an actual government has absolutely dropped ofl' froTii the idea of its design.* Ver. 4. For he is God's minister [ fc> * o r yet (J tltcixo%'6i; t'dTn']. Tlie j'a^ of ver. 4 brings out the ground of the declaration in ver. 3. The rule of the magistracy as a terror to the evil, and for the praise and encouragement of those who do good, is explained by its character, its essential design, to be God's servant. — [To thee for good, 6()H' is stronger than qf(jfl) as the sym- bolical token, insignia, of his governing and judicial sovereignty ; but he does not wear it merely as a symbol, without reason, and for show. He makes use of it because he is God's minister, as the punitive executioner of His wrath. The addition : lor wrath, d^ ofiy i] v , expresses the fact that even in the State and municipal court there is the authority of something higher than merely human justice, namely, the Divine retribution of wrath upon offenders. On the different antiquarian interpretations of the iiri/fuiin, particularly as the dagger which tlie Emperor carried at his side, see Tholuck, p. 690. Tholuck and Meyer decide for the sword, because /»«/. in the New Testament always means this, and because everywhere in the provinces it was borne by the highest officers of military and criminal affairs, as the sign of the jus gladii. Nevertheless, the dag- ger of tiie Emperor, and of his representative, the jPrcefectua Prcctorii, belongs under the symbolical description. After all, in an abstract and real direc- tion, we would otlitrwise have to think only of the executioner's sword. [It requires some ingenuity to escape the conviction that this passage implies a New Testament sanction of the right of capital punishment. At all events, the theory of civil ])cn- nlties here set forth is in direct opposition to that so constantly upheld nowadays, that the end is sim- ply the reformation of the offender. See Dodr. Note 6.— -R.] • [Tb thus presenting an ideal of civil government fns mofit comran I tutors supposed, tho Apostle pivos both the reiisim for olit'diciicc to riKhtful authority, and makus room for rc-iistanco to rulers who utterly and entirnly depart from this idi'iil. Wordj^worlh, hnwovor, takes dcoidia giound at^ainst :iny right of insurrection, and ailds : " But evrn sup- pose II Nero, and a Nero pi^rnccut'nK the Church ; yet even tlien you may have jiraise therefrom. You may overcome IiIh evil liy your gooi) ; you may he more than conqueror — you m ly di-rivc glory from it. For tliough it is unjuMt and condemns you, yet Ood is just nnd will reward you. lie will crown you for acting justly, and for sutfi-ring unjustly. Then-fore hold fast your justice, and whi thor the power Roquits or condemns you, you will reap praise from it. If you dii' for the faith from Its hand, you wiil reap glory from Its fury. Augustine (Serm. xiii. 30'2)." Yet even ihis author iidmits that the A]iostle "clmritahly presumes rulers to /('■ what, liciiin God's minister'', they nunlit In h'\" This is virtu.'iUy the presentation of an ideal, the non-renlization of which implies certain limitations to absolute submission.— U.] Ver. 5. Wherefore ye must needs, &c. [Ji6 flrayxj/, x.t./.] For the reason stated, it was not merely the duty of prudence, but also a religious and moral duty of conscience, to be subject. When the Apostle says, not only because of the w^rath, but also for conscience' sake, he de- notes thereby the antithesis of the servile fear of the external infliction of puni.shment, and of inward and free ol)edience, in the knowledge and reverence of the Divine order in the civil afl'airs of men.* Comp. 1 Peter ii. 13, Ver. 6. For, for this cause ye pay tribute also [(K« ToT'To }'«(< y.ai (fooori; Tf/ftr*. The question of connection has been much dis cussed. Calvin, De Wette, Alford, and many oth- ers, make ()ta TorTo [larallel with Om) (ver. 5), as another inference from vers. 1-4. Meyer, how- ever, connects immediately with ver. 5, finding here an inference from the necessity there described, as well as a confirmation of it. He thinks the other construction passes over ver. 5 arbitrarily. But if the verses are taken as parallel, this difliculty is not of much weight. See his notes for other views ; Stuart takes dua rovro yct(> its a strengthened causal particle, and the verb as imperative. — R,] The Tf/.tiTf must not be read as imiierative (lleu- mann, Alorus [Stuart, Hodge], and others) ; but the yd^ [orr with the imperative would have been more natural] and the imperative in ver. 7 are against this. Tlie payment of tribute declares a recognition of the State, also according to our Lord's own declaration (Matt. xxii. 21). But by means of paying tribute, the subject himself takes part in the government of the magistracy. He actually takes part in the support of the administration, \fhich, consciously or unconsciously, is, in the highest sense, a servant of the kingdom, and, in the widest sense, is a servant [Litvvff] of God, analogously to the servant of the temple. Olshausen, and others, erroneously construe n(JO(r/.c(iiTf(>o7vT^^ as subject. [For they are the ministers of God, ).fi,- Toi<()yoi yci() Oioh ilaiv. See 7'ij:tua! Note *. The subject is d()XorTK; (supplied in thought); A*t- Tovpyol is predicate (Meyer, Philippi, and most). See rliilip])i on the distinction between /utoi'cj'oi; and (iuiy-orni;. He bases upon the former, which, he claims, applies to one engaged in a practical, ex- ternal service, as well as on the concrete jilural (in- stead of the abstract tlovfrin), the reference to tho collection of tribute in tiq «i't6 tocto. But it is better, with Tholuck, Wordsworth, and others, to find here the idea of servants ministering to God in rejiresentation of the iieo]ile. — H.] Attending continually upon this very thing [ f '\' a r r o toTto tip o^xaij t ^(^orv- ^ (<;]. Philippi f explains ft\- ft^To tocto: for this vcri/ pitr/'one, viz., the payment of tribute. But then that would mean : they receive taxes in order that they may exact more taxes. The purpose is the fundamental thought of the whole section : Tho • [Melanohthon thus sti-ongly puts tho case : ^ulla poleiitia /tiimnnn, uitllt rxercilus tmiffis muriunt inijiTirtf qunm liitc srvi-riftiiiia Irx Dri: nfccse est obedirt prnpter co'i'ciniliani." — R ] t [The oriirinal says Mover, hut gives the very words of Phili|ipl ; wliilo Meyer (-llh ed., without nny iuAication of change of view) defends the wider referenee, among other reasons, boc.iiise the vorti, which includes a moral idea, would lie inapplicable to the more collection of taxes. Ths gi-eat thought, miniHrrr: of Ood, seems to lie the controlling one. Stuart, IIod(te, anci, the older commentators, prefer the other reference, which, perhaps, to a certain extent, implies this.— It.] CHAPTER XIII. 1-6. 401 State is the Stats of the police, of rectitude, and of civilizaiion. Therefore the XfiTovQyfTv nji (-Juji is undoubtedly meant (Tholuck, and otliers) in the very sense in which the section has described it. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. As chap. xii. has defined the conduct of Chris- tians toward tiie Cliurch and the personal depart- monts of life, so does chap. xiii. define their conduct toward the State and the world. Ti;e Apostle has therefore very forcibly regarded the sphere of per- sonal life as the atmosphere of the Church, and then the sphere of the world as the atmosphere of the State.* 2. In reference to the civil authority, tlie Apos- tle evidently makes the following distinctions:. (1.) The actual existence of the civil powers, which are in every case an ordinance of God's providence [not of a social contract, nor simply by the loill of the peopl'. — R.] ; and the ideal and real existerce of the civil power, wliich is not merely providentiaU (/ ano Q)tov, but is also, by creation and instilation, fun- damentally an ordinance vno rov Ofov TfTayuivai. (2.) He distinguishes between social opposition to the civil power, and the spiritual opposition to God's institution wliich is comprised therein. (3.) He also distinguishes between the power of the State itself and its incumbents, the rulers, by which designation he expresses the possibility of different political forms. f (4.) He finally distinguishes be- tween the actual appearance and its ideal destina- tion, according to which tiie tioiaia should be a (hn/.oi'la and administrator of Divine right, and the ci^/ovTtq should prove themselves as hnovQyoi &iov. 3. The following distinctions with reference to duty toward the State clearly appear : A. The submission is of necessity {avdyy.fj), ver. 5 ; (1.) Because of the wrath. Since Divine providence has its wise purposes even in raising up, and permitting to exist, severe and despotic powers, 60 long as they are really State powers, 'vni()iyov- aai, so, in this relation, is the avrtrdarTtaOnv a sin against wisdom ; the revolter draws upon himself the x^ji/ia for his want of judgment, his presump- tion, and his wicked encroachment and invasion. The same o(iyt'i which makes the State pass over from an institution of Divine mercy to a phenome- ■ non of Divine wrath, and which makes use of the despotic tool as an axe to be cast aside in due season (Isa. x. 15), and which oppresses a people to its own chastisement, crushes, first of all, the indi- vidual anarchical despots of revolution, who, in ex- * [Jowett oscapes all the difficulties of this section, by IntimatiTig that the Apos'le's exhortation has a refrrence only to the Bonian Christians in their then circumstances. He thinks many a scriptural precept is abusi'd because not thus limited, and adds, respoctinp: the Apostle : "It never occurred to him that the hidden life, which he thought of only as to be absorbed in the glory of tl'e sons of Ood, w.as one day to be the governing principle of the civilized world." It IS not likely to be so long, if .all its professed posses.sors paie down the scripiural precepts in thi^ fashion. — R.] t [From the expression, " God's minister to thee for good," tiie relative excellence of the different forms of poverament must be determined, since this is the only rule laid do\\'n, and ar. emjirical one at best. So lonf» as a popular government best fulfils this Divine purpose, so long will men gladly lay dt wn their lives, that " the gov- ernment of the people, by the people, and for the people, Bliall not pensh from the earth " (Prss. Lincoln at Gettys- burg Cemetery.— R.] 26 cessive self-estimation, would cure the relative evii of despotism by the absolute evil of aiuircliy. (2.) Although this folly itself nuist be avoided for con- science' sake, there is added a specific obedience for conscience' sake, which is unfettered respect for the ideal splendor of the Divine institution, joy at an existence protected by the laws and civilization of the State, gratitude for tlie moral blessings which humanity possesses in civil life ; but, in one word, the knowledge of the Divine, which shines clearly euo'igh even through the imperfect phenomenon of civil life. B. The "submitting," vnoruaerceives the historical opposition to the irerminating antichris- tianity in the world, acconiing to 2 Tliess. ii. But he did not regard liis Iil)erty of judgment thereby bound (see 2 Tim. iv. 17). 0. To what extent is the State a Divine institu- tion ? Elaborate discussions on this question arf summed up and deliberated upon by Tholuck, pp. 681-689. According to the principles of Roman- ism, the State is merely a human ordinance (see Tholuck, p. 684 ; Gieseler, Kirvhengesrh., ii. 2, pp. 7, lu8). — The germ of the Divine institution oi the State lies in the Divine institution of the family, in the authority of the head of the family in particu- lar, as well as in the substantial relations of human- ity. But as the Old Testament gift of the law is the institution of a theocracy, which still embraces in common the twin-offspring of State and Church, so is there contained also in the Old Testament a Divine sanction of the State — a sanction which pledges the future sanctified State to reciprocity with the future Church. And this presages that it is just as de- structive to make the State the servant of the Church, as to make the Church the bondwoman of the State, [The Scylla and Charybdis of European Chris- tianity, as related to the State, are: Romanism, which subordinates the State to the Church, and Erastian- ism, which subordinates the Church to the State. The American theory is : that both are coordinate, the State protecting the Church in civil rights, the Church sustaining the State by its moral influence. Yet even here it is questioned whether this is the correct theory. It is an experiment, fraught with great blessings indeed, but, as yet, only an experi- ment. The (langers here are similar : (1.) Roman- ism, which would make its Church the State ; in a popular government, as really as in a despotism, and even more fatally, since the genius of the Church must then become that of the State — what that is, is obvious. (2.) On the other hand, we find the theocratic tendency of Puritanism manifesting itself continually. Tiiis would identify Church and State, ratiier by making the State the Church, pressing upon it the duty of legislating men into morality, and even holiness. Here we must class the politico- religionism, which has become so common during thp last ten years. — Still, the constant tendency of Christendom to make a practical synthesis of Church and State, is an unconscious pro[)hecy of an era when both .shall be united in a chr'iKloi-racii. — K.] f). On the right of the death-penalty with refer- ence to the sword of authority, see Tholuck, p. (>0L We must, of course, distinguish between the right of using the sword and the duty of its use. [Ad- mitting that the Apostle is describing an ideal of civil governnu-nt, we still find here the rhiht of capi- tal pimi.>*hment. Of course, just in so far as the actual government has been lielow this ideal, has this right been abused. Still, tlie right remains justified fiy the tluMjry of punishment here advanced, by the necessities of self-preservation on the part of soci- ety representeii by the j)unisliing power. The right to punish also im])lies the right to pardon ; and the measure of the right (». c, the conformity to the ideal here presented) will be also the measure of the sense of responsibility, both as to the punishing and pardoning power. The iistial ohjeetions to capital punishniciit misapprehend (<(.) the nature of punish- meiit in general ; {h.) the Divine authority in civil government. — R.] IIOMILETICAL AXD PRACTICAL. Obedience toward the powers that be is every Christian's duty. 1. Without difference of posse* CHAPTEP. XIII. 1-6. 403 Bions ; 2. Of position ; 3. Of culture ; 4. And of confession (ver. 1). — In bow far are there no powers that are not ordained by God ? 1. So far as God himself is a God of order, who will tberefore have order in civil affairs ; 2. So far as God is also a God of love, who designs to do good for us bj' the pow- ers which He has ordained (vera. 1-4). — Resistance to the powers that be, regarded as resistance to God's ordinance (ver. 2). — To do good is the best protection against all fear of civil authority (ver. 8). — Praise from the civil magistrates. 1. Who shall obtaijj it? Every one who does good — that is, every one who, a. does not submit slavishly ; but, 6. obeys the laws of the country by voluntary obedience. 2. In what should it consist? a. Not so much in showy medals and ribbons, for which many are so eager, as, b. in the simple recognition of the faith- fully discharged duty ol the citizen (ver. 3). — The civil authorities should likewise sei-ve : 1. God ; 2. Men (ver. 4). — The holy judicial office of the magis- tracy. 1 . From whom is it derived ? From God, who is a righteous God, and to whom no wicked per- son is pleasing (Ps. v. 4). 2. What belongs to it ? The exercise of penal judgment, and, above all, the right of life and death. 3. How should they exer- cise it? In the ennobling, but also humiliating, con- sciousness that they are God's ministers (ver. 4). Luther : Worldly power is for the sake of tem- poral peace ; therefore the conscience is bound, by dutiful love, to be subject to it (ver. 5). — See how good it is to pay taxes and be obedient ; for you thereby help to protect the pious and punish the wicked. Therefore do not be provoked at it (ver. 6). Starke : If persons in authority would attract their subjects to obedience, they should administer their office well, and, to that end, should remember: 1. That they are by nature no better than other men ; 2. That they will therefore die, just as all others ; 3. That they will have to give a far greater account than their subjects before God's judgment- bar, because of their offiaial prerogatives and gov- ernment (ver. 1). — Lange : When those in authority read and hear that their station is from God, they should examine themselves as to whether they are to their subjects what the head is to the body and its members (ver. 1). — Hedinger : The powers that be, God's minister ! How much is expressed by this ! Therefore there are no masters above God. He will hereafter hold to account, and throw a*ide, all titles of honor (ver. 4). — Ye subjects, give freely your possessions and blood, but not your conscience (ver. 6). Gerlach : Though the office be divine, the in- cumbent may possess it illegally, and abuse it (ver. I). — " Needs" here means not external compulsion, but the inward necessity of being obedient to God (ver. 5). Lisco : The believer's holy love is the fulfilment of the law ; first of all, in relation to the powers that be (vers. 1 ff.). — Obedience is a matter of con- science with the Christian ; it is an inward and sin- cere obedience (ver. 5). Heubner : The Christian attitude toward the authorities (vers. 1 ff.). — The limits of obedience toward the powers that be are defined by con.science, faith, and God's commandment ; Acts v. 29 (ver. 1). — The Christian mode of obedience is free, pure, conscientious, and not from compulsion or feat (ver. 5). Schleiermacher : On the proper relation of the Christian to his ruler. 1. How utterly improper it is for the Christian to be subject merely to avoid punishment ; 2. How natural and necessary it is foi him to be subject for conscience' sake (preached in January, 1809) ; vers. 1-5. [Henry : Magistrates act as God's ministers : 1. In the administration of public justice ; 2. The determining of quarrels ; 3. The protecting of the innocent ; 4. The righting of the wronged ; 5. The punishing of offenders ; 6. And the preserving of national peace and order, that every man may not do right in his own eyes. — Waterland : It is the duty of those in authority : 1. To correct those that needlessly and causelessly disturb the public tranquillity ; 2. To remove those that libel the es- tablished religion, without offering any better, or an equivalent ; 8. To curb the insolence and hum- ble the pride of such as fly in the face of author- ity, and pretend, without commission or qualifica- tions, to instruct, and, under that color, to insult their superiors. — Scott : As to the efforts vviiich are anywhere made by those on whom trusts constitu- tionally devolve, to preserve, increase, or assi.st the real Uberty of mankind, personal, civil, or religious, or to check the career of despotism or oppression over men of any climate, complexion, or religion : let us zealously forward them with our prayers, and by every mean consistent with the peace and good order of the community ; and, if we would enjoy the blessing of good government, we should pray earnestly and constantly for our rulers, and all in authority ; else we have no ju.st cause to complain of any real or supposed grievances to which we may be subjected by them. — Clarke : When a ruler governs according to the constitution of his country, and has his heart and life governed by the laws of God, he is a double blessing to his people ; while he is ruling carefully according to the laws, his pious example is a great means of extending and confirm- ing the reign of pure morality among those vhom he governs. — J. F. H.] 404 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. FocRTH Section. — Proper conduct toward the world in genei-al. Legal fel'owship with the wotid Jiecnnni/ion of the rights <■/ the world in the jitslice arid also in the stremjth of love fv our neighbor Sep iralion from the UHgodli7ie.ss of the ancient world {the darkness of heathenism). UriiversoUifm and its sanctijication through true separatitm. Chap. XIII. 7-14. 7 Render therefore \^nu therefore] ' to all their dues : tribute to whom tributt. is due ; cu.stom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear ; honour to wlioni honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but [except] to love one another: for lie that [who] 9 loveth anotlier hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adiilterj, Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness [omii Thou shalt not bear false witness],* Thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,' 10 Tliou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.* Love worketh no ill to his neigh- bour : therefore love is the fullilUng [love therefore is the fulfilment] of the 1 1 law. And that [this the rather because],' knowing the time, that noAV it is high time to awake ° out of sleep : for now is our salvation nearer than when we 12 believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off" 13 the works of darkness, and' let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly [seemly],' as in the day ; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in cham- 14 boring and wantonness, not in strife and envying : But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not [do not make] * provision for the flesh, to Juljil the lusts thereof. > Vcr. ".— [Kec, N'. D". Y. L., insert ovv (Philippi, "De Wettc) ; omitted in N">. A. B. T)'., by Lachmann, Tlsch- endorf, Mcyi^r, Alt'ord, TrepcUes, and many others. Dr. I.iinge thinks the omission favors his view, that a new section sboald l)p(,an here ; while Philiipi and I)o NVctte think this view of the connection led to the early omission. * Ver. 9. — [The /fee. inseits oii i^eviojuapTup^acii ou insufiicient authority (N., versions aid fathers). It is omitted in A. B. D. F. L., m:iny cuisives, &c. ; l)y Luohmann, and modern cdiiors and commentators without excoi>tio;i. Even iJr. llodtce, who rarely devi:ites Iroin the RiC, except under overwhelming authority, regects it. The insertion is at once explaine., and fathers) reads xai befiro iv6va-uij.t9a. A. B. C. D'., versions and fathers: ivS. Si. n'. omits the coniunctmn :ilt<>gether. Lachmann, Tischendorf, Dc Weitc, Alford, Wordswoitn, Tregelles, accept Si, since km might l-e substitntnl on account of the failure to recognize the contrast. Philippi and Meyer accept xai, because Si might have been inserted from the i)revious part of the verse, or to corre- spond Willi it. No change is required in the E. V., to express the slightly eontrastive force of Si. » Vcr. ly.— jAmer. Bible Union. Noyes : bfomiiiply ; Five Ang. Cletgyim n : smnly. The latter is more in keeping w th the stvb.' "f the K. V. 1 Cor. xiv. 40 : dectntly (and in order). Scmly is fonnd in Chaucer in precisely the sense here intcn«icd by f vi(rxi>*°''"S • . , .. • Ver. U. — (l)r. Langc's view wonld be thus expressed : Po not make such provision for the flesh as to satisfy us lusts. Noyes : Think not about satisfying the lusts of thollcsh. Alford : Take not (any) forethought for the llesh, to fulfil its lubts. See the £xeg. JVoUs.—li.l EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Preliminari/ Remark. — Tlii.s .icctioii i.s connpcti'fl DV ver. 7 with the precedinf;. Wliilo the previoti.s ecftioii iJfliiii's till' n-latidii ot Chri.^tiaii.s to tlic Slate to whiuli tlu'y belong a.f citi/eii.^, the pro.seiit section, on till.' other liaml, regiilate.s their relation to the world in general, in its friendly and liostile side, in fellowship and reptil.>6^ov; honor, t'tjv tt.ntjv. Those who confine the reference to magistrates, apply the former word to the proper sentiment and conduct toward the higher magistrates, especially judges, the latter to magistrates in general (Meyer, Pliilippi). De Wette, however, refers the former to judges, the latter to magistrates in general, espe- cially the higher ones ; while Alford refers " qopot; to those set over us and having power; Tt/a/, to those, but likewise to all on whom the State has conferred distinction." If the wider view of the verse be accepted, then (with Hodge, Webster and Wilkinson, and others) the one means the reverence paid to superiors, the other, the courtesy due to equals. — R.] Vor. 8. Owe no man any thing \^firj(ifvl fitjdiv oqilktri. Dr. Lange renders : Bleibt Niemard und Nichts sclmldig, which he considers an improvement of the old version : Niemand nic/its. — R] The four preceding categories are here gen- eralized to the idea of the universal dut^/ to our ■ neighbor. Tholuck is doubly inexact when he says : ■' The Apostle proceeds from the duties of subjects * [The mass of commentators supply airaiTovvri (so Winer, p. 548), probably because they limit the reference in this verse to magistrates. But Dr. Iiangte's view is prefer- able. " The sentence is elliptical for Si rov <^. o'^tiAere TouTo) rov <|)." (Webster and Wilkinson). So E. V., sub- Btantially. — E.] to universal Christian duties." [De Wette : " Th* Apostle proceeds at once from the vestibule of morality into her very domain." — R.] Except to love one another [tl /lij ri aXXri kovq ay a no. v. Philippi: "A Pauline argute dictum or acumen.''^ — R.] In relation to the definite discharges of duty, the Christian should strive to perfectly discharge, and to keep discharged, his duty in every direction ; in relation to love, as the source of duties, he should, on the other hand, be conscious, and constantly be more so, of an infi nite and permanent indebtedness. The duties are externally a JiuUum, but the duty of loving our neighbor remains an mji'xitum. And the more clear the Christian becomes on one, the more clear he be- comes on the other. [Bengel : " Amare, dtbilum immort'de. JSi amabatin, n I dcbe/is, nam amor im- plet legem. Amarc, libe^-tan est.'''' So most com- mentators from the times of Chrysostom. Augus- tine : " Semper debko charitatem qua sola etiam reddita relinet debitonm " (Ep. 62). — R.] 'OqidXiri is not indicative (Reiche, and oth- ers), but imperative,* by which the sentence, " ex- cept to love one another," must be understood thus : except that which you cannot pay as a debt. Meyer emphasizes the subjective rendering: Consider your- selves as debtors of love. Even in the " Owe no man any thing" there is undoubtedly an appeal made to the consciousness and its method of action. Hath fulfilled the law. 11 in ). r} (> o) y. i . [Perfect of completed action (Meyer). — R.] It is by love that the fulfilment of the law is fundamen- tally decided ; chap. xiv. 13. Reiche, and others : Jd quod in lege summmn est. Instead of this, we must place : Quod Icgis privcipium est. That no justification is here implied, is plain, first, from the fact that the Apostle regards this loving as possible only on the ground of justification ; and second, from the fiict that he lays down this lovivg, enjphat- ically construed, as an ideal which has not been reached so long as we are still universal debtors in individual matters. [Although ver. 9 shows that the Mosaic law is meant, yet it is to be doubted whether there is any " apologetic reference to the upholders of the law " (Alford). When De Wette says : " He who prac- tises love, tie higher duty, has, even before he does this, fulfilled the law, the lower," he seems to ignore the true position of the law in the Chiistian dispen- sation. " The law, as a rule of gratitude, is com- pletely fulfilled by love," seems a better view. For the former part of the verse implies that we never attain to this, but still " owe " this love increasing- ly. Hence the reference here is to the completed ideal. " The expression implies more than a simple performance of the precepts of the law ; true love does more than this: it ?tMs, a, comphteness to the performance. It reaches those lesser courtesies and sympathies which cannot be digested into a code and reduced to rule. To the bare framework of law, which is as the bones and sinews, it adds the flesh which fills it, and the life which actuates it " (Web- ster and Wilkinson). — R.] * [This is required by the context with its frequent itn perativi'S, and also bj- the subjective negatives. The indi- cative would require ov^ei'l ov&iv. Of eouiso. the mesin- ing is very wide, including all possible oblig;itons, and not' to be limited to a caul ion agaiupt ijecnniary indtbl cdness. Fritzschc, and otbers, take oiJciAeTe in a different sense in the second clause (a kind of pnronomasin) : '' Owe no man any thing, but ye ought to love one a-jother." This i£- quite unnecessary, however.- -11.1 106 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Ver. 9. For this, Thou shalt not, &c. [to yap ci', x.T./.] It is self-evident tliat tlie Apos- tle does not take the negative coinniandments of the Decalogue In a merely literal sense. This is clear also Iroin the prominence which he gives to the last : Thou shalt not covet (Luther : Covet noth- ing ; an emphasizing of the oltject ; chap. vii. 7 is against this). It also follows, from the fact that this perfect negative conduct is not conceivable without a corresponding positive conduct. Tlioluck : " In the enumeration of the commandments in ver. 9, that respecting adultery precedes the one respecting murder. There is the same order in Codd. Alex. LXX., Exod. vi. ; the same in Philo, and in the New Testament, James ii. 11; Mark x. 19; Luke xviii. 20. Philo establishes it, by saying : adultery is the most heinous criibe." For further particulars, see Tholuck, p. 694. Briefly comprehended. 'Avaxeipalat- ovr ; see Eph. i. lu. In the expression there is comprised the idea, that all which is explained from the principle (for example, the Ten Commandments from the law of love) is again summed up in the fulfilment of the principle. Therefore not merely )!,• oinaQr i'Zftai, (Chrysostom). [So Meyer, Tholuck, Philippi : recapitu/ated ; De Wette, Alford : brourjltt under one head. Dr. Lange in- cludes both ideas. Briejli/ might be omitted from the E. V. with propriety. — R.] Ver. 10. Love worketh no ill to his neigh- bor. [Philippi remarks that the Greeks usually write iif/ci^KrOai ■ti.vd ti, while Paul here has: rm TT/.tjfTiov xaxov ovx kfiyd'^trai,. — R.] The Apostle's maxim, in the form of an oxymoron, sub- stantiates what has already been said, since love ap- pears as the great positive fulfilment of the law, be- cause it worketh no ill to the neighbor. The perfec- tion (defineil, in the main, negatively) of the Deca- logue becomes the measure of the perfection (de- fined, in the main, positively) of the gospel. [Love therefore is the fulfilment of the law, 7t ). rj () 01 fi a oi'v v6}iov tj dydTTtj. Ful- Jilmcnt, ratlier than " fulfilling," which would be the proper rendering of n'/.i]i>M(Ti,i;. Meyer : " In the love to one's neighbor, that takes place by means of which the law is fulfilled." He further adds, that, in 1 Cor. xiii. 4-7, Paul gives a commentary on love's working no ill, kc. Comp. Gal. v. 14, Lauge's Comtn., pp. l;i5 tf. — R.] Ver. 11. And this, knowing the time [xal Tor TO f t(S6r fi; Tov x ai(> 6 v . Dr. Lange : *' And knowing tliis, we know also the time," &c. See below. — R.j According to Bengel, xal rovro must be supplemented by noinrt ; according to Estius, by agcre dehemus (Tholuck, noi(7)iifv). Mey- er goes back to the precept in ver. 8 : /oyrVfrt /6v o'l- Aaiiiv, or, fiAnrn, iainv. Because we know that love, which fulfils the law, is present, we know the importance of the thne, namely, that the time of perfect salvation is nigh. To what extent? Be- •ause, by love, the works of night must vanish — adultery, murder, theft, covetousness ; therefore the day of the complete righteousness of life must dawn. If this combination be deemed doubtful, Meyer's construction should then be preferred. [Dr. Lange's view is indeed doubtful. Or the whole, it seems unnecessary to supply any thing, but rather (with Hodge, Meyer, Pliihppi, and many otli- ers) to take xai as = et quidcw, and indfed, liie rather, and to refer to? to to what precedes — i. e., to the injunction of ver. 8, as afterwards expand(!d. This is classical usage, though Tarra is more com- mon in such cases than TorTo. The demonstrative pronoun is thus used " to mark the importance of the connection between two circumstances for the case in hand " (Hodge). Luther and Glilckler con- fuse the construction, by joining tot to with ft- rfoTfi,-. The participle is not = considering {Gvo. tius, Hodge, and others), but is causal, since ye know. — The time. This is explained by the next clause, that it is high time. — R.] To aw^ake out of sleep [tj vnvov lyfQ- i>tjvat.. Dr. Lange paraphrases thus in his text: " to fully arise, or, that we should iniinediately have arisen." — R.] How very metaphorical a meaning the Apostle gives to the word, as a designation of the sleep of sin, and of the darkness and bondage of the judgment of conscience by the blindness of sin, is plain from his subsequently describing just this excited, external watching, as works of dark- ness. According to Reiche, iiTrrot,- is an image of the Christian's condition on earth ; this is opposed by Meyer, p. 481. [This condition of sfeep is that of Christians also, as the verse obviously implies, but only relatively so (Philippi, De Wette, and oth- ers). — R.] For now is ovur salvation nearer [vr v yaQ lyyt t tj (j i a\ Witl Luther, and most commentators, we refer the i^umy to // ;{ilrt, the spiritual salvation of Christianity (Moms, and others)." According to Tholuck, wc can only grant that Paul indulged the hope of the speedy coming of Christ — perhaps even to live to see it — but yet that he had no fixed pi'riod of time for it. According to Meyer's rude view, we would have to imagine, with the El)ii)nitcs, a twdfold aioTtniia ; one of which, the spiritual salvation, has already happened ; the other, the second coming of Christ, is near at hand, while between the two there is to be a gloomy |)0- riod. But this is not the view of the Apostle. Rather, the first or principial ff(.)r;/(»«rt, which ia already the saving posscs.