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ESTATE OF THE LATE MABI SINCLAIR

HANDBOUND AT THE

UNIVERSITY OF

EXPOSITION

OF THE

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.

EXPOSITION

OF THE

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

WITH REMARKS

THE COMMENTARIES OF DR. MACKNIGHT, PROFESSOR MOSES STUART, AND PROFESSOR THOLUCK.

BY THE LATE ROBERT HALDANE, ESQ.

NINTH EDITION.

EDINBURGH : WILLIAM OLIPHANT AND CO.

LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. 1874.

BS

O I ' r< b

1097377

PREFACE.

ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Every page of the sacred volume is stamped with the impress of Deity, and contains an inexhaustible treasure of wisdom, and knowledge, and consolation. Some portions of the word of God, like some parts of the material creation, may be more important than others. But all have their proper place, all proclaim the character of their glorious Author, and all ought to be earnestly and reverentially studied. Whatever be their subject, whether it relates to the history of individuals or of nations, whether it contains the words of precept or exhortation, or whether it teaches by example, all is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. But while every part of the word of God demands the most serious attention, it is not to be doubted that certain portions of the sacred volume call for more frequent and deeper meditation. In the Old Testament, the Book of Psalms contains a summary of all Scripture, and an abridgment of its most important instructions and sweetest con solations. In the New Testament, the Epistle to the Romans is entitled to peculiar regard. It is the only part of Scripture which contains a detailed and systematic exhibition of the doctrines of Christianity. The great truths which are embodied and inculcated in every other part of the Bible, are here brought together in a condensed and comprehensive form. More especially, the glorious doctrine of justification by faith is clearly unfolded and exhibited in the strongest light.

The Epistle to the Romans has always attracted the peculiar notice of those whose study has been directed to the interpretation of Scripture. To this portion of the Divine record, all who look for salvation by grace have constantly appealed, and here they have a rich mine of evidence, alike solid and inexhaustible. No considerable difference of interpreta tion has ever been given of its contents by those who have renounced their own wisdom, and determined to follow implicitly the obvious mean ing of the word of God. This Epistle has been equally an object of attention to those who admit the authority of Scripture, but follow their own wisdom in forming their system of religious doctrine. Salvation by grace and salvation by works are so incompatible with each other, that it might well be supposed no attempt would ever be made to bring them into harmony. Still the attempt has been made. Human wisdom can not receive the doctrine of the Epistle to the Romans, and men professing Christianity cannot deny it to be a part of Scripture. What, then, is to be done? A compromise is proclaimed between the wisdom of man and the revelation of God. All the ingenuity of Mr. Locke, one of the

2 PREFACE.

most acute and subtile metaphysicians that ever appeared, has been exerted to bring the doctrine of Paul into accordance with human science. Like him, many others have laboured to give a view of this Epistle that may reconcile human merit with divine grace.

Nothing is more manifest than the direct opposition between the doctrine of inspiration, as unfolded in the Epistle to the Romans, with respect to the state and prospects of mankind, and the doctrine of this world's philosophy. Paul contemplates all men in their natural state as ruined by sin, and utterly unable to restore themselves to the Divine favour. Philosophers, on the contrary, survey the aspect of society with real or affected complacency. They perceive, indeed, that imperfection and suffering prevail to a considerable extent ; but they discover a vast preponderance of happiness and virtue. They cannot deny that man is of a mixed character ; but this is necessary, in order that his virtue may be his own, and that, in passing onwards to the summit of moral excel lence, his strength of principle may be more illustriously displayed, and his happiness promoted by his progress in virtue, as well as by his advancement in knowledge. Nor is this remarkable difference altogether confined to philosophy. Even many professors and expounders of Christianity cannot entirely accord with the Apostle Paul in his repre sentations of human nature. Man, it seems to them, is not so completely lost but that he may do something to regain the Divine favour ; and if a sacrifice were necessary for the expiation of sin, its blessing must be equally bestowed on all mankind.

The doctrine of justification, in particular, so far transcends the powers of our discovery, that men are ever attempting to set it aside, or to mould it into accordance with their own preconceived notions. How wonderful is the contrast between the justification of which this Apostle treats, and the justification which critical ingenuity has often extorted from his Epistles ! While Paul speaks of the believer as possessing a righteousness perfectly commensurate to all the demands of the law, and standing at the bar of God spotless and blameless, human wisdom has contrived to exhibit his doctrine as representing salvation to be the result of a happy combination of mercy and merit.

The doctrine of salvation by faith without works has ever appeared to the wise of this world not only as a scheme insufficient to secure the interests of morality, but as one which disparages the Divine authority. Yet its good effects are fully demonstrated in every age ; and while nothing but the doctrine of salvation by grace has ever produced good works, this doctrine has never failed of its designed object. In all the ways of God there is a characteristic wisdom, which stamps them with the impress of divinity. There is here a harmony and consistency in things the most different in appearance ; while the intended result is invariably produced, although in a way which to man would appear most unlikely to secure success.

The mind of every man is by nature disaffected to the doctrine of this Epistle ; but it is only in proportion to the audacity of his unbelief that any one will directly avow his opposition. While some, by the wildest supposi tions, will boldly set aside whatever it declares that opposes their own pre conceived opinions, others will receive its statements only with the reserve

PREFACE. 3

of certain necessary modifications. Thus, in the deviations from truth in the exposition of its doctrines, we discover various shades of the same unhallowed disregard for the Divine testimony.

The spirit of speculation and of novelty which is now abroad, loudly calls upon Christians to give earnest heed to the truths inculcated in the Epistle to the Eomans. There is hardly any doctrine which has not been of late years exposed to the corruptions and perversions of men who profess to be believers of Divine revelation. Many, altogether destitute of the Spirit of God and the semblance of true religion, have nevertheless chosen the word of God and its solemn and awfully momentous truths as the arena upon which to exercise their learning and display their ingenuity. In consequence of the Scriptures being written in the dead languages, there is doubtless scope for the diligent employment of critical research. But if it were inquired how much additional light has been thrown upon the sacred volume by the refine ments of modern critics, it would be found to bear a very small propor tion to the evil influence of unsanctified learning applied to the holy doctrines of revelation. It has become common, even among Christians, to speak of the critical interpretation of Scripture as requiring little or nothing more than mere scholarship ; and many seem to suppose that the office of a critical and that of a doctrinal interpreter are so widely different, that a man may be a safe and useful critic who has no relish for the grand truths of the Bible. There cannot be a more lamentable delusion, or one more calculated to desecrate the character and obscure the majesty of the word of God. To suppose that a man may rightly interpret the Scriptures, while he is ignorant of the truths of the Gospel, or disaffected to some of its grand fundamental doctrines, — to imagine that this can be to him a useful or even an innocent occupation, — is to regard these Scriptures as the production of ordinary men, treating of subjects of ordinary importance, instead of containing, as they do, the Message of the Most High God, revealing life or death to every soul to whom they come.

If the Scriptures have not testified in vain that the carnal mind is enmity against God ; if we are bound to believe that there is no middle state between the Christian and the unbeliever ; can we wonder at the manner in which they have been perverted, not only by the ignorance, but by the inveterate prejudices, of men from whom the Gospel is hid ? Is it reasonable — is it agreeable to the dictates of common sense — to believe that the critical interpretations of such men are not tinged with their own darkened and hostile views of the Divine character and the Divine revelation ? And yet such is the opinion entertained of the labours of some of the most unenlightened commentators, that their works have obtained a celebrity altogether unaccountable on any prin ciple of Christian wisdom.

Christians ought to be particularly on their guard against tampering in any degree with the word of God. We should never forget that, when we are explaining any expression of Scripture, we are treating of what are the very words of the Holy Ghost, as much as if they had been spoken to us by a voice from heaven. The profane rashness of many

PREFACE.

critics is much emboldened by the circumstance that men have been employed as the instruments of the Almighty in communicating His revelation. A sort of modified inspiration only is granted to the Scrip tures, and they are often treated as the words merely of those who were employed as the penmen. When God is thus kept out of sight, little ceremony is used with the words of the Apostles. That profound reverence and awe with which the Scriptures ought to be read and handled, are in many instances too little exemplified. The poor man's Bible is the word of God, in which he has no suspicion that there is anything but perfection. The Bible of the profoundly erudite scholar is often a book that is not so necessary to instruct him, as one that needs his hand for alteration, or amendment, or confirmation. Learning may be usefully employed ; but if learning ever forgets that it must sit at the feet of Jesus, it will be a curse instead of a blessing. It will raise clouds and darkness, instead of communicating light to the world.

The evil of studying the Scriptures, and commenting upon them with as little reverence as a scholar might comment upon the plays of Aristo phanes or Terence, has extended itself much farther than might be supposed. This is the spirit in which the German Neologians have written ; and indeed it is to be feared that, as the Neologian form of infidelity originated from this profane method of criticising the Scrip tures, so the same cause may produce the same effect in this country. Certain it is that works have been republished or translated here, which are very little calculated to uphold the ancient faith of the Church of Christ, or to advance the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.

From present appearances, there is every reason to fear that Britain will be inundated with German Neology. The tide has strongly set in, and unless the Christian public be upon their guard, the whole country will be brought under its influence. It is a solemn thing to be instru mental in ushering into more extended notoriety publications that have a tendency to lower the character of the Holy Scriptures, to introduce doubt and confusion into the minds of those who are weak in the faith, and to embolden others who seek an apology for casting away the fetters of education and authority, and desire to launch out into the ocean of wild and dangerous speculation. While some appearances in Germany of a return to the Scripture doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ should be gladly hailed by every Christian, yet it must be admitted that those who in that country seem to have made the greatest advances in the knowledge of the Gospel, are still far from being entitled to be pointed out as guides to the Christians of Great Britain. Their modifications of Divine truth are manifestly under the influence of a criticism too nearly allied to Neology. There is great danger that in the admiration of German criticism a tincture may be received from continental errors. It would be far preferable if learned Christians at home would pursue truth in a diligent examination of its own sources, rather than spend their time in retailing the criticisms of German scholars. 'Their criticisms,' it is observed by Dr. Carson, < are arbitrary, forced, and in the highest degree fantastical. Their learning is boundless, yet their criticism is mere trash. The vast extent of their literary acquirements has over-

PREFACE.

awed British theologians, and given an importance to arguments that are self-evidently false.'

In these days of boasted liberality, it may appear captious to oppose with zeal the errors of men who have acquired a name in the Christian world. The mantle of charity, it will be said, ought to be thrown over mistakes that have resulted from a free and impartial investigation of truth, and if not wholly overlooked, they should be noticed with a slight expression of disapprobation. Such, however, was not the conduct of the Apostle Paul. He spared neither churches nor individuals, when the doctrines they maintained tended to the subversion of the Gospel ; and the zeal with which he resisted their errors was not inferior to that with which he encountered the open enemies of Christianity. He affirms that the doctrine introduced into the Galatian churches is another Gospel, and twice pronounces a curse against all by whom it was promulgated. Instead of complimenting the authors of this corruption of the Gospel as only abusing in a slight degree the liberty of free examination, he decides that they should be cut off as troublers of the churches. Let not Christians be more courteous in expressing their views of the guilt and danger of corrupting the Gospel, than faithful and compassionate to the people of Christ who may be injured by false doctrine. It is highly sinful to bandy compliments at the expense of truth.

The awful responsibility of being accessory to the propagation of error is strongly expressed by the Apostle John. ' If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed ; for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds.' If the imputation of Adam's sin and of Christ's righteous ness be doctrines contained in the word of God, commentaries that labour to expel them from that word must be grossly pestiferous books, which no Christian ought to recommend, but which, on the contrary, to the utmost of his power, it is his duty to oppose.

A very dangerous misrepresentation of some of the great doctrines of the Epistle to tte Romans has lately come before the public, in a commentary on that Epistle from the pen of Professor Moses Stuart of America. As that work has obtained an extensive circulation in this country, — as it has been strongly recommended, and is likely to produce a considerable

effect, it has appeared proper to make frequent references to his

glaring perversions of its important contents. On the same principle, various remarks are introduced on the well-known heterodox commentary of Dr. Macknight; I have also alluded occasionally to the heretical senti ments contained in that of Professor Tholuck, lately published.

In the following exposition, I have availed myself of all the assistance I could obtain, from whatever quarter. Especially I have made use of everything that appeared to be most valuable in the commentary of Claude, which terminates at the beginning of the twenty-first verse of the third chapter. I have also had the advantage of the assistance < Dr. Carson, whose profound knowledge of the original language and well-known critical discernment peculiarly qualify him for rendering effectual aid in such a work. As it is my object to make this exposition as useful as possible to all descriptions of readers, I have not always

6 PREFACE.

confined myself simply to an explanation of the text, but have occasion ally extended, at some length, remarks on such subjects as seemed to demand particular attention, either on account of their own importance, or of mistaken opinions entertained concerning them. As to those which required a fuller discussion than could be conveniently introduced, I have referred to my work on the Evidence and Authority of Divine Eevelation.

By studying the Epistle to the Romans, an exact and comprehensive knowledge of the distinguishing doctrines of grace, in their various bearings and connections, may, by the blessing of God, be obtained. Here they appear in all their native force and clearness, unalloyed with the wisdom of man. The human mind is ever prone to soften the strong features of Divine truth, and to bring them more into accordance with its own wishes and preconceived notions. Those lowering and debasing modifications of the doctrines of Scripture, by which, in some popular works, it is endeavoured to reconcile error with orthodoxy, are imposing only in theory, and may be easily detected by a close and unprejudiced examination of the language of this Epistle.

INTRODUCTION.

THE Epistle to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul from Corinth, the capital of Achaia, after his second journey to that cele brated city for the purpose of collecting the pecuniary aid destined for the church at Jerusalem. This appears from the fifteenth chapter, where he says that he was going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. ' For,' he adds, * it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.' The Epistle appears to have been carried to Rome by Phebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, which was the port of Corinth ; and we learn from the nineteenth and twentieth chapters of the Acts, and from different parts of the two Epistles to the Corinthians, that, after having remained about three years at Ephesus, Paul purposed to pass through Macedonia and Achaia, to receive the contributions of the Corinthians, and after wards proceed to Jerusalem.

As to the period when this Epistle was written, it is certain that it was at a time previous to Paul's arrival at Rome. On this account, he begins by declaring to the disciples there that he had a great desire to see them, and to preach to them the Gospel ; that he had often purposed this, but had hitherto always been prevented. This statement he repeats in the fifteenth chapter. It appears to be earlier in date than the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians, and those to the Hebrews and Philemon, and the Second to Timothy ; for all of these were written during the Apostle's first or second imprisonment at Rome, but later than the two Epistles to the Corinthians. It is generally supposed that it was written in the year 57 of the Christian era, about twenty-four years after the resurrection of our Lord.

Notwithstanding that this Epistle was written after some of the rest, it has been placed first in order among them on account of its excellence, and the abundance and sublimity of its contents. It contains, indeed, an abridgment of all that is taught in the Christian religion. It treats of the revelation of God in the works of nature, and in the heart of man, and exhibits the necessity and the strictness of the last judgment. It teaches the doctrine of the fall, and corruption of the whole human race, of which it discovers the source and its greatness. It points out the true and right use of the law, and why God gave it to the Israelites ; and also shows the variety of the temporal advantages over other men which that law conferred on them, and which they so criminally abused, treats of the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ, of justification, of sanctifica- tion, of free will and of grace, of salvation and of condemnation, of election

8 INTRODUCTION.

and of reprobation, of the perseverance and assurance of the salvation of believers m the midst of their severest temptations, of the necessity of afflictions, and of the admirable consolations which God gives His people under them,-of the calling of the Gentiles, of the rejection of the Jews, d of their final restoration to the communion of God. Paul afterwards lays down the principal rules of Christian morality, containing all that we owe to God, to ourselves, to our neighbours, and to our brethren in Christ and declares the manner in which we should act in our particular em ployments ; uniformly accompanying his precepts with just and reason able motives to enforce their practice. The form, too, of this Epistle is not less admirable than its matter. Its reasoning is powerful and con clusive ; the style condensed, lively, and energetic; the arrangement orderly and clear strikingly exhibiting the leading doctrines as the main branches from which depend all the graces and virtues of the Christian The whole is pervaded by a strain of the most exalted piety true holiness, ardent zeal, and fervent charity.

This Epistle, like the greater part of those written by Paul, is divided nto two general parts,-the first of which contains the doctrine, and extends to the beginning of the twelfth chapter; and the second which lates to practice, goes on to the conclusion. The first is to instruct the spirit and the other to direct the heart; the one teaches what we are to believe the other what we are to practise. In the first part he discusses chiefly the two great questions which at the beginning of the Gospel were agitated between the Jews and the Christians, namely, that of istification before God, and that of the calling of the Gentiles. For as on the one hand, the Gospel held forth a method of justification very different from that of the law, the Jews could not relish a doctrine which appeared to them novel, and was contrary to their prejudices; and as, on the her hand, they found themselves in possession of the covenant of God to the exclusion of other nations, they could not endure that the Apostles should call the Gentiles to the knowledge of the true God, and to the H1S salvation, nor that it should be supposed that the Jews had heir exclusive pre-eminence over the nations. The principal object then, of the Apostle was to combat these two prejudices. He directs his attention to the former in the first nine chapters, and treats of the other m the tenth and eleventh. As to what regards the second portion of the tie, Paul first enjoins general precepts for the conduct of believers afterwards m regard to civil life, and finally with regard to church com- rn union.

In the first five chapters, the great doctrine of justification by faith 't which they exclusively treat, is more fully discussed than in any other part of Scripture. The design of the Apostle is to establish two things . the one is, that there being only two ways of justification before God namely, that of works, which the law proposes, and that of grace by Jesus Christ, which the Gospel reveals,— the first is entirely shut against men and, in order to their being saved, there remains only the last. The other thing that he designs to establish is, that justification by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, respects indifferently all men, both Jews and Gentiles, and that it abolishes the distinction which the law had made

INTRODUCTION.

between them. To arrive at this, he first proves that the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, are subject to the judgment of God ; but that, being all sinners and guilty, neither the one nor the other can escape condemna tion by their works. He humbles them both. He sets before the Gentiles the blind ignorance and unrighteousness both of themselves and of their philosophers, of whom they boasted ; and he teaches humility to the Jews, by showing that they were chargeable with similar vices. He undermines in both the pride of self-merit, and teaches all to build their hopes on Jesus Christ alone ; proving that their salvation can neither emanate from their philosophy nor from their law, but from the grace of Christ Jesus.

In the first chapter, the Apostle commences by directing our attention to the person of the Son of God in His incarnation in time, and His Divine nature from eternity, as the great subject of that Gospel which he was commissioned to proclaim. After a most striking introduction, every way calculated to arrest the attention and conciliate the affection of those whom he addressed, he briefly announces the grand truth, which he intends afterwards to establish, that ' the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,' because in it is revealed ^'TIIE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.' Unless such a righteousness had been provided, all men must have suffered the punishment due to sin, seeing God hath denounced His high displeasure against all ' ungodliness and unrighteous ness: These are the great truths which the Apostle immediately proceeds to unfold. And as they stand connected with every part of that salvation which God has prepared, he is led to exhibit a most animating and con solatory view of the whole plan of mercy, which proclaims^' glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.'