-mm., \>. 138), where five of tlie six words are found. — K.] — liimioi.ii, carous- als* Meyer tranilates, " with nocturnal riotings," by regarding the following dative as the dative of manner. This will not apply well to j:f<>i,7TciTnv. [Philippi takes the datives ius local, which seems the simplest view. Fritzsche, dat. conitnodi. — R.] — Chambering, x o / t a t y [con(fressit>us venereis'], feasts of del)auchery, reii lezvotis, chambers and houses of debauchery, works of debauchery itself. — [Wantonness, aa t/.yfi(it.i;. On this word, see Tittniann, Si/n., p. 15L The plural shows that the various manifestations of wantonness are referred to. — K.] — Envying, u///w, jealonsi/. The re- verse side of nocturnal lusts and pleasures is noc- turnal quarrels, especially matters of jealousy, and the forms still prevailing among the works of dark- ness in our day, es[)ecially in Italy and Si)ain. Ver. 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. 'Evi)r!iT,'>ai,, Gal. iii. 27 ; Eph. iv. 24 ; Col. iii. 10. [Hodge : " To be intimately united to Him, 80 that He, and not we, mav appear." So De Wette, Philippi, &c.— R.] Tholuck : " Christ was already put on at baptism, Gal. iii. 27 ; but this ivi)i'KTOai, jnst as the being light, must also be con- tinually renewed. Besides, we nuist take into con- sideration the aorist form : The putting on as a gar- ment denotes the entrance of the most intimate communion." Meyer : " Even in the classics, ivdi'i- ktOcu tu'« denotes assuming soniebod)''s manner of thought and action." And make not provision for the flesh, &c. [ X a i T ^ i; f! a() /.oi; n o ovoiav /i rj n o i, f l a I) i tl<; e /r n9- 1 ' /« t « ? . Dr. Lange : l/nd die Pflege des FhUches macht eurh iiirht zur pflege dcr Liiste ; and of the care of the flesh do not make for ynitr- gelres a cure of its lush. Tlie order of the Greek seems to favor this, but this implies a proper care of the flesh ; so that this can only be a tenable view provided ado's, does not have an ethical sense here. On this point, see below. — R.] Luther's translation is doubly incorrect : Take c ire of the. bodi/, yet so that, &c. First, the sentence is not divided into a positive and negative precept ; seccnd, the question is concerning the (7d^>i, and not concerning the (TM/ia. The sentence contains the expression of the moral limitation of the external perception of a st;lf- evident duty. The duty is Ttiiuvoia t/^s' rrcti/xot; ; the enjoined limitation is the /< // tic imf)-. Ac- cording to Fritzsche, adol can only be understood as euro libiduiosa, and therefore the whole sentence is a prohibition. Tholuck and Meyer, on the other hand, observe that the ndi^/l, \niderstood in this sense as sensual lust, should even be crucified ; Gal. V. 24. Meyer describes the adn'i, as it is here un- derstood, as the lower animal part of man, the foun- tain and seat of sensual and sinful desires, in an- tithesis to the nvniift. His calling rsdot the material of the iTniiin, is better. [Philippi : " (Tf<(us measure [Zdtmass, measure of time] of (Jod's kingdom, and the chronological measure of the world ; (2.) Between the apostolical prospect of a future of glory which will be unfolded every day in new morning periods, and the meagre- CHAPTER Xin. 7-14. 40i •ess of the Ebionitic idea, which has only a marvel- lous meteor oi' the Farousia, on the one hand, far behind it, and, on the other, far before it, while it finds itself placed in a troublous period and an ordi- nary course of the world. The present age in prin- ciple ceased at tlie death and ret^urrection of dirist, and the future age is already present in the heart of the Church and in the world's great crisis of devel- opment, tliough everywliere still externally surround- ed by the nociurnal shades of the old age. And be- cause it has been long present in principle, and in power brealvs forth every day more gloriously, our full salvation is brought continually nearer, particu- larly in all the great epochs of the extensive and in- tensive enlargement of God's kingdom — all of which are presages of the Paroviia, which is infinitely uear to religious anticipation, and yet, chronological- ly, is indeterminably remote. All that must still precede that external Faroxsia, Paul indicates in Rom. xi. and 2 Thess. ii., and John elaborately de- scribes in figures in the Book of Revelation. 5. The very fact that wickedness seeks the veil of night, is a witness for God's word ; and as night is an image of spiritual darkness, and day is an image of spiritual and heavenly light, so are the works of night — sleep, on the one hand, and sinful nocturnal deeds on the other — images of different forms of spiritual corruption, the gross sins, which, indeed, are not only figures, but also phenomena, of spiritual corruptions. On the other hand, the put- ting on of the day, the armor of the day, have their spiritual meaning. The armor was a very striking figure to the Romans in particular. 6. The two great antitheses of nocturnal life : Lust and strife, pleasure and murder. 7. With the salvation of Christianity to the be- liever there has also broken for humanity the morn- ing of morality, of good manners, and of true deco- rum. 8. The 13th verse is an imperishable reminder of Augustine's conversion (see Conf. viii. 12, 28). HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAl. Ver. 7. To every one his due ! The Christian's royal motto : 1. In reference to his relation to the civil authority ; 2. In his intercourse with every man. Heubner : The respect which we, as Christians, owe to the civil authorities, is more than the exter- nal fulfilment of duty. Vers. 8-10. Perseverance in love. It is : 1. In respect to our neighbor a debt, which never can be paid ; 2. In respect to the law, it is its fulfilment (vers. 8-10). — The debt of love toward our neigh- bor. 1. It is a very great debt ; a. because there are so many creditors ; b. because their demands constitute a very important total ; c. because it can never be completely cancelled. 2. But it is never- theless a fiweet debt ; a. because it is not thought- lessly paid ; b. because it harmonizes with God's commandment ; c. because even the attempt to dis- charge it makes the heart very happy (vers. 8-10). — The debt of love is the only debt of the Christian toward his neighbor which is not only permissible, Dut even commanded (ver. 8). — The commandment ef love toward our neighbor as the substance of all the commandments of the second table (ver. 9). — Why does love work no ill to the neiglibor? 1. Because it proceeds from the root of God's eternal love for men ; 2. Because it will serve God in the neighbor (ver. 10). — Love the fulfilment of the law. 1. The truth of this apostolic sentiment ; 2. The im portance of it (ver. 10). Stakke : The heart is known by its behavior just as the sun is by its beams (ver. 9). — Christ's garden not only produces no injurious trees, but even no useless ones (ver. 10). — Eedikger : The eternal debt of love ! Be not weary, brethren ! He who loves, will be loved in return ; though it be not by the thankless world, it will be by God (ver. 8). — Let no one excuse himself on the ground of igno- rance ; let no one say, " Who would know the many commandments and prohibitions ? " The whole law is contained in the one word love ; Micah vi. 8 (ver. 9). Spenkr : There is one debt which we all owe — to love one another ; that is such a debt, that, if we should daily count it up, it would always remain just as great as it had been (ver. 8). — Though a thing may sometimes appear to be forbidden, if love re- quires it, it is not forbidden, but rather commanded ; on the other hand, sometimes something may appear to be commanded, but if it is in conflict with love, it is not commanded (ver. 10). Gerlach : The debt of love is never wholly pay- able ; its fulfilment increases the demands made upon it, for it makes love warmer (ver. 8). Lisco : The believer's holy love fulfils its obliga- tions even toward every body without exception (vers. 8-^10). — The one requirement of love is divided into two chief commandments, in Matt. xxii. 37-40. — Hkubxer : The magnitude of the command- ment of love (vers. 8-10). — The harmonizing of the Divine should and the human Kould can only take place by love ; by it, compulsion is transformed into freedom (ver. 9). — Every wicked thing is invariably an unkindness (ver. 10). Besser : He who shows love to another in order to get clear of him, has not love (ver. 8). Schweizer : Love, the fulfilment of the law, or, love performs what the law cannot obtain. The law does not deliver us : 1. Because it is a multiplicity of commandments and prohibitions, which perplex us ; 2. Because it pronounces a curse on every one who transgresses a single point ; 3. Because it ia presented to us as an external power issuing its com- mands to us ; 4. Because it takes refuge in threats and promises. Christian love is the contrary of all this. Yers. 8-10. The Pericope /o7* ///e Fourth Sun- day after Epiphany. — Thtm : The royal law of love toward our neighbor : 1. Its great necessity ; 2. Its inward nature ; 3. Its indescribable blessing. — Har- less : Love is the fulfilment of the law. 1. The law, a. which makes love for us an indebtedness ; b. and therefore proves it to be our debt. 2. Love, a. which knows no indebtedness except to love ; b. and therefore does not come from the law, but from faith. — Heubner : The simplicity of Christian vir- tue : 1. It proceeds from one spirit of humility and love ; 2. All its effects harmonize in one — the mani- festation of love. Vers. 11-14. The decided breach of believing Christians with darkness : 1. Wherefore should we break ofi" from it ? «. because it is time to do it ; b. because it is high time. 2. In what should this breach consist ? a. in laying off the works of dark- ness ; o. gross, sensual sins ; (i. subtle, inward sins ; b. in putting on the armor of light ; a. in walking honestly as in the day ; /9. in putting on tlie Lord 410 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Jesus Christ (or, a. civil righteousness ; /5. rights eousincss of fuitli). LuTHEH : Do not torture the body excessively by the intoleniMc holiness of watching, fasting, and freezing, as the hypocrites do (ver. 14). Stakkk : I mii.st sliow outwardly what I am in- wardly. Those who are inwardly good, must also have a good form and color (ver. i;{). — (^uks.nkl : Time passes by, and eternity presses on (ver. 11). — MiLLKK : There is many a thing and idea comjjrised in putting on Christ ; our Christianity is not a stag- nant existence, but a growth ; it is no leap, but a walk (ver. 12). — The armor of li,i;ht well becomes a Christian. We nmst either clothe ourselves with darkness or with light (ver. 12). Speskr: Let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ. But we put Uim on once by the belief that we re- ceive, as our possession. His righteousness and merit, which He has impartcti to us, and that we shall ap- pear in them alone before God's throne. We after- ward put Him on also by godly imitation, in walk- ing as Christ has walked (ver. 14). Lisco : The one care for the body, in bestowing upon it what is necessary, is natural ; the other is sinful, when the lusts and desires of the body are provided for (ver. 14). Hecbner : Christian watchfulness (vers. 11-11). Christian knowledge of the time. The time of Chris- tianity is a time of salvation (ver. 11). — There are many awakening voices : Public serviees — preachers — every stroke of the bell — tiie Bible (ver. 11). — The Christian is not a night-walker, a nocturnal riot- er, but a walker by day (ver. 13). — Temperance, chastity, love — three great prime virtues (ver. 13). — Sciiweizer: Blissful joy at the Reformation ixs a rising light (Sermon on the Anniversary Day of the Reformation). Vers. 11-14. Tbie Pericope for the First /Sun- day of AdMiit. — Hecbner: The call of Christianity is a call to awake from spiritual sleep. — The appeal of Christian watchmen : 1. It is day ; the sun is risen ! 2. Awake, arise ! 3. Be purified to new life ! 4. Put on Christ ! — Nagki, ; The awakening voice with which the Church appeals to us on its holy- days, tells us: 1. What time it is; 2. What it is high time to do. — K.vpkf: The advent message: 1. As a message of salvation and joy ; 2. As a mes- sage for penitence and renewal. — Florey : The ad- vent season is a holy morning-time of the heart and life. — Hauless : The festal ornament well-ploasing to Christ : 1. A watchful eye, to see the niglit that covers the earth ; 2. An enlightened eye, to behold the day whieh has come ; 3. A willing heart, to do what the day requires. — Petri : What time is it for us? 1. To arise from sleep; 2. To put on the armor of light. — Rautesukkg : What belongs to rising from .sleep ? 1. To open the eyes aright ; 2. To put on the right garment ; 3. To take up the right armor. — Tiiym : Paul's vigorous advent preach- ing : 1. On the advent time ; 2. On the advent duties ; 3. On the advent blessing. [Fakindon, on ver. 14 : Look into Christ's ward- robe, and you will find no torn or ragged apparel. Christ had the robe of rigliteousness, the garment of innocency, the spotless coat of tem|)erance and ch.'i'tity, ami with these He went about doing good. Out of this wardrobe we must n)ake up our wedding garment. We must be conf()rmal)le to Christ. In the ritlr of our obedience, we must not wear a gar- noent of our own fancying, an irregular, an uiiprc- ecribed devotion ; in the vnd:< of it, we must glorify God on the earth ; and in the parts of it, we must not have a parcel-garment. This garment must tit every part, and be universal. [Lkighto.v : He that truly loves his neighbor as him.>;elf, will be a:5 loth to wrong him as to wrong himself, either in tliat honor and respect that is due to him, or in his life, or chastity, or goods, or good name, or to lodge so mueh as an unjust desire or thought, because that is the beginning and concep- tioti of real injury. In a word, the great disorder and crookedness of the corrupt heart of man con- sists in self-love ; it is the very root of all sin both against God and man ; for no man commits iuiy olfence, but it is in some way to profit or please himself. It was a high enormity of self love that brought forth the very first sin of mankind. That was the bait whieh took, more than either the color or the taste of the apple — that it was desirable for knowledge. [JoiiM Howe, on ver. 10 : Would it not make a happy world, if we all so loved our neighbor : 1. That we would no more hurt him than we would ourselves ; 2. Would no more cheat him than we would ourselves ; 3. No more oppress and crush him than we would ourselves. — What a spring of mischief and misery in the world would be shut up, dried up, if that proneness to hard, harsh, and fre- quently unjust thoughts, were, by the workings of sucli a spirit of love, erased out of the minds and hearts of men ! [BiRKiTT, on ver. 14: This implies: 1. That the soul of man, since the fall, is in a naked state, destitute of those divine graces of the Holy Spirit whieii were its original clothing in the day of unde- filed innocency ; 2. That Jesus Christ is our spirit- ual clothing ; a. in His righteousness, to panion and justify us. He is our clothing, to cover the guilt of sin out of God's sight ; h. In His grace, to sanc- tify us, by which He cleanses us from our sins, pol- lution, and filthiness ; <•. that Jesus Christ, in order to our spiritual clothing, must be put on by faith : an unajjplied Christ justifies none, saves none. It was not sufficient, under the law, that the blood of the sacrifice was shed, but it was also to be sprinkled, in order to the expiation of guilt. [DoDKRiPGE, on ver. 14 : By putting on the Lord Jesus : 1. We make the gospel day yet liright- er in the eyes of all around us; 2. We antieii)ute, while here in this world of comparative daikness. the lustre with whieh we hojie, through Christ's in fluence and grace, to shine forth in the celestial kingdom of our Father. [John Wksf.kv : The whole law under whieh we now are, is fidfilled by love. Faith, working or ani- mated by love, is all that (Jod now requires of man. He has substituted, not sincerity, but love, for an- gelic perfection. — Very excellent things are spoken of love — it is the essence, the spirit, tBe life of all virtue. It is not oidy the first and great command, but nil the commands in one. [IticiiAKD \Vatso.s", Sermon on the Armor of Liilkt (ver. 12): I. What the armor of light is, with whit-h till! A]iostle exhorts us to invest our- selves. II. Why it haa the ap[)ellation of " armor of light:" (1.) Because of its heaveidy origin; (2.) Becau.se it is oidy found where Christianity ex- ists and exerts its proper influence ; (3.) Meeause it corres[ionds to the character of our disjieii.sation, whieh is a dispensation of light. III. The motives which should induce us, in compliance with the ex- hortatiuM, to array ourselves with it: (1.) From a CHAPTER XIV. 1-XV. 4. 41] •onsideration of the degraded state of man, who is not invested with this armor ; (2.) The moral eleva- tion which this armor gives to every one who is in- vested with it ; (3.) We must either conquer or be conquered. [Hodge, on Ter. 14 : All Christian duty is in eluded in putting on the Lord Jesus ; in being like Him, having that similarity of temper and conduct which results from being intimately united to Him by the Holy Spirit.— J. F. H.] Fifth Section. — The true practice of the living worship of God in the ma7iapement and adjusttnent of diffe^-ences between the sonipulous and weak {the captives under the laid), and the strong {those inclined to laxity and freedom). The Christian universalism of social life (to take no offence, to givr NO offence). Chap. XIV. 1-XV. 4. A. Eeciprocal regard, forbearance, and recognition, between the weak and the strong ; of taking offence and judging. Chap. xiv. 1-13. B. Of giving offence and despising. Chap. xiv. 13-xv. 1. O Reciprocal edification by self-denial, after the example of Christ. Chap. sv. 2-4. A. Chap. xiv. 1-13. 1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, hut not to doubtful disputations 2 [judgments of thoughts].' For one believeth that he may eat all things : 3 another, [but he] who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth [or, the eater] despise him that eateth not [or, the abstainer] ; and let not him Avhich eateth not ['»•, the abstainer] ^ judge him that eateth [or, the eater] : for God 4 hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? to his own master he standeth or falleth ; yea, he shall be holden up [made to stand] ; 5 for God [the Lord] ' is able * to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another : another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully 6 persuaded in his own mind. He that [who] regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord ; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it [omit this clause].^ He that [And* he who] eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks [thanks unto God] ; and he that [who] eateth not, to 1 the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks [thanks unto God]. For none 8 of us liveth to himself, and no man [none] dieth to liimself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and whether we die, we die ' unto the Lord : 9 whethor we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived [Christ died and lived agaiti],^ that he might 10 be Lord both of the dead and [the] Hving. But why dost thou judge thy brother ? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother ? for we shall all stand 11 before the judgment-seat of Christ [God].* For it is written," As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess [give 12 praise] to God. So then every one of us shall give" account of himself to 13 God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more : B. Chap. xiv. 13-xv. 1. 13 But judge this rather, that no man [not to] put a stumbling-block or an 14 occasion to fall [of falling] in his [a] brother's way. I know, and am per- suaded by [in] the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing [that nothing is] unclean of itself:'' but to him that esteemeth any thing to be [accounteth any thing] 16 unclean, to him it is unclean. But [For] " if thy brother be grieved with thi/ meat [if because of thy meat thy brother is gricAcd], now walkest thou not charitably [thou art no longer walking according to love]. Destroy not him 16 with thy meat, [Destroy not by thy meat him] for whom Christ died. Let not 17 then your'* good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink [eating and drinking] ; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Hoij 412 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 18 Ghost. For he that [who] in these thingS/ [herein] '* serveth Christ is accept" 19 al)le [well-pleasing] to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow" after the things which make for peace [the things of peace], and tilings where- with one may edify another [tlie things which pertain to mutual edilicationj. 20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure [clean] ; 21 but it is evil for that [the] man who eateth with [through] oflence. It is good ncitiicr [not] to eat Hesli, nor to drink wine, nor [to du] any thing whereby [wherein] thy brother stumbleth, or is offended," or is made \>>mii made] weak. 22 Hast thou faith ? '* have ii to thyself before God. Happy [Blessed] is he that condemneth [who judgeth] not himself in that thing ["mi7 thing which he 23 allowelh. And [But] he that [wlioj doubteth is dannied [condenmed] if he eat, because he eateth [it is] not of faith : for [and] whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Chap. XV. 1 We then [Now we who] that are sti'ong ought to bear the infiimitiea of the weak, and not to please ourselves. C. Chap. XV. 2-4. 2 Let" every one of us'" please his neighbour for his good [with a view] to 3 edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written," The 4 reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written" for our learning [instruction], that we through [the] ^^ patience and [the] comfort of the Scriptures might have [our] hope. TEXTUAL. • Ver. 1.— [The literal rendering is given above. For further explanation?, see the 'Exeg. Kolts. ^ Vcr. 'i.—\Re.c. (with l)^. L., Vulgate) : koX 6 fiij. N'. A. I?. C. 1)'. (mojst modern I'ditor.--) : o Si /x^. Meyer and Philippi, however, consider the lattiT a mci?hani(;i! repetition from ver. 2. — The cmondatioi;s sugrgoeted above are from Alford. They avoid the difftisencss of the E. V., but would scarcely be admissible in a revision. EiHei; non-ealer, would be more exact. • Ver. 4. — [Rfc, CD. F. L., Chrysostom, Thcodoret, read ©eds. N. A. B. C, early versions: icv'piof. The latter is ado|)ted by Lachmanii, Tiscliendoif, Alford, Trcuelles, Laiige ; the former by Philippi, Meyer, ne Wette, Wordsworth. The ©tos might have been borrowed from ver. 2, as a correction ; or the icupto? m:iy have been a jr'oss derived from rip i&iw Kvpiu. The jjrobabilities are so equally balanced, that the MS. authority must decide in fiivor of K Vpi Of . • Ver. 4. — fKpovel, is omitted in N. B. C. D. F., Vulpate, Coptic, by Auguxtine, Jerome, Bu&nus, I'ebigius, Hilary, Mill, I.achmann, Meyer, Tregrlles (in tlie veisions of the Amer. Bible ilnion and of Five Antj. Cle^g^■men). It Ls found in (/("C'.) C. L. , I'e.-^hito, iu Chrysostom and Theodoret ; retained by Kciclie, iJo Wette, Fritzsche, ptiiiippi, Stuart, Wordsworth, Lanire. Ti.-a-heiidorf varies in his different editiiini>; Alford brackets it. The usual expbmation of tbo-e who retain it is, that the omi.>;.sion was occasioned by the similar ending (poi/ei) ill both clauses having misled some of the early copyists. To this Dr. Lange adds: " The fear that the clause might be used to support a di.--regard of Christian holidays." Alford thinks it may have been omitted in the interest of the observance of the Lord's J)ay. His own view on this subject probably leads him to bracket the clause. Tlie uncial authority i.s so strongly againct it, and the want of completencj's in the antitheses might so ea.«i!y have led to its insertion, that there need be but little hesitation in omitting it. I)r. Hodge is silent respecting the whole matter. • Ver. 6.— [The y?"-. omits xai before 6 en ffija* «> 07r«e. K. dve'cTTJ) (F)'. E.) was made, after ane0. k. aceo-TT) was read, through jicrvertcd criticism; in the attempt to rrstorc ffijtrti', neither the spuriou.sness of afrffTi) nor the nroper position of i^riatv being known, the latter was under- stood of the earthly life of Jesus, and hence placed before anidavtv." » Ver. 10. — [Instead of XpicrroO (U'C. N'. L., many versions and Cithers), ©€oC Is found in !c'. A. B. C D. F., some fathers. The latter is accepted bv Fritzsche, Lachmnun, Tischendoit, Meyer, Alford, Wordsworth, Tregelles, Lange ; the former by the o'dcr criticjt, 'I'holiick, De Wette, I'hilipi)!. Dr. Hodge says the latter " is retained by most cri'ical editors ; " but the current of criticism n6w sets against it ; and what was trui' at the date of his first cdiiion (ISo.'i), was scarcely correct at tlie appoarani'C of the edition of IHtiO. Xpiorou was jirobably inserted to correspond with vor. 9 (or from 2 Cor. v. 10), though it is also claimed that Siou was substituted to correspond with vers. U, 12. Much has bei'U said on both sides, but the MS. authority seems di'cisive in favor of Utou. '» Ver. 11.— [From the LXX., Isa. xlv. 23. Instead of (ut iyiu, the LXX. reads (at the beginning of the verso): Kar' inavToii bnvvio. Instead of i(o pioXoyj^atT ai Ty ♦*«<(<, the LXX. ^Ibllowing the }Iebrew) : Ofitlrax nava fKiiaaa luv *it6v. The Alexandrine text of 'he LXX. agrees with this citation. I'hilippi and Mejer think this a chango to conform with our veise ; also, that J'aul iiuipo.scly varies, to express a general thought, which, however, lay At the basis of the special one exprcsNed iu the Old Testumeut passage. CHAPTER XIV. 1-XV. 4. 413 " Yer. 12.— [B. D'. F. : anoSuxrei. ; Lachmaim, Trcgelles. X. A. C. D'. L. : Suxrei; Philippi, Meyer, De "Wette, AUord brackets duro. The former is more usual with \6yov , hence the latter is to be preferred. The same authorities which support Suxret, iusert ov«'. '^ Ver. 14.— [N. B. C. are cited by Alford in favor of iavrov (i?Kop.ev. The vowels were readily interchanged. The ind cative is lectio d-JJicillnna ; it is tftken interrogatively by Lachmann (■'.'/. min., not nurj.). but this does not accord with the preience oi apa ovv. 1' Ver. 21. — [>;'. A. C, some versions and fathers, omit ^ crxa vfiaAif erat j) aa-Ofvel. Inserted in is'. B. B. F. L. ; retnined by ciitical editors generally. (Lachmann, 'I'iscbendort in lat> r tditioi s, Tregelles). 18 Ver. 22. — [After iria-Tiv, M. A. B. C. insert tj^ ; adopted by Lachmmn, Tregelles (no points inserted between r) (the second time), with N'^. A. L., some fathers. N'. B. C. B. F., Vulgate, Peshito, &c. : 6ypa(^j); adopted by Lachmann, Tiscbend^rf, Be "Wette, Meyer, Alford, Tregelles, Lange. B. has eypa<^i) the first time. The Amer, Bible Union omits the verb altogether ; probably a tj-pugraphical error, as there is no authority for it wr/atever. 23 Ver. 4.— (N. A. B. C. B. L., repeat Sia before t^s 7rapatcdly ; their views mieht be called Kbionitic; yet, when wo recall the I'hrj'uian character and consider the larf;e Jewish eh- nioiit In that reRlon, we sec the seeds which were then just •prin^iMg up, to bear fruil In tbe horcKies so prolific in that region. I'hryinan Kbionitism in the germ, is, perhaps, the best definition. -H.] t [The rebuke was mild indeed then, but how pregnant its meaning as wo rosrnrd it to-\lay. Where coula one re- pent more ap])ropriately than in Homo these words : " Who art thou tlmt judjrest another man's ser\'ant7" lie who is strongest In the lloman Church of to-day, is "weak," ac- cording to the Apostle's judgment.— K.] 1. They were Jewish Christians, who wished to retain the law, and also the legal holy-dayg, sabbaths, new-moon feasts (the early commentators, Chrysoa torn, Ambrose, &c., Calvin, and others). Origen'a rejoinder : " Meat and wine were not forbidden ir the law." Tholuck observes, that Paul speaks in quite a different tone against such Judaists. Tiio laying down of this category becomes justifiable, if we distinguish between doctrinal and ettiicul leijaliti, in reference to the laws on food and purification. For the reason given above, the question here can- not be concerning a doctrinal statute. 2. Jewish-Chiistia7i ascetics. For examples of them, see Tholuck, p. 699. But pure Judaism is a stranger to all strictly doctrinal forms of asceticism, and is acquainted only with an ethical form: (L) That of the Nazarites for the whole life ; (2.) That of the Nazaritic vow for a Hmited time ; (3.) The theocratic general and special ordinance of fasts ; (4.) The personal fasting of individuals in special states of life. But there can be nothing said here of all this, and just as httle of the doctrinal asceti- cism of Ciiristians of Essenic prejudices,* on whom the Apostle lias expressed himself in Col. ii. Thu? the view of Baur, and others, falls to the ground. On the abundant confusion arising from the suppo- sition that heathen motives are connected with the motives of the weak brethren here, see Tholuck's quotations on the Neo-Platonists, the Pythagoreans, and the Gnostic Ebionites, pp. 699 ff. these do not belong here with the cited examples of Jewish Naza- rites, because the latter never thought of compelling others to adopt their manner of life. 3. Ethical and sociol motives, arising from fear of mingling with the heathen sacrificial custonis. Tholuck says : " According to Augustine, reference is here made to the same persons as in 1 Cor. viii., the reference here being to those who, because they, in buying food at the market, could not sufficiently distinguish the meat offered to idols, preferred to abstain altogether from eating meat. This expiinji- tion is implied by Cocceius, and has recently been defended by Michaeiis, Philippi, and especially by Neander, and certainly has by far the strongest grounds in its favor." The treak brethren, there- fore, were not influenced by doctrinal but by ethical motives: (1.) Fear of eating meat oll'ered to idols; (2.) Of drinking the wine of the heathen drink- offerings (Deut. xxxii. 38 ; (3.) In addition to this was their necessity of still retaining as a pious cus- tom the Jewish holy-iiays, for it is well known that the Sabbath, which was observed together with Sun- day, gradually died out in the Church as a day of rest.f As examples of the abstinence named, tho- * [Meyer, and others, adopt the opinion Dr. Lango her* rejeotk. l>r. Hodtre seems to incline to this view ; but be is not dcdded in his preference of it, for he adds : "There Is nothini.' inoonsistent with the ivssumption that the.we:ik brethren hero spokc-n of were Bcrupiilous Jewish t'hris- tiuiis.''— 11.) t ( Hean Alford (following Pe Wcttc) presents a modifi- cation of this view : "The over-scrupulous Jew bniime nn wc'lic by riiiiipuhiiin. He wiis nfvniil of pollution by cniing meats saeriftcod or wine ponred to idols; or even liy iH'ina brouuht into contact, in foreign countries, with cuBual and undiseoverable uncleanne&s, which in his own land he knew the articles olferi'il for fi>od would be sure not to have in- curred. He therefore atistnincd from all pnp-iieti t""d, and confined himself to that which nt j:uU\ trice from natunil growth to Ills own use." " All ditflculty, then, is removed, by supposing that of these over-.sonipulous Jt-ws some lind become converts to the gospel, and with neither the obsti- nacy of legal .ludaiiS'-rs, nor tlio pride of nscotics (for these are not hinted at here), but in u>f/tkiiis.t nf /mlh. nr\i the scruples of an over-tender conscience, returned their hablta CHAPTER XIV. 1-XV. 4. 415 luck cites Daniel (chap, i, 8, 12, 16), Esther (chap. iv, 16), Tobias (chap. i. 12), and the Macca.bees (2 Mace. V. 27). The gradations (cited by Tholuck) of this scrupulousness on the part of the punctilious Jews, do not here come into consideration, as the weak brethren, according to Philippi's observation, did not witiidraw from eating with the Gentiles (?) and the Gentile Christians. Likewise, the decree in Acts xv. is justifiably cited in favor of the view presented. Tholuck, with Piiilippi, is right in not admitting that, because of an adherence to speci.al holidays, there ■were two parties among the weak brethren. 