The first point which the Apostle establishes, is the ruined condition of men, who, being entirely divested of righteousness, are by nature all under sin. The charge of ' ungodliness,' and of consequent 4 unrighteousness,' he proves first against the Gentiles. They had departed from the worship of God, although in the works of the visible creation they had sufficient notification of His power and Godhead. In their conduct they had violated the law written in their hearts, and had sinned in opposition to what they knew to be right, and to the testimony of their conscience in its favour. All of them, therefore, lay under the sentence of condemna tion, which will be pronounced upon the workers of iniquity in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men. In the second chapter, a similar charge of transgression and guilt is established against the Jews, notwithstanding the superior advantage of a written revelation with which they had been favoured.

Having proved in the first two chapters, by an appeal to undenmbl facts, that the Gentiles and the Jews were both guilty before God, in th third chapter, after obviating some objections regarding the Jews, Paul - takes both Jews and Gentiles together, and exhibits a fearful picture, drawn from the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures, of the i versal guilt and depravity of all mankind, showing that 'there is none righteous, no, not one,' and that all are depraved, wicked, and alienate, from God. He thus establishes it as an undeniable truth, that every

INTRODUCTION.

man m his natural state lies under the just condemnation of God, as a rebel against Him, in all the three ways in which He had been pleased to reveal Himself, whether by the works of creation, the work of the law written on the heart, or by the revelation of grace. From these premises he then draws the obvious and inevitable conclusion, that by obedience to law no man living shall be justified; that so far from justifying, the law proves every one to be guilty and under condemnation. The way s thus prepared for the grand display of the grace and mercy of God announced in the Gospel, by which men are saved consistently with the honour of the law. What the law could not do, not from any deficiency in itself, but owing to the depravity of man, God has fully accomplished Man has no righteousness of his own which he can plead, but God has provided a righteousness for him. This righteousness, infinitely superior to that which he originally possessed, is provided solely by grace, and received solely by faith. It is placed to the account of the believer for his justification, without the smallest respect either to his previous or subsequent obedience. Yet so far from being contrary to the justice of God, this method of justification, ' freely by His grace,' strikingly illus trates His justice, and vindicates all His dealings to men. So far from making the law void, it establishes it in all its honour and authority. This way of salvation equally applies to all, both Jews and Gentiles— men of every nation and every character ; < there is no difference,' for all, with out exception, are sinners.

The Apostle, in the fourth chapter, dwells on the faith through which the righteousness of God is received, and, in obviating certain objections, further confirms and illustrates his doctrine, by showing that Abraham himself, the progenitor of the Jews, was justified not by works but by faith, and that in this way he was the father of all believers, the pattern and the type of the justification of both Jews and Gentiles. And in order to complete the view of the great subject of his discussion, Paul considers, m the fifth chapter, two principal effects of justification by Jesus Christ, namely, peace with God and assurance of salvation, notwithstanding the troubles and^ afflictions to which believers are exposed. And because Jesus Christ is the Author of this Divine reconciliation, he compares Him with Adam, who was the source of condemnation, concluding with a strik ing account of the entrance of sin and of righteousness, both of which he had been exhibiting. He next shows the reason why, between Adam and Jesus Christ, God caused the law of Moses to intervene, by means of which the extent of the evil of sin, and the efficiency of the remedy brought in by righteousness, were both fully exhibited, to the glory of the grace of God. These five chapters disclose a consistent scheme in the Divine conduct, and exhibit a plan of reconciling sinners to God, that never could have been discovered by the human understanding. It is the perfection of wisdom, yet in all its features it is opposed to the wisdom of this world.1

^ As the doctrine of the justification of sinners by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, without regard to their works, which manifests,

/ I^^pner editions of tllis Exposition were published in three separate volumes ; of which the first volume included these five chapters.

INTRODUCTION.

in all their extent, the guilt, the depravity, and the helplessness of man, in order to magnify grace in his pardon, might be charged with leading to licentiousness, Paul does not fail to state this objection, and solidly to refute it. This he does in the sixth and seventh chapters, in which he proves that, so far from setting aside the necessity of obedience to God, the doctrine of justification stands indissolubly connected with the very foundation of holiness and obedience. This foundation is union with the Redeemer, through that faith by which the believer is justified. On tl contrary, the law operates, by its restraints, to stimulate and call into action the corruptions of the human heart, while at the same time it condemns all who are under its dominion. But, through their union with Christ believers are delivered from the law ; and, being under grace, which' produces love, they are enabled to bring forth fruit acceptable to God The law, however, is in itself holy, and just, and good. As such it is employed by the Spirit of God to convince His people of sin, to teach them the value of the remedy provided in the Gospel, and to lead them to cleave unto the Lord, from a sense of the remaining corruption of their hearts This corruption, as the Apostle shows, by a striking description of his own experience, will continue to exert its power in I long as they are in the body. ,

As a general conclusion from all that had gone before, the believer s entire freedom from condemnation through union with Ins glorious II and his consequent sanctifieation, are both asserted in the eighth chapter, neither of which effects could have been accomplished by the law. opposite results of death to the carnal mind, which actuated man i: natural state, and of life to the spiritual mind, which he receives in his renovation, are clearly pointed out; and as the love of God had shown in the fifth chapter to be so peculiarly transcendent from t consideration that Christ died for men, not as friends and worthy ol but as 'without strength,' 'ungodly,' 'sinners,' 'enemies, so her natural state of those on whom such unspeakable blessings are bestowed Ts described as ' enmity against God.' The effects of the ml labitaUon o the Holy Spirit in those who are regenerated are next d.sclosed, toge with the glorious privileges which it secures. Amidst present suffering the highest consolations are presented to the children of God, while original source and final issue are pointed out.

The contemplation of such ineffable blessmgs as he had just been describing, reminds the Apostle of the mournful state of the generality of his countrymen, who, though distinguished m the highest degree by their external privileges, still, as he himself had once done, rejecte Messiah. And as the doctrine he had been mculcatmg seemed to set aside the promises which God had made to the Jewish peop le and t o take from them the Divine covenant under which they had been placed, Paul

INTRODUCTION.

cause is His good pleasure, which He exercises both in regard to the Jews and the Gentiles Nothing, then, had frustrated ^purpose of God; and His word had taken effect so far as He had appointed The ictrme of Gods sovereignty is here fully discussed; and that very Dbjection which is daily made, 'why doth He yet find fault,' is stated and for ever put down. Instead of national election, the great subject in .s chapter is national rejection, and the personal election of a small remnant without which the whole nation of Israel would have been iestroyed ; so devoid of reason is the objection usually made to the doc trine of election, that it is a cruel doctrine. In the end of the ninth chapter, the Apostle is led to the consideration of the fatal error of the great body of the Jews, who sought justification by works and not by faith Mistaking the intent and the end of their law, they stumbled at this doctrine, which is the common stumbling-stone to unregenerate men In the tenth chapter, Paul resumes the same subject, and by new proofs drawn from the Old Testament, shows that the righteousness of God, which the Jews, going about to establish their own righteousness for their justification, rejected, is received solely by faith in Jesus Christ and that the Gospel regards the Gentiles as well as the Jews; and if by the Jews, it is not surprising, since this had been predicted by the prophets The Jews thus excluded themselves from salvation not discerning the true character of the Messiah of Israel as the end of the law and the Author of righteousness, to every believer. And yet when they reflected on the declaration of Moses, that to obtain life bv the law, the perfect obedience which it demands must in every case be yielded, they might have been convinced that on this ground they could e justified; on the contrary, by the law they were universally con demned, ihe Apostle also exhibits the freeness of salvation through the deemer, and the certainty that all who accept it shall be saved And faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God the necessity of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles is inferred and asserted Ihe result corresponded with the prediction. The righteousness which ; by faith was received by the Gentiles, although they had not be-n inquiring for it ; while the Jews, who followed after the law of righteous- ness, had not attained to righteousness.

The mercies of God, as illustrated by the revelation of the ri-hteous- ness which is received by faith, was the grand subject which had occupied Paul m the preceding part of this Epistle. He had announced at the beginning that he was 'not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; because it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth— to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.' This great truth he had undertaken demonstrate, and he had done so with all the authority and force of nspiration, by exhibiting, on the one hand, the state and character of man ; and, on the other, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

In the prosecution of this subject, the Apostle had shown that the

: God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of

men ; and, by arguments the most irresistible, and evidence that could

not be gainsaid, he had brought in both Jews and Gentiles as guilty and

INTRODUCTION. 1 3

condemned sinners, justly obnoxious to the vengeance of Heaven. Had the Almighty been pleased to abandon the apostate race of Adam, as He did the angels, to perish in their sins, none could have impeached His justice, or arraigned the rigour of the Divine procedure. But in the unsearchable riches of the mercies of God, He was pleased to bring near a righteousness, by which His violated law should be magnified, and a multitude whom no man can number rescued from destruction. This righteousness is revealed in the Gospel, — a righteousness worthy of the source from which it flows, — a righteousness which shall for ever abase the pride of the creature, and bring glory to God in the highest. The mercies of God are thus dispensed in such a way as to cut off all ground for boasting on the part of those who are justified. They are, on the contrary, calculated to exalt the Divine sovereignty, and to humble those in the dust who are saved before Him who worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will, and, without giving any account of His matters, either justifies or condemns the guilty according to His supreme pleasure.

In the eleventh chapter, the Apostle finishes his argument, and in a manner concludes his subject. He here resumes the doctrine of the personal election of a remnant of Israel, of which he had spoken in the ninth chapter, and affirms, in the most express terms, that it is wholly of grace, which consequently excludes as its cause every idea of work, or of merit, on the part of man. He shows that the unbelief of the Jews has not been universal, God having still reserved some of them by His gratuitous election, while as a nation He has allowed them to fall ; and that this fall has been appointed, in the wise providence of God, to open the way for the calling of the Gentiles. But in order that the Gentiles may not triumph over that outcast nation, Paul predicts that God will one day raise it up again, and recall the whole of it to com munion with Himself. lie vindicates God's dealings both towards Jews and Gentiles, showing that, since all were guilty and justly condemned, God was acting on a plan by which, both in the choice and partial rejection, as well as in the final restoration of the Jews, the Divine glory would be manifested, while in the result, the sovereign mercies of Jehovah would shine forth conspicuous in all His dealings toward the children of men. A most consolatory view is accordingly given of the present tendency and final issue of the dispensations of God, in bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles, and in the general salvation of Israel. And thus, also, by the annunciation of the reception which the Gospel should meet with from the Jews, first in rejecting it for a long period, and afterwards in embracing it, the doctrine of the sovereignty of Him who hath mercy on whom He will have mercy, and hardeneth whom He will, is further displayed and established. Lost in admiration of the majesty of God, as discovered in the Gospel, the Apostle prostrates him self before his Maker, while, in language of adoring wonder, he summons all whom he addresses to unite in ascribing glory to Him who is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Almighty.

From this point, Paul turns to survey the practical results which naturally flow from the doctrine he had been illustrating. He was

1 4: INTRODUCTION.

addressing those who were at Rome, < beloved of God, called saints ; ' and by the remembrance of those mercies of which, whether Jews or Gentiles, they were the monuments, he beseeches them to present their bodies a living sacrifice to God, whose glory is the first and the last end of creation. In thus demanding the entire surrender or sacrifice of their bodies, he enforces the duty by designating it their reasonable service. Nothing can be more agreeable to the dictates of right reason, than to spend and be spent in the service of that God, whose glory is transcen dent, whose power is infinite, whose justice is inviolable, and whose tender mercies are over all Plis works. On this firm foundation the Apostle establishes the various duties to which men are called, as associated with each other in society, whether in the ordinary relations of life, or as subjects of civil government, or as members of the Church of Christ. The morality here inculcated is the purest and most exalted. It presents nothing of that incongruous medley which is discernible in the schemes of philosophy. It exhibits no traces of confusion or disorder. It places everything on its right basis, and in its proper place. It equally enjoins our duty towards God and our duty towards man ; and in this it differs from all human systems, which uniformly exclude the former, or keep it in the background. It shows how doctrine and practice are inseparably connected — how the one is the motive, the source, or the principle— how the other is the effect ; and how both are so united, that such as is the first, so will be the last. According to our views of the character of God, so will be our conduct. The corruption of morals, which degraded and destroyed the heathen world, was the natural result of what infidels have designated < their elegant mythology.' The abomi nable character of the heathen gods and goddesses were 'at once the transcript and the provocatives of the abominations of their worshippers. But wherever the true God has been known, wherever the character of Jehovah has been proclaimed, there a new standard of morals has been erected ; and even those by whom His salvation is rejected are induced to counterfeit the virtues to which they do not attain. True Christianity and sound morals are indissolubly linked together ; and just in proportion as men are estranged from the knowledge and service of God, so shall we find their actions stained with the corruptions of sin. ^ Where in all the boasted moral systems of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, or the rest of the Greek and Roman philoso phers, shall be found anything comparable to the purity and beauty of the virtues enjoined by Paul in the closing chapters of this Epistle ? Even modern writers on Ethics, when departing from the only pure standard of virtue, discover the grossest ignorance and inconsistency. But Paul, writing without any of the aids of human wisdom, draws his precepts from the fountain of heavenly truth, and inculcates on the disciples of Jesus a code of duties, which, if habitually practised by mankind, would change the world from what it is— a scene of strife, jealousy, and division — and make it what it was before the entrance of sin, a paradise fit for the Lord to visit, and for man to dwell in.

EXPOSITION,

CHAPTER I.— PART I. ROMANS i. 1-15.

THIS chapter consists of three parts. In the first fifteen verses, which form a general preface to the whole Epistle, Paul, after announcing his office and commission, declares the majesty and power of Him by whom he was appointed, who is at once the Author and Subject of the Gospel. He then characterises those to whom he writes, and states his longing desire to visit them, for the purpose of confirming their faith The second part of the chapter, comprising only the IGth and 17th verses, embraces the substance of the grand truths which were about to be discussed. In the remainder of the chapter, the Apostle, at once entering on the doctrine thus briefly but strikingly asserted, shows that the Gentiles were immersed in corruption and guilt, arid conse quently subjected to condemnation.

Ver. i.— Pant, a servant of Je*u* Christ, called to be an apovlle, separated unto the Gospel of God.

Conformably to the practice of antiquity, Paul commences his Epistle by prefixing his name, title, and designation. He had, as was usual among his countrymen, two names : by the first, as a Jew, he was known in his own land; by the second, among the Gentiles. Formerly his name was SAUL, but after the occurrence related of him, Acts xiii. 9, he was called PAUL.

Paul was of unmingled Jewish descent, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but educated at Jerusalem ; a Pharisee by profession, and distinguished among the disciples of Gamaliel, one of the most celebrated teachers of his age and nation. Before his conversion, he was an ardent and bigoted supporter of the traditions of his fathers violently opposed to the humbling doctrines of Christianity, and a cruel persecutor of the Church. From the period of his miraculous conversion —from the hour when Jesus met him on the road to Damascus-down to the moment when he sealed his testimony with his blood, his eventful life was devoted to the promulgation of the faith which once he destroyed Throughout the whole of his long and arduous course, he experienced a continual alternation of trials and graces, of afflictions and benedictions ; always borne down by the hand of man, always sustained by the hand of God The multiplied persecutions he endured, furnish a remarks*

16

EOMANS I. 1.

example of that just retribution which even believers seldom fail to experience in this world. When scourged in the synagogues of the Jews —when persecuted from city to city, or suffering from cold and hunger in the dungeons of Nero— with what feelings must he have remembered the ^time when, ' breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,' he < punished them oft in every synagogue,' and, 1 being exceedingly mad against them, persecuted them even unto strange cities ; ' or, when he was stoned at Lystra, and cast out of the city as dead, how must he have reflected on the prominent part he bore in the stoning of Stephen ?

A servant of Jesus Christ—Paul, who once verily thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, now subscribes himself His servant— literally, slave. This is an expression both of humility and of dignity— of humility, to signify that he was not his own, but belonged to Jesus Christ ; of dignity, to show that he was accounted worthy to be His minister, as Moses and Joshua are called the servants of God. In the first sense, it is an appellation common to believers, all of whom are the slaves, or exclusive property of Jesus Christ, who has purchased them for Himself by the right of redemption, and retains them by the power of His word and Holy Spirit. In the second view, it denotes that Jesus Christ had honoured Paul by employ ing him in His Church, and making use of his services in extending the interests of His kingdom. He assumes this title to distinguish himself from the ministers or servants of men, and in order to command respect for his instructions, since he writes in the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ.

Called to be an Apostle, or a called Apostle.— Paul adds this second title to explain more particularly the first, and to show the rank to which he had been raised, and the employment with which he was intrusted. He was called to it by Jesus Christ Himself ; for no man could bestow the office of an Apostle, or receive it from the hand of man, like the other offices in the church. Called, too, not merely externally as Judas, but internally and efficaciously ; and called with a vocation which conferred on him all the qualities necessary to discharge the duties of the office he was appointed to ; for the Divine calling is in this respect different from that which is merely human, inasmuch as the latter supposes those qualities to exist in the person called, while the former actually confers them. The state of Paul before his calling, and that in which his callin^ placed him, were directly opposite to each other.

The office to which Paul was called was that of an Apostle, which signifies one that is sent by another. The word in the original is some times translated messenger, but is specially appropriated in Scripture to those who were sent forth by Jesus Christ to preach His Gospel to the ends of the earth; and this appellation was given to the twelve by Himself, Luke vi. 13, and has, as to them, a more specific signification than that of being sent, or being messengers. This office was the highest in the church, distinct from all others, in which, both from its nature and authority, the manner of its appointment, and the qualifications necessary for its discharge, those on whom it was conferred could have

ROMANS I. 1. 17

no successors. The whole system of the man of sin is built on the false assumption that he occupies the place of one of the Apostles. On this ground he usurps a claim to infallibility, as well as the power of working miracles, and in so far he is more consistent than others who, classing themselves with those first ministers of the word, advance no such pre tensions.

As the Apostles were appointed to be the witnesses of the Lord, it was indispensably necessary that they should have seen Him after His resurrection. The keys of the kingdom of heaven were committed to them exclusively. They were to promulgate its laws, which bind in heaven and on earth, proclaiming that word by which all men shall be judged at the last day. When Jesus Christ said to them, * As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you,' He pledged Himself for the truth of their doctrine ; just as when the voice from the excellent glory pro claimed, ' This is My beloved Son, hear Him,' the Father set His seal to whatever His Son taught. In preaching the Divine word, though not in their personal conduct, the Apostles were fully inspired ; and the Holy Scriptures, as indited or sanctioned by them, are not the words of man, but the words of the Holy Ghost. The most awful anathema is accord ingly annexed to the prohibition either to add to or take from the sacred record. Thus the Lord, who had appointed the Apostles not to a ministry limited or attached to a particular flock, but to one which extended generally through all places, to preach the Gospel in all the world, and to regulate the churches, endowed them with an infallible Spirit which led them into all truth. They were also invested with the gift of working miracles on every necessary occasion, and of exclusively communicating that gift to others by the laying on of their hands. From all this it followed that they were perfectly qualified to preach the everlasting Gospel, and possessed full authority in the churches to deliver to them those immutable and permanent laws to which thenceforth to the end of time they were to be subject. The names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb are accordingly inscribed in the twelve foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem ; and all His people are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.