4. Various views. According to Erasmus, and others, both the tradition of laws respecting food and the fear of eating meat offered to idols, were motives. According to Chrysostom, and others, they would refrain from all meat, to escape blame, in consequence of the Jewish disdain of swine-meat. According to Eichhom, these people were generally Gentile-Christian ascetics, who entertained philo- Bophic and ascetic principles, especially the Neo- Pythagorean. Meyer supposes the " influence of Essenic principles," yet so that they are not led into conflict with justification by faith ; however, he op- poses Baur's view, that the people were Ebionitic Christians, because abstinence from wine by the Ebionites has been nowhere certified. He asserts, against view (3.), that the Apostle did not speak, as in 1 Cor. viii. 10, of the sacrificial character of meat and wine — as if tins had been necessary in the pres- ence of the well-known variance in the Church at Rome ! After all, the object of the scrupulousness here was not the principal thing, but the Jaying down of the canon by which " the weak and the strong " in a church specinUy called to universality have to preserve their unanimity — the one class, by not tak- ing offence in a Pharisaic, censorious spirit, and the other, by not giving offence in a reckless arrogance of freedom. A. Chap. xiv. 1-13 : Reciprocal regard, for- bearance, and recognition hetiveen the weak and the strong. Especially of the taking offence and judg- ing on the part of the weak. Meyer, on vers. 1-12 : " Fraternal behavior toward the weak asked for (ver. 1). The first point of difference between the two classes, and the encouragement because of it (ver. 5). The proper point of view for both in their differ- ences (ver. 6), and its establisliment (vers. 7-9); cen- sure and impermissibility of the opposite course of conduct (vers. 10-12)." Ver. 1. Him that is weak in the faith [t6v Si aaf)fvovvra X'tj TrtffTft]. The ()f con- nects with the foregoing ; chap. xiii. 14. After the Apostle has expressed the recognition of physical necessities, and the necessity of limiting the pro- vision for them, he finds himself induced, first of all, to admoni-sh those more freely disposed in this respect to be forbearing toward the weak (Meyer, Piiilippi). This Tipplies to the formal connection ; * but, according to the real connection, he must come, at any rate, to this difference between Jewish Chris- of abstinence and obsiTvation of days." But in a Church which was metropolitan, and hince cosmopolitan, other peculiarities misrht sharpen the distinction between the ■weak and tlie strong. Such di^-isious are the result of temperament, as well as of nationality and education. — B.] * [If the purely prohibitory sense of chap. xiii. 14 be acceptc i, the formal connection is with the general exhor- tations of chap. xiii. Ae has, then, a siiecifyins force, thoue-h it is, perhaps, at the same time, slightly "contrastive (bo Aiford).— E.] tianity and Gentile Christianity (De Wette), although only the first elements of it were present in the Roman Church. Weak in the faith. The feeble in respect to faith, the standpoint of faith and its consequences. Since each party reciprocally held the other as the weaker in faith, we might think that in this sense the general exhortation applies to both parts in the sense of: him who appears to you as weak in tht faith. But Paul does not deny his standpoint ; he immediately afterward calls one who is scrupulous respecting food: 6 daOtvdjv. And this is import- ant ; it proves that the Apostle does not design to deprive the strong of the liberty, which he himself takes, of frankly expressing his judgment on the differences. The strong should therefore stand to their conviction ; but they should not make any such application of it as would be against brotherly love and fellowship. According to Tholuck, his reason for addressing the strong first (yet not "altogether," though " chiefly ") was, not that the Gentile Chris- tians constituted the great majority of the Church, but, on the principle stated by Chrysostom, that the weaker part stands in continual need of most care. Yet the Christians of Pauline tendencies, who must not be identified strictly with Gentile Christians, con- stitute the body of the Church. As the two parties were not at all separated, the TTQod.aiipavtaO^f: cannot mean exactly receive; at least not in the sense of strict communion (Eras- mus, Grotius, Luther, and others), nor receive him to yourselves (Olshausen [Hodge, Stuart], and others), according to Acts xxviii. 2. Between these there lies the idea of reception in the emphatic sense, to draw into an inward, friendly intercourse. [Alford : " ' Oive him your hand,'' as Syr. (Tholuck) : ' count him one of you,' opposed to rejecting or discourag- ing him." — R.] In such relations of difference, the relative danger of intolerance always lies on the stronger side ; therefore the case was very different in Rome from what it was in Galatia. Yet the Apos- tle does not fail to point out the intolerance on the part of those who are punctilious. — Explanations of the 7TifTTL<; : 1. The religions belief of the ecclesiastical doc- trine (Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Beza ; Luther : the Lutheran theologians in part). 2. Moral conviction, in reference to what is per missible (Este, Bellarmine, Erasmus, some of the older Protestant theologians, Arminians, Sociuians). [So Stuart, Hodge.] 3. Accommodating explanations : The practical application of faitli (Chrysostom, and others); knowl- edge (Grotius, Semler). Against (1.) it must be said (apart from the fact that a difference still exists between the doctrine of faith, as such, and the vital energy of justifying faith), that the Apostle does not here emphasize the antithesis of truth and error, but that of confidence and doubt. Against (2.) it may be said, that the reference cannot be, absolutely, to a merely subjec- tive ideal fidelity to conviction without the objective basis of truth. It is clear from ver. 6, that the Apostle ascribes to both parties religious faith aa well as fidelity to conviction ; that the weaker br(>th- e» holds, in a certain sense, most infi-jxibly to his conviction, follows from the fact that he is of the party that judges, while the other is of the party that despises. Ver. 23 says, that he can even sin against his f\iith by eating in doubt ; and the con text says, as well, that the less careful brother can 416 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 8in iigainst his faith by an uncharitable abuse of his freedom. Thus both parties have and exercise faith, being true to tlit-ir conviction of faitli ; but the weak in faitii show tiieir weakness by not venturinj^, in the traditional scrupulousness of their legal conscience, to draw tlie full ronclusion from their justifying faith, in ortlcr to bre.ik througii their religious prejudices and prepossessions. The Apostle proves that he does not recognize this weakness as a permanent rule for their life, by tlie candidly expressed conviction of his stand|)oint, as well as by his doctrine, in ver. 14 ; but he does not wish that the free development of their con- sistency of faitli should be affected by tiie strong giving them offence, either to make them more scru- pulous, or to mislead to a frivolous transgression of their conscientious limits. As, therefore, faitli in 1 Cor. xii. it is a vigorous faith in reference to per- forming miracles, so here, in reference to the prac- tical development of life ; in both cases there is the full consequence of world-conquering confidence — there, in overcomtng the force of tlie disturbed states of body and soul, and here, iu con(iueiiiig the |)o\ver of legal misconceptions and prejudices. Tiioluck is correct in ob.serving, that the two explanations (of religious faitli and fidelity to conviction) do not con- flict with each other. Tlie religious Christian faith, according to its practical form in the d«!veloping stage of the dictate of conscience, comprises both elements ; as even the early expositors, who ex- plained nirsTiii by saving faith, have generally placed the a-rtitiiilo conxcienike along with it (see Tholuck, p. 70.5) ; while, on the other hand, it is made em- phatic in many ways, that reference here is to the moral conviction of those who believe in Christ on the ground of this faith (Meyer). [Philippi, Tho- luck, Meyer, and mo.st German commentator.s, to- gether with Alfbrd, and others, have carefully guard- ed against the purely subjective meaning : moral conviction, adopted by Stuart and Hodge. At the eame time, they very properly reject the jiurely objective sense of ttioth,-, Chriilian doctrine — a Bcnse which the word rarely, if ever, has in the New Testament. Hence the correct rendering is not : weak in fn'th, or as to faith (Hodge), for thus the article is ignored, nor yet: n'cuA- in /lis faith, which is too siibji'ctive, but (as in E. V.): vcak in the faith. Alford : " Holding the faith imperfectly — t. r., not being able to receive the faith in its strength, so as to be above such prejudices." — R.] But not to judgments of thoughts [firj tit; dm X () iiT f ti; i)i.u/.n yirr it i^iv . Dr. Lange : Doch nii-ht zur Ahiirthnlung von Bewisr/rion/en. See be- low. — R.] //trtzoKTu,- means, in 1 Cor. xii. 10 and Heb. V. 14, to pronounce judgment, sentence. /ft«- XnyitTiioi generally denotes thoughts, but, regarded as moral (or oftfu immoral) motives, imaginations (Rom. i. 21 ; 1 Cor. iii. 20), or even doubts (Phil. ii. 14 ; 1 Tim. ii. 8). Accordingly, the connection leads to the explanation : Not to the judicial decision of motii'cx. Do not keep frequent company with them for the ()bj)ct, or even to such an issue of the mat- ter, that till' mutuid motives or dill'crenci's shall be concluded by piein iture decision, that a fault-finding of the different tendencies can arise from it.. It is evident that the expression cannot mean ; " Not fur criticizing scrupuhjus niceties," as an exhortation to the strong (Tholuck).* For the Apostle himself has • [So Alford : •' In order to oottlo tho points on which ho has Hcruplcs." Hoflire : " Not prosiiminfj to sit in judg- ment ou tho opinions of your brethren." — K.J criticized the scrupulous niceties of the weak suflB- ci<'ntly plainly, by characterizing them as weak, and not yielding their point theoretically. Philipjii ia right when lie observes that, throughout the present chapter, the Apostle ascribes the x^/i'm- to the we A', but the iiiiiOtrtir to the strong. Yet he arrives at; the explanation: Receive them affectionately, so that no mental doubts arise in them. Hut this is !-ome- thing quite diH'ercnt Iroiu Lutlu'r's expresf-ion : Ho not perplex their consciences. Meiit;il doubts must nee(is arise in them, and even be awakened, if oi.e would iud them to a more liberal standpoint. But, in their theoretical treatment, they must not be forced beyond the measure of their weakness, but KUch a premature decision should not aUo arise on their side. Paul could well exact of the strong, that they should not eat meat for the sake of the weak, &c. ; but not, that they should hypocritically deny their more liberal view in mental intercourse with them, or allow it to be overcome and judged. Thia submission of many a more discerning one to the harsh judgment of the narrow-minded has ever been a source ol serious injury. But the measure of pos- sibility should be, to treat the dill'trences as non- essential peculiarities, on the common ground of be- ing the measure of a truly hearty, but also very careful, intercourse (comp. chap. xvi. 17, 18). This premature decision of what the develo[)ment of spiritual life can harmonize only in time, is there- fore forbidden to both parties. The strong are, however, chiefly recommended to deport tliems<>lves according to their difficult task, just because the oth- ers are chiefly inclined to judge. This view becomes still stronger, if tii; be taken in the sense of result. If we distinguish candidly the two views: 1. Re- ceive them, but not so that a reciprocal mental judg- ment is the result of it ; 2.. Receive them, but not to pronounce judgment on their scruples (Grotius, and others), we must urge against (2.), that the stress lies on the modality, on the manner in which the strong should be accustomed to cultivate intercourse with the weak.* Therefore Reiche is right in re- ferring the prohibition to both parties, and Cliryso.s- tom was not incorrect in attributing criticizing to the weak. That ()i,c!ixi>i.(n^ may also mean doubt (Theoi>liylaet), does not come further into consider- ation. Erasmus, Heza, Er. Selimid, have accepted the classical meaning of "doubt" for (Sin/.oyiirnnl, and " conflict " for i)icixoi(Tii;. [So E. V.] Tliere- fore disputations. Rut these have ever been im- avoidable, and even Paul has not avoided them. Ver. 2. For one believeth, &c. [oi; uiv nt.nTn''n,, x.r.A.] The explanation: He is con- vinced that he can eat every thing {;nffrn''n tliT- rni ; Tholuck, Reiche, and others), makes faith a subjective opinion. Hut it rather means: He has a confidenee of faith, according to which he can eat every thing (/.irrrf i/nytlv ;T«iTa; Fritzsche, Mey- er, Philipi)i). But he who is weak [o <)s a(Tf>fr('iv. • (Frllzsche, Tholuck, Meyer, Be Wettc, Alford, niid most, :>pply thii nddecl clause (rauiiioi : Meyer) >' meiun //loi/r/i/x, peniTiilly III mnium jturlrm. In tho New Tc'staraent. It is referred by the nuthors above named to the scnijuloua thouirhtB clicnsheii by the weak. The iika of doubt enter* only in comiection with this roforcnto.— Kl CHAPTER XIV. 1-XV. 4. 417 The E. V. assumes a strict antithesis here, but the Tov ocfrOfvoT'vra (ver. 1) is resumed ; hence it is jiot necessary to find any other special reason for the anacoluthon, tliough another may be allowable. — R.] Tlie Apostle does not continue with oi,- de, because he will first take the weak into special consideration. — Eateth herbs. Ad/ava. The expression is pressed by Meyer, but something symbolical or hy- perbolical will nevertheless have to be allowed to his explanation ; for example, the joint designation of bread, of vegetable food in general.* And it would follow from his view, that this eating of vegetables is an essential characteristic of the weak one, which can be urged with as little literalaess as that the strong one is addicted to the eating of all kinds of food. His characteristic is the eating of meat, free from all ordinances. Therefore Fritzsche, Philippi, and others, would not regard the expression as an unconditional preclusion from all enjoyment of meat, as Meyer does. Philippi : " Some would only abso- lutely refrain from eating meat in order the more easily to overcome temptation in special cases, and others only in those special cases, particularly in the social meals, where their conduct was marked in the church as surprising ; and, finally, others would only do so at the social meals, where they were certain that the meat placed before them was meat offered to idols, or, at any rate, were uncertain whether or not it was meat offered to idols. But all these could be very well designated as ^.a/arof/ciyoi-." Ver. 3. Let not him who eateth despise, &c. The i^ov&fvflv is the specifically improper con- duct of him who, occupying a more liberal point of view, in his own wisdom pleases himself (Tholuck : " The conceit of illuminism, which was found even among tlie Gentile Christians, as 1 Cor. viii."). — Judge. On the other hand, the z^mtr is the spe- cifically improper conduct of the legal believer, and it is not correct to suppose that (according to Tho- luck) the tSot'Ofvnv belongs as a species under this KQivtiv. That the Apostle, in the present section, has, first of all, to do with the one judging, the one taking offence, is plain, as well from the construction of the foregoing verse as from the succeeding fourth ver.se. It is also clear from the additional : For God hath received him [6 Ofoi; yaQ avTov tt^ offf Aa/5f to ]. He has been re- ceived into the communion of God and Christ, and thou wilt excommunicate him ? This should always be perceived by believers relying on the letter, in relation to Christians who are established upon the real ground of faith. [Stuart and Hodge (following Calvin) apply this clause to both classes, but this is t'orbidflen both by the context and by the fact that the strong are not disposed to reject but to despise the weak ; while the weak are ever for excommuni- cating the strong, withdrawing from fellowship, &c. Hence the pertinence of the clause to this class. So Meyer, De Wette, Philippi, Alford, and most. — R.] The mark of this reception is rather the peace and light of fellowship with God, than reception into the Church. Yet this also comprises the fact, that (iod has received him into His service as a servant (Vatabl.), but only indirectly. t That he does not mention bread, but vfigelabUs, can be of service in the exegesis. Even bread first passed through the hands of many people; he could more easily have vegetables from the first hand. In this sense it was the shibboleth of the weak one. Tlierefore his motive was the careful avoidance of contamination from fellowship with the heathen. 27 Ver. 4. Who art thou ? &c. {ah r iq ft, x.T.X. Comp. chap. ix. 20.] Tholuck is here quita beyond the connection (in consequence of the sup- position that iloiiQfvfTv is only a species of zoi- I'fir), when he questions whether the weak one here judging is addressed. The av is claimed to belong to both parts (also according to Reiche and Chry- sostom) [Stuart, Hodge] ; while Meyer and Philippi, on the contrary, properly find in it an address to the weak one judging. Another man's servant [aX).6rgi,ov ot- xertjr. Paul uses ol/.trtji; only here, and it oc<;ur8 in the New Testament but rarely (Luke xvi. 13 ; Acts X. 7 ; 1 Peter ii. 18). It means a hmnc-sc^- vanl, who is more closely connected with the family than the other slaves (Meyer). — R.] We must not pass lightly over the a/. A orator. It means not merely another, but a atravge one. Meyer, and oth- ers : " He who is not in thy service, but in tlie ser- vice of another. But the one who judges is also in the service of this other one. That which causes him to judge, is not chiefly the notion that he is the master of this servant, but that the servant conducts himself in his service as an alioTQioi;, who has in him much that is in itself surprising. The weak one fails to find in him the manner of the oi/.uoi;. To his own master \^tiJ) idlo) x i'()tw]. The xiQiOi; is still chiefly figurative, the master of the strange servant. In order to understand the thought to its fullest extent, we must first consider the figure. It is the figure of a master who takes many kinds of servants in his service. Now, if he has one from a foreign country who makes himself a stn-prising exception, the matter belongs to the master alone, who has become " his own master " — that is, the exclusive master. Standeth or falleth \_{TT?';y.ft tj ninrfi,'\. The standing and falling, as an expression of God's judgment (Ps. i. 5 ; Luke xxi. 36, &c.), has there- fore also the further figurative meaning of standing or not standing in the household judgment. But this figure is from the beginning a clear designation of the relation in which Jewish and Gentile Cliris- tians stand to Christ. Christ is the Master ; see vers. 8, 9 ; comp. 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; 1 Peter ii. 9. The dative may be regarded as clatip. comm., even if the master himself is the judge, because it is his loss or gain if the servant falls or stands. Explanations : 1. The standing or falling is judicially under- stood as God's judgment (Calvin, Grotius, and many others). 2. The continuance or non-continuance in true Christian life is meant (Vatabl., Semler, De Wette, Maier, Meyer). The opposition of these two views has no well- justified meaning, since, in a religious sense, God's judgment is executed through the life.* Meyer, in- deed, says, in favor of (2.) : " To make stand in the judgment (to absolve), is not the work of Divine power, but of grace." But besides the fact that power and grace do not lie so far asunder, there comes into consideration the further fact, that the question here is not concerning a making to stand chiefly in God's judgment, but in the uninvited judg- ment of men (Ebionitism, hiorarchism, &c.). He sh2dl be made to stand [araO timrat * [If, however, the judgment be confined to the final and future one, there is an opposition, and (].) must h* rejected. Alford: "Remains in the place and estimation of a Christian, from which those would eject him." This M' simplest and best. — B.] 418 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. it]. Here the Apostle completely witlnlraws the fi^iuMtive veil from the th()iit,'lit. The strong man Till niiiain staudini; in his f'recdoiii of faith.* For the Lord is able to make him stand [r5i vrtTfi ya(' 6 x r (J t o <,• (t r 7j (T a i, avrov. See Textuii Xotes * and *.— R.] Clirist supports the hjlievei. If the reading xr(Ji.o<; were regarded as an exegetical correction, we would have to eon- eider, in the reading fe>fo,-, the universal historical, spiritual, and external protection which (Jod has be- Btowed upon the more liberal heatiien Christianity, in opposition to the narrow Jewish Christianity, and to the pure religion of faith in opposition to legally ■weakened faith. Meyer : " He does not say it as one who gu'es sccnrit;/, but who hopes." This is against Reiche, who says that Paul could not go security for the perseverance for the strong one in faith, wit;i his liberal views, and hence the reference must be to the being supported in the judginent.f Grotius says, better : esl boie omitiantis. It must be observed, that the Apostle speaks of the future of the strong man in f/encre, but not of that of each individual, for he had early experienced that indi- vidual men, reputed to be strong, lapsed into anti- nomianism. Ver. 5. One man esteemeth one day above another [ S s- fi iv y.(tivn- fj /tii^iav net << >) /( t - Qctv]. He distinguishes one day from another, and selects it as a holy-day. K(ttvHv = probare. The second point of difference. Selections for feast- days, and not for fast-days, are spoken of (Chrysos- tom, Augustine, Fritzsche). In harmony with the explanation of fast-day.'?, t;/nnv has also been explained by altertiU dichus (the Vulgate : judical diem inter di m ; Bcngel : the appointment of days for distributing alms). [It has also been referred to the usage in regard to abstinence from meat, &c. — R.] Tholuck : " As from the command- ments on food, so also from the Jewish holy-days (Col. ii. 10), particularly the Sal)bath, the Jewish Christian could not wean himself, for we find the observance of the Sabbath even in the fifth century •of the Church, al.-^o in (.'onst. Ap. 25." The same author correctly observes, that the holy-days, among "the Jews, were not just the same as fast-days (see also Gal. iv. 10).+ ♦ [Dr. Ilodare, who applies ver. 3 to both weak and i atronjf, nlthouu'li admittii)^' th:it the atlmonition is cliirlly * addrei'scfl to tho woak, in his comments on this verse, makes a upecial nppliration nh«it treating the weak in faith with forbearance. This is altogether contrary to tho context.— U.] t [.-Mfonl thinks this clause is inapplicah^e, if standinfi: and fallin? at th^ threat day are meant. He adds : "Notice, this aruriimcnt is entirely directed lo the iv.iik, who un- charitably judc:es the .'•tronfi ; not »ic«-n(?. The we (Virist, whise, S'in,ii,l /»'• is; (2.) That the L-mPs almijjh'j/ priwr if nhlf to hf.'p him up, ntnl wll fl" «>.'' That this expression is not to he tnken as absolutely true of i' di- Tiduiils, is evident ; yet it must not be made too general. -Rl $ [De:in Alford arpnes from this verso apunst tho rocop- nltion of the Divine ohlitiiti^m of one day in seven by the Apostle. " Tin; obvious inf'rence fiom his stiain of arifu- ing is, that he knew of no such obliu'ation, b\it bolieved all times and days to be, lo the Christian ►trong in faith, ALIKE." "It must be carefully remembered, that this infercnct does not concern the ((ue-stion of tho ohservanre of flif. Lnrr/'s Day as an iiislil ilion of Ihr Chrisliiin Chiinli, aniilofin'in (it tho'onclcnt Sabbnth, bindiuK on us from con- siderations of h limit nil;/ and rflii/ioitx < Tp'ilinieij, ond by Ihr. rithnnf that branrh '•/ llir Chiinh in which Prnvi.hnce h>xt p'tic'i) II', hut not in any way inhcritinK the Dlvlnely- niipuiiitcd obligatioa of the other, or the strict prohibitions Let every man be fully persuaded in hia own mind [ t' /. a a t o <; t v t iZ 1 1) i id v o t tt /. ly l>oi( 1^1 tin '> i>>\. The Apostle does not decide in a dogmatical way, although he has sulKciently indi- cated his point of vicwi But he lays down a rule which infallibly leads to reconciliation. We cannot here translate vo7\; : in his dlfpoadion (De Wctte), for every one of both these parties would be thus assured in disposition. Rather, every one should .^eek to change his conviction of feeling — as it is connected with faith in authority, party infiuencc, iS:e^— into his inmost, spiritually ett'ectcd conviction. We could therefore here translate voTq : in his ? (I V i7t V Ttjv tj fl i 1) a V ]. This verse is a guiding- star, according to which every one, in his spiritual life, should become certain in his conviction. The more one seeks to sanctify his opinion religiously, to bring it before the Lord, and to change it to thanksgiving, so much the more must he distinguiA the true and the false in the light of God. Regardeth it unto the Lord [zi^jtw 9)po- rfT. The dative \i^ duf. ommudi.] The xc^noc is Christ (Meyer, Pliilippi, and others) ; referred by many to (Jod, against which is ver. 9 ; Meyer: unto the Lord's service. Yet, at all events, a service in a wider sense is meant : for the honor of his Lord (see 1 Cor. x. 31). — [And he that regardeth not, &c. See Text no/ Xofe •'.— H.] Proof: For he giveth thanks unto God by which its sanctity was defended." But the presence o< tlie fourth commandment in the D''calo(mc, the recofmition (and explanation) of tho oblipratlon to keep the Sabbath by our Lord, as well as n true conception of the relation of the Daw to the Christian Dispensation, is auainst this sweeping view. To make of the Lord's Day a merely e<'cleslastical in- stil ution, is to dri)rive it of all sanctity under a free povom- ment. Alford, too, assumes that there is a difference ol opinion implii-d herf>, respecting tho observance of the Ijord's Day, and infers then, from tho laiipuape of ver. 6, that the .\postle could not have recognized the obli^tion. or hi- would not have commended the man who did not reffard the day. But there is no hint anywhere of a differ- ence of oiiinion in retard to the observance of the Lord's Day, tlionph we mav admit that such observance was not yet universal ; bcMdes, the text of ver. fi is disputed. C'omp. Lanire's i'mnm. .Mtii'hiw, vii. S, p 217; Otlnliant, iv. 10, pp. lOii, 100; O'Inssuinx, ii. Ifi, pp. .W, .')8 ; Haldnr.e, llnmiins, pp. f)8S-72l.— Also the literature of tho Sabbath qnestiou, as published by the N. Y. Sabbath Committee. • (The tise of vovf, not nvtuna, shows that reflection, judinnint, and all the proper exercises of the pm'lic-il rea- son, are called for m the decision of questions of personal duty. It is not tlie intuition of the irvruMo in any sense, but" the full conviction of nn rdwilcd conscience, which is hero ref(opei : " Let him sail on iiuietlv, aa it were, with a lair wiiul of persuasion fiUiiiR tho sails of l:l;i own niinil."' He adds: "There may be a irAi)po(^opia, a stronp wind of pcrstiasi.m, which will not waft a man to the harlior of Truth, but wreck him on the quicksands oj Krror."-K.l CHAPTER XIV. 1-XV. 4. 419 [^fv/aQHTtfi ya^ tw 0?w]. The thanksgiv- ing at the Uible (Matt. xv. 36 ; xxvi. 26, &c.) is a proof that, with pious feeling and a good conscience, he consecrates his food and his enjoyment to God as a thanlv-otfering. [Alford : " Adduced as a practice of both parties, tliis shows the universahty among the early Christians of (haiikliu/ God at uteals." — R.] — And he who eatelh not. He who abstains from eating meat. Even he is thankful for his scan- ty meal. Ver. 1. For none of us liveth to himself [ot'cVft^; ya^ ijuHiv tavro) tij]. The Apostle designates the universal basis of the thought, that the Christian eats or does not eat to the Lord. This rests upon the fact that we exist here, that we live und die, to the Lord. Meyer says, correctly : Tlie dative must be taken in the ethico-:!e/«c sense. This telic ftc arror is, indeed, always connected with a d't' avrov and f| avroTi ; although the objective de- pendence on Christ (Riickert, Reiche) ia not directly meant, and, in an absolute sense, all these terms apply, through Christ, to God. Ver. 8. We die unto the Lord [rio xvqIu) ciTTo Or t; (Txofi fv. See Textual Note '.] Even the Ciiristian's dying is an act of consecration to the glory of Christ (Bengel : eadem ars tnoriendi, quce viveiidi). Whether we live, therefore, or die, &c. [f«f Tf ovv t(T>/ifv edv n ano O-vi] a xo) - Hfv, r..r.)..'\ This proposition does not merely serve to establish the foregoing (we eat or do not eat), but to explain and elucidate it. The stronger form, the stronger antithesis of living and dying, underlies the eating and not eating. But both coin- cide in our being the Lord's (belonging to Him). [Alford : " "VVe are, under all circumstances, living or dying (and a fortiori eating or abstaining, ob- serving days or not observing them), Christ's : His property." — Meyer : " In the thrice-repeated and emphatic rm /.i^iim (toT xv()i-ov) notice tiie d vinn Clrristi majtstas d potestas (Bengel), to which the Christian knows himself to be entirely devoted." -R.] Ver. 9. For to this end Christ died and lived again [f('s toTto ya^ X^ktto? ani- lO^ai'fr xai Stfjfffv. See Textual JVote ^.'\ The telic definition of the death and resurrection of Christ serves, on the other hand, to establish our living and dying to the Lord. The tu^/fff here, as in Rev. ii. 8, designates Christ's return to eternal life, hence the arirsrri is passed over. Olshausen M-ould understand the itridf to be the earthly life of Jesus (therefore taken as a Hmtrron proteron). Thereby a uniformity would, at all events, be con- stituted by the statement : we live or we die, but a dissimilarity would be called forth in relation to what follows. Meyer properly brings out also the fact that the xiqiotiji; of the Lord is established on His death and resurrection. But it is in harmony with the telic definition of Christ's dominion that the an- tithesis in this life — the living and the dead — re- cades beldnd the antithesis in the future life, the dead (in the act of dying and in Sheol) and t/ie liv- ing, by whom it is conditionally established. Both of the dead and the living. Accord- ing to Meyer's suggestion, the purpose is not to re- fe." the effects of Christ's death and return to life (as sundered) to the dead and to the living respectively (see his note on p. 497). Ver. 111. But why dost thou judge. The TV is here opposed to tiie dominion of Christ over the dead and the living, as above, to another man'? servant ; but the latter is now denoted brother. Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother ? The Apostle, having spoken of the weaker one, now speaks these words to the stronger, in order to maintain his harmonizing position. Here, as well as in the supporting of him who stands, ver. 4, and in the thanksgiving in ver. 6, the Apostle goe« back to the higiiest causahty (see Textual Note "). For w^e shall all stand before the judg- ment-seat of God l^ndvTfi; ydq na() aarij ao/ifda. rm fti^fiatu rov 6^*0?]. We must appear before the judgment-seat of God himself, which Christ shall administer as Lord (chap. ii. 16 ; -lets xvii. 31 ; comp. Matt. xxv. 33 ; Acts xxvi. 6). The judging of one's brother, therefore, first, en- croaclies upon Christ's office as ruler, and, second, anticipates the judgment-bar of God. Ver. 11. For it is written. Isa. xlv. 23. On the free form of the citation from memory, and from the LXX., see Philijjpi, p. 571. [See also Textual Note '". — R.] On ISofio/.oyHffOni,, with the dative, meaning to praise (Rom. xv. 9 ; Matt. xi. 25, &c.), see Thohick, p. 719 ; Meyer, p. 498. [Meyer says the verb witli the dative always means: to praise; with the accusative of the object : to cotifesx (Matt, iii. 6, &c.). — R.] That special kind of praise, how- ever, is meant, which occurs after a finished act of Divine Providence according to a Divine decision (see Phil. ii. 11). Tholuck says : " Isa. xlv. 23 does not speak of the appearance of Christians before the judgment-seat of God, but fif mankind's universal and humble confession of dependence upon God." But this unwarrantably removes the element of future time, the eschatological element, which is, at all events, also comprised in the passage in Isaiah. Meyer saj's, somewhat better : " In Isaiah God makes the assurance by an oath, that all men (even the heathen) shall reverently swear allegiance to Him. Paul here regards this Divine declaration which promises messianic victory, because it prom- ises the universal victory of the theocracy, accord- ing to the special and final fulfilment that it shall have in the general judgment."* — That even the prophetic passage itself comprises, with Christ's sav- ing advent, also the eschatological references, follows from the definite prospect that every knee shall bow before Jehovah, &c. (see Phil. ii. 10, 11). Ver. 12. So then every one, &c. [See Text- ual Note ".] Meyer puts the emphasis on txaa- To?, Philippi on rip' ('Jf'i, Others on TTf^i. faiTor. The first is preferable. — R.] In this lies the ground of the following exhortation (ver. 13): Let us not therefore judge one another any more [ " ^ - y.tTi, ovv d).).t] Xovq x{tiri'i II fv\ The Apostle here comprises both parts, and thereby makes his transition to the following admonition to the strong. B. Chap. xiv. 13-xv. 1. On giving offence and despising. " Exhortation to the strong " in particu- lar. Ver. 13. But judge this rather [ct).).a, * ["'With the reading row Xpicrrov (ver. 10), Theo- dorct, Luther, Calvin, and many others, so Philij-pi, hav« found in tio ©eui a proof of the divinity of Chiist. But the funilamentai idea is rather, that it is' Goil, whose judg- ment Christ holds ; which thought is contained in the reading toO ©«oO (ver. 10) also ; " Meyer. It is quite un- necessary to found arguments on disputed readings, when so many other passaues are at hand. Most of those wlio thus do, are natiu-ally influenced in their critical judgmentj by their doctrinal positions. — E.] 420 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. toTto tLQivaTt ^«A/or]. The x( rj ff x a r - dalov]. It does not follow that, becau.se the ex- pressions 7H) 6 (T x II fi a and axdv(1a/.ov are, in general, used met iphorieally as .synonyms, we would here have to accept a " verbosity in tlie interest of the case" (Meyei). In ver. 21 we find even three special designations : noofrxoTTTn, t; rTxHi'iinU^trai. tj aniytrtl. There also, however, Meyer, with oth- ers, regards the threefold designation as only the expression of the urgency of tlie matter. But in a real reference, the twofold elfect of the [/ifinf/ offeiia' comes into consideration. The giving offence is either an occasion for the punctilious brother to become embittered and still more iiardened in his prejudice, or to conduct himself frivolonsly, without an understanding of the principle of freedom, and thus, according to the present passage, eat meat with inward scruples of conscience.* The Apostle indicates the first case in ver. 15, and the second in ver. 23. The use of different ex[)ressions, in them- selves .synonymous, to denote this atiti thesis, was quite natural, and, in ver. 21, the Apostle seems to distinguish even three cases : to take an offence for- ward, or backward, or to be strengthened in weak- ness. Even to this very day, the offence which the Jews take at Christianity is divided into the two fractions of extreme legality and of wild liberalism. The nO-ivat, causes us to return to the original sense of the words (see the Lexicons). Ver. 14. I know, and am persuaded in the liOrd Jesus [otrirt /.ai nirrnaiiai, tv XV Q ill) 'y»/(Tor]. He knows it already a.s an Old Testament monotheist, who knows that God is the Creator of all things (1 Tim. iv. 3, 4; Gen. i. 31). But he also has the fi.xed assurance of it in the fel- lowship of Christ, by virtue of Justifying faitii in His Spirit. Calovius : iiliertafe a C/iriulo parla. [.\lford : " These words give to the persuasion the weight not merely of Paul's own loyi'^oncu, but of apostolic authority. He is persuaded, in his capa- city as connected with Christ Jesus, as- haviwf the mind of Vlirist." So Ilodge, substantially, but with less exactness, since he retains the incorrect bif of the E. V. It is doubtful whether ii' ever has this force. Jowett, iiowever, calls these words : " the form in whicli St. Paul expresses his living and doing all things in Christ, as, in language colder and more appropriate to our time, we niight say ns ' a Christian.' " But this is a dilution of the force of the expression. — R.] A consciousness of Christ's ♦ (Philippi, Stuart, IIocl(to, Jowett, and most, rocard the two <-xprcssion8 ns Byuonymous, the latter perhaps expl.'inatorv of the former. Alford diJlinKiii^hes) : "iiti occaHion of stumlilinR, in net; an occasion of offence, in Ihniight." Webstci- iind Wilkinson: "A liir^er ol)st(icle agninitt whicli we may strike tlie foot ; a siniiller one likely to cateli the foot. Tlie former licnotes a n itnin, the latter a prohabi', cau.sc of falliiiK. — AV'ord.xworth (rives as a com- mentary on thi.H verse, Home extrurts from Hooker, in ref- oronco to the non-cfjnf')rini8ts. These remiirks are emi- nently "ju'licioiis," but have a flavor of remote anti(iuity in their allusions to " oboilicnoe to rites and ceromonioa 0>^nstltuted by lawful public autliorilij."—R.'\ declaration in Matt. xv. 11 is here more probabla than questionable ; but then that declaration is not in a legal sense the basis of his freedom (coinp. also 1 Cor. viii. 8 ; Co^. ii. 14-16). Unclean: xotror, profane, unclean in the religious legal sense (see the ('mumttitari/ on Mat- t/icw, p. 277 ; the Commentary on Mark, p. 64). Lcvitically unclean was, indeed, even still a type of what was common or unclean in the real spiritual sense (Ileb. x 29). Of itself, (Ji' a'vrov, not according to Lach mann's rcailing, (Vi' ulrov. [See Textual Note ".] Of itself, according to its nature, in contrast with the economical order, the moral convenience, or the natural feeling or conscience of th ,■ one partaking. [Theodoret, reading rti'ToT, refers it to Christ. — R.] " The Apostle himself belongs to the strong (eonip. t-/ifTi; in chap. xv. 1, and 1 Cor. ix. 22);" Tholuck. But he also again distinguishes himself from the ordinarily strong one, in that he takes into the ac- count, as a c(j-determining factor, con.science and re- gard to fraternal intercourse, or habitual practice. — [But to him, ft fi ij riZ. This introduces an ex- ception to nnclran, not to vnrlenn of itsrif. Hence not = «;.;.«, but = nisi (Meyer).— R.]-^To him it is unclean. With emphasis. [The uncleanness is accordingly subjective (Meyer). — R.'J Ver. 1."). For if [tl ycii). See Textual Xote ".] The less authenticated reading f i i)i seems at the first glance to be most suitable ; but the reading ft j'cio seems to compel us to accept, that even the strong one, who knows that a certain kind of food seems unclean to his weak brother, makes himself unclean by eating it to his offence.* Because of thy meat thy brother is grieved [ () ^ o /-J ii iTi II a a i) ;■ /. o>!in, that food which he holds to lie unclean. Bengel calls this vieiosis. Conip. Ileb. ix. 10 ; xii. 16 ; xiii. 9. — R.] The difficulty occasioned by the expression ).v7ifTrai, is due to a neglect to dis- tinguish properly the two kinds of offence. First of all, the question here is concerning that offence which consisted in the weak one's being made to stumble by the strong one's eating of meat. Tho- luck : ^^ /.rnHv, according to the Xew Testament use of language: to afflict;" therefore hntlaDak is taken by expositors (Origen) •= axaviinVi'ZKjOat. But would he who too'- offence at the eating be thereby induced to imitate the example ? — Accord- ing to the Apostle, it was, at all events, the one who ate, notwithstamling the offence he had taken, but not the other, who was irritated and felt himself aggrii'ved as much liy the supposed pride as by the inconsiilerateness of the strong one. " But isuch an affliction," says Philippi, " would be the beginning of the judging forbidden by the Apostle, which he therefore would not recommend to special regard." * [If 8^ bo read, then this verse introduces « limitation to the praetioal aiJiilieation of the principle of vr. 14 (Hodire) ; but if yap be road, then wo must take the pa.ssapro as breviloqnent or elliptical. Tholuck and Meyer join wiih ei fi^, ic.T.A., findinif here fho statement of the reason why he mast atld that exception, viz., to oppose the unchnrifci- blcncss which is involved in not repirdinir it. Alford makes it depend "on the suppressed restatement of the i precept of ver. 13 : 7. r If,' &c." I'hilippi objects to both views, and urpcs his ob- jections nKaiust the better sustained readini;. Ho says Meyer's interpretation is "manifestly too far-fet<'hed ; " but his own lay so near, that the temptation to niter the text was as stronR as the desire to sustain the clianpo aKainsl overwhelminpr evidence seems to Vo in the case ol some commcutatvra. — R.] CHAPTER XIV. 1-XV. 4. 42 "Wliat ! a prejudiced man's being afflicted itself the beginning of judging ? Philippi, in liarmony with Eisner, ignores the subjective justification of this affliction, by interpreting the }.i<7Tnv according to the signification frequently occurring in the classics : to prejudice, to injure. Meyer, on the other hand, urges against this the New Testament use of lan- guage, and understands the expression to mean moral mortification, an insult to the conscience, with reference to Eph. iv. 30.* Gi'otius, and oth- ers, have referred the word to the affliction pro- duced by the charge of narrowness. The chai'ge of narrowness comprised in reckless " eating " does, indeed, come into consideration as a single element, but it is not the priticipal thing. Thou art no longer walking according to love [oi'z iro y.ara ciyctTitjv n f (j i- tt ut tlc^. For the one giving otfence injures love, and also makes himself unclean. Destroy not by thy meat, &c. [ /i i; r w ft Q It') II a T I, . x.T./..] Comp. 1 Cor. viii. 10, 11. But it does not follow fi-om this analogy (of 1 Cor.), that the brother is, in all cases, led only, by a nar- row and frivolous eating with others, to infidelity to his conscience, and that it is only by means of this that he incurs the danger of the anio/.fia, or actu- ally relapses into a state leading to this. The ex- asperations of the one falling back upon ordinances lead to fanaticism and the nnioi.ua, just as surely as laxities lead to antinomianisni. Meyer says : " The occasion to fall from Christianity (Theophy- lact, Grotius, &c.) is not at all taken into considera- tion.! But can there be, in the case of Christians, a relapse into the ann'ihia without a real apostasy from Christianity? Bengel : ^e jiluris feceris tuum cibiim, qnnm Chrixhis vi'am suam.\ Ycr. 16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of [ /t /; ft ).aa n tj ,« t ia & ii> o v v v /< w v TO ayaOov. See Textual Note '*. Be Wette thus explains the connection of ovv with what pre- cedes : " If this does not take place, then your good will not be evil spoken of" — R.] What is the good which the Apostle speaks of, and in how far is it exposed to slander ? Explanations : * [Dr. Latiorc's view appears to be correct, but some re- marks must be added for the sake of clearness. The weak brother is evidently the one who is " grieved." The offence of the stions brother is one aar.iinst chaiity ; hence the objection of Philippi, aliout Paul's paying special reg'ard to the ve'y judging he bad forbidden, is altoether irrelevant ; since charity is not to be measured by the ijropriety of the demands made upon it by the weak brethren. We reject the meaning Jiy'ine, and (witii Meyer) take Xvireirai in a subjective sense. It mu-t be distinguished from an-dAAve, to which it leads as a possible result (Meyer, iind others;. It docs not necessarily imply that the weak brother is led to imitate and thus to offend against his own conscience, al- though this is a probable result. Wordsworth suggests, as part of the injury, that he is led "to make a schiom in the Church by separating from thee." — R.] t [In iiis ith edition, Meyer omits all reference to this point. Phil'ppi, however, calls this verse a ilirliim prribans for the possibility of apostasy. But as Dr. Ilodge remarks : " Saints are preserved, not in despite of apostasy, but from apostasy. If they apostasize, they perish." — R.l X [It is evident that aTrwAeia refers to eternal destruc- tion, since Christ offered His life to redeem from this (Meyer); yet, as this destruction (like the antithetical notion, eternal life) begins here, according to the sci-iptuial representatio' s, we must t.ake it in its widest sense.— Al- ford thus parai hrases the verse, brineing out the contrast implied in the use of j3pw/aa : "The more kvirelv your brothiT, is an offence agaim-t love ; how much greater an otfence, thin, if this Avireiv end in aTroAAiieii/ — in raising (causing to act against bis conscience, and so commit sin, and be in danger of quenching God's Spirit within him) by a MEAL of thine— a brother, for whom Christ died ! "— R.] 1. TO aya&ov is Christian freedom ("in re lation to eating meat "), Origen, Thoniasius, Grotius. and others ; Tholuck, with reference to 1 Cor. x 29, 30. Then the reference to the eating of mea( is evidently nothing more than an accidental con- sistency of Christian freedom in its general nieaning.* De Wette and Philippi, on the contrary, observe that the matter in question here is the possession not of a single party, but of the whole Chuich. But Tholuck aptly replies : " This freedom was ob- jectively purchased for the whole Cliurch." There fore also the reading tjnotv does not pronounce! against this explanation. 2. Theodoret, De Wette, Philippi : faith. [Lu- ther, Melanchthon, Hodge, &c. : the gospel. In fact, this is the view of Philippi : doctriha evanqelixa. — ■ R.] 3. The kingdom of God, in ver. 17. [So Ewald, Unibreit, Meyer. With projjer restrictions, this view seems least olijectionable. (2.) and (3.) iniply that the evil-speaking is from without the Church. — R.] Unquestionably ver. 1*7 is an explanation of ver. 16, but the kingdom of God is here described as a treasure and enjoyment of faith, and there it is the first element: righteousness through Chiist = free- dom from human ordinances; see Gal. v. 1. The explanations harmonize, in maintaining that the ques- tion is concerning the Christian good, /.m^ iloyi]v. And this good must be named objectively the gos- pel, and subjectively faith ; or, if we comprise both these elements, the kingdom of God. It obscures the text to rend these things asunder by ant, aat. But it is unmistakable that the Apostle spt aks rela-l tively of this good, as it is represented in the fioe-| dom of faith enjoyed by renewed mankind. Kow, as the punctilious Jewish Christians, and particularly the Jews, saw many Christians abusing their fiee- dom, they were exposed to the danger, from this abuse of freedom, to abuse and finally to slander freedom itself, and even the gospel, according to a confusion of fanaticism similar to what occurs in our day, when men confound the Reformation with revolution, with the Miinster fanaticism, with sec- tarianism, and apostasy from Christianity. Paul already had a sufficientl)' bitter experience in the itnpossibility of avoiding such slanders, even when the greatest care is observed ; he all the more re- garded it as an obligation of wisdom and love, to admonish those who were free to make a proper use of their freedom. We must not, however, consider the slander of Christian freedom in itself alone, apart from its principle, faith. Be.«ides, this one slander of Christians against Christians had, as its result, another: that the Gentiles abused Christianity be- cause of its division, and perhaps the proudest among them made it a subject of deri.sion, that Christians contended about eating tind drinking, as if these things were tlie real blessings of the kiiigdom of heaven. This latter feature is the explanation of Cocceius. Yer. 17. For the kingdom of God. [/'«(>. If the reference in ver. 16 be to freedom, then the connection is : Preserve your liberty from such evil- * [Alford : " Tour stnngfh nffaifh is a gnnd thivi/ ; let it nol pus.'! i)ilo had Tipufr." This is more exact, and avoids borrowing an interpretation from 1 Cor. x. Yet ii is still more ope n to the objcctio' , thai the matter here referred to is a possession of the whole Church. The change to th« plural (ii fiui/), its emphatic position, and the jihrabe tc a.ya.96v itself, sufficiently attest the correctne.'^s of ihf view, which refers this '^guoW' to the whole Church.— R.) 422 THE EPISTLE OF PATTL TO THE ROMANS. speaking, since notliing spiritual is involved. If, Lortovor, Meyer's view be adopted, then a motive is presented liere, with a reference to the tenor of the evil-speaking — i. »., the blasphemy would consist in such a wrong estimate of Gliristianity, or the king- dom of God iu the minds of tliose without. The advantage of taking tlie wider view of ver. IG be- comes obvious here. For if it be restricted to the stroiKj, then this verse must be so restricted also, when its most necessary ai>plicalion is to the weak brethren. — K.] Tiie [iacr t./.tia rur (-J for, typi- fied by the Old Testament theocracy, is God's domin- ion over the heart, instituted and administered by Christ ; it is the heavenly sphere of life, in which God's word and Spirit govern, and whose organ on eartli is the Cliureli. Here, too, Meyer mixes up tlie seconil advent : there is " also here nothing else than tlie messianic kingdom, which shall be set up at the second coming i>( Cln-ist." Is not eating and drinking [fifjiTiaiq xal TToait;. Comp. Col. ii. IG. Tiie act of eating and of drinking. The reference is obviously to the prac- tice of both parties. — R.] Its nature does not con- sist in this. [Not as the Greek fathers interpret : it is not W'>n by this. — R.] Meyer : " The moral condition of its (future !) nature does not depend upon it." But righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy GllOSt [ tt /. /. a <) i xaioa {■ v ;/ xal f I (J t'j V ri y. n i •/ a t> a iv nvtv/iccTt ocyiu)^. De Wette has full ground for contending against the sliallow interpretations of these words, by a series of commentators from Chrysostom down to Meyer (Grotius and Fritzsche among the number), to the etlect that the ((uestion here is only one of moral virtues. With Meyer, the "rectitude" natu- rally stands at the head. De Wette inter[)rets these ideas in tlie full sen.se. Therefore ,he connects the doctrinal view (Calvin, Caloviiis, and others) with the ethical. [So Ilodgo, in last edition. In tlie earlier, he adoptcil the "ethical" view. Hut as he now says: " Paul does not mean to say that Christianity con- sists in moridity — that the man wiio is just, peace- ful, and cheerful, is a true Christian. Tliis would be to contradict the whole argument of this Epis- tle." — R.] Accordingly, rii/hf.io>ixncss is, first of all, justification ; neare is chieHy rest of spirit ; and joy in the Hoi i Ghost is the joy of our spirit, which has its ground in the Holy Ghost.* But inasmuch as the (luestion here is not so i«uch concerning the virtues of God's kingdom as its blessings, the doc- trinal view must be regardehaio(i Tiji O nji , x.r./..] He who, in the perception of this rule of the New Testament, serves Christ with l)ure motive, has the twofold blessing of being well- pleasing to God and approved of men. Among these men, the best among those wlio dissent ard undoubtedly chiefly meant, for the really (piarrel- some partisans are most embittered by the peaceful conduct of faith.* Ver. 19. Let us therefore foUow after the things of peace [ a o a o r r r a t ;; s 1 1 (< >'; y rj i; (lidixoi ft tv. The inference is from vers. 17, 18 (De Wette, Phiiippi, .Meyer), not from the whole preceding context (Hodge). See Tixlual Note " on the form of the verb. — R.] The iiiu)xn,v is here in contnust with the iinimlse of party excitements. The things -which pertain to mutual edifi- cation [ z ft i T ft T /; .; <) I /. n i) o n T^ c t ^ s ' ' S (i A / /; A o I's' ]. K'lificiit'wn always comprises two elements, according to the figU'Te which represents the Church tus Christ's tem|)le: 1. Arrangement into the fellowship of Christ by the awakening, vivitica- tion, and prejiaration of the stones ; 2. Arrange- ment into the fellowsltip of the Church l>y the pro- motion of what is es.sential, and by modenition in tlic exercise of gr.ice according to the spirit of hu- mility and self-denial ; .see 2 Cor. x. 8; xiii. 10, and other passages. In this sense, each should build the other up. Ver. 20. Do not for the sake of meat undo the -work of God [ h »; tv t xf v (i (» ci /i n t o ? x«rfi/rf (I'ull down) to t()yov Tor (•)toT''\. Instead of buildiiii/ u/i^ the inconsiderate one tears down. Tho y.ara/.inf and /.I'fu' are a speeifie ex- pression of this fact. The work (liuihling) of (Jod liius lici-n nnilerstood as Christian faith, the ffi.iri;- (lirt, the extension of Christi.'inity ; Meyer, and otli. ers, have understood the Christian as such. [" //.* Christian personality."] But the otxo()o/t// here evi- • [Cnlvin: " Hunc prnhalnm hominifnn tattnlur, quia n'ln piisunt nim ral-l^rr tfstimmiinm rirlnii, qmiiti neiillt cfruiiiil. iVoii qiiO'i trmpfr fitiif Dirciiiil impriibi. — S o a x u ft fi a t o (; ia&iovTt.Jl. By the one who eats, there can only be meant the weak one (according to Chrysostom, Luther [Meyer], and others), and not the strung one, according to the explanation of most commentators (Calvin, Grotius, De Wette [Hodge, Alford], and others). But the address is directed to the stroiig. Do not destroy for the sake of meat — that is, by thy inconsiderate and free enjoyriient — the work of God, for, by the n(i6(T/.o/(/ia which thou givest thy brother, thou leadest him to eat against his con- science. For it is said, first, concessively : all things indeed are pure; second, the one eating with (taken, .not given) offence to his conscience, is, as an injured one, contrasted with the one who destroys, who has given him offence ; we have, besides, in the third place, the whole context. [Those who find in offence a reference to the offence given by the strong one, rather than to the offence taken by the weak one, also urge the con- text in favor of their view. The context, however, only proves tliat the strong are addressed here. They incorrectly infer from this, that the xaxov must be predicated of the action of the party addressed. But is it not like Paul to urge, as a motive, the evil effect upon the brother taking offence ? Besides, as Meyer suggests, the other view has no special con- nection with the former part of the verse, but gives us only the vague remark, that it is wrong to eat so as to give offence to others. The objection, tliat offence cannot well be applied to offence .against one's own conscience, loses its force, when it is re- membered that the strong are cautioned with refer- ence to the effect of their conduct on the weak. — R.] Ver. 21. It is not good to eat flesh, &c. [xaXov TO ft ij (f aye IV xfjea, z.t.A.] Luther, and others, incorrectly take xa^.ov as comparative in relation to er lo [" It is better that thou eatest no flesh and drinkest no wine, or (than) that thereon thy brotlier," &c.]. Probably to tone down the force of the expression, which seemed all too strong. But y.a).6v itself contains the necessary mitigation, since it denotes a higher and freer measure of self-deny- ing love. [Dr. Lange renders it : edd, noble. Tlie case is not hypothetical ; the scrupulous demanded ibstinence from wine also, we infer from the whole passage. — R.] Not to do any thing wherein thy brother, &c. \^ntj(ih IV 10 6 adf/. go? aov. See T'ext- ual Note ".] Tholuck, and others, referrirjg to 1 Cor. X. 31, would supply nouZv with iv o>, which is certainly more correct than to supply (faynv i] ni,Hv. [The E. V, seems to imply tlie latter view , it is emended, therefore.] As De Wette properly remarks : Paul does not here lay down, as a definite precept, this principle of self-denying love accoid ing to which he had lived (see 1 Cor. viii. 13).* Oa the three expressions Tipoaxonrn, &c., see the explanation of ver. 13. [It is not necessary to find (with Calvin) a climax ad infra in these three verbs, yet they are not precisely synonymous. The figure of ver. 13 is retained, but the third verb expresses the mildest form of offence. De Wette, Philippi (and E. V.) render : is made (or becomes) weak ; Meyer, Alford, and others, more correctly : is weak. The full thought, then, is : It is noble not to do any tiling wherein thy brother is weak ; even to avoid his weak point. — R.] Ver. 22. Hast thou faith? [ffi'i niartv e/fi,i;; See Textual JSfote '^ The briefer read- ing is adopted there. — R.] Meyer, with Calvin, Grotius, and others, take these words as interroga- tive ; Tholuck, with Luther, Fritzsche, and others, as concessive, which corresponds better with tlie con- text.f [If i'jv be rejected, the interrogative form is to be preferred, as better suiting the lively char- acter of the address (so Philippi, Alford, De Wette, Hodge, &c.). The question implies, on the part of the stroiig brother, an assertion : I have faith. The concessive view: you have faith, J grant, may imply the same. In f;icC, whatever reading or construction be adopted, the purport of the verse remains un- changed. — R.] Tholuck : " The stionger will depend upon his faith, but he should not come forward with it." That is, should not come forward with it in practical uncharitable conduct; but, on the other hand, he should not dissemble the conviction of his faitli. Have it to thyself [xara aiavr'ov e/f. Keen it, because well founded, but for the sake of thy brother, keep it to thyself. — R.] This comprises not only a restriction tor the strong, but also a limi- tation of the principle previously established in ver. 21. Or, in his private life, where he gives no offence to his brother, he may also live according to his faith, yet according to the rule that he should regard him- self as present to God. — Before God. [As God sees it, it need not be paraded before man (Meyer, Hodge). — R.] Tholuck explains the evo'/niov t. 0fov by thanksgiving. Blessed is he, &c. [ft axaQ^oc;, x.t./.] Lu- ther : Blessed is he whose conscience does not con- demn him in that which he allows. So also Meyer ; Philippi, with reference to ver. 5 : " Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind." But we can- not expect here a simple declaration of the strong man's blessedness in opposition to the weak ; and all the less so, because, immediately afterward, there is mention made of the weak one's sinful eating in doubt, which the strong man has occasioned by his offence.:]: Thus the proposition directs attention to * [Hence, while a Christian m.ay strive to reach such a principle in his pr.acticc, no brother, especinlly no "weak brother," has a right to demniid it of him, or obtrude Lis stumbling, so as to exact self-denial from others.— B.l T [Fritzsche opposes the interrogative form, because it would imply a negative answer. But there is little watTant for this. If the better correspondence wdth the context mentioned by Dr. Lanpc is based on this view of the force of the interrogative, then it disappears at once. —I?.] t [Philippi and Wordsworth maliTut,\ comp. John iii. 18. Meyer: "It was nece-isary to define more specifically the actual silf- cowleiiiii'iii.ini (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Grotins, and most commentators)." But tliei'c is a great differ- ence between self-condemnation and actual self-con- demnation. If the explanation, " to be subject to Divine condemnation," does not say: lobe already subject to the final judgment, then must it be ex- plained to mean, that a Divine sentence on his con- demnal)le (not connd refined distinction. — H.| • (.Meyer properly rejects the coinmon view, which takes Kfiivav as r^ Karaxptfuif, tiiit explains it thus : " whit iloi.i iiol lio'fl ju'ljjiiifiit ot>4'r liim^ilf'i i. r., who is so assured In hi- omvieton, tliiit his decision to do this or that incurs no ic;f-jud,nuont." Dr. Ii:in'.;u's cxplnnation is occasioned by his view of the whole sentence. — U.] f (Mi-yr finds here an antithesis to "hlessod" (ver. 2J» ; 'i.it t'li- idea of J)ivinc co idemnation must lie properly limited. I'hilippi : "The act of ciitlni; it-^elf condemns him. 'f c lU'-^e iiecordinR to the Diviw oideriiiR, so that thi- Justice of tins verdict appears not only before God, but Oufure utun, uud himself also." — U.l grounded on and consonant with his life of faith That ''faith in the Son of God ' by which the Apos^ tie describes his own life in the fles'.i as being lived, informing and penetrating the motives and the con- science, will not include, will not sanction, an act done against the testimony of tiie conseiencc." This is, perhaps, more in accordance with Dr. Lange's view of niari.^ (see below) than the ordinary inter- pretation, which confines it to mere pirxuasioit, moral conviction (Hodge, De Wette, and most). — R.J And \7hatsoever is not of faith is sin [n av () « o V x i/. ni ar 1 1» <,• a u a {i r i a, ta- riv\ To be read as a concluding sentence, and not as an explanation of the foregoing : because every thing which is not of faith, &c. [The E. V. (for) is incorrect ; and should be substituted, di io- troilucing, as Alford suggests, au axiom. — R.] — Con- flicting explanations : 1. Augustine, and many other commentators ; Calovius, &c. ; whicli is not of Christian saving faith. Then the consef l?.onfV de /y/ffit; ol di'vuroi. The di does not stand for orr, as the E. V. indi- cates (so Hodge), aUhough it connects with what precedes (Meyer, Philippi, &c.). — R.] Tholuck nndg in de continuative a proof that the division of the chapter has been improperly made at this verse. As far as conviction is concerned, the Apostle stands on the side of the strong; see chap. xiv. 14, 20; 1 Cor. viii. 4. [To bear, ^ctaT(xjv .^ Bengel : Bonimi {ayu- 06v) ge?ius, cedifcato species. There is, fir.st, tic;, then, TT^oi;. In order that one may aid the other in what is good, he should promote his edification, his sense for the fellowship of what is good. The good chiefly meant here is self-denying love, the constant exercise of humility. Ver. 3. For even Christ pleased not him- self [ X oc t yoiiJ 6 X Q iCFT Oi; ov/ tavri'i '/ {' f • (jfv. Dr. Lange rendeis: Denn (selbsi) aneh Chris- tus lebte nicht sich selber zum GefaRen. The E. V. is more literal. — R.] See Phil. ii. 6 ; 2 Cor. viii. 9. Phashig one's self denotes the inconsiderate and unfriendly pursuit of the ideals of our own subjec- tivity in the selfish isolation of our personal exist- ence. But, as it is •written, &c. [aX?.a xaOox; yiy()anrai,, y..r.).. See Textual Note ^'.] Ps. Ixix. 9. The sentence is literally cited. On the different supplements suggested with a// a, see but also to the brethren nt Rome and one or more other places Local and individual items were adjoii cd, accord- ing as the special destination of the general circular. These specialities were selected, and sewed on, so to speak, to the final edition, by honest editors, more desirous of saving all St. Paul's authentic words than of nice literary fnrm. Here is tie explanation of repetitions, and of salutatory phrase, in the midst of the Epistle to the Romans, otherwise inex- plicable in the text of a so clean, straightforward, inelegant, but logical writer as St. Paul." It would seem tliat his view is but a vivacious and characteristic phase of tlio general theory advanced by the Gennan authors named above.— R.] 426 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Meyer, who would not supply any thing.* Grotius Buggosts the most natural one : fecit. The citation is Iroiu the LXX. The tlieoretical sufferer, who was reproaclied for the Lord's salie, was a type of Christ ; but Christ's suhji-cting liiiuself to the reproaehes of the world jjrococded from His steadfa^st fellowship with huuiauity for God's sake. I'or himself, He might iiave had joy ; Heb. xii. 2, 3. [Alford : "The words in the Messianic Psahn are addressed to the Father, not to tiiose for whom Clirist sufl'ered ; but they prove all that is here required, that he He did not please himself; His sufferings were undertaken on account of the Father's good purpose — mere work wiiicii He r/ave JIhn to do." — K.] Ver. 4. For vrhatsoever things were writ- ten aforetime [dffa ya() 7i(jufy()dii tj. Jus- tification of the previous citation (Philippi), and a preparation for the subject to be introduced next, viz., tiie duty of unanimity (Alford). In n(io, just before the emphatic tj/itritjuv, Meyer correctly finds the thought : All before our time — /. e., the wliole Old Testament. — K.] This does not apply merely to the messianic proplieeies (Keiche). Tlie immediate design of the entire Old Testament Scrip- tures for the Jews does not preclude their universal puri)ose for all ages. That we through the patience and the comfort of the Scriptures [I'va duo. rTj<; vno- fi ovij^ xai () (,a T 7j s' n ccftax X // a fox; r iTiv y()a- q,u)i'. See Textual Xote ". The repetition of rfi. a seems to favor the view that y()a(ft7)v depends on na(jax).r] a tox; aloue ; yet many commentators, who adopt this reading, claim (and with reason) that such a construction would be uiigrammatical. Still, Dr. Lange seems to favor it. We paraphrase : " the patience aad comfort produced by a study of the Scriptures." — H.] Two things should support the believer, particularly in looking at tiie retarding, ob- structing prejudice of the weak : J^irst, the patience immanent in the Christian spirit (patience evidently suits better here than constancy, which Meyer pre- fers). [So Philippi, Dc Wette, &c.] Second, the comfort of the Holy Scriptures, which, in the pres- ent connection, consisted in the fact that, in spite of all the impediments to spiritual life in the Old Testanieiit, the development ty the New Testament neverthcli'ss iJiocceded uninterruptedly. Might have our hope [ri/v tXTiiSa ix«)- ftfv. Dr. Lange: mi'jht hold fatt hope. Others: might have more and more of the Christian hope. — R.] And then, this comfort was an encomage- ment to hold fast hope as the hope of better times ; that is, of the ever newer and more glorious devel- opments of God's kingdom, in Spener's sense. Beza, and other.s, properly explain : tcncamus, which ia opposed by Meyer. We can, indeed, preserve liope by patience, but not acquire it. According to Meyer, indeed, patience should also l)e referred to nnv yonrfi. (against Grotius, and others), and this shoulil thcrelbre imbue Christians. Put yet tin; i)a- tirnci' and comfort of the SiTiptiires could not niean, without something further: the patience and the comfort with which the Scriptures imbue us. [The genitive y(iu(ii7ti' U joini'd with I'no/iovTji; also, by ChrysostoMi, and by most modern connnentators. In fact, this ia the only view which can be Justified • [So Do Wotto, Philippi, and others. The E. V., by putting a comma after " but," (rives the sarao intorprotatioii — i. «., but the repronohos, as it is written, Ac. The nl)- tuiico of any formula uf citation tavota this construction. grammatically. " The patience and comfort pro duced by, arising from, a study of the Scriptures," is the simplest and best sense. So Alford, and most. — R.] — It is justifiably urged by Meyer, against Reiche, and others, that hope must here be taken subjectively. Of course, he who lets go his sulijec- tive hope, gives up thereby its object. [The hope id undoubtedly to be regarded as subjective, but tho article (wliich we preserve in English by rendering : our hope) points to a definite Christian hope, viz., of future glory. It would then seem appropriate to understand " we might liave hope " as referring to the obtaining of a higher degree of this hope through the patieuce, &c. (So Meyer, Philippi, l)e Wette). DOCTRINAI. AND ETHICAL. 