Every qualification of an Apostle centred in Paul, as he shows in various places. He had seen the Lord after His resurrection, 1 Cor. ix. 1. He had received his commission directly from Jesus Christ and God the Father, Gal. i. 1. lie possessed the signs of an Apostle, 2 Cor. xii. 12. He had received the knowledge of the Gospel, not through any man, or by any external means, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, Gal. i. 11, 12 ; and although he was as one born out of due time, yet, by the grace vouchsafed to him, he laboured more abundantly than all the rest. When he here designates himself a called Apostle, he seems to refer to the insinuations of his enemies, who, from his not having been appointed during the ministry of our Lord, considered him as inferior to the other Apostles. The object of nearly the whole of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians is to establish his apostolic authority ; in the third chapter especially, he exhibits the superiority of the ministra-

B

18 EOMANS I. 2.

tion committed to the Apostles, over that entrusted to Moses. Thus the designation of servant, the first of the titles here assumed, denotes his general character ; the second, of Apostle, his particular office ; and the term Apostle being placed at the beginning of this Epistle, impresses the stamp of Divine authority on all that it contains.

Separated unto the Gospel of God. — This may regard either God's eternal purpose concerning Paul, or His pre-ordination of him to be a preacher of the Gospel, to which he was separated from his mother's womb, as it was said to Jeremiah, i. 5, ' Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee ; and before thou earnest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations ; ' or rather it refers to the time when God revealed His Son in him, that he might preach Him among the heathen, Gal. i. 16. The term separated, here used, appears to allude to his having been a Pharisee before his conversion, which signifies one separated or set apart. Now, however, he was separated in a far different manner ; for then it was by human pride, now it was by Divine grace. Formerly he was set apart to uphold the inventions and traditions of men, but now to preach the Gospel of God.

The Gospel of God, to which Paul was separated, signifies the glad tidings of salvation which God has proclaimed. It is the supernatural revelation which He has given, distinguished from the revelation of the works of nature. It denotes that revelation of mercy and salvation, which excels in glory, as distinguished from the law, which was the revelation of condemnation. It is the Gospel of God, inasmuch as God is its author, its interpreter, its subject : its author, as He has purposed it in His eternal decrees ; its interpreter, as He Himself hath declared it to men ; its subject, because in the Gospel His sovereign perfections and purposes towards men are manifested. For the same reasons it is also called the Gospel of the grace of God, the Gospel of peace, the Gospel of the kingdom, the Gospel of salvation, the everlasting Gospel, the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. This Gospel is the glad tidings from God of the accomplishment of the promise of salvation that had been made to Adam. That promise had been typically represented by the institution of sacrifice, and transmitted by oral tradition. It had been solemnly proclaimed by Enoch and by Noah before the flood ; it had been more particularly announced to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ; by Moses, it was exhibited in those typical representations contained in the law, which had a shadow of good things to come. Its fulfilment was the spirit and object of the whole prophetic testimony, in the pre dictions concerning a new covenant, and in all that was foretold respect ing the advent of the Messiah.

Ver. 2. — Which He had promised afore ly His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

By declaring that the Gospel had been before promised, Paul tacitly repels the accusation that it was a novel doctrine. At the same time, he states its Divine origin as a reason why nothing new is to be admitted in religion. He further shows in what respect the Old and New Testa ments differ — not as containing two religions essentially dissimilar, but

IIOMANS I. 3. 19

as exhibiting the same grand truth — predicted, prefigured, and fulfilled. The Old Testament is the promise of the New, and the New the accom plishment of the Old. The Gospel had been promised by all the pro phecies which foretold a new covenant, — by those which predicted the coming of the Messiah, — by all the observances, under the law, that contained in themselves the promise of the things they prefigured, — by the whole of the legal economy, that preceded the Gospel, in which was displayed the strictness of Divine justice, which in itself would have been a ministration only of condemnation, had it not been accompanied by all the revelations of grace and mercy, which were in substance and embryo the Gospel itself, and consequently foretold and prepared the way for a more perfect development.

By His Prophets. — Paul here also repels another accusation of the Jews, namely, that the Apostles were opposed to Moses and the Prophets; and intimates their complete agreement. He thus endeavours to secure attention and submission to his doctrine, by removing the prejudices entertained against it, and by showing that none could reject it without rejecting the Prophets. In addition to this, he establishes the authority of the Prophets by intimating that it was God Himself who spoke by them, and consequently that their words must be received as a revela tion from heaven.

In the Holy Scriptures. — Here he establishes the inspiration of the Scriptures, by pronouncing them Ao/y, and asserting that it was God Himself who spoke in them ; and shows whence we are now to take the true word of God and of His Prophets, — not from oral tradition, which must be uncertain and fluctuating, but from the written word, which is certain and permanent. He teaches that we ought always to resort to the Scriptures ; for that, in religion, whatever they do not contain is really novel, although it may have passed current for ages ; while all that is found there is really ancient, although it may have been lost sight of for a long period.

Ver. 3. — Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. 1

The Gospel of God concerns His Son. The whole of it is comprised in the knowledge of Jesus Christ ; so that whoever departs one step from Him, departs from the Gospel. For as Jesus Christ is the Divine image of the Father, He is set before us as the real object of our faith. It is of Him that the Gospel of God, promised by the Prophets, treats; so that He is not simply a legislator or interpreter of the Divine will, like Moses, and the Prophets, and the Apostles. Had the law and the Gospel been given by others than Moses and the Apostles, the essential characteristics of these two economies would have remained the same. But it is altogether different respecting Jesus Christ, who is exclusively the Alpha and Omega of the Gospel, its proper object, its beginning and its end. For it is He who founded it in His blood, and who has communicated to it all its

1 In the original, the words, 'Jesus Christ our Lord,' stand at the conclusion of verse 4th, and the words between them and * concerning His Son ' may be read as u parenthesis ; but the sense remains the same.

20 ROMANS I. 3.

virtue. On this account He Himself says, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life ; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.' He is the Son of God, His own Son, the Only-begotten of the Father ; which proves that He is truly and exclusively His Son, of the same nature, and equal with the Father, and not figuratively, or in a secondary sense, as angels or men, as Israel or believers.

Jesus Christ. — He was called Jesus, the Greek name of the Hebrew Joshua, signifying Jehovah that saveth ; and so called by the angel before He was born. ' Thou shalt call His name JESUS ; for He shall save His people from their sins,' Matt. i. 21. The title Christ — that is, Messiah, or ' Anointed ' ] —being so often added in designation of His office, at length came into use as a part of His name. Our Lord. — This follows from His being the Son of God. The word translated Lord, comprehends the different names or titles which the Hebrews gave to God, but most usually corresponds with that of Jehovah. Where it is used as the name of God, it designates essentially the three persons of the Godhead; but it is also applied to any one of the Divine persons. In the Acts of the Apostles, and Epistles, it generally refers to Christ ; and in these Divine writings this appellation is applied to Him in innumerable instances. He is called 1 the Lord of glory ; ' 'the Lord both of the dead and living ; ' 'the Lord of all.' The name Jesus refers to His saving His people ; the designation Christ, to His being anointed for that purpose ; and that of Lord, to His sovereign authority.

On whatever subject Paul treats, he constantly introduces the mystery of Christ. In writing to the Corinthians, he says, ' I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.' This is a declaration that the doctrine concerning Christ is the whole of religion, in which all besides is comprehended. In delivering his instruc tions to the saints at Corinth respecting the incestuous person, he points out to them Jesus Christ as the Lamb that was sacrificed. If his subject respects the promises he has made, or the engagements he has entered into, he draws our attention to the promises of God, which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. When he treats of the precepts to be obeyed, he regards them as connected with the knowledge of Christ. All duties are considered in relation to Him, as the only Saviour from whom we can derive power to fulfil them, the only altar on which they can be accepted, that model according to which they are to be performed, and the motive by which those who perform them are to be actuated. He is the head that gives life to the members, the root which renders the branches fruit ful. Believers are the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto

1 Oil was the instituted emblem of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which was given to the Lord Jesus Christ without measure ; and anointing oil was the outward visible sign of the Spirit's inward and spiritual graces. We meet with the institution. Ex. xxx. 22, to the end. The holy ointment was to be used in consecrating the tabernacle and all its vessels, and in setting apart certain persons for some great offices. It was unlawful to use it upon any other occasion ; whosoever did so was to be cut off from the people. This consecrating unction was used on the tabernacle, which was a type of the body of Christ, and on all the vessels of the tabernacle, to show that Christ, and everything respecting Him, was under the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit ; and it was used to set apart the prophets, the priests, and the kings, because He was to sustain these offices.

ROMANS I. 3. 21

good works. Jesus Christ is the end and object of their obedience, in order that the name of the Father may be glorified in the Son, and that the name of the Son may be glorified in them. Accordingly, the Scrip tures speak of the commencement and the continuation of the life of believers as being derived from Christ ; of their being planted together with Him ; buried and risen with Him ; walking in Him ; living and dying with Him. The principal motives to holiness, in general, or to any particular duty, are drawn from some special view of the work of redemp tion, fitted to excite to the fulfilment of such obligations. The love of God in Christ is set before us, in a multitude of passages, as the most powerful motive we can have to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. When we are exhorted to look not to our own things only, but also to those of others, it is because we ought to have the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, humbled Himself to do such wonderful things for us. The duty of almsgiving is enforced by the consideration that He who was rich for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich. Forbearance to weak brethren has for its motive the death of Christ for them. If we are exhorted to forgive the offences of others, it is because God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us. The reciprocal duties of husband and wife are enforced by the consideration of the love of Christ, and the relation in which He stands to His Church. The motive to chastity is, that we are members of Christ's body, and temples of the Holy Ghost. In one word, the various exhortations to the particular duties of a holy life, and the motives which correspond to each of them, are all taken from different views of one grand and important object, the mystery of redemption. He ' His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.' « Ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.' Having referred to Jesus Christ under the title of the Son of God, the Apostle immediately subjoins a declaration concerning His person as God and man.

Which was made of the seed of David. — The wisdom of God was dis played in the whole of the dispensation that related to the Messiah, who, in His human nature, was, conformably to many express predictions, to de scend from David king of Israel.1 He was born of a virgin of the family of David ; and the first promise, containing His earliest name, the seed of the woman, indicated that He was in this supernatural manner to come into the world ; as also that He was to be equally related to Jews and to Gentiles. To Abraham it was afterwards promised, that the Messiah should spring from him. « In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' But as this promise was still very general, it was nexl limited to the tribe of Judah. ' The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.' And to David the Lord had sworn, « Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.' Thus, as the period of His birth approached, the promises con-

1 In regard of His Divine subsistence, Jesus Christ was begotten not made :; in n-ird of His manhood, He was not begotten, but made of the seed of David, JoL i. 14 ; Gal. iv. 4.

22 EOMANS I. 4.

cerning Him were more particular and more restricted. The wisdom of God was pleased in this manner to designate the family in which the Messiah, as to His human nature, was to be born, that it might be one of the characteristics which should distinguish and make Him known, as well as to confound the unbelief of those who should reject Him, and deny His advent. For, if He has not yet come, it was to no purpose that the prophets foretold that He should descend from a certain family, since all the genealogies of the Jews are now lost. It must therefore be admitted either that these predictions, thus restricted, were given in vain, or that the Messiah must have appeared while the distinction of Jewish families still subsisted, and the royal house of David could still be recog nised. This declaration of the Apostle was calculated to have great weight with all, both Jews and Gentiles, who reverenced the Old Testa ment Scriptures, in convincing them that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah, the hope of Israel.

God has also seen it good to exhibit, in the birth of Jesus Christ, that union of majesty and dignity on the one hand, and weakness and abase ment on the other, which reigns through the whole of His economy on earth. For what family had there been in the world more glorious than that of David, the great king of Israel, most honoured and beloved of God, both as a prophet and a king ? And what family was more reduced or obscure when Jesus Christ was born ? This is the reason why He is represented by the prophet Isaiah as the rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch growing out of his roots, which marks a family reduced, as if nothing more remained but the roots, which scarcely appeared above ground. And by the same prophet it is also said, ' He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.'

According to the flesh. — The prophets had abundantly testified that the Messiah was to be truly man, as well as truly God, which was necessary in order to accomplish the purpose of His advent. ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death.' The Apostle John declares that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This expression could not be employed respecting any mere man, as no one who was on]y a man could come except in the flesh. Since, then, Jesus Christ might have come in some other manner, these words affirm His humanity, while at the same time they prove His pre-existence.

Ver. 4. — And declared to be the Son of God ivith power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Declared to le the Son of God. — The word here translated ' declared,' imports, according to the sense of the original as well as the connection, defined or proved. The term properly signifies, to point out, or to limit, as when bounds are set to a field to regulate its measurement. Jesus Christ was made or became the Son of David ; but He did not become, but was declared, defined, or demonstrated to be the Son of God. That Jesus Christ is not called in this place the Son of God with reference to His incarnation or resurrection merely, is evident from the fact that His nature as the Son of God is here distinguished from His descent from

ROMANS 1. 4. 23

David. This expression, the Son of God, definitely imports Deity, as applied to Jesus Christ. It as properly denotes participation of the Divine nature, as the contrasted expression, Son of Man, denotes partici pation of the human nature. As Jesus Christ is called the Son of Man in the proper sense to assert His humanity, so, when in contrast ^with this He is called the Son of God, the phrase must be understood in its proper sense as asserting His Deity. The words, indeed, are capable of a figurative application, of which there are many examples in Scripture. But one part of the contrast is not to be taken as literal, and the other as figurative ; and if the fact of a phrase being capable of figurative acceptation incapacitates it from expressing its proper meaning, or renders its meaning inexplicably uncertain, no word or phrase could ever be definite. A word or phrase is never to be taken in a figurative sense, where its proper sense is suitable ; for language would be unintelligible if it might be arbitrarily explained away as figurative. This appellation, Son of God, was indeed frequently ascribed to pious men ; but if this circumstance disqualified the phrase from bearing a literal and definite meaning, there is not a word or phrase in language that is capable of a definite meaning in its proper signification.

The Apostle John says, « But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,' by which he means to say who Christ is. Paul, after his conversion, * preached Christ m the syna gogues.' And what did he preach concerning Him ?— < That He was the Son of God.' The great burden of Paul's doctrine was, to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. That term, then, must definitely import His Divine nature. It is not only used definitely, but as expressing the most important article in the Christian faith ; it is used as an epitome of the whole creed. When the eunuch desired to be baptized, < Philip said, 11 thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And He answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' The belief, then, of the import of this term is the substance of Christianity. Faith in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, overcometh the world. < Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that JESUS is the Son of God ?' In the confession of Peter, Matt. xvi. 16, this phrase is employed as an epitome of the Christian faith. To the question, 'Whom say ye that I am?' Peter replies, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God ' We have here the very essence of Christianity. t is asked, Who is Christ? The reply, then, must answer this question ; n inform us who Christ is, both as to His person, His office, and nal Thou art the Christ, is the answer to the question, so far as it His person and office ; Thou art the Son of the tonng God, is the answer as Jliis nature. The parable in which the king makes a marriage > for his son, speaks the same doctrine, Matt. xxii. 2. Christ is there repre sented to be the San of God, in the same sense m which a roya heir « the son of the king his father. If, then, the king's 7 Pf^f* nature of his father, so must Jesus Christ, the Son of God, partake the nature of His Father ; if the king's son be a son in the perfec ; sense of the term, and not a son figuratively, in like manner the Son of God God's Son in the proper sense.

24 ROMANS I. 4.

The question put to the Pharisees by Jesus, Matt. xxii. 42, proves that the ^phrase Son of God means sonship by nature. ' What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He?' This question evidently refers to proper, not figurative sonship. When we ask whose son such a person is, it is palpably evident that we mean real, not figurative sonship. Though the question might have reference to our Lord's human nature, and the inquiry relate to His father after the flesh, as the Pharisees understood, still it clearly denotes the natural relation ; but that Christ did not intend it exclusively of His father as to the flesh, is evident from His next ques tion : 'If David, then, call Him Lord, how is He his Son?' Jesus Christ could not mean to deny that He was the Son of David ; but He intimates that, though He was the Son of David as to the flesh, He must be the Sou of God in the same sense in which He was David's Son. He asks, Who is the father of the Messiah ? and from something affirmed of Him, intimates that there is a sense in which He is not David's Son. The answer He received was true, but not full ; the supply of the deficiency is 'the Son of God.' The question, then, and the proper answer, imports that Jesus was the Son of God in the literal sense of the words. Besides, David could not call Him Lord as to His human nature ; nor was He David's Lord in any sense but that in which He was God.

The condemnation, also, of unbelievers rests on the foundation of the Saviour's dignity as the Son of God. < He that believeth not is condemned already ; because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.' They are condemned not merely for rejecting His message, but for not believing in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. Faith, then, respects not His doctrine only, but Himself, especially as exhibited in His doctrine. Such sonship implies Deity.

In this Epistle, ch. viii., Paul argues that God will deny nothing to those for ^whom He has given His Son. But this argument would be ill founded, if Jesus be only figuratively His Son. ' He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?' This supposes that the gift of Christ is greater than the gift of all other things besides, and that in such a dispro portion as to bear no comparison. If so, can He be anything else than truly Divine ? Had He been the highest of created beings, it would not follow as a self-evident consequence that such a gift of Him implied the gift of all things else.

The epithets attached to this phrase, Son of God, show it to import proper sonship. Jesus is called God's own Son,— the beloved— the well- beloved Son,— the begotten— the only-begotten Son of God. This sonship, then, is a sonship not only in a more eminent degree, but in a sense in which it is not true of any other in the lowest degree. God has other sons, but He has no other son in the sense in which Jesus is His Son. He has no other son who enjoys the community of His nature. There fore this Son is called His begotten, or His only-begotten Son. A begotten son is a son by nature; and Jesus must be designedly so designated, to distinguish His natural sonship from that which is figura tive. The phrase is rendered still more definite by the addition of the word only. Jesus is the oxir-begotten Son, because He is the only Son of

ROMANS I. 4. 25

God in the proper sense of the term. Other sons are figuratively sons, but He is the begotten Son, and the only-begotten Son.

The phrase own Son imports the truth of the sonship by another term, and is therefore an additional source of evidence. Own Son is a son by nature, in opposition to the son of another, to a son by law, and to all figurative sons. Christ, then, is God's own Son, because He is His Son by nature, because He is not His Son by adoption in the view of the law, and because He is His Son in opposition to figurative sonships.