1. The present section contains a confessional Eirenicon oi the Apostle. It requires : (1.) Recip- rocal recognition of the common ground of faith. (2.) The balancing of the conviction of faith with the conduct of love. (3.) Above all, watchfulness against particular ethical errors on both sides. [Tho profound insight into human nature manifested in this chapter, combines, with the unparalleled adap- tation of its precepts to the social life of men in all ages, to prove " the God of peace " its author. In America, where society is newest, most experimen- tal, and yet public opinion so tyrannical, where, per- haps, tlie extremes of the weak and the strong are found, it deserves especial study. — R.] 2. As the name, the weak; is not an unconditional reproach, so the strong is not unconditional praise. The weak one's prejudice is a certain protection so long as he keeps his weakness pure — that i.s, does not make it a rule for others ; the strong one's jus- tifiable sense of freedom leads to the danger of self- boasting, particularly against love, which can draw in its train the loss of faith. These propositions can be proved by the exanqile of pious Catholics and of wicked Protestants. Yet the standpoint of the strong man is in itself highei", and though he becomes very guilty by the abuse of his freedom of faith, tiie Apostle yet portrays, with very strong e.\pre.-N>ii(ms, the ruin of those who eat in doubt. Tlie uidiherated ones, who would not be free in a positive, but in a negative, and therefore insufficient way, liecome the most unmitigated anomists and nntiiiomians both in a religious and mond respect. If, in the time of the Reformation, all Protestants had Itecome po.-itivdy free by Christ, Protestantism would hardly have ex- perienced in its history such great impediments of reaction as that of unbelief. [Weak and strong, old and new, conservative and radical — these antitheses arc not precisely sy- nonymous, yet, iu their leading features, the sjime. He does what Paul has not done, who throws him- self entirely with one class or the other. The Church has ever contained, and has ever needed, both elements. Yet sometimes tho.se are deemed radical who answer to the description here given of the weak bretliren ; and tho.se wlio are tridy strong are often classed with the old-fashioned. — The cnu- tion about judging is firophetic of what is so mani- fest in the lustory of Christ's Church in her imper- fection : that iiKire divisions and discords have arisen from the (|ucstions, about which the ,\]>ostle himself gives no delinite decision, tluui from the discussion of the weightier mutters of the earlier chapteri -R.] CHAPTER XIV. 1-XV. 4. 421 3. It is almost impossible to emphasize sufficient- ly the two distinctions to which the present section leads us. Tlie Apostle shows, first, that we should not deny our free conviction, but should deny our- selves in reference to the inconsiderate conduct ac- cording to conviction in practical things, that do not belong to the testimony of faith. How often is this r>il3 exactly reversed, by one's asserting a narrow view iu order to please the weak (for example, in tlie condemning art, concerts, innocent relaxations, &c.), while he himself willingly enjoys occasionally the forbidden fruit.* The second distinction is brought just as closely home — namely, between do- ing and leaving undone. What one cannot do with the inward assurance of bis conscience, must not be done at all. 4. The opposite tendencies that are presented to us as a germ in the Church at Rome, extend in con- tinual gradations through the books of the New Tes- tament, and confront each other in the second cen- tury as the matured opposites of Ebionitism and of Gnostic antinomiauism. — On the relation between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians at the time of Justin Martyr, see Tholuck, p. 704. 5. On the idea of weakness in faith, and conduct which is not of faith, see the Exeg. Notes on vers. 1 and 23 ; comp. Tholuck, p. 706 ff. 6. " For God is able to make him stand ; " ver. 4. How gloriously this has been fulfilled ! see the Exeg. Notes. 7. On the duty of striving after a certain convic- tion, and tlie means for attaining it (self-knowledge and gratitude), see the Exeg. Notes on ver. 5. 8. On ver. 6. Thanksgiving makes every pure Christian enjoyment a real peace-offering ( C5!l3 ). 9. On ver. 8. On the Lordship of Christ, see Tholuck, p. 715 If. Discussions on the divinity of Christ, on ver. 10, see Philijjpi, p. 572. 10. Every thing is pure. According to Olsliau- (sen (in respect to the laws on food), creation has again become pure and holy through Christ and His sanctifying influence. The proposition cannot be opposed, but how far must it be more specifically defined ? As the creature of God, it has again been recognized as pure and holy. As a means of enjoy- ment, it has again been freely given in a religious sense. But as a real enjoyment, it is only pure and holy to the one enjoying, when he has the full assur- ance of his conscience, and therefore eats with thanks;j:iving. But in this the natural repulsion, practice, law, and a regard to love, limiting the circle of the means of enjoyment, as well as of the enjoy- ment itself, come into consideration, because they also limit that assurance. 11. The understanding of the present section has been rendered much more difficult by not regarding the manner in which the offence is divided into the * [The emphatic deliverances of ecclesiastical bodies as matters of minor morals (even making doubtful matters terms of cominunion) must often be regarded by the care- ful re.ider of this chapier as overpassing the limits here set to bearing the ii firmities of the weak. When that about which the Word of God makes no distinct utterance, is nadc a term of cnmmuiiion, those who ai-e thus wise above ^hat is written are not acting to "edification." It is mit Jin attempt to make holy b\ an ecclesiastical law. If Gcd's law cou!d not do this "in that it was weak through the flesh," man's law is not likely to accomplish the result arrived at. "Strange as it miy appear, it is nevertheless true, that scruples about lesser matters almost always in- volve some dei:eliction of duty in greater and more obvious ones" (.Towett). Comp. the very valuable dissertation of this author on "Casuistry," Cumm. ii. pp. 322-357. — R.] two fundamental forms of irritation and presump* tion. See the Exeg. Notes on vers. 13 and 21. - 12. Luther's expression, "the Christian is a mas« ter of all masters, a servant of all servants," come* into consideration here. Gregory the Great had ex pressed the same sentiment, but in a reverse order and apphcation : " Free in faith, serving in love." The parable beginning with Matt, xviii. 23 tells us that the consistent and conscious offence against love weakens faith. 13. Bearing with the weak has: (1.) Its founda- tion in the fact that the Almighty God bears in love the world, which in itself is helpless ; (2.) Its power and obligation consist in the fact that Christ has borne the guilt of the helpless world ; (3.) And its dignity lies in the fact that the strength of the strong first finds in this function its whole truth, proof, and satisfaction. 14. On the idea of edification, see the Exe^ Notes on chap. xiv. 19. 15. The word of the Old Testament Scriptures is still of application; how much more, therefore, is this the case with that of the New Testament ! Yet. in this relation, we dare not overlook the truth, thai Christian life may have but one rule of faith, but yet two fountains : the Holy Scriptures, and the imme- diate fellowship of the lieart with Christ, from which the patience of Christ flows. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vers. 1-12. On the proper reciprocal conduct of the strong and weak in faith. 1. What form should it take ? a. The strong should receive the weak, and not de- spise them ; h. The weak should not judge the strong. 2. On wkat should it be established ? a. On every body's remembering that God has re- ceived the other as well as himself ; b. Therefore he should consider that, in whatever the other one does or leaves undone, he does it or leaves it undone to the Lord ; c. Do not forget that the decision on our course of action belongs to the Lord alone, to whom we all belong, and before whose judgment-seat we must all appear (vers. 1-12). — Who art tliou that judgest another man's servant ? Two things are im- plied in this question of the Apostle : 1. Directly, a warning to guard against any judgment of faith on our brethren ; 2. Indirectly, an admonition rather to judge ourselves, and to perceive the weakness of our own faith (ver. 4). — In matters of conscience, each one standetVi or falleth to his Lord (ver. 4). — The great value of a strong religious conviction. 1. To ourselves, a. We act according to fixed prin- ciples ; b. We do not vacillate ; c. We preserve our inward peace. 2. To others, a. They know where they are with us ; h. They therefore entertain confi- dence in us ; c. Their own life is improved by our example (ver. 5). — The possibility of thanksgiving to God as a test of enjoying that which is allowed (ver. 6). — As Christians, we are the Lord's posses- sion. 1. What is this? a. No one liveth to him- self, and no one dieth to himself; that is, whether in life or in death no one belongs to himself; but, b. Whether we live, let us live to the Lord, or whether we die, let us die to the Lord ; that is, we belong, in life and death, to Him ; we are His. 2. By what means have we become the Lord's proper, ty ? a. By Christ's death ; b. By His resurrectioa 428 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. and glorification (vers. 7-9). — We shall all appear before the judgiuuut-seat of Christ ! This is said : 1. To the weak in faith, that he may not judge his brother ; '2. To the strong, that he may not despise his brother ; 3. To botli, that they may examine themselves (vers. 10-12). — The great aecount wliicii eveiT one of us shall iiave to give in future. 1. Of whom '? Of himself, on all that he lias done and left undone. 2. Before whom ? Before God, who kncweth the heart, and seeth what is secret (ver. 12). LfTiiEU : There are two kinds of Ciiristians: the strong in faith, and the weak. The former arrogant- ly despise tlie weak, and tlie latter easily get offend- ed at the strong. Both siiould conduct themselves in love, that neither offend or judge the other, but that each do and allow the other to do what is use- ful and neces.skk: To des[)ise and to judge — each is as bad (LS the other, for in both man encroaches upon God's right, and arrogates to himself a judgment on another's state of faith and heart, which becomes an injury to his f)Wn life of faith (vc-r. 3). Sc'iiLKiKUMACiiKH : Xew-Year's Sermon on vers. 7 ind 8. The language of the text is place4l l)cfore U? as a motto on entering this new year of life : 1. In reflation to what shall hap|)en to us ; 2. In rela- don to what we shiill be recpiired to do. [CiiAK\(MK : Christ, by His death, acrpiired over •.19 a rif.'lit of lordship, and hatii laid upon us the strongest obligation to serve Him. He made him- self a sacrifice, that we might perform a service to Him. By His reviving to a new state and condition of life. His right to our obedience is strengthened. There is no creature exempt from obedience to Him, Who would not be loyal to Hini, who hath already received : 1. A power to protect ; 2. A glory to re- ward ? [John Howk : Receive the poor weakling, for God is able to make him stand. Every new-born child is weak, and we must renjcmbcr that this is tlie case with every regenerate soul. [Bishop Hopkins: On ver. 12, All the wicked- ness that men have brooded on and hatched in the darkest vaults of their own hearts, or acted in the obscurest secrecy, shall be then made as manifest as if they were every one of them written on their foreheads with the point of a sunbeam. Here, on earth, none know so much of us, neither would we that they should, as our own consciences; and yet those great secretaries, our own consciences, through ignorance or searedness, overlook many sins which we commit. But our own consciences shall not know more of us than all the world shall, for all that has been done shall be brought into publio notice. [Henry: Though some Christians are weak and others strong, though of different sizes, capacities, apprehensions, and practices, in lesser things, yet they are all the Lord's. They serve Christ, and ap- lirove themselves to Him, and accordingly are owned and accepted of Him. Is it for us, then, to judge or despise them, as if we were their masters, and they were to make it tiieir business to please us, and to stand or fall by our sentence ? [Wesley, Sonnon on the Great Assize, Rom. -xiv. 10 : Consider : 1. The chief eircnni stances which will precede our standing before the judg- ment-seat of Christ; 2. The judgment itself; 3. Circumstances which will follow it ; 4. Application to the hearer. [RoBKitr Hall : The proper remedy for a diver- sity of sentiment is not the e.xercise of compulsory power, much less a separation of communion, but the ardent pursuit of Christian piety, accompanied with an humble dependence on Divine teaching, which, it may reasonably l)e expecteii, will in due time correct the errors and imperfections of sincere believei-s. The proper conduct to be maintained is a cordial co()[)eration in every branch of worship and of practice witli respect to which we agree, with- out attempting to effect a unanimity by force. [HicuAKi) Watson, on vers. 7, 8: The exten- sion of the work of Christ in every age goes upon the same iirinciple. The principle of selfishness and that of usefulness are distinct and contrary, dne is a point, hut the ct'iitre is notlung ; the other is n ])rogressive radius, which runs out to the circumfer- ence. The one is a vortex, which swallows up all within its gorge ; the other is the current-stream, which gushes with an incessant activity, and sjireads into distant fields, refreshing the thirsty earth, and proilucing rielmess and verdure. The piineiple of one is conlraeiion ; of the other, expansion. Nor is this a sluggish or inactive principle. Lively desires for the acknowledgment of Christ by men, strong and restle.ss jealousies for His honor, tender sympa- thies with the moral wretchedness of our kind, deep and solemn impressions of eternal realities, and of the danger of souls ; these are the elements which feed it ; and they cairy Chi istian love beyond evjo the pliilanthrojiy of the natural law. CHAPTER XIV. 1-XV. 4. 42R) [BoDGK : Owing to ignorance, early prejudice, Weakness of faith, and otiier causes, there may and must exist a diversity of opinion and practice on minor points of duty. But this diversity is no sufB- cient reason for rejecting from Christian fellowship any member ot the family of Christ. It is, how- ever, one thing to recognize a man as a Christian, and another to recognize him as a suitable minister of a eliurcli, organized on a particular form of gov- ernment and system of doctrines. [F. W. Robertson : It is always dangerous to multiply restrictions and requirements beyond what is essential ; because men, feeling themselves hemmed in, break the artificial barrier, but, breaking it with a sense of guilt, tiiereby become hardened in con- science, and prepared for transgressions against com- mandments which are divine .and of eternal obliga- tion. Hence it is tiiat the criminal has so often, in his confessions, traced his deterioration in crime to the first step of breaking the Sabbath-day ; and, no doubt, with accurate truth. — If God has judgments in store for England, it is because we are selfish men — because we prefer pleasure to duty, party to our church, and ourselves to every thing else. — J. F. H.] Ters. 13-16. On avoiding oifence. 1. Offence cannot be avoid- ed at the expense of personal freedom ; 2. Just as little can it be avoided at the expense of love toward a brother (vers. 13-16). — If you would avoid stum- bling or offence, then preserve : 1. Your personal fi-eedom ; 2. But do not injure love toward a brother, for whose sake Christ died (vers. 13-16). — Nothing is unclean in itself; much is unclean if one so regard it (ver. 14). — Take care that your treasure be not evil spoken of ! 1. What is this treasure ? Spiritual freedom. Comp. ver. 6 ; 1 Cor. x. 30 ; 1 Tim. iv. 4. 2. How can it be protected against slander ? When the strong man in faith rejoices in its possession, but at the same time walks charitably (ver. 16). Luther : The gospel is our treasure, and it is evil spoken of when Christian freedom is so boldly made use of as to give offence to the weak. Starke, Hkdinger: Take heed, soul, lest you give offence ! No stumbling-stone, no sin, however small you think it may be, is really small if it can make a weak one fall. Use the right which you have, but use it aright; Matt. xvii. 24 (ver. 13). Gerlach : It is not our office to judge our brother, and to decide on his relation to God ; but it is every Christian's office to pronounce decidedly against uncharitableness, which can condemn another to his fiill. Heubner : The treasure is Christian freedom, deliverance from outward ordinances. It is evil spo- ken of either by the enemies of the Church, when they see the dissension of Christians, or by the weaker brethren, when they condemn the stronger, and use their freedom presumptuously, or by the stronger, when they give offence to the weaker, and injure their conscience (ver. 16). Bessek : It is a true proverb : " Though two do the same thing, it is not really the same thing," for not the form of the deed, but the sense of the doer, decides as to whether any thing is unclean or holy, or contrary to faith and love (ver. 14). [Jeremy Taylor : In a ripe conscience, the practical judgment — that is, the last determination of an action —ought to be sure and evident. Tliis is plain in all the great lines of duty, in actions de terminable by the prime principles of natural rea« son, or Divine revelation ; but it is true also in all actions conducted by a right and perfect consciences There is always a reflex act of judgment, which, upon consideration that it is certain that a publio action may lawfully be done, or else that that whicfc is but probable in the nature of the thing (so far aa we perceive it) may yet, by the superadding of some circumstances and confidential considerations, or by equity or necessity, become more than public in the particular. Although, I say, the conscience be un- certain in the direct act, yet it may be certain, right, and determined, in the reflex and second acl of judg- ment ; and if it be, it is innocent and safe — it is that which we call the right and sure conscience {Tlie Rule of Conscience, Works [Bishop Heber's edi. tion], vol. xi. pp. 369-522). Clarke : It is dangerous to trifle with conscience^ even when erroneous ; it should be borne with and instructed ; it must be won over, not taken by storm. Its feelings should be respected, because they ever refer to God, and have their foundation in His feaii He who sins against his conscience in things which every one else knows to be indifferent, will soon do it in those things in which his salvation is most intL. mately concerned. It is a great blessing to have a well-informed conscience ; it is a blessing to have a tender conscience, and even a sore conscience is bet- ter than none. [Barnes : Christ laid down His precious life for the weak brother as well as for the strong. He loved them ; and shall we, to gratify our appetites, pursue a course which will tend to defeat the v/ork of Christ, and ruin the souls redeemed by His blood ? — Do not so use your Christian liberty as to give occasion for railing and unkind remarks from your brother, so as to produce contention and strife, and thus to give rise to evil reports among the wicked about the tendency of the Christian religion, as if it were adapted only to promote controversy. — J. F. H.] Vers. 17-23. The glory of God's kingdom as a kingdom : L Of righteousness ; 2. Of peace ; 3. And of joy in the Holy Ghost (ver. lY). — God's kingdom is: 1. Not a kingdom of dead ordinances, by which the conscience is oppressed ; but, 2. A kingdom of liv- ing, evangelical truth, by which righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost are planted and promoted (ver. 17). — God's kingdom is a kingdom which: 1. Rests on righteousness ; 2. In whose borders peace reigns ; 3. To belong to which brings joy to the hearts of all its citizens (ver. 1*7). — The blissful service of Christ. 1. The service is in righteous- ness, &c. ; 2. The blessing : a. That we are accept- able to God ; b. That we are approved of men (vers. 17, 18). For what should members of the Christian Church strive, if in most important matters they are one, but in unessential matters they have differ- ent views ? 1. For what makes for peace ; 2. For what contributes to edification (ver. 19). — Even the weaker brother's Christian life is God's work ; tlsere- fore be indulgent toward his conscience ! (ver, 20.) — Rather deny self than offend a brother (ver. 21), — The happiness of Christian freedom (ver. 22).— The condemnation of the doubting conscience (vep. 430 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 23). — What is not of faitli is sin, 1. How often is thi.s expression misunderstood ! a. When it is su[>- posed that all the virtues of the lieatlien are glaring Bins ; h. When all tlie civic righteousness of uncon- verted people is condemned in like manner ; c. When the whole civilized life of the present day re- ceives the same judgment. Therefore, 2. There arises the serious question, How should it be under- stood ? a. As a declaration which has no applica- tion whatever to the heathen, or to unconverted people in Christendom, but strictly to awakened pro- K'ssors of religion ; and, in consequence thereof, b. Contiiins an appeal to them to do nothing which cannot be done with the full joy of faith (vcr. 23). LcTHER, on ver. 23 : Observe, that all this is a general declaration against all works done without filth ; and guard against the false interpretations here devised by many teachers. SrAiiKK : A reconciled and quiet conscience is the workshop of spiritual joy (ver. 17). — Osia.ndek : Tlie most certain rule of conduct for using Christian freedom, is to contribute to our neighbor's edifica- tion and improvement, but not to his downfall and ruin (ver. I'J). Spe.nkr : The Apostle would say (ver. 17), that you should be careful of nothing but God's king- dom. Wlicre this is promoted, it should make you rejoice, and it should grieve you when it suffers. That, on the other hand, which does not concern God's kingdom, should be regarded by you as a small matter. Gerlacii : The righteousness which avails in God's kingdom is not an outward observance of the law, but inward holiness ; the peace with God which we have in it overflows to our bretliren, and holy joy destroys both all anxiety and every thing wliicli can offend and grieve our neigliljor (ver. 17). Lisco : To attach importance to eating and drinking, to hold that there should henceforth be no ^cruple at certain kinds of food, or that, on the ( thcr hand, this or that shoidd be renounced, is no sign of true Christianity (ver. 17). Hecbskr : The mistaking of what is essential in Ciiristianity, makes us petty ; while laying stress on merely secondary matters unfits us for accomplish- ing the principal object (ver. 17). — That which is allowed may be sin : 1. When we do it apiinst our con.sciencc ; 2. When we thereby offend others (ver. 21). Bksser : Every Christian and all Christendom are God's work and building (1 Cor. iii. 9). It is blasphemy against God's sanctuary to drstroii this work by ruining a brother sanctified by Christ's blood (ver. 15), and iiy sundeiing the bond of peace, which keeps the lilocks of the divine building in place (ver. 2U). — Every thing which is of Christian faith is truly good, because the doer is good by faith, and his deed is love, the fulness of all good deeds (ver. 23). [LKifiiiTos : There is no truly coniforf,able life in till' world but that of religion. Religion is joy. Woulil VDU think it a pleasant life, thougti you had fine clothes and good diet, never to see the sun, but still to keep in a dungeon with them ? Thus are f.hey who live in worldly honor and plenty, who are Btill without God ; they are in continual darknes*, wiih all their enjoyments. — The public ministry will profit little any way, whr're a people, or some part Ot them, are not one, anil do not live together as of one inimi, and iis" dlligi-ntly all due mi'ans of eilifv- ing one another in their holy faith. — Burkitt: Ob- serve : 1. That the love and practice of religioua duties, such as righteousness and peace, is a clear and strong argument of a person's acce[itance with God ; 2. That such as are for those things accepted by God, ought by no mwuis, for differing from ui in lesser things, to be disowned of us, and cast out of communion by us. [Henky : Ways by which we may edify one an- other ; 1 By good counsel ; 2. Reproof ; 3. In- struction ; 4. Example ; 5. Building up not only ourselves, but one another, in the most holy faith. None are so strong but they may be edified ; none so weak but they may edify ; and while we edify others, we benefit ourselves. — Clarke : If a man's passions or appetite allow or instigate him to a par- ticular thing, let him take good heed that his con- science ajipfovi' what his passions allow, and that ha live not tlie subject of continual self-condemnation and reproach. Even the man who has a too scrupu- lous conscience had better, in such matters as are in question, obey its erroneous dictates, than violate this moral feeling, and live only to condemn the actions he is constantly performing. [HonGE : Conscience, or a sense of duty, is not the only, and perhaps not the most important, princi- ple to be appealed to in support of benevolent en- terprises. It comes in aid of and gives its sanction to all other right motives ; but we find the sacred writers appealing most frequently to the benevolent and pious feelings — to the example of Christ — to a sense of our obligations to Him — to the mutual re- lations of Christians, and their common connection with the Redeemer, &c., as motives to self-denial and devotedness. — As the religion of the gospel con- sists in the inward graces of the Holy Spirit, all who have these graces sliould be recognized as genu- ine Christians ; being acceptable to God, they should be loved and cherished by His people, notwithstand- ing their weakness or errors. — The peace and edifi- cation of the Church arc to be sought at all sacri- fices, except those of tnith and duty ; and the work of (ind is not to be destroyed or injured for the sake of any personal or party interests. — An enlightened conscience is a great bleasing ; it secures the lil>erty of the soul from bondage to the opinions of men, and from the self-inflicted pains of a scruptilous and morbid state of moral feeling ; it promotes the right exercise of all the virtuous affections, and the right discharge of all our duties. — H. B. Ripoeway, on vers. 22, 23 : The reason that the Church is so cold in her devotions, and so little comparative success attends her evangelizing efforts, is, that her con- fidence in God's promises and methods is paralyzed by a nelt'-arrnxinff conxcionxmss of deHuqncnc}/, There cannot be an overcoming faith in the pi'oplc of God, except the S|)irlt of llim who fidfilleth all righteousness breathes and works in their hearts and lives. [HoMJLKTiCAL Literature on ver. 17. — A. Bfb- Giss, Spirit lal Jievii'liifis, part i. 123; J. Aher- NETirv, Of thf. Kinrj lorn of God, Srrm., vol. iv. l.')5 ; S. Ct.ARKK, fn ir/iat the Kimidnm of God Gon- itn/x, St'rm., vol. vii. 233; H. WiiiSK.wv, 77/e True Xafiire of the Khuidoin of God, Srnii., vol. ii. 91 ; S. BotTKN, On thr Xiitiirc of t/u' I'/iri^tian Jietirjioit, D'lKc, vol. ii. 259 ; Ij. HoI-pen, Ruthtromnrxx EKsm- fidf to Tnif Riliijioii, Senn., 314 ; J. Dnnso.v, Joi/ ill till' ITolii Glmni, IHx,'., 152; .Tames Foster, llu h'hiff 'oin of God, niid, vol. i. 265 ; Joiis Vk.nn, The Xature oj CHAPTER XIV. l-XV. 4. 431 True Religion, Serm., vol. ill 132; I. B. S. Car- wiTUiN, 7'/ie Brahininical Si/stem in its Operations on the Intellectual Facattie>i, Hampton Lectures, 213 ; T. DwiuHT, Joy in the Holy Ghost, 'llieology, vol. iii. 208 ; John Gaknons, True Religion, Senn., vol. ii. 15 ; R. P. BuDDicoM, The Inward and ISpiritual Character of the Kingdom of God, Sei-m., vol. ii. 234 ; Bishop Jkbb, Serm., 71 ; H. Woodward, M-ssays, &c., 467 ; R. MoNTGOifKRY, The Church, Viewed as the Kinadom of the Spirit, God and Man, 118.— J. F. H.] Chap. xv. 1-4. Let us bear the infirmity of the weak without pleasiug oui-bclves ; for in this : 1. We seek to please our neighbor for his good, to edification ; 2. We herein choose Christ as our pattern, who did not please himself (vers. 1-4). — For what purpose should tlie strong use the infirmity of the weak ? 1. To humhle himself; 2. To please his neighbor; 3. To imitate Christ (vers. 1-4). — On pleasing our- selves. 1. In what is its ground ? a. In a man's regarding his views as the most correct ; b. His efforts as the best ; c. His words as the wisest ; d. His deeds as the most godly ; e. And, consequently, himself as insurpass;ible. 2. How is it shown? a. In the seveie condemnation of the weak ; b. In im- moderate self-praise ; c. In pretentious manners in society. 3. How is it to be overcome ? a. By dis- cipline in bearing the infirmities of the weak breth- ren ; b. By an honest effort to please our neighbor for his good, to edification (comp. 1 Cor. x. 33) ; c. By a believing look at Christ, who did not please himself, but bore the reproaches of His enemies (vers. 1-4). — The blessing of the Holy Scriptures for our inward man (ver. 4). — The Holy Scriptures a fountain of hope (ver. 4). — Examples of patience and comfort, which the Scriptures present to us for awakening joyous hope : 1. From the Old Testa- ment ; 2. From the New Testament (ver. 4). Roos : Bearing the infirmity of the weak is an exercise of meek love, which neither lightly esteems him who is weak, nor would seek to change him in a rough, vehement manner. To please ourselves, means to act according to our own views, whether another can be offended at them or not ; or to so conduct ourselves as if we were in the world for our own sake alone, and not also for our weak brother's sake (vers. 2 and 3). Gerlach : The Apostle here sets up Christ not merely as a pattern, but as a motive, and the living Author and Finisher of our life of faith (ver. 3). Hel'bner : The reason why a man does not place himself under restraint, is pleasure with himself; and this hinders all peace, destroys the germ of love in the heart, and is a proof of spiritual weakness, prejudice, and a corrupt heart. He is not strong who cannot bear with others near him, nor tolerate their opinions (ver. 21). — The Bible is the only real and inexhaustible book of comfort ; Paul said this even when there was nothing more than the Old Testament. — The Bible is not merely a book to be read, but to be lived \jiicht Lese-, sondern LebebuchJ], Luther, vol. v., pp. 1707 (ver. 4). [Jeremy Taylor : There is comfort scattered up and down throughout the holy book, and not cn.st all in a lump to:.'-etlier. By searching it diligently, we may draw our consolation out of: 1. Faith ; 2. Hope ; 3. The indwelling of the Spirit ; 4. Prayer ; 5. lae Sacraments. — Burkitt : The great end foi which the Holy Scriptures were written, was the informing of our judgments, ai d the directing ol our practice, that, by the examples which we find there of the patience of holy men under sufferings, and of God's relieving and comforting them in their distresses, we might have hope, confidence, and assur- ance, that God will also comfort and relieve us vmder the like pressures and burdens. [Henry : Christ bore the guilt of sin, and the curse for it ; we are only called to bear a little of the trouble of it. He bore the presumptuous sins of the wicked ; we are called only to bear the in- firmities of the weak. — There are many things to be learned out of Scripture ; the best learning is that which is drawn from that fountain. Those are most learned that are most mighty in the Scriptures. As ministers, we need help, not only to roll away the stone, but to draw out the water; for in many places the well is deep. Practical observations are more necessary than critical expositions. [ScoTT : Many venture into places and upon ac- tions against which their own conscience revolts ; because they are induced by inclination, or embold- ened by the example of those who, on some account, have obtained the reputation of pious men. But they are condemned for indulging themselves in a doubtful case. In order to enjoy freedom from self- condemnation, we must have : 1. A sound judg- ment ; 2. A simple heart ; 3. A tender conscience ; 4. Habitual self-denial. [Robert Hall: Paul enjoins the practice of for- bearance, on the ground of the conscientiousness of the parties concerned, on the assumption not only of their general sincerity, but of their being equally actuated, in the very particulars in which they dif- fered, by an unfeigned respect to the authority of Christ ; and as he urges the same consideration on which the toleration of both parties rested, it must have included a something which was binding on the conscience, whatever was his private judgment on the points in debate. The Jew was as much bound to tolerate the Gentile, as the Gentile to tolerate the Jew. [Hodge : The desire to please others should be wisely directed, and spring from riglit motives. We should not please them to their own injury, nor from the wish to secure their favor ; but for their good, that they may be edified. — Barnes : Christ willingly threw himself between the sinner and God, to intercept, as it were, our sins, and to bear the effects of them in His own person. He stood be- tween us and God ; and both the reproaches and the Divine displeasure due to them met on His sacred person, and produced the sorrows of the atonement. — His bitter agony in the garden and on the cross. .Jesus thus showed His love of God in being willing to bear the reproaches aimed at Him, and His love of men in being willing to endure the sufleringa necessary to atone for these very ones. [Homiletical Literature on ver. 4 : Bishop Latimer, Sermons of the Plough, Works, vol. i. 59 ; Seven Sermons, Ibid., vol. i. 85 ; Bishop PaYrick, The Use of the Holy Scriptures (London, 1678); W. WoTTON, /Siprm. (1722) ; John Gutse, Serrn, (1724) ; Dispositions for Reading the Scriptures ; Pitman from Osterwald, 1st Course, vol. i. 15 ; J. Brailsford, Revelation of a Fidure State in th« Scripture", an Argument for Comfort ami Patience, Serm., 247 ; Thomas Adam, Works, vol. iii. 334 ; H. Draper, The Authority, Excellence, and Use of 433 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. the Jlohf Scriptures. On the Collects, vol. i. 24 ; John IIkwi.ktt, 77ie Thitigs Wri'.len Aforftime for ■j\ir Lenrniiif/, ,Sius« A' before \fiiar6v \ some authorities (including Vnlente), ■tier Xp. ; omitted in n. A. B. C, fathers; rejected by Laehmnnn, Tlschendorf, V>'- Wette, Alford. Tlio variation in position U decidedly apainst it, making an intorpolntlon extremely probable. Dr. Lango tlilnks tho connection favor* the omission. » Vcr. H — IN. A. C I)'. L., many Cithers ; ytytvjicBai ; adopted by De Wette, Philippi, Meyer, Alford, liinso. B. C D'. F. : ytviaOai., adopted by Laclinuinn and Tri ircUes. The former i* to be preferred, necnuab the y*- was likoly tc be omitted, and the latter might have been substitntcd as a corrvction. CHAPTER XV. 5-13. 433 * Ver 10.— [From the LXX., Deut. xxxii. 43. The Hebrew test is : 152? Cia '12''?':^ > literally, Rrjoice, ye va» Uons, His people. It is not necessary, in order to defend the rendering of the LXX., to suppose that they read 'TZS CS or i'BV'- or ":33.'~rN (although the last has been found). They could find the sense they have adopted in the Hebrew text as ft stands, by simply repeating the imperative (in thought] before 1532 . See Philippi in loco, and Hcngstentors; on Ps. xviii. 50. 8 Ver. 11. — [B. D. F. read \iyn ; omitted in ■■■. A. C. L., fathers. It was easily inserted from ver. 10. Lachnwnn adopts it, but it is generally rejected. — The order of the liec. : toi/ xvpiov navra ra eOvj] % probably axorrecl ion toeonforiii with the LXX. N. A. £. D., Vulgule, Syriac, &c. : ir. t. «9. rbv Kvpiov. So Lachmann, Tiifteudorf, Alford, TrcycUes. ^ Ver. 11.— [N. A. B. C. : e7raive<7-oi'. So Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, De Wette, Alford, Trcpelles, Lange. lice, F. h., versions : ewaiveo-aTe (so LXX., although the MSS. vary). Philipji adopts the latter, but he is a 0ODse4'vative as respects the Reopla. 1" Ver. 12.— [The LXX. (Isa. xL 10) is followed here. It differs somewhat from the Hebrew, which, reads . tidin"; D";ii3 rbx u^iz'j 0}h np3> ">irx ^vy] uj-iju xnnn Di*S n^nn . Literally : "And in thai day shall the. root of Jesse which (is) slandinff(fxe •et up) be for a signal to the va'ions; unto ff,'^ shall the Gentiles seek *" (J. A. Alexander). Hut the LXX. only stre. giheiis this into a lorm well suiteii to the Apostle's purpose. '' Ver. 13.— [F. Gr. read : n-Ai))(rai u/mas TraoT) x«P? """^ ^i-PV"!!- So B., inserting ey before the datives. M. A. C. D. L. : irAijpcucrat ir/ids na'')Si accepted by most editors. — K.l EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. The positive destination of tlie Christian Church at Rome. Ver. 5. Now the God of patience, &c. [6 dk C-Jfoi; Ttjq !ino/( ovrj i;, y..r.).. "God, who is the author of patience," &c. So Hodge, Meyer, and most. Luther : " Scriptura qiddem docct, se i rp-atia donnf, quod, iUa doceC Comp. Calvin on the patience of the Chriijtian. De Wette, Meyer, and others, understand by. I'nofiovi^, constmicy. Hodge takes consofation as the source of patience. — R.] God is the common, inexhaustible source of all the matured patience of the New Testament, and of all the preparatory comfort of the Old Testa- ment ; and it is from Him that believers must de- rive the gift of being of the same mind one toward another according to Christ Jesus (not according to His example and will merely, but according to His Spirit).* Ver. 6. It is only in this path of self-humiliation that they shall and can attain to the glorious way of glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jestis Christ — Him who has glorified Jesus as Christ, after Christ passed through the Jesns-way of humiliation, and whom they glorify in the anticipation that He will glorify them with Him, as He has already glori- fied theni in Him. The terms Christ Jesus and Jesus Christ are here reversed with remarkable acuteness and eifect. — With one accord, hnoO v- fia()6v, is not explained by the phrase: with one mouth [t'r kvi aronari,^ but the former Is the source of the latter, as Meyer has correctly observed, against Reiche. [" When God is so praised that the same mood impels every one to the same utterance of praise, then party-feeling is bani.shed, and unanimity has found its most sacred expres.=ion " (Meyer). — R.] The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [rbv & f i) v y.ai nariQo, rov xi'- Qioi' tj/i(7)v 'Jt](ToTi A'^JKTTor.] He is not only the Father, but also the God, of Christ, in the high- est specific sense (thus Grotius [Beng'el, Reiche, Fritzsche, Jowett], and others, in opposition to Mey- er). Comp. Eph. i. 17. ♦ [With this accords the view of Dr. Hodge : " The ex- pression, to he like-minded, does not here refer to unanimity of opinion, but to harmony of feeling ; see chaps, viii. 5 ; xii. 3." The contest favors this very decidedly.— Meyer thinks "the esample of Christ (ver. 3) is still the ruling thought ;" but it is certainly not the exclusive one. The Terb ficJi) is the latter Hellenistic form for fioi'r). — K.] 28 [God, ev^ the Father, &c. The E. V. thus renders, disconnecting " of our Lord Je.sus Christ " from "God." So De Wette, Philippi, Meyer, Stuart, Webster and Wilkinson. Hodge, Tholuck, and Al- ford, leave the questi(jn undecided. It would seem that cither view is admissible grammatically ; y.ai is often used epexegetically, even, and tlie article (standing before flfor only) may merely bind the two terms, "God" and "Father of Christ" (Meyer), At the same time, the article mifjit be looked for before nar i(j a, were xai explicative. Nor is there any doctrinal difficulty occasioned by either view. The only reason in my own mind for pre- ferring the interpretation of the E. V. is, that those exegetes, who are most delicate in their perceptions of grammatical questions, adopt it. See Meyer in locc—B.] Ver. 7. Wherefore receive ye one another [fho TTQoa Ici/i fidvfc&f a ). ). t] ). o V (;^. In the intensive sense. An exhortation to both parties. As Christ also received you [xaf) o) s /.ctl 6 X (J laroi; 7T(to(Tfkdfiiro v/i at;. See Text- ual Note ^] This is more definitely explained in vers. 8 and 9. To the glory of God [fi<; ^6^av rov Qfov. See Textual Kofe I] This must be refeired to Christ's reception of them, and not to the exhor- tation : receive ye one another, according to Chrysos- tom, and others.* Tliat God might be (ilorifed. Not immediately, in order that we may share the Divine glory with Christ (Grotius, Beza, and others), although the glorification of God shall consi,«t in that. As the self-humiliation of Christ, which waa proved by His receiving men into His fellowsliip, led to the glorification of God (see John xvii.), so also, according to the previous verse, shall the same conduct of self-humiliation on the part of Christians- have the same effect. But how has Christ received us into His fellowship ? Answer : Ver. 8. For I say [Afj-w ydq. See Text^ val Kote *.] The Apostle now explains how Christ received the Jewish Christians and Gentile Chris- tians into felloM'ship with himself. — That Christ * [Dr. Hodge seems to prefer the other reference, whil« Dr. Lange really adi pts both in his further remarks. Dr. Hodge does .not decide which reading he iidopts. v/ud? oi Tjnos ; but s;iys that, if the former be the true rca.ling, P.aul is "exhorting the Gentile converts to forbearance toward their Jewi.'-h brethren." This view is rejected by mo.st of the later comir.enfators, for both parties are ad- dressed, as the context shows, l^ecause Paul often mean* Gentiles when he says riM^'s- we need not hold that tt* always uses it in this sense. — K.l 434 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [ X (> I fTT dr. See Textual Note '.] The reading Christ, as a ck'sipnation of God's Son, in view of the iiicainaiion. In this view lie hath been made a minister of the circumcision [ (W « x o r » v yfyn-tlaOat tt f(> iTuii tjc;. Sue Textual Note *. Dr. Laiige, in his German text of this verse, tlins explaiusuhis i)hrase: "from a higher, Divine-lnnnan, idijal point of view, receiving the Jews into His fel- lowship, liy submitting himself to circumcision." — K.] Hi3 concrete incarnation as a Jew, in which He became subject to the Jewisli hiw (see Phil. ii. 7 ; Gal. iv. 4), must be distinguished from His in- Girnaiion in the more general sense. By this means, He, as the heavenly Strong One, through voluntary love entered into the fellowship of the infinitely wealc in both a liuman and legal sense, and accord- ingly received them into His lellowsliip. It seems far-fetclied to regard tlw circiiiiicisioii here (with Meyer [Philijipi, Hodge], and olliers) as an abstract idea for t'le clrcumcisfd.'* The circumcision de- notes the law ; and as He freely became a minister of the law, He also became a ministering companion of the Jews ; Matt. xx. 28. Tlierefore it is not the theocratic " honor of the Jews " which is empha- sized heri! (Meyer) [Philippi], but the condescen- sion to serve them. [So Hcxtge. //laxoror is in emphatic position. The view of the emphasis taken by Meyer seems confirmed by what follows, which Bets forth an advantage of the Jews. — R.] For the sake of God's truth [ r ;t t (> altj- ■9- f i Hi; Htnr. For the nuke of ilie triit/ifulnrsx of God, in order to justify and to prove it by means of tiie fulfilment of the promises of the Old Testa- ment. — R.] This undoubtedly seems to express the advantage of the Jews ; but it also indicates their perilous condition. His condescension had a two- fold cause : God's mercy, and His promises resting upon it. Principially, His mercy took the prece- dence ; but historically, the promise preceded. The truthfulness of God had to be sealed ; He must con- firm the promises given to the fathers by fulfilling them, however unfortunate the condition of tiie [)0.s- terity ; must confirm them in a way finally valid, for, as such sealed promises, they, still continue in force, according to chap, xi., especially to believers (see 2 Cor. i. 20 ; Rev. iii. 14). Ver. 9. And that the Gentiles, &c. [ra fii t (y V tj v 71 k () i A t o I' (; () o i. d (T a I, r o v H f <'i v .] Christ had to receive the Jews, acting as a minister to them through His whole life; and He had to con- fine himself to historical labors among them, not so much because they were worthy of it, as to fulfil the promises given to the fathers. But the Gentiles were now the object of utterly unmerited mercy. The thougiit tliat Christ has redeiMiied the Gentiles thronirh pure men-y, wiiich was not yet historically pledged to them (for the proiinses in the Old Tes- tuncnt in relation to the Gentiles were not ple an advantage on their side also. The meaning of v n't it r).tn\'<; is, that mer- cy could not helj) satisfying itself for its own sake, by redemption. The lioinffni has been trans- latcl by Riickcrt [De Wette, Hoilge, Alford], and • [Tilts view can scarcoly bo deemed " far-fotohed," when It ia so re;idily siicucHtcd by the aiitithesix, iOvrf (ver. 9). ai)il when I'muI »o ficqucntly iise^i thi- tortn in thi.s Bcnw (0 mp. chap. iii. 20: OaL ii. 7 ff. ; Eph. ii. 11 ; Col. ill U).-U.) Others: have glorified ; by Kollner [Calvin, Thoi luck], and Philippi : should glorify. See Meyer on this point, p. 517.* The aorist say.s, at all events, that they have dccidedlij begun to glorify God. For this cause I will give thanks to thee, &c. [^/t« TocTo f J () /( o / o j'/j tr () // « (' (Toi., y.r.).. Verbatim from the LXX., except that /.e^jtt is omit< ted here. On the verb, see clia[). xiv. 11, p. — R.] Meyer aptly says : '' The historical suli'ect of the passage, David, is the type of Christ, and the latter (not the Gentile Christian, with Fritzsche ; nor the collective term for the Gentile apostles, with Reiche ; nor any messenger of salvation to the world, with Philippi) is therefore, in Paul's sense, the prophetical subject; Christ promises that He will gl;)rify God among the Gentiles (surrounded by believing Gentiles) for His mercy {i)ui toTto = I'TTio f/.t'oi's). But this is the plastic description of glorifying on the part of the Gentiles themselves, which takes place in the name of the Lord Jesus, and through Him (Col. iii. 17)." Ver. 10. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people [ E V (i(idv (y tjTf iO vr/ fi iTc't roe }.ao o nrTov. See T xtiud Note ', for the Hebrew text. — R.] Deut. xxxii. 43. From the LXX., which reads //*Ta rov Xciov avTov for IB? , " probably following another reading : 1^~~ri< ; " Meyer. On the impossibility of tinderstanding, by Goini, the single tribes of Israel, which Ue Wette does, eomp. Tlioluck, p. 730. [Also Philippi, whose remarks on this citation are unusually full and valuable. — R.] According to the theocratic idea, the definitions : rejoice to his people, or rather, make hix people rejoice ( 'I3"'3"in ), i/e Gentiles, and rejoice with hin peo/ile, amount to the same thing. Ver. 11. Praise the Lord; Ps. cxvii. 1. [An exact citation from the LXX. See Tt.rtunl Notes ' and ', however. — R.] A projjhecy of the univer- sal spread of salvation. Ver. 12. And again, Isaiah saith. [See Tirtual Note '".] In chap. xi. 10 : According to the LXX., which, however, has translated the original text so freely that the twofold dominion of the Messiah is indicated, on the one hand, over the Jews (as the root of Jesse), and, on the other, over the (Jentiles. A root of Jesse [/} oi'^k toT '7 fff «■««']. See Isa. xi. 1. The tree of the royal house of David being cut down, the Messiah arose from the root of the house, which is symbolized by Jesse. In a high, er sense, Christ was indeed the holy root of Jesse, and of the house of David itself. • [The nnri»t infinitive Sofao-ai has occasioned soma trouble nmntiK the tcrnniinariiins. 1. It tins been tiiken :i.s d(>i>cn(lent on Afyeu (ver. SV So Winc'i, p. 311, Hoilito, Alford, Be Wette, Philippi; but In different seimes : (n.) I say that the Gentiles hn>f pni.sed God (lit their conversion). So .\lford, Tiod.'C, Pi^ Wette. But this ix both e(>ntr:iry to the usage wit li the iiorist infini- tive, Hnd introduces n thon(rht that does not. seem to behmR here naturally. ('/.) I sav tlint the Gentiles o»(//ir /o praise God (Ciilvin, rhilijipi, Tlioluck). Hut there is no idea < it oblieafioii iiifroduo^'d in ver. 8 which is pTrnllel to this, (i.) I s.ay fhnt the Gentiles praise (indefli ite y). So Winer, Kritiixi-he. Itnt to this there are (rrnminatical objectiims. Oeiiiles this, all the-'o involve an Incorrei t \new of th« depenilencc of the infinitive. '.'. The "iinnlesf, most natural view, is that of the 15. V., Meyer, &c. 'the infinitive stnnds next to n clnn^e where there is also nn iiorist infinitive (fitfiaiiaaai) j it is therefore ooArdinate with tfiis, di'p'ndintf also on «iv rii, though cxpri'ss'ng the more remote purpose : Christ w.i* niailc n minister, &c., in order to confirm the promi-es, and as a re-ult of this, that the Oonliles might praivu God for IIi< mercy.— It J CHAPTER XV. 5-13. 43S Ver. 13. And may the God of hope. A grand description of God here, where the object is to remind the Roman Christians to lead a life in per- fect accordance with their universal calling. To this also belongs the duty of looking confidently and prayerfully to the God of hope, the God of that future of salvation which is so infinitely rich, both extensively and intensively. With all joy and peace. From that hope, the highest possible evaTigclical, saving joy, shall spring ; the result of this sliall be the richest meas- ure of peace, and the harmony and unanimity of fiiith. This shall take place in believing {mcr- TfiWn', it is not by unbelief, or by abridging our faith, that the unity of Christianity should be sought), and accordingly these two spiritual bless- ings shciU ever produce a richer hope, not in human power and according to a human measure, but in the inward measure and divine pOTver of the Holy Ghost.* Therefore the realization of hope should not be striven for by the aid of earthly and even infernal powers : one shepherd and one fold ! According to Grotius, the end of this hope is harmony ; according to Tholuck, the immediate end is the gracious gifts of God's kingdom ; while the ultimate end is the rcffnuin glorice. However, there lies just between these the end which the Apostle here has in view — that by the aid of the Church at Rome, in their fel- lowsliip with Paul, all nations shall be brought, by the spread of faith, to glorify God ; Eph. i. IS S. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The great grounds of the profound and per- fect harmony and unanimity of Christians, a. God as the God of patience and comfort ; that is, as the God of the infinite power of passive and active love ; h. The pattern, the spirit, the power, and the work of Christ; c. The design that Christians, by being like-minded, and by aiming at snbutant'al fellowship in God and in Christ (as created and redeemed), should find also the ethical fellowship of harmony and unanimity. 2. The universal fellowship into which Christ has entered with humanity, and the special fellow- ship in which He has pledged himself to the Jews, constitute the basis for the most special and real fellowship into which He, through His grace, has entered with believers. But it is a grievous offence to refuse communion with him whom Christ, by the witness of faith and of confession, has communion, or to abridge and prejudice hearty intercourse with those whom God, in Christ, deems worthy of His fellowship. [Ver. 7 seems to be a dictum prolans for what is termed "open communion." — R.J 3. On the antithesis : Christ Jesus and Jesis Christ, see the £xeg. JHotes. 4. It is also clear here (see ver. 8) that we must "• fM ycr renders : in virtue nf th'' (inworking) pmver of U is peculinrly untbi'tUTiuto in its treatment of the preposition ev, which it rendei-8 Ihrrmgh in this case. The later revisions have bj/. But it is to he dou' ited whether iv ever has a strictly inslTUT.iental force. The peculiar meaning, ii>, always re- mains In it. So here, in helirvirtg, in the pmver of tliK Boty Ghost ; the former expressing the suhjrctivi', and the latter, che ohjrctnv means, yet the former sets forth the status, in Which (gfdiihigsriri) they are, and the latter an iiiworkiiig power. Conap. Phihppi. — R.] distinguish between the ideal incarnation of Christ in itself, and His concrete incarnation in Judaism, and, generally, in the form of a servant. 6. God is free in His grace, and yet also bound in His truth, for He has bound himself to His prom- ises. But tins obligation is the highest glory of His freedom. His truthfulness had to satisfy His word, but His mercy had to satisfy itself. 6. The riches of the Old Testament in promisea for the Jews, and the high aim of these promises : a world of nations praising the Lord. 7. The God of patience, comfort, hope. All such terms define God to be infinite, and infinite as a fountain, as self-communicating life, and archetype of life. So also is the Holy Spirit defined as the Spirit of truth, &c. See the beautiful remark of Gerlach, below. But the highest thing for which we can praise God, according to ver. 6, is His being the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only is He His Father in the specific sense, but also His God ; the glorious God of His consciousness and life is the true God in perfect revelation, and conse- quently shall become our God through Him. 8. On the development of hope, within the sphere of faith, into joy and peace, and,' by means of peace, into an ever richer hope, see the Exeg. Notes. It is only in this way that irenics can be conducted in the power of the Holy Ghost, and not with the modern artifice of attempting them outside the sphere of faith, beyond all creeds, and with the theory of unconscious Christianity, or even with the violent measures of the Middle Ages. The Apostle says : In the power of the Holy Ghost. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Jewish and Gentile Christians should agree for Christ's sake, who has received them both. — Chris- tian harmony. 1. It comes from the God of pa- tience and comfort ; 2. It is shaped according to the pattern and will of Jesus Christ ; 3. It express- es itself in harmonious praise of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (vers. 5, 6). — A harmonious and fraternal ('isposition is a source of the joyous praise of God, which is not disturbed by a discord- ant note (vers. 5, 6). — Jesus Christ a minister of the circumcision. 1. Why? For the truth of God, to confirm the promise. 2. How ? In obedience to the Divine law, for freedom from the law (ver. 8). — Receive one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Every thing to God's glory, and not to our own (ver. 7). — The praise of God out of the mouth of Gentiles : 1. Estabhslied in God's mercy ; 2. Resounding in miiny tongues ; 3. As- cending to heaven (ver. 9). — God's mercy toward the Gentiles : 1. Present from the beginning ; 2. Declared by the prophets ; 3. Manifested in Christ (vers. 9-1.3). Ver. 13 is an appropriate text and theme for addresses on occasions of confirmation or marriage. Starke : In Christ, souls are worth so much tha* God receives them, just as men hoard gold and sil- ver, pearls and gems ; Isa. xliii. 4 (ver. 7). — Mt-i> LER : Patience does not increase in the garden of nature, but it is God's gift and grace ; God is the real Master who creates it (ver. 5).— Because Christ is a root. He must vegetate, bloom, and bring forth fruit in us (ver. 12). Gerlach : God is the source of all good tbingi^ 436 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. and since He not merely has them, but they are His real e^isence ; since He dues not have love and oin- nipotenee, but is actually love and omnipotence themselves, so can He be deuominaled according to every glorious attril)ute and gilt which He possesses. The advantage which the Gentiles thought that they po.-«e-ised in their polytheism, whun they, for exam* pie, worshipped a deity of truth, of hope, &c., is possessed in a nnich more certain and ettective way by the believing Cliristian, wlien he perceives, in a vital manner, that the true God is himself personal faithfulness, hope, and love, and thus has all these attributes just as if He had nothing else but them (ver. 5). Hkcbnkr : The harmony of hearts is the real Boul and power of worsiiip (ver. G). — Ciirist is the centre of the Holy Scriptures (ver. 8). — Christ is the bond of all nations (ver. 12). — God alone is the source of all life and blessing in the Church. The means is faith, as the ever new appropriation of sav- ing blessings; from this arises the enjoyment of peace and of all blessed joye — an overflow of hope. But every thing is brought to pass by the Holy Spirit (ver. 13). Bksskr*: The Scriptures are a book of patience and comfort (ver. 5.) — Every thing which is true joi/ in this life, is a foretaste of the joy of eternal life — joy in the Lord and His word, joy in all His blessings, which make body and soul hapi)y, &c. . . . All true peace in this world of contention and anxiety, is a preliminary enjoyment of the peace in the kingdom of glory. SiiiLKiKitMAciiKK : The limitation in the labors of our Saviour himself, when we look at His person, and the greater freedom and expansion in the labors of His disciples. 1. Treatment ; 2. Application (vers. 8, 9). Vers. 4-13. Tiik Pkricopk for the Second Sufi- dii/ in Adrent. — SciiLLTz: On the likeness of Christ and His redeemed ones. 1. In what respect ha.>^ Christ become like us? 2. In what respect should we l)ecome like Christ ? a. In patience and luimii- ity ; b. In the respect and love with which He treated all men ; c. In the joyful faitli and peaceful hope with which He overcame the world. — Rikmer: What must there be among Christians, in order that the Church of Christ may stand? 1. One founda- tion ; 2. A harmonious mouth ; 3. A common bond.^IJiiA.NDT : To wiiat does the season of Ad- vent exhort us ? 1. To the industrious examination of what h.'is been written ; 2. To the unanimous praise of Gnd, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for all that has been already fulfilled ; 3. To an attentive wailing for the future coining of God's kingdom. — Hkiuxkk : The unity of the Christian Church. 1. In what does it consist? 2. What binds us to it? — The I{il>le the bond of the Chris- tian Church. 1. Proof: It is the bond, a. In faith, or in doctrine ; i. In the holy sense, or in love ; c. In worship ; d. In daily life. 2, Application, a. A warning against despising the Hiblc, and an admo- nition to maintain its autiiority ; b. A dissemination of its use ; c. Our own proper use of it. — The Bible the trea.sure of the evangelical Church. — The in- ward unity of true Christians amid outward diversity. [BuKKiTT ; The Christian's hope : 1. God is its object, and therefore the sin of despair is most un- reiLsonable ; for why shouhl any despair of His mer- cy who is the God of hope, who comman<, Nature and Qualifiration of Christian Ilopr, Scnn., vol. vi. 325 ; Price, Peace of Con- science, Hope, and Ilohi Joy, licrri/ St. SS., vol. 1. 419 ; S. OnnEX, 77ic Bring of the Iloh/ Ohost^ Senn., 157 ; W. Masox, The Effects of the Divine Spirit, Works, vol. iv. 147; H. Hu.vter, The lielief of the Oospcl a Source of Joy and Peace, Serm, (1795), vol. i. 227; David Savile, Present Happi. ness of Beli'vers, Disc., 401 ; W. (Jii.piN, S^niont, ir.5; C. Simeon, The J/oli/ Ghost the Author of Hope, Works, vol. xv. 653 ; G. D'Oyly, Joi/ and CHAPTER XV. 14-83. 43'; Peace in Believing, vol. i. 885 ; W. Blacklet, Script. I'eaching, 263 ; W. Gresley, Joy and Peace in Believiuff, Fractical Serm., 41 ; E. Blencowe, Jlope, Plain Serm., vol. ii. 80 ; H. Goodwin, Thi Young Man in Religioics Difficulties, Four Serm . 35.— J. F. H.] SECOND DIVISION. THE CALLING OF THE APOSTLE TO A UNIVERSAL APOSTLESHIP, AND HIS CONSEQUENT RELATION TO THE ROMAN CHURCH, AS THE POINT OF DEPARTURE FOR HIR UNIVERSAL APOSTLESHIP IN THE WEST. Chap. XV. 14-33. 14 And I myselt also am persuaded of you, my brethren, [Now I am persuaded, my brethren, even I myself, concerning you,] that ye also [yourselves] are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.' 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you [Howbeit, I have written more boldly'' unto you, brethren]' in some sort [measure], as put- 16 ting you in mind, because of the grace that is gi'.en to me of God, That I should be the [a] minister of Jesus Christ [Christ Jesus] * to the Gentiles, min- istering the gospel of God, that the offering up [offering] of the Gentiles might IV be acceptable, being sanctified by [fV, in] the Holy Ghost. I have therefore whereof I may glory [I have therefore my boasting] * through Jesus Christ [in 18 Christ Jesus] in those things Avhich pertain to God.° For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not %vrought [did not work] by [through] me, to make the Gentiles obedient [in order to the obedience of the 1'9 Gentiles], by Avord and deed. Through mighty [In the power of] signs and wonders, by [in] the power of the Si)irit of God [Holy Spirit] ; ' so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto [as far as] Illyricura, I have fully preached the 20 gosiH-'l of Christ. [;] Yea, so have I strived [Yet on this wise making it my ambition] * to preach the gospel, not where Christ was [already] named, lest I 21 should [that I might not] build upon another man's foundation : But as it is written," To whom he was not spoken of, they [They to whom no tidings of him came] shall see : And they that have not heard shall understand. 22 For which cause also I have been much [for the most part] '*" hindered from ■ 23 coming to you. But now having no more [no more ha\ing] place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years [having these many years a longing] 24 to come unto you ; Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you [^'mit I Avill come to you] : " for '* I trust to see you in my journey [as I pass through], and to be brought on my way thitherward [to be sent forward thither] by'' you, if first I be somewhat [in some measure] filled with your company/. 25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister [ministering] unto the saints. 26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia [Macedonia and Achaia thought it good] to make a certain contribution for the poor [among the] saints 27 which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily [P^'or they thought it good] ; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made par- takers of [have shared in] their spiritual things, their duty is [they owe it] also £y to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore 1 have performed this, and have sealed ['■. e., secured] to them this fruit, I will come [retui-n] '* by you 29 [through your city] mto Spain. And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I sliall 438 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. come in the fulness of the blesshig of tlie gospel [omit of the gos}>el] " of 30 Christ. Now I beseech you, brethren,'* for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake [by our Lord Jesus Christ], and for [by] the love of the Spirit, that ye [to] stiivo 81 together with me in your''' prayers to God for roe; That I may be delivered from them that do not believe [the disobedient] in judea; and that my service [ministration] '* which J have [is] for Jerusalem may be accepted of [prove 32 acceptable to] the sahits ; That I may come unto you with [in] joy by the will 33 of God,'° and may with you be refreshed." Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. ^' TEXTUAL. • Ver. 14. — [Instead of aKXrjKovi (X- A. B. C. D. F.), adopted by modern editors pencrally, af\ovi is found in L., many cursivi-s, versions, and fathers. As an alteratioQ to strengthen the sense, or an error of tne transcriber, it ii readily accounted for. The list of cursives given by Dr. Hodtre adds little to the support of thi? readinf?. — The xaC ia ilso omitted, and aAAijAovt put before Swaitevoi, in some authorities. These arc evidently corrections, to avoid repeal ig xai for the third time. ^ Ver 15. — [.\. B. : ToAfijjpoTc'pa)?. Evidently a gloss, since the adjective is used adverbially. ' Ver. 15— [S'. A. B. C, omit aSe\(t>oi ; rejected by Lachiiianii, Tischondorf, Xregelles. It is found in N'. D. F. L., Vulgate, &c. ; ado|)ted by I'hilippi, Do Wette, Meyer, Lange ; bracketled by Allord. The omission can be accounted for by the iiiteriuptiou the word made in the connection, while there is no good reason for its insci-«:ion, save it-a genuineness. • Ver. 16.— [ifec, D. L., some versions and fathers: 'iTjaoO XpiaroO. N. A. B. C. F. : Xpio-ToC '^rjo-oC; so Ijachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Treprelles. — The same order is found in ver. 17, on the authority of all AlSS., but the E. V. has transposed, as it too fiequently does. • Ver. 17 — [B. C. 1). F. G., and some cursives: ttji' Kavy^ritriv; so Iiachm:inn, Tischendorf, Dc Wette. Alford, Tregelles, Lange. Omitted in the Xec., H. A. L., by Philippi. The article not being understood, it was o.u>itted. — Hence iiiy huasliiig. ' Ver. 17. — [The Rec. omts t6>' ; but the ilSS. all insert it. ' Ver. 19.— ( (1 ) The R'C. (with N. D^. L.) inserts 0eoO after Tryev/iaros. So most cursives, some versions, and fathers. But it is defended by no ciitieal editor of the present day. I'hilippi, who is perhaps the most conservative of critics, with respect to the lic'epta, only places this reading beside the ' *. F., most versions and lathers: tti/cu/iotos ayCov. So Griesl):ich, Laebmann, Scholz, Tischendorf (ed. 1, not siucc), llodse, Philippi, De Wette, Wordsworth, Tregelles. (.3.) B., Pelagius, have nveviiaroi only. So Tischendorf, Meyer, and L:inge. The reason urged in favor of (:J.), which has so little MS. support, is the difficulty of nccounfing for it otherwise, and the stronft tcuiptation to explain it by ayt'ou or 0eoO. But this is hardly a sufficient reason. Tretrelles, the most careful of English editors, especially about inserting the longer of two readinj^s, adopts (2.), and Alford puts it in brackets. " Ver. JO. — [JC. A. C. D* 3- j,. ; (JuXorifxouuei'oi'. B. D'. F. (Inchmann, Treu'ellcs) : (f>tXoTifioOM a i . There are other variations, all of which indicate that the original reading was one occasioning grammatical difficulty, llenee the fir^t reading is generally adopted, and the other considered a i-rammaticiil correction.