That the words, / and My Father are one, John x. 30, mean unity of nature, and not unity of design, is clear from our Lord's account of the charge of the Jews : they charged Him with blasphemy for calling Him self the Son of God. * Say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?' Now the words used were not, / am the Son of God. The words 1 and My Father are one must therefore be the same in import as I am the Son of God ; but if the expression, I and My Father are one, is the same in import as, I am the Son of God, the former cannot mean, I am one in design with My Father. Jesus, in the 36th verse, represents the Jews as charging Him with blasphemy, not for saying that He was God, but for saying that He was the Son of God. This incontrovertibly proves that the Jews understood the phrase, Son of God, as importing Deity. The phrase is blasphemous when applied to a mere creature in no other sense than as importing Deity.1

That the Lord Jesus Christ, in his eternal equality with the Father, and not merely as God manifested in the flesh, is called the Son of God, flows directly from the fact that, wherever the first person of the ador able Trinity is personally distinguished in Scripture, it is under the title, the co-relative title, of the Father. And what is the objection to this doctrine of our Lord's eternal sonship ? It is simply that it differs from all our ordinary notions of the filial relation, to represent the Son as co-eternal with the Father ; or that begotten must necessarily mean ' derived,' and that to grant derivation is to surrender Deity. In regard to the last form of the objection, it is only necessary to remark, that the doctrine of Scripture is not to be held chargeable with the vain and unprofitable speculations about derived personality, on which some of its upholders have adventured. And in regard to the first, it is not difficult to see that it is destitute of force, except on the impious assumption that we are not bound to receive any declaration about the Divine nature, about the deepest mysteries which are veiled from our reason, and revealed only to our faith, unless we can fully comprehend it. To demand that the distinction of persons in the undivided essence of the Godhead, and the mode of their eternal subsistence, shall be made plain to us ; or to repugn against the doctrine of the eternal filiation of the Son of God, because it overpasses the boundaries of our

1 In Dr. Carson's triumphant Reply to Dr. Drummond's (Ariari) Essay on the Doctrine of the Trinity, published in Dublin, containing a masterly exposition of John x. 30-39, the above subject is fully discussed. He closes a long dissertation on the import of the term, 'the Son of God,' by saying, ' If 1 have not shown that it definitely expresses Deity, as applied to Jesus Christ, I would despair of proving that the name of Jesus Christ is in the Bible.'

26 ROMANS I. 4.

notions of sonship, — what is this but the very summit of unthinking arrogance ? What is it but to say that we will make our own narrow minds the measure of all things, — that we will accept nothing from pure respect to the authority of God, — that we will give the Faithful One only the credit which we allow to a suspected witness, receiving His evidence where it harmonises with our own apprehensions, — and that, while to our feeble minds every insect is a mystery, there must be no arcana in the nature of Him who dwelleth in the light that is inaccessible ?

With power. — Some explain the meaning of this to be, that by His resurrection Jesus Christ was powerfully declared to be the Son of God. But He was not merely powerfully declared — which would intimate the high degree of the evidence — but, according to the Apostle, He was absolutely declared to be the Son of God. Some, again, suppose that He was declared to be the Son of God by the power of the Father who raised Him up. If this had been intended, it would not, it appears, have simply been said, with power, but by the power and glory of the Father, as in Rom. vi. 4, and 2 Cor. xiii. 4. The expression, with power, is to be construed with that of the Son of God which im mediately precedes it, not with the word declared, and signifies invested ivith power. All power was inherent in Him, as ' God blessed for ever ; ' but it was given to Him as Mediator, as He Himself declares, Matt, xxviii. 18, John xvii. 2, and clearly manifested by His resurrection. He then appeared possessed of eternal, sovereign, and universal power, and that in opposition to the semblance of weakness in which He had appeared on earth. The dignity of His person having remained for some time concealed under the veil of weakness, His resurrection gloriously displayed His ineffable power, as the Conqueror of death, and by His power also evinced His dignity as the Son of God.

The power which was given to our Lord when He rose from the dead, was eminently displayed by His sending out the Holy Spirit, when He returned to the Father. Before His resurrection, if only the veil of in firmity with which, in His birth, he had been covered, was contemplated, He appeared merely as a man. But after His resurrection, if we turn our eyes to His sending forth the Holy Spirit, we behold Him as the Son of God invested with all power. For He who thus sends forth this glorious Spirit must be possessed of sovereign and infinite power, and consequently must be the Son of God. The Holy Spirit, too, whom Jesus Christ communicates, marks His divinity by other characters besides that of power, namely, by that of holiness, by that of majesty, by that of eternity, and that of infinity, proving that He only wh6 bestows the Holy Spirit can be the eternal God, sovereignly holy, and sovereignly glorious. The Apostle has, however, chosen the characteristic of power for two reasons, — the one is to oppose it to the flesh, denoting weakness ; and the other, because He has overcome the world, which is an act of ineffable power. To destroy the empire of Satan, to subdue the hearts of men, to change the face of the universe, displays a power which is truly Divine.

According to the Spirit of Holiness. — There are various interpretations of these terms, but the proper antithesis can only be preserved by

ROMANS I. 4. 27

referring them to Christ's Divine nature. If the words are capable of this application, we need not hesitate to adopt it in this place ; and though the phrase is unusual, there can be no doubt that it is capable of this meaning. It is equally unusual in whatever sense it may be applied. This circumstance, then, cannot prevent it from referring to the Deity of Jesus Christ, in direct contrast to His humanity. Spirit of Holiness may be used here rather than the phrase Poly Spirit, because the latter is usually assigned to the third person of the Trinity. Though the exact expression does not occur elsewhere in the Scriptures, other passages corroborate this meaning, as ' the Lord (that is, Christ) is that Spirit,' 2 Cor. iii. 17. He is called 'a quickening Spirit,' 1 Cor. xv. 45, which character belonged to Him in a particular manner after His resurrection, when He appeared as the spiritual Head of His Church, communicating spirit and life to all His members. The unusual expression, Spirit of Holiness, appears, then, here to denote His Deity, in contrast with His humanity, characterizing Him as God, who is a Spirit essentially holy.

In the verse before us, connected with the preceding, we see that it is upon the foundation of the union of the Divine and human natures, in the person of the Messiah, that Paul proceeds to establish all the great and important truths which he sets forth in this Epistle. In another passage, he afterwards explicitly asserts this union : ' Of whom, as con cerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.' Rom. ix. 5.

In the same manner Matthew commences his Gospel. He traces the genealogy of the human nature of Jesus Christ, and afterwards declares His Divine nature, Matt. i. 18, 21, 23. Mark begins by proclaiming Him to be the Son of God. ' As it is written in the Prophets, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord (of Jehovah), make His paths (for our God) straight,' Isa. xl. 3; Mai. iii. 1. Luke introduces his Gospel by asserting His Divine nature. In speaking of the coming of John the Baptist, he says, 1 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God ; and he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias ; ' and then he declares His genealogy according to His human nature, Luke i. 16, and iii. 23. John commences his Gospel by saying, * In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ; ' and afterwards, 'The Word was made flesh,' John i. 1-14. Nearly in the same terms he commences and closes his first Epistle. The leading truth which the Apostles taught when they preached to the Jews at Jerusalem was, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah promised, who had been crucified, and who was raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of the Father ; and the same great truth was declared to Cornelius, when the Gospel was first preached to the. Gentiles. The foundation of all that the Apostle advances in the Epistle to the Hebrews, respecting the superiority of the new over the old covenant, is established upon the union of the Divine and human natures of Jesus Christ. Having announced that He is the Son of God, he

28

ROMANS I. 4.

determines the import of that title, by quoting a passage which ascribes to Him the name, the throne, the kingdom, the righteousness, and the eternity of God. 'Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.' The Apostle Peter begins his first Epistle by referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and his second, by designating Him as 'our God and Saviour.' And as in the last prophetical book of the Old Testament the Messiah is called Jehovah, so the prophetical book which terminates the New Testament opens with announcing Him to be < Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty,' and closes in a similar manner, ' I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last,' which signifies the self-existent eternal Jehovah.1

By the resurrection from the dead.— His resurrection defined or deter mined Jesus Christ to be the person spoken of by the Prophets as the Son of God, and was the authentic and solemn judgment of God pro nouncing Him to be His Son. As it is also written in the second Psalm, * Thou art My Son ; this day have I begotten Thee,' Acts xiii. 33. In Scripture, things are often said to be done, when they are publicly declared and manifested. When the Son of God was raised from the dead, His eternal dignity, which was before concealed, was brought to light. His Divine power, being infinite and unchangeable, could receive no augmentation of dignity or majesty. But, having chosen to appear among men enveloped as in a cloud of sufferings and apparent weakness, His glorification consisted in His emerging from that cloud, leaving the veil of infirmities in the tomb, without any of them adhering to Him, when, as the sun breaks forth in his splendour, He was gloriously mani fested as the Son of God.

By His resurrection, God proclaimed to the universe that Christ was His only-begotten Son. The Apostle having in the foregoing verse called Jesus Christ the Son of God, here adds that He was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. His resurrection, then, did not constitute Him the Son of God ; it only evinced that He was truly so. Jesus Christ had declared Himself to be the Son of God ; and on this account the Jews charged Him with blasphemy, and asserted that He was a deceiver. By His resurrection, the clear manifestation of the character He had assumed, gloriously and for ever terminated the controversy which had been maintained during the whole of His ministry on earth. In raising Him from the dead, God decided the contest. He declared Him to be His Son, and showed that He had accepted His death in satisfaction for the sins of His people, and consequently that He had suffered not for Himself, but for them, which none could have done but the Son of God. On this great fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Paul rests the truth of the Christian religion, without which the testi mony of the Apostles would be false, and the faith of God's people vain.

1 The name Jehovah, derived from a root which signifies to le, is expressive of the most perfect and independent existence. It represents God as the Author of all being. Where the word LORD is printed in the Old Testament in capitals, in the original it is Jehovah.

ROMANS I. 4. 29

' But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept,' His resurrection is a sure pledge that they who sleep in Jesus, God at His second appearance will bring with Him. As He triumphed in His resurrection over all His enemies, so His people shall arise to victory and blessedness. Then they shall know the power of the resurrection of Jesus, the grandeur of that event, and their interest in it through eternity.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ proved His sonship, because He had claimed that character during His life, and had appealed in proof of it to His rising from the dead, John ii. 19. Had this testimony been untrue, it could not have taken place. And it not only proved His own eternal power and Godhead, but also manifested His oneness and union in all the perfections and distinguishing characters which constitute God head, in common with the Father and the Holy Ghost, each of these glorious persons concurring in that act, as we learn from other Scriptures.

Professor Stuart, in his Commentary, asks in this place, ' How could the resurrection declare, in any special manner, that Christ was the Son of God ? Was not Lazarus raised from the dead ? Were not others raised from the dead by Christ, by the Apostles, by Elijah, and by the bones of Elisha ? And yet was their resurrection proof that they were the sons of God ? God did indeed prepare the way for universal dominion to be given to Christ by raising Him from the dead. To the like purpose is the Apostle's assertion in Acts xvii. 31. But how an event common to Him, to Lazarus, and to many others, could of itself demonstrate Him to be the Son of God, sv dvvdpei — remains yet to be shown.' This is feeble reasoning. It shows that Mr. Stuart is entirely mistaken as to the manner in which the resurrection of Christ bears testimony to His character. Jesus Christ came into the world professing to be the Son of God, and was put to death for that profession. His resurrection, then, was God's seal to the truth of this claim. In itself, it did not testify whether He was God or only man, but it fully established the truth of everything He taught ; and as He taught His own Godhead, His resurrection is proof of His Deity. But how could it ever be supposed that the resurrection of Lazarus would prove as much for him as for Christ ? Lazarus did not, before his death, profess to be the Son of God, and Mediator. lie never predicted his resurrection as an event which was to decide the justice of his pretensions; and had he done so, he would not have been raised to confirm a falsehood. Professor Stuart's argument concludes as strongly against the proof of sonship, in any sense, from the resurrection of Christ, as against proper sonship. The mere fact of being raised from the dead is not evidence of being even a good man. But in whatever sense Jesus is the Son of God, His resurrection is here stated by the Apostle to be the grand proof.

Before His departure, Jesus Christ told His disciples that when the Comforter came He should convince the world ' of righteousness, because,' said He, ' I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more.' In raising Him from the dead, and receiving Him up into glory, God declared that the everlasting righteousness which the Messiah came to ' bring in ' was accomplished. His honourable reception by His Father

30 ROMANS I. 5.

who sent Him, furnished the most complete proof that He had faithfully fulfilled the purposes of His mission. ' For if,' says Archbishop Usher, ' He had broken prison and made an escape, the payment of the debt which, as our surety, He took upon Himself, being not yet satisfied, He should have been seen here again ; Heaven would not have held Him more than Paradise did Adam, after He had fallen into God's debt.' To the same purpose says Bates, ' If He had remained in the grave, it had been reasonable to believe Him an ordinary person, and that His death had been the punishment of His presumption ; but His resurrection was the most illustrious and convincing evidence that He was what He declared Himself to be. For it is not conceivable that God should put forth an almighty power to raise Him, and thereby authorize His resur rection, if by robbery He had assumed that glorious title of the Son of God. If, indeed, a single sin which had been " laid on Him " had been left un expiated, He must have remained for ever in the grave : death would in that case have detained Him as its prisoner ; for the wages of sin is death.'

By His incarnation, Jesus Christ received in His human nature the fulness of His Spirit ; but He received it covered with the veil of His flesh. By His death He merited the Spirit to sanctify His people ; but still this was only a right which He had acquired, without its execution. By His resurrection He entered into the full exercise of this right ; He received the full dispensation of the Spirit, to communicate it to them ; and it was then He was declared to be the Son of God with power.

Ver. 5. — By whom ive have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name.

One of the first acts of the power of Jesus Christ, after His resurrec tion, was to bestow His Spirit and His grace on those who were chosen by Him, to qualify them to be His witnesses and the heralds of His Gospel. Paul was among that number, although appointed at a later period than the rest. We have received. — He here speaks of himself in the plural number. He does not appear to use this style that he may include the other Apostles : what is true of him will, however, as to everything essential, apply to all the others. He distinguishes these two things, Grace and Apostleship. The first, which he had experienced in his conversion, and in every subsequent part of his course, he had received from Jesus Christ ; and by Him also he was appointed to the office of an Apostle, to the discharge of which that grace was indispensably necessary.

To the obedience of faith. — Paul, as an Apostle, was commissioned to preach the Gospel in order to the obedience of faith. Some understand this of the obedience which faith produces ; but the usual import of the expression, as well as the connection in this place, determines it to apply to the belief of the Gospel. Obedience is no doubt an effect produced by that belief ; but the office of an Apostle was, in the first place, to persuade men to believe the Gospel. This is the grand object, which includes the other. The Gospel reforms those who believe it ; but it would be pre senting an imperfect view of the subject to say that it was given to

ROMANS I. 5. 31

reform the world. It was given that men might believe and be saved. The obedience, then, here referred to, signifies submission to the doctrine of the Gospel. This is quite in accordance with those passages in which the expression is elsewhere found, as in Acts vi. 7; Rom. vi. 17, xvi. 26- Gal. iii. 1 ; 2 Thess. i. 8 ; 1 Pet. i. 22 ; and in Rom. x. 3 ; where the Israelites are charged with not submitting to the righteousness of God ; and especially in the 16th verse of that chapter it is said, ' But they have not all obeyed the Gospel ; for Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report 1 ' ' This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, 1 John iii. 23.

The object, then, of faith, is not only a promise, but a promise accom panied with a command to accept it. For since it is God who promises, His majesty and authority accompany His promise. In respect to the promise, that which on our part corresponds to it is calle.$ faith ; but in regard to the commandment which enjoins us to receive the promise, the act on our part is obedience. On this account, unbelief is rebellion against God. Faith, on the other hand, is an act of submission, or the surrender of ourselves to God, contrary to the natural opposition of our minds, in order that He may possess and conduct us, and make us what ever He pleases. When, therefore, that opposition is overcome by the weapons with which the Apostles were armed, namely, the word of truth, our submission is called the obedience of faith. ' This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent,' The obedience of faith which His people render to Jesus Christ is an adoration which supposes His Deity ; for when reason entirely submits and is swallowed up in His authority, it is a real adoration. < Faith,' says Calvin on this passage, ' is adorned with the title of obedience, because the Lord calls us by His Gospel, and by faith we answer when He calls us ; as, on the contrary, unbelief is the height of all rebellion against God.'

Among all nations. — Paul here assigns the reason why he preaches to Gentiles, namely, that it is the destination of his office or apostleship, and not solely his own choice, Gal. ii. 7. In past ages, God had suffered all nations, with the exception of the Jews, to walk in their own ways, although He had not left Himself without witness in the works of creation and providence. Both in the universal deluge, and also upon other occasions, He had manifested His wrath on account of sin, and His determination to punish it. But after the establishment of the nation of Israel in Canaan, after the institution of His public worship among them, and after He had given to them His written revelation, He did not generally interpose His authority in a visible manner to turn the nations from the ways they had chosen. Although, therefore, the times of this ignorance God winked at, He now commanded all men to repent. For 1 thus it is written,' that when Christ suffered and rose from the dead, 'repentence and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations,' Luke xxiv. 47. And accordingly Paul closes this Epistle by declaring that it was by the commandment of the everlasting God that the mystery, which had been kept secret from ages and genera tions, should be made known to all nations, in order to the obedience of faith. This was in conformity to the commission given by the Lord

ROMANS I. 6.

Himself to His eleven Apostles, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature ; and likewise to the particular command after wards received by Paul respecting the Gentiles, * To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.' Thus the Gospel of the uncircumcision was in a special manner committed to Paul, to which in the verse before us he refers.

For His name. — The Gospel is preached among all nations for the obedience of faith, but paramount to this is the glory of the name of Jesus Christ. The name, the glory, and the authority of God have the same signification. The world was created for God's glory, and His glory is the chief end of the restoration of sinners. The acts of His goodness to His people are declared to be done for His own name's sake ; and for the same end His judgments also are executed on sinners, for His own name, Rom. ix. 17. Men are very unwilling to admit that God should have any end with respect to them greater than their happiness. But His own glory is everywhere in the Scriptures represented as the chief end of man's existence, and of the existence of all things. It is in the name of Jesus that His people are taught to pray ; and we are baptized into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as into one name. This affords unanswerable proof of the divinity of Christ. Paul was a chosen vessel to bear His name before the Gentiles, Acts ix. 15. This verse concludes the general introduction to the Epistle ; the easy transition to the particular address should not pass unnoticed.

Vcr. 6.— Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ.

Those to whom Paul wrote, were included among the nations to whom his commission extended. He mentions this, that it might not appear strange that he addresses them for the purpose of instructing them, but that, on the contrary, they should receive what he wrote with due con fidence and respect. He was unknown to them by sight ; he was far distant from them. They might say, What interest had he in them ? He assures them that his apostleship regarded and comprehended them, and that he did nothing beyond his calling when he desired to increase their knowledge, and confirm their faith. They were the called of Jesus Christ. Thus he had a double right, and was laid under a double obliga tion to address them, both as belonging to the nations to whom his commission extended, and also as having already become obedient to the faith. The apostolic commission consisted of two parts : first, to make disciples, and then to teach them to observe all things that Jesus had commanded. Thus Paul had a measure that reached even to those to whom he now wrote, as he had to the Church at Corinth, 2 Cor. x. 13.