— The E. V. requires emendation, both on account of the particip al form, connecting this verse with the precedinji one, and in order to bring out the force of <^iAoT. The revision of Five Ang. Clergymen is followed. Emulous (Amer. Bible tjnion) is objectiMnable in a ))opular version. Dr. Lange : So aher, (hiss ich is fur Ehrensache haltt; Bui so, Ihal J held it for a matter of honor. This gives the exact force of the verb. See the Exeg. JVoles. » Ver. 21.— [An exact citation from the LXX., Isa. lii. 15. The Hebrew reads: !ixn cnb -ED"N^ trx "'3 I33i3rn !|JB'i;~S3 "It'SI. l"he E. V. (Isa. lii. 10) gives an accurate rendering. The LXX. adds, with sufficieut ground in the context : n-epl avrov , refcrrine to "my servant " (ver. IH). '° Ver. 22.— [IJ. D. F., Lachmann : TroAAaxi?, which is probably a gloss. N. A. C. L. : ra iroAAa. So Tischen- dorf, Philippi, Meyer, De Wette, Alford, Treirelles. " Ver. 24. — [R'l:., with N'. L., Inserts eA«u(ro/iat Trpbs it^a?. Omitted in N'. A. B. C. D. F., many versions and fothero ; rejected by Oriesbach, Lachmann, Meyer, Philippi, Alford, Tregelles. Tischeuuorf has adopted this reading in ed. 2; De Wette prefer* if, Lange adopts it. It is better to reject, since, on many accounts, it is tNe less difficult t<:adiuL', and likely to be added. — The real critical difficulty lies in the question respecting yap (lee imti- '->. " Ver. 24.— [N. A. B. C. D. L. insert yap. Omitted in F., versions and fathers. The mi lor authorities for the omis.sion are much the .same as in the case of the precedi ig variation (hence Dr. Ilodge s.iys most of these anthorifios omit yap) ; but the MS. authority is as decidedly in favor of 700 as it is against rAcvcrofxat irpb? i^os. The editors differ: Oriesbach and his follower.^, Philippi, Hodge (apparently), Meyer, reject it; Lachmann, Ti;:che dorf, De Wolto, Alford, Wordsworth, Tregelles, Liinge, retain it. Meyer thinks its jjresence in the early uncial shows, not that the wliole disputed p:i8.sage w:us original, hut early inserted, and then partially con-ccted, thus leaving yap. Th's is very improhable, since this reading is so difficult; besiiles, there is no evidciiee whatever supporting it. M.iiiy, for conve- nience sake, reject yap. L;ichmaiin puts from eAiri'fw to inn\ji' iiiiiov; B. (ajrb) 1). F. : a^' iinutv. The former is adopted by Philippi, Tregelles ; llie latter by Ljiehraajin, 'I'iscUendorf, Meyer, De Wette. Alforil, Linge. '* Ver. 28.— ['ATTtAe t> Ver. 29.— [Tho words toO tvayyeMov rov (inserted before Xpio-roD, in N'. L. Rec, versions and fathers) are now considered a gloss. They are not found in N'. A. H. C. D. F., are rejected by tho Latin fathers, and by all modern critical editors, also Philippi and Ilodge, who are least disposed to vary from the Ruepta. ■* Ver. 30. — [II. omits aitK^toi, and the variations in position are numerous. Alford accordingly bracketa it; but it is received by most editors without question. " Ver. 30.— [D. F. G. insert vfLiav (similarly some editions of tho Vulgate). A correct gloss, hence tho mors ■ospir-iouH. '• Ver. 31.— [B. D'. F. G. read iutpo^opia. But N. A. 0. D' •. L., most versions favor 2 1 ax o ft a, which i- adopte»l by most later editors. So Tischendorf, Meyer, Philippi, Tregelles. Lnchinann profei-s the fonuer, whi'h, however, se-nn to have b"en substituted as an explanation.— On the same outhority, t) «i« *I«p. is to be preferred to q iv 'h (Lachmann). '• Ver. 32.— [Instead of the well-sustained and generally received «»oii (Rrc. N*. A. C. I)'. L., most versions nn<' bthers), wo find xvpiov 'Iricrou (II.), Xpiarou "Itjo-oi; (D'. F.), 'IijaoD \pt kt t o T 1 tja o'< . This reading seems most accordant with the context, since the priestly service under Christ, the Kinci, n referred to. — R.] Reiche : Christ is the offering brought; Riickert, very properly, says: Christ ii the High-Frlest ; against which Meyer strangelj 440 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE EOMANS. ai-gcs, that this is not an idea of Paul, but of the Epistle to the Hebrews. [De Wette, Meyer, Fritzsehe, and Philippi, tliiiik tliat Chiist is lepre- Bented here as Heail and King of the Church, which is peiliaps preferable. — ]{,] Ministering (as a priest in) the gospel of God \_i t (J I) r n yi)Ti VT ci To t r ay y t /. to v rov Utov. Performing a i)riestly oflice with reference to the gospel. — R.] Explanations : 1. Tlie gospel is the ottering (Luther). 2. The office of the gos- pel is his piiestly otHce (Erasmus, Tholuck, &e.). As the law was the basis of the Old Test;inient cul- Uix, 80 the gospel is the biusis of the New Testament eultus. Hence tiie meaning is : Explaining, as min- istrant to the High-Priest, Christ, the gospel in its liturgical character, and transforming the knowledge of God contained in the gospel into evangelical praise oi' (lod (thank-oH'ering) ; see chap. i. 21. [A slight moditication is necessary, if Christ be represented hjere as King. Estius : '■'■ Admiuistruns ev .iigelimn a Dto tidssiun hoiuinibns^ eoque mitiisterio velut Sact'n/ofio /im ,e?is." — K.] The oflfering of the Gentiles [fj TtQoa- (f o (J a TiTtv iO-vmv. (icuitive of a[)[)osition.] Not the otfering which the (ientiies bring, but which the (ientiles themselves are (burnt-oirerings). Being sanctified in the Holy Ghost [t'lyi- aautfij tv 71 V f r II a T u uyiiii. 'Ev seems to be instrumental, and yet may well indicate the ele- ment iji which they were sanctiiied, purified. — R.] In the real New Testament mode, not in the merely typical sense of the consecration in the temple.* Ver. IT. I have therefore my boasting in Christ Jesus [t/o oi'f rijv xar/ijmv i v A' (< KT T 01 'J ij (T o r . See Tixtual Nole ^.] We take t/u) as enjphutic, and in coiniection witli the words Cliri>.t Jenas. His glorying (the act itself) in his great calling, he, as the niinister of Ciirist, holds within tlie bounds of the fellow.sliip and Spirit of Cln-ist. [He itu-idcntaliy opposes any suspicion of his glorying himself, but the main emphasis does not rest oTi tliis. Dc Wette, Alfoni : " 1 venture to biiast." //<, not ihvouiik Christ (E. V., Stuart).— R.] In those things which pertjiin to God [ t (t n(i6i; Tov ^-^^^oj']. According to the context, the restoration of the real worshij) of (lod in the world is meant. [Philippi, De Wette, Alford: ".My above-named sacerdotal otiiee and ministry." — R.] Meyer says, however: ".My boa.sting is something which Ixdongs to m(! in virtue of my connection •with Christ, in relation to (Jod's cau.se." Reiche : My glorying consists in my glorying of Cliri.st. [Dr. Hixige mentions another: " I have offerings for Cod — ^'. <■., Gentile convert.s." Too l'ar-1'etched. — R.] Ver. 18. For I wiU not dare, &c. [or ya(i rn ). 11 tj i rnr VAAipi.- xor]. The later expositoi-s generally regard lllyri- cum IUS the terminus (sec Tholuck) ; but Meyer, on the contrary, is of the o|)inion that this view sub- jects the Afiostle to the suspicion of lioasting; and • [Should irvtvftaTof he accepted n.s the correct rend- inp, tlien, of course, irftvfia may he taken in the Rt cond sense (see p. "Ji')) ; yet tliis is not nhsolutely neeessnry, since Meyer rejeits the lonuor rendinir ii' d at the same time refers irfov(;. Grotius : ^^ Non quantum VELLEM, sed quantum licebit. — R.] An expression of the high regard in which he held their fellowship. — Filled, t iA.n k t] a Q- u) , by spiritual satiation. C. Vers. 25-33.— Ver. 25.' But now I go. He regards this new official hindrance as the last.— [Mimstering, fi i,ay.o%' iltv. Present participle, not the future ; the journey is part of the ministry, the whole action is already begun. This is lost siglit of in the E. V. ; Amer. Bible Union : " I am going Smart calls attention to Kai as indicating the impossihilitj of his comii g hitherto.— B.] 442 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. to Jcnisaleiii to minister," is even more objection- able. — K.] On the collection mentioned, see 2 Cor. ix. 1, 2 ; Acts xxiv. 17. Origen is of the opinion that he wished to bring this collection home to the hearts of the Romans too.* He had time enough still fur this. Ver. 26. For Maoedonia and Achaia thought it good [f rdox tj aav yaf> M cty.fi)ovia xal 'yt/aia. Dr. Lunge: wtre joi/Julli/ willing. The above rendering is perhaps scarcely strong enough, but is taken from later revisions. It seoms best to preserve the personification of the orginal. — R.] The translation : they have wished, does not at all do justice to the iido/.. A certain contribution [y.oi.vi,)viav r(,vd. Literally, a certain communion ov participation. As used here of a contribution, ^^ hoiustii et leiju'tatin plena a pellatio" (Beugel). — R.] As tlie symbol and expression of the y.oivtot'ia, it is itself zoivojctct. The later giving of alms, and particularly that of the Middle Ages, has not kept tliis meaning in view. Ti^vd softens the force. Meyer says : " There is no further trace in the Epistles of Paul of the commu- nity of goods." We might add : Tkere is no trace from the outset of a legally carried out community of goods ! Ver. 27. [For they thought it good, f vdn- Ktjaav ycc^. The yet;* introduces an explana- tion of irdo/.tjfTav (ver. 20). The clause is = for f/iey tliought it good being tlieir debtors. — 11.] — In spiritual things. A statement of the cause of the propriety of this relief in temporal matters. — [To minister, ).n,Tovi>yTi(rat,. Tlie figurative priestly service is still in mind, and to it belongs the privilege and duty of providing for the poor saints. Who, then, cannot be Christ's priest, so long as we have Clirist's poor witli us ? — R.] — In carnal things. Tlie aait/.t,/.d denote, in a general idea, external tilings; actoi is tiie external, material, and finite side of human life, of life in general. Con- clusion a mnjori ad i/duux. Ver. 28. And have secured to them. SiK>ayltKT {yai. Luther [marginal reading]: " Truly and faithfully preserved to deliver up." To this belongs also here the full spiritual meaning and effect. Strange view : When I have brought over to them the money, sealed (Erasmus, and others). Still more strange : When I have safely effected, leith let- ter and seal, the proper delivery of their collection. It may be that, by sealing, the Apostle alludes to the usual mc'thod of tiie world in the management of inoney aS'airs, as, for examjile, in Phil. iv. 15. Meyer : Vouched for ; that is, corroborated as the fruit ripened for them. — [This fruit, ritv xa()- nov rovTov; i. e., the amount of the collection. Tiiere seems to be no reference to the fruit of love or faith, still loss of Paul's activity.— -R.] Ver. 29. And I know, &c. [oida di, x.t.A. See Textual Nide ".] A text applicable in many ways for installation sermons. Ver. 80. No^JT I beseech you. The Apos- tle's wonderful prosentiinent of what he has to ex- perieiicf in Jerusalem ; se(! Acts xx. 22 ; xxi. 10 ff. By our Lord Jesus Christ, .tin, see chap. xii. 1. — By the love of the Spirit. Meyer: The love effected by tlic Holy Sjiiiit. As tliLs is Belf-evident, Paul means a love extending itself witli ♦ [A moKt prmtuitous assumption is thnt of ."ohutt, Ihnt these collectionii were to win favor, and protoot lilm dm uif; bis abtiuiice iu the cstrciiie West. Decidcdlv' uiip:tultne I ~B.1 the Christian spirit, so as to embrace in it£ univer sality the entire kingdom of God, which can pray for all affairs of the kingdom and its administrator;?, and overflows the whole earth. In your prayers. Codd. D. E. [F. G.] add the proper glo.-^s Ihmv; Col. iv. 12. [See Ti-xlunl Note ". It is not genuine, though correct. — R.] Ver. 31. [The disobedient, ann,0 uvvimv. Either unbelieving (E. V., Hodge, De Wcite, and others) or disobedient (Philippi, and others). The two ideas are intimately related in the New Testa- ment, but the latter seems the prominent one here. — R.] The Apostle describes the unbelieving Jews as disobedient. Those were, in a special sense, rebels against the Messiah, who refused the obe- dience of faitii. — My ministration [ij i>i,(t.y.o- via /1ies eitlier a w;int of unity Mmoiij; the nposth'8 pcr^ona!ly, or dilfcrent Sro.spcls. See I.iinL'o*H Cumm. O'lladotis, pn. 4(1, 61 ; I,i(rht- foot, Oitldtinns, Dixscrtatiou iii. pp. 283 11'., St. riiiU and lh« Threc.-R] CHAPTER XV. 14-83. 443 [Hodge : " In this beautiful passage we see the na- ture of the only priesthood which belongs to the Cliristian ministry. It is not their office to make atonement for sin, or to offer a propitiatory sacrifice to God, but, by the preaching of the gospel, to bring men, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, to ofler themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God." Comp. Calvin.— R.J 5 Paul's missionary sphere. See his Life in the Intr'jduction. 6. Paul's principle in ver. 20 ; a principle of genuine churchliness in contrast with hierarchical and sectarian propagandism. [The term used by the Apostle belongs to the sphere of minor morals, to " a point of honor," indeed. Yet the principle is not unimportant. Men may be Christians, and dis- regard it, but not Christian gentlemen, not men pos- sessed of that delicate sense of propriety which no rules can impart. Besides, such efforts at proselyt- ing generally ignore the essential graces of Chris- tianity : humility, self-abnegation, cliarity. He who insists on missionary efforts among Christian people, is necessarily uncharitable. Sects whose main eflbrts are in this channel, will not be celebrated for the graces of Christianity. Moreover, Christian ethics have so far informed the world, that ungodly men recognize the necessity of " honorable " conduct in Christial workers, and can sneer at the unseemly " competitions " of much that is called pious zeal. This does not prove that the world's sense of honor is higher than that of the Chui'ch, but that the standard of sectarian proselytists is far too low. That a man can be a zealous missionary and not be a meddlesome propagandist, is evident from the case of this Apostle. — R.2 7. Ou ver. 28. The thoroughly dynamical view which the apostles had of the world, is reflected even in their thoroughly dynamical missionary method, according to which they conquered the capital and central points of the ancient world. 8. Vers. 26 ff. The idea of fellowship in its full universality. The sacred method in the matter of collections: (1.) An assignment of reasons (debt- ors) ; (2.) Voluntariness ; (3.) Authentication ; (4.) Connection with the purposes of God's kingdom. 9. Spain, as the representative of France, Britain, Germany, and Scandinavia. [And of America, too ! For from the neighborhood of the pillars of Hercu- les, toward which Paul's missionary zeal led him, the voyager sailed wlio discovered the new world. — R.] How does the matter stand now? Paul through Rome to Spain — this has again become a prospect of the present day, or a pkim de.-.ideriu7n. [From Spain to Rome seems the likelier course ; yet, where Spain has long held her hand, how strong is the rule of Rome !— R.] 10. On the Apostle's great anticipation, see the Exeg. Notes. 11. Prayer a wrestling and striving. See the history of Jacob at Jabbok. The Israelites = God's warriocs. Christians at Rome must now help the Apostle to fight against the schemes of degenerate warriors of God. 12. 2'lie God of peace. As an infinite source )f peace, as if peace itself constituted His divinity. So the love of the Spirit ; the whole Spirit which in Christianity is poured out over the eartli, must be regarded as a breath of Love and of Spring exliaUng over the earth. 13. Amen. See the Lexicons, the Concordance, •ud the Catechisms. Also the conclusion of chap. xvi. HOMILETICAIi AND PRACTICAX. Chap. xv. 14-33. The good testimony which Paul gives to ths Christians at Rome (ver. 14"). — The Apostle's call as the Apostle to the Gentiles. 1. From whom did he receive it ? From God, who gave him this grace (comp. chap. i. 5 ; xii. 3 ; Gal. i. 1). 2. How did he regard it? As a priestly employment in the sanctuary of the New Testament. 3. What bless- iug did he derive from it ? He brought the Gentilea to obedience to the gospel. 4. By what rule did he administer it ? To preach the gospel only wliere it was not yet known (vers. 14-21). — The proclama- tion of the gospel regarded as a priestly service (ver. 16). — The task of the missionary to the hea- then. 1. What is it ? To administer the gospel among the heathen ; that is, to declare it with priestly consecration, devotion, and patience. 2. What should be its constant end ? To labor that the heathen may be an offering, a. acceptable to God ; h. sanctified by the Holy Ghost (vers. 15, 16). — The most beautiful and best glory is, when we can glory of serving God (ver. 17). — The right means for conversion (vers. 18, 19). — Paul's great field of labor (ver. 19). — The first missionary sphere among the Gentiles (ver. 19). — From East to West ! That was the course of the gospel in the fiist period of the Christian Church. But it has subsequently come to be from West to East ! (ver. 19.) — To build on another man's foundation, a mark of secta- rianism (ver. 20). Common nowadays. The Apostle Paul's plans for his last journeys. 1. They bear witness to his enterprising spirit, which continued fresh in Christian joy even to his old age ; 2. But they are accompanied by anxious fbrebod ings, that lead him to request the intercession of otheus (vers. 22-33). — Christian collections. 1. How must we regard them ? As a service rendered to the saints ; either, because, a. spiritual gifts have been received from a certain quarter, for which ser- vice in temporal goods is willingly shown ; or, h. because brotherly love always requires us to do good to every man, but especially to those Aiho are of the household of faith (Gal. vi. 10). 2. How must they be taken up ? a. In such a way that no njoral com- pulsion be exercised ; h. But so that all givers can bring their gifts willingly (vers. 25-28). — Only he who can say, with Paul, " I am sure that, wiien I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ," can cheerfully re- spond to a call to preach to another congregation (ver. 29). — The fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. It consists : 1. In unconverted people being won to the kingdom of God ; 2. In converted people being furthered in knowledge, fiiith, and holiness (ver. 29). — The Apostle's request for the intercession of the Cliurch at Rome in his behalf. 1. Motives: The Church should intercede for him : a. For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake — that is, for the sake of the Lord's honor ; h. For the love of the Spirit — that is, on account of the fraternal fellow- ship effected by the Holy Ghost between the Apos- tle and the Church. "2. Tlie object of the interccS' sion : a. On the one hand, the deliverance of the Apostle from the unbelievers in Judea ; b. The friendly reception of his service of love (the collec- tion) by the saints there. 5?. The desired result : a. That he should come to Rome in peace ; b. And might be refreshed with the Church in Rome (vera 444 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 30-32). — The God of patience and comfort is a God of hope, and the God of hope is a God of peace (ver. 82 ; conip. vers. 5, 13). LtniKK: On vers. 14, 15: This is, though you do not need my writing, yet I am urged by my oftice, whicli I have by God's grace, to teacli and to admonish every one of you. Stauke : Blessed be the land which is full of the gospel of Christ ! That is more than if it were full of gold and silver (ver. 19). — Do not remove from one place to another without necessity and a good cause ; remain in your country, and live lioni/stly (ver. 23). — Uedixgek : Notice that Piiul will not build on any other man's foundation ; but now it is nothing new in the Cimrch for one to take from an- other Ills good ground, Cin-ist, by clamoring, excit- ing suspicion, and other forms of wickedness (ver. 20),— What docs love for Christ not do ? What a journey to Rome and Spain ? Friend, are you not an official successor of Paul, a pastor, and a shep- herd of souls ? How many miles do you have to go on the way to the preaching stations, the school, or the private house of one of your hearers ? How often, and how willingly, do you make the visit? (ver. 24.) — Praying is the same as fighting. It is greater labor than ploughing. But how indifferently do you regard it ! (ver. 30.) Spkxkr, on ver. 29 : Such confidence of the preacher in the fellowship of his flock effects nmch good, for it proves love. A want of confidence, on the other hand, destroys much edification. — To the ministerial office there belong : 1. Teaching ; 2. Care for the poor ; 3. Admonition of the hearers to prayer (vers. 14-33). — He is not wortiiy to be in Christ's kingdom and to enjoy it, who does not daily pray that it may be e.\tendeil (ver. 30). Geulacii : Paul regards himself as a priest, who, by the preaching of tiie gospel, prepares and pre- sents to God the offering of the whole Goiitile world. Hkubskr : Paul's solicitude lay : 1. In the office which was given to him, with which he also received strength ; 2. In the holy love which he had. Where both of these exist, admonitions are never wholly fruitless (ver. 15). — A minister who is merely a preacher, becomes a talker ; but, reversely, the priest should always be a preacher, or else lie will be merely a Japanese bonze (ver. 16). — Christian love luw regard for the rights of others (ver. 20). — The highest service of missionaries is, that they must begin from the very start, and labor with the rough material (ver. 21). — The change in the circle of operation. — The journeys of the Apostles, which were holy, abundant in blessing, and full of suffer- ing (ver. 24). — Spiritual benefactors are the highest, and though temporal blessings cannot perfectly re- quite their spiritual benefits, we should nevertheless repay even with them (vers. 26, 27). — Christians shoidil not come empty to each other, l)Ut with spiritual blessings (ver. 29). — The power of Cnris- tian intercession (ver. 30). Bessek : The Apostle's official .seal to the Epis- tle to the Romans (vers. 14-33). — The pure sacri- ficial vessel is the gospel of God ; the Gentiles, brought by faith in this vessel, are an acee|)talile offering, simctified by the Holy Spirit, who is the sacrificial fire from heaven (1 Peter i. 12), who con- tinues the holv burning by which Christ has suncti- ficd himself for a burnt-offering for all (ver. 1(>).— Miraclts in themselves are no proof of truth ; but as signs of the real Christ, the miracles of the Apos- tles imprint a seal upon their doctrine for the joy of believers and for the judgment of unbeliever,- (vers. 18, 19).— The fight of faith is fought by him who prays, seeing and feeling the opposite of his hope, and seeking the concealed face of God, who is .» ood of hope (ver. 30). — (Jod gives peace everywhere and in every manner (2 Thess. iii. 10) : Peace in believ- ing on His grace (chap. v. 1), peace in reliance on the love of His government (chap. viii. 28), peace in the certainty that Christ reigns over His enemies (chap. xvi. 20), and peace in the love of the Spirit (ver. 33). [BuKKiTT : As we honor the God of peace, whom we serve ; as we love tho Prince of peace, in whom we believe ; as we hope for the comfort of the Spirit of peace, and as we cherish the success of the gospel of peace, let us preserve it wiiere it is, and pursue it where it flies from us. — Hkskv; The blessing of the gospel is the treasure which w'c have in earthen vessels. When ministers are fully pre- pared to give, and people fully prepared to receive, this blessing, both are happy. Many have the gos- pel who have not the blessing of the gospel, and so they have it in vain. The gospel will not profit, un- less God bless it on us ; and it is our duty to wait upon Him for that blessing, and for the fulness of it. [Doddridge : Let us adore the God of grace and peace, who works the most important ends by methods unthought of by us ; and let us be very cautious that we do not raslily judge that He hath rejected our prayers, because we do not see them answered in that particular way which might have been more agreeable to our own wishes. — Ci.akke: Beware of contentions in religion ; if you (lisi)Ute concerning any of its doctrines, let it be to find out truth, not to support a preconceived and preestab- lished opinion. Avoid all polemical heat and ran- cor ; these prove the absence of the religion of Christ. Whatever does not lead you to love God and man more, is most assuredly from l)eneath. The God of peace is the author of Christianity ; and the Prince of peace, the priest and sacrifice of it ; therefore love one another, and leave oft' contention before it be meddled with. [HoDGK : As oil poured on water smoothes its surface and renders it transiinrent, so does kindness calm the minds of men, and prepare tliem for the ready entrance of (.he truth. Besides these qualifi- cations, he who admonishes others should !)(> entitled thus to act. It is not necessary that this title should rest on his official station ; but there should l)e su- periority of some kind — of age, excellence, or knowl- edge — to giwj his admonitions due effect. — Bahxks : The success of a minister is not for his own praises, but for the honor of God ; not by his skill or power, but by the aid of Jesus (^hrist. — God may disappoint us in regard to the mode in which we purpose to do good ; but if we really desire it, His will enal)le us to do it in His own way. It may be better to preach the gospel in bonils than at liberty; it is better to do it in a prison, than not at alL Banyan wrote the " Pilgnm's Progress " to amuse his heavy hours during a twelve years' cruel imprisi onment. If he had been at liberty, he probably would not have writtsn it at all. — J. F. U.] CHAPTER XYI. l-2(k 445 THIRD DIVISION. THE COMMENDATION OF COMPANIONS AND HELPERS IN A SERIES OF SALUTATIONS, WITH WHICH IS JOINED A WARNING AGAINST SEPARATISTIC FALSE TEACHERS (JEWS AND GENTILES), WHO COULD HINDER AND EVEN DESTROY ROME'S DESTINY AND HIS APOSTOLIC MISSION. YET THE GOD OF PEACE WILL SHORTLY BRUISE SATAN (JUDAISTIC AND PAGANISTIC ERRORS) UNDER THEIR FEET. Chap. XVL 1-20. A. Phebe of Corinth. 1 I commend imto you Phebe our sister, which [who] is a servant [deaconess] 2 of the church which is at Cenchrea : That ye receive her in the Lord, as be^ Cometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath [may have] need of you : for she [too] hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also. B. Eoman friends. 3, 4 Greet Priscilla [Prisca] ' and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus : Who have for my life laid down their own necks : unto whom not only I give thanks, 5 but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet \salute\ the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epenetus, who is the first-fruits 6 of Achaia [Asia] ° unto Christ. Greet [Salute] Mary, who bestowed much 7 laboxir on us [o/-, you].' Salute Andronicus and Junia \or, Junias],^ my kins- men, and my fellow-prisoners, Avho are of note among " the apostles, who also 8 were in Christ before me. Greet [Salute] Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Salute Urbane [Urbanus], our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. 10 Salute Apelles [the] approved in Christ. Salute them which [who] are of 11 Aristobulus' household [the household of Aristobulus]. Salute Herodion my kinsman. Greet [Salute] them that be of the household of Narcissus, which 12 [who] are in the Lord. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which [who] laboured much in the Lord. 13, 14 Salute Rufus [the] chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes [Hermes, Patrobas, Hernias],* 16 and the brethren which [who] are with them. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Kerens, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which [who] are with 16 them. Salute one another with a holy kiss. The [All the] ' churches of Christ salute you. 0. Warning against false teachers. 1*7 Now I beseech you, brethren, [to] mark them which [those who] cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine [teaching] * which ye have 18 \omit have] learned ; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus \omit Jesus] ° Christ, but their own belly ; and by [their] good 19 words and fair speeches'" deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obe- dience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad [rejoice] therefore on your behalf [over you] : " but \omit but] yet I would have you wise unto [con- 20 cerning] that which is good, and simple [harmless] concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with you. Amen \omu Amen.] '* TEXTUAL. 1 Ver. 3.— [Instead of npiVxiAAaF (jBfc, versions and fathers), we find Ilpt o-xav in N. A, B. C. D. F. L., ctirslTe^ &a Universally received now. • Ver. 5.— [iJtc., with D^ '. L., Syriac versions, and fathers: 'Axoto?. N. A. B. C. D'. F., most versions, Latin flithers : 'A cr (' a s . JDe Wette defends the former on the authority of the Peshlto, and also because tr » difficulty iriaiuj 44G THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS, ' Vtr. 6.—[Rer., C. L., versions and fill here: ^fias; D. F. : iv i/xtx ; N. A. B. C«., vt-rsions and fathers: u/tds rt-nilinj last mcntioiu-d is adnpted by Griesbach, Laclim:inn, Meyer, Alford, Trcgellcs ; that of the fi.r., by Tiw;h« rf («'d. :!), Ui! Wetto, rhilippi, Ivtiiipe. The internal evidence is HtioiiKly in its lavor. See the Ei'-g. KoUs.—Rec^ N. 1>. F. L. : Mi^ia^; A. B. C, I'eshito : iAapiav. The latter is preferred by Lachmann, TiscUendorf (ed. 2), rd, TregolkM. ^ ' from 1 Cor. xvi. 15, where Stephanas is called the flrst-fmit'« of Arhaia, might have occasioned the chanpo into 'A ---j i ---.-. -..--.. t , __ __ ,, ;,„ , „ . _ . r etidorf with Alford, Ver. 7. — [See the Exrg. JVolet. * Ver. l.—[Amotiglhe oposOes is ambiguous. It may imply: among the apogtlcs, as of th, which is not found in X. B. ; but it seems best to retain it.— R.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Summarij. — A. Commendation of Phebe the deaconess; ver.s. 1, 2. — B. The -salutations to his Roman frieiuis and companions in tlieir household churclies, and the commendations therein expressed ; vers. 8-16. — C. Warning against false teachers, who create dissension. Benediction ; ver.s. 17-20. In the Apostle's salutations he does not merely take cognizance of friendly relations in a good- natured way, hut rather designs, with a distinct section of his Epistle, and in the wise and sincere form of his salutations, to awaken in the Church at Rome the consciousness that, in its principal ele- mcnt.s, it is indirectly a Pauline church — that is, one a|)propriatcd Ity him in his universal efforts.* Comp., on this point, the Introduction^ p. 33, and the construction of the Epistle. It is characteristic, that Aquila and Priscilla stand at the head of those wiiDin lie .salutes ; by their settlement in Ephcsus they had already pre[)ared for his connection there, just sis they now had done in Rome, and afterward do again in Ephesus ; 2Tim. iv. 10. And .«o there are many among tliose saluted who have preceded him, i as his precursors. The wiiole body of those greeted , is made up of different clas.ses. Some are helpers j of his missionary labors, who have labored with | him, and [)art of whom have exposed themselves to j dangers for him : Prisca, Aquila, .Mary, Andronicus, , Juiiia, and Urbanus. A number of them are his * [Ford : " Some persons, regarding this chapter as con- taining Utile m'no tlian a reci^ter of O'lmry, treat it with coniji iritivo ind Iforenoe ; thereby defrauding their souls of mil h goo I. St. Chrysn-itom. in his day, had cause to complain of the same neglect sliown by many to the con- i elusion of tliii Knistle. Hence ho bestows special pains in explaining it. ' It is possible,' he write-", ' even from bare nnmfs to find a treasure: ' and then he at once proceeds to dLsclinc what the trirasure Is." The list of n imes shows: (I.) Paul's p.^rsonal regard; (2.) The hinh place he accords to women; (."?.> The con-ol'in(fs to those whose namci arn written in the Lamb's Hook of Life. l'".vidently there are lot maiiv rieh or creat in this list — few of wliom we know any tlii g save what is here hinted ; yet these names j abide, while tlioso of thn wealthy anrl honored have lieen ' forgotten Even Horace and lavy give no such extendeil fume as Paul has done to hU friends and aciiuaiiituuces at i Uome.-it.l relatives, such as Andronicus, Junia, and Herodion ; or very near friends, as Rufus and his mother. Be- sides, there are those whom he can distinguish as discii)les converted tiiiougli his instrumentality, or well-known friends : Epenetus, Amplias, Stachys, Apelles ; perhaps also Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis. We can further distingubh companies, a church in the house of Aquila, an assembly at the houses of Hermes, Hennas, and their companions ; at the houses of Philologus, Julia, and their com- panions. Perhaps the believers in the householda of Aristobulus and of Narcissus also form separate divisions of the Church. A. Vers. 1 and 2. — Ter. 1. I commend. [Both an introduction and a commendation are im- plied. Tlie descri|)tion consists of two parts : First, she is a sister, which is the general irround for wel- coming her ; then, more sp<'cia!ly, she is a deacon- ess, who had faithfully discharged iier duty (ver. 2). The name is derived from >l>ni,in^, Phoebus (Apollo), but there is nothing remarkable in this, since the etymology woidd be as little recalled then, as now, in the case of proper names. — H.] See 2 Cor. v. 12. Phebe is usually regarded .as the bearer of the Epistle. Who is a deaconess; <\i(xxovoq. On the institution of deaconesses, comp. Church History and the Pastoral Epistles. Meyer furnishes the spt^ cial literature on p. 530. [The word thnxnritjnri occurs frequently in hiter ecclesiastical (ireek. Pliny, in the celebrated letter to Trajan, says : " Xfcf.wo- r!um crcilvVi, ex duahus aiiciHis i/ikv ministr.e dicC' bnntnr, quid rsx t vp. 311-3<'.t^; Si-hocne, GcKrhirhts. fnrsrh. iifirr d. Kirchltch. Ochrnuchi', iii. pp. 1stolir C/ntirh, |>. 