Of Jesus Christ. — Not only called to Jesus, but called by Him; for He is not only that glorious person to whom we ought to go, but who Himself says, Come unto Me. The believers -at Rome were called both with an external calling by the Gospel, and also with an internal calling by the, Holy Spirit. Both these callings are ascribed to the Father, and also, as in this passage, to Jesus Christ, because the Son, as Mediator, is the minister of the Father, and executes all things for Him. As the High Priest of His people, He has done for them all that is required for

ROMANS I. 7. 33

establishing the New Covenant ; but as the Prophet and King of His Church, He converts them and leads them to the Father. This expres sion, the called of Jesus Christ, imports that they belonged to Him, as in Isa. xlviii. 12, 'Israel, my called,' that is, who are mine by the right of calling.

Ver. 7. — To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called, saints : Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

To all. — The Apostle here addresses all the saints at Rome without distinction, whether they were Jews or Gentiles, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, bond or free. He does not distinguish the pastors from the people, but addresses himself to them all in common — what he writes being equally intended for their common instruction and edification. He addresses them by three designations, Beloved of God, Called, Saints. They were saints because they were called, and they were called because they were beloved of God. Their character as saints, then, was not the cause, but the effect, of their being beloved of God.

Beloved of God. — In opposition to the rest of mankind, whom God hath left in unbelief and the corruption of the world. Here, then, is the electing love of God placed first in order. It is that love wherewith He loved them when they were dead in sins, Eph. ii. 5. It is the greatest love that God can show to man, being everlasting love, which originates with Himself. It is purely gratuitous, and does not spring from the foresight of anything worthy in those who are its objects ; but, on the contrary, goes before all that is good in the creature, and brings with it infinite blessings. It has for its primary object Jesus Christ, the beloved of the Father ; and those whom lie beholds in Christ, although in them selves children of wrath, are beloved for His sake. This love is un varying from eternity and through eternity, although God's dealings towards His people may vary, as it is declared in the 99th Psalm, 'Thou takest vengeance on their inventions.' He may thus be displeased with them, as it is said, 'The thing that David did displeased the Lord,' but His love to them remains the same, like the love of a father to a child, even when he chastens him for his disobedience.

Called. — The first outward effect of election, or of the love of God to His people, is His calling them, not merely by the word, which is common to many, but by the Holy Spirit, which is limited to few, Matt. xxii. 14. ' I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; therefore with loving- kindness have I drawn thee,' Jer. xxxi. 3. The election, then, of believers is to be traced through their calling, 2 Pet. i. 10, and their calling to the everlasting love of God.

Saints. — The end of the Divine calling is to convert sinners into saints or holy persons. Their sanctification is not an external or figurative consecration, as that of Israel was, but a real consecration by which they are made to give themselves to God. It arises from union with Jesus Christ, which is the source of the sanctification of His people; and it consists in internal purity of heart, for God purifies the heart by faith. It supposes a real change of heart and disposition, a new creation, for ' if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.' ' That which is born of the

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34 ROMANS I. 7.

flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' They were not then saints by natural birth, nor did they make themselves saints either in whole or in part; but they were made so altogether by sovereign grace resulting from sovereign love. All believers are saints, and in one sense all of them are equally sanctified. They are equally separated or consecrated to God, and equally justified, but they are not all equally holy. The work of sanctification in them is progressive. There are babes, and young men, and fathers in Christ. Some are weak in faith, and some are strong ; but none of them are yet perfect, neither have they attained to that measure of holiness at which it is their duty constantly to aim, Phil. iii. 12. They are therefore to forget those things which are behind, and to reach forth unto those things which are before, and are commanded to 'grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' ' The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' * Certainly, according to Paul,' says Calvin on this place, * the praise of our salvation does not depend upon our own power, but is derived entirely from the fountain of God's love to us. What other cause but His own goodness can, more over, be assigned for His love ? On this also depends His calling, by which, in His own time, He seals the adoption in those who were first gratuitously chosen by Him. From these premises the conclusion follows, that none truly associate themselves with the faithful who do not place a certain degree of confidence in the Lord's kindness to them : although un deserving and wretched sinners, being called by His goodness, they aspire to holiness. For He hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.'

Grace to you, and peace. — In this way the Apostles usually commence their Epistles to the churches. In those addressed to individuals, mercy is generally added to grace and peace. Grace is uniformly placed first in order, because it is the source whence peace and all the blessings of salvation flow. Grace is the free unmerited favour of God to sinners in the plan of salvation. Grace and peace are joined together, because they are inseparable. God communicates all blessings to those to whom He gives grace, and to none besides ; for whatever does not proceed from grace is not a blessing. It is to the praise of His grace that God exer cises mercy, and brings those who were His enemies into a state of peace with Him. Grace differs from mercy, as it regards the unworthiness, while mercy regards the sufferings, of its objects.

Grace or favour is spoken of in Scripture in three points of view : either as the unmerited favour of God towards men, as existing in Him self; or as manifested in the Gospel, which is called the Gospel of the grace of God ; or in its operation in men. Every part of redemption proceeds on the footing of grace. It originates in the grace of God, and flows, in its first manifestations and in all its after acts, from the same unceas ing fountain, in calling, adopting, regenerating, justifying, sanctifying, strengthening, confirming grace, — in one word, it is all of grace. On this account Peter calls God the God of all grace, which teaches that God is in Himself towards His people grace — grace in His very nature, —that He knows what each of them needs, and lays it up for them, and communicates it to them. The whole of the salvation of man, from the

EOMANS I. 7. 35

counsels of God from eternity, is planned and executed to * the praise of the glory of His grace,' Eph. i. 6 ; * who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,' 2 Tim. i. 9.

In the operation of grace in the soul, men are not simply passive, nor can it be said that God does a part and they do the rest ; but God pro duces all, and they act all. God is the sole author and source of their acts, but they themselves properly are the agents. In some respects they are wholly passive, and in others wholly active. In the Scriptures, the same things are spoken of as coming from God, and as coming from men. It is said that God purifies the hearts of believers, Acts xv. 9, and that they purify themselves, 1 John iii. 3. They are commanded to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who worketh in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure, Phil. ii. 12. It is not the Holy Spirit, but themselves, by virtue of His power, who love God and their neighbour, who fear the Lord, who confide in Him, and trust in His promises. Paul designates as fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The origin of them all is the Holy Spirit — it is from Him they are derived ; but in their exercise or development they properly belong to believers. If any one falsely infers from the doctrine of grace that there remains nothing for man to do, because it is the grace of God that leads him to act, he understands neither what he says, nor whereof he affirms. He might with the same reason conclude that, as God is the Author of our existence, of our souls, and of all our faculties, therefore we can neither think, nor reason, nor love. Grace is in our hearts a living principle, implanted by God, and at His sovereign disposal. To exercise this principle, is as much our duty as to preserve our life and health ; and as the care which these require demand attention and certain acts of the will, in the same manner the exercise of grace in the soul supposes cor responding dispositions and acts. But it is not thus with grace as manifested, which is an object of choice, received or rejected, according as grace has operated in us or not, In this manner, grace, as the prin ciple of renovation, by the sole operation of the Holy Spirit, stands in opposition to every notion of independent power in man, by which it might be supposed he could regenerate himself; while, on the other hand, considered in its exercise, it supposes the efforts of man.

Peace includes everything that belongs to the idea of tranquillity in its largest extent. But the foundation of all must be peace with God. Without this, the Christian can have no peace, though he should be on good terms with all mankind ; but, possessing this, God will either give him peace with his enemies, or He will give him peace along with their enmity. The Christian may not only have peace, but joy, in the midst of persecution and external affliction. Peace with God is the substance of happiness, because without it there can be no happiness, and with it there is happiness, whatever else is wanting. This salutation, grace to you and peace, may be considered either as a prayer or a benediction. In the latter sense, it bears the character of apostolic authority.

36 ROMANS I. 8.

From God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. — God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of all who are in Him. Paul here speaks of God as both his Father and the Father of all those whom he addressed, and so constituting one family, whether Jews or Gentiles. God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, are the source of all grace and peace, and can alone communicate these blessings, which are the gracious effects that flow from the covenant of love and favour of the Triune Jehovah. Here again we see an incontrovertible proof of the deity of Jesus Christ ; for, if He were not God, He could not without impiety be thus joined with, or invoked along with, the Father to impart blessings, of which God alone is the author.

Ver. 8. — First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

First, I thank my God. — This is a first in order, as if Paul had said, I commence my Epistle by giving thanks to God. It proceeds from that feel ing of piety which ought to pervade all our actions ; at the same time he bestows on those whom he addresses the praise which they deserved. It is also a first in importance, as if he said, Above all, I render thanks to God for you. He shows that their state was a matter of great joy to him, arising both from his zeal for the glory of God, and from the interest he took in those whom he addressed.

My God. — Paul calls God his God, indicating a lively and ardent feel ing of love to Him, of confidence in Him, and of liberty of access, which includes a persuasion that his thanksgivings will be agreeable to God. It is also a confession of his duty, and of the obligations he is under to render thanks to God, because He is his God. It is, besides, an intima tion of his own character, as walking in communion with God. This is an example of the working of the Spirit of adoption, and of a believer taking to himself, in particular, the blessing of having God for his God, and of being a partaker of all the blessings of the New Covenant, flowing from that most gracious declaration, ' I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' Of such appropriation there are numerous instances recorded in the Book of Psalms. ' I will love Thee, 0 Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust ; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower,' Ps. xviii. 1. Job says, 'I know that my Eedeemer liveth.' ' I live,' says Paul,' 'by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me? Such language it is the privilege of every believer to use, and he will do so in proportion as the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto him. The Christian can thus address God as his own God, and often he should do so even in his public declarations. This displeases the world, because it condemns the world. They affect to consider it as presumption, but it is only a proper expression of our belief of God's testimony with regard to His Son. Studiously to avoid such expressions on proper occasions, is not to show humility, but to be ashamed of the truth.

Paul thanked God, through Jesus Christ, who is 'our Great High Priest, and presents the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar before the

ROMANS I. 8. 37

throne. It is through Him alone that all our worship and all our works in the service of God are acceptable. Thus, not only must our petitions ascend to the Father through the Son, but our thanksgivings also, accord ing to the precept, ' By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name,' Heb. xiii. 15. We can have no intercourse with God, but through the one Mediator between God and man, John xiv. 6 ; and except through Him, we are not permitted even to return thanksgivings to God.

Paul thanks God for all to whom he writes. He had addressed them all as saints, making no exception. It is to such exclusively that the apostolic Epistles are written, whether as churches or individuals, — as being all united to Christ, children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, — who should first suffer and afterwards reign with Him. In the first churches, in which everything was regulated by the Apostles according to the will of God, there may have been hypocrites or self-deceivers ; but as far as man could judge, they were all believers ; or if any among them appeared not to be such, the churches were told it was to their shame. If any were discovered who had crept in un awares, or were convicted of unbecoming conduct, or who had a form of godliness, but denied its power, from such they were commanded to turn away. They were not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers ; wherefore it is said, ' Come out from among them, and be ye separate.' It was in the confidence that they obeyed such commands, that the Apostles addressed them all, as in the passage before us, as the children of God. In the same manner, in writing to the church at Philippi, Paul, after thank ing God for their fellowship in the Gospel, and declaring that he was confident that He who had begun a good work in them would perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ, adds, ' Even as it is meet for me to think this of you a//, because I have you in my heart ; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the Gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace.' This mode of address runs through the whole of the apostolic Epistles.

The Apostles generally commence their Epistles with the most encourag ing views of the present state and future prospects of those to whom they write, and on these considerations are founded the succeeding ex hortations. They first remind those who are addressed of the rich grace of God towards them in Jesus Christ, and the spiritual blessings of which they are made partakers, for their strong consolation, and then they exhort them to a holy conversation becoming such privileges. Of this we have a striking example in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which, although Paul had so many faults to reprehend in them, he commences by declaring that they were sanctified in Christ Jesus— that he thanked God always for the grace given unto them by Jesus Christ, who would also confirm them to the end, that they might be blameless in the day of His coming, reminding them that God was faithful, by whom they were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The num ber of times, no fewer than ten, in which, in the first ten verses of that Epistle, Paul introduces the name of Jesus Christ, should be remarked. In these Epistles we find no exhortations to unbelievers. This ought

38 ROMANS I. 8.

to be particularly observed, as being a key to them, without which they cannot be understood. This is no reason, however, for supposing that exhortations to believe the Gospel ought not to be addressed to those who are still in unbelief. The Gospel is to be preached to every creature, and all should be enjoined, first to believe it, and then to do all that God requires. In the Book of Acts, when the Apostles preached to the un converted, their subject was repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. But in the Epistles, where they address believers, they also admonish and exhort them to the practice of every duty. There is no exhortation to the performance of any duty which does not imply that it is to be performed in faith. ' Without faith it is impossible to please God.'

Believers are taught to regulate all their conduct according to the great things which the Gospel reveals, which are freely given to them of God ; to be imitators of God, and to live not to themselves but to Him, as being not their own, but bought with a price, and therefore bound to glorify God in their bodies and in-their spirits, which are His. Their obedience, as described in the Scriptures, is as much distinguished by its motives and its foundation from the morality of the unbelieving world, as it is elevated above it in its nature and effects. It is in all respects a life of faith, subject to the authority of God, and is practised under the influence and direction of motives inculcated in the Gospel, of which the light of nature gives no knowledge. Those who have not this faith regard it as a barren speculation ; but they who possess it know that it is the sole and powerful source of all their works that are acceptable to God, which are opposed to ' dead works,' Heb. ix. 14 ; and that no works are really good, however excellent they may appear, and however much esteemed among men, or useful in society, which do not proceed from faith. That your faith is spoken of. — It is not the piety of the saints at Rome, but their faith, that is here noticed. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord ; but it is faith in Christ that is the distinguishing mark of the Christian. Paul thanks God that the faith of those to whom he writes was spoken of. He thus acknowledges God as the author of the Gospel, not only on account of His causing it to be preached to them, but because He had actually given them grace to believe; for if God is thanked for the distinguished faith of Christians, then not only their faith is His gift, but also its measure and advancement. That faith is the gift of God, is a truth frequently declared, as in Matt. xvi. 17; Luke xvii. 5 ; Acts xi. 21, xiii. 48, xvi. 14; Rom. xii. 3; Phil. i. 29. This is also acknow ledged in all the thanksgivings of the Apostles for those to whom they write, and is according to the Avhole of the doctrine of the Scriptures. It is from God that every good and every perfect gift descendeth, and a man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. For ' all things,' therefore, we are commanded to give thanks. Paul thanks God for his own prayers, 2 Tim. i. 3. Here, as in other places, Paul com mences with thanksgiving, thus reminding us that every blessing is from the kindness of God. If we should observe this in blessings of small importance, we ought to do it much more with respect to faith, which is neither an ordinary nor a common blessing of God.

ROMANS I. 9. 39

Throughout the whole world. — That is to say, throughout the whole Roman empire, of which Rome being the capital, all that took place there was circulated throughout the whole civilised world. Their faith was proclaimed by the voice of all believers, who alone could form a proper opinion regarding it; for the reference is evidently to their approbation. Unbelievers, who hated both the people of God and their faith, could give no proper testimony concerning it. The commendation of the servants of God was all that the Apostle valued. Thus the faith of the believers whom God had assembled at Rome was held up as an example ; and the Apostle here declares, not only for their encouragement, but also to excite them more and more to the performance of their duty, that the eyes of all the servants of God throughout the world were upon them. He says, their faith was spoken of, not that he rests in this circum stance, or that he wishes them to rest in their reputation, as if he would flatter them. Reputation in itself is nothing. If it be unmerited, it only convinces the conscience of imposture ; and when it is real, it is not our chief joy. Paul regards it with reference to the believers at Rome, as a mark of the reality of their faith ; and it is on this reality that he grounds his thanksgiving. It was a reason for thanksgiving that they were thus letting their light shine before men, and so glorifying their Father in heaven. The glory of all that is good in His people belongs to God, and all comes through Jesus Christ.

yer. 9. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of His

Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you ahcays in my prayers.

God is my witness. — This is substantially an oath; and refutes the erroneous and mischievous notion of some who maintain, from a misappre hension of what is said by our Lord and the Apostle James, that all oaths are unlawful. Paul's affection for those to whom he wrote was such, that, in making his appeal to God, he desires to expose it to His judgment in respect to its truth and sincerity.

Whom I serve with my spirit. — All the service of God is of this kind ; but it is here expressed for the sake of energy, and to distinguish the true servants of God, who serve in the Gospel with their heart in the work, from hirelings, whose labours are formal and only external. It expresses the sincerity and ardour of the service that Paul rendered to God, as if he had said, with all his heart and all the faculties of his soul. It also imports the nature of the service in which he was employed namely, a spiritual service, in opposition to the service of the priests and Levites in the tabernacle, which was in a great measure a bodily service. On this account he adds, in the Gospel of His Son: that is to say, m the ministry of the Gospel in which he laboured for the unfolding of the Divine mysteries to make them known. Thus Paul shows, from the character of his ministry, that his obedience was not in pretence mly, b in sincerity. c

Without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.— borne place these last words, ' always in my prayers,' in the beginning of next verse, as in the Vulgate and the French versions ; but the difference is not material. This is a striking proof of the frequency of Pauls

40 EOMANS I. 10.

prayers, in which he interceded for those whom he was addressing — * without ceasing' — ' always.' In like manner, in writing to the Philip- pians, he says, * Always, in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy.' We thus learn the duty of Christians to pray for one another, and that those who believe the Gospel are as much bound to pray for its success, and the prosperity of the churches, as to labour in the work. Both prayer and labour ought to go together. To pray without labouring is to mock God : to labour without prayer is to rob God of His glory. Until these are conjoined, the Gospel will not be extensively successful. From many other parts of Paul's writings, we learn how assiduous he was in the duty of prayer, which he so earnestly inculcates on all believers. ' In everything giving thanks ; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you,' 1 Thess. v. 18. 'Be careful for nothing ; but in everything by prayer and supplication, Avith thanks giving, let your requests be made known unto God,' Phil. iv. 6. How precious is the promise connected with this admonition ! ' And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.'

But since all events are fixed, even from eternity, in the counsels and wisdom of God, of what avail, it may be said, are these prayers ? Can they change His eternal counsels, and the settled order of events ? Cer tainly not. But God commands us to pray, and even the prayers of His people are included in His decrees ; and what God has resolved to do, He often gives to their prayers. Instead, then, of being vain, they are among the means through which God executes His decrees. If, indeed, all things happened by a blind chance, or a fatal necessity, prayers in that case could be of no moral efficacy, and of no use ; but since they are regulated by the direction of Divine wisdom, prayers have a place in the order of events. After many gracious promises, it is added, Ezek. xxxvi. 37, ' Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.' In this verse Paul shows his zeal for God. and his love for believers, which ought never to be separated. We should love our brethren because we love God. These two things corre sponded in Paul to the two favours he had received, which he marked in the 5th verse, namely, ' Grace and Apostleship.' ' God,' as if he said, ' has given me grace, and on my part I serve Him with my spirit ; He has given me Apostleship, and I have you continually in remembrance.'

Ver. 10. — Making request, if by any means noiv at length I might have a pro sperous journey, by the will of God, to come unto you.