135 ; Suieer, '/'/ifinui'iis, kh/i vnre. Of l*hebe, Conybcare says {Si. Pau/, ii. p. 15t): "She was ■ CHAPTER XVI. 1-20. 441 widow of consideration and wealth, who acted as one of the deaconesses of the Church, and was now about to sail to Rome upon some private business, apparently connected with a lawsuit in which she was engaged." He adds : "She could not (accord- ing to Greek manners) have been mentioned as act- ing in the independent manner described, either if her husband had been living or if she had been un- married." — R.] Cenchrea. The eastern seaport of Corinth (see the Encyclopaedias). Ver. 2. That ye receive her in the Lord. She should be received with Christian interest. — And that ye a.ssist her [xai Tra^affr^Tf ai'jTfj. The verb is frequently used as a legal term, hence the conjecture of Conybeare, that her business at Rome was connected with a lawsuit. — R.] It is hardly probable tliat the early Church employed deaconesses to travel in the discharge of official business ; the business of Phcbe seems to have been of a personal character. [For she too y.al yciQ air fj. She herself aho, not arTtj (this one). — R.] The reason why the Romans siiould zealously support her in her affairs does not lie in an official call to Rome, but in her services for tlie churches at home, and for the Apostle in particular. JI (joirrdToi; is a specially honorable designation. [It may refer to her official duties, but not necessarily so. The idea it implies is of service bestowed by a superior on inferiors. — Of myself also. " When and where, we know not. It is not improbable that she may have been, like Lydia, one whose heart the Lord opened at the first preaching of Paul, and whose house was his lodging ; " Alford.— R.] B. Vers. 3-16.— Ver. 3. Prisca. [This is the real name ; Prhcrlla is the diminutive, according to the common mode of forming such appellations. — R.] She belonged, like Phebe, to tiie women who were prominent because of the energy of their faith, and deserved the honorable position before the name of her husband, Aquila (comp. Acts xviii. 2). See 2 Tim. iv. 19. [The frequent sneers at Paul about his views respecting the female sex and their prerogatives nught be spared us, were this chapter carefully read. The order here is a suffi- cient answer : tlie wife's name first, because she was foremost, no doubt. The standard is, after all, ca- pacity, not sex. Both are called " my helpers," and it would seem that, as such, they were both engaged in spiritual labors, which term includes vastly more than public preaching. — R.] Ver. 4. Their own necks. Meyer translates the I'Tti&t] /.(xv literally: have laid under, under the executioner's axe. But there has been no men- tion made in Paul's previous history of the execu- tioner's axe. Even Meyer himself doubts whether we should take the expression in its exact meaning. Since Paul was a member of their family, they were answerable for him in the tumults that arose in Cor- inth and Ephesus (Acts xviii. 12; xix. 23). — What they did for the Apostle, was done for all the churches of the Gentiles. Ver. 5. Likewise salute the church that is In their house [y.al rtjv y.ar' otJtov avroiv ixx).>j(yiav'\. The definite prototype of an apos- tolical household church, the type of the later par- ish. At the same time, the single household church- es in Rome are already connected by the bond of fellowship into one spiritual church. Accordingly, the church in the house is almost =: the assembly in a certain house.* Tholuck : " In the metropolis, which was at that time about four miles in circum- ference, there were not less than five of them (comp: Kist, in Illgen's ZeiUschrift fur hist. Theologie, iu, 2d part, p. 65)." Epenetus. "Unknown, as all the following ones to ver. 15. (Rufus may be the son of Simon ; Mark xv. 21.) Tlie legends of the Fathers made the most of them martyrs and bishops, and the Synopah of Dorotheus misplaces tlie most of them among the seventy disciples ; " Meyer. The first-fruits of Asia {anaqyij rtj<; L-/(Tta^-. See 7exiunl Note ^'\. Asia proconsul aris. The reading Achaia is less authenticated, and cre- ates difficulty, inasmuch as, in 1 Cor. xvi. 15, Ste- phanas is mentioned as the first-fruits of Achaia. On the solution of this difficulty (by supposing that Epenetus was a member of the household of Ste- phanas, now in Rome), see Tholuck, p. 738. — [£i? Xqi,(jr6v, Meyer, Philippi : vAth refh-ence to Christ ; De Wette, Lange : for Christ. The mean- ing obviously is : first converted to Chiist. — R.] The first-fruits, or those first converted, were gen- erally the natural leaders of the incipient churches. Ver. 6. Mary. Not more definitely known. There is no need of explaining that the reading, bestowed much l&bnr ■]• on tis, is much more natural than the other, on you, for elsewhere the Apostle always brings out prominently the relations of the persons saluted to his own labors. [See l^xtual Note I— R.] Ver. 7. And Junia (or Junias). The word has often been taken, and by Chrysostom [Grotius] among the rest, as a feminine noun, Junia ; it seems more probable that it is Junias, an abbreviation of Junianus (see Tholuck, p. 739). [If feminine, it is the name of the wife or sister of Andronicus; the Rec. accents thus: 'Jowl av, whicli indicates the feminine. Most editors (not Tregelles) : '] ovviav. It is as impossible as it is unnecessary to decide the question, though Meyer thinks the added descrip- tion favors the masculine form. — R.] My kinsmen. The expression ffcyyevftq has been understood by Olshausen, and others, in the broader sense of feVow-countrymen ; against which it has been remarked that, in tiiat case, oth- ers than Jewish Christians have received this desig- * [Dr. Hodge siijr^ests that, as a tent-maker, Aquila had better accommodations for such an assembly than most of the Christians. See Alford in Inco, where he quotes Justin Martyr's statements about these assemblies. Cio> ; for we must un-^ derstand this also after \-l (> KTrofJorXov." — R.] Ver. 11. Narcissus. (iroUus, Neamler, and others, have regarded him as a frecdman of Claudius (Sueton., Claud. 28). [This freedman, however, was • [Luther: torlctif sind her&hmte ApntteK Yet even so hi(rh an AnifHcan aa I)r. Wordsworth accpts the view of Wryer and LaiiKC. An able defence of the less restrirted use of the tcnn oiroaroAos will lie found in Lii;htfoot, Oaliiiiitif, pp. 92 ff. Still, In every case whiTe I'liul u-es the word. It c-in be referred to others than himself and the Twelve only liy c;ituchresis. In 2 Cor. viii. i'A, the artielo is OMiitied, and Ine word liaa obviou-sly no eC'le«ia.'itical sense. Alfonl thinks the me ininR ndopted above ''would imply that I'aul hxid more frequent intercourse with tlic other apostles than we know that he had." Yet how strange tint " noted apostlea^' cLould require this ceiiiQcatiou from raul.-K.l put to death two or three years before this Epistlt was written. It is possible that the salutation it addressed to his family, known thus after his death. -R.J \ er. 12. Persis. [The name is derived from Persiii, as the native country of the bearer ; but it is not known that it was borne for this reason ia this particular instance. — R.] She is thus candidly distinguished from the two just named. Ver. VA. Rtifus. See Comvientary, Mark, p. 151. — The chosen. A very expressive distinction. [Not nicicly " elect in Christ," but a choscfi man, a distingui.-^hcd Christian (Ilodge). — R.] — His mother and mine [ z « t t >/ v « >; t t ^ a a. h t uT< xai I II or. '''■ Hii mother by nature, m'lne by maternal kindness" (Webster and Wilkinson). — R.J. Fervid expression of gratitude for the enjoyment of friend* ly care. Ver. 14. Hermas. This verse contains a nu- merous group, probably intimately associated, and less kn.own to the Apostle. Hernias has been re- garded by Origen and Euscbius as the author of the work : '{) noi-iiijv. But this author belongs to the middle of the second century. — The brethren who are with them [ t o c i; a c r « r t o T? «v XQKTroi ov S ov kf v ovtr iv. See Textual. Xote ']. See chap. ii. 8 ; Phil. iii. 19 ; 2 Cor. ii. 20. Fanaticism, by its confusion of spirit- nal and carnal affections and motives, degenerates into disguised sensualism. — Their own belly [t^ fai'Twf xotAt'a]. This is a symbol of their selt-interest, selfishness, sensuality, and of their final aiming at a mere life of pleasure ; comp.- 1 Tim. vi. 5 ; Titus i. 11. And by their good words and fair speech- es [ (5' t a rTj(; y q tjm oloyiaci y.al f v ).oyiai;. See Textual Note '"]. Comp. 2 Cor. xi. 14. By 29 good words they represent themselves in a rosj light, and by flattering speeches, their hearers. For further particulars, see Tholuck, p. 741. Melanch- thon understands, by tv/.oyia, religious blessings and promises ; for example, those of the monks. [Hodge takes the two words as synonymous. Meyer thinks the former characterizes the tenor, and the latter the form, of their words. Xij?jitt. is found only here in the New Testament. The view given by Dr. Lange is quite tenable. — R.] The simple [nov a/.ciy.oyv. The unwary]. Those who, as such, can be easily deceived. [How many were deceiving and deceived, appears from Pliil. i. 15, written from Rome a few years after- ward. — R.] Ver. 19. For your obedience [^ y«e vfimv vnaKoif^. The yt. A. C, Bee, insert /tiv, which seems to be an interpolation on account of (>£, which follows. — R.] Tliey should be receptive inquirers after what is good. But, on the other hand, they should be as unreceptive of, and un- teachable in, what is bad, as if they were simple- hearted people. — Harmless. [Dr. Lange renders : ungelehrifi, einfaltig, simple, as in E. V. But harm- less seems to be preferable, especially as another * [Meyer finds the ground for this antithesis in the position of OLKaKitiv . . . ifxCiv, and paraphrases : "Not ^nth- out ground do I s;iy the hearts of llu simple; for yon they will not feduce, because ynu do not helong to the simple ; but yo« are so noted for your obeiHence (to the gospel), that it is everywhere knovvu ; about you I am therefore glad, yet I would have you wise and pure," &c. " An elegant min gling of the warning with the expression of firm confi- dence." This view is now favored by Philippi, and is no* open fo the objection urged against (1.), nor does it presen* any grammatical difficulty whatever. — K.) 450 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Greek word has been rendered "simple" just before (vor. 18). — R.] Meyer explains az f^ «t'o ii; by pure [/. e., unmixed with, free from, evil], which does not make an antidiesis to the foregoing (conip. 1 Cor. xiv. 20). Malt. x. 16, on the contrary, con- Btituies a harmonious antithesis to the whole pas- sago. For ditti'rent expositions of tiie ciixi()aiorc;, see Tlioiuck. [i)r. Ilodgu : " Wise, so that good may result, and simple, so that evil may not be done ; " so most connnentators. — H.] Ver. 20. And the God of peace, &c. [6 tivrji;, x.t./..] In the divine power of the Spirit and Author of peace. It is just as the God of peace that lie will bruise Satan, wno, by iiis false doctrines, causes divisions, and rends the Church asunder. The avvxQixi'n,, shall bruise, is the prophetic future ; but not optativcly, accord- ing to Fhitt [Stuart] (see 2 Cor. xi. 15). The ex- pression is an allusion to Gen. iii. 15. The grace, &c. This is the usual concluding benediction (see 2 Cor. xiii. 13). In 2 Tliess. iii. 16, 18, a concluding salutation also follows the benedic- tion. [The presence of the benediction here has led to various conjectures : that Paul intended to close, but afterward added the salutations ; that ver. 24 is not genuine, since it only repeats this doxology, &c. But the text is well sustained here, except the final Amen (see Ttxluai Note ") ; and certainly no one has a riglit to say that Paul shall always close his Epistles in the same way, or to im- pugn either the genuineness of the text or the in- spiration of the author, because he does not conform to a certain mode (however customary with him). -R.] DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. Wc become best acquainted with the nature of the office of deaconess in apostolic times from the Pastoral Epistles. JVom these it is evident, first of all, that this office was not of a missionary char- acter, but a local service in the Church, springing from Christian consecration, and more exactly de- fined, by the restraint then placed on women, by the general destination of the sex, as well as by age and cliaracter. This form of the office in the early Church was succeeded, in the Middle Ages, by the religious orders, which assumed, besides, a qualified mis-sionary function. Recent times have attempted glorious things in relation to this office, and have accomplislied great results ; but the full develop- ment of the nnittcr from the idea of a local evangel- ical service, into which, in its wider sense, all the female members of the Cimrch are called, remains a grand problem for the Evangelical Cimrch. [Wom- an's work in the Church daconal, not mhiistcria/, — All Christian women called to a diaconal service ; some to a more special, and perhaps official, service of this nature. — TLie danger of the mediaeval ex- treme best avoided by regarding the Church as founded upon the family ; not intended to override it (see the liousehold churches named here). How are we Protestants ignoring this idea ? — The diaco- nal service a priestly one (chap. xv. 27) ; noble, however humble it appears. — R.] 2. The commendation of Phebe, a model for Christian commendations. 3. The Apostle's salutations. Christianity is aa intensively personal in a holy sense, as actually free from the ungodly respect of persons. Tiie Apos- tle's friends as prej)arcrs of his way, and witnesses of his greatness and humility. His brief descrip- tions of them are models of a proper estimation of persons, free from all flattery. A group of constel- lations in the apostolic age, as a segment of that spiritual starry sky which eternity will reveal. 4. The warning against the false teachers. See the Ex('(/. Notes. 5. The Apostle's glorious prophecy opens a still greater future lor Rome. We also read, in Matt, xiii., that it is Satan who sows the tares among the wheat, and thereby causes offences. False teaching seems liere to be a ground of divisions and ofl'ences. The first practically evil effect proceeds outwardly, the other comes inwardly. 6. It has been said, that the Apostle has pro- nounced too hard a sentence on his opponents. But the Apostle had established the great festival of peace, and therefore he must regard the enemies of God's Cimrch of peace as just what they really are — the demoniacal disturbers of the institution of a heavenly life on eaith. (Ttie nomiletical and Practical Notes are at the end ol the chapter.) CONCLUSION. THE GREETINGS OF THE PAULINE CIRCLE TO THE CHURCH AT ROME, AND THE INVa CATION OF BLESSINGS BY PAUL HIMSELF. HIS DOXOLOGICAL SEALING OF TUJ? GOSPEL FOR ALL TIME BY A REAL ANTIPIIONICAL AMExN. V Chap. XVL 21-27. A. 21 Timotheus my workfellow [salutoth yon],' and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosi 22 pater, my kinsmen, salute you \';„ii salute you]. I Tertius, who wrote this 23 [the] ei)istle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius mme host, and [Me host] of the CHAPTER XVI. 21-27. 45 whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the chamberlain [treasurer] of the city 24 saluteth you, and Quartus a [our] brother. The^ grace of our Lord Jesua Christ be with you all. Amen. 25 Now to him that is of power [who is able] ' to stablish jam according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of tlie mystery, which was kept secret [in silence] since the world began [during eter- 26 nal ages]. But now is made manifest, and by [through] the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, [is] made 27 known to all nations for [unto] the obedience of faith : To God only wise, he glory through Jesus Christ for ever [To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ ; to whom be the glo)-y for ever]." Amen. [TO THE K0MAN8.]* > Ver. 21.— [The Rec, with D'. L., and a few minor authorities, reads : do-TrafovTat. N. A. B. C. D'. F. : io-Traferai; adopted by Lachmnnn, Tischendorl", Meyer, Altoid, &e., sincu the alteration to the plural (from tha number of persons named) was so likely to occur. — The E. V. must therefore be <'meiided as above. 2 Ver. 24. — [This verse is wanting in \'. A. B. C, and in other important authorities. In some cursives, and in some copies of the Peshito, it is found after ver. 27. D. F. L., Greek and L;itin fathers, insert it here. It is rejected by Laclimann, Koppe, Eeiche, Tie-'clles ; brackctted by Alford ; accepted by Meyer and Lange (Tischendorf varies). It was not inserted to form a proper ending to the Epistle, since ttie authorities which omit it have the concluding doxology ; but was probably omitted on account of the unusual eombinat on of the benediction and doxology. So Dr. Lange, who makes the doxology a liturgical antiphony, expanding the "Amen" of this verse, and of course retains vers. 24-27 in this place. ^ Ver. 25. — [The emendations are from the revisions of the Amer. Bible Un-on, Five Ang. Clerirymen, and Noyes. Dr. Lance's rendering is, in some respects peculiar : " But to Ifim, who cr.n make you strong (chap. i. II) : Accoiding to (as an antiphonj- to) my gc^pel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, — according to the revelation of the mystery ; that was kept in silence since eternal ages ; but that has been now made manifest, as through the prophcti'al Sciipturcs; — according to the command of the everlasting God, made known among all nations for the purpose ot their obedience ol faith: To the only wise God — Through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory — Into eternity an (accordant) Amen." It will be noticed that this differs from the usual view, in some of its details as well as in the liturgical view it presents. See further ,the Exrg. A'o/es. * Ver. 27. — [On Ihe concluding Doxology. (1.) Vers. 25-27 are found here, in N. B. C. D., Vulgate, Peshito, and other versions, in some fathers. So the Rrc.y Erasmus, Beza (eds. 3-5), Bengel, Koppe, Lachmann, Scholz, Fritzsche, De Wctte, Rackert, Philippi, Tischendorf, Tholuck, Ewald, Meyer, Alford, Tregelles, Lange, and many others. (■.'.) They stand after chap. xiv. 23 in L., nearly all cursives (Alforcl says 192), in the Greek lectionaries, in Chrysosiom, Theodoret, Theophylact, &c. This position is accepted by Beza (eds. 1, 2), Grotius, Mill, Wetstein, Paulus, Eichhorn (^nud most of those who deny the integrity of the Epistle), but not by the latest critical editors. (3.) They are found in both places in A. and a lew cursives, wh'ch is indefensible. (4.) They are omitted in 1''. (or rather marked for erasure by the corrector) F. G. (both, however, leaving a space in chap, xiv., as if iatendi g to insert there) Marcion, some manuscripts in Jerome. Sclimidt, Reiche, Krehl reject theni as not genuine. — We inquire, then : I. Is this Doxology jrtjfMmc/ A careful scrutiny of the external authorities as given above jtistifie- the opinion of Alfoi'd : '-Its genuineness as a pari of the Epistle is placed beyond nil rmsonnh'e dnitht." The few authorities wliich omit it altogether, seem to have done so with no intention of rejecting it. The variation in po-ition is so readily accounted for, as to cast little doubt on the genuineness. Nor is the internal evidence against it. The style ij? Pauline. Though the other Pauline doxologies are simpler, tlds was the close of the greatest Epistle. Reiche thinks that, owing to the personal character of chaps, xv., xvi., the pubic rearling closed with chap. xiv. ; that then a doxology was spoken, which crept into the text at that point, and afterward was transferred to the close. But this is mere conjecture. (See Meyer.) II. Wh.at, then, is its true position? We answer, without hesitation, at the close of chap. xvi. (1.) The weight, if not the number of diplomatic authorities favors this position. (2.) In accounting lor the variation, it is much easier to account for the change from this place to chap, xiv., than for the reverse. The doxology forms an unusual conclusion; it was preceded by the usual closing benediction; the words u/nay cmjpifai. wou'd seem to point to the "weak" (chap. xiv). Other theories are advanced, but this seems the .simplest explanation of the change. - The repetition in some authorities is easily accounted for, since the early criticism could not decide where it jsroperly belonged, and yet feared to reject ; the omission arose from the same doubt (since F. G. both have a blank space in chap, xiv.).— Dr. Lange's view of the connection renders extended critical discussii>n unnecessary. — R.] * [Subscription. That of the Rec. is probably correct, but not genuine. 65. A. B>. C. D. G. have: irpot Twuacovt; to this B''. and others add : cypd<^r) airb KopiVflov ; G. : ereAeVerj. — R.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. A. The salutations. — B. The doxology, in con- formity with the fundamental thought of the Epis- tle, in the form of a liturgical antiphony. The ever- lasting Amen of the Church as a response to the everlasting gospel of God, as an Amen : 1. To the proclamation of the gospel in general ; 2. To Paul's proclamation of the call of the Gentiles ; 3. To God's command to bear the gospel forth unto all na- tion.s, for the consummation of which our Epistle is designed. A. Vers. 21-24. — ^Ver. 21. Timotheus. See Acts XX. 4; also the Encyclopaedias.* — LuciuS: * [Comp. Van Oosterzee (Lange's Comm.), I TimMy Introd., § 1.— R.] 452 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Not Luke (Oi igcn, and others). " It is uncertain whether this is the Lucius of C.vrene in Acts xiii. 1." — Jason. Conip. Acts xvii. o. — Sosipater. Acts XX. -1. Tlie identity is, at least, by no means improbable. [In regard to these three persons eoni- nientators diH'er. All three >//«// he identical with those mentioned in tlie Acts, yet all the names were common, while Sosipater and Sojiater (Acts xx. 4) may be the same name, without the identity of per- sons being thereby established. — My kinsmen, o l a vyyt vtli; /tor. Sec vers. 7, 11. It seems probable that some relationship more close than that of I'ellow-Jew is here referred to. — K.] Ver. 22. Tertius. Probably an Italian (he has, without anj ground, been identilied with Silas ; * see Meyer). The writer of this Epistle, which Paul dictated to hnn. On other untenable hyjjotheses (a clean copy ; a translation into Greek), see Meyer. It was natural that he should pi-esent his own salu- tation. [Tholuclv considers this irregularity a cor- roboration of the genuineness of the chapter. — R.] Groundless suppositions : 1. Paul wrote from ver. 23 with his own hand (Kambacli) ; 2. From ver. 23, Teitius wrote in his own name (Gliickler). ["En- tirely groundless also is the view of Olshausen : Paul wrote the doxology immediately after ver. 20, but on a special and small i)arehment, the vacant side of which was used by the amanuensis, Tertius, in order to write vers. 21-24 in his own name ; " 31 ey- er. The internal evidence is altogether against this. — In the Lord, iv y.i; T( X nil'. The pre.s. ence of rt seems to favor tlie connection with what follows, Itut Dr. Lange renders " as through," &c., • [Of those, (.3.) Hpi'ins most imlonnWc. (l.> m.iUeu this plimse iin cxtmsiop of llip ivp nslinj; iine ; (i.) an oxpl-ii n- tioii iif It. 'I'liey lire not, luiwevcr, ronlnKii^-lnry <>f cuch otlier. Dr. Lauge seems reuUy to combiuc tbeiu — R.] CHAPTER XVI. 21-27. 453 thus adopting the other view. — R.] By this addi- tion, Paul proves that this present revelation, whose special organ is Paul himself, is not neologically new, but according to the analogy of faith. Throucfh the Scriptures of the propliets means, that their sense has now become fully clear.* According to the commandment of the everlasting God [ z a t' i/n^rayijv rov aivi- viov OioTi. See Textual JVoie ^, on Dr. Lange's renderuig. — R.] Here Meyer's view of the con- struction of xard does not hold good any longer, and therefore he makes the third principal piopo- sition as a supplement to the second : a7id by means of the prophetic writivffs according to the command- ment of the everlasting God, &c. This command- ment is the last form, the last word, because it brings very near to the Church at Rome the obligatory duty of interesting itself in the work of the world's con- version. The commandment of the eternal God should, as an injunction continually resounding, find an eternal reecho in tlie Amen of the Church. I Ver. 27. To the only vrise God, &c. [ftov <» (ToqxTi 010), x.T.A.] Meyer: "To the only wise God through Jesus Christ." X Curious words ! Bet- ter : To the only wise God be the glory through Clirist (Luther, Beza [E. V.] ). Yet the w op- poses this view, if we refer it to Christ. The w, in- deed, has been cancelled by Beza and Grotius, ac- cording to cursives 33, 72, and Rufinus ; but it stands firm, and is also no obsti'uction to the proper construction of this doxology. For by all means there belongs to Clirist, or the Lamb, the honor of unsealing the book of God's mysteries, and in eter- nity the Church can utter tlianksgiving and praise to Him for it iu the Amen of the Church. Comp. Rev. V. 12. [It must be added, however, that while the glory may be very properly ascribed to Christ, it is grammatically_ harsh to refer the relative w to Christ, since Oeoi is the leading word in this verse, and by implication throughout. — R]. Because the force of the last Amen was mis- taken, many supposed that the Apostle was gradu- ally led, by the parentheses, from the doxology to God, to tlie doxology to Christ (Thohick, Philippi). Such a great obscurity would be a bad crown to his grand and clear work. Besides, the previous repe- tition f.t6v(i) aoqiT) &H0 is against it. Other suppo- * [The sense is accordingly much the same, whether this phrase limit " made manifest " or " made known." In the lonner case, the thougrht is Bupplcmentary : "It is made manifest in these Rospel times, and that, too, by means of the prophetic writings ; " in the latter, more emphasis would rest upon it. It is objected to the latter, that the writings of the prophets were not actually the means em- ployed in the universal diffusion of the gospel ; to the formiT, th:it there is an inconi^ruity in thus speaking of a mystery " kept in silence," ami yet mnde manifest now by writings of the earlier date. Either of these may he readily met. On grammatical groutids the preference should be given to the connection with what follows, unless Dr. Lanse's syntax be adopted, which, liy taking the following Kara as Coordinate to the previous ones, precludes this view. — E.] t [If Dr. Lange's view be not accepted, then Meyer's is to be prefeiTcd : Tliis general making kno\\-n took place: (1.) By means of the prophetic Scriptures ; {•:.) According to the ciimmand of God ; (3.) For the establishment of the obedience of f:iith ; (4.) Among all nations. So most com- mentators. — The word altaviov, evirh'Slhigi, has been deemed superfluous ; yet it seems specially appropriate.— "Thefiist 61? indicates the aem— in order to their becom- ing obedient to the faith : the second, the local exlml of the manifc.'tation " ( Alfbrd). — 11.] * [■' T'l G'mI, wJin through Christ appears as the only wise ; so wisi', that, in comparison with Him, the predicate wise. ean be attriliUted to no other being, the nbsnlulehj wise;" Meyer. Ttiis view now meets ■n-ith much favor.— ll.J sitions — that the ^5 is a pleonasm, standing for avTO) * — as well as the proposed supplements, prova only that there must be a mistake in the whole com ception of the doxology. We may regard it as re« moved by the liturgical construction of the conclu- sion corresponding to the fundamental liturgical thought of the Epistle. The Amen of eternity shall again ascend to God through Christ, just as the eter- nal gospel has come from God to man through Him. But we do not read to ciftfjv, because the conclusion is not didactic, but a prayer. [Dr. Lange thus avoids an anacoluthon, by mak- ing a double doxology, as it were — to God an eter- nally accordant Amen, to Christ the glory. It must be confessed that this view is novel, with scarcely an analogy in the New Testament or elsewhere ; yet it is beautiful, poetic, and appropriate. For the Apos- tle, in closing such an Epistle as this, must have been filled with thoughts not less grand than these. Still, should we accept the view of Meyer, the thought remains grand, Pauline, and appropriate. (See Winer, p. 528, on the anacoluthon.) For he who had dived so deeply into the riches of the knowl- edge of God in Jesus Christ, might well close by declaring that God was revealed as absolute wisdom in Jesus Christ, and ascribe to Him, as such, the glory forever. And when, through the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to this gospel, the mys- tery of God's love in Jesus Christ shall be made known to all nations, and they, through the knowl. edge of the revealed Scriptures, become obedient iu faith, then to Him, whose wisdom shall be thus re- vealed, be all the glory. The true antij^honical Amen is pronounced by those who labor for and await that glory, who to-day, with uplifted heads, ex- pect the final triumph, not less than he who closes his great Epistle in such confidence. — R.] DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. See the JExeg. Notes. 2. The doxology is presented to God, as the only wise, in the same sense as His wisdom, in the econ- omy of salvation, is glorified at the conclusion of chap, xi. 3. On the liturgical meaning of the Amen, comp. Deut. xxvii. 15 S. ; Ps. cvi. 48 ; 1 Chron. xvi. 36 ' 1 Cor. xiv. 16 ; but especially Eph. iii. 21. HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL. Chap. xvi. 1-16. The abundance of apostolic salutations (vers. 1-16). — The Apostle's good memory of his friends (vers. 1-16). — Phebe, a pattern for every Christian deaconess. 1. Every one, like her, should minister to the poor and sick in the Church of the Lord ; 2. Every one, Uke her, should not teach God's word, but bring it over, as Phebe brouglit the Epistle to the Romans to Rome (vers. 1, 2). — The evangelical office of the deaconess arose from living faith : 1. In the apostolic Church ; 2. In the Middle Ages ; 3. At the present time. — How should our churches act toward the deaconesses ? — He who exercises love may also lay claim to love (ver. 2). — Aquila and • [Hodge: "To the only wise God, through Jesue Christ, to Him, I say, be glory forever." So Stuart, taking (5 in the demonstrative sense. — E.] 454 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. Priscilla, a Christian couple of the apostolic age ; coiup. Acts xviii. 2, 26 (vers 3, 4). — Aquila and Priscilla contiasted with Ananias and Sapphira ; comp. Acts V. 1 ff. — The Christian Church originally a household church (ver. 5). — The family, the birth- place of Christian service in the Gentile world ; comp. Acts X. 17 ; xvi. ;^4, 40 ; xviii. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 19 (ver. 6).— The Marys of the New Testament. 1. Mary, the mother of our Lord ; 2. Mary, the sister of the mother ot Jesus ; 3. Mary of Bethany ; 4. Mary MagdiiJene ; 5. Mary, the mother of John Mark ; 6. The Roman Mary (ver. 6). — See the Con- cordance. The Marys of the New Testament grouped in pairs. 1. Two of them belong to the immediate family of Jesus ; 2. Two are friends of our Lord ; 8. Two are protectresses of His apostles (ver. (5). — The various yet well-considered designations of the individuals saluted by the Apostle : Helpers in Christ (ver. 3) ; well-beloved, my beloved, beloved (vers. 5, 9, 12); beloved in the Lord (ver. 8); ap- proved in Christ (ver. 10) ; chosen in the Lord (ver. 13) ; sister (ver. 1). — The salutation with a holy kiss (ver. 16). — The holy kiss of fraternal fellowship, and the Judas-kiss of the betrayer (ver. 16). Llthkr, on ver. 17 : This is said against all doc- trines of men. Starke : Christianity does not abrogate worldly transactions and external business, but rather directs them aright, and brings a blessing upon them (ver. 2). — Hedingkr : How beautiful ! Pious women in the service of the Church, taking care of widows, children, the poor, and the sick ! Oh, how sadly has this zeal died out in the Church ; every one is for himself in his own house ! Yet who does not see the footprints of a God still living? (ver. 2.) Spenkr: We see, at least, that women are pro- hibited from no spiritual employment, with tlie ex- ception of the public office of the ministry (ver. 2). — With a holt/ kiss, without any wantonness, actual or imagined (ver. 16). IIeibnkr: Commendations of the Christian are very different from merely worldly ones, for they have a holy cause and a holy purpose (vers. 1, 2). — Natural weakness, strengthened by grace, accom- plishes much (ver. 6 ff.). — The tri;e Christian must read all these names with hearty interest, even though we know but little or nothing of their work.s. Their names stand in the Book of Life. — Celebrity, BO called, is something very ambiguous ; the lowest faithful servant of Christ is more than the most ad- mired worldly hero. — Pious souls can even wish to remain concealed^ la&nv Biu'iirai; (vers. 5, 6 If.). — The kiss can be most unholy and most holy (ver. 10). [BcRKiTT, on vers. 5-Y : happy houses, and thrice happy householders, whose families are little churcties for piety and devotion ! — Observe : 1. That seniority in grace is a very great honor : and to be in Christ i»ef