Making request. — Paul's affection for those to whom he wrote impelled him, not once or twice with a passing wish, but at all times, to desire to be present with them, notwithstanding the inconveniences of so long and perilous a journey. He asks of God that by some means now at length he might be permitted to visit them. Thus Christian love searches out new objects on which to exercise itself, and extends itself even to those who are personally unknown.

1 might have a prosperous journey, by the will of God. — This teaches us that God, by His providence, regulates all that takes place. There is

ROMANS I. 11, 12. 41

nothing with which Christians should be more habitually impressed, than that God is the disposer of all events. They should look to His will in the smallest concerns of life, as well as in affairs of the greatest moment. Even a prosperous journey is from the Lord. In this way they glorify God by acknowledging His providence in all things, and have the greatest confidence and happiness in walking before Him. Here we also learn that, while the will of God concerning any event is not ascertained, we have liberty to desire and pray for what we wish, pro vided our prayers and desires are conformed to His holiness. But will our prayers be agreeable to God if they be contrary to His decrees ? Yes, provided they be offered in submission to Him, and not opposed to any known command ; for it is the revealed, and not the secret will of God that must be the rule of our prayers. We also learn in this place, that since all events depend on the will of God, we ought to acquiesce in them, however contrary they may be to our wishes ; and likewise, that in those things in which the will of God is not apparent, we should always accompany our prayers and our desires with this condition, if it be pleasing to God, and be ready to renounce our desires as soon as they appear not to be conformed to His will. ' 0 how sweet a thing,' as one has well observed, ' were it for us to learn to make our burthens light, by framing our hearts to the burthen, and making our Lord's will a law ! '

Ver. 11.— For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established.

Paul greatly desired to see the believers at Rome, to impart to them some spiritual gift. The opinion of Augustine, that this means the love of one's neighbour, in which he supposes the church at Rome was deficient, has no foundation. It was not a new degree of the Spirit of sanctification that he desired to communicate, for this Paul had it not in his power to bestow, 1 Cor. iii. 6. He appears to refer to some of the extraordinary gifts conferred by the Apostles, by which they might be more established in their most holy faith.

Ver. 12. — That w, that I may be comforted together icith you, by the mutual faith both of you and me.

That is. — This does not mean that what follows is intended as an ex planation of what he had just said, for to those whom Paul addressed it must have been sufficiently clear ; but is a modification of it respecting his purpose, lest he should appear to consider them as not well instructed or established in their faith. For although he always acted faithfully, no one, as is evident from his writings, was ever more cautious to avoid unnecessary offence. He therefore joins himself with those to whom he wrote, and refers to the advantage which he also expected reciprocally to derive from them. It is no valid objection to understanding it to be a miraculous gift which he desired to communicate, that he hoped for mutual advantage and comfort with those whom he was about to visit. This comfort or confirmation which he looked for, was not from a spiritual gift to be bestowed by them, but would be the effect of their confirmation, by the gift they received through him. The gift, too,

42 EOMANS I. 13.

bestowed by him, would be a new proof of the power of God in him, and of His approbation in enabling him to exert such power. He would be comforted and strengthened in witnessing their faith in respect to his own labours in his ministry, by seeing the kingdom of God advancing more and more, and with respect to his numerous afflictions to which he was on all hands subjected, and also in contrasting the coldness and weakness of many of which he often complains, when he observed the increasing power of Divine grace in the saints at Rome. On the other hand, they would derive from Paul's presence the greatest consolation from his instructions in the mysteries of salvation, from his exhortations, which must contribute much to their edification, as Avell as from his example, his counsels, and his prayers. It is thus the duty of Christians to confirm each other in the faith ; and their mutual intercourse makes known the faith that each possesses. They see that their experience answers as face answers to face in a glass; and by beholding the strength of faith in their brethren, Christians are edified and confirmed.

Yer. 13. — Now, I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I pur posed to come unto you (but was let hitherto}, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

Paul's zeal and affection for those to whom he wrote, were not of recent origin ; they had long been cherished in his heart. Of this he did not wish them to be ignorant. It is of importance that believers should know the love entertained for them by the servants of God. It is a testimony of the love of God Himself. Paul wished to see some fruit of his ministry among them. This was his great desire everywhere in the service of Christ. * I have chosen you and ordained you,' said Jesus to His Apostles, ' that ye should go and bring forth fruit ; ' and Paul ardently longed to see the fulfilment of this gracious promise among those to whom he wrote, for believers were his joy and crown.

As among other Gentiles. — The apostleship of Paul had not been unfruitful, ch. xv. 17. He had travelled through a great part of Syria, of Asia, and of Greece, and everywhere he had either been the means of converting sinners or edifying believers. This was a source of much joy to him ; but after so many labours, he did not wish for repose. He desired to go to Rome to obtain fruit there also. He had been let, or hindered, hitherto. Our desires are always pleasing to God when their object is to promote His glory ; but sometimes He does not see good to give them effect. It was good that it was in David's heart, although he was riot permitted, to build the house of God. The times and the ways of God's providence are often unknown to us, and therefore our desires and designs in His service ought always to be cherished in submission to His Divine wisdom. Paul had been hindered till now from going to Rome. This may have happened in different ways, and through what are called second causes. It may have been occasioned by the services he found it indispensable to perform in other churches before leaving them ; or it may have arisen from the machinations of Satan, the god of this world, exciting disturbances and opposition in these churches, 1 Thess. ii. 18 ; or he may have been prevented by the Spirit of God, Acts

ROMANS I. 14, 15. 43

xvi. 7. His being hindered, by whatever means, from going to Eome, when he intended it, shows that the Apostles were sometimes thwarted in their purposes, and were not always under the guidance of Divine inspira tion in their plans. This, however, has nothing to do with the subject of their inspiration as it respects the Scriptures, or as it regards their doc trine. Those who raise any objection to the inspiration of the Scriptures, from the disappointments or misconduct of the Apostles, confound things that entirely and essentially differ.

Ver. 14. — 1 am debtor loth to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.

Paul was their debtor, not by any right that either Greeks or Bar barians had acquired over him, but by the destination which God had given to his ministry towards them. He does not, however, hesitate to recognise the debt or obligation, because, when God called him to their service, he was in effect their servant, as he says in another place, ' Our selves your servants for Jesus' sake.' The foundation of this duty was not in those whom he desired to serve, but in God, and the force of this obligation was so much the stronger as it was Divine ; it was a law imposed by sovereign authority, and consequently an inviolable law. With regard to Paul, it included, on the one hand, all the duties of the apostolic office, and, on the other, the dangers and persecutions to which that office exposed him, without even excepting martyrdom, when he should be called to that last trial. All this is similar to what every Christian owes in the service of God, as far as his abilities, of whatever kind they are, and his opportunities, extend.

As the Greeks— under which term all civilised nations were included— were the source of the arts and sciences, of knowledge and civilisation, it might be said that the Apostle should attach himself solely to them, and that he owed nothing to the Barbarians. On the contrary, it might be alleged that he was debtor only to the Barbarians, as the Greeks were already so enlightened. But in whatever way these distinctions were viewed, he declares that both the one and the other were equal to him : he was debtor to them all, — to the Greeks, because their light was only the darkness of error or of idle speculation— to the Barbarians, for he ought to have compassion on their ignorance. He was debtor to the wise, that is to say, the philosophers, as they were called among the Greeks ; and to the unwise, or those who made no profession of philo sophy. He knew that both stood equally in need of the Gospel, and that for them all it was equally adapted. This is the case with the learned and the unlearned, who are both altogether ignorant of the way of salvation, till it be revealed to them by the Gospel, to which every thing, by the command of God, the wisdom as well as tfie_ folly of the world,— in one word, all things besides,— must yield subjection.

Ver. 15.— So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also.

Paul was always zealous to do his duty; at the same time, he always acknowledged his dependence on God. This is an example which

44 KOMANS I. 15.

Christians ought to imitate on all occasions, never to deviate from the path of duty, but to leave events in the hands of God. The contrary of this is generally the case. Christians are often more anxious and per plexed about their success, than with respect to their duty. They forget what regards themselves, and wish to meddle with what does not belong to them but to God. To you also. — He does not inquire or decide whether they ought to be reckoned among the Barbarians or the Greeks, the wise or unwise ; he was ready to preach the Gospel to them all.

Here terminates the preface to the Epistle. The first five verses in clude the general introduction, the last ten embrace the particular address to those to whom it is written. The introduction contains the name, the character, and the office of the writer ; his vindication of the Gospel against the cavils of the Jews, proving that it was not a novel doctrine, and that the Apostles were not opposed to the Prophets. It authenticates the whole of the Jewish canon, and attests its inspiration. It undermines the errors of the Jews respecting tradition, and directs them to the Scriptures alone. It next announces the Messiah as the subject of the Gospel, — His glorious person as God and man, His birth and resurrection, His abasement and exaltation, and His almighty power. It finally asserts the communication of grace to the Apostle, his appoint ment to the office • he sustained, the purpose for which it was conferred, along with a commission, of which he states the grounds, to all the nations under heaven. Where else shall be found so much matter com pressed in so little space? where so much brevity connected with so much fulness ?

In the latter part, in which Paul addresses those to whom his Epistle was directed, he introduces many things well calculated to rivet their attention and engage their affections, while at the same time he conveys very grave and salutary instructions. What must have been the feelings of the Eoman converts, when they saw the intense interest with which they were regarded by this great Apostle; when they considered the grandeur and value of the Gospel, to which he was about to call their attention in his Epistle ; and when they were cheered by the hope of shortly seeing in the midst of them one whose heart glowed with such love to God, and such benevolence to them ! All this must have tended to produce a reciprocal regard and reverential feeling towards the Apostle, an ardent desire to profit by his instructions, together with much grati tude to God, and many prayers to hasten his voyage to come among them. Paul did arrive at Eome, but, in the providence of God, in a very different manner, and in circumstances very different, from what he appears to have expected when he prayed for * a prosperous journey.' He went there a prisoner in bonds, was shipwrecked on his voyage, and kept in confinement after his arrival. But although he was bound, the word of God was not bound ; and all fell out, in the adorable providence of God, for the furtherance of the Gospel. The circumstances, however, in which he was placed were not in the meantime joyous, but grievous. Yet now that he stands before the throne, now that he has received the crown of righteousness, and is numbered among the spirits of just men made perfect, what regret can he experience that, during the few and

ROMANS T. 16. 45

evil days he spent on earth, he was conducted to Rome through persecu tions, imprisonments, storms, and shipwreck, an outcast among men, but approved and accepted of God ?

CHAPTER I.— PART II. ROMANS i. 16-32.

HAVING concluded his prefatory address, the Apostle now announces, in brief but comprehensive terms, the grand subject which occupies the lirst five chapters of this Epistle, namely, the doctrine of justification by faith.

Ver. 16.— For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Chr'ist ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

I am not ashamed. — Paul here follows up what he had just said of his readiness to preach the Gospel at Rome, by declaring that he was not ashamed of it. This would also convey a caution to those whom he addressed against giving way to a strong temptation to which they were exposed, and which was no doubt a means of deterring many from em bracing the Gospel, to whom it was preached. He knew from personal experience the opposition which the Gospel everywhere encountered. By the Pagans it was branded as Atheism ; and by the Jews it was abhorred as subverting the law and tending to licentiousness ; while both Jews and Gentiles united in denouncing the Christians as disturbers of the public peace, who, in their pride and presumption, separated themselves from the rest of mankind. Besides, a crucified Saviour was to the one a stumbling-block, and to the other foolishness. This doctrine was every where spoken against ; and the Christian fortitude of the Apostle, in act ing on the avowal he here makes, was as truly manifested in the calmness with which he viewed the disdain of the philosophers, the contempt of the proud, and the ridicule of the multitude, as in the stedfast resolution with which, for the name of the Lord Jesus, he confronted personal danger, and even death itself. His courage was not more conspicuous when he was ready * not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem,' than when he was enabled to enter Athens or Rome without being moved by the prospect of all that scorn and derision which in these great cities awaited him.

But the grand reason which induced the Apostle to declare at the out set of this Epistle that he was not ashamed of the Gospel, is a reason which applies to every age as well as to that in which Christ was first preached. His declaration implies that, while in reality there is no just cause to be ashamed of the Gospel, there is in it something which is^not acceptable, and that it is generally hated and despised among men. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him. They run counter to his most fondly-cherished notions of independence ; they abase in the dust all the pride of his self-

46 ROMANS I. 16.

reliance, and, stripping him of every ground of boasting, and demanding implicit submission, they awaken all the enmity of the carnal mind. Even they who have tasted of the grace of God, are liable to experience, and often to yield to, the deeply-rooted and sinful feeling of being ashamed of the things of God. So prevalent is this even among Chris tians the most advanced, that Paul deemed it necessary to warn Timothy respecting it, whose faithfulness he so highly celebrates. l Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.' In connection with this, he makes the same avowal for himself as in the passage before us, declaring at the same time the strong ground on which he rested, and was enabled to resist this temptation. Whereunto, he says, * I am ap pointed a preacher, and an Apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For which cause I also suffer these things : nevertheless I am not ashamed ; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.' At the same time he commends Onesiphorus for not being ashamed of his chain, 2 Tim. i. 8, 12, 16. And He who knew what is in man, solemnly and repeatedly guarded His disciples against this criminal shame, enforcing His admonitions by the most awful sanction. l For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of His holy angels.'

That system, in which there is nothing of ' foolishness ' in the eyes of this world's wisdom, cannot be the Gospel of which Paul deemed it necessary to affirm that he was not ashamed. No other religion is so offensive to the pride of man ; no other system awakens shame in the breasts of its votaries ; and yet every false doctrine has in it more or less of what is positively absurd, irrational, and disgraceful. It is also observ able that the more the Gospel is corrupted, and the more its peculiar features are obscured by error, the less do we observe of the shame it is calculated to produce. It is, in fact, the fear of opposition and contempt that often leads to the corruption of the Gospel. But this peculiarity affords a strong proof of the truth of the Apostle's doctrine. Had he not been convinced of its truth, would it not have been madness to invent a forgery in a form which excites the natural prejudices of man kind ! Why should he forge a doctrine which he was aware would be hateful to the world? In this declaration Paul may also have had reference to the false mysteries of the Pagans, which they carefully con cealed, because they contained many things that were infamous, and of which they were justly ashamed. When the Apostle says he is not ashamed of the Gospel, it further implies that he gloried in it, as he says, Gal. vi. 14, ' God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ; ' and thus he endeavours to enhance, in the eyes of those to whom he wrote, the value and excellence of the Gospel, in order more fully to arrest their attention before he entered on his subject.

The Gospel of Christ. — A little before he had called it ' the Gospel of God ; ' he now designates it the Gospel of Christ, who is not only its author, but also its essential subject. The Gospel is therefore called the preaching of Jesus Christ, and of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

ROMANS I. 16. 47

This Gospel, then, which Paul was ready to preach, and of which he was not ashamed, was the Gospel of God concerning His Son. The term Gospel, which signifies glad tidings, is taken from Isa. Hi. 7, and Ixi. 1, where the Messiah is introduced as saying, ' The Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings.1

For it is the power of God unto salvation. — Here the Apostle gives the reason why he is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel is the great and admirable mystery, which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God, into which the angels desire to look, whereby His manifold wisdom is made known unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places. It is the efficacious means by which God saves men from sin and misery, and bestows on them eternal life,— the instrument by which He triumphs in their hearts, and destroys in them the dominion of Satan. The Gospel, which is the word of God, is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. By it, as the word of truth' men are begotten by the will of God, Jas. i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23; and through the faith of the Gospel they are kept by His power unto salva tion, 1 Pet. i. 5. The exceeding greatness of the power of God exerted in the Gospel toward those who believe, is compared to His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand, Eph. i. 19. Thus, while the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, to those who are saved it is the power of God.

The Gospel is power in the hand of God, as opposed to our natural im potence and utter inability to obtain salvation by anything we can do, Rom. v. 6 ; and also in opposition to the law, which cannot save, beino- ' weak through the flesh,' Rom. viii. 3. It has been observed that the article the, before power, is not in the original. The article, however, is not necessary. The Apostle does not mean power as an attribute, for the Gospel is no attribute of God. It is power, as it is the means which God employs to accomplish a certain end. When it is said, the Gospel is God's power unto salvation, all other means of salvation are excluded.

To every one that believeth. — This power of God unto salvation is applied through faith, without which God will neither justify nor save any man, because it is the appointed means of His people's union with Jesus Christ. Faith accepts the promise of God. Faith embraces the satisfaction and merit of Jesus Christ, which are the foundation of salvation; and neither that satisfaction nor that merit would be imputed, were it not rendered ours by faith. Finally, by faith we give ourselves to Jesus Christ, in order that He may possess and conduct us for ever. When God justifies, He gives grace ; but it is always in maintaining the rights of His majesty, in making us submit to His law and to the direction of His holiness, that Jesus Christ may reign in our hearts. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one, without any distinction of age, sex, or condition — of birth or of country, — without excepting any one, provided he be a believer in Christ. The expression, ' every one,' respects the extent of the call of the Gospel, in opposition to that of the law, which \vas addressed to the single family of Abraham.

To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. — This distinction includes all

48 ROMANS I. 17.

nations ; for the Jews were accustomed to comprehend under the name of Greek all the rest of the world, as opposed to 'their own nation. The Greeks, from the establishment of the Macedonian empire, were better known to the Jews than any other people, not only on account of their power, but likewise of their knowledge and civilisation. Paul frequently avails himself of this distinction.

To tlit Jew first. — From the days of Abraham, their great progenitor, the Jews had been highly distinguished from all the rest of the world by their many and great privileges. It was their high distinction that of them Christ came, ' who is over all, God blessed for ever.' They were thus, as His kinsmen, the royal family of the human race, in this respect higher than all others, and they inherited Emmanuel's land. While, therefore, the evangelical covenant, and consequently justification and salvation, equally regarded all believers, the Jews held the first rank, as the ancient people of God, while the other nations were strangers from the covenants of promise. The preaching of the Gospel was to be addressed to them first, and, at the beginning, to them alone, Matt. x. 6 ; for, during the abode of Jesus Christ upon earth, He was the minister only of the circumcision, Rom. xv. 8. 'I am not sent,' He says, 'but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ; ' and He commanded that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, 'beginning at Jerusalem,' Acts iii. 26, xiv. 26. Thus, while Jews arid Gentiles were united in the participation of the Gospel, the Jews were not deprived of their rank, since they were the first called.

The preaching of the Gospel to the Jews first, served various important ends. It fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, as Isa. ii. 3. It manifested the compassion of the Lord Jesus for those who shed His blood, to whom, after His resurrection, He commanded His Gospel to be first proclaimed. It showed that it was to be preached to the chief of sinners, and proved the sovereign efficacy of His atonement in expatiating the guilt even of His murderers. It was fit, too, that the Gospel should be begun to be preached where the great transactions took place on which it was founded and established ; and this furnished an example of the way in which it is the will of the Lord that His Gospel should be propagated by His disciples, beginning in their own houses and their own country.

yer< 17. — For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith / as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

The righteousness of God. — This phrase may, according to circum stances, mean either the personal attribute of God, or, as in this place, the righteousness which God has provided, which He has effected, and which He imputes for justification to all His elect. It is through this righteousness, revealed in the Gospel, that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Paul reverts to its manifestation, ch. iii. 21, where the signification of this most important expression will be fully considered. At present it is sufficient to remark that the grand object of the Apostle is to show that man, having lost his own righteousness, and thereby fallen under condemnation, God has provided for him a righteousness — the complete fulfilment of the law in all its threatenings

ROMANS I. 17. 49

and all its precepts— by which, being placed to his account through faith, he is acquitted from guilt, freed from condemnation, and entitled to the reward of eternal life.

Is revealed. — This expression regards the assertion in the second verse of this chapter, that the Gospel had formerly been promised by the Prophets. The righteousness of God must be contemplated at three periods: first, at the period when God purposed it; second, at the period when He promised it ; and third, at the period when He revealed it, He purposed it in His eternal decrees, He promised it after the fall, and now it is actually revealed in the Gospel. Paul does not say that it began only under the Gospel to display its efficacy, or that it was not known under the Mosaic dispensation ; on the contrary, he was about to show that the Prophet Habakkuk had referred to it, and in the fourth chapter he proves that Abraham was justified by the imputation of this same righteousness ; but he here declares that its full and perfect reve lation was made by the Gospel, in which it is testified that at length it has been * brought in,' as had been promised, Dan. ix. 24. Looking forward to the revelation of this righteousness, the Prophet Isaiah, Ivi. 1, writes, 'Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.' The Prophet thus announced in his time that it was near to be revealed, and the Apostle affirms that it is now revealed.

From faith to faith. — Various interpretations have been given of this phrase, although there appears to be little difficulty in ascertaining its meaning. Some explain it as signifying from the faith of the Old Testament to the faith of the New ; some, from one degree of faith to another ; some, from the faith of the Jew to the faith of the Gentile ; and others, altogether of faith. The expression is evidently elliptical ; and in order to understand it, it is necessary to observe that the literal rendering is not '-from faith to faith,' but ' by faith to faith.' The same words in the original are thus translated in the same verse : ' The just shall live by faith.' The meaning, then, is, the righteousness which is by faith, namely, which is received by faith, is revealed to faith, or in order to be believed. This is entirely consistent with what the Apostle says in ch. iii. 22, where he reverts to the subject, and announces that the righteousness of God, which is by, or through, faith of Jesus Christ, is unto all and upon all them that believe. There is then no difficulty in this expression, especially since the meaning is placed beyond dispute in this passage, where the same truth is fully expressed.

As it is written. — Here is a reference to the Old Testament Scriptures, as attesting what had just been affirmed, thus proving the correspond ence between the Old Testament and the New, as was also shown in the second verse of this chapter, and teaching us to rest our faith on the testimony of the Scriptures, in whatever part of them it is found. The just shall live ly faith, or rather, following the order of the words in the original, the just, or the righteous, by faith shall live. The doctrine, however, is substantially the same in whichsoever of these ways the phrase is rendered, and the meaning is, they who are righteous by faith, that is, by having the righteousness of God which is received by faith

50 ROMANS I. 17.

imputed to them, shall live. Paul repeats the same declaration in two other places, namely, in Gal. iii. 11, where he proves that men cannot be justified by the law, and also in Heb. x. 38, where he is ex horting those to whom he writes to continue firm in the faith ; and immediately afterwards, explaining the meaning of that expression, he shows at large, in the following chapter, that men were saved by faith before, as well as after, the coming of the Messiah. In both cases the eye of faith was stedfastly fixed on the same glorious object. Before His advent, faith rested on that event, considered in the promise. After the coming of the Messiah, faith rejoices in the accomplishment of the promise. Thus it is only by faith in the testimony of God, as receiving His righteousness wrought by the Messiah, that man can be just or righteous in His sight. The passage itself is quoted from the prophecies of Habakkuk, and is generally supposed to relate, in its primary sense, to the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, which was a type of the deliverance obtained by the Gospel. Through faith in the Divine promises the first was obtained, and the second in like manner is obtained through faith. But in whatever sense the Prophet used these words, the Apostle, speaking by the same Spirit, assigns to them their just and legitimate extension. They are true in respect to an earthly and temporal deliverance, and are equally true in respect to a spiritual deliverance.

Many, however, understand such quotations, where the Apostle says it is written, as mere accommodation, not implying prediction of the thing to which they are applied. This is a most unwarrantable and baneful method of handling the word of God. It is in this light that Professors Tholuck and Stuart, in their Commentaries on this Epistle, often view this form of expression. But, on the contrary, it is always used as introducing what is represented as a fulfilment of prediction, or an interpretation of its meaning. If Neologians are to be held guilty for explaining the miracles of Christ on natural principles, are they less criminal who explain, as mere accommodation of Scripture language, what is quoted by an Apostle as a fulfilment of prophecy ? Several quota tions from the Old Testament in this Epistle are explained by both these authors 011 the above Neological principle. Professor Stuart, on this passage, says, * It is not necessary to suppose, in all cases of this nature, that the writer who makes such an appeal regards the passage which he quotes as prediction. Plainly this is not always the case with the writers of the New Testament, as nearly all commentators now concede.' Pro fessor Tholuck remarks that ' the pious Jew loved to use Bible phrases in speaking of the things of common life, as this seemed to connect, in a manner, his personal observations and the events of his own history with those of holy writ.' He adds, that the Talmud contains numerous quotations introduced by such forms, ' without,' he continues, ' there being understood any real fulfilment of the text in the fact which is spoken of. This practice was also followed by the Apostles.' * The

1 In the Presbyterian Review, No. xxx. p. 237, it is observed, ' This idea of quotation by accommodation is as old as the time of Aarias Montanus ; ' and, after remarking that in the above passage it is visited with merited castigation, the

ROMANS I. 17. 51

subject of quotation by accommodation is one of such paramount im portance, involving so deeply the honour of the Holy Scriptures, and at the same time is so lightly thought of by many, that it challenges the most serious attention.

Nothing can be more dishonourable to the character of Divine revelation, and injurious to the edification of believers, than this method of explaining the quotations in the New Testament from the Old, not as predictions or interpretations, but as mere illustrations by way of ac commodation. In this way many of the prophecies referred to in the Epistles are thrust aside from their proper application, and Christians are taught that they do not prove the very things the Apostles adduced them to establish.

The great temptation to this manner of understanding them, is the fact that such prophecies generally, as they lie in the Old Testament, are obviously applied to temporal events, whereas, in the New, they are applied to the affairs of Christ and His kingdom. But this is a difficulty to none who understand the nature of the Old Testament dispensation, while the supposition that it is a difficulty, argues an astonishing want of attention to both covenants. Not only the ceremonies, but the person ages, facts, and whole history of the Jewish people, have a letter and a spirit, without the knowledge of which they cannot be understood either in their true sense, or in a sense at all worthy of God. That the Old Testament predictions, then, should primarily refer to temporal events in the Jewish history, and in a secondary but more important view, to the Messiah and the Gospel, is quite in accordance with what is taught us every where by the New Testament.1 Instead of creating a difficufty, this peculiarity is entirely consistent with the prominent features of Christianity, and calls for fresh admiration of the Divine wisdom. It is one of those characteristics which prove the Bible to be God's own book ; and, as usual, men's attempts to mend it only serve to mar its beauty and obscure its evidence. In Gal. iii. 10, it is asserted that ' as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.' Why are they affirmed to be under the curse ? Because it is written, ' Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.' The phrase it is written is used here. to connect an inference or conclusion with the premises on which it is founded. The assertion, that all who are of the works of the law are under the curse, is founded on

reviewer adds, ' Professor Tholuck's authority, indeed, in any matter in which the honour of inspiration is involved, is not very high ; so at least we think all who have escaped the chilling influence of Socinianisrn must acknowledge respecting any writer, who in one place tells us that "Paul probably used certain words, without attaching to them any definite idea" (p. 156); in another, suggests the supposition that the Apostle " had forgotten what ought to have followed " (p. 157) ; and, in the present verse, informs us that, with the view of better adapt ing the declaration of the Prophet to his subject, he gave a "violent construction to the^ translation of the Septuagint ; " and whatever Tholuck's authority may be, Stuart's is no greater ; for water cannot rise higher than its source ; and on this subject of accommodation, with the exception of the very obnoxious sentiment which we have just cited, the American critic is no more than the copyist of the German."

1 See the author's book On the Evidences, etc., on the primary and secondary senses of prophecy, and its division into three branches, vol. i. p. 445, 3d edition.

52 ROMANS I. 17.

the thing said to be written. The phrase, then, is indicative of true fulfilment or interpretation of meaning.

In like manner, what is spoken of, Matt. xiii. 14, and John xii. 39, 40, is, in Rom. xi. 8, introduced with the phrase £ it is written.' By the same phrase also is introduced, Gal. iv. 27, the reference to the prophecy of Isaiah, liv. 1. This must be prediction, because there does not appear to be any reference to a subordinate event in the Jewish history. It is an immediate prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles.

We learn from Gal. iv. 21-26, that even the history of Abraham's family was typical, and the recorded facts of ancient times are explained as predictions of Gospel times. ' Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law ? ' In what respect could they hear the law on the point referred to ? In the events that took place in Abraham's house. These facts are represented as a part of the law, and the spiritual truth at the proper interpretation.

Not only is the phrase * it is written ' always applied to indicate pre diction or interpretation, but it was so understood and applied in our Lord's time. When the priests and scribes were asked where Christ should be born, they answered, in Bethlehem, for thus it is written, Matt. ii. 5. This phrase, then, they employed to indicate true fulfilment of prediction.

This very reference to Habakkuk is explained, Gal. iii. 11, as predic tion. It is asserted in the beginning of the verse, that no man can be justified by the law, because it is written by the Prophet. Here the impossibility of justification by the law is founded on the prophecy quoted. ^ But if this prophecy related only to a temporal event in the Jewish history, the fact being so written would not bear out the con clusion. That the prophecy there refers to the justification of sinners before God, as its true and most important meaning, is the necessary sense of the passage. So little foundation have the above-named writers for their bold perversions of the word of God on this point. Their doctrine respecting it manifests great ignorance of Scripture.

The passage in Matt. ii. 15, has been supposed by some to be utterly incapable of interpretation, in the sense of real fulfilment, as prediction. ; Out of Egypt have I called My Son.' The prophecy there referred to is found in Hos. xi. 1, and evidently refers to the calling of the Israelites out of Egypt. How then can it be the fulfilment of the prophecy according to the application in the Evangelist ? Nothing is more easy than the solution of this supposed insuperable difficulty. The words of the Prophet have, in the primary or literal sense, a reference to the historical event— the calling of the Israelites, as nationally the typical Son of God, out of the land of Egypt ; and, in the secondary or spiritual sense, couched under the figure, they refer to the calling of the true Son of God out of Egypt, where He had gone to sojourn in order to accomplish this prediction. The Son of God is, in Isa. xlix. 3, expressly addressed under the name of Israel. It argues the highest presumption, and even blasphemy, to explain this quotation on the principle of accom modation, when the Evangelist says ' that it might *be fulfilled,' and thus intimates that this event was one predetermined in the counsels of

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Eternity. Is mere accommodation fulfilment in any sense ? How must infidels sneer at such violent efforts to explain away a difficulty, which is, after all, imaginary. The language here used by the Evangelist estab lishes beyond all contradiction the double reference of many of the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Some commentators refer to Acts xxviii. 25, as an example of a passage which the Apostle quotes as prediction, when it is not prediction. This Scripture is supposed to have reference to the Jews, as neglecting all warnings till they were finally carried into captivity. It may have such a reference. But this is not so certain as that it has the secondary reference to the state of the Jews with respect to the rejection of the Gospel. Instead, then, of being received as applied to the latter by way of accommodation, or as illustrative of the same principle, there is no absolute certainty of a primary reference ; but there can be no doubt that it predicts the unbelief and hardness of heart manifested by the Jews in the time of our Lord, and afterwards. This is irresistibly evident from Matt. xiii. 14. Here it is expressly said to be a fulfilling of the prophecy, that * in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith,' etc. The unbelief of the Jews is here, in express words, stated as the fulfilment of this same prophecy. Is it not wonderful blindness, is it not the most profane temerity, to explain as mere accommodation what the Holy Spirit asserts to be a real fulfilment ? The same prophecy is referred to in John's Gospel as fulfilled in the Jews of our Lord's time, ch. xii. 39, 'Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again.' What can more strongly express prediction ? Belief was impossible, because of the prediction. They were the words of God, and, therefore, must be fulfilled. As this is a subject of so much import ance, demanding the serious attention of all who tremble at the word of God, and one which is so frequently, I may say so generally, misrepre sented, I shall further repeat the following remarks respecting it, from my Book of Evidences, vol. i. p. 450, third edition, on the Old Testament prophecies : —

* It is not as setting aside the literal application of such passages, that the Apostles quote them in their spiritual import; nor in the way of accommodation, as is often erroneously asserted: but in their ultimate and most extensive significations. Nothing has been more mischievous, more audacious, and more dishonourable to the character of revelation, than the doctrine that represents the New Testament writers as quoting the Old Testament prophecies by way of accommodation. It is based on the supposed difficulty or impossibility of explaining the agreement in the literal accomplishment. To this it may be replied, that satisfactory solutions of the cases of difficulty have been given. But though no satisfactory solution were given, the supposition would be inadmissible. It contradicts most explicitly the Spirit of God, and must be rejected, let the solution be what it may. The New Testament writers, in quoting the Old Testament prophecies, quote them as being fulfilled in the event which is related. If it is not truly fulfilled, the assertion of fulfilment is false. The fulfilment by accommodation is no fulfilment in any real sense of the word. This interpretation, then, cannot be admitted, as being pal-

54

ROMANS I. 17.

pably contradictory to the language of inspiration. To quote the Old Testament prophecies in this way, could not, in any respect, serve the purpose of the writers of the New Testament. What confirmation to their doctrine could they find from the language of a prophecy that did not really refer to the subject to which they applied it, but was merely capable of some fanciful accommodation? It is ascribing to these writers, or rather to the Spirit of God, a puerility of which every writer of sound judgment would be ashamed. The application of the language of inspiration by way of accommodation, is a theory that has sometimes found patrons among a certain class of writers ; but a due respect for the inspired writings will ever reject it with abhorrence. It is an idle parade of ingenuity, even when it coincides in its explanations with the truths of the Scriptures ; but to call such an accommodation of Scripture language a fulfilment, is completely absurd. There is nothing in Scripture to warrant such a mode of explanation.'

1 To say,' observes Mr. Bell, on the Covenants, l that these Scriptures had no relation to these events, what is this but to give the inspired penman the lie ? The question is not what the Old Testament writers intended in such and such sayings, but what the Spirit which was in them did signify. The Prophets might often not know the full extent of their own prophecy, but certainly the Spirit, by which they spake, always did. The Spirit in the Old Testament writers was the same who inspired those of the New, 2 Cor. iv. 13 ; therefore, when the latter quote the words of the former as predictive of, and fulfilled in, certain events, the Holy Spirit is pointing out what He Himself intended. And who dare say but that He may point out more fully under the New Testament what He in tended in the Old, than ever could have entered into the heart of man ? 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. Surely the only wise God must be allowed to know the full sense of His own words. When the Evangelists or Apostles tell us that such and such Scriptures were fulfilled in such events, they do not give a new sense to these Scriptures which they never had before, but only show what before was latent with us. To say that any of their quotations from the Old Testament are mere allusions, or only used by way of accommodation to their purpose, beyond the true sense of the words and the intention of the Holy Ghost, effectually cuts the sinews of their argumentation, and, of course, destroys the proofs they adduce,' p. 56. The misunderstanding, or rather denial on this point, of the plain import of Scripture, in representing the New Testament writers as quoting from the Old Testament in the way of accommodation, appears to originate, so far as concerns Professors Tholuck and Stuart, in their want of acquaintance with the nature of the inspiration of the Bible. Were this not the case, they could not have ventured to take such liberties with the Scriptures as appear in their Commentaries.1

The declaration in the 16th and 17th verses, that the Gospel is the

1 On the subject of Inspiration, see the author's work on The Authenticity and Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and Dr. Carson's unanswered and unanswerable treatise on The Theories of Inspiration by the Rev. Daniel Wilson (now Bishop of Lajciitta), the Rev. Dr. Pye Smith, and the Rev. Dr. Dick, proved to be erroneous, and his Refutation of Dr. Henderson's Doctrine on Divine Inspiration, with a Critical Discussion on 2 Tim. iii. 16.

ROMANS I. 18. 55

power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, because therein is the righteousness of God revealed, serves as the text or ground of the whole of the subsequent disquisition in this and the following nine chapters.

Ver. 18. — For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

Here commences the third division of this chapter, where the Apostle enters into the discussion, to prove that all men being under the just con demnation of God, there remains for them no way of justification but that by grace, which the Gospel holds out through Jesus Christ.

Mr. Stuart understands this verse and the 17th as co-ordinate, and as supplying — each of them severally — a reason of the statement that Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel; but the subsequent discussion shows the utter inapplicability of verse 18th to the Gospel, inasmuch as the Apostle developes, at great length, the truth that the wrath of God is declared against those to whom no explicit revelation has been given. It is connected by the particle for with the preceding verse, and constitutes an argument in favour of the statement, that nowhere, except in the Gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed for the justification of sinners, and marks the necessity, for this purpose, of that revelation. This argument is evolved at great length, and the exposition of it does not terminate till the 20th verse of the third chapter. In this long section of the Epistle, a foundation is laid for the doctrine of grace in the announcement of the doctrine of wrath : all men are concluded under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe — that it might be shown, beyond question, that if men are to be justified, it cannot be by a righteousness of their own, but by the righteousness provided by God, and revealed in the Gospel. The Apostle begins here by proving that the Gentiles were all guilty, and all subjected to the just judgment of God.

The wrath of God is revealed.— The declaration of the wrath of God is a fit preparation for the announcement of grace,— not only because wrath necessarily precedes grace in the order of nature, but because, to dispose men to resort to grace, they must be affected with the dread of wrath and a sense of their danger. The wrath of God denotes His vengeance, by ascribing, as is usual in Scripture, the passions of men to God. It implies no emotion in God, but has reference to the judgment and feeling of the sinner who is punished. It is the universal voice of nature, and is als revealed in the consciences of men. It was revealed when the sentence of death was first pronounced, the earth cursed, and man driven out of tl earthly paradise, and afterwards by such examples of punishment as thos< of the deluge, and the destruction of the Cities of the Flam by fire from heaven, but especially by the reign of death throughout the world, was proclaimed in the curse of the law on every transgression, and was intimated in the institution of sacrifice, and in all the services of Mosaic dispensation. In the eighth chapter of this Epistle, the Apostle calls the attention of believers to the fact that the whole creation has become subject to vanity, and groaneth and travaileth together in pain.

ROMANS I. 18.

The same creation which declares that there is a God, and publishes His glory, also proves that He is the enemy of sin and the avenger of the crimes of men. So that this revelation of wrath is universal throughout the world, and none can plead ignorance of it. But, above all, the wrath of God was revealed from heaven when the Son of God came down to manifest the Divine character, and when that wrath was displayed in His sufferings and death, in a manner more awful than by all the tokens God had before given of His displeasure against sin. Besides this, the future and eternal punishment of the wicked is now declared in terms more solemn and explicit than formerly. Under the new dispensation, there are two revelations given from heaven, one of wrath, the other of grace.

Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.— Here the Apostle proceeds to describe the awful state of the Gentiles, living under the revelation of nature, but destitute of the knowledge of the grace of God revealed in the Gospel. He begins with accusing the whole heathen world, first of ungodliness, and next of unrighteousness. He proves that, so far from rendering to their Creator the love and obedience of a grate ful heart, they trampled on His authority, and strove to rob Him of His glory. Failing, then, in their duty towards God, and having plunged into the depths of all ungodliness, it was no wonder that their dealings with their fellowmen were characterized by all unrighteousness. The word all denotes two things : the one is, that the wrath of God extends to the entire mass of ungodliness and unrighteousness, which reigns among men, without excepting the least part ; the other is, that ungodli ness and unrighteousness had arrived at their height, and reigned among the Gentiles with such undisturbed supremacy, that there remained no soundness among them.

The first charge brought under the head of ungodliness, is that of holding the truth in unrighteousness. The expression, the truth, when it stands unconnected in the New Testament, generally denotes the Gospel. Here, however, it is evidently limited to the truth concerning God, which, by the works of creation, and the remains of the law of con science, and partly from tradition, was notified to the heathens. The word lhold,' in the original, signifies to hold fast a thing supposed to be valuable, as well as to withhold, as it is rendered 2 Thess. ii. 6, and to restrain or suppress. The latter is the meaning here. The heathens did not hold fast the truth, but they suppressed or restrained what they knew about God. The expression signifies they retained it as in a prison, under the weight and oppression of their iniquities.

But besides this general accusation, the Apostle appears particularly to have had reference to the chief men among the Pagans, whom they called philosophers, and who professed themselves wise. The declaration that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ittacked directly the principle which they universally held to be true, namely, that God could not be angry with any man. "Almost all of them believed the truth of the Divine unity, which they communicated to ose who were initiated into their mysteries. But all of them at the

ROMANS I. 19. 57

same time, held it as a maxim, and enjoined it as a precept on their disciples, that nothing should be changed in the popular worship of their country, to which, without a single exception, they conformed, although it consisted of the most absurd and wicked idolatrous rites, in honour 'of a multitude of gods of the most odious and abominable character. Thus they not only resisted and constantly acted in opposition to the force of the truth in their own minds, but also suppressed what they knew of it, and prevented it from being told to the people.

Ver. 19. — Because that tvhich may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.

The Apostle here assigns the reason of what he had just affirmed respecting the Gentiles as suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, namely, that which may be known of God, God hath manifested to them. They might have said, they did not suppress the truth in unrighteous ness, for God had not declared it to them as He had done to the Jews. He had, however, sufficiently displayed, in the works of creation, His almighty power, wisdom, and goodness, and other of His Divine attri butes, so as to render them without excuse in their ungodliness and unrighteousness. {

That which may be known of God, — that is to say, not absolutely, for that surpasses the capacity of the creature. — God is incomprehensible even by angels, and it is by Himself alone that He can be fully and perfectly comprehended ; the finite never can comprehend the infinite, Job xi. 7. Nor do the words before us mean all that can be known of Him by a supernatural revelation, as the mystery of redemption, that of the Trinity, and various other doctrines ; for it is only the Spirit of God who has manifested these things by His word. It is on this account that David says, ' He showeth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation ; and as for His judgments, they have not known them,' Ps. cxlvii. 19. But what may be known of God by the works of creation, He has not con cealed from men.

Is manifest in them, or rather, to them. — This respects the clearness of the evidence of the object in itself, for it is not an obscure or ambiguous revelation ; it is a manifestation which renders the thing certain. It is made to them ; for the Apostle is referring here only to the external object, as appears by the following verse, and not to the actual know ledge which men had of it, of which he does not speak till the 21st verse.

For God hath showed it unto them. — He has presented it before their eyes. They all see it, though they do not draw the proper conclusion from it. In like manner He has shown Himself to the world in His Son Jesus Christ. ' He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' Yet many saw Him who did not recognise the Father in Him. These words, ' hath showed it unto them,' teach us that in the works of creation God has manifested Himself to men to be glorified by them ; and that, in preserv ing the world after sin had entered, He has set before their eyes those great and wonderful works in which He is represented ; and they further

58 ROMANS I. 20.

show that there is no one who can manifest God to man except Himself, and consequently that all we know of Him must be founded on His own revelation, and not on the authority of any creature.

Ver. 20. — For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and God head; so that they are without excuse.

Invisible things of Him. — God is invisible in Himself, for He is a Spirit, elevated beyond the reach of all our senses. Being a Spirit, He is exempted from all composition of parts, so that when the Apostle here ascribes to Him ' invisible things ' in the plural, it must not be imagined that there is not in God a perfect unity. It is only intended to mark the different attributes of Deity, which, although one in principle, are yet distinguished in their objects, so that we conceive of them as if they were many.

from the creation of the world are clearly seen. — By the works of creation, and from those of a general providence, God can be fully recognised as the Creator of heaven and earth, and thence His natural attributes may be inferred. For that which is invisible in itself has, as it were, taken a form or body to render itself visible, and visible in a manner so clear that it is easy to discover it. This visibility of the invisible perfec tions of God, which began at the creation, has continued ever since, and proves that the Apostle here includes with the works of creation those of providence, in the government of the universe. Both in the one and the other, the Divine perfections very admirably appear.

Being understood by the things that are made. — The works of creation and providence are so many signs or marks, which elevate us to the contemplation of the perfections of Him who made them, and that so directly, that in a manner these works, and these perfections of their Author, are as only one and the same thing. Here the Apostle tacitly refutes the opinion of some of the philosophers respecting the eternity of the world ; he establishes the fact of its creation, and at the same time teaches, contrary to the Atheists, that, from the sole contemplation of the world, there are sufficient proofs of the existence of God. Finally, by referring to the works of creation, he indicates the idea that ought to be formed of God, contrary to the false and chimerical notions of the wisest heathens respecting Him.

Even His eternal power and Godhead. — The Apostle here only specifies God's eternal power and Godhead, marking His eternal power as the first object which discovers itself in the works of creation, and in the govern ment of the world ; and afterwards denoting, by His Godhead, the other attributes essential to Him as Creator. His power is seen to be eternal, because it is such as could neither begin to exist, nor to be communi cated. Its present exertion proves its eternal existence. Such power, it is evident, could have neither a beginning nor an end. In the con templation of the heavens and the earth, every one must be convinced that the power which called them into existence is eternal. Godhead. — This does not refer to all the Divine attributes, for they are not all manifested in the works of creation. It refers to those which manifest

ROMANS I. 20. 59

God's deity. The heavens and the earth prove the deity of their Author. In the revelation of the word, the grand truth is the deity of Christ ; in the light of nature, the grand truth is the deity of the Creator. By His power may be understood all the attributes called relative, such as those of Creator, Preserver, Judge, Lawgiver, and others that relate to creatures ; and by His Godhead, those that are absolute, such as His majesty, His infinity, His immortality.

So that they are without excuse. — The words in the original may either refer to the end intended, or to the actual result — either to those circum stances being designed to leave men without excuse, or to the fact that they are without excuse. The latter is the interpretation adopted by our translators, and appears to be the true meaning. It cannot be said that God manifested Himself in His works, in order to leave men without excuse. This was the result, not the grand end. The revelation of God by the light of nature the heathens neglected or misunderstood, and therefore are justly liable to condemnation. Will not then the world, now under the light of the supernatural revelation of grace, be much more inexcusable? If the perverters of the doctrine taught by the works of creation were without excuse, will God sustain the excuses now made for the corrupters of the doctrine of the Bible ?

When the heathens had nothing else than the manifestation of the Divine perfections in the works of creation and providence, there was enough to render them inexcusable, since it was their duty to make a good use of them, and the only cause of their not doing so was their perversity. From this, however, it must not be inferred, that since the entrance of sin, the subsistence of the world, and the providence which governs it, sufficiently furnish man, who is a sinner, with the knowledge of God, and the means of glorifying Him in order to salvation. The Apostle here speaks only of the revelation of the natural attributes of God, which make Him indeed the sovereign good to man in innocence, but the sovereign evil to man when guilty. The purpose of God to show mercy is not revealed but by the Spirit of God, who alone searcheth the deep things of God, 1 Cor. ii. 10. In order to this revelation, it was necessary that the Holy Spirit should have animated the Prophets and Apostles. It is therefore to be particularly observed that, while, in the next chapter, where the Apostle proceeds to prove that the Jews are also without excuse, he urges that the forbearance, and long-suffering, and goodness of God, in the revelation of grace, led them to repentence, he says nothing similar respecting the heathens. He does not assert that God, in His revelation to them, called them to repentance, or that He held out to them the hope of salvation, but affirms that that revelation renders them inexcusable. This clearly shows that in the whole of the dispensation to the heathen, there was no revelation of mercy, and no accompanying Spirit of grace, as there had been to the Jews. The manifestations made by God of Himself in the works of creation, together with what is declared concerning the conduct of His providence, Acts xiv. 17; and what is again said in ch. ii. of this Epistle, ver. 14, 15, respecting the law written in the heart, comprise the whole of the revela tion made to the heathen, after they had lost sight of the original

ROMANS I. 21.

promise to Adam of a deliverer, and the preaching of the righteousness of God by Noah ; but in these ways God had never left Himself without a witness. The works of creation and providence spoke to them from without, and the law written in their heart from within. In conjunction, they declared the being and sovereign authority of God, and man's accountableness to his Creator. This placed all men under a positive obligation of obedience to God. But His law, thus made known, admits not of forgiveness when transgressed, and could not be the cause of justi fication, but of condemnation. The whole, therefore, of that revelation of God's power and Godhead, of which the Apostle speaks in this dis course, he regards as the foundation of the just condemnation of men, in order afterwards to infer from it the necessity of the revelation of grace. It must not be supposed, then, that he regards it as containing in itself a revelation of grace in any manner whatever, for this is an idea opposed to the whole train of his reflections. But how, then, it may be said, are men rendered inexcusable ? They are inexcusable, because their natural corruption is thus discovered ; for they are convicted of being sinners, and consequently alienated from communion with God, and subjected to condemnation, which is thus shown to be just.

Yer. 21.— Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart ivas darkened.

Knew God. — Besides the manifestation of God in the works of creation, the heathens had still some internal lights, some principles and natural notions, which are spoken of, ch. ii. 12, 15, from which they had, in a measure, the knowledge of the existence and authority of God. There may be here, besides, a reference to the knowledge of God which He communicated in the first promise after the fall, and again after the flood, but which, not liking to retain God in their knowledge, and being ' haters of God,' mankind had lost. Elsewhere, Paul says that the Gentiles were without God in the world, Eph. ii. 12; yet here he says they knew God. On this it may be observed, that they had very con fused ideas of the Godhead, but that they further corrupted them by an almost infinite number of errors. Respecting their general notions of deity, these represented the true God ; but respecting their erroneous notions, these only represented the phantoms of their imagination. In this way they knew God, yet nevertheless they were without God. They knew his existence and some of His perfections ; but they had so entirely bewildered their minds, and added so many errors to the truth, that they were in reality living without God. They might be said to know God when they confessed Him as the Creator of the world, and had some conception of His unity, wisdom, and power. The Apostle may particu larly refer to the wise men among the heathens, but the same truth applies to all. They all knew more than they practised, and the most ignorant might have discovered God in His works, had not enmity against Him reigned in their hearts. But when Paul says, Eph. ii. 12, that they were without God, he has respect to their worship and their practice. For all their superstitions were exclusively those of impiety, which could only serve to alienate them from the love and the communion

ROMANS I. 21. 61

of the true God. They were therefore, in reality, without God in the world, inasmuch as they set up devils, whom, under the name of gods, they served with the most abominable rites.

They glorified Him not as God. — Paul here marks what ought to be the true and just knowledge of God, namely, that knowledge which leads men to serve and worship Him in a manner agreeable to His sovereign will, and worthy of His holy character. To glorify God signifies to acknowledge and worship Him with ascriptions of praise, because of His glorious attributes. Now the heathens, though in their speculations they might speak of God in a certain way consistent with some of His attri butes, as His unity, spirituality, power, wisdom, and goodness, yet never reduced this to practice. The objects of their professed worship were either the works of God, or idols. To these they gave the glory that belonged to God ; to these they felt and expressed gratitude for the blessings which God bestowed on them. God left them not without a witness of His existence and goodness, in that He gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons; but the glory for these things, and for all other blessings, they rendered to the objects of their false worship. It appears also that the Apostle had in view the fact, that the philosophers in their schools entertained some proper ideas of God, but in their worship con formed to the popular errors. Men often justify their neglect of God by alleging that He has no need of their service, and that it cannot be pro fitable to Him ; but we here see that He is to be glorified for His perfections, and thanked for His blessings.

Neither were thankful. — We should constantly remember that God is the source of all that we are, and of all that we possess. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. From this it follows that He ought to be our last end. Consequently, one of the principal parts of our worship is to acknowledge our dependence, and to magnify Him in all things by consecrating ourselves to His service. The opposite of this is what is meant by the expression, ' neither were thankful ; ' and this is what the heathens were not, for they ascribed one part of what they pos sessed to the stars, another part to fortune, and another to their own wisdom.

But became vain in their imaginations, or rather in their reasonings, that is, speculations. — Paul calls all their philosophy reasonings, because they related to words and notions, divested of use or efficacy. Some apply this expression, ' became vain in their reasonings,' to the attempts of the heathen philosophers to explore, in a physical sense, the things which the poets ascribed to the gods. Dr. Macknight supposes that the object of the wise men was to show that the religion of the vulgar, though untrue, was the fittest for them. Many explanations, equally fanciful, have been given of these words. The language itself, in con nection with the writings of the wise men to whom the Apostle refers, leaves no good reason to doubt that he speaks of those speculations of the Grecian philosophers in which they have manifested the most pro found subtilty and the most extravagant folly. Their reasonings diverged very far from that truth which they might have discovered by the con templation of the works of creation ; and, besides, produced nothing for the glory of God, in which they ought to have issued. In fact, all their

62 ROMANS I. 22.

reasonings were to no purpose, so far as regarded their sanctification, or the peace of their conscience. The whole of what the Apostle here says aptly describes, and will equally apply to, vain speculations of modern times. It suits not only modern schools of philosophy, but also some of theology ; not only the vain interpretations of Neologians, but of all who explain away the distinguishing doctrines of revelation. Without being carried away with the learning and research of such persons, every one who loves the Scriptures and the souls of men, should lift up his voice against such degradations of the oracles of God.

Their foolish heart was darkened. — ' Imprudent heart,' as Dr. Macknight translates this, comes not up to the amount of the phrase. It designates the heart, or understanding, as void of spiritual discernment and wisdom — unintelligent in Divine things, though subtle and perspicacious as to the things of the world. Their speculations, instead of leading them to the truth, or nearer to God, were the means of darkening their minds, and blinding them still more than they were naturally. The Apostle here marks two evils : the one, that they were destitute of the knowledge of the truth ; and the other, that they were filled with error, for here their darkness does not simply signify ignorance, but a knowledge false and depraved. These two things are joined together.

Ver. 22. — Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

It appears that, by the term wise, the Apostle intended to point out the philosophers, — that is to say, in general, those who were most esteemed for their knowledge, like those among the Greeks who were celebrated by the titles either of men wise or philosophers. To the two evils remarked in the foregoing verse, of their foolishness and their darkness, Paul here adds a third — that with all this they believed them selves to be wise. This is the greatest unhappiness of man, not only not to feel his malady, but to extract matter of pride from what ought to be his shame. What they esteemed their wisdom was truly their folly. All their knowledge, for which they valued themselves, was of no avail in promoting virtue or happiness. Their superstitions were in themselves absurd; and instead of worshipping God, they actually insulted Him in their professed religious observances. How wonderfully was all this exhibited in the sages of Greece and Rome, who rushed headlong into the boundless extravagances of scepticism, doubting or denying what was evident to common sense ! How strikingly is this also verified in many modern philosophers !

So far were the heathen philosophers from wisdom, that they made no approach towards the discovery of the true character either of the justice or mercy of God; while with respect to the harmony of these attributes, in relation to man, they had not the remotest conception. The idea of a plan to save sinners, which, instead of violating the law of God, and lowering His character as the moral governor of the world, magnifies the law and makes it honourable, giving full satisfaction to His justice, and, commensurate with His holiness, is as far beyond the conception of man, as to create the world was beyond his power. It is an idea that could not have suggested itself to any finite intellect.

ROMANS I. 23. 63

Want of knowledge of the justice of God gave occasion to the mani festation of human ignorance. All the ancient philosophers considered that consummate virtue and happiness were attainable by man's own efforts ; and some of them carried this to such an extravagant pitch, that they taught that the wise man's virtue and happiness were inde pendent of God. Such was the insanity of their wisdom, that they boasted that their wise man had in some respects the advantage of Jupiter himself, because his virtue was not only independent, or his own property, but was voluntary, whereas that of the divinity was necessary. Their wise man could maintain his happiness, not only independent of man and in the midst of external evils, but also in defiance of God Himself. No power, either human or divine, could deprive the sage of his virtue or happiness. How well does all this prove and illustrate the declaration of the Apostle, that professing themselves to be wise, they became fools !

Ver. 23. — And changed the glory of the Incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

Here Paul produces a proof of the excess of the folly of those who professed themselves to be wise. Their ideas of God were embodied in images of men, and even of birds and beasts, and the meanest reptiles. Chcwged the glory of the incorruptible God, — that is, the ideas of His spirituality, His immateriality, His infinity, His eternity, and His majesty, which are His glory, and distinguish Him from all creatures. All these are included in the term incorruptible; and as the Apostle supposes them to be needful to the right conception of God, he teaches that these are all debased and destroyed in the mind of man when the Creator is represented under human or other bodily resemblances ; for these lead to conceptions of God as material, circumscribed, and cor ruptible, and cause men to attribute to Him the meanness of the creature, thus eclipsing His glory, and changing it into ignominy. The glory of God, then, refers to His attributes, which distinguish Him from the idols which the heathens worshipped. In verse 25 it is called the truth of God, because it essentially belongs to the Divine character. Both expressions embrace the same attributes, but under different aspects. In the one expression, these attributes are considered as constituting the Divine glory ; in the other, as essential to His being, and distinguishing Him from the false gods of the heathen.

It is impossible to conceive of anything more deplorably absurd, further removed from every semblance of wisdom, or more degrading in itself and dishonouring to God, than the idolatrous worship of the heathens ; yet among them it was universal. The debasing images to which the Apostle here refers, were worshipped and feared by the whole body of the people, and not even one among all their philosophers, orators, magistrates, sages, statesmen, or poets, had discernment sufficient to detect the enormity of this wickedness, or honesty enough to reclaim against it. On the contrary, every one of them conformed to what the Apostle Peter calls ' abominable idolatries.'

It is to no purpose to say that the heathens did not believe that their

64 • EOMANS I. 24, 25.

images which